Revolving Door

THE EXPRESSION revolving door is applied to the flow of employees between the public and private sectors of the economy. Upon leaving their jobs, high level public officials are able to translate their expertise into equally prestigious and often higher[Page 689] paying jobs in the private sector. The watchdog agency Common Cause defines the revolving door as “the practice of government officials cashing in on their public service by leaving public office and going to work for the same special interests who were seeking favors from them while they were in office.” Thus, this is an issue that raises important ethical questions because it breeds tight relationships between private sector organizations, bureaucrats, and elected officials that are perceived as threats to democratic government. The revolving door increases the likelihood that public officials will succumb to already pervasive incentives to accept kickbacks meant to sway official decision-making.

Common Cause led a 1989 effort to pass the Ethics in Government Act that applied post-employment laws to members of Congress. The subsequent one-year ban represented an effort to quell suspicion that moneyed interests wield a disproportionate amount of influence over the government decision-making process. Public servants departing from service in 1992 constituted the first group to face the one-year ban on assuming private sector positions requiring them to lobby former colleagues still in public service. According to an investigative article written by Jackie Calmes, of the 25 percent of the 435 House members who stepped down or suffered electoral defeat that year, approximately 40 percent landed positions lobbying or consulting after the one-year ban ended.

The effectiveness of the ban was challenged on the basis of the ease with which former public servants were still able to find a position after a year, and the fact that the ban does not prohibit them from devising strategies for clients during the yearlong waiting period. Further, former public officials could and did gather with legislators socially.

At the beginning of the Bill Clinton administration, the president issued an executive order that extended the ban on federal government officials and White House staff from lobbying former colleagues to five years, and forever barred them from lobbying foreign governments. This move was seen as symbolic of the new Democratic administration's commitment to clean government. As the Clinton administration waned, the president undermined the image of having run a clean administration when he revoked this order.

Common Cause keeps the public updated on the content of the most recent legislation in this area. Under the existing law in 2004, high-level officials were prohibited from lobbying their own agency for one year. They were prohibited from lobbying on matters specific to the area that they supervised while in office for a period of two years. They faced a lifetime ban on ever lobbying on matters that they were personally and substantially involved in while in office. Former members of Congress were barred from lobbying other members for a period of one year. High-level members stepping down from the Congressional staff had to wait one year before lobbying the members who they worked for.

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