Biden Faces a Balancing Act in Choosing Top Aides With Business Ties

Biden Faces a Balancing Act in Choosing Top Aides With Business Ties

The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesPersonalized Covid TrackerVaccine TrackerFAQ: Thanksgiving and MoreJeffrey Zients, a candidate to lead the administration's coronavirus response team, is arousing resistance from some progressive Democrats.Jeffrey D. Zients, second from left, in 2014 while director of the National Economic Council. A powerful figure on the Biden transition team, he worries some progressives because of his business experience.Credit...Stephen Crowley/The New York TimesBy Alan RappeportWASHINGTON — Five years ago, Jeffrey D. Zients was the head of the Obama administration's National Economic Council, working to push across the finish line a federal rule that would prevent financial advisers from taking advantage of retirees. He won praise from progressives for fending off fierce resistance from Wall Street and for fighting for consumer protections.These days, Mr. Zients is a co-chairman of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s transition team who is being watched warily by members of Democratic Party's left wing. Progressive advocacy groups such as the Revolving Door Project and Justice Democrats, concerned that he would defend corporate America if given a top economic policy job in the Biden administration, pushed to keep him out of such a role. They view his recent work running an investment fund — Cranemere — and