Revolving Door In Jim Moran's Office Turns Again: His Senior Counsel Is Leaving To Become A Corporate Lobbyist

"The U.S. Chamber of Commerce added a Democrat, Pete Lawson, to its roster of lobbyists this month. Lawson joins the nation’s largest business association after serving as a senior counsel to Rep. Jim Moran, a Democrat from Northern Virginia.

Lawson spent four-and-a-half years with Moran during two stints, interrupted briefly with a job at Arthur Andersen."

Moran has an obligation to make certain that his staff members do not benefit as a result of Moran's anti-consumer legislation. For instance, consider events last June, when Moran was one of only 32 Democrats to join with 221 Republicans in supporting H.R. 1115. Misleadingly called the the "Class Action Fairness Act" by its Republican backers, this bill prevents many types of class actions from being heard in state courts as they previously had been.

Moran supported HR 1115 even though Consumers Union (which publishes Consumer Reports) concluded that "We are concerned that this legislation will deny consumers adequate relief when they are defrauded, injured, or otherwise harmed, and will undermine the ability of state courts to hear cases primarily concerned with their own residents. Despite its name, we believe that the bill is unfair to consumers, and we urge you to oppose it...

HR 1115 is a poorly conceived proposal that will substantially reduce the effectiveness of one of the most important legal tools consumers now have: state court class actions."

The arguments of Consumers Union fell on James Moran's deaf ears. Lawson was Moran's senior counsel when that happened.

There was no explicit quid pro quo here. No one is alleging that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce offered James Moran's senior counsel a job in exchange for Moran's support of H.R. 1115.

But imagine that instead of supporting this anti-consumer piece of legislation Moran had joined with his fellow Democrats and opposed it. Would the U.S. Chamber of Commerce still have offered Moran's senior counsel a job?

I doubt it. Members of James Moran's staff realize that with Moran as their boss they are not going to be getting jobs lobbying for consumer groups. It is either stick with Moran on Moran's sinking ship, or curry favor with potential employers, i.e., corporate lobbyists. Who can blame them if, like Moran's senior counsel Pete Lawson, they decide to get out while the getting is good?

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