Ex-Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, who resigned a few months ago, has spun through the revolving door and scored a key public policy role at a law firm lobbying the Biden administration.
Fudge, a former longtime Democratic Ohio congresswoman who joined HUD in 2021 and soon after violated a federal law barring federal officials from engaging in political activities, is now a partner and the public policy chairwoman at Taft Stettinius & Hollister, the firm said Monday. The firm, which pulled in $598 million in revenue last year and has offices in the Midwest and Washington, D.C., also scooped up Imani Edwards and Garrett McDaniel, who worked as staffers under Fudge at HUD.
The quick turnaround from Fudge stepping down from HUD and joining Taft Stettinius & Hollister is a window into the revolving door between the federal government and K Street, where ex-officials cash in on their connections and learned skills to win influence in the nation’s capital. Fudge will be working on urban development issues and also be campaigning with President Joe Biden ahead of his 2024 election matchup against former President Donald Trump. She said in a statement that her “top priority as a leader has always been to develop effective solutions and results for the people and communities I have been called to serve.”
Fudge, according to a Biden White House ethics pledge rule, is barred for two years from communicating with HUD employees and for one year from certain indirect “shadow” lobbying. The pledge, like others authorized by administrations, aims to thwart apparent conflicts of interest arising from officials working on issues they also worked on in the government.
“Former Secretary Marcia L. Fudge will absolutely adhere to all aspects of her White House Ethics Pledge, including the two-year cooling-off period with HUD,” Susan B. Kilkenny, a spokeswoman for Taft Stettinius & Hollister, told the Washington Examiner.
“Additionally, she will not participate in any lobbying activities,” Kilkenny said.
But to watchdog groups, there’s always fair conflict of interest concerns for the public to have about federal officials heading to the private sector, particularly in the case of Fudge’s uniquely quick move. Taft Stettinius & Hollister lobbied HUD last year, in addition to the departments of Defense, Transportation, Homeland Security, and other agencies, according to government records.
“The revolving door has never spun faster, and now it’s capacious enough to deposit a former HUD secretary and two of her senior aides at a well-known ‘influence shop’ within just a few months of her leaving the administration,” Director Michael Chamberlain of Protect the Public’s Trust said.
“I feel for agency ethics officials trying to ensure no post-government ethics laws are broken. Rather than bolstering the public’s evaporating trust in its government, incidents like these demonstrate that the American public needs to be more vigilant than ever in watching for conflicts, ethical issues, and the influence of special interests,” Chamberlain added.
A portion of Taft Stettinius & Hollister’s lobbying last year, for example, was directed to HUD on behalf of the Millennia Companies, which owns and operates over 280 apartment developments in 26 states, according to Millenia Companies. The Millennia Companies notably received a $15 million loan from HUD in 2023 to develop a historic building in Cleveland, though it received a letter in March 2024 from HUD notifying Millennia Companies it was prohibited from receiving contracts from the government for five years due to certain reported controversies stemming from its properties.
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Taft Stettinius & Hollister also lobbied in 2023 on issues of economic development and housing, as well as appropriations funding, for the Cleveland-based nonprofit group Burten, Bell, Carr Development Inc., and on urban development for the city of Elkhart, Indiana, among other advocacy.
“A lot of corporate clients could benefit from spitballing with Secretary Fudge,” Director Jeff Hauser of the Revolving Door Project watchdog group said. He told Politico that an ethics pledge loophole is that Fudge will be able to contact former Capitol Hill colleagues and advise clients about Congress’s inner workings “based off information she gleaned in the executive branch.”
