36 Former Lobbyists Working for Trump Have Clear Conflicts of Interest
By Craig Holman
More than three dozen former lobbyists who serve in the Trump Administration handle the same specific issues on which they lobbied within the past two years, a new Public Citizen report shows, revealing what appears to be a breach of President Trump’s own ethics rules.
Trump promised to “drain the swamp” when he got to Washington, D.C. He issued an ethics executive order allowing former lobbyists to immediately join the administration. To lessen conflicts of interest, they are not permitted to work on “specific issue areas” that they lobbied on unless they receive a waiver.
Yet Donald Trump’s appointments have included not just former lobbyists, but dozens of lobbyists whose governmental responsibilities fall into the same specific issue areas on which they lobbied within the past two years. Of 36 such appointees, only four have received waivers from the ethics rules.
The numbers of lobbyist-appointees with conflicts of interest reflect the widespread disregard for ethics in the Trump administration. There appears to be very little awareness of the ethics rules among appointees and even less willingness to enforce these rules by the White House itself.”
The report, titled “The Company We Keep: Lobbyists and the Prevalence of Conflicts of Interest in the Trump Administration,” identifies 133 former lobbyists appointed to posts in the administration, 36 of which have clear conflicts of interest and another 13 of which are in positions described so vaguely that it is not possible to determine whether a conflict exists.
The report was written by Craig Holman, Ph.D., government affairs lobbyist; and Alex Brown, researcher, at Public Citizen. Public Citizen Researcher Gizela Thomas also contributed to the report.
| Department | Name | Title | Conflicting Clients |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture | Russell Laird | Special Assistant | National Cooperative Services Corporation (2011-2016) |
| Commerce | Earl Comstock | Director, Office of Policy and Strategic Planning | Swiss Airlines (2015) |
| Education | Taylor Hansen* | Special Assistant to the Secretary | Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities (2016). |
| Energy | William Greene | Assistant to the Secretary | Safari Club International on issues relating to resource conservation (Q12016) |
| Energy | Mark Maddox | Assistant to the Secretary | Noranda Aluminum (2009-Q22015), General Synfuels International (2014-2015) |
| Health and Human Services | Timothy Clark | Senior Advisor to the Secretary | Esai Inc (2014-Q12017) |
| Health and Human Services | Lance Leggitt | Senior Advisor to the Secretary | All American Medical Supplies (2013-2015), Advanced Diabetes Supply (2011-2015), Advanced Infusion Services 2011-Q32016), Arriva Medical (2011-Q42016), and others. Granted Waiver |
| Health and Human Services | Keagan Lenihan | Senior Advisor to the Secretary | McKesson Corporation and Its Affiliate US Oncology (2011-2016) |
| Health and Human Services | Steven Valentine | Special Assistant | Partners Healthcare (2015-16) and American Water Enterprise Group (2011, 2015) |
| Homeland Security | Kevin Carroll | Special Advisor | Financial Markets Association, including DHS lobbying (2010-2016) |
| Homeland Security | Julie Kirchner | Advisor | Federation for American Immigration Reform (2008-2015) |
| Homeland Security | Chad Wolf | Advisor | Pershing Square Capital (2014-2016), Cintas Corp. on labor (2014-2016), ABB (robotics and cybersecurity from 2014-2016), Analogic (aviation security as recent as 2015), and others |
| Interior | Daniel Fisher* | Miscellaneous Clerk and Assistant | American Concrete Pressure Pipe Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, and Aeronautical Repair station Association on Taxes, aviation regulation, labor, and energy (Keystone pipeline) from 2009-2017. |
| Labor | Byron Anderson | Special Assistant to the Secretary | American General Corp (1999-2001) and Transamerica Companies (2007-2016) on Consumer and network issues, including Labor |
