Home

iWatch News by The Center for Public Integrity

Follow @iWatch.

Home

About the Center

ICIJ: Global investigations

Donate

Politics

Health

Environment

Accountability

National Security

Juvenile Justice

Politics

Bundlers advise on economic recovery

By Sarah Laskow

6:52 pm, February 6, 2009 Updated: 10:41 am, March 25, 2011

Print
E-mail
Tweet

President Obama introduced his high-powered Economic Recovery Advisory Board this morning. The advisory board will offer “independent, nonpartisan information, analysis, and advice” to the President and his team, according to an earlier news release. The release said the members of the board “will be drawn from among distinguished citizens outside the government who are qualified on the basis of achievement, experience, independence, and integrity.”

Today, in a news conference introducing the team the President said he wanted to ensure that his administration was “tapping a broad and diverse range of opinion across the country.”

“I created this board to enlist voices to come from beyond the Washington echo chamber,” he said before signing the executive order creating the board.

Turns out that a number of board members have also been financially helpful to the president, according to Center for Responsive Politics. Among them is Penny Pritzker, who gave generously to the Obama campaign. Pritzker also bundled money for the Obama campaign and served as its National Finance Chair. But she wasn’t the only new advisory board member who contributed to Obama. Robert Wolf, chairman and CEO of UBS Group Americas, a leading international financial firm, was also named to the advisory board. In the past campaign cycle, he gave to to the president himself ($4,300), to former House member — now-Chief of Staff — Rahm Emanuel ($2,300), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ($5,000), and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ($15,000), as well as to former Obama-rival turned Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ($3,800), according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Wolf also bundled more than $500,000 for the Obama campaign, according to Public Citizen.

Other board members who donated to the president’s campaign: Paul Volcker†, the board’s chair ($2,300); Austan Goolsbee, its chief economist ($3,400); Mark T. Gallogly ($2,300); Charles E. Phillips ($2,300); and Laura D’Andrea Tyson ($2,300).

The board is nonpartisan, however, and includes McCain donors Jeffrey R. Immelt ($2,300), Martin Feldstein ($2,000), and Jim Owens ($2,300).

Like our Politics coverage on Facebook and get the latest news instantly.
Advertisement

What we're working on

Projects, series, blogs and other investigations from the Center

Investigation

Consider the Source

Democratic operatives seeking million-dollar checks for super PACs

More stories ...

Investigation

Looting the Seas

'Free-for-all' decimates fish stocks in the southern Pacific

More stories ...

Investigation

Poisoned Places

Many Americans left behind in the quest for cleaner air

More stories ...

Investigation

The Great Mortgage Cover-Up

Countrywide protected fraudsters by silencing whistleblowers, say former employees

More stories ...

Investigation

Juvenile Justice

An epidemic of expulsions

More stories ...

Investigation

Raw Deal

Raging against the foreclosure machine

More stories ...

Popular on Facebook

You might also be interested in ...

Who will pay for Obama’s big day?

IMPACT: Obama orders up government-wide accountability board

GOP to subpoena White House over Solyndra

Powered by Calais
Advertisement

Donate

  • Make a donation online

  • Make a donation by mail

  • Make a contribution by fax or phone

  • Make a gift of stock

  • Rated 4-stars on Charity Navigator

Subscribe to our Weekly Watchdog email newsletter to find about our investigations.

What the Center investigates

About the Center

Center in the News

  • Politics

    • One Nation Under Debt
    • Consider the Source
    • Raw Deal
    • Congress
    • The White House
    • Elections
  • Health

    • Medicare
    • Public Health
    • Wendell Potter
    • Island of the Widows
    • Pushing Prescriptions
    • Genetics
  • Environment

    • Health and Safety
    • Energy
    • Pollution
    • Climate
    • Natural Resources
  • Accountability

    • Finance
    • Harmful Error
    • Morning Tip Sheet
    • Education
    • State Integrity Investigation
    • The Truth Left Behind
    • Global Muckraking
    • ICIJ Member Stories
    • Lobby Watch
    • Campaign Consultants
    • Iraq: The War Card
    • Well Connected
    • Waste, Fraud and Abuse
  • National Security

    • Homeland Security
    • The Military
    • Intelligence
    • Outsourcing the Pentagon
    • Windfalls of War
  • Juvenile Justice

    • About The Center for Public Integrity

    • Our Organization

    • Our People

    • Our Work

    • About the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

    • Contact Us

    • Advertise

    • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

    • Susan Ferriss discusses youth in prison with KQED

    • Weekly Watchdog 2/2/12

    • John Dunbar talks year-end super PAC disclosure on PBS NewsHour

    • Center, NPR finalist for Goldsmith journalism prize

    • Weekly Watchdog 1/26/12

    • John Dunbar discusses super PACs on PBS NewsHour

    • International Consortium Adds 41 Investigative Journalists

    • The weekly watchdog: Dec. 12 - Dec. 16

    Copyright 2012 The Center for Public Integrity

    Supported by: