Why Amazon hired former White House press secretary Carney

He knows public relations and public policy.

Former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney is now the Senior Vice President of Worldwide Affairs at Amazon (AMZN), according to Politico. He begins his new job on Monday.

In his new post, Carney will oversee Amazon’s public relations and lobbying efforts. He will report directly to Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos. Bezos also owns the Washington Post.

Carney is not the first former Washington insider to leave politics for the technology business, nor is he the first from the Obama administration. Political strategist David Plouffe, President Obama’s former campaign manager and advisor, joined the car-sharing service Uber last summer. He’s now the senior vice president for policy and strategy there. Plouffe served as a senior advisor to the president from 2011 to 2013.

Yahoo Finance's Rick Newman says tech companies have finally “figured out there are a lot of regulatory and legislative issues that affect the tech industry."  West Coast tech start-ups had a hands-off attitude toward Washington for a long time. "It seems like they finally decided we just have to play in this game,” says Newman. “They want to turn things in their favor in Washington without a doubt,” he says.

[Get the Latest Market Data and News with the Yahoo Finance App]

Carney and Plouffe's moves to the tech industry may signal a change for those who leave public life for private industry.  For a long time, that change in career path usually led to high-paying positions at big banks. “That’s where the money was,” says Newman.

But that's changed.  Stock or stock options in a company seeing explosive growth, rather than one dealing with a constant regulatory push-and-pull, may be the draw. Newman points out, “We’re still seeing the revolving door between Washington and Wall Street without a doubt. But tech is obviously gaining in importance.”

What does a company like Amazon want from Washington? Newman says the Internet retail giant has several issues on the table in Congress that are near and dear to its day-to-day operations, like Internet sales taxes. Right now, Amazon deals with a hodgepodge of state rules, and would benefit from a uniform tax law. Amazon also has an interest in issues like net neutrality because of the movies it streams over its Amazon Prime service, and the Internet retailer has faced anti-trust issues with booksellers.

But Carney has more of a background in public relations than in public policy or lobbying. Before becoming the president’s press secretary, Carney was a journalist with Time and The Miami Herald before that.  He will likely serve to brush up Amazon’s image with the public. “It has no sort of personality. I mean it’s whole personality comes from its website,” says Newman.

Carney may also be a good complement to Amazon CEO Bezos. “Jeff Bezos is reclusive. He almost seems uncomfortable speaking in public. And that’s what Jay Carney does. That’s what he did at the White House. He was the face of a guy who doesn’t want to speak to the public. It kind of fits at Amazon.”

Carney left the Obama Administration in 2013. Since then, he has served as a paid political commentator for CNN. He will be leaving that position.

More from Yahoo Finance

The winners and losers in net neutrality

New Media rolls up Main St. newspapers, prints cash for Wall St.

McDonald's jumps in one of its biggest rallies in past five years