VIEWSrnFixers for a Feernby Charles LewisrnJ ^^sjr~jT^rn^ ^ p i i ^ ^ prn^ ^ W^^rnIMHII HHr^^Br’rn•rni aHrnHxt^arnFor nearly a decade now, Washington has been mired inrnscandals involving senior Anrerican officials who havernhired themselves out to various foreign governments andrncompanies. What is new today about this disturbing phenomenon?rnBecause of several recent, investigative studies, wernknow much more about who is working for overseas interestsrnthan in the past; more than ever before, in the 1992 presidentialrncampaign and since, the revolving door to foreign lobbyingrnhas become an important national issue which understandablyrnirks millions of Americans; and finally, despite thernnew awareness, lobbying—and foreign lobbying in Washingtonrnin particular—shows signs of increasing as we movernthrough the 90’s.rnThomas Jefferson observed that “the merchant has norncountry,” As multinational corporations continue to operaternand adapt in the most hospitable nation-states they canrnfind, that sentiment is even truer today than it was nearlyrntwo centuries ago. hideed, dedication or devotion to a singlerncountry’s best interests is fretjucntly viewed with disdain andrncondescension as being naive or hopelessly shortsighted. Butrnin the international business context, we have always understoodrnand reluctantly accepted this cutthroat, mercenary attitude.rnCharles Lewis, formerly a producer for the CBS newsrnprogram 60 Minutes, is the founder and executive directorrnof the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan, nonprofitrnresearch organization based in Washington, D.C.rnWhat most Americans—and most people in the world’srnindustrialized societies—do not so readily accept is the notionrnthat their government officials will forego the public trustrnand the public interest and join with the borderless merchantrnin the single-minded pursuit of money. That smacks of betrayalrnin the name of cold cash, and in the 1992 presidentialrncampaign, no fewer than four candidates—Jerry Brown, PatrnBuchanan, Ross Perot, and Bill Clinton—all pushed that hotrnbutton with prospective voters. The new President has continuedrnhis rhetoric against the revolving door to foreign lobbying,rnand, indeed, on his first day in office, he signed an ExecutivernOrder to attempt to make it more difficult to sell out.rnUnfortunately, the rhetoric and the reality diverge. Clinton’srnguidelines to curtail access to the revolving door of foreignrnlobbying are seriously flawed and probably unenforceable.rnEqually troubling, the new President has appointedrnwell-heeled foreign lobbyists to his Cabinet and sub-rnCabinet—exactly the kind of folks Clinton railed against duringrnthe campaign.rnFor example. President Clinton’s Deputy National SecurityrnAdvisor, Samuel Berger, for years has been a lobbyist forrnToyota and the Japanese Embassy. The government departmentrnmost narrowly focused on preserving and promotingrnAmerica’s eroding industrial base—Comnrerce—is now headedrnby a man who in the late 8()’s represented the Americanrnsubsidiaries of about a dozen Japanese electronics companiesrninterested in influencing pending copyright legislation. Inrnaddition, in 1989, Ron Brown, while serving as chairman ofrn14/CHRONICLESrnrnrn