The Inside Economic Policy Players in a Hillary Clinton Administration and Their Policy Focus

Make no mistake about it, Heather Boushey, Executive Director & Chief Economist, of the | Washington Center for Equitable Growth, is going to be a major player in a Hillary Clinton Administration.

She sent a fascinating email to key Clinton advisers with a memo attached that signals who are likely to play important roles in a Clinton administration and the policy topics they consider most significant.

Including such horrific subjects as Economic Inequality and the Politics of Place, The Relationship between Antitrust and Inequality and Taxing Capital.

Also noteworthy, the agenda includes discussion of

The Next Recession

and

The Rise of Extremely Conservative Politics

Here's the email via Wikileaks:

From:HBoushey@equitablegrowth.org
To: john.podesta@gmail.com, Ira.Fishman@nflpa.com, sdaetz@sandlerfoundation.org
Date: 2016-01-25 17:52
Subject: Policy Advisory Group
 
 Hello John, Ira, and Steve,

Attached please find the latest draft of our vision for a series of “Policy Advisory Group” dinners. This is an idea we’ve batted around for the past couple of years and have finally had time to put pen to paper on. I’m looping all three of you since we’ve already had conversations about this and I’d like to hear any feedback or reactions to this memo.

Thank you!  Best,
Heather
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Heather Boushey Executive Director & Chief Economist |
Washington Center for Equitable Growth hboushey@equitablegrowth.org<mailto:hboushey@equitablegrowth.org> |
 (202) 545-3341 |
@hboushey

Here's the full memo:





MEMO

To: Ira Fishman, John Podesta, Steve Daetz
From: Heather Boushey and Jessica Fulton
RE: Policy Advisory Group
Date: January 14, 2016


As Equitable Growth advances its goal of shaping the conversation about how the economy works, the organization seeks to access to elite Washington insiders participate in economic debates. Our goal is both to create a larger audience for Equitable Growth’s research and findings, as well as to hear from members of this community their reactions and their ideas of issues we should pursue. To this end, we are considering forming a standing, but informal, group to engage with and advise us on the policy and political conversations happening at the highest levels in Washington.

We would like to hear your reactions to the following proposal.

Our initial thinking on the format and structure of of the Policy Advisory Group is the following:

It will consist of a small group (3-4 people) of permanent members and several others who are rotated in and out of participation depending on the subject of each particular meeting. Depending on the topic, we will aim to include a diversity of voices, including political ideology.
It will meet on a quarterly basis, typically in Washington, DC over dinner, to discuss a predetermined topic.
Each meeting will include an academic or policy expert who can provide background on the topic to spark the conversation. The conversation will include reactions from a member of the Policy Advisory Group on the political environment surrounding the topic, and Heather Boushey or a designated member of the Policy Advisory Group will moderate the discussion from there.
We do not anticipate making the composition of this group, nor the agenda or minutes of these meetings public.
To ensure that Equitable Growth is able to make the best use of these meetings, a member of the Equitable Growth staff will attend and take detailed notes at each meeting, and will circulate them to the group following the meeting so that group members may add any follow-up thoughts that can inform the Equitable Growth agenda.

Our goal is that Equitable Growth will walk away from each meeting with ideas on how to shape research moving forward, and the Policy Advisory Group members will walk away with a better understanding of the topic and having helped to shape Equitable Growth’s research and policy agenda.

Potential Topics

The Platform Economy
The Myth of Skill Biased Technological Change / The Decline of Bargaining Power and Economic Inequality
Economic Inequality and the Politics of Place
Taxing Capital
Inequality of Opportunity versus Inequality of Outcomes
The Next Recession
The Rise of Extremely Conservative Politics
The Relationship between Antitrust and Inequality

Potential Group Members
Please note, this list is only a starting point. We are very interested in your suggestions, and, as with all Equitable Growth endeavors, we would like for this group to represent a diversity of racial background, genders. and industry.

Resides in Washington, DC

Byron Auguste
Byron Auguste currently serves on the governing board of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. August is Managing Director of Opportunity@Work, a civic enterprise based at New America in Washington DC. Mr. Auguste served for 2 years in the White House as Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, where his policy portfolio included job creation and labor markets, skills and workforce policies, innovation, investment, infrastructure, transportation and goods movement.

Diana Farrell
Diana Farrell is the founding President and Chief Executive Officer of the JP Morgan Chase Institute, a new global think tank. Previously, Farrell was the head of the McKinsey Center for Government, and a leader of McKinsey’s global Public Sector Practice. From 2009 to 2011, Farrell was the Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, and a Deputy Assistant on Economic Policy to President Obama. Prior to joining McKinsey, she worked at Goldman Sachs. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Aspen Strategy Group, the Aspen Program on the World Economy, the Bretton Woods Committee, and the Trilateral Group. She serves on the board of trustees for Wesleyan University.

