Black financial executives are pushing back against progressive Democrats’ demand that President-elect Joe Biden’s administration exclude anyone with corporate ties.
They argue that shutting out finance-industry executives would unfairly disqualify experienced minority candidates from top jobs in the new government. The campaign is focused on senior White House staff posts, as well as the heads of agencies like the Treasury Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“All of these leadership positions play a critical role in the development of economic policy in an administration and the execution of goals, strategies and practices that impact all Americans,” the groups wrote in a letter to Biden sent on Wednesday. “Unless you are intentional about leveraging inclusion as a strategy to navigate the intersecting dynamics of race, economy, inequality and power, we will not address these issues with the best minds possible.”
Biden, who’s widely considered a moderate, has yet to announce ethics rules for staffing the administration, though his transition has banned lobbyists, with some exceptions. The letter highlights how the president-elect and his team have to navigate a tricky path while conducting the fullest search possible to form a government they’ve promised will be reflective of the U.S. population.
“President-elect Biden will build a diverse administration that looks like America, starting with the first woman of South Asian descent and the first Black woman to serve as Vice President-elect,” said Cameron French, a transition spokesman. “As he did during the campaign to his transition, Joe Biden will be intentional in finding diverse voices to develop and implement his policy vision to tackle our nation’s toughest challenges.”
The request by the financial groups follows another recent one by the Washington Government Relations Group, a trade association of African American lobbyists. It sent a letter last week to leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus, asking for their help advocating against the progressives’ call for barring registered lobbyists from the Biden administration.
A stint in government often helps propel people to high-level private sector jobs. But on the flip side, experience in the corporate world can be beneficial for government work, giving policy makers insight into an industry they are charged with overseeing.
More liberal Democrats, led by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, have taken a hard line against filling economic and regulatory roles with workers from Wall Street and major corporations, contending that such appointees may put the interest of their businesses ahead of the American people.
Warren, however, in comments earlier this week may have given Biden some cover when she pointed out that she had hired people from Wall Street when she set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “The question is: What does your overall team look like?” she said at a New York Times DealBook conference. “It is important to have a team that brings a lot of different perspectives.”