Frank rebukes House staffer for taking lobbying job

[bridgit]

'WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) -- House Financial Services chief Barney Frank publicly denounced a House Financial Services Committee staffer for leaving to become a lobbyist.

Peter Roberson played a key role in writing House financial overhaul legislation and will now lobby on behalf of a company that the legislation directly impacts. His new employer, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), owns the largest clearinghouse of complex financial products, otherwise known as credit default swaps.

"When Mr. Roberson was hired, it never occurred to me that he would jump so quickly from the committee staff to an industry that was being affected by the committee's legislation," Frank said in a statement.

Intercontinental had no comment other than to confirm that Roberson began working as the company's vice president of government relations in February, said spokesman Lee Underwood.

Roberson worked on the House regulatory overhaul bill, which would require trades of credit default swaps to be more transparent and traded on clearinghouses, such as the one owned by Intercontinental.

The murkiness and unregulated nature of credit default swaps contributed to a massive taxpayer bailout of American International Group (AIG, Fortune 500), which sold swaps to many Wall Street firms and banks. Exchange companies like Intercontinental eagerly await new rules requiring trades to be made on clearinghouses, and each wants to be the top go-to place for the service.

Federal law prevents Roberson from talking with House staffers on the House Financial Services panel for a year. But he's free to lobby the Senate staffers, who are in the midst of crafting similar overhaul legislation before a final Senate vote.'

http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/01/news/economy/House_staff/index.htm