John & Laura Arnold have quicky mastered The Old Washington Game by funding a revolving door of activists that move between developing liberal ideas in the Arnold’s progressive ivy tower, then orchestrating them in government positions, before returning to the Arnolds homebase.
In fact, they may be one of the most adept practitioners. It works in several ways.
The Arnold Foundation gives activist groups with key officials in their ranks access to government roles with massive influence.
This effort has influenced the most senior levels of the Department of Education. In spring of 2021, the Arnold-funded Toby Merrill was selected as the Deputy General Counsel of the Department of Education. Merrill is previously the founder of Project on Predatory Student Lending (PPSL), a group of lawyers that targets career colleges. Arnold Ventures has contributed close to $8.5 million to the PPSL. Merrill had previously led efforts to reclaim billions of dollars in student loans from career college participants and then revolved to become a senior representative to the entity she was suing.
Arnold Ventures, LLC also hired Claire McCann, who previously was a Senior Policy Advisor at the Obama Department of Education. Despite just leaving the Department of Education, McCann pushed for it to implement policy changes that could have a profound effect on career colleges.
In January, Arnold Ventures brought on Alex Payne from the Department of Education congressional office as the Director of Education Policy and Oversight. In this position, he advocated for policies that harmed career colleges. Arnold Ventures has hired him as the Director of Advocacy for Education Policy where he will continue his jihad against career colleges. Before working at the Department of Education as a lobbyist, he had been a Legislative Assistant for Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) and had been a policy advisor for the House Education & Workforce Committee.
When senior officials that fought career colleges from the Obama administration needed jobs, Arnold Ventures, LLC almost fully funded a new organization, the National Students Legal Defense Fund. At least four senior Department of Education officials work there. The Arnold Foundation contributed $7.7 million of the group’s $8.5 budget since 2017.
Arnold Ventures LLC’s flagship program, the Criminal Justice initiative, is littered with former Department of Justice and officials within state governments. The most recent Arnold Ventures, LLC initiative on U.S. infrastructure was started in May, with the announcement that they hired a senior economic official from the White House and a senior White House Office of Management and Budget aide to run it.