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who oversees 15,000 employees and about $200 billion in loans to lift as many people out of global poverty as possible has faced challenges throughout his tenure that include rebounding from the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 and mitigating the harrowing effects of the Syrian refugee crisis today. The cofounder of Partners in Health and first AsianAmerican president of an Ivy League school (he led Dartmouth until his current post) once revealed a key element of his mission: “To say that there is not enough money is just a lie. There’s plenty of money in the world; it’s just not going to healthcare for poor people.” STEVEN KNAPP President, George Washington University Since the courts approved the takeover of the Corcoran Gallery of Art by George Washington University and the National Gallery, GW’s president has made strides expanding his university well beyond its Foggy Bottom reach. The university’s fund-raising receipts
skyrocketed from $98.5 million to $248 million in the year prior to June 2015 and Knapp seems well on his way to raising $1 billion in the next two years. Athletics-wise, the men’s basketball squad was ranked in the AP Top 25 this year; the women’s team also won its league. Academically, GW saw a record 28 percent increase in 2016 applications over the previous year since going test-optional. (Twenty percent of applicants chose not to include test scores, according to a GW news release.) HOWARD KOHR Executive Director, AIPAC The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which Kohr heads, was more in the news than ever after a spring conference that packed about 18,000 convention-goers from all across the world into the Walter E. Washington Convention Center to discuss the future of the Jewish state. Called “the fourth pilgrimage holiday,” the event drew scrutiny for including Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who has made a
POWER PLAY:
THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU’S BATTLE AGAINST DARK MONEY
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n 2008, under the Bush/Cheney administration, U.S. taxpayers were forced to bail out big banks. The administration argued that if the public didn’t bail out the private sector banks, the entire economy would implode. Millions of Americans who received bad loans from big banks and predatory lenders had their homes foreclosed, and never recovered. Middle-class Americans, particularly African-Americans, were hit the hardest with an estimated 40-60% of their wealth lost. To help address such concerns and other financial regulation, the CFPB, an independent agency funded by the Federal Reserve, was established under “Dodd-Frank” legislation with a mandate to protect consumers from banks and other financial companies and lenders. Powerful interests immediately launched a coordinated campaign against the CFPB, spending tens of millions of dollars on TV and web ads to undermine any such consumer protections. Politico recently reported that one of the
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organizations spending millions in attack ads in the D.C. market, “Protect America’s Consumers,” had an address that matches a lawyer who represents some of the Koch Brothers “astroturf” campaigns. Astroturfing refers to organizations created to appear to be supported by a mass grassroots army of citizens, but in fact are supported by a few wealthy individuals or large corporations. Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), a grassroots watch-dog group of over 200 consumer, religious, labor and grassroots organizations released a report in April that shows how a great majority of financial bills and amendments brought up for congressional vote last year “were industrybacked proposals to weaken existing reforms” or CFPB. Under existing laws, the funders of these “dark money” attacks are not known, but what is very clear is that the people spending millions in attacking the CFPB do not wish to be known and that the CFPB is in a pitched battle with powerful individuals and corporations which will play out in the years to come.
number of xenophobic and bigotted comments. Notably absent was Democratic challenger Sen. Bernie Sanders — the only Jewish candidate in the presidential race — who declined an AIPAC invitation that all of the other candidates accepted. The event’s most notable moment came when Hillary Clinton spoke of her support for the Iranian nuclear deal that AIPAC had unsuccessfully tried to torpedo. According to watchdog website OpenSecrets, AIPAC spent more than $3.3 million on lobbying in 2015. Despite losing on the Iran issue, AIPAC has managed to gain members and raise more money. One insider calls Kohr “a disciplined ego, sort of like the Wizard of Oz. He doesn’t let people see behind the curtain, but he is pulling all he levers.” MIKE KONCZAL Fellow, The Roosevelt Institute The Roosevelt Institute, inspired by namesakes Franklin and Eleanor, “reimagines America as … a place where hard work is rewarded, everyone participates, and everyone enjoys a fair share of our collective prosperity.” Konczal, a fellow of the left-leaning think tank, has financial reform on his mind as he writes Rortybomb, one of the top financial blogs on the English-language web. His “comfort with the mathematical models and statistical wizardry that make most journalists blanch is married to an easy writing style and pop-culture sensibility,” ex-Washington Post Wonkblogger Ezra Klein once gushed. Konczal’s writing has also appeared in The New Republic, Al Jazeera America, the Wonkblog and Dissent. CHRISTINE LAGARDE Managing Director, International Monetary Fund February, the International Monetary Fund Executive Board reselected Christine Lagarde for her second five-year term as managing director (starting in July). The first woman to hold the position, Lagarde has presided over a budget that tops $1 billion and is working tirelessly to boost the international economy. In her first term she dealt with an increasingly tumultuous Eurozone, an ever-changing economic landscape in East
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