Non-profits running wild, and making big bucks

[...]behind the scenes, certain lobbyists are quietly but aggressively scurrying about, pushing hard for the passage of the CFPA in a power grab by the Executive Branch that would dwarf the Health Care Reform bill and the Patriot Act. And with the passage of the proposed CFPA, one man [Eric Stein] in particular with a history tied to some of the deepest tentacles in the financial crisis - and to the Community Reinvestment Act changes of 1995 - would gain the power to selectively manipulate the entire landscape of the financial, small business and housing markets.

• John Paulson is the largest single donor to the Center for Responsible Lending.  Paulson owns one of the world's largest hedge funds, and most recently, the SEC has alleged "that Paulson & Co. paid Goldman Sachs to structure a transaction in which Paulson & Co. could take short positions against mortgage securities chosen by Paulson & Co. based on a belief that the securities would experience credit events."
• Herb and Marion Sandler are the second largest donors to CRL, and together with Paulson appear to comprise the majority of the organization's funding.  The couple owned Golden West Financial/World Savings bank, before selling it for over $2 billion to Wachovia, which tanked shortly thereafter
• Eric Stein, who once worked for Fannie Mae (an institution currently exempt from regulation in the financial reform bill), was also the longtime leader of CRL and Sr. Vice President of CCSH.  Today, Stein sits in Obama's Treasury Department in charge of crafting the current financial reform legislation and the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA).