New 'No Corporate Cabinet' Campaign Pushes Biden to Pick People Who Will Advance Public Good

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Byย Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams.ย Originally published onย Common Dreamsย underย CCย BYSAย 3.0ย US.

With two months until Inauguration Day and President Donald Trump apparentlyย hellbentย on lighting more figurative fires on his way out of office, progressive groups on Friday launched the โ€œNo Corporate Cabinetโ€ campaign, increasingย pressureย on President-elect Joe Biden to keep business insiders and industry lobbyists out of hisย administration.

The new initiative includes aย websiteย that aims to โ€œserve as a central hub for information about, and activism related to, the Biden transition,โ€ featuring a news section as well as a โ€œPersons of Interestโ€ย pageย detailing some potential appointees whom Biden is considering but campaign organizers say he โ€œshouldย avoid.โ€

Demand Progress and the Revolving Door Project are leading the effort, in partnership with Climate Investigations Center, Documented, and True Northย Research.

โ€œThe Biden administration has a daunting task ahead, to both undo the corruption of the Trump years and guide the country out of interlinked crises of health, economics, racial injustice, and climate change,โ€ Revolving Door Project executive director Jeff Hauser said in a statement announcing theย campaign.

โ€œNone of that can happen if Biden appoints to his government the same corporate leaders whose profits skyrocketed under Trump, and whose influence over the last four decades generally has led to surging inequality and a crisis of faith in government,โ€ Hauser explained. โ€œIf Democrats fail to take back the Senate, executive branch powers will be one of Biden’s only ways of tangibly improving Americans’ lives. He cannot trust corporate America if he hopes to doย that.โ€

While Biden has decisively won the presidency โ€” even if Trump still refuses to accept it โ€” and Democrats have held on to their House majority, a pair of runoff elections in Georgia scheduled for January 5 are set to determine which party controls theย Senate.

Althoughย Politicoย reportedย early Friday that โ€œa critical mass of GOP senators said in interviews that Biden has the right to his Cabinet, indicating he may be able to staff his administration largely to his liking,โ€ progressives are alarmed by some potentialย picks.

People on the โ€œPersons of Interestโ€ page include Jason Bordoff, who โ€œrarely sees a fossil fuel project he doesn’t support,โ€ former BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, and Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, โ€œa steadfast ally of Wall Street and corporate America throughout her time in politics, selling out pensioners to hedge funds, slashing social services, and making enemies of laborย unions.โ€

The page also shines a spotlight on Ernest Monizโ€”who served as energy secretary during the Obama administrationโ€”as well as Heather Zichal, Steve Ricchetti, Bruce Reed, Tony James, Mark Gitenstein, and Brian Deese. Progressives and climate-focused groups haveย called onย Biden to exclude Moniz and former U.S. Sen.ย Heidi Heitkampย of North Dakota from his transition team or administration due in part to their ties to the fossil fuelย industry.

โ€œThere are a finite number of Cabinet positions. Any Cabinet post given to a recent corporate lobbyist is one less seat that could be filled by a well-qualified person whose record demonstrates a deep commitment to advancing public good rather than private gain,โ€ noted Lisa Graves, executive director of True Northย Research.

Citing โ€œmassive financial conflicts in the Trump Cabinetโ€ and the โ€œcallous indifference of a Senate majority led by Mitch McConnell,โ€ she argued that โ€œpersonnel is policy and We the People deserve a better Cabinet in the Biden administration, one that reflects the true needs of the American people rather than greed of hugeย corporations.โ€

Demand Progress executive director David Segal invoked one of the president-elect’s key campaign promises, declaring that โ€œif Biden is serious about ‘building back better’ in a way that remedies the longstanding ills of the country, his administration must be run by people dedicated to working in service of the generalย welfare.โ€

โ€œOur message is clear,โ€ he added. โ€œJoe Biden should not let corporate interests run the government โ€” and, if needed, senators must hold himย accountable.โ€

The โ€œNo Corporate Cabinetโ€ effort follows a parallelย campaignย launched Thursday by Daily Kos, Demand Progress, and over 20 other organizations โ€” including MPower Change, Public Citizen, Presente, Ultraviolet, and the Working Families Party โ€” encouraging activists to email, call, and tweet at both the Biden transition team and Senate Democrats to urge them โ€œto appoint public-minded progressives instead of corporate lobbyists and executives for key rolesโ€ in the nextย administration.

โ€œAmericans are exhausted. We have spent the last four years watching the Trump administration repeatedly put the interests of big businesses and corporate lobbyists over the well-being of everyday people, causing untold suffering โ€” especially during the COVID-19 pandemic,โ€ said Carolyn Fiddler, communications director of Daily Kos,ย said.

As of early Friday afternoon, the coronavirus pandemic had resulted in more than 11.7 million infections across the United States and killed over 253,000ย Americans.

โ€œNow more than ever,โ€ Fiddler said, โ€œwe need leadership that is experienced in corporate accountability and will check the interests of big corporations while advocating for policies that center the health and success of all Americans, especially Americans ofย color.โ€

Both campaigns came after Demand Progress and the Revolving Door Project led over 50 groups in sendingย lettersย urging Biden as well as Democratic senators and senators-elect to reject corporate insiders. In recent days, various organizations have alsoย proposedย andย rallied aroundย progressive candidates for Cabinetย roles.

Main image:ย Former Vice President Joe Biden speaking with supporters at a community event at Sun City MacDonald Ranch in Henderson, Nevada,ย February 24, 2020.ย Credit:ย Gage Skidmore,ย CC BYSAย 2.0

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