top of page

Welcome to Crime and Justice News

Bondi Lobbies For Firms DOJ Deals With, Like Private Prisons, Sheriffs

Crime and Justice News

Over the past six years, Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi has worked as a Washington lobbyist for a top firm, representing corporate behemoths such as Amazon and Uber. Some of the same clients her firm represents are squaring off against the Department of Justice she’s poised to lead. Corporate interests are cautiously optimistic that her selection will shepherd in an administration more friendly to their interests than President Biden’s, Politico reports. 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 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 lobbied for the GEO Group, a major private prison company that is paid hundreds of millions of dollars each year by the federal government. The Justice Department is a major customer. Bondi is 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. “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.”


112 views

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


A daily report co-sponsored by Arizona State University, Criminal Justice Journalists, and the National Criminal Justice Association

bottom of page