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Archives for 2012

08/22/2012

CoA Uncovers Still-Active ACORN Entities, ACORN Allies, and Rebranded ACORN Organizations

 

List of Still-Active ACORN Entities, ACORN Allies, and Rebranded ACORN Organizations

  1. 1825 Atlantic MHANY, Inc.
  2. 4415 San Jacinto Street Corporation
  3. 5301 McDougall Corporation
  4. 730 Rockaway MHANY, Inc.
  5. A Community Voice (ACV)
  6. ACORN Community Land Association of Pennsylvania
  7. ACORN Community Land Association, Inc.
  8. ACORN Global Enterprises, L3C
  9. ACORN Loan Program
  10. Action NC
  11. Action Now
  12. Action Now Institute
  13. Action United
  14. Action United Education Fund
  15. Action United Political Action Committee
  16. Advancement Project
  17. Advancement Project California
  18. Advocates and Actions
  19. Affiliated Media Foundation Movement, Inc.
  20. Affordable Housing Centers of America (AHCOA)
  21. Affordable Housing Centers of Pennsylvania
  22. Agape Broadcasting Foundation, Inc.
  23. Alliance for Justice (AFJ)
  24. Alliance for Justice Action Campaign
  25. Alliance Institute
  26. Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment
  27. Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Institute
  28. American Home Day Care Workers Association, Inc.
  29. Applied Research Center
  30. Arizona Center for Empowerment
  31. Arkansas Broadcasting Foundation, Inc.
  32. Arkansas Community Institute
  33. Arkansas Community Organizations (ACO)
  34. ASI Community Center
  35. Association for Rights of Citizens, Inc.
  36. Association for Union Democracy
  37. Austin Organizing and Support Center, Inc.
  38. Baltimore Organizing and Support Center, Inc.
  39. Baton Rouge Association of School Employees
  40. Broad Street Corporation
  41. Catalist LLC
  42. Center for Labor Education and Research, Inc.
  43. Center on Policy Initiatives (CPI)
  44. Chicago Organizing and Support Center, Inc.
  45. Chief Organizer Fund, Inc.
  46. Chincoteague Cultural Alliance, Inc.
  47. Citizens Consulting Inc.
  48. Citizens Services, Inc.
  49. Communities United
  50. Communities United New Jersey
  51. Communities United Training and Education Fund
  52. Communities Voting Together
  53. Community Asset Development Redefining Education
  54. Community Empowerment Education Fund
  55. Community Labor Administrative Services, Inc.
  56. Community Organizations International
  57. Community Voices Together
  58. Connecticut Working Families Party
  59. Dallas Monthly Meeting of Friends, Inc.
  60. Delaware Alliance for Community Advancement, Inc.
  61. Delawareans for Social and Economic Justice (DSEJ)
  62. Elysian Fields Corporation
  63. Elysian Fields Partnership
  64. Fifteenth Street Corporation
  65. Flagstaff Broadcasting Foundation, Inc.
  66. Florida Institute for Reform and Empowerment (FIRE)
  67. Florida Watch Action, Inc.
  68. Floridians for All PAC
  69. Forefront Organizing
  70. Good Jobs = Great Houston
  71. Good Jobs Now, Inc
  72. Good Jobs, Better Baltimore
  73. Greenwell Springs Corporation
  74. Hammurabi Fund, Inc.
  75. Health Care for America Now
  76. Home Defenders League
  77. Housing Here and Now
  78. Houston Organizing and Support Center, Inc.
  79. Impact Restoration Community Development
  80. Institute for Neighborhood Action
  81. Jobs With Justice
  82. Jobs With Justice Education Fund
  83. KABF Radio
  84. KNON
  85. Labor Education and Research Project
  86. Labor Neighbor Research and Training Center
  87. Leadership Center for the Common Good
  88. Leadership Center for the Common Good Action Fund
  89. Living United for Change in Arizona
  90. Massachusetts Jobs With Justice
  91. McLellan Multi-Family Corporation
  92. MHANY 1 Associates, L.P.
  93. MHANY 1 Inc.
  94. MHANY 1999 Housing Development Fund Corporation
  95. MHANY 1999 II Housing Development Fund Corporation
  96. MHANY 2 Associates, L.P.
  97. MHANY 2, Inc.
  98. MHANY 2002 Housing Development Fund Corporation
  99. MHANY 2003 Housing Development Fund Corporation
  100. MHANY 2004 Housing Development Fund Corporation
  101. MHANY 2005 Housing Development Fund Corporation
  102. MHANY 2007 Housing Development Fund Corporation
  103. MHANY 2011 Housing Development Fund Corporation
  104. MHANY 2012 Housing Development Fund Corporation
  105. MHANY 2012 II Housing Development Fund Corporation
  106. MHANY 3 Associates, L.P.
  107. MHANY 3, Inc.
  108. MHANY 4 Associates, L.P.
  109. MHANY 4, Inc.
  110. MHANY Bristol Housing Development Fund Corporation
  111. MHANY Bristol, Inc.
  112. MHANY Holdings 2012 LLC
  113. MHANY Management Inc.
  114. Middle South Home Day Care Workers Association, Inc.
  115. Minnesota Neighborhoods Organizing for Change (MNOC)
  116. Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition
  117. Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (MORE)
  118. Montana People’s Action
  119. Mutual Housing Association of New York (MHANY)
  120. National Housing Resource Center
  121. New England United for Justice (NEU4J)
  122. New Jersey Working Families Alliance
  123. New Majority Education Fund
  124. New Mexico Organizing and Support Center, Inc.
  125. New York Agency for Community Affairs (NYACA)
  126. New York City Parent Organizing Consortium
  127. New York Communities for Change (NYCC)
  128. New York Communities Organizing Consultants, Inc.
  129. New York Communities Organizing Fund (NYCOF)
  130. New York Organizing and Support Center
  131. North Carolina Social Justice Project
  132. Nwannedinamba of Columbus, Ohio
  133. OLE Parents Association
  134. Organization United for Reform Washington (OUR Washington)
  135. Organize Now
  136. Organizing for Action California
  137. Organizing in the Land of Enchantment (OLE)
  138. Our City, Our Schools
  139. Our D.C.
  140. Pennsylvania Communities Organizing for Change (PCOC)
  141. Pennsylvania Institute for Community Affairs, Inc.
  142. Pennsylvania Neighborhoods for Social Justice (PNSJ)
  143. People’s Equipment Resource Corporation
  144. Phoenix Estates Housing Development Fund Corporation
  145. Phoenix Hunts Point Corporation
  146. Phoenix Organizing and Support Center, Inc.
  147. Progressive Future Education Fund
  148. Progressive Maryland Education Fund
  149. Progressive Maryland, Inc.
  150. Project Vote
  151. Public Services for the Public Good
  152. Radio New Mexico
  153. San Francisco Labor Council
  154. Sankofa Community Development Corporation
  155. SEIU 1199
  156. SEIU Healthcare Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas
  157. SEIU Local 21 LA
  158. Services Employees International Union
  159. Sixth Avenue Corporation
  160. Southern Training Center
  161. St. Louis Organizing and Support Center
  162. St. Louis Tax Reform Group
  163. Start Corporation
  164. Texas Organizing Project (TOP)
  165. Texas Organizing Project Education Fund (TOP ED)
  166. Texas United City-County Employees Inc.
  167. The Black Institute
  168. United Family Corporation, LLC
  169. United Labor Foundation of Greater New Orleans, Inc.
  170. Voter Alliance to Improve Democracy
  171. Wal Mart Alliance for Reform Now, Inc.
  172. Working Families Association, Inc.
  173. Working Families Party
  174. World Owerri People’s Congress Inc., Columbus/Franklin County Ohio Chapter

