From Senate job to nuclear lobbyist — twice

Flint’s lingering in his committee post also appears to fly in the face of this passage, titled “Negotiating for Future Employment,” on pages 91 and 92 of the Senate Ethics Handbook:

“Because of the unique nature of their responsibilities to the Senate, including the influence which they exercise over the legislative process, and because all their actions are open to public scrutiny, Members and employees seeking future employment are under a substantial obligation to avoid not only an actual conflict of interest, but also the appearance of a conflict between their duties to the Senate and the interests of the prospective employers with whom they are negotiating.”

The ethics manual is considered the Senate’s guiding authority on all rules that govern “the conduct of Senate Members, officers, and employees.”

MSNBC’s repeated efforts to contact Flint directly in his new job at NEI were unsuccessful. Assistants referred inquiries to the institute’s media relations department where spokeswoman Melanie Lyons said, “With regard to Alex Flint, all I can tell you is that we’ve dotted all our i’s and we’re going to ensure that all the recusals and ethics requirements are met.”

Asked how Flint’s negotiation of his NEI job while he worked for the Senate and his continued tenure in that job after accepting the NEI post did not present at least the appearance of a conflict, Lyons said she would check with Flint and then e-mailed a response that did not address the question but read in part: “The premise that NEI should seek to fill a governmental affairs opening with a nuclear foe lacking in governmental affairs experience is ludicrous.”

She did not respond to a request for clarification.

'Doing everything by the book'
Earlier, she said, “PIRG (Kalman’s group) and the others have a right to say whatever they like, but it is what it is. We’re meeting all the ethical requirements and we’re doing everything by the book.”

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images Sen. Pete Domenici, an unabashed friend of the nuclear power industry, has been Alex Flint's boss in all of Flint's jobs on Capitol Hill.

Sens. Domenici and Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat who is the ranking member on the energy committee, did not reply to MSNBC’s inquiries about Flint.

Unlike employees of the executive branch, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to a congressional staffer negotiating future employment outside government, watchdog groups admit. According to the non-partisan consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, which also opposes new nuclear plants, “The rules advise members and staff to recuse themselves from official actions of interest to a prospective employer while job negotiations are under way and for members to seek prior approval from the ethics committee about conducting such job negotiations. However, recusal is not mandatory and there is no system of waivers or public disclosure of these potential conflicts of interest.”

While many Americans have heard of the “revolving door” law that prohibits someone like Flint from “lobbying” former congressional colleagues for a year after they leave public employment, few people outside the nation's capital know precisely what this means.

According to Senate Rule 37, “For one year after leaving office … former committee employees may not attempt to influence any committee Members or committee staff.” The applicable U.S. Code section, 18-207, refers to “communication” with and “appearance” before such former colleagues.

In layman’s terms, this simply means that someone in Flint’s position “cannot go back to the Senate and personally lobby the colleagues he worked with,” Kalman said.

A lobbyist working under the one-year restriction may, however, “write the materials … direct the go-between … say, ‘Here’s the language you should ask them to insert … and, by the way, you can absolutely say that I was the one who directed you to call.’ That’s what opens doors,” Kalman said.

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