March 06, 2024 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter
Throwing the Public’s Defenders Under the (Mini)Bus
By Friday, Congress needs to vote on a proposed “minibus”—a package of six out of the 12 necessary government spending bills for fiscal year 2024—to avoid a partial government shutdown. We’ve got a handy explainer of all the federal budget terms you wish you didn’t need to know, from “minibus” to “poison pill” to the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, which is the reason why our country’s grotesque military budget is getting a $26 billion boost up to $886 billion, while non-defense spending is getting a $4 billion cut, down to $773 billion.
While there are plenty of damning narratives to derive from the latest in government appropriations dysfunction, there is one story in particular that we’re anxious to see told by the White House and Congressional Democrats, and it’s this…
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March 05, 2024
Henry Burke Jeff Hauser Andrea Beaty
Press Release Anti-MonopolyCorporate CrackdownDepartment of Justice
The Revolving Door Project Commends Price “Strike Force,” Calls On Biden Administration To Continue Cracking Down On Corporate Greed
Price Gouging Has Been Enabled Through Decades Of Unchecked Corporate Consolidation. The Strike Force Will Protect Consumers From Unfair Pricing And Unbridled Corporate Power.
![](https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Discover-logo.jpg)
March 05, 2024 | The Sling
The Proposed Merger of Capital One and Discover Deserves Rigorous Scrutiny
Last month, Capital One announced that it plans to purchase Discover in a deal worth $35.3 billion. For their campaign to secure regulatory approval, Capital One is trying to act like a benevolent pro-consumer company that will use economies of scale to lower interest rates and ramp up competition with Visa and Mastercard. But that’s probably baloney.
![](https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/sf-apartments.jpg)
March 01, 2024
Departing RealPage Exec’s Flimsy Rant Against Rent Control
As he leaves the scandal-plagued firm, Jay Parsons offers one last defense of rent-gougers.
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February 26, 2024
RELEASE: Wyden Unethically Champions Big Tech’s Anti-Regulatory Push Despite Wife’s Massive Investments In Apple, Microsoft, Amazon And Google
A new report this weekend revealed how the wife of Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has maintained significant financial ties to Big Tech companies even as the Senate Finance Committee Chairman is playing a leading role in Big Tech’s global push for deregulation.
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January 31, 2024 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter
More Revolvers Join The Fight Against The Regulatory State
The regulatory authority of the executive branch is under attack, and BigLaw firms stacked with revolvers are on the front lines leading the assault. I’ve previously written about former FTC Commissioner Christine Varney challenging the legitimacy of her former employer on behalf of pharma company Illumina. Lawyers at Latham & Watkins, a firm stacked with revolvers from executive branch agencies, are before the Supreme Court challenging the Chevron Doctrine, which defers to executive agencies’ interpretations when legislative statutes are unclear. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s ability to hold administrative proceedings hangs in the balance as we await the Supreme Court’s decision in SEC v. Jarkesy, where the Fifth Circuit’s ruling decimated the agency’s authority. In a new attack, revolvers on the labor/management relations team at Morgan Lewis & Bockius have their sights set on the plutocrats’ latest target: the National Labor Relations Board.
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January 26, 2024
The FTC Ain’t Nothin to Mess With
The FTC has won its lawsuit against Martin Shkreli, the pharmaceutical executive infamous for jacking up the price of the antiparasitic drug Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 overnight in 2015 and later using his ill-gotten fortune to buy an exclusive Wu-Tang Clan album for $2 million. Shkreli is the quintessential corporate ghoul, having already racked up convictions for securities fraud—which resulted in an indefinite ban from the securities industries—and failure to pay $1.26 million in New York state taxes. Now, his price gouging has finally caught up with him, as the FTC successfully argued that he spearheaded an anti-competitive scheme to monopolize the drug. The presiding judge found Shkreli’s conduct to be “egregious, deliberate, repetitive, long-running, and ultimately dangerous,” issuing a $64.6 million fine and imposing a lifetime ban from the pharmaceutical industry.
![](https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Day6Round2_-_KPMG_Tower_entrance.jpg)
January 26, 2024 | The American Prospect
Corporate Self-Oversight
Accounting’s technical jargon makes the industry obscure to most Americans. It’s likely your next-door neighbor has no idea of the PCAOB’s activities, its responsibility to protect investors, or its history of negligence. That’s expected, but chair Williams is now working to turn the ship around to fix the shortcomings of one of America’s most consequential oligopolies, and it will improve the economic lives of an unaware public.
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December 15, 2023
Hack WatchNewsletter Anti-MonopolyDepartment of JusticeEconomic PolicyFTCHousingMedia Accountability
Bidenomics Needs A Corporate Crackdown On Rent-Gougers
The RealPage scandal gives Biden a real opportunity to rally working-class support for his reelection campaign.
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December 13, 2023 | RDP Newsletter
Antitrust Roundup: Revolver Strikes Back, March-In Rights & Other News
While former FTC commissioner Noah Phillips defends private equity from antitrust lawsuits, the media attacks current Chair Lina Khan for … doing her job.
December 05, 2023
Advocacy Groups Urge Small Businesses To Cease Partnerships With Monopolies
The Washington Post featured a letter sent by the Revolving Door Project and 12 other advocacy groups urging the SBA to cease its partnerships with monopolies for NSBW 2024.
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November 15, 2023 | RDP Newsletter
We Can’t Let Budget Negotiations Make A Punching Bag of Agency Capacity
As negotiations to prevent a government shutdown heat up once again, Democratic and Republican Representatives in the House are poised to make a play on agency resources.
October 26, 2023
RELEASE: Watchdog Group Requests Communications Between DOJ Officials And Google Defender Paul Weiss
Following news coverage that Yelp and the News/Media Alliance filed an unsuccessful motion to take BigLaw firm Paul Weiss off Google’s defense team in the adtech antitrust case brought by the DOJ, the Revolving Door Project submitted a Freedom of Information Act Request for communications between Paul Weiss and key Department of Justice officials. The American Prospect featured the request in their coverage of Google’s attempts to remove DOJ Antitrust Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter from the case, as well as Paul Weiss’ potential conflicts.
October 16, 2023
Letter To Judge Freeman Calling For Recusal
On October 16, the Revolving Door Project sent a letter to Judge Beth Labson Freeman calling for her recusal in NetChoice, LLC v. Bonta. Judge Freeman granted a preliminary injunction to prevent California from enforcing the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (CAADCA), which regulates platforms that target content to children.