Former Center for American Progress Fellow to Head Hillary Clinton’s Senior Policy Advisor Team

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from India West:

Maya Harris, a former senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, is one three senior policy advisors named by Hillary Clinton to lead the development of an agenda for her presidential campaign, setting the stage for a series of policy rollouts that campaign officials hope to begin next month after her early phase of road trips to meet voters.

According to a report in Politico, Harris, an Indian American, will head the team that includes Ann O’Leary, a former legislative director to Clinton when she was in the Senate; and Jake Sullivan, a top aide to Clinton while she was secretary of state and a former national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden.

According to the report, Harris has a background in human rights, having served as vice president of Democracy, Rights and Justice at the Ford Foundation, where she led a team that promoted effective governance, democracy and human rights around the world.

"I will be rolling out very specific policies over the weeks and months ahead that I think are going to be at the core of not only a successful campaign, but much more importantly, getting our country to work again," Clinton told reporters.

She is expected to roll out her full policy platform in May or June, after a series of meetings like those of April 14 that will be held in early primary states.


read more: http://www.indiawest.com/news/global_indian/maya-harris-to-head-hillary-clinton-s-senior-policy-advisor/article_6eb6ca02-e3c1-11e4-bae1-37b10b43a118.html

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1. »

[cyberswede]

2. Are you familiar with Maya Harris?

I've not heard of her before now.

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3. first I've heard of her

...much more about her experience in the article.

'Harris’ older sister is Kamala Harris, the Attorney General of California.'

'According to Wikipedia, prior to joining the Ford Foundation, Harris served as the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. Before joining the ACLU, the former law school dean (Lincoln Law School of San Jose) was a senior associate at PolicyLink. She has authored two publications which include a report highlighting community-centered policing practices nationwide and an advocacy manual for police reform.'

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4. kick

...off to work

[Wilms]

5. Center for American Progress

Not thrilled reading this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_American_Progress

[okaawhatever]

6. Why because it"s a hugely successful group that can compete with the likes of Heritage Foundation

and AEI? The development of progressive ideas and policies? The ThingProgress blog?

[Wilms]

7. Because of the same 'ol crowd.

It's the DLC-types I notice. Don't like 'em.

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8. what's interesting to me is the relationship to the Obama administration

... from John Podesta to Neera Tanden; both serving in the Obama and Bill Clinton administrations.

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9. Think Progress is almost indispensable

...even though that alone certainly doesn't insulate the foundation from all criticisms.

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10. here's CAP clashing on economic policy with 'Third Way'

from HuffPo:


WASHINGTON -- A Democratic Party clash over economic populism continued this week with the head of the progressive think tank Center For American Progress rejecting the centrist group Third Way's criticism of the idea as a dead-end for Democrats.

Neera Tanden, president of Center for American Progress and a former staffer for Hillary Clinton presidential and senatorial campaigns, wrote in a New Republic op-ed published Sunday that Third Way's attack on populism was "surprising" and "confounding."

"Washington's obsession with fiscal 'solutions' that are in search of a problem has made it harder, not easier, to create good jobs, to increase wages, and to boost overall economic growth," Tanden wrote. "That's why a focus on inequality and requiring the wealthy to pay their fair share has not just been a successful political strategy for Bill de Blasio and Elizabeth Warren, but for leaders in Ohio, California, Maryland, and across the country."

The New Republic op-ed puts the top two Democratic-leaning think tanks for big policy ideas at loggerheads over how hard to push economic populism positions on taxes, entitlements and income inequality. As President Barack Obama prepares to exit the political stage after his second term, the battle may have implications for the Democratic presidential candidate in 2016 and the candidate's campaign platform.

Tanden's commentary is the latest criticism of a Third Way op-ed authored by Jon Cowan and Jim Kessler published in The Wall Street Journal two weeks ago. The op-ed called the economic populism championed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and New York City Mayor-elect Bill De-Blasio "disastrous for Democrats."

read: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/16/center-for-american-progress-third-way_n_4455622.html


Elizabeth Warren gave the keynote address at a CAP conference recently.

[Wilms]

11. That's good to read.

Thanks you for pointing that out.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. Funding for CAP

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_American_Progress

Funding

The Center for American Progress is a 501(c)(3) organization under U.S. Internal Revenue Code. In 2013, CAP received $42 million from a variety of sources, including individuals, foundations, labor unions, and corporations.[30] From 2003 to 2007, CAP received about $15 million in grants from 58 foundations. Major individual donors include George Soros, Peter Lewis, Steve Bing, and Herb and Marion Sandler. The Center receives undisclosed sums from corporate donors.[31] In December 2013, the organization released a list of its corporate donors, which include Walmart, CitiGroup, Wells Fargo, defense contractor Northrup Grumman, America's Health Insurance Plans, and Eli Lilly and Company.

In 2015, CAP released a partial list of its donors, which included 28 anonymous donors accounting for at least $5 million in contributions. Named donors included the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, which each gave between $500,000 and $999,999. CAP’s top donors include Walmart and Citigroup, each of which have given between $100,000 and $499,000.

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14. CAP says corporate funding is just 6% of their income

From the Center for American Progress

Core to liberal thought is the idea that evidence should come first and conclusions should follow. Ken Silverstein’s recent article, The Secret Donors Behind the Center for American Progress and Other Think Tanks, insinuates a lot but the facts tell a different story.

The inference at the heart of the author’s story is that corporate donations shape or drive the content of CAP and CAP Action. That assertion is baseless and completely false.

The most central case to the author’s argument relies on a junior staffer “flagging” a hard-hitting piece we did on Goldman Sachs. The author then fails to cite the fact that the leadership of the organization raised no concerns—indeed the leadership of the organization pushed for additional coverage—and the original draft appeared verbatim and remains publicly available; along with more than two dozen other pieces of our reporting that are highly critical of Goldman Sachs. All that was required was a simple search on ThinkProgress.

The author also argues that CAP takes funds from Turkish interests, including a quote from an anonymous source that “As a result of the Turkish group’s support, CAP was “totally in the tank for them.” Again, the author’s insinuation is refuted by CAP’s body of work. In fact, just days before the Turkish Prime Minister recently visited Washington, CAP published a piece critical of the Turkish government, Freedom of the Press and Expression in Turkey.

The author goes even further insinuating that CAP’s growth over the year is attributable to our creation of our Business Alliance in 2007 and corporate donations. As Huffington Post wrote in March, philanthropic giving is what is responsible for our growth. The fact of the matter is only 6 percent of our funding in 2012 came from corporate donors, and it has never reached double digits.

These are the facts. Facts that undermine the preconceived conclusion drawn by the author. We are fiercely and proudly independent in our work and strongly refute any inference to the contrary.

We expect more from The Nation, and we eagerly encourage any reader to look directly at the substance of our work on corporate accountability and financial sector reform, clean energy, campaign finance reform, defense cuts, and progressive tax reform to judge for themselves.

Andrea Purse, Vice President for Communications, Center for American Progress

[jwirr]

13. Sounds okay. now let's see what they roll out.

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15. kick