Revolving Door Project
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30, 2020
Contact: Jeff Hauser
   

Dozens of Groups Urge Biden to Stand Against Corporate Conflicts of Interest

Groups focused on finance, civil rights, monopoly, environment, national security, and more urge ethics pledge to ensure transition and administration work in service of the public

Yesterday 48 groups sent a letter to both presidential campaigns urging them to pledge to keep their administration free of the sorts of corporate conflicts of interest that have for too long defined business-as-usual in Washington — regardless of who is in power. In particular, the letter calls for the next president to not appoint any individual into a transition or senior policy role “with responsibility over an industry in which, within the last five years, they held a senior position or from which they were compensated in a consulting or advisory capacity.”

The groups note that, administration after administration, senior roles in government have been filled “with corporate insiders, many of whom are only months removed from lucrative positions in the industries they are subsequently tasked with regulating” and that “Trump did not write the current playbook, even as he has pushed it to new extremes. Steven Mnuchin is, after all, far from the first Treasury Secretary to hail from Goldman Sachs.” 

According to David Segal, Executive Director of Demand Progress and a co-organizer of the letter, “There is a longstanding bipartisan propensity to hand government posts to well-connected elites who’ve made, or seek to make, millions of dollars from the industries they’re supposed to steward while in office. This has warped governance away from what’s best for the public in every single issue area — causing warranted mistrust and leading to policies that exacerbate inequality, enable corporate abuses, foment military adventurism, waste untold sums of public money, and undercut faith in American democracy.”

Jeff Hauser, the Executive Director of the Revolving Door Project and another letter co-organizer, added, “Whether a transition is shaped by a Citigroup executive, as with Michael Froman under President Obama, or by private equity executives and Goldman Sachs officials, as under President Trump, the end result is an executive branch unwilling to take on the excesses of corporate power. In 2021, America deserves a different, more public interest minded approach to governance.”

Additionally, recent polling from Data for Progress makes clear that anti-revolving door policies enjoy support from a significant majority of all Americans, regardless of political affiliation.

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 July 29, 2020

To Rebuild Public Trust, Close the Revolving Door

To: 2020 Presidential Candidates

We, the undersigned organizations, call on the winner of the next presidential election to commit not to appoint any individual to a senior policy role in an agency or department with authority over any industry in which that individual held a senior position or served in an advisory capacity within the last five years. We also urge that, if applicable, such individuals be excluded from positions with jurisdiction over personnel matters during the transition.

Trust is a fundamental precondition for effective governance. Yet, Americans’ trust in their government — already frighteningly low prior to Donald Trump’s rise to power — has fallen even further since his inauguration. This should hardly come as a surprise. Throughout the last four years, the public has been subjected to a never ending parade of conflicted appointees who have enthusiastically set about rolling back the regulations that once restrained their former (and likely future) employers’ most destructive impulses. While corporate interests benefit from this regime, the American public suffers.

The next president must treat this trust deficit like the crisis it is. This moment calls for bold commitments to build an administration that is devoid of serious conflicts of interest and unequivocally committed to advancing the public interest above all else.

Trump did not write the current playbook, even as he has pushed it to new extremes. Steven Mnuchin is, after all, far from the first Treasury Secretary to hail from Goldman Sachs.

Instead of being treated with the care they deserve, appointive positions of public trust have most often been used as political bargaining chips, as rewards for particularly prolific fundraisers, or as if they were reserved for representatives of certain regulated business sectors. As a result, the upper echelons of the executive branch have more often been filled with corporate insiders, many of whom are only months removed from lucrative positions in the industries they are subsequently tasked with regulating (and, indeed, only a few years from a return to those same profitable posts), than with individuals who are unimpeachably committed to advancing the public interest.

The consequence of this practice is that the interests of elites and industry are over-represented in Washington. Ordinary Americans understandably feel they lack a seat at the table. In an administration dominated by revolving door appointees, policies challenging powerful interests face a harder road to enactment, and government priorities tend towards those of well-connected elites. Adherence to this status quo has contributed to the perception that all politicians, no matter their party, are corrupt and actively working to uphold a system that is rigged against regular people.

There should no longer be any dispute: this is a failed model. We need a new vision for executive branch leadership, one that takes building and maintaining public trust as a central imperative. Whichever candidate wins the presidential election this fall must overcome their party’s recent past and build public trust through their choice of appointees. There should be no room for doubt that their selections serve no interest but the public’s.

That must start with the candidate’s choice of stewards for the presidential transition. Too often, the teams crafting incoming administrations have been stacked with figures who work for corporate interests, undermining the frameworks that make way for collective prosperity. Unsurprisingly, the resultant administrations overwhelmingly reflect this inherent conflict of interest.

Past administrations have relied on compliance and mitigation regimes to manage these conflicts of interest, producing a web of disclosures, ethics agreements, and recusals. Even when perfectly applied, these strategies leave gaping loopholes that allow former members of industry to materially advance the interests of former and future employers. While these scenarios might not legally qualify as conflicts of interest under our overly lenient laws, the public is not fooled by the supposed propriety of these relationships.

The next president must, therefore, move from appointing officials who must manage their conflicts of interest to elevating conflict free individuals into senior roles in their transition and in their administration. As such, we call upon the winner of the next presidential election to commit not to appoint any individual into a senior policy role with responsibility over an industry in which, within the last five years, they held a senior position or from which they were compensated in a consulting or advisory capacity.

Sincerely,

20/20 Vision

Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain

Americans for Financial Reform

Athena Coalition

Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment

Center for International Policy

Center for Popular Democracy

Clean Elections Texas

Climate Hawks Vote

CODEPINK

Common Defense

Community Change

Community Change Action

Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces

Demand Progress

Economic Policy Institute

Family Farm Action Alliance

Fight for the Future

Fix Democracy First

Food & Water Action

Friends of the Earth U.S.

Government Information Watch

Greenpeace USA

Groundwork Collaborative

In the Public Interest

Indivisible

Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement

Jetpac

Just Foreign Policy

MomsRising

National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd

NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice

New York Communities For Change

Open Markets Institute

Organization for Competitive Markets

Progressive Change Institute

Progressive Democrats of America

Project Blueprint

RepresentUs New Mexico f/k/a New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics

Revolving Door Project

RootsAction

Social Security Works

The Democratic Coalition

Union of Concerned Scientists

Win Without War

Working Families Party

Working Partnerships USA