Clark has other financial interests in the nation's capital. He serves as advisory director of the Potomac Electric Power Company, a utility that supplies electricity and natural gas to more than 700,000 customers in Maryland and the District. PEPCO recently announced it plans to acquire Conectiv, another utility with more than 1 million customers from New Jersey to Virginia.

During the campaign, George W. Bush took a clear position on federal regulations that affect utilities like PEPCO: He's against them. The process of approving new interstate pipelines for natural gas and oil, he declared, is "slow and cumbersome." Clark had no objection to easing the way for energy companies: He and his wife Alice gave all of their donations during the last election cycle to Bush and other Republicans.