The Sector Where the Energy Is

Could Fannie Mae (and Freddie Mac) be trying to make lemonade while shareholders pucker? (By Manuel Balce Ceneta -- Associated Press)

Robert Walker has held two of the most sensitive and potentially explosive jobs in Washington. He was the top staffer for the House ethics committee and then, for the past five years, for the Senate's ethics committee. In all that time, he has been forbidden to speak publicly -- even though what he knows is of tremendous interest.

But now, as the newest partner at the law firm Wiley Rein, Walker 53, can actually talk on the record. Unfortunately, he's not dishing any dirt. His new job is to keep clients out of trouble with the kind of staffer he used to be, and that's keeping him plenty busy.

Hire of the Week

The American Chemistry Council is fast becoming the farm team for the rest of K Street.

Just recently, the president of the chemical manufacturers' trade association, Jack N. Gerard, was chosen as the new president of the American Petroleum Institute, the main lobby for the oil and gas industry.

Yesterday, Thomas J. Gibson, senior vice president of the American Chemistry Council, was selected to be the new president of the American Iron and Steel Institute. Gibson, 51, will replace Andy Sharkey, who is retiring. The institute is the main lobby for North America's steel industry.

Gibson is a former chief of staff at the Environmental Protection Agency to Administrators Christine Todd Whitman and Michael Leavitt, and he was the deputy staff director at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

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