Several of them are representatives of various labor unions, environmental groups or other nonprofit civic organizations, while some others have lobbied on behalf of corporate and business interests, like pharmaceutical companies or energy groups. Hauser, the director of the Revolving Door Project, has been calling on Biden's team to avoid enlisting both lobbyists and what he refers to as "shadow lobbyists," or people who work in corporate jobs to influence policy, but don't meet the threshold to formally register as lobbyists.
He pointed to Jessica Hertz, a senior Facebook attorney who worked on regulatory issues, who now serves as the Biden transition's general counsel, along with several members of the agency review team for the Office of Management and Budget who have worked for Lyft, Amazon, AirBnb and WestExec Advisors. Lobbyists, including any who have registered within the past year -- must be approved by the transition's legal team. Members of the team must also seek approval if they have represented or advised any foreign governments or political parties within the past year -- and are prohibited from working with any foreign parties or governments for an additional year after the transition.
Over the last four years, Trump has come under fire for flouting his own ethics rule after having promised to "drain the swamp" in Washington. During his first week in office, Trump issued an executive order requiring all administration appointees to sign an ethics pledge that they will not participate in any matter related to their former employer or former clients, and to not lobby the agencies that they had worked in for five years after leaving the government, a stricter set of rules put in place by President Barack Obama in But within the first two months of taking office, the Trump administration issued at least 16 ethics waivers to allow staff members to work in the White House while going around the ethics rules -- reportedly more than five times the number granted in the first four months of the Obama administration.
And over the years, several other former members of the Trump administration have been found lobbying or representing private interests that they pledged not to represent for at least five years. While the Biden administration's ethics rules won't be released until January, when he takes office, Hauser and other transparency advocates are hoping to see guidelines in place that both prevent registered lobbyists from working in the administration and provide clearer guidelines to limit the cycling of shadow lobbyists in and out of the administration.
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National Security. Agency Insider. Don't miss a brief. Sign up for our daily email. Your Email. Contributors Become a Contributor. They also both worked at the agency they now lead during prior administrations. Westlands has federal contracts to provide irrigation water to family-owned farms in the fertile San Joaquin Valley.
Wheeler worked as a lobbyist for eight years and his more than 20 different clients included coal magnate Bob Murray, who pushed hard on the Trump administration to grant a series of breaks for the sagging domestic coal industry. Among the allegations, CREW said Wheeler had participated in the easing of standards for storing coal ash in even though he had lobbied on those regulations the year before for Murray Energy.
Esper, who was secretary of the Army when Trump chose him to be defense secretary, faced opposition from only a handful of Democrats and he was confirmed in July by a margin. After that, Esper told Pentagon ethics officials that he will continue to avoid Raytheon issues unless his participation as defense secretary is determined to be essential. Robert Lighthizer, the U. Trade Representative, lobbied primarily for steel companies between and Beginning in , he represented just one company, U.
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