The Hill: DeParle’s industry ties a non-issue
The Hill
DeParle’s industry ties a non-issue
By Jeffrey Young
March 5, 2009
White House Office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle’s professional ties to healthcare companies may have prompted questions from the media, but government ethics watchdogs say they don’t see a problem.
DeParle brings stellar credentials to her new job, having served in several high-level federal and state government healthcare positions. She also can boast of a top-tier educational background that includes a Harvard law degree, degrees from Oxford University and a Rhodes scholarship.
But since 2001, DeParle has worked in the private equity field, advising on deals between healthcare companies and serving on the boards of directors of a handful of healthcare firms.
Those links, financial and otherwise, do not disqualify DeParle from her position at the White House, nor should similar private-sector experience be viewed as improper, however, ethics experts said.
“My fundamental premise is that I don’t think we should get into the business of disqualifying people because they’ve been on the ‘other side,8 0 ” said Kenneth Gross, a partner at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and an expert on government ethics.
“If not people who worked in the field, then who?” said Melanie Sloan, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “We want people with a background and knowledge of the subject matter.”
Working for a private interest, even as a lobbyist, does not necessarily mean a person is unfit for public service, the watchdogs said.
The only true measuring sticks, Gross argued, are whether appointees stand to gain a personal financial benefit from their government position and whether they can recuse themselves from individual actions but still be able to carry out their jobs.
Evaluating whether someone is too close to an industry or company affected by policies he or she influences can only be done on a case-by-case basis, the ethics experts agreed.
“[It’s] probably not a bright line. It’s probably a little more like obscenity: You know it when you see it,” Sloan said. “I don’t think it’s that hard to figure.”
During George W. Bush’s presidency, Democrats and other critics frequently blasted the connections between administration officials and the industries they regulated. Vice President Cheney came under particular scrutiny for his ties to energy and defense companies.
Obama has railed against the influence of lobbyists on the federal government. He instituted ethics rules that limit the ability of lobbyists to take employment in his administration and temporarily keep political appointees from working as lobbyists when they leave government.
Watchdog groups hailed Obama for taking steps to obstruct the revolving door between government and the influence industry but wailed when the president made an exception to his own rules to nominate former Raytheon lobbyist William Lynn to the No. 2 job at the Pentagon.
Some of those same watchdog groups, however, cautioned against tarring all political appointees with the same brush, arguing that an overly strict policy excluding people with private-sector experience would preclude the administration from hiring qualified public servants.
Obama’s appointees will continue to come under perhaps greater scrutiny than his predecessors’ did because he sought to establish such a high standard, Sloan said.
Indeed, the White House immediately faced questions on Monday about DeParle’s private-sector associations.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs indicated that DeParle would sever any ties that might pose conflicts of interest and would recuse herself from decisions that would have a direct bearing on her past relationships. “The White House has confidence in her and in her abilities as part of the healthcare reform effort here,” he said.
Those assurances, backed up by standard government ethics rules and Obama’s policies on conflicts on interest, may not be enough to quell complaints from skeptics.
But Craig Holman, the legislative representative for Public Citizen, said that view is “far too simplistic” and “detrimental.”
“Especially in the nonprofit sector, people want to maybe say that anyone who’s ever worked in business can’t go into government. You can’t run government that way,” Holman said.
For one-time political appointees whose party is out of power — as was the case with DeParle when President Clinton left office — employment in the private sector is an appealing choice, Gross said. “If the press or a public interest group wants to criticize that, it’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel,” he said.
DeParle’s most recent government job was as administrator of the Healthcare Financing Administration (now called the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) from 1997 to 2000. She previously worked in the Clinton administration’s Office of Management and Budget. In her home state of Tennessee, DeParle was commissioner of human services for the governor.
Since 2001, DeParle has worked in the private sector, first for JP Morgan Partners, then CCMP Capital Advisers, which broke off from Morgan in 2006. DeParle also served on the boards of directors of several healthcare companies, including Medco, Boston Scientific, Cerner Corp. and DaVita.
“There are some conflicts of interest in the fact that she0s serving on the boards of some major corporations,” Holman said. “However, it’s a conflict that is manageable,” he said. “I don’t have any real objections to her appointment.”
