A few weeks ago we told you about J. Dudley Butler, the former (and future) trial lawyer who spent his career suing the very industry he has been appointed by President Obama to regulate.

He’s currently working in the Agriculture Department as Administrator of the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration (GIPSA) and, according to former Republican Congressman Bob Barr, “Butler is actively pushing to expand the scope of the decades-old Packers and Stockyards Act — which will make it easier for trial lawyers (such as Mr. Butler) to successfully sue meat and poultry companies.”

Last week this piece in The Daily Caller looked into the conflict of interest and concluded, “Whether or not J. Dudley Butler is implementing rules that will help him and his friends in their legal cases is something for time to judge. But the fact that he is in a position to do so, to aid his cause and line his pockets when he returns to the private sector, is enough to call for his resignation.”

Conservatives calling attention to the conflict of interest of a liberals Administration’s political appointees is not new, nor is the reverse. But this cause has been joined…

CREW, the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the liberal government watch-dog group, has joined the fight.

In a press release Monday, CREW asked “Is a former trial lawyer turned government official making policy decisions at the Department of Agriculture that will serve his future personal financial interests?” We don’t often agree with CREW, but in this case they are correct.

Industry publication Beef Magazine reported on what Butler was saying to industry friends thusly:

“When you have a term like ‘unfair, unreasonable or undue prejudice,’ that’s a plaintiff lawyer’s dream. We can get in front of a jury with that. We won’t get thrown out on what we call summary judgment because that’s a jury question.”

This and Butler’s past were enough for CREW’s Executive Director Melanie Sloan to issue the following statement:

“When he took office, President Obama issued an order closing the revolving door that allowed departing executive branch officials to cash in on their government service. While the new policy was aimed at those who lobby after leaving office, the same rationale applies here. Mr. Butler stands to benefit financially once he leaves the government by exploiting a loophole he helped create. Whether or not this meets the legal standard of a conflict of interest, it seems wrong. The Department of Agriculture should bar Mr. Butler from continued work on these regulations and the department should consider reissuing them for further public comment.”

Beyond that statement, Sloan wrote in a letter to Steven Silverman, Acting General Council of the Department of Agriculture, that:

“…we ask that you take appropriate action to ensure Mr. Butler has no continuing role in the development of these regulations. While, strictly speaking, the conflict-of-interest regulations and restrictions on post-employment lobbying activities would not appear to mandate Mr. Butler’s recusal from this matter, their rationale – protecting the integrity of government decisions – certainly applies.”

Mrs. Sloan is correct, knowing what we know now, the regulations proposed by Mr. Butler are now seen in a different light and subject to suspicion, and should be reopened to public comment.

While CREW stopped short of calling for Mr. Butler’s resignation, only calling for his neutering, that is not enough. Just weeks after a massive shift in the political landscape, the American people are in no mood for politicians or political appointees who do not have the public’s interests at heart. Mr. Butler should resign or be relieved of his position. There is no excuse for having someone with such a conflict of interest in a position of authority in government, no matter how obscure the agency.

The incoming Republican Congress should look into the actions Mr. Butler, the regulations he has proposed and/or instituted to see whether they’re necessary and if they benefit the consumer or his trial lawyer friends. Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA), the soon-to-be Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has been briefed on the case of J. Dudley Butler and, we hear, has taken an interest.

Time will tell what Butler’s fate will be, but his immediate future should involve intense Congressional oversight of all of his moves as Administrator of GIPSA and a return to the private sector.