Revolving Door

Although the influence powerhouses that line Washington's K Street are just a few miles from the U.S. Capitol building, the most direct path between the two doesn't necessarily involve public transportation. Instead, it's through a door—a revolving door that shuffles former federal employees into jobs as lobbyists, consultants and strategists just as the door pulls former hired guns into government careers.

While officials in the executive branch, Congress and senior congressional staffers spin in and out of the private and public sectors, so too does privilege, power, access and, of course, money.

Use the search options to discover which public relations firms have signed up former White House employees, which lobbyists have brought their interests with them to the powerful appropriations committees, which interests are employing former members of Congress to lobby on their behalf...and much more.

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Marc Short
Chief of Staff to Vice President Pence
(Image: Official White House Photo by Mitchell Resnick)

Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, has come under scrutiny for owning up to $1.6 million worth of stocks in companies working with Pence's coronavirus task force to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Short, a veteran Republican operative, joined Pence's office in 2019. He also worked as the White House director of legislative affairs in 2017 and 2018. Short previously served as chief of staff to former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas) and directed the House Republican Conference.

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For eight years, Short served as executive director of Freedom Partners, the conservative organization funded by the Koch brothers that was dissolved in 2019.

Short has also worked for lobbying firms, most recently for Guidepost Strategies in 2018.

Official White House Photo by Mitchell Resnick

Updated June 16, 2020 by Karl Evers-Hillstrom

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