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WASHINGTON'S REVOLVING DOOR LEAVES FORMER
VA CHIEF SITTING PRETTY -- Anthony Principi, like
many
others, left the halls of power for the halls of
money
to lobby his former agency and rake in millions.
While this story is about the revolving door, in
general, it's interesting to note that former VA Secretary Principi is
mentioned as a major player.
Story here...
http://www.pittsburghlive.co
m/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_608736.html
Story below:
Your comments accepted at bottom of
page.
Share story/email link.
-------------------------
Bush picks cash in on
contacts
By Brad Bumsted and
Walter F. Roche Jr.
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
HARRISBURG -- Two years after he stepped down as the nation's first head
of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge's company, Ridge Global LLC, cosponsored a
Washington event matter-of-factly titled "Accessing funds from the
Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security."
The July 2007 event, detailed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission by a participating company, is one example of the
former Pennsylvania governor's business efforts tied to the federal
government since he joined the private sector.
He is not alone in that
regard. Ridge and 16 other Cabinet officers in former President George W.
Bush's administration hold positions with 65 companies that lobby the
federal government, most of them with companies that lobby their former
agencies, says a report by government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility
and Ethics in Washington, or CREW.
It's a decades-old practice involving Republican and Democratic
administrations, as well as Congress: Public officials cash in on their
service, often for hefty salaries, by working for companies or lobbying
firms with issues before the federal government.
Ridge and a spokeswoman for Ridge Global did not respond to repeated
requests for comment.
But Al Neri, editor of The Insider, who considers Ridge a friend, said:
"Tom Ridge is a very ethical person, and he would not cross the line to
make some money."
The CREW report examining the "revolving door" practice lists Ridge's
affiliation as a board member or adviser with 17 companies.
 Many
secured or are seeking business with federal agencies, including Homeland
Security. Many have registered lobbyists representing them before Congress
and federal agencies.
Neri said Ridge devoted much of his life to public service, as a
congressman, then governor and with the Bush administration from 2001 to
2005. A father of two college students, Ridge isn't wealthy, Neri said.
"If anyone is entitled to take advantage of his contacts in government
it's Tom Ridge," said Neri, who covered Ridge in the governor's office for
the Erie Times newspaper. It's no different than journalists or
legislators relying upon their contacts when they take other jobs, he
said.
Through the door
The practice is termed "revolving door" because some officials swing
between government and business. Former President Bill Clinton's Treasury
secretary, Robert E. Rubin, whose role at Citibank has been cited in the
recent financial bailout, came from Goldman Sachs. Rubin left the Clinton
administration for Citigroup. He recently resurfaced as an adviser to
Barack Obama's nascent administration.
CREW's report on the departing Bush administration cabinet members is far
from the first on the topic -- and won't be the last.
Public Citizen, another watchdog group, found in a 2005 study that more
than one-third of retiring members of Congress joined lobbying firms. The
Government Accountability Office last year reported that 52 defense
contractors hired 2,435 Department of Defense officials between 2004 and
2006.
The "revolving door" results in "public policy being decided by those with
the most money to buy inside connections," said Craig Holman, a lobbyist
for Public Citizen. The practice creates doubt about the integrity of
government actions, he said.
Under federal law, former members of Congress and senior-level staff in
the executive and legislative branches are prohibited from contacting
former colleagues for one year after leaving office. There's a two-year
"cooling off period" for senators, cabinet members and supervisory staff
in the executive branch.
Dave Wenhold, president of the Washington-based American League of
Lobbyists, said reports such as those by CREW and Public Citizen are
overstated in order to stir controversy. He said former Cabinet officials
and members of Congress should not be criticized for abiding by the legal
time limits to join lobbying firms.
"They know the ins and outs of Washington," he said.
Obama's rules
President Obama last week instituted lobbying rules with a twist:
Departing cabinet members can't lobby former colleagues while Obama is
president. The details of his proposal were not available. Reaction was
varied.
Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight,
praised the more restrictive rules.
Wenhold said it would "keep the subject matter experts on the sidelines."
Though Obama's move is "a huge step forward," said Bill Allison, senior
fellow at the Washington nonprofit Sunlight Foundation, "it's not as if
the revolving door is suddenly going to be closed. I think we will see
more of former Bush officials" moving into lobbying positions.
And, Obama's rules would not affect current or former members of Congress
or congressional aides. "There will still be a turnstile," Allison said.
