Carol O'Cleireacain
Carol O'Cleireacain is an economic and management consultant specializing in financial and budget operations, taxation and investments with the Brookings Institute[1]. She is married to economist Seamus O'Cleireacain.
O’Cleireacain holds a doctorate in economics from the London School of Economics and a master’s degree in economics from the University of Michigan. [2]
She was born in Chicago and raised in Skokie, Ill.
Saving Detroit
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan "continues to poach talent from across the country for his cabinet", in October 2014 adding Carol O'Cleireacain as deputy mayor for Economic Policy, Planning & Strategy.
O’Cleireacain came to Detroit from New York City, where she is a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, a think tank that is based in Washington, D.C., and adjunct faculty in management and urban policy at the New School. She is also a member of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations.
In Detroit, O’Cleireacain will be responsible for identifying outside sources of funding for the city so that it becomes financially stable outside of bankruptcy.
“Our ability to live within the Plan of Adjustment once it is approved can’t rely solely on traditional revenue sources because they can fluctuate based on conditions we can’t control,” Duggan said in a statement. “I’ve charged Dr. O’Cleireacain with identifying new funding sources to help insulate ourselves against these unknowns so the city can provide a consistent level of service.”
Detroit Emergency Manger Kevyn Orr hired O’Cleireacain before the mayor and Detroit City Council legally revoked his powers. Duggan, however, continued the appointment when he retook full control of the city.
“Mayor Duggan is setting a strong tone of fiscal accountability with his administration and I’m thrilled to have been asked to play a role,” O’Cleireacain said in a statement. “The mayor is building a great team that is going to transform the way Detroit meets the needs of its residents for years to come.”[3]
Moved to New York
O'Cleireacain moved to New York City in 1976, at the height of that city’s fiscal crisis, and served 13 years as chief economist at District Council 37 AFSCME. Since then, she has served as budget director of New York City —the city’s top financial executive —and deputy treasurer of the state of New Jersey.
Democratic Agenda
More than 1,200 people attended the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee initiated Democratic Agenda Conference held November 16-18, 1979, at the International Inn and Metropolitan AM Church in Washington 1 DC. The conference focused on "corporate power'; as the key barrier to "economic and political democracy," concepts many Democratic Agenda participants defined as "socialism.'
The Democratic Agenda meetings attempted to develop anti-corporate alternatives" through influencing the direction of the Democratic Party during the period leading to the July 1980 Democratic National Convention in New York.
Workshops included "Health Care Forum "- Peter Hickman, moderator; Marilyn Elrod, Carol O'Cleireacain[4]
Recommended appointees for a new Administration
In the 1988 book "Winning America: Ideas and Leadership for the 1990s" edited by Marcus Raskin, Chester Hartman, Sean Gervasi recommended Barry Bluestone, Gar Alperovitz, Donald Harris, Robert Browne, Jeff Faux, Carol O'Cleireacain, Jamie Galbraith, Howard Wachtel, Bennet T. Harrison, Michael Tanzer and Arthur MacEwan as recommended appointees for a new Administration page 24, 25).
Jesse Jackson adviser
In 1988, Carol O'Cleireacain was chief economic adviser to the Jesse Jackson presidential campaign, heading the team that wrote the candidate's Budget proposals. At the time she was assistant to the executive director of New York's District 37 AFSCME[5]
Dinkins Administration
Carol O'Cleireacain was New York Finance Commissioner in the David Dinkins Administration[6].
DSA member
In 1987 Carol O'Cleireacain was a member of Democratic Socialists of America and an assistant to the executive director of AFSCME, District Council 37, Stanley Hill.[7]
In 1990, Carol O'Cleireacain a member of Democratic Socialists of America, was appointed Commissioner of Finance for New York City.[8]
In 1994 "O'Clearicain" was listed as a potential member of a Democratic Socialists of America committee on the Socialist International[9].
Socialist International
Led by Bogdan Denitch, DSA's permanent representative to the Socialist International, the Democratic Socialists of America delegation to the October 1990 Socialist International meeting in New York, included DSA Honorary Chair, Cornel West, Pat Belcon, a DSA NPC member, Motl Zelmanowicz, a "DSAer active in the Jewish Labor Bund", Jo-Ann Mort, a DSA NPC member, Jack Sheinkman, president of ACTWU, NYC Commissioner of Finance, Carol O'Cleireacain, Terri Burgess, chair of the DSA youth Section, Skip Roberts, Chair of DSA's Socialist International Committee, welcomed the Council to the United States on behalf of Democratic Socialists of America.[10]
Center for Democratic Values
The Center for Democratic Values, a progressive think-tank developed with Democratic Socialists of America sponsorship, made its first public appearance at the Socialist Scholars Conference in New York, April 12 - 14. 1996 . CDV cosponsored two panels at the conference and held a reception to introduce the Center to the assembled socialist scholars and activists.
The first panel dealt with rethinking the role of government. The discussion centered around a paper authored by DSA member and CDV organizer David Belkin which challenged the left to seriously reopen the issue of the role of government in a democratic society. Carol O'Cleireacain, former New York City Budget Director, another member of the panel, stressed the need for the left to pay more attention to organization and management as well as policy and structure, the traditional focuses of socialist theories. Joseph Schwartz, a DSA member and professor at Temple University, also spoke[11].
"Dissent" magazine
In 2009 the Democratic Socialists of America aligned Dissent Magazine masthead[12] Editorial Board members were;
Bernard Avishai, Joanne Barkan, David Bensman, Marshall Berman, Paul Berman , H Brand, David Bromwich, Luther Carpenter , Jean L Cohen, Mitchell Cohen, Bogdan Denitch , Jeff Faux, Cynthia Fuchs Epstein, Todd Gitlin, Murray Hausknecht, Agnes Heller, Jeffrey Isaac, Michael Kazin , Martin Kilson, Erazim Kohak, William Kornblum, Jeremy Larner, Susie Linfield, Kevin Mattson, Deborah Meier, Harold Meyerson, Nicolaus Mills , Jo-Ann Mort, Brian Morton, Carol O'Cleireacain, George Packer, Martin Peretz, Anson Rabinbach, Ruth Rosen, James Rule, Alan Ryan, Patricia Cayo Sexton, Jim Sleeper, Ann Snitow, Cornel West, Sean Wilentz, Dennis Wrong.
References
- ↑ http://www.brookings.edu/experts/ocleireacainc.aspx
- ↑ CRAIN'S BLOGS Amy Haimerl Duggan appoints Carol O'Cleireacain deputy mayor for economic policy Originally Published: October 16, 2014
- ↑ CRAIN'S BLOGS Amy Haimerl Duggan appoints Carol O'Cleireacain deputy mayor for economic policy Originally Published: October 16, 2014
- ↑ Information Digest, December 14, 1979, page 370/371
- ↑ Mother Jones Magazine Oct 1988, page 9
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/16/nyregion/16york.html?pagewanted=2
- ↑ Democratic Left, Sep./Oct. 1987, page 9
- ↑ Democratic Left, May/June 1990, page 8
- ↑ ]Revised list of committees of the 1994-1995 DSA National Political Committee
- ↑ Democratic Left, November/december 1990, page 7
- ↑ http://www.chicagodsa.org/ngarchive/ng47.html
- ↑ http://www.dissentmagazine.org/display.php?id=masthead