Board features longtime backers
By LISA LERER & VICTORIA MCGRANE | 2/7/09 10:32 AM EST
Most of the experts on President Barack Obama’s new economic advisory board share at least one common trait: their generous support of his campaign.
In total, members of the panel raised or gave over $1.3 million to Democrats during the 2008 campaign cycle.
Campaign finance chairwoman Penny Pritzker, UBS Group Americas CEO Robert Wolf and Mark Gallogly, founder of the private equity firm Centerbridge Partners, raised at least $900,000 for Obama during the campaign.
Their link to the Obama team doesn’t diminish the broad range of economic expertise represented on the board.
The best example of the panel’s diversity is Martin Feldstein, a former McCain campaign adviser and President Ronald Reagan’s chief economic adviser, who last week slammed Obama’s stimulus plan as an “$800 billion mistake” on the op-ed page of The Washington Post.
Feldstein is one of three Republicans plucked by Obama to serve on the board.
But most on the board are long-time members of Obama’s extended circle, donating their economic advice and endorsements to him during the campaign.
Laura D’Andrea Tyson, dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley; former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker; and former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson, a Republican, advised Obama on economic policy throughout much of the campaign.
Tyson, Pritzker, Donaldson and TIAA-CREF Chief Executive Officer Roger Ferguson Jr. also worked on the Transition Economic Advisory Board, a group of 17 financial leaders who met with Obama within days of his campaign win to begin formulating economic policy for the new administration.
Anna Burger, chair of the Change to Win labor coalition, also serves as secretary-treasury of the Service Employees International Union. The SEIU endorsed Obama over rival Hillary Clinton last February, at a critical point during the hotly contested primary campaign. The AFL-CIO, a rival to the SEIU, poured massive amounts of money and manpower into get out the vote efforts on behalf of Obama. Their secretary-treasurer, Richard Trumka, also won a post on the board.
At least two members — including Pritzker and Democratic donor Charles Phillips Jr. — were rumored to be under consideration for top Cabinet posts.
Volcker, who will chair the board, stressed the urgent need to pass Obama’s stimulus plan in brief remarks at the announcement of the panel.
“One thing I am sure they all share — we all share — is the sense of urgency that you alluded to and emphasized,” Volcker said in brief remarks.
Volcker is a giant in the economic world, who is deeply respected by both conservative and liberal economists for breaking the back of the double-digit inflation that gripped the American economy in the late 1970s while he was chairman of the Federal Reserve. He is widely expected to serve as a relentless realist for the Obama administration, warning against imprudent steps and overconfidence among the economic team.
The board also includes financial experts, such as Donaldson and UBS Chairman Robert Wolf, who can offer their thoughts on how to stabilize the still shaky financial markets and, after that, how to revamp the regulatory architecture to avoid a repeat of the current crisis.
Jim Owens, chairman and CEO of Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar Inc., is a Republican who brings the perspective of a major American manufacturer to the panel. He will be sure to emphasize the need for the United States to push forward with trade agreements. Caterpillar has been at the forefront of lobbying for pushing for trade agreements, including the controversial pact between the United States and Colombia.
Owens is also an economist in his own right; he first joined Caterpillar in 1972 as a corporate economist.
Monica Lozano, head of the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the United States, La Opinion, represents the Hispanic community. She is also a member of the board of directors for the National Council of La Raza, the largest civil rights and advocacy group for Hispanic Americans. La Raza has been active in protesting predatory lending practices such as subprime mortgages and urging more aggressive government action to stop the rising wave of foreclosures.
By LISA LERER & VICTORIA MCGRANE | 2/7/09 10:32 AM EST
Most of the experts on President Barack Obama’s new economic advisory board share at least one common trait: their generous support of his campaign.
In total, members of the panel raised or gave over $1.3 million to Democrats during the 2008 campaign cycle.
Campaign finance chairwoman Penny Pritzker, UBS Group Americas CEO Robert Wolf and Mark Gallogly, founder of the private equity firm Centerbridge Partners, raised at least $900,000 for Obama during the campaign.
Their link to the Obama team doesn’t diminish the broad range of economic expertise represented on the board.
The best example of the panel’s diversity is Martin Feldstein, a former McCain campaign adviser and President Ronald Reagan’s chief economic adviser, who last week slammed Obama’s stimulus plan as an “$800 billion mistake” on the op-ed page of The Washington Post.
Feldstein is one of three Republicans plucked by Obama to serve on the board.
But most on the board are long-time members of Obama’s extended circle, donating their economic advice and endorsements to him during the campaign.
Laura D’Andrea Tyson, dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley; former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker; and former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson, a Republican, advised Obama on economic policy throughout much of the campaign.
Tyson, Pritzker, Donaldson and TIAA-CREF Chief Executive Officer Roger Ferguson Jr. also worked on the Transition Economic Advisory Board, a group of 17 financial leaders who met with Obama within days of his campaign win to begin formulating economic policy for the new administration.
Anna Burger, chair of the Change to Win labor coalition, also serves as secretary-treasury of the Service Employees International Union. The SEIU endorsed Obama over rival Hillary Clinton last February, at a critical point during the hotly contested primary campaign. The AFL-CIO, a rival to the SEIU, poured massive amounts of money and manpower into get out the vote efforts on behalf of Obama. Their secretary-treasurer, Richard Trumka, also won a post on the board.
At least two members — including Pritzker and Democratic donor Charles Phillips Jr. — were rumored to be under consideration for top Cabinet posts.
Volcker, who will chair the board, stressed the urgent need to pass Obama’s stimulus plan in brief remarks at the announcement of the panel.
“One thing I am sure they all share — we all share — is the sense of urgency that you alluded to and emphasized,” Volcker said in brief remarks.
Volcker is a giant in the economic world, who is deeply respected by both conservative and liberal economists for breaking the back of the double-digit inflation that gripped the American economy in the late 1970s while he was chairman of the Federal Reserve. He is widely expected to serve as a relentless realist for the Obama administration, warning against imprudent steps and overconfidence among the economic team.
The board also includes financial experts, such as Donaldson and UBS Chairman Robert Wolf, who can offer their thoughts on how to stabilize the still shaky financial markets and, after that, how to revamp the regulatory architecture to avoid a repeat of the current crisis.
Jim Owens, chairman and CEO of Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar Inc., is a Republican who brings the perspective of a major American manufacturer to the panel. He will be sure to emphasize the need for the United States to push forward with trade agreements. Caterpillar has been at the forefront of lobbying for pushing for trade agreements, including the controversial pact between the United States and Colombia.
Owens is also an economist in his own right; he first joined Caterpillar in 1972 as a corporate economist.
Monica Lozano, head of the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the United States, La Opinion, represents the Hispanic community. She is also a member of the board of directors for the National Council of La Raza, the largest civil rights and advocacy group for Hispanic Americans. La Raza has been active in protesting predatory lending practices such as subprime mortgages and urging more aggressive government action to stop the rising wave of foreclosures.
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