Holly Fechner
Holly Fechner is a partner at Covington+Burling LLP, and a Democratic lobbyist. She served as Policy Director for Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chief Labor and Pensions Counsel for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Legislative Counsel for the AFL-CIO, and Policy Counsel for the National Partnership for Women and Children. She is the vice-chair of the Board of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, an advisory board member of the Center for WorkLife Law at UC-Hastings, and an appointed member of the Maryland State Higher Education Labor Relations Board.

Ira Fishman
Ira Fishman currently serves on the governing board of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. He is the Managing Director of the NFL Players Association, and formerly a partner and Chief Operating Officer at Patton Boggs LLP. He previously served as special counsel and director of the Task Force on Education at the Federal Communications Commission and was named the founding CEO of the Schools and Libraries Corporation, a non-profit that provides $2.25 billion annually to K-12 schools and public libraries. In his distinguished career, Mr. Fishman has also served as deputy assistant to the president for legislative affairs at the White House during the Clinton Administration, vice president for congressional and external affairs at the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and founding CEO of HiFusion, an innovative education and consumer media company. Mr. Fishman is currently on the Board of Education Sector.

Jason Furman
Jason Furman is currently the Chairman of the Counsel of Economic Advisors, thus would be a wait-and-see appointment. Furman has a long history of involvement in both research and political endeavors around economic policy, including serving as the founding director of the Hamilton Project at Brookings. Furman has expressed interest in working with Equitable Growth in the future.

Tefere Gebre
Tefere Gebre is the executive vice president of the AFL-CIO. Tefere has had the unique experience of working at all levels of the labor movement. Before joining the labor movement, Tefere worked for then-Speaker of the California State Assembly Willie L. Brown Jr. as a legislative aide. Never hesitant to lead, Tefere twice was elected as president of the California Young Democrats—and he was the first African American and first immigrant elected to serve in that position. Tefere received a bachelor’s degree in international marketing from Cal Poly Pomona and an MBA from the University of Southern California. Tefere and his wife, Jennifer Badgley have relocated from California and live in Maryland.

Walter Isaacaon
Walter Isaacson is President and CEO of the Aspen Institute. Previously, he served as the chair of CNN, and the editor of Time magazine. He is the author of several books on innovation (including biographies of Steve Jobs, Einstein, and Ben Franklin). Isaacson was the Obama-appointed chair of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. He is chair emeritus of Teach for America, on the board of United Airlines, and a member of the board of overseers of Harvard University, amongst other corporate and non-profit board responsibilities.

Suzanne Nora Johnson
Suzanne Nora Johnson is an attorney and executive. She retired as Vice Chair of Goldman Sachs, where she was chair of the Global Markets Institute and head of the firm’s Global Investment Research Division. She serves on the Brookings Board of Trustees and on the Hamilton Project advisory council, as well as on numerous other corporate and philanthropic boards (examples: Intuit, AIG, Pfizer, Carnegie Institute, RAND Health, Markle Foundation, University of Southern California, Initiative for Financial Security at the Aspen Institute.)

Ron Klain
Ron Klain served as chief of staff for Vice Presidents Biden and Gore, and, more recently, chaired the Obama Administration’s response to the Ebola crisis. He is an attorney, and currently serves as President of Case Holdings and General Counsel at Revolution LLC, a Steve Case-backed venture capital firm.

Katherine McFate
Katherine McFate is the President and CEO of the Center for Effective Government, a non-profit research and advocacy organization whose mission is the build an open accountable government that invests in the common good. McFate led the Ford Foundation’s program on transparent and effective government, and directed a research and policy program at the Rockefeller Foundation aimed at strengthening the resilience of American workers in the face of globalization and outsourcing. She serves on the CEPR board, as well on the board of the Coalition for Human Needs, and other progressive causes.

Pauline Schneider
Pauline Schneider is of counsel at Ballard Spahr LLP, where she specializes in public finance. Schneider serves on the board of trustees of the National Partnership for Women and Families, PEPCO, and WETA, amongst others. She held appointed positions in intergovernmental affairs in the Carter Administration as well as for the District of Columbia’s government.

Maya Rockeymoore
Maya Rockeymoore leads Global Policy Solutions, a firm and think tank in Washington DC. Maya has also served as the vice president of research and programs at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), senior resident scholar at the National Urban League, chief of staff to Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY), professional staff on the House Ways and Means Committee, and as a CBCF legislative fellow in the office of Congressman Melvin Watt (D-NC) among other positions.

