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Andrew Wheeler’s rise to acting head of the Environmental Protection Agency is only the latest case of a former lobbyist finding an influential role within the Trump administration.

In January 2017, Trump signed an executive order banning former lobbyists from participating in matters in which they had previously lobbied for two years and placing a five-year ban on former Trump appointees lobbying after leaving the administration.

Wheeler, a former energy lobbyist who was confirmed as the EPA’s deputy administrator in April, is one of 164 former lobbyists currently serving in his administration, according to a list of current and former lobbyists with ties to the Trump administration recently published by the Center for Responsive Politics.

The searchable database includes the current Trump staffers and 18 former staffers now working as lobbyists. The page includes the names of staffers, their current or former positions and their most recent private-sector employer.

Each of the “revolving door” lobbyists has a link to their profile page, which shows their annual activity on behalf of organizations, policy issues and bills.

The data show former lobbyists in various roles throughout the federal bureaucracy and often working for agencies they once lobbied, which appears counter to the spirit of Trump’s edict.

Current staffers include a former lobbyist and lawyer with the American Petroleum Institute at the EPA (Erik Baptist), a National Rifle Association lobbyist in the Interior Department (Ben Cassidy) and an American Airlines lobbyist leading the Federal Aviation Administration (Dan Elwell).

Lobbyists currently hold appointed positions at over 40 different federal agencies and departments, including chiefs of staff roles at the Department of Homeland Security (Chad Wolf) and Office of Management and Budget (Emma King Doyle).

Seventeen former lobbyists hold positions at Health and Human Services, the most among federal departments. Eleven are serving at the EPA, including Wheeler. Nine former lobbyists work for the Department of Transportation, and another seven each work at the Energy, Labor and Commerce departments. Sixteen held current or former positions inside the White House.

The database also includes former members of the Trump administration now working as registered lobbyists, including nine members of his transition team. (The executive order only applied to those appointed on or after Jan. 20, 2017.)

The list includes Tara Bradshaw, a veteran tax and finance lobbyist who advised the president on Treasury Department appointments then returned to her position at Ernst & Young.

Another is Lauren Maddox, with the firm Holland & Knight, who had lobbied on dozens of education-related bills and issues in the five years before joining Trump’s transition team as a Department of Education advisor in 2016.

Researcher Dan Auble contributed to this story



For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics.For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: [email protected]





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