The Miami Herald published a story Saturday about the close political relationship between former Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and current AG Pam Bondi.
According to the Herald article, cruise line Royal Caribbean hired McCollum last year to work to alter a consumer protection agreement made with the AG’s office in 1997.
In June 2013, McCollum met with the staff of Bondi’s office. Six months later, Royal Caribbean’s request — that it not be required to “include fees for services, like baggage handling and loading cargo” as part of its advertised rates — was granted.
McCollum has also met with AG staff on behalf of two other clients: e-cigarette company NJOY and mobile health screening company HealthFair. When asked about the morality of using his influence as a former AG to meet with the current AG office on behalf of his clients, McCollum denied any ethical concerns.
“Are we being remunerated for our knowledge and know-how? Yes, we are, and I don’t think that’s inappropriate.”
McCollum may be a very skilled lawyer, but his legal knowledge is not the primary reason why Royal Caribbean and other companies have enlisted his services. They hired him because of his intimate connections with the AG’s office and his ability to direct government policy in his client’s favor.
McCollum also claimed that in his meetings with staff from AG’s office, he was not trying to “influence the attorney general” but simply “represent my client.” His actions perfectly represent the concept of the “revolving door”. Elected officials leave office to take lucrative jobs in the private sector, often as lobbyists, where they use their influence and connections to influence their successors and former colleagues in government.
Increasingly, this influence-peddling is being conducted by lawyers rather than registered lobbyists, making the process even more unaccountable and difficult to track. The Herald only discovered the relationship between McCollum and Bondi’s office through emails exchanged between the former AG and Bondi aides.
The “revolving door” helps produce public policy that favors large corporations that can afford to hire high-profile lobbyists and lawyers over small businesses and ordinary Floridians.
McCollum certainly has the right to earn a decent living using his skills as a lawyer. However, he should not be able to use his political reputation to help change Florida policies in ways that benefit his corporate clients, especially without registering as a lobbyist first.
Florida has a revolving-door law in place, but it only prevents former officeholders from lobbying their previous position for two years. As corporations have moved away from hiring registered lobbyists in favor of lawyers like McCollum, the law has become increasingly meaningless. Florida should expand these restrictions to include not just lobbying, but any form of communication between former and current officeholders involving public business. Otherwise, the type of unethical corporate influence personified by McCollum will continue unabated.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 12/2/2014]
