Revolving Door Touches Many Industries on Two Continents
In an era when the chairman of the FCC is a former head of two major trade associations, the movement of professionals between the public and private sectors is wide ranging in Washington and European capitals. Through U.S. Freedom of Information Act requests, other record searches and interviews, the stories in this Communications Daily Special Report detail how swiftly and widely the revolving door rotates.
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It's true that an executive order by President Barack Obama bars, for up to two years, former senior officials from lobbying their ex-agencies, and also bars for as long as that new government officials from working on issues specific to their last employer. But that order has its limits, as do the administration’s rules meant to limit the influence of lobbyists on committees that advise federal agencies.
Paths between public and private service include congressional committees with key oversight roles for media, telecom and the Internet, as well as state and federal regulators. At Google, ex-Rep. Susan Molinari, R-N.Y., is director of its Washington office. Comcast, which is seeking approval for its plan to buy Time Warner Cable, has turned to a slew of former antitrust experts who used to work on the Hill, plus many communications lawyers who had been FCC officials. “The revolving door is alive and well” overall, said Center for Responsive Politics Senior Researcher Dan Auble, after examining our database on the reach into the private sector of ex-FCC PR people.
Government transparency experts say a wider range of lobbying activity should be prohibited after government service. Others contend that both government and companies benefit from job changes between the two spheres. But both critics and fans of telecom transitions between government and industry agree that the revolving door has big effects on the strategizing of companies in state and national capitals, and the array of lobbyists, PR executives and other experts they employ.