The nation’s largest lobbying industry group, the American League of Lobbyists, is changing its name to the Association of Government Relations Professionals, according to the Center for Public Integrity.
Founded in 1979, the American League of Lobbyists counts only a fraction of the nation’s 12,000 registered lobbyists as paid members. But 83 percent of the group’s voting membership recently voted to change the name, and a formal announcement is expected Tuesday morning. According to the group, most of its members don’t consider themselves to be only lobbyists.
“[The American League of Lobbyists] has always been a big tent organization, and I am excited that our new name will better reflect that reality,” Monte Ward, the group’s president, told the Center for Public Integrity.
Other new names considered by the group: the National Association of Government Relations Professionals and the Government Relations Professionals Association.
