Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Over the past six years, Pam Bondi has worked as a Washington lobbyist for one of the top firms in the country, representing corporate behemoths such as Amazon and Uber.<\/p>\n
Now, some of the same clients her firm represents are squaring off against the Department of Justice she’s poised to lead. And corporate interests are cautiously optimistic that her selection will shepherd in an administration more friendly to their interests than President Joe Biden’s.<\/p>\n
Her appointment, lobbyists say, could be a win for major U.S. corporations that find themselves crosswise with the Justice Department, including health care giant UnitedHealthcare and social media company TikTok. Those companies have paid tens of thousands of dollars this year to Bondi\u2019s current employer, Ballard Partners, according to lobbying disclosures.<\/p>\n
Bondi\u2019s confirmation as attorney general would also pose a myriad of ethical questions about what kind of access she will grant her firm and whether she will recuse herself from issues involving Ballard.<\/p>\n
Bondi, who has yet to resign from Ballard, where she serves as a D.C.-based partner and chairs the firm\u2019s corporate regulatory compliance practice focusing on Fortune 500 companies. Since 2019, she has lobbied the federal government for a host of major businesses, including Amazon, General Motors, Fidelity National Financial, Uber and Carnival North America. She serves as a key adviser to the firm\u2019s president, Brian Ballard.<\/p>\n
Bondi has also lobbied for the GEO Group, a major private prison company that is paid hundreds of millions of dollars each year by the federal government, according to federal records<\/a>. The Justice Department is a major customer.<\/p>\n Currently, Bondi is only registered to lobby for the Major County Sheriffs of America, which pays her firm $50,000 a quarter, the Florida Sheriffs Risk Management Fund, which pays her firm $20,000 a quarter, and the Florida Sheriffs Association, which pays her firm $20,000 a quarter. Bondi, a former personal attorney to Trump, has also worked on corporate and regulatory issues and litigation at the Florida-based law firm Panza Maurer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is essentially impossible to organize a Justice Department ethically in light of the breadth of Bondi\u2019s connections,\u201d said Jeff Hauser, founder of the progressive Revolving Door Project. \u201cI think it\u2019s just going to be off-the-charts bad.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that even if Bondi were not to involve herself in issues involving certain companies, she could still influence her department in their favor. For example, Hauser argued, her direction for the antitrust division would have broad implications for her onetime client Amazon.<\/p>\n Bondi did not respond to an email seeking comment, and a spokesperson for Amazon declined to comment.<\/p>\n Some business leaders had feared that<\/a>, under Trump, they would lose their allies in the GOP, as the party veered in a more populist direction. But big business is hopeful that with Bondi, they\u2019ll get a reprieve from the Biden administration\u2019s corporate crackdowns and avoid follow-through on the Trump campaign\u2019s anti-corporate rhetoric.<\/p>\n \u201cPam may reinforce that idea that we\u2019re going back to normalcy on deal flow,\u201d said one Republican lobbyist, referring to corporate mergers. The person was granted anonymity to speak candidly. \u201cEveryone believes that she\u2019s approachable. \u2026 She understands that companies need to have an opportunity to be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n The tech industry, for one, is relatively optimistic about Bondi\u2019s nomination, especially compared to former lawmaker and antitrust crusader Matt Gaetz, whose earlier nomination for attorney general imploded. Major companies have spent the last four years fighting anti-monopoly champions at the Department of Justice, led by Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter. With Bondi\u2019s selection, Big Tech sees a movement away from the economic populism that made them major targets, said one lobbyist representing major technology companies.<\/p>\n Among the Justice Department\u2019s legal fights against the world\u2019s largest technology companies is ongoing litigation against Ballard client TikTok and its parent company ByteDance over allegations that the company violated child privacy laws. The department has also been defending the law that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok, a requirement Trump has previously opposed.<\/p>\n TikTok hired Ballard to lobby in early August, according to federal records. The firm was paid $50,000 in the third quarter to lobby Congress around \u201cIssues related to internet technology, regulation of content platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA pick like Pam Bondi does signify a return to more of a centrist approach to really all of business,\u201d said the lobbyist representing major technology companies. \u201cWe’re cautiously optimistic and supportive of her nomination.\u201d<\/p>\n In her previous role as Florida\u2019s attorney general, Bondi came under fire from progressives for decisions not to go after corporate interests. She drew headlines for declining to pursue penalties against Trump University, after the Trump Foundation donated $25,000 to a group backing Bondi. She has claimed the donation played no role in the decision.<\/p>\n Additionally, The New York Times reported in 2014<\/a> that she had decided against prosecuting the hospital bill collection firm that was then known as Accretive Health, after a law firm hired by the business lobbied her office.<\/p>\n “All nominees and appointees will comply with the ethical obligations of their respective agencies,\u201d said Trump transition spokesperson Brian Hughes in a statement.<\/p>\n Brian Ballard, the president of the firm and Bondi\u2019s boss, called her \u201cone of the most ethical straightforward political figures [he\u2019s] ever dealt with.\u201d He predicted she would institute measures to prevent conflict from her previous work and said his firm would comply with those rules.<\/p>\n Ballard brought his firm to Washington at the start of Trump\u2019s presidency and has created a lobbying firm known on K Street as one of the closest to Trump\u2019s orbit. Trump selected another alumna of his firm \u2014 Susie Wiles \u2014 to be his chief of staff, although Wiles was reportedly pressured to leave<\/a> Ballard\u2019s firm.<\/p>\n Bondi could also assume the head of the Justice Department as it pursues litigation against another one of Ballard Partners\u2019 new clients: UnitedHealth. The Biden administration, along with several states, is moving to block UnitedHealth\u2019s acquisition of the health and hospice provider Amedisys, arguing that the merger would harm competition in its industry. Ballard began lobbying for UnitedHealthCare Services, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth, at the federal level last summer.<\/p>\n