Watchdog Groups Bring Message to DOJ with Mobile Billboard

Today outside the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, a mobile billboard is circling on a large truck plastered with a message from Demand Progress and People's Parity Project: "DOJ: Owned by Big, Corporate Law."

The billboard highlights a growing problem within the DOJ. The attorneys the Biden administration has already hired or is considering for positions come from giant law firms like Kirkland & Ellis and have represented monopolistic corporations, including Amazon, Facebook, and Apple. Specifically, the groups named Lisa Monaco, the deputy attorney general, who has represented Boeing, Exxon, and SoftBank, and advisors Karen Dunn and Jamie Gorelick, who are tied to Uber, Amazon, and Google, as specific concerns within the administration.

"Too many Biden administration hires are coming from big law firms that represent massive corporations, and it's been flying under the radar. That stops now," said David Segal, Executive Director of Demand Progress. "We are in a moment of widespread agreement on the need to rein in and hold accountable corporations that have far too long amassed dangerous levels of economic and political influence and abused their power. The Department of Justice is critical to taking on these companies, but Biden's corporate hires threaten to weaken the department to the point of complete ineffectiveness. Today, we're bringing our opposition to these personnel choices directly to the DOJ so our message can't be missed."

"This is not the DOJ we need in order to break up Big Tech, stop attacks on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or protect us from other abuses of corporate power," said Molly Coleman, Executive Director of the People's Parity Project. "We need a DOJ filled with public servants we can be confident will work on behalf of the American people, not protect their former--and likely future--corporate clients. Lawyers who have devoted their careers in the private sector to advancing corporate America's interests should not be welcomed into the government to do the same."

The groups have currently committed to running the billboard for the duration of the day, but may expand the buy or do similar billboards depending on personnel choices made by the Biden administration in coming weeks.

Demand Progress has been successful in blocking corporate and conflicted employees in the past. The SEC's former enforcement director, Alex Oh, recently resigned after pressure from Demand Progress and allies highlighted her connections to Big Oil.