Ashcroft Pizza Party Raises Ethics Eyebrows
The registered lobbyists for Mittal Steel listed in the senate records, are Glover Weiss, and David Ayres. The lobbying registration records requires covered executive or legislative branch officials to list their prior positions "within two years of first acting as a lobbyist for the client." Ayres listed his prior position as former chief of staff to Ashcroft.
It's unclear whether the pizza party, coming as it does so close to the Justice Department's Mittal Steel decision, might have contributed to the ethics official's heartburn.
Ashcroft was the first top official to step down after President George Bush won a second term. He submitted his letter of resignation in November 2004 and left in February 2005. At his last Justice Department annual Christmas party, Ashcroft told reporters that he was not seeking any outside employment until he had completely left the department, in order to protect the department's institutional interests and avoid even the faintest appearance of any conflicts resulting from a job search.
Ashcroft subsequently created his own consulting firm, the Ashcroft Group, which quickly became a profitable venture. The firm specializes in strategic consulting, including with respect to homeland security, best business practices, litigation strategy, and data security. On the group's website, Aschroft parlays his leadership in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, to pitch for homeland security business.
"This deep experience in fighting the war on terror," the website says, "has given the Ashcroft Group LLC a strategic advantage in evaluating and navigating the homeland security and law enforcement marketplace." Ashcroft's consulting firm also advises businesses on investment strategies in the homeland security arena, as well as crisis management and dealing with government investigations, high-stakes litigation, and financial distress or bankruptcy.
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