Vern McKinley
Vernon P. "Vern" McKinley, born in East Chicago, Indiana advises governments on financial sector policy and legal issues. He is a Visiting Scholar at the George Washington University Law School and the author of Financing Failure: A Century of Bailouts, published by the Independent Institute, which traces the history of financial institution bailouts in the U.S. He was a primary election challenger to 28-year incumbent Congressman Frank Wolf in northern Virginia's 10th congressional district in the 2008 elections, the only one to ever challenge Wolf in a primary during his long tenure. McKinley lives with his family in Ashburn, Virginia and they have also lived in Kyiv and Yerevan.
Early life
McKinley was born in East Chicago, Indiana and grew up in East Side, Chicago. He attended George Washington High School and Downers Grove South High School. He went on to graduate from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in 1985 with degrees in Economics and Finance, graduating with honors. In 1984, Mr. McKinley worked on the re-election campaign of President Ronald Reagan and the U.S. Senate campaign of Representative Tom Corcoran in his unsuccessful bid to unseat Senator Charles H. Percy of Illinois. That year he also worked at the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee, which was chaired by Senator John G. Tower of Texas.
Professional career
From 1985 to 1999 Mr. McKinley worked with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Resolution Trust Corporation and the Department of the Treasury's Office of Thrift Supervision. In 1995, McKinley graduated with honors from the evening program of the George Washington University School of Law.
Since 1999 he has applied his expertise as a legal advisor and regulatory policy expert to work as an advisor to governments on financial sector issues in the U.S., China, Nigeria, Indonesia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Latvia, the Philippines, Kuwait, Yugoslavia (now Montenegro), Kenya, the Bahamas, the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada, Belize, Guyana, Mozambique, Belarus, Moldova, Morocco, South Sudan, Libya, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Armenia, Kosovo, and Tajikistan.
McKinley, a Visiting Scholar at the George Washington University Law School, has also completed policy work for the American Enterprise Institute and the Cato Institute and has served as an Alumni Council member of The Fund for American Studies. He is the author of Financing Failure: A Century of Bailouts.[1][2][3][4] The book focuses on the response of the financial agencies to the crises during the 1930s, 1980s and 2000s, with particular emphasis on the most recent crisis. The book questions the standard narrative of the recent financial crisis that bailouts were necessary to avoid a Great Depression.
He has applied this skeptical approach to the narrative of the lingering status of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, financial institution runs, the tenure of departed FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, the pending legacies of Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Geithner and Dodd-Frank reforms.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] He has also written a number of reviews of books on the financial crisis.[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]
McKinley also wrote an earlier policy analysis on the bailouts with Gary Gegenheimer for Cato Institute.[25] As a follow-up to that article he brought four Freedom of Information Act (United States) suits against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and the Federal Housing Finance Agency to compel release of details on the bailouts. He has been represented in the cases by Judicial Watch.[26][27] In one of the cases against the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve requesting Bear Stearns-related documents, Judicial Watch filed a writ of certiorari on behalf of McKinley requesting that the Supreme Court review the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.[28][29][30] Another case against the FDIC seeking documents on Citigroup, Bank of America and the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program was sent back to the agency to supplement its responses.[31][32] In a case against the Federal Housing Finance Agency the agency was ordered to produce documents regarding the choice to place Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship for review.[33] The final case against the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve requesting American International Group and Lehman Brothers-related documents, resulted in the release of about 2,388 pages of redacted documents.[34]
More recently, McKinley has begun litigation in order to access information on the results of post Dodd-Frank responses by financial agencies.[35] McKinley has also commented on the historical link between political and economic cycles.[36]
McKinley has been credited with correctly predicting in 1997 that the structure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would one day lead to the meltdown of the two institutions.[37] At that time, he called Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “financial time bombs.”
McKinley has testified before a Subcommittee of Congress [38] on issues related to U.S. consumer bankruptcy policy.
Books
Financing Failure: A Century of Bailouts, Independent Institute, 2012.
2008 Congressional election
In 2007, McKinley announced his 2008 bid for the United States Congress in the 10th congressional district.[39] McKinley's campaign centered on his experience as a policy advisor to the U.S. and foreign governments, his legal and government experience, and domestic and international policy issues. McKinley positioned himself as a traditional small government Republican in the campaign.[40] Throughout the campaign Congressman Wolf refused to debate.[41] McKinley lost the June 10, 2008, Republican primary with 9% of the vote to Wolf's 91%.[42]
References
- ^ "On the Dysfunctional Banking System, MSNBC Dylan Ratigan Show". February 6, 2012. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
- ^ "Why Bail Out Banks, Wall Street Journal". September 2011. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
- ^ "Financing Failure Book Forum, Cato Institute". April 30, 2012. Retrieved May 18, 2012.
- ^ "Financing Failure, Independent Institute". December 2011. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
- ^ "The Fannie Mae Wind Down That Isn't". Wall Street Journal. November 19, 2012. Retrieved November 19, 2012.
