Ethics in Government

The Revolving Door Project has previously proposed that the Biden administration pass an executive order enshrining a strongest-ever ethics commitment for executive branch political appointees. Among other things, this commitment would include a pledge not to own individual stocks while in public office. A new Inspector General report on the ethical minefield of a high-level EPA appointee who owns dozens of individual companies’ stocks demonstrates why this sort of simple, clear ethics rule is essential for increasing trust in government.

Michael Steed is set to speak at an event during the Democratic Convention in Chicago. But Steed’s history of looting union members’ pockets through shady stock buyback schemes means he should have no place in the Harris-Walz Democratic party.

Bringing tech and finance executives into government because they are ‘the country’s smartest and hardest-working people’ is faintly ridiculous.

Gas industry influence groups Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future and the Partnership to Address Global Emissions (PAGE Coalition) are reportedly hosting an event on Capitol Hill on Tuesday with Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA). The event seeks to bring attention to a new report they’re releasing downplaying the lifecycle emissions of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as the Energy Department works to update its impact analysis for permitting new gas exports. Founded and funded by LNG industry players, the groups are vocal proponents of expanding methane gas exports, aiming to frame exports as a climate solution despite their outsized greenhouse gas emissions and toxic local air pollution. 

In late May, Brian Deese, the former director of President Biden’s National Economic Council and current MIT fellow, wrote about “The Next Front in the War Against Climate Change” for The Atlantic. Deese explained that while the Inflation Reduction Act’s incentives have stimulated clean energy demand “beyond my wildest hopes,” he still finds himself “lying awake at night, worried that America could still fail to meet its climate goals.” 

How Jim Demint’s think-tank network is setting the stage for a second Trump term.