Obama Donors Appointed to Stimulus Committee

Let me ask you this: Would a big-time Obama donor be vested in telling us the stimulus has been poorly managed? Or would big-time donors to the president's campaign and political party have the integrity to recommend spending that huge amount of money in a clearly non-partisan manner? Another presidential "panel" has been established, the Recovery Independent Advisory Panel (RIAP). The RIAP makes recommendations to the Stimulus Czar, Earl Devaney, who chairs the Recovery Act Accountability and Transparency Board (RAT). A study group of three professors has just been released and it does not show the funds were distributed or spent responsibly. See that link below.

Earl Devaney

Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA), the ranking Republican on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, says Devaney's appointments are partisan and political:

Issa describes and documents the partisan political nature of 3 out of 4 appointees, i.e. Steven Koch, Edward Tufte, and Myrta “Chris” Sale...

Steven Koch, a Chicago banker, is a veteran donor and fundraiser for President Obama’s political efforts. He is an accomplished fundraising “bundler”, bundling over $200,000 for the President’s 2008 campaign. He also donated over $43,000 to the Democratic National Committee since 2008.

Edward Tufte, a Yale Professor, known for his skills in the presentation of data, has personally contributed over $120,000 to the National, Senate, and Congressional Democratic Campaign Committees since 1998.

Myrta “Chris” Sale, a veteran official of the Clinton Administration, served as Deputy Commissioner of the Immigration Naturalization Service (INS). “Under her leadership, the agency welcomed 16,400 new citizens who had been arrested for at least one felony.”

Obama pledged the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board would be an at-large body to oversee how the government spends billions allocated to help the flailing U.S. economy.

But with dozens of agencies and departments involved, Obama wanted a central group to monitor independently where those funds are going.

Obama also planned to tap Biden to meet regularly with Cabinet members, governors and mayors to make sure their efforts were quick and effective. 

Earl Devaney is required to reply to Issa's letter. Devaney is responsible for the $787 billion stimulus being spent responsibly, but according to a new study of stimulus funds, the money has been distributed on a partisan and political basis, and has been spread among the legislators powerful enough to snatch it up, rather than distributed to those areas with the greatest need of stimulation. Read it here.

Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

Linked by Doug Ross and Larwyn - Thank you!