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| Rep. Donna Shalala (FL-27), Speaker's Nominee to the Coronavirus Oversight Panel. |
Shalala is an excellent choice for a difficult assignment to track national rescue packages that don't seem to be getting always where needed.
I have worked with and admired Donna for half a century. We were both professors at Baruch College of the City University of New York in 1969-73. She had earned her Ph.D. in political science at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University. We served together on the Faculty Committee on Research and we jointly proposed an Urban Future Center for Baruch.
Pursuing the idea of such a Center, I founded and served as President of the Council on Municipal Performance from 1973 to 1988. She became an involved adviser to the Council during New York City's fiscal crisis. She was appointed during the crisis as the sole female member of the board of the Municipal Assistance Corporation to save New York City. After the rescue of New York City, the Council was involved in efforts to reform New York City’s auditing and reporting systems. I also provided written background to then-New York City Councilwoman Carolyn Maloney, now Chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, in her successful reform of New York City's procurement practices.
When President Jimmy Carter was elected, Shalala was appointed HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research. She initiated HUD's valuable local government capacity-building program, which supported two guides that the Council published on Using Performance Measurement in Local Government, which had an introduction by then-San Francisco-Mayor Dianne Feinstein, and Local Government Auditing. (A follow-on guide to Contracting Municipal Services was supported by HUD under President Ronald Reagan.)
Donna Shalala then headed, in succession, three major institutions of higher learning:
- President of Hunter College
- Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison
- President of the University of Miami
Between the second and third university positions, she served under President Bill Clinton as Secretary of Health and Human Services for eight years, the longest term of office of any incumbent.
After her long presidency at the University of Miami, she became the head of the Clinton Foundation until in 2018 she won a seat in Congress representing Florida’s 27th Congressional District, covering southern Miami and Miami Beach.
She is a scholar, a specialist in government accountability, a successful university and government agency administrator, and a capable politician.
She is an excellent choice to oversee the COVID-19 spending because it overlaps several complicated areas. The job requires:
- Practical understanding of the fiscal issues, which she learned through her work with universities and government-supported health-care institutions.
- Broad outreach to the many affected constituencies.
- A deep understanding of the political realities within which they operate.
