The Washington Post reports that Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Steel is leaving his job to run Wachovia Bank.  Steel "led the department's efforts to overhaul the way banks are regulated, and he has been involved in developing legislation to try to use government-backed loans to prevent foreclosures, which some analysts say would be a boon to banks."  That's how the door revolves:

Steel's move is a dramatic example of a revolving door between business and government. Steel has recused himself from matters involving Wachovia since conversations began about the job in late June, a Treasury Department spokeswoman said, and his actions were cleared with department lawyers. Nonetheless, Steel's move rankles some ethics watchdogs.

"It's not technically a conflict of interest as long as he didn't work on issues that impact only Wachovia," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "But it smells bad. If one day you're regulating banks and the next day you're at the bank, one has to wonder if the decisions you made at Treasury were in view of future employment options."

Steel's move is a dramatic example of a revolving door between business and government. Steel has recused himself from matters involving Wachovia since conversations began about the job in late June, a Treasury Department spokeswoman said, and his actions were cleared with department lawyers. Nonetheless, Steel's move rankles some ethics watchdogs.

"It's not technically a conflict of interest as long as he didn't work on issues that impact only Wachovia," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "But it smells bad. If one day you're regulating banks and the next day you're at the bank, one has to wonder if the decisions you made at Treasury were in view of future employment options."

An editorial in today's New York Times examines Dennis Hastert's new job at a major D.C. lobbying firm -- and finds it exemplifies the "revolving door"" syndrome:

Mr. Hastert, the G.O.P. stalwart who presided during the Jack Abramoff lobbying corruption debacle and the Mark Foley House page scandal, joined a blue-chip lobbying firm this week as a “strategic counsellor” at an annual salary estimated at $500,000-plus. Mr. Hastert, who has set the sky-box level for politicians second-careering, joins the more prized Congressional and executive alumni who schmooze old pals still in power without the need to formally register as day-to-day lobbyists.

We never really expected Mr. Hastert to indulge the Jeffersonian fantasy and humbly return to his old calling as a high school wrestling coach. Still, his new job as access-enabler highlights the capital reality that old incumbents never die; they just backslap away.

More than 200 former members of Congress have crowded through the revolving door to lobby in recent years. More are lining up at the pay window. Congress’s designated ethics monitors already are bending the rules to let incumbents job shop their private-sector value while still on the privileged elected perch.

Capitol Hill alumni burnish their clout by marshaling the lobbying industry’s fund-raising for cooperative incumbents waiting behind. Inside Washington, none of this is surprising. Outside Washington, voters need to confront candidates who demonize the lobbyists who are actually silent underwriters of their candidacies.

To his credit, Senator Barack Obama has ordered the Democratic National Committee to no longer accept donations from lobbyists and political action committees. Senator John McCain should follow suit.

The fact that Marion Blakey doesn't see taking the job she's taking speaks volumes about the state of ethics in the Bush administration.  Blakey doesn't see the problem, CREW does:

Marion Blakey, who heads the Federal Aviation Administration, agreed in July to become president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), starting Nov. 12. The association represents firms her agency oversaw and awarded contracts to during her five-year tenure.

In recent weeks, the FAA has awarded a contract worth up to $1.8 billion to revamp the nation's air traffic system, issued emergency safety orders on Boeing jets and aggressively pushed Congress to adopt fees to fund long-term air traffic improvements. All of those actions could impact AIA.

Blakey, whose FAA term ends Thursday, said she has been "scrupulously careful" to follow federal ethics rules and had no direct involvement in matters relating to her new employers since job negotiations began in late June. She filed a letter June 29 vowing not to participate in the creation of rules that could impact association member Boeing, according to a document released Tuesday.

Groups that monitor ethics in Washington were critical.

"It raises some pretty serious ethics questions," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

Scott Amey, general counsel of the Project on Government Oversight, said Blakey's actions fit the public's "worst fear" of government.

"Under the Bush administration, the revolving door has spun out of control," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who has proposed tighter rules on officials leaving government.