'I'm Not on the List?'

It’s fashionable to draw up lists of powerful people—just ask the folks at GQ, who made a big splash Tuesday with their list of the 50 most powerful people in Washington, D.C.

It’s a fun read, full of surprises. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were excluded from consideration because their selections would be too obvious. Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s chief of staff and renowned F-bomber, was No. 1, followed by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus.

It’s hard to argue with those four, although Baucus may have lost some of his clout Tuesday when his committee finally passed its version of health care reform. The legislation now is out of his hands and in the not-so-steady hands of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (No. 15 on the list), who must find a way to get health care reform through the Senate.

But just for the fun of it, this ink-stained wretch, who’s been plodding down the marble halls of Capitol Hill for the past 10 years, offers his own top-10 list of folks who didn’t make GQ’s list, but probably should have:

1. Senator Christopher Dodd—Sure, the Connecticut Democrat may not even win reelection, but the Senate Banking Committee chairman will wield the gavel over one of Obama’s top priorities, financial regulatory reform. His House counterpart, Representative Barney Frank, is No. 14 on GQ’s list. Show Dodd a little respect—while he’s still here at least.

2. Representative Charlie Rangel—Since when did ethical issues affect a person’s power in Washington? The New York Democrat may be sloppy about reporting his income, but—for now—he’s still chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. That means all tax laws start with him—even if he forgets to obey them.

3. Tom Donohue—The feisty Irishman heads the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, by far the biggest spender of any lobbying organization in Washington. He may be focusing most of his time on defense now, fighting Obama and Democrats in Congress over taxes and regulatory policy, but he’s got lots of money to play the game. Plus, in Washington power struggles, defense usually wins.

4. Richard Trumka—The coal miner’s son is the new president of the AFL-CIO, still America’s largest labor organization. Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, is a trendier pick (GQ put him at No. 36 on its list), but keep your eye on Trumka. He’s not Sleepy John Sweeney, the AFL-CIO’s former boss.

5. Sheila Bair—The chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is the most powerful person in the banking industry these days, as banks keep dropping like flies. It’s the FDIC that picks up the pieces when these banks fail, and experts predict Bair will be mighty busy over the next year or so.

6. Hilda Solis—The secretary of labor is already undoing the Bush administration’s eight years of making the Labor Department the "Employer Department." She’s unabashedly pro-union and is sending legions of inspectors out in the field to catch businesses that are flouting workplace safety laws and wage and hour laws.

7. Lisa Jackson—If Congress doesn’t regulate greenhouse-gas emissions, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency will. That prospect is so scary to businesses that they’d rather have Congress pass legislation capping carbon emissions than deal with Jackson and her bureaucrats.

8. Senator John Kerry—Yeah, he windsurfed his way to presidential defeat in 2004, but he’s now chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. That puts him in a prime oversight spot on a few pesky issues for Obama, such as the war in Afghanistan, our winding-down involvement in Iraq, and a nuclear Iran.

9. Senator John McCain—OK, he’s another presidential also-ran, and the ghost of Sarah Palin will always haunt him. But McCain is the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which means he’ll have a prominent position to support, or second-guess, Obama’s handling of the military.

10. Dan Snyder—Ownership has its privileges, even it means destroying one of the NFL’s proudest franchises. GQ has a sports figure on its list—hockey player Alex Ovechkin (No. 48). The Capitals’ star is one of the greatest in the game, but he couldn’t do it without his teammates. Snyder has killed the Redskins all by himself.

Editor's Note: GQ is published by Condé Nast Publications, which is owned by Advance Publications. Portfolio.com is a product of the American City Business Journals, which also is owned by Advance.