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July 28, 2021
Revolver Spotlight: Elizabeth Fowler
Fowler, a former Johnson & Johnson executive, is the latest Biden hire to spin through Pharma’s revolving door.

July 23, 2021 | American Prospect
It's Big Business As Usual For Biden's Ambassadorship Picks
If Biden is emerging as an anti-monopoly president, then why is he rewarding Cohen, a fixer for one of the go-to examples of monopoly power in America? More importantly, if he hopes to redeem American democracy from Trumpism, why is Biden rewarding the political strategist for a company that does not care about basic voting rights, especially for Black people?

July 16, 2021
With Rumored USPTO Pick, Biden Prioritized Patronage Over Patent Reform
After months of delay, Biden is rumored to have selected a new Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) acceptable to Delaware Senator Chris Coons. If true, that will mean Biden has sacrificed a critical opportunity to catalyze bold patent reform in the service of political patronage. Reports have indicated that Biden offered Coons, who expressed hope that coronavirus might be a “sword” for stronger IP protections, the power to decide the next USPTO Director as a consolation prize for not having been named Secretary of State.

July 08, 2021
Biden Must Withdraw ExxonMobil- And Wall Street-Linked Nominee, 23 Groups Say
“As a private corporate attorney, MacBride defended fossil fuel companies, Wall Street giants, Big Tech monopolies, and a myriad of other corporate industries,” the groups wrote. “His past work fighting vigorously and successfully on behalf of corporations against the public interest disqualifies him from a role in the administration.”

July 08, 2021
Biden Hires Top Officials From Big Tech-Aligned Law Firm, New Report Finds
Over the course of its decade-long partnership with Facebook, Latham has fought consumer data breach litigation, quashed federal investigations into corrupt practices by Facebook contractors, and advised on mergers and acquisitions that have cemented Facebook’s tech monopoly status (including its highly-controversial 2014 purchase of WhatsApp, a merger that is currently being challenged by the FTC).

July 06, 2021
Anita Dunn Paid To Evade Transparency, Undermining Trust In Government
The Annual Report on White House Personnel has confirmed what we’ve long suspected: Anita Dunn took an anomalously low salary to shield her financial information from public view. In essence, Dunn purchased the right to secrecy.

June 30, 2021
Amid Climate Crisis, Biden Stacks Administration With Fossil Fuel Industry Allies
President Biden has hired several Big Oil consultants and insiders to staff the executive branch amid growing calls for federal climate action.

June 29, 2021
ExxonMobil Ally Elizabeth Rosenberg In Line For Top Job In Biden’s Treasury
New financial disclosure filings reveal that Elizabeth Rosenberg, Biden’s pick for Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing, was a consultant for ExxonMobil and a Big Oil-aligned corporate law firm.

June 23, 2021 | The American Prospect
Steve Ricchetti, And Democrats' Failures At Self-Awareness
Over the Juneteenth weekend, two different men in two different venues told the story of elite Washington in the early Biden era.

June 14, 2021
BlackRock’s New Hire Embodies The Polluting Giant’s Revolving Door Regime
Asset management giant BlackRock most recently made the news for buying up huge tracts of U.S. housing stock to become, essentially, a massive corporate landlord at the expense of all the rest of us. (Seems like they are learning a thing or two from private equity firm Blackstone, to which they formerly belonged, which is infamous for its predatory and downright evil infiltration of the housing market.)

June 10, 2021 | American Prospect
Jerome Powell Went Easy On Wall Street
Just as a president shouldn’t only be judged on whether or not they started a war, Fed chairs shouldn’t only be judged on whether they raised or lowered interest rates. That’s their most salient power, but they have other, more complex ways of affecting our lives. Financial regulation is one of the most important of these, and it’s one on which current Fed chairman Jerome Powell has failed badly.

June 07, 2021
Revolver Spotlight: Leslie Caldwell
Leslie Caldwell, a top corporate criminal defense partner at BigLaw giant Latham & Watkins, is in the running for a U.S. Attorney job under Biden. Her record championing draconian anti-hacking laws and helping big corporations evade accountability for white-collar crimes should preclude her from any role in the Biden administration.

June 07, 2021 | The American Prospect
Former Corporate Lawyer Set to Lead Army Corps of Engineers as Planet Sizzles
Michael Connor of WilmerHale has been appointed to run a surprisingly important agency in efforts to mitigate the climate crisis.

June 03, 2021
Top Treasury Nominee Caught In A Cesspool Of Conflicts Of Interest
It’s hard to imagine a lawyer more conflicted on so much of the Treasury’s issue portfolio, and for such egregious reasons. A quick glance at MacBride’s own page on Davis Polk’s website is all it takes to see he cannot be trusted to act in the public’s interest.

May 18, 2021
Executive Branch Financial Disclosures
The Revolving Door Project will be tracking these disclosures and flagging important revelations revealed by the OGE to ensure high level political appointees are not financially beholden to special interests they may regulate in government.