Grading The Stimulus Advisory Board: Some Good Picks, Some Bad Picks and Some Clear Conflicts

President Obama named the members of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board charged to oversee the $925 billion dollar spending package (interesting that the board was named even before the measure has passed Congress).   The list contains some known names, some new ones, some good picks and a few that are riddled with conflicts.   It also includes a few that gave or helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Obama campaign and two people who help run major television and media outlets, raising questions about conflicts of interest.

Here are the members of the advisory board:

Paul Volcker (Chairman), William H. Donaldson, Roger Ferguson., Robert Wolf , David Swensen, Mark  Gallogly, Penny Pritzker, John Doerr, Jim Owens, Monica Lozano, Charles Phillips., Anna Burger, Richard Trumka, Laura D'Andrea Tyson, Martin Feldstein, and Jeff Immelt.

Here's how I break down the list, beginning with the appointments I view as positive:

Martin Feldstein.   Solid selection.   He has openly (on Fox Business) criticized the current stimulus plan as not creating enough, well, stimulus.  He will be a voice of reason and dissent on the board.

David Swensen.  Manager of Yale's endowment and considered one of the brightest fund managers in the world.   A small town and self made guy, he will add some original viewpoints to the stimulus.

Roger Ferguson.   Alan Greenspan's right hand man on the Fed for years.   Now CEO of pension giant TIAA-Cref.   Should be sound voice that helps represent the interest of billions in retirement money.

Jim Owens.  CEO of Caterpillar.   On the boards of IBM and Alcoa.  Also a director of the fiscally conservative Peterson Institute for International Economics.    Should bring some midwestern sensibility to the group.  One of the few non-Ivy leaguers on the board.

William Donaldson.  Co-Founder of investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.   Also served as CEO of insurance giant Aetna.    Potential controversy may be that he served as Chairman of the SEC from February 2003 to June 2005, a time that saw the growth of many of the seeds of the subprime and credit crisis.

John Doerr.   Wealthy venture capitalist.   Start up investor in companies such as Google, Sun Microsystems, Compaq and others.   Also on the board of Google.    Spends much of this time working on and investing in 'green' projects so should help the push for alternative energy spending.

Charles Phillips.   President of database company Oracle, former investment banker at Morgan Stanley and former United States Marine.   Very sharp and disciplined.   Not distracted by multiple other board memberships as with many others on this list.

Laura Tyson.   Professor at Berkeley.   Former Dean of the London School of Business.    While her membership on the boards of Kodak, AT&T and Morgan Stanley may be viewed as distractions, she isn't beholden to a single industry and is a specialist in trade.   May help cool some of the recent dangerous anti-China rhetoric coming from the Obama camp.

Now, to the names that should raise some eyebrows:

Penny Pritzker.   One of America's richest people.   Heir to the billion dollar Hyatt Hotel chain Pritzker fortune.  She was also the finance chief of Obama's campaign and one of his biggest fundraisers.   Now she gets a seat.

Anna Burger and Martin Trumka.   Big labor gets two seats on the board.   Representatives of the SEIU and AFL-CIO, respectively.   Sure to push the organized labor agenda with taxpayer billions.

Jeff Immelt:  CEO of GE, owner of NBC and its family of media networks.    When Michael Bloomberg became Mayor of New York City he put his interest in the company into a blind trust, in part to avoid a conflict of interest with his company's radio and television operations and his political role.   Immelt will do his network a disservice by being both the CEO of a media company and serving in an official government advisory role.   It's simply too close for comfort.    Moreover, GE shares are at a 12 year low, wiped out in part by huge losses at GE Capital, a huge lender during the credit boom.   Shareholders cannot be too happy that their CEO is going to be taking time from running their company to serve on this board.   Immelt should have politely refused this post.   There are many other industrial companies such as United Technologies and Honeywell that represent similar interests but do not have a media operation.

Robert Wolf.   President of investment bank UBS.   While Wall Street should like this appointment, it should open the eyes of those who have joined the President in criticizing massive banking bonuses.    Just this week it was reported UBS is offering "super size" bonuses to entice traders and bankers away from competing firms.   There has also been the PR problem of some UBS bankers being accused of helping wealthy clients avoid paying taxes.

Mark Gallogly.   Not a household name.  Very wealthy.  Runs private investment firm Centerbridge Partners.    Smart and successful and considered another Wall Street advocate.   Former Senior Managing Director of private equity firm The Blackstone Group.   According to this website he donated more than $100,000 to the Democrats in 2008.  He has also spoken publicly about his support for the President, calling into question how much he will dissent on Democratic projects.

Monica Lozano.   Another media conflict.   CEO of La Opinion, the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the U.S.    She is also on the boards of both Bank of America and Disney, the owner of the ABC television network.