Washington Post: Biden Unveils Ethics Rules for Transition Staff

 

POLITICS 

 ELECTION 2020

Biden Unveils Ethics Rules for Transition Staff

The plan seeks to limit the influence of lobbyists while the transition team prepares for a possible Biden administration

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WASHINGTON—Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden unveiled new ethics rules to limit the number of registered lobbyists on his transition team, part of an effort to avoid conflicts of interest as the team begins planning for a possible Biden presidency.

Under the new rules released on Wednesday, members of Mr. Biden’s transition team must commit to not working on policy matters that might represent a financial conflict of interest. Transition staff are also barred from buying or selling individual stocks without approval from the transition team’s general counsel, former Facebook lawyer Jessica Hertz.

“The Plan aims to ensure that Transition team members abide by the highest ethical standards, act solely in furtherance of the public interest, and base all policy and personnel decisions on merit, free from individual conflicts of interest,” the ethics plan says.

The rules, which take effect immediately, don’t impose a blanket ban on lobbyists. Instead, they mandate that individuals who are registered lobbyists, or have registered as lobbyists within the past year, must get approval from the general counsel to serve on the transition team.

A transition official said the transition team had granted a handful of exceptions to the lobbying restrictions, including for “individuals with expertise in pandemic response who recently advocated on behalf of their public interest, nonprofit employers.”

Federal law requires that presidential transition teams release a set of ethics rules, part of broader mandates meant to ensure a smooth transition of power.

Whether they are formally registered as a lobbyist or not, transition staffers are barred by the new plan from working on policy issues on which they have lobbied in the past year or on which they anticipate lobbying in the year after the transition is over. The general counsel can also make exceptions to those restrictions. For a year after leaving the transition team, staffers cannot lobby federal departments or agencies on policy issues they worked on during their time on the transition.

Individuals who have advised foreign governments or foreign political parties must also receive special approval from the general counsel to join the transition team. Transition staffers must agree not to advise foreign governments or foreign political parties for one year after the transition is over. That restriction is similar to limits imposed on some former government employees under federal ethics rules.

Political candidates of both parties have grappled with what role former lobbyists should play in their campaigns and administrations. President Trump came under criticism during the 2016 campaign for tapping lobbyists to work on his transition team and later installing them in senior positions at many federal agencies. During his 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump had pledged to “drain the swamp” in Washington.

Mr. Trump’s 2016 transition team required that staff commit to not lobby for six months after the transition ended. Several people who worked on the transition registered as lobbyists months after the transition team disbanded, Politico reported.

Former President Obama’s 2008 presidential transition team imposed restrictions that are similar to the ones Mr. Biden is putting in place. Mr. Obama’s rules prevented transition staff from working during the transition on issues on which they had previously lobbied.

Mr. Biden’s transition team has so far declined to release a full list of staff and volunteers, though it has touted the role of several high-profile figures. The team is expected to balloon to several hundred people after Election Day if Mr. Biden wins.

The Biden transition team’s advisory board is being led by five co-chairs: Anita Dunn, a senior campaign adviser; New Mexico Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham; former Sen. Ted Kaufman (D., Del.); Rep. Cedric Richmond (D., La.); and Jeff Zients, who headed the White House National Economic Council during the Obama administration. The transition team said earlier this week that Cindy McCain, the wife of the late GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona, also is joining the advisory board.

Biden transition officials have sought to play down their work so as not to overshadow the campaign. But people familiar with the matter said the transition has begun setting up working groups focused on key policy areas in an effort to turn the campaign’s policy goals into detailed plans that can be rolled out in the first 100 days of a Biden administration. The transition team has also started talking about personnel matters as it weighs filling thousands of jobs across the federal government.