https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2022/08/12/anita-dunn-discloses-corporate-clients-00051541
08/12/2022 05:52 PM EDT
With Daniel Lippman
WHAT ANITA DUNN’S FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES TELL US: SKDK founding partner Anita Dunn is finally in the White House long-term, which means that more than a year and a half after her initial stint with the administration and her brief return to the Democratic consulting powerhouse, we get to see who Dunn’s corporate consulting clients have been.
— Dunn’s financial disclosures, first reported by CNBC’s Brian Schwartz, reveal that the senior Biden adviser has consulted for several major corporations with business before the government, even though the firm has long emphasized that it neither lobbies the federal government nor represents clients on matters before the government. In the past two years, Dunn advised AT&T, Lyft, Pfizer, Micron, Intra-Cellular Therapies, Salesforce and Reddit, the disclosures show.
— Dunn also did consulting work for the renewables trade group American Clean Power Association, Melinda French Gates’ investment outlet Pivotal Ventures, the Center for American Progress’ advocacy arm and the Ford Foundation, in addition to political campaigns like President Joe Biden’s.
— Though a White House spokesperson told CNBC that Dunn would divest from her and her husband Bob Bauer’s investment portfolio, which experts told CNBC is worth anywhere from $16.8 million to $48.2 million, ethics experts argued it would be difficult for Dunn to sufficiently recuse herself to avoid any conflicts of interest and still be able to provide value to the administration.
— “It seems like an episode of Veep more than it seems like reality,” said Jeff Hauser of the Revolving Door Project, which has raised alarms about Dunn’s previous lack of public disclosures during her last tour in the White House, when Dunn was paid just under the salary threshold that would have triggered public disclosure requirements and her official status as a temporary government employee.
— “Our fears were validated in that regard,” Hauser told PI of learning Dunn’s corporate clients now. He pointed to her work for Pfizer as particularly concerning. “We're confused how you could possibly serve in the White House with just a Pfizer relationship given … Pfizer's ubiquity across the top issues for the administration — let alone the others,” he said.
— “The top issue across the Biden administration … has been the pandemic,” he noted. Pfizer is also one of a stream of drug companies that objected to drug pricing measures heading to Biden’s desk, and has also opposed efforts to waive IP protections for Covid vaccines to make them more easily accessible across the globe. Pfizer did not respond to a request for comment about Dunn’s work for the drugmaker.
— Hauser argued that not only is Dunn likely “too senior at a cross-cutting job” to feasibly recuse herself in a meaningful way from “all matters involving SKDK and her past clients,” as the White House told CNBC. The White House did not respond to requests for comment from PI about what steps it is taking to mitigate conflict of interest concerns regarding Dunn.
— Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration, said that Dunn and her husband’s extensive investment portfolio raised another set of conflicts. “The economy is the number one issue for Biden,” he said. “I can't believe that [Dunn]’s not getting involved with the economy. And look at this bill that just went through that has all these different pieces that you know, it's bad for the drug industry, it's good for the car industry,” he added, referring to the reconciliation bill.
— He also pointed to the semiconductors bill Biden signed into law this week, which Dunn touted in an interview on MSNBC yesterday. “I can’t believe she hasn’t been involved in that stuff,” he said.
— Apart from recusal issues, Dunn’s cycling in and out of the Biden administration also means that her marketability as an in-the-know power player “is constantly being renewed,” Hauser contended. “People, when she's in the private sector, not only value her for her past, but they also are looking at somebody who might be in power again in the future. So she's a double threat in that regard.”
Good afternoon and welcome to PI. It may be recess, but we’re still around — let us know what’s going on out there: [email protected]. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
CITIES TURN TO K STREET TO LAND HEALTH RESEARCH HQ: “The Biden administration’s multibillion-dollar innovative science research agency may be a ways away from coming together, but that hasn’t stopped some organizations from enlisting K Street to help get ARPA-H’s headquarters located in their home states” POLITICO’s Megan Wilson reports.