| Labor | Geoffrey Burr | Special Assistant to the Secretary | Associated Builders and Contractors Inc (contracting, regulations, Injuries, general Labor, 2003-2015) |
| Office of the Secretary of Defense | Justin Mikolay | Special Assistant | Palantir Technology, including advocating its software in intelligence and defense organizations, (2015 and 2016) |
| Trade and Development | Peter Barrett | Senior Advisor | National Association of State Treasurers on taxes, municpal funds and regluaton of money markets (2012-2015) |
| Transportation | Erika Baum | Executive Assistant to the Secretary | General Mills 2011-2017, including transportaion issues in 2015, Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. 1999 -2001 |
| Transportation | Christopher Hess | Special Advisor | Advanced Engine Systems Institute from 2011-2017, Eaton Corp from 2008-2017 on issues involving air quality, fuels, and vehicals |
| Transportation | Allison Moore | Press Secretary | Fresh Produce Association of the Americas (2008-Q42016), including transportation issues in 2015 and 2016 |
| Treasury | Andrew Smith | Advisor | Tax issues for Distilled Spirits Council (2015-2017) |
| US Trade Rep. | Stephen Vaughn | General Counsel | U.S. Steel (2014-2015) on trade laws |
| Transportation | Anthony Bedell | Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs | Transurban (2017) |
| Interior | David Bernhardt | Deputy Secretary of the Interior | Active Network LLC (DOT, 2015-2016), Westlands Water District (2011-2016) |
| Executive Office of the President | Michael Catanzaro | Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Energy and Environmental Policy, National Economic Council | America's Natural Gas Alliance (2015), American Fuel and Petrochemicals (2016-Q12017), Bradford White Corporation (2015-2017), Devon Energy Corporation (2015-Q12017) |
| Justice | Makan Delrahim | Assistant Attorney General | Ceasar's Enterprise Services (Harrah's casinos, 2009-2016), LaLiga (relating to copyrights, 2015-2016), Pfizer (2015-2016), UFC (2016), Qualcomm (copyrights, 2008-2016) |
| Commerce | Gilbert B Kaplan | Undersecretary for International Trade | Appvion to Dept. of Commerce (2008-2016), Coalition for Fair Paper Imports (2012-2016), Zekelman Industries (2007-2016), Micron Technologies (2005-2015) |
| Executive Office of the President | Shahira Knight | Special Assistant to the President for Tax and Retirement Policy, NEC | Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund (Taxes, 2012-2016), FMR LLC (Fidelity investments, 2012-2016). Waiver |
| Executive Office of the President | Andrew Olmem | Special Assistant to the President for Financial Policy | American Express (2015-2017), Angelo, Gordon & Company on banking (2015-2017), Aon Service Corp (2015-2017), BlueMountain Capital Management (2015-2017), D. E. Shaw Galvanic Portfolio (2015-2016), Electronic Transactions Association (2013-2017), GE (2015-2016), Franklin Advisers (2015-2017), Knighthead Capital Management (2015-2016), Marathon Asset Management (2015-2016), MetLife (2014-2017), S&P Global (2014-2017) |
| Environmental Protection | Andrew Wheeler | Deputy Administrator | Bear Head Lng Corporation (natural gas/energy, 2015-2016), Energy Fuels Resources Inc (energy and national resources, 2017), Murray Energy (energy, 2009-2016), Underwriters Labratories (energy, 2015-2017), Xcel Energy (2013-2016) |
| Executive Office of the President | George David Banks | Special Assistant to the President for International Energy and Environment, National Economic Council | American Council for Capital Formation (Energy, tax and environment issues 2015-2016) |
| Agriculture | Kristi Boswell | Senior Advisor | American Farm Bureau (2012-Q12017) |
| Transportation | Chris Brown | Associate Administrator for Government and Industry Affairs | Air Transportation Association of America (2011-Q12015). |
| Housing and Urban Development | Michael Dendas | Senior Advisor | Housing Issues for Home Depot (2015) |
| Health and Human Services | Courtney Lawrence | N/A | America's Health Insurance Plans, Inc (2014-2017) |
| Office of Management and Budget | Joseph Grogan | N/A | Gillead Science (2011-2017, including OMB) |