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 The groups is also asking in a letter that Clinton, the favorite
to win the party's nomination for the 2016 presidential election,
endorse a proposed federal law that would ban "golden parachutes",
as the bonuses are sometimes known.
Clinton's two main rivals for the party's nomination, Vermont
Senator Bernie Sanders and former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley,
have already said they support the Financial Services Conflict of
Interest Act.
The legislation, introduced this past July, would ban incoming
government employees from accepting such bonuses from their former
private sector employers.
 It would also require senior government regulators to recuse
themselves from any work that would particularly benefit any
employer or client they had in the two years before joining the
government.
Progressives criticize the practice of giving generous bonuses to
executives for quitting to take high-level government regulatory
jobs, saying it creates the presumption that the executives will
work mainly to benefit their former employers rather than serve the
broader public.
"At worst, it results in undue and inappropriate corporate influence
at the highest levels of government – in essence, a barely legal,
backdoor form of bribery," the groups wrote in their letter.
The letter was signed by Rootstrikers, American Family Voices,
Democracy for America, MoveOn.org and four other groups that
campaign for progressive policies. An advance copy of the letter was
given to media outlets.
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Spokesmen for Clinton have previously declined to say whether she
supports the proposed law. It remained unclear how Clinton or her
campaign might respond to the letter.
Clinton, who has said increasing the wealth of middle-class
Americans would be her focus if she wins the presidency, has
received generous support from Wall Street for her political
campaigns and she and her husband, former president Bill Clinton,
have made millions of dollars by giving paid speeches to financial
companies.
She has called for increased oversight of the riskier activities of
Wall Street firms. However, her campaign said she was still in the
process of publicizing specific policies, risking the impatience of
some in her party who want tougher regulations on the financial
industry.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Additional reporting by Luciana Lopez;
Editing by Toni Reinhold)
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