Jamming Wall St's revolving door to power It is now hard to believe that a career on Wall Street was once a qualification rather than an impediment for a job in Washington. When Hank Paulson moved from Goldman Sachs to the Treasury in 2006, his banking past was neither excoriated nor really examined. Inside Business A Democratic senator did note the revolving door between Goldman and the government. But this is how he did it: "[Mr Paulson would] continue the long history of Goldman Sachs heads, including former Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, Deputy Secretary of State John Whitehead, serving their country with great distinction and success." Times have changed. The current head of Goldman is highly unlikely to be allowed to serve his country with distinction. And last week it emerged that Ruth Porat, chief financial officer of Morgan Stanley, will not be nominated as deputy Treasury secretary. Two people familiar with the situation say they feared her finances would be attacked during a congressional hearing. Back in 2006 Washington barely blinked when Mr Paulson sold half a billion dollars of Goldman stock in advance of his move to Treasury. (It proved quite a good deal. Had he been forced to hold on to it he would have seen it halve in the crisis and still fail to surpass the previous level now.) It also came with a customary tax break - just try introducing something similar today - that allows wealthy individuals joining the government to defer capital gains tax. If it is a new-found distaste for Wall Street that sunk Ms Porat's nomination, it would be a shame for Washington and worse for Wall Street. One of the industry's most senior women, she helped shepherd Morgan Stanley through turbulent years after the crisis, shoring up investor confidence that the bank's capital and liquidity was sound and could withstand further shocks. She serves on the Treasury borrowing advisory committee, an industry panel that counsels government officials on debt issuance and wider market stability. Following the departure of Tim Geithner as secretary, the Treasury needs someone with financial clout. Mr Geithner is being replaced by Jack Lew, a budget wonk - arguably the right horse for the course but not a markets expert. The crisis is over but the new regulations are worryingly unfinished. The reinvention of the US housing system, on which, incidentally, Ms Porat quietly advised the Treasury in 2008, has not even started. New problems such as student loans are brewing. For Wall Street the stakes are higher. If the industry has sunk so low that its top talent cannot be safely considered for Treasury jobs, bankers will lose their seat at the table. An unusually hostile cohort of regulators and politicians would be unchecked by the Treasury. These days, instead of seeing Reds under the bed, Washington sees bankers. The idea that Mr Geithner was a creature of Wall Street became hopelessly fixed in the imaginations of his critics. Damon Silvers, a member of a Congressional Oversight Panel, once grilled Mr Geithner: "What I don't get - and I practised law, and you've been in banking..." Geithner: "I've never actually been in banking. I've only been in... Silvers: "Well, a long time ago." Geithner: "Actually, never." Silvers: "Investment banking." Geithner: "Never investment banking. I spent my entire life in public service in the Treasury and at the Federal Reserve. Silvers: "All right. Very well then... There are some good reasons for the shift from fawning to disapproval. There has been a monumental financial crisis, in which Wall Street required multibillion-dollar bailouts. It is a good that the easy back-and-forth between Washington and Wall Street attracts more scrutiny. And if Ms Porat and the White House were uncomfortable about her prospects in a Senate confirmation hearing then perhaps she is not the right choice. But even taking that into account, the US tradition of financial titans moving to public service should not be cast aside so easily. The Treasury is a remarkably lean operation. It lacks the vast staff of technocrats that characterise the civil service in the UK or France. With proper oversight - and neither the pandering of the past nor the prejudice of the present - the revolving door can keep on turning. The bankers should worry if it seizes up. Tom Braithwaite is the Financial Times" US banking editor