On March 12, 2012, Tedmund Wan posted a note on Joe Biden’s appointment of Steve Ricchetti, exploring potential conflicts of interest with the clients in a lobbying firm that he ran. On March 29, 2012, KEI formally asked Ricchetti to recuse himself in matters concerning his former clients. The letter follows.
29 March 2012
Steve Ricchetti
Counselor to Vice President Joe Biden
The White House
Washington, DC
Via fax +1.202.456.2461
Dear Mr. Ricchetti,
A Counselor to the Vice President is entrusted with the responsibility to advise the Vice President, and by extension, the President, on a wide variety of matters with the highest degree of discretion and impartiality. Such impartiality is particularly important as various industries spend millions each year lobbying the White House to enact measures that benefit private businesses, rather than the public it serves. As members of a public interest organization that focuses on consumer rights, we were surprised by your selection by the White House as Counselor to the Vice President in light of your work as a lobbyist for large pharmaceutical, medical device, hospital and insurance companies.
We write today to request that you recuse yourself from any matters that may involve the interest of any of your former clients, or current clients to Ricchetti, Inc. We are particularly concerned about conflicts of interest pertaining to intellectual property rights for biomedical inventions, the pricing and regulation of biomedical inventions, and the regulation of hospitals and insurance companies.
As an attorney, you are surely aware that concerns about ethics can be addressed by a decision to recuse yourself in areas where the appearance of impropriety undermines public confidence in the independence of government employees. This is particularly important today when elected officials, including President Obama and Vice President Biden, are routinely raising large sums of money to finance political campaigns. As you know, your appointment stimulated a number of critical news reports and commentary, focusing on your association with the lobbying firm Ricchetti, Inc., and its clients. A decision to recuse yourself from matters involving its clients would likely be warmly received by many of those who were critical of your appointment.
We appreciate your thoughtful consideration in this matter.
Sincerely,
James Love
Manon Ress
Krista Cox
Tedmund Wan
Knowledge Ecology International
http://www.keionoline.org
1621 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20009 * Tel +1.202.332.2670 * Fax +1.202.332.2673