Lee Fang of the Intercept is one of my favorite reporters working today. He does difficult, investigative reporting, much of which relies on documents, to reveal the inner-workings of power. His reporting seems to be seeking an answer to how exactly people and corporations influence (or essentially bribe) politicians to get their way. Here’s a piece from earlier this week showing how large companies are placing their people into influential positions in the new Biden government.
Companies typically hire lobbyists to petition politicians on their needs. These lobbyists then enter government as top staffers to the very politicians who they were lobbying. This, obviously, creates a welcoming position for the companies who had been their clients. The new lobbyists meet the old lobbyists, who now oversee matters impacting their old (and perhaps future) employers to decide on policy.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican senator for Alaska, just hired a new chief of staff who had formerly been a lobbyist for Alaskan mining companies. Michigan’s Democratic senator, Gary Peter, sits on the Senate subcommittee overseeing internet policy. His incoming counsel and committee legislative aid used to lobby for Google.
Biden has a longtime advisor named Steve Ricchetti. He was recently named White House counselor. Well, Ricchetti used to be a corporate lobbyist. His brother, Jeff, meanwhile, operates a lobbying firm under their last name. They could be in for a bonanza. Sure enough, Amazon just inked a deal with them.
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Here’s a great piece from Jonathan Guyer in The American Prospect examining how former top Trump officials who covered for Trump early on in his presidency, have cashed in after moving into civilian life. General H.R. McMaster lucked his way into a position at Stanford and spot at Zoom. General Mattis found a board seat at the giant weapons-maker General Dynamics, a job at the powerful consultancy the Cohen Group, and a fellowship from Stanford’s Hoover Institution. John Kelly landed at Caliburn International, which has lucrative contracts with the federal government to house migrant children.
Moral: there’s a lot buried in executive-branch disclosure forms