Resides on the East Coast

Frank Brosens
Frank Brosens is co-founder of Taconic Capitol (a hedge fund) and former partner at Goldman Sachs, where he headed risk arbitrage, stock options, and equity derivatives. He is a member of the board of directors of the Economic Club of New York, and a member of the Board of Directors for PRINCO, the Princeton University Investment Company.

Blair Effron
Blair Effron is co-founder of Centerview Partners, a boutique New York investment banking firm. Effron is a friend of Ira Fishman’s, and major Democratic party donor, a board member of the Hamilton Project, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Lincoln Center, amongst other organizations.

Gail Furman
Gail Furman is a psychologist, and, more importantly, a member (former member?) of the Democracy Alliance and the director of the Furman Foundation, which is a major supporter of Media Matters and the Soros-backed Tides Center. She serves on numerous non-profit boards, including the Brennan Center for Social Justice. Furman is also a heavy-hitting donor to New York University, where her late husband served on the board of directors.

Phil Murphy
Phil Murphy is a former U.S. Ambassador to Germany and former Goldman Sachs executive. Murphy has served on the boards of the NAACP, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and the Center for American Progress. [He is running for Governor, so this may not be right for him now.]

John D. Podesta
John Podesta is a founder of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Under his initial leadership, Equitable Growth launched as a start up housed within the Center for American Progress, which he founded in 2003. Podesta left Equitable Growth to serve as counsel to President Barack Obama before becoming the chair of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. Prior to founding CAP in 2003, Podesta served as White House Chief of Staff to President William J. Clinton. Additionally, Podesta served as co-chair of President Obama’s transition and he has held numerous positions on Capitol Hill. Podesta is a graduate of Knox College and the Georgetown University Law Center, where he is currently a visiting professor of law. He also authored The Power of Progress: How America’s Progressives Can (Once Again) Save Our Economy, Our Climate and Our Country. He is currently serving on the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

Resides beyond East Coast

David Beier
David Beier, JD is a Managing Director of Bay City Capital and is a globally recognized leader in health care policy, pricing, intellectual property, government affairs, regulatory affairs, health care economics, and product commercialization.
Mr. Beier served in the White House as the Chief Domestic Policy Advisor to Vice President Al Gore during the Clinton Administration, as an appointee of President Clinton’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, on the Institute of Medicine panel on the Future of Health and Human Services, as an advisor to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and was formerly Counsel to the US House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary. He currently serves as an appointee of Governor Brown on the California State Government Organization and the Economy Commission, as a Fellow of the Center for Global Enterprise, and teaches as an Adjunct Lecturer at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.

Ann Marie Burgoyne
Ann Marie Burgoyne is the Managing Director of the Social Innovation Initiative for the Emerson Collective, which is Laurene Powell Jobs’ foundation. (Laurene Powell Jobs is Steve Jobs’ widow.) Burgoyne’s expertise is the identification and support of high-impact, growing, innovative non-profits. She is on the Board of Directors of the Management Center, Stand for Children, Ideo.org, Global Social Ventures, and a variety of other organizations. (Referral: Sam Bell)

David desJardins
David desJardins is a mathematician and software engineer. He was among the first 20 employees at Google, where he worked from 1999 to 2005. Since leaving Google, desJardins continues to engage with mathematical research and has been a private investor, an active philanthropist, and a supporter of many progressive groups and organizations. David and his wife Nancy Blachman are founders of the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival, a program of math education and enrichment for middle and high school students; and desJardins is a trustee of the University of California Berkeley Foundation, and a member of the MIT Corporation, the Institute’s board of trustees. He has been a member of the Democracy Alliance, an organization of progressive donors and movement leaders, since 2005.

Larry Kramer
Larry Kramer, president of the Hewlett Foundation, is former Dean of Stanford Law School. Kramer serves on the board of the National Constitution Center amongst other non-profits, and spearheaded reforms aimed at encouraging multidisciplinary legal studies and public service at Stanford prior to leaving for Hewlett.


Next steps

Equitable Growth plans to host two meetings in 2016, and in 2017 will begin quarterly meetings of the group. The meetings will be held in Washington, DC, and Equitable Growth will provide dinner, and, when necessary, travel and accommodations for members and/or the expert academic.

The immediate next steps are as follows:
Receive feedback from governing board on more potential group members and structure of meetings.
Engage in one on one meetings with each potential board member to gauge interest and invite the individual to serve
Set date and topic for the inaugural group meeting