Revolving Door Rotates Freely for FCC PR People

The revolving door rotates freely in government public relations. At just one federal agency with about 1,700 total employees, at least 14 public relations experts and lawyers who advise on issues including PR came or left during the Obama administration. Careers of PR practitioners exiting the FCC since about Jan. 21, 2009, spanned the gamut. Some job changes resembled the traditional revolving door, with officials leaving for the industries their employer used to regulate, others were so-called reverse revolvers coming to the agency from entities that lobbied the FCC, while other career paths were less orthodox and don't fall under the revolving door rubric at all. That is according to Communications Daily Freedom of Information Act requests, other records and interviews with those who reviewed our database.

Five of the 11 PR practitioners who left the FCC in the past six years went to work for interests with matters before the commission. Their employers range from TV broadcasters to AT&T to Microsoft, and all appeared to follow applicable rules. This group includes those who worked for chairmen of either or in some cases both parties. A reason the private sector hires such officials "is probably a pretty big payoff for their insider knowledge," said Dan Auble, Center for Responsive Politics senior researcher.

Those who have circulated said there's nothing inherently wrong with it, as long as ethics rules are followed and companies hire government employees for their resumes, not just their Rolodexes. They said companies learn from the expertise of revolvers, who in turn efficiently communicate with those who remain in government, knowing firsthand the time and other demands current officials face. It's "good for both sectors," said Ann Davison, chairwoman of Burson-Marsteller's U.S. public affairs and crisis practice who worked in the Clinton administration. Government PR people are used to "navigating through critical voices and doing everything you can do to maximize the positive response to an announcement," said Porter Novelli Executive Vice President Sean Smith, who was homeland security assistant secretary for public affairs under Obama.

That it's legal and commonplace for federal officials to decamp for companies they oversaw points up rule shortcomings, even after restrictions were added on Barack Obama's first day as president, critics say. They contend the loopholes are exploited by the private sector to gain an informational advantage through tapping insider knowledge. It appears "people are profiting from their government service," said Executive Director Lisa Graves of the Center for Media and Democracy, which tracks the influence of PR. "Does that future job prospect chill having robust regulation?"

Those going through the revolving door the most typical way were: ex-Media Bureau Associate Chief Mary Diamond, who worked under Republican FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and then represented a free conference-calling company; Josh Gottheimer, ex-senior-counselor to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, who went to Microsoft; Edie Herman, a consultant to the FCC on PR under Martin, who went on to do work for USTelecom and some telcos; Rob Kenny, a press secretary to Martin and then on an acting basis to Genachowski who works at PR firm Mercury; and ex-Wireless Bureau Chief of Staff Matt Nodine, who according to a LinkedIn profile went to AT&T after a stint at Mercury. Experts said these officials generally represent the most concerning way the revolving door turns. Diamond, Gottheimer, Nodine and/or their employers didn't respond to repeated requests for comment or had none.

The data are "disturbing," Graves said. The database "confirms the way in which industry has ongoing influence," she said. Experts said the area is ripe for new limits on such activities.

FCC Lobbying

Some ex-FCC PR staffers lobby the agency, while others deal with media coverage of issues involving the commission. Even those who don't lobby can shape lobbying strategies, experts said. Some think such strategizing, not just lobbying itself, should be banned for a time following government service.

Diamond lobbied the agency beginning just over a year after she left, ex parte disclosures show. She represented Free Conferencing Corp. in 2010 and 2011. That company and others were battling with major telcos over revenue-sharing arrangements between small, rural telcos and free conferencing companies that big carriers contended amounted to traffic pumping (see report in the Oct. 7, 2009, issue).

Kenny, who said he was always in a civil-service position in his time at the FCC, is senior vice president at Mercury, and also director-public affairs for TVFreedom.org. That coalition of broadcasters advocates for TV stations to be paid when cable and other companies carry their programming. His biography on Mercury's website said Kenny "has built strong professional relations with Washington, DC media covering telecommunications and technology issues over the years."

