Pam Bondi will face an ethics quagmire as attorney general

Over the past six years, Pam Bondi has worked as a Washington lobbyist for one of the top firms in the country, representing corporate behemoths such as Amazon and Uber.

Now, some of the same clients her firm represents are squaring off against the Department of Justice she's poised to lead. And corporate interests are cautiously optimistic that her selection will shepherd in an administration more friendly to their interests than President Joe Biden's.

Her appointment, lobbyists say, could be a win for major U.S. corporations that find themselves crosswise with the Justice Department, including health care giant UnitedHealthcare and social media company TikTok. Those companies have paid tens of thousands of dollars this year to Bondi’s current employer, Ballard Partners, according to lobbying disclosures.

Bondi’s confirmation as attorney general would also pose a myriad of ethical questions about what kind of access she will grant her firm and whether she will recuse herself from issues involving Ballard.

Bondi, who has yet to resign from Ballard, where she serves as a D.C.-based partner and chairs the firm’s corporate regulatory compliance practice focusing on Fortune 500 companies. Since 2019, she has lobbied the federal government for a host of major businesses, including Amazon, General Motors, Fidelity National Financial, Uber and Carnival North America. She serves as a key adviser to the firm’s president, Brian Ballard.

Bondi has also lobbied for the GEO Group, a major private prison company that is paid hundreds of millions of dollars each year by the federal government, according to federal records. The Justice Department is a major customer.

Currently, Bondi is only registered to lobby for the Major County Sheriffs of America, which pays her firm $50,000 a quarter, the Florida Sheriffs Risk Management Fund, which pays her firm $20,000 a quarter, and the Florida Sheriffs Association, which pays her firm $20,000 a quarter. Bondi, a former personal attorney to Trump, has also worked on corporate and regulatory issues and litigation at the Florida-based law firm Panza Maurer.

“It is essentially impossible to organize a Justice Department ethically in light of the breadth of Bondi’s connections,” said Jeff Hauser, founder of the progressive Revolving Door Project. “I think it’s just going to be off-the-charts bad.”

He added that even if Bondi were not to involve herself in issues involving certain companies, she could still influence her department in their favor. For example, Hauser argued, her direction for the antitrust division would have broad implications for her onetime client Amazon.

Bondi did not respond to an email seeking comment, and a spokesperson for Amazon declined to comment.

Some business leaders had feared that, under Trump, they would lose their allies in the GOP, as the party veered in a more populist direction. But big business is hopeful that with Bondi, they’ll get a reprieve from the Biden administration’s corporate crackdowns and avoid follow-through on the Trump campaign’s anti-corporate rhetoric.

“Pam may reinforce that idea that we’re going back to normalcy on deal flow,” said one Republican lobbyist, referring to corporate mergers. The person was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “Everyone believes that she’s approachable. … She understands that companies need to have an opportunity to be heard.”

The tech industry, for one, is relatively optimistic about Bondi’s nomination, especially compared to former lawmaker and antitrust crusader Matt Gaetz, whose earlier nomination for attorney general imploded. Major companies have spent the last four years fighting anti-monopoly champions at the Department of Justice, led by Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter. With Bondi’s selection, Big Tech sees a movement away from the economic populism that made them major targets, said one lobbyist representing major technology companies.

Among the Justice Department’s legal fights against the world’s largest technology companies is ongoing litigation against Ballard client TikTok and its parent company ByteDance over allegations that the company violated child privacy laws. The department has also been defending the law that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok, a requirement Trump has previously opposed.

TikTok hired Ballard to lobby in early August, according to federal records. The firm was paid $50,000 in the third quarter to lobby Congress around “Issues related to internet technology, regulation of content platforms.”

“A pick like Pam Bondi does signify a return to more of a centrist approach to really all of business,” said the lobbyist representing major technology companies. “We're cautiously optimistic and supportive of her nomination.”

In her previous role as Florida’s attorney general, Bondi came under fire from progressives for decisions not to go after corporate interests. She drew headlines for declining to pursue penalties against Trump University, after the Trump Foundation donated $25,000 to a group backing Bondi. She has claimed the donation played no role in the decision.

Additionally, The New York Times reported in 2014 that she had decided against prosecuting the hospital bill collection firm that was then known as Accretive Health, after a law firm hired by the business lobbied her office.

"All nominees and appointees will comply with the ethical obligations of their respective agencies,” said Trump transition spokesperson Brian Hughes in a statement.

Brian Ballard, the president of the firm and Bondi’s boss, called her “one of the most ethical straightforward political figures [he’s] ever dealt with.” He predicted she would institute measures to prevent conflict from her previous work and said his firm would comply with those rules.

Ballard brought his firm to Washington at the start of Trump’s presidency and has created a lobbying firm known on K Street as one of the closest to Trump’s orbit. Trump selected another alumna of his firm — Susie Wiles — to be his chief of staff, although Wiles was reportedly pressured to leave Ballard’s firm.

Bondi could also assume the head of the Justice Department as it pursues litigation against another one of Ballard Partners’ new clients: UnitedHealth. The Biden administration, along with several states, is moving to block UnitedHealth’s acquisition of the health and hospice provider Amedisys, arguing that the merger would harm competition in its industry. Ballard began lobbying for UnitedHealthCare Services, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth, at the federal level last summer.

As top prosecutor, Bondi would also be charged with overseeing drug policy, as Trump has indicated his support easing federal marijuana policy. The cannabis company Trulieve has been working with Ballard Partners for years, lobbying on “medical marijuana policy and regulation.”

But good governance activists are concerned with Bondi’s corporate past. Rick Claypool, a research director with the progressive consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, said the Justice Department’s revolving door was a broader problem with the agency’s leadership, and Bondi was the latest example. He fears that her history protecting businesses from enforcement actions would impact how she managed the department.

“We know the corporate defendants are going to use every advantage that they can get to try to argue to get out of enforcement actions,” he said. “So I think it's gonna be really important that the front line DOJ prosecutors who are investigating and bringing cases against former clients are able to do their jobs without interference.”