Erie news media, bloggers, ignore Phil English's mad dash through the "revolving doors"

“Although the influence powerhouses that line Washington's K Street* are just a few miles from the U.S. Capitol building, the most direct path between the two doesn't necessarily involve public transportation. Instead, it's through a door—a revolving door that shuffles former federal employees into jobs as lobbyists, consultants and strategists just as the door pulls former hired guns into government careers. While members of the executive branch, Congress and senior congressional staffers spin in and out of the private and public sectors, so too does privilege, power, access and, of course, money.” *(K Street is the legendary lane in the nation’s capital where lobbying organizations are concentrated. From Open Secrets: The Center for Responsive Politics – Revolving Doors.

A comprehensive report several years ago done for the national public interest organization, Public Citizen, states unequivocally that “Lobbying is the top career choice for departing members of Congress. It also states that “Departing Republican members lead Democrats in the rush to K Street.”

Former Congressman Phil English of Erie, a Republican who represented Pennsylvania’s House District Three for 14 years until he was defeated last year by U.S. Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, an Erie Democrat, fits the revolving door mold perfectly, joining the prominent lobbying and law firm Arent Fox in Washington D.C. following his loss last November to Ms. Dahlkemper.

Only a few months out of office, barely breaking stride, Mr. English dashed through the revolving doors separating his congressional role - where he dealt extensively with issues and institutions in the private commercial and government sectors - from the private sector, where he will now deal with Congress on their behalf.

Mr. English began writing a column recently for former Erie Times-News Reporter Peter Panepento’s blog, Global/Outside Erie. Although he alludes to his new position with Arent Fox LLP in his inaugural column, he never once mentions the words “lobby” or “lobbying,” even though Arent Fox is one of the most prestigious lobbying firms in the nation.

It’s not located on K Street, but it boasts a prominent venue on Connecticut Ave, NW, not too far from the White House and the U.S. Capitol Building with offices in New York City and Los Angeles. Besides lobbying Congress and government agencies on behalf of powerful clients, Arent Fox is a busy litigator in virtually every field of commerce, keeping its more than 300 lawyers busy representing clients in litigation.

In his first column for Outside/Global Erie, Mr. English identifies himself as Arent Fox’s Senior Government Relations Advisor, a supervisory position. Some of the more prominent lobbyists whom Mr. English joins in his new job are or have been Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and U.S. Senator; John Culver, former U.S. Senator for Iowa, both of whom currently work with him at the firm's Washington, D.C. office; and Fred Thompson, former U.S. Senator for Tennessee, Actor and 2008 presidential candidate who once lobbied for the company.

Under the “cooling off period” prescribed by federal law, Mr. English may not directly lobby his former colleagues in the House of Representative until a year after he was voted out of office last year. But as Arent Fox’s Senior Government Relations Advisor, he may and does legally supervise and advise the firm’s lobbyists who do, a difference without much of a distinction. Whether he will retain that title and function after the cooling off period or proceed actively to lobby his former congressional colleagues is perhaps a question he can answer in an ensuing column.

In his first column several weeks ago, Mr. English characterized his day job with Arent Fox somewhat euphemistically, thusly: “My new professional home is Arent Fox LLP, a highly regarded Washington area law firm. As their Senior Government Relations Advisor, my practice involves developing strategies and solving problems in many of the areas I was active in as Congressman – healthcare, trade, taxes, and energy among others. The firm has given me a wonderful opportunity to continue my work as part of a world-class bipartisan team.”
The key phrase within that statement which gives one pause is “in many of the areas I was active in as Congressman.” While a member of Congress, Mr. English was endowed with secret status in dealing with sensitive classified government information. Though prohibited from using that insider information other than in his official capacity as congressman, there’s nothing to prevent him from surreptitiously utilizing it as an Arent Fox operative. Indeed, though he and they would probably deny it, that’s one of the main reasons why the firm hired him. Inside information and privileged access. It’s the fatal flaw in the government’s revolving door architecture.

Though Mr. English has every legal right to engage the revolving door syndrome –hundreds of congressmen before him have – and Arent Fox to hire him, it’s his ethical mores which are in serious question here. Mr. English says the job with Arent Fox has given him a “wonderful opportunity to continue my work (my emphasis) as part of a world-class bipartisan team.”

Is that a Freudian slip? Was he subliminally or consciously working for Arent Fox as a congressman?

More significantly, why wouldn’t Mr. English offer his post-congressional services to a recognized and respected non-profit public interest organization and use the skills, access and insider information he acquired at public expense while in Congress to advance a broad public agenda consistent with his work in Congress? After all, the taxpayers continue to pay him through the generous, indeed exhorbitant pension and retirement benefits package which Congress, with Mr. English’s collaboration, have bestowed upon themselves.

It's noteworthy that neither the mainstream Erie news media nor the local blogoshphere have noted, much less challenged Mr. English’s mad dash through the revolving door, nor his self-serving characterization as anything but the lobbyist/opportunist he really is. Did the sponsor of the blog to which Mr. English contributes, a former newspaper reporter, check his journalist credentials at the door when he launched his blog?