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DC Revolving Door: Ex-FCC Commissioner Is Now Head CTIA Lobbyist
jfruh (300774) writes "Up until three years ago, Meredith Attwell Baker was an Obama-appointed FCC commissioner. Now she's the newly minted CEO of the CTIA, the nation's largest lobbying group for the mobile phone industry. How can we expect regulators to keep a careful watch over industries when high-paying jobs in those industries await them after retirement? One of the most damning sentences in that article: 'More than 80 percent of FCC commissioners since 1980 have gone on to work for companies or groups in the industries they used to regulate.'"
if you don't want any conflict of interest. pay the agency heads $20 million a year and stipulate they are not allowed to work for any private entity for 5 years after they leave government
The post government employment surtax by libertarian Glenn Reynolds:
50%, no deductions, no credits, just outright confiscation to ensure less profit from leveaging any potential leads from the government to win insider deals.
You are correct, she did not go directly to the CTA..
Even worse, she jumped to Comcast 3 months after pushing for the Comcast NBC merger. Bought and paid for by your tax dollars.
This was the restriction placed on her (came from wikipedia, so take with a grain of salt.)
"While Baker may immediately lobby Congress and supervise employees who directly lobby the FCC, to comply with President Barack Obama's ethics pledge, she may not personally lobby any executive branch political appointee (including the FCC) while Obama is in office. However after two years, she may lobby non-political appointees at the FCC. Additionally she may never personally lobby anyone on the Comcast/NBC merger agreement"
I came, I conquered, I coredumped
In theory, true.
Just like a good manager can manage anything.
In practice, however, a lobbyist is much more valuable if he or she has cultivated contacts and inside access to a particular regulatory bureaucracy. They guy pestering the Assistant Deputy Undersecretary in the lobby is vastly less effective, and commands much less money, than the guy who can dial the private phone number of the department head's own secretary and schedule a couple hours with his immediate successor in the job of department head.
And that's where the conflict of interest lives: a person gained access and personal trust in the context of public service. He cashes in on that asset, originally conferred for the benefit of the public, for his own personal benefit (bigtime lobbying contracts) and the benefit of his private clients (in the regulated field). Plus, you know, regulatory capture.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
No more so than currently, and there are simply fixes for preventing such situations even in pure democracies (require 2/3 or more vote to pass basic laws, 85% or more to modify constitution, etc). A few years ago you could have made the claim that "well reps have more time to analyze the issues" but I think that myth has been pretty much debunked. Most congressman/woman don't actually read the legislation they are passing & can't even answer basic questions in regards to it. At bare minimum I think we need a "third branch" of congress, a group of randomly selected citizens that would act as a buffer against the current engrained culture in Washington. Say 100 randomly selected citizens from all states, after legislation is passed by the senate & house it goes to them. If even 1/3 vote in favor it goes on to the president, if 65% vote against its kicked back to congress, if 90% vote against it the sponsors of the bill get permanently ejected from federal government work.
Lots of easy constructive ideas:
1) vote
2) boycott
3) inform those in Wash DC of their folly
4) vote with $$ just like the big guys do
5) present the facts, and let people decide.
Etc. Doesn't take imagination. We've been here before.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.