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Statement in Response to Sean Patrick Maloney Being Pushed for Labor Secretary

In response to reports that Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi is pushing the Biden administration to nominate former Representative Sean Patrick Maloney as the next Secretary of Labor, Revolving Door Project Personnel Team Research Director Max Moran issued the following statement:

“If your boss gave you an important assignment that you failed to accomplish, and it made your boss’ job immensely harder, would you expect a promotion?”

“No?”

“Of course not. Why should Washington work any differently?”

“As the leader of House Democrats’ campaign arm in 2022, Sean Patrick Maloney failed to hold the Democratic majority. He is the first Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair to lose his own race in 40 years. Some of his biggest failures were in his home state of deep-blue New York! This was the guy who was supposed to keep Rep. George Santos from winning! His failure has all but demolished any hopes of major new legislation for the remainder of this Presidential term.”

“He wasn’t trying especially hard at this crucial job: Maloney spent part of October partying with European millionairesunder the auspices of fundraising, instead of pumping money into battleground races and campaigning. Imagine promoting a DCCC chair who didn’t even campaign in his own district, let alone for his colleagues. Imagine promoting a politician who wasn’t even in the country in the home stretch of an election!”

“If after his excellent, blue-collar State of the Union, President Biden lets a corporate hack fail upwards into the Labor Department, it would send a message to the public to believe exactly none of what he said.”

“And make no mistake, Maloney is a corporate hack: he was a member of the New Democrat Coalition, the caucus of Congressional Democrats that exists to do the bidding of giant companies under a pretense of being ‘moderate.’ Nothing in his record indicates any unique relationship with labor, but he has quite strong relationships with the CEOs and executives who often try to undermine labor. There’s no reason for Maloney to wield power or influence over federal politics for the foreseeable future, and certainly no reason to promote him to Labor Secretary.”

The Revolving Door Project (RDP) scrutinizes executive branch appointees to ensure they use their office to serve the broad public interest, rather than to entrench corporate power or seek personal advancement.