Herman, who worked for AT&T and this publication before the FCC, said journalists can "bring to government positions the same attributes that made them good journalists. As a reporter, I endeavored to be clear, honest and knowledgeable about the subject matter I was covering. I found these traits were equally valuable" at the FCC. After Herman left the commission, she consulted on PR for USTelecom. She also has been a spokeswoman at America's Broadband Connectivity plan, a partly successful effort by USTelecom and some members, including AT&T and Verizon, to get the FCC to change the USF to pay for broadband.

Revolvers said their value to the private sector lies in their ability to multitask and prioritize in stressful situations, their awareness of complex issues and their ability to teach corporate PR people how to deal with reporters. "That’s what our clients are really looking for," Burson-Marsteller's Davison said. Porter Novelli's Smith said government PR people are adept at "lining up third parties to validate your announcement."

Rules Needed

Current ethics rules aren't enough to limit the negative effects of the revolving door, critics said.

The list of movers "shows the revolving door restriction doesn’t cover many officials," said Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen. It also shows "influence peddling run amok," said Holman, with "wealthy special interest firms buying direct access to the FCC by employing people who are well connected" there.

Highly regulated companies increasingly employ ex-officials to be more proactive on regulatory issues, said Larry Parnell, a veteran of corporate and government PR who now runs a master's degree program at The George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management. The role of ex-government spokespeople in the private sector is to know which federal staffer to call to get an answer for their company or clients, he said. Parnell said their backgrounds are "almost like on-the-job training for a D.C.-based PR professional."

The records paint a picture of demanding government posts, with job descriptions saying employees should be prepared to deal with critics of the FCC and with controversial issues. The average tenure of FCC PR people who left the agency in this administration was just over two years. PR work schedules and job requirements can be more demanding in the federal government than in the private sector, especially at high-profile agencies dealing with security or other issues that occur around the clock, said President John Verrico of the National Association of Government Communicators (NAGC), a group of government public information officers. Verrico works at the Department of Homeland Security, and wasn't speaking on its behalf.

The average annual salary of about $152,000 for current FCC PR people who have come onto the job in this administration, while high by government standards, is less than such communications veterans can expect to earn in the private sector, some said. Doubling one's salary is possible, Parnell said. “A year of service at a government agency can be worth maybe 10 years of experience at some companies that just don’t receive media inquiries at a very high rate," Smith said. Forty-four percent of the 92 federal government PR experts in an informal online survey in February and March said their annual salary and benefits exceeded $110,000, according to research by At Last Communications for NAGC.

Noncontroversial Moves

Some ex-FCC PR people made career transitions that experts found unobjectionable, and others new to the agency are blocked for two years from working on issues specific to former employers (see 1412190051). Among those subject to the administration's reverse revolver ban are: Kim Hart, current press secretary to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who was hired in May from Neustar, which may lose a contract to run a phone number database, and who used to work for publications including The Washington Post and Politico; and Gigi Sohn, special counsel for external affairs to Wheeler who was hired in November 2013 from Public Knowledge, which she ran.

Press secretaries to Democratic chairmen, Justin Cole and Jen Howard, left the FCC to do PR at the FTC and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, respectively. And Shannon Gilson joined the FCC as communications director in November 2013 from the White House.

Leaving for the private sector but at interests not necessarily regulated by their ex-employer were: Bartees Cox, deputy press secretary to Wheeler who now works on labor and other issues in New York at PR firm BerlinRosen, and Tammy Sun, FCC communicators director under Genachowski who went to work for online document-sharing services provider Evernote. David Fiske, longtime FCC spokesman who before that worked for this publication and at CBS, retired from the commission in 2011 to do freelance writing and editing.

Clyde Ensslin, a political appointee who worked on PR under Martin and left the FCC days after Obama took office, was among those taking different career paths. Ensslin now drives passengers booking trips through Uber, a job where he said he observes firsthand millennials, a demographic he targets in his financial services work.