Disclosure Form Makes It Hard for Lobbyists to Disclose

Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), center, and Claire McCaskill (Mo.) want to end a provision that allows representatives of foreign companies to register as domestic lobbyists. (By Charles Dharapak -- Associated Press)

It turns out that the banks also are lobbying on the housing bill, almost as hard as Fannie and Freddie. But what they want is, well, narrow. Instead of having an agency with a single director, as the pending bills now envision, the banks want a five-person panel to oversee the GSEs.

The banks "support a board structure for the new regulator rather than an individual as the head of the single regulator," said Larry Parks, the senior vice president of legislative and regulatory affairs for the bank in San Francisco.

Sadly for Parks, no lawmakers in authority are seriously talking about expanding the governance of the new agency, at least for now.

Hire of the Week

Hill & Knowlton, the public relations firm, has a new general manager of its Washington office.

Michael Kehs, 47, will not only lead the D.C. office but also head the firm's U.S. public affairs operations, the company said.

Prior to joining Hill & Knowlton, Kehs worked for Porter Novelli, also a PR firm, for nearly a decade, and before that he was with Burson-Marsteller for 12 years.

His clients have included Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Shell Oil, Wyeth and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Kehs replaces Kelli Parsons, who has been doing double duty as general manager for Hill & Knowlton in New York and Washington. She will retain that job in the Big Apple after Kehs arrives for work this month.

Please send e-mail to kstreet@washpost.com.