 

 

 

Click here for sources and explanations of each organization’s connections with ACORN and each other.

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08/21/2012

Are FOIA Challenges Hurting Government Transparency?

 

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests are an important legal tool, which allows for organizations such as Cause of Action and the public to find out about how the government is spending tax dollars. FOIA is the only real method that the public can use to get specific details on certain aspects of spending and government activity, which is necessary to ensure greater transparency.  FOIA inquiries often yield huge results that take extensive time and effort for agencies to gather and respond to, which often leads to agencies being unable and unwilling to comply with large requests.

The lack of efficiency in agency compliance with FOIA requests serves as a significant hindrance in using this tool effectively to ensure accountability and transparency by Federal Agencies.  Cause of Action submitted a statement for the record to the Congressional Oversight Committee’s hearing on FOIA and Transparency concerning this very issue:

 

Hearing Before The Committee On Oversight and Government Reform

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08/17/2012

SeafoodSource: Calif. oyster grower fights National Park Service

Read the full article here. Seafoodsource.com

“Cause of Action, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit dedicated to fighting federal overreach, today filed a Data Quality Act complaint before the National Park Service (NPS) for its intentional use of inaccurate, nontransparent and deliberately misleading information in an attempt to deny a renewable permit to a California family business for use of national park territory. Kevin and Nancy Lunny have a permit that allows their family business, Drakes Bay Oyster Co., to farm oysters in the Point Reyes National Seashore. When it expires in November, Drakes Bay, which has been operating for many years, will be forced to shut down and more than two dozen Californians will lose their jobs, thereby cutting off a substantial amount of the Bay Area’s commercial oyster supply.

“The National Park Service should not be allowed to get away with using bad data to justify closing