April, 02 2010, 02:39pm EDT
Chairman Barney Frank Acts Decisively to Protect Against Revolving Door Abuses
Statement of Craig Holman, Government Affairs Lobbyist, Public Citizen
WASHINGTON
With the revolving door spinning out of control and legions of former
government officials and staffers trading on their government
connections and knowledge to win lucrative private sector jobs as
lobbyists, it is refreshing to see House Financial Services Committee
Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) act swiftly and decisively to stifle
this abuse by his former senior staffer, Peter Roberson.
Roberson was instrumental in drafting derivatives provisions of the
financial reform legislation that the House passed in December. When
Roberson made the legally required disclosure to Chairman Frank that he
was negotiating employment as a lobbyist with a firm in the derivatives
industry, Chairman Frank removed Roberson from any further work on the
committee and denied Roberson any compensation beyond what he was
already owed. When Roberson left to join Intercontinental Exchange
(ICE), an operator of derivatives exchanges and clearinghouses, Chairman
Frank borrowed from President Obama's rulebook and unilaterally banned
contacts between Roberson and the staff of the House Financial Services
Committee for as long as Frank remains chairman of the committee.
President Barack Obama imposed a similar ban on former executive branch
officials from ever lobbying the Obama administration.
Suddenly, the revolving door deal - in which Roberson cashes in on
his contacts in government and ICE hires an "insider" to peddle its
arguments on Capitol Hill - no longer seems so lucrative for either
party.
If more committee chairmen would follow Chairman Frank's and
President Obama's lead, they could make major inroads against the
cash-for-connections racket. They also would help counter the widespread
belief that service in Congress is becoming little more than a
resume-builder for aspiring corporate lobbyists.
Public Citizen applauds Chairman Frank's actions.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
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U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that he is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 Americans and pardoning 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes, a move the White House described as "the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history."
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According to a White House fact sheet, those who received commutations "have been serving their sentences at home for at least one year under the Covid-era CARES Act," a law that extended the amount of time in which people could be placed in home confinement to reduce the spread of the virus in prisons.
The White House did not name those who received pardons or commutations but said the list includes a "decorated military veteran," a "nurse who has led emergency response for several natural disasters," and "an addiction counselor who volunteers his time to help young people find their purpose."
The Biden Justice Department paused federal executions in 2021, but President-elect Donald Trump pledged on the campaign trail to expand the use of the death penalty and is expected to allow the executions of the 40 men on death row to take place if they're still there when he takes office next month.
In a statement on Thursday, Biden said that he has "the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses."
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Biden, who campaigned on ending the death penalty at the federal level, vowed to "take more steps in the weeks ahead" as his administration reviews clemency petitions, leaving open the possibility of commutations for death row prisoners.
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