Revolving Door

Industry and Government

Regulatory agencies find it attractive to hire people from industry because of their expertise in the industry and their ability to liaise with the industry. However, business executives and lobbyists who take government positions often maintain their industry sympathies in their new jobs. In some cases they even seek government jobs so as to further industry interests. This can contribute to regulatory capture, whereby an industry has undue influence over a regulatory agency or government ministry. In the case of environmental problems, this undermines both the development and also the enforcement of strong environmental protection laws.

As an example, there is a long history of a revolving door between Monsanto and the U.S. agencies that regulate its activities. William Ruckelshaus became a director of Monsanto after being head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Linda Fisher worked for the EPA, then headed Monsanto's Washington lobbying office before becoming deputy administrator of the EPA. She then became a vice president of government affairs at Monsanto, followed by vice president at DuPont. She is now assistant administrator for pesticides and toxic substances of the EPA.

Despite efforts to regulate against the revolving door in the United States, it became far more common during the Bush administration, when President George W. Bush appointed unprecedented numbers of corporate executives and business lobbyists to government posts, including regulatory agencies with power over decisions affecting the environment. For example, Philip Cooney became chief of staff of the White House Council on Environmental Quality for George W. Bush after serving as a lawyer and lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute. In his government position he amended government scientific reports to downplay the role of greenhouse gas emissions in causing global warming. After he resigned his government position, he was hired by ExxonMobil.

In addition, senior government bureaucrats and politicians often look forward to a postgovernment career in business. It is in the interests of businesses, lobbyists, and think tanks to hire former government officials and politicians because they know how the political system works, have valuable policy experience and inside knowledge, and still have influence with their former colleagues.

Public Citizen's Congress Watch found that in the United States, between 1998 and 2005, 42 percent of the members of the House of Representatives who left government and 53 percent of senators who left government became lobbyists. Regulations stop them from directly lobbying their former colleagues for only 1 year. After that, they are able to turn their political careers into extremely lucrative lobbying careers.

...