'A broken system'
Neither law nor rules stop former cabinet officials from joining corporate
boards or taking executive positions with companies that get federal
contracts or lobby the government, as long as that official is not
personally lobbying, Holman said. They can do so the day after leaving
office, he said.
Obama refers to it as "a broken system in Washington."
There are about 14,000 lobbyists in Washington, and corporations, labor
unions, industries, governments and other interests spent about $2.8
billion in 2007 lobbying lawmakers and the federal government, according
to the Center for Responsive Politics, a group that tracks lobbying and
campaign spending.
Says the CREW report:
• Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft registered as a lobbyist less
than a year after leaving the Bush administration. By summer 2006, the
Ashcroft Group had signed 30 clients. In September 2007, the Justice
Department gave it a $52 million, 18-month contract to monitor an
orthopedic company that settled a case with the department stemming from a
kickback scheme.
• Before becoming secretary of Veterans Affairs, Anthony Principi headed
QTC Management, the largest provider of government-contracted health care.
After resigning the VA post in 2005, Principi returned to QTC as board
chairman. In March, the Los Angeles Times reported the VA paid QTC $267
million during Principi's tenure and that of his successor, who also
worked for QTC before joining the VA. The Times reported QTC was overpaid
$6 million and the company agreed to pay back $3 million. Since Principi
rejoined QTC, the company has lobbied the VA on issues related to
disability exam software, military medical and dental readiness, and
occupational health services.
• Christine Todd Whitman, former secretary of the Environmental Protection
Agency, left the agency in 2003 to lobby for Citgo Petroleum. In 2004, the
former New Jersey governor founded Whitman Strategy Group. It has 11
clients, nine of them with EPA business.
• Shortly before Tommy Thompson left the helm of the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services in 2005 to become president of Logistics Health
Inc., the company began lobbying the agency. The company's federal
contracts grew dramatically after Thompson took charge of Logistics, which
provides health care solutions to government and industry, a report by a
Washington watchdog group says. Logistics won a Department of Defense
contract to examine reservists returning from duty in Iraq and
Afghanistan, records show, shortly after William Winkenwerder stepped down
as assistant secretary of health at the DOD and joined Logistics as a
board member and adviser.
Records show Logistics, a Wisconsin firm, got an $11 million HHS contract
in June to evaluate people claiming injuries from the 9/11 attack on the
World Trade Center. Logistics is one of 42 companies Thompson has advised
since leaving the Bush administration, CREW said.
Thompson, 67, a Republican, was governor of Wisconsin from 1987 to 2001,
until Bush tapped him to become HHS secretary.
Ridge's interests
The CREW report is incomplete regarding the interests of Thompson's fellow
former GOP governor, Tom Ridge.
Ridge, 63, became a director of Eid Passport, an Oregon firm specializing
in security systems for the military and government agencies in 2007,
according to an announcement on the company's Web site. Its Web page cites
Homeland Security as a client. A contract with the Coast Guard, part of
Homeland Security, was announced in October.
Another Ridge client was the government of Albania, but Ridge did not
report the $480,000 contract as required under the Foreign Agents
Registration Act until the engagement ended in June.
He began work under the contract, according to the belated filing, in
October 2006. According to his report, among those Ridge contacted on
behalf of the Albanian government were U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.,
former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and U.S. Rep. James Costa,
D-Calif. Ridge was hired to assist Albania with improving its homeland
security and gaining NATO membership.
The engagement letter Ridge Global filed with the Justice Department
stated: "We are able to provide a wide range of strategic advice that
draws upon my experience as secretary of Homeland Security, as well as
governor of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a United States
congressman."
Albania signed a NATO membership accord about a month after Ridge's
contract ended.
Ridge's other corporate clients and affiliations include Savi Technology,
which won at least $13.7 million in Homeland Security contracts during
Ridge's tenure, according to the CREW report, and continues to do business
with the agency. Lockheed Martin bought Savi in 2006.
Ridge is on a Lucent Technologies' advisory board; is a director for
Iridium Satellite, a major government contractor; and consults for IDO
Security. He became a senior adviser a little over a year ago to
TechRadium, a firm listed as one lobbying Homeland Security. Ridge advises
Cernium, a technology firm that lobbied the agency while Ridge headed it
and continues to do so. Another Ridge client, Abraxas Corp., won Homeland
Security contracts while he was secretary and after his departure.
-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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