http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/11/hbc-90003845
November 13, 12:36 PM, 2008 · Washington Babylon · Previous · Next
Familiar Faces Come on Board: Fannie Mae veteran on State Department
transition team
By Ken Silverstein
The Washington Post reports that the “Obama transition team yesterday
rolled out a new list of officials who will help guide the process,
singling out the Treasury, Defense and State departments as its first
three areas of focus.”
At the helm of the Treasury Department transition team are Josh
Gotbaum, an adviser to investment funds who held various
Senate-confirmed positions during the Clinton administration, and
Michael Warren, chief operating officer of Stonebridge International LLC.
Heading the State team are two veterans of the Democratic foreign
policy establishment, both intimately familiar with the people and
machinery at Foggy Bottom. Both Thomas E. Donilon, a partner at
O’Melveny & Myers, and Wendy R. Sherman, a business partner of former
secretary of state Madeleine Albright, had senior positions in the
Clinton-era State Department.
A few other items about Sherman. “From April 1996 until July 1997, she
was President and CEO of the Fannie Mae Foundation and a member of the
operating committee of Fannie Mae,” says her bio. “At the Foundation,
she set in place the groundwork for the newly recreated foundation
developed to promote home ownership.” At the Albright Group, she was a
door opener for American companies looking to do business abroad. “She
leverages her experience as a senior-level diplomat and her expertise in
foreign relations to help clients—including businesses and
nongovernmental organizations—locate partnership opportunities, gain
competitive advantage in the marketplace, and resolve regulatory and
political disputes throughout the world,” her bio there said.
Stonebridge International, where Warren is COO, has the same business
model. I’ve written about Stonebridge, in an article discussed here.
These are standard members of the permanent government. They work for
the government, revolve out to the private sector when their party loses
office, and revolve back in when their side wins again. Business
consultancies like Albright’s and Stonebridge are pretty much
indistinguishable from similar companies run by Republican foreign
policy gurus (such as Al Haig and Brent Scowcroft). The people who
operate them aren’t technically lobbyists, but they end up being strong
advocates for the countries where they do business.
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