- ^ "Financing Fannie and Freddie's Failure, The Hill Blog". February 1, 2012. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
- ^ "Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Getting Receivership Contingency Plan, Bloomberg". July 23, 2012. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
- ^ "Run Run Run, Cato Institute" (PDF). April 10, 2014. Retrieved July 5, 2014.
- ^ "Run Run Run Policy Forum at Cato Institute". June 4, 2014. Retrieved July 5, 2014.
- ^ "Sheila Bair Legacy Bailouts Secrecy and Power Grabs, Forbes Magazine". June 16, 2011. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
- ^ "Bernanke Fairy Tale Recession Story for Kids, Washington Times". April 11, 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
- ^ "Flunking Professor Bernanke, Wall Street Journal". April 12, 2012. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
- ^ "Timothy Geithner Bailout Legacy Not One to Be Proud Of, Investor's Business Daily". March 16, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
- ^ "Financing Failure The State of Bailouts, Washington Times". January 18, 2012. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
- ^ "The Financial Stability Oversight Council: Late To Crises Every Time, Forbes". July 25, 2012. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
- ^ "Sheila Bair's Bailout Blame Game, Daily Caller". October 19, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
- ^ "In Praise of Stimulus and Bailouts, Regulation Magazine" (PDF). Fall 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2013.
- ^ "David Stockman's Informed Anger, Liberty Law Blog". June 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2013.
- ^ "Political Bubbles and the Elite Fundamentalist Free Market Conservatives, Regulation Magazine" (PDF). Winter 2014. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
- ^ "Lords of Chaos, Liberty Law Blog". December 8, 2013. Retrieved July 5, 2014.
- ^ "A Time of Crisis, Liberty Law Blog". March 31, 2014. Retrieved July 5, 2014.
- ^ "A Bright Shining Failure, Liberty Law Blog". August 18, 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2014.
- ^ "Fragile by Design, Cato Journal" (PDF). Fall 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2014.
- ^ "Fighting with the Good Guys, Regulation Magazine" (PDF). Fall 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2014.
- ^ "Bright Lines and Bailouts, Cato Policy Analysis". April 21, 2009. Retrieved May 4, 2009.
- ^ "Who's Too Big to Fail? Wall Street Journal". The Wall Street Journal. September 13, 2009. Retrieved December 12, 2009.
- ^ "Systemic Risk Stonewall, Wall Street Journal". The Wall Street Journal. September 1, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2010.
- ^ "McKinley v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System". January 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
- ^ "McKinley v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System". June 2011. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
- ^ "McKinley v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System". September 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
- ^ "McKinley v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation". December 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
- ^ "McKinley v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation". August 2011. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
- ^ "McKinley v. Federal Housing Finance Agency". June 2011. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
- ^ "McKinley v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System". March 2012. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
- ^ "Judicial Watch sues SEC, CFTC for Corzine, MF Global docs, Washington Examiner". August 7, 2012. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
- ^ "History Suggests Obama Is Poised to Win Re-Election, The Daily Caller". September 24, 2012. Retrieved November 19, 2012.
- ^ "Taking Ideas Seriously, Cato Policy Report" (PDF). December 2008. Retrieved April 18, 2009.
- ^ "Consumer Bankruptcy and the Credit Industry". House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law. March 10, 1998. Retrieved May 13, 2007.
- ^ Somashekhar, Sandhya (July 10, 2007). "3 Candidates Including Republican Offer Wolf Rare Opposition, Washington Post". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 8, 2010.
- ^ "Libertarians A Not So Lunatic Fringe, Time Magazine". July 10, 2008. Retrieved August 8, 2010.
- ^ "No Republican Debate Before Primary, McLean Connection". May 28, 2008. Retrieved December 12, 2009.
- ^ June Republican Primary Unofficial Results[permanent dead link], Virginia State Board of Elections. Retrieved on 2008-06-11.
External links
- McKinley article "Financing Fannie and Freddie’s Failures” from the Independent Institute, 2012
- McKinley article "Financing Failure: The State of Bailouts Overseers Simply Watch While Institutions Go Up in Flames” from the Independent Institute, 2012
- McKinley article "Sheila Bair's Legacy: Bailouts, Secrecy and Power Grabs: Good riddance to our outgoing FDIC chair” from the Independent Institute, 2011
- McKinley article with Gary Gegenheimer "Bright Lines and Bailouts” from the Cato Institute, 2009
- McKinley article "Making Regulators Write in Plain Language in the Cato Institute's Regulation Magazine, 1998
- McKinley article "Ballooning Bankruptcies" in the Cato Institute's Regulation Magazine, 1997
- McKinley policy analysis on "The Mounting Case for Privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac" from the Cato Institute, 1997
- McKinley article "Sunrises Without Sunsets: Can Sunset Laws Reduce Regulation?" in the Cato Institute's Regulation Magazine, 1995
- McKinley article "CRA: Ensuring Credit Adequacy or Enforcing Credit Allocation?" in the Cato Institute's Regulation Magazine, 1994