Washington Watch
Public officials can't resist the lure of big-bucks private jobs. And private firms can't resist their contacts and insider information.
Bob Stauffer’s job destined him for big things. As an executive of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, he developed guidelines for state automation of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (now Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), Medicaid and Food Stamp eligibility. To receive approval for their automation plans, every state human service director in the country had to work through point man Stauffer.
Today, Stauffer is point man for Electronic Data Systems (EDS). As vice president and director of EDS’s human services marketing, he’s pitching the company’s automation systems to the same human services directors who sought his ap-proval in public office.
Anything wrong with this picture? Nothing illegal. As an appointed federal government official, Stauffer was not restricted under many state laws from dealing with the states once he left his federal job.
But even where no illegalities or improprieties exist, the "revolving door" of government to business — and vice versa — offers opportunities for corruption, especially bribery, financial windfalls, conflicts of interest and other ethics violations.
BIG BUCKS. The revolving door can affect public interest before and after government executives change jobs. For instance, private firms identify government officials who have information valuable to future government contracts. Their representatives begin to woo public officials. Flattered by the attention — and by the possibility of a future big-bucks job with the company — government officials could be tempted to offer insider information valuable to contract bidding.
Once public officials are in private jobs, they carry information that gives their new employers an advantage over competing private firms. They also provide access to former government colleagues, which might weigh heavily in the awarding of contracts.
While the revolving door doesn’t necessarily lead to illegality, sometimes it does. And often it gives the impression of impropriety. For instance:
Kenneth Rogers, former project director for the West Virginia Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System, pleaded guilty to passing in-sider information to Maximus, Inc., and was sentenced to four months in prison and four months of home confinement. Maximus not only put Roberts on its payroll as the information system was opened for bids, but also promised him a $100,000 job after Maximus won the contract.
Lockheed Martin IMS President and CEO John Brophy is the former assistant director of the District of Columbia’s Department of Transportation. In July 1997, IMS’s $26.5 million parking meter contract was set aside indefinitely after allegations that former city officials now on IMS’s payroll may have given IMS an unfair advantage in winning the contract.
In Texas, Greg Hartman was accused of violating the state’s revolving-door law after leaving the Texas Comptroller’s office and joining the management consulting firm MGT as a partner and southwest regional director. MGT allegedly was assisting Lockheed Martin in its bid for a state welfare reform project.
PLUCKING OFFICIALS. These are only a few of the hundreds, if not thousands, of instances of business plucking public officials for their firms. As taxpayers and public employees, AFSCME members should be aware of the connection between revolving-door appointments and the massive fraud, abuse and cost overruns being reported on private contracts throughout the country.
Could it be that the revolving door that rewards government officials once they leave office is a driving force behind privatization? After all, if megabucks jobs await public officials in private industry, how many would oppose privatization of programs and services, even where there is no evidence that private companies can perform them better than government?
Where private companies raid talent from the public domain, the fox is in the hen house. No wonder advocacy groups such as Common Cause are calling for stronger laws to stop the revolving door which blurs the lines between government and business — and which compromises the integrity of both.
By Catherine Barnett Alexander
