Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Incest at Treasury

We already know that the Treasury Department bleeds Goldman Sachs blue. Treasury officials are also developing incestuous relationships with lobbying firms.

Take former DC-based PR flack Fred Baldassaro, now with Treasury (in Washington DC there are only eight cents worth of difference between public relations and lobbying). In his old job Baldassaro provided PR interference for Wal-Mart's slimy practices among other less than stellar clients.

As a Treasury official Baldassaro is helping Ed Gillespie's lobbying firm recruit new clients by flacking for Gillespie at an off-the-record breakfast meeting at the lobbying firm's offices. Among the things promised for the meeting is advice on how to game the new ethics rules (however, being skilled PR people, they don't phrase it that way).

Dollars to donuts bet that in three years Baldassaro will revolving door himself into a cushy job at Quinn Gillespie. Takers?

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