As a deadline draws near for the congressional "super committee's" deficit reduction plan, attention is focusing on the lobbyists with the best ties to super committee members. And what's clear from our data is that far more lobbyists have worked for super committee members than have previously been disclosed publicly.
The stakes couldn't be higher with decisions that the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, as the super committee is formally known, make. Lobbyists across Washington are hoping to shield their clients from any cuts. Which lobbyists have the best access to the 12 members on the super committee may depend on the personal and professional ties gained from working for a member before going through the revolving door and becoming a lobbyist.
Over the next three weeks, Monday through Thursday, LegiStorm will use our revolving door data to highlight the connections between K Street and the staff of the super committee members. More details and the full list of all revolving door connections in our database are available to our LegiStorm Pro subscribers.
Today we feature Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who has one of the larger stables of former staffers who have worked as lobbyists, given his length of tenure and powerful position as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
LegiStorm has identified at least 69 staffers who have gone through the revolving door after working on his staff. That number includes staff who have worked under Baucus on various committees, including the Finance Committee, as well as the 40 revolving door people who have worked on his personal staff.
For example, Nick Giordiano served as Baucus' legislative director from 1993-95 and as the Chief Democratic Tax Counsel on the Senate Finance Committee from 1997-99, when Baucus was a ranking member. He then left Capitol Hill to join Ernst and Young's lobbying practice. Giordiano's clients include health care interests such as Pfizer and CVS Caremark, as well as financial and insurance companies including Citigroup, Prudential and Charles Schwab. Such companies are likely taking a keen interest in any possible health care or tax reform which may be suggested by the committee.
The revolving door ties don't only run from Congress to lobbying. Former lobbyists who currently work for the super committee members may also have a hand in forming the committee's final plan. One possible influential lobbyist-turned-staffer is the chief tax counsel of the Senate Finance Committee, Lily Batchelder, who works under Baucus in his capacity as the committee chairman. Batchelder was a lobbyist for Skadden, Arps, Meagher and Flom LLP for two years, and represented Citigroup Inc. among her clients.
You can see other staffers who have worked for Baucus on the Finance Committee and also lobbied on Baucus' revolving door page.
Our revolving door data counts people who have been registered lobbyists and have worked in a congressional office. Our congressional information comes from our comprehensive salary database, which dates back to 2000, as well as research to find older employment records. Most lobby information comes from the domestic lobby records since 2001, when reliable data first became available. Data covering registered foreign agents is available for many years before, although it covers a much smaller number of people.
Despite our much higher number of revolving door connections than has previously been disclosed, our totals are conservative because of the probability that we are missing revolving door connections from before salary data is available electronically, and because we do not include former staff who may be part of the influence industry but haven't registered as lobbyists.
