White House To Hire Lobbyist as CounselHere’s a piece of incoming White House counsel Fred Fielding’s background that Mike Allen didn’t mention — for the past several years, he’s headed up the lobbying practice at the law firm, Wiley, Rein, and Fielding.
As the Chair of Government Relations there, Fielding has overseen the lobbying of Congress and sometimes the White House on behalf of a long list of clients as diverse as the Colorado Gaming Association, Motorola, the Newspaper Association of America, and Verizon. “From our inception,” according to WRF’s website, “the firm has been successfully shaping public policy in Washington on behalf of our clients.”
As TPM Reader BK writes in, “The possibility for conflicts of interest abound.”
Update: The WSJ blog Washington Wire adds:
News from Time that Washington uber-lawyer Fred Fielding has been tapped to replace Harriet Miers as White House counsel was also something of a coup for his firm, Wiley Rein & Fielding. It’s not the biggest firm in DC, but it is well-known for its telecom practice, which is led by FCC Chairman for Life Dick Wiley. One of his many protégés, current FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, has stocked the independent agency with former Wiley Rein lawyers and the two men remain close.
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