Revolving Door

The revolving door refers to the practice of individuals rotating between working in the private sector and working for the government, often in regulatory capacities, and vice versa. While the government needs individuals with expertise in specific areas, this practice may blur the distinction between the public good and business interests.

There are various types of revolving doors: industry to government, government to industry, law to government and then back to law or working as a lobbyist. Business executives sometimes take positions in government regulating industries in which they were recently employed. The experience the business executive brings to the job could be vital to the government, but it is fraught with potential for conflict of interest. A person who has made a career in a mining company and then takes a mining regulatory position in the U.S. Department of the Interior may appear to be compromised. It is not uncommon for officials to leave government and take lucrative positions in firms that they once regulated or to whom they have awarded contracts. In this case, any interaction the individual had with the company before joining it is suspect, and the integrity of government decisions is called into question. Senior regulators often hold law degrees. When they rotate out of government, they may resume work in a law firm that represents clients in the industry they once regulated. This raises obvious questions of [Page 1832]conflict of interest even if the said regulator is not the counsel of record since the former government employee could easily coach his or her colleagues. Government regulators and legislators also frequently leave their positions and work as lobbyists for private business interests. Here concern is raised as to whether they might exercise inappropriate influence over their former colleagues.

The federal government began implementing conflict of interest and ethics laws in the 1950s. The two most important laws enacted are the Ethics Reform Act passed in 1989 and the Procurement Act passed in 1996. Under the current laws, “senior” and “very senior” government officials who make contracting decisions must wait a year before joining a military contractor. A 1-year, and sometimes 2-year, coolingoff period is also imposed on individuals making representational contacts with their former agency or with any high-level executive branch official. The Procurement Integrity Act's two main purposes are to limit contacts related to future employment between current government officials and government contractors and to prohibit high-level government officials who act on contracts worth more than $10,000,000 from accepting compensation, including future employment from the said contractor. The laws are broad, complicated, and overlapping; rules differ by the level of involvement of the government employee as well as by the employee's rank. The laws also allow many exceptions. Many in Congress have called for additional legislation to tighten the laws limiting post–government employment. Also, 29 states currently have their own distinct revolving door policies. California and New Mexico impose a permanent ban on working on identical contracts that the government officer was personally involved in while in public service.

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