“It is distressing to see the president turning to his heavy financehitters as consultants,” said Craig Holman, legislative director forPublic Citizen.
President Obama‘snewly named Economic Recovery Advisory Board, the real-world Americansbeing asked to help solve the nation’s financial crisis, includes aunion executive who took the Fifth in a federal probe, a billionairewhose failed bank pioneered the subprime mortgage market, anddeep-pocket donors who gave or gathered nearly $1.2 million for thepresident’s campaign.
In all, 11 of the 16 board members donated or raised money forDemocrats in the last election, according to a Washington Times reviewof campaign finance records. They include the president and chiefoperating officer of the American arm of UBS Investment Bank, theSwiss-based bank now at the center of a widening tax evasion probe bythe Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service.
In announcing the board’s creation, Mr. Obama described its members as”distinguished citizens outside the government” who were qualified onthe basis of achievement, experience, independence and integrity to”bring a diverse set of perspectives and voices from different parts ofthe country and different sectors of the economy to bear in theformulation and evaluation of economic policy.”
The board is headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker,whose only political contribution last year was $2,300 to Mr. Obama.
“It is distressing to see the president turning to his heavy financehitters as consultants,” said Craig Holman, legislative director forPublic Citizen, a nonpartisan watchdog group that tracks politicalfundraising and its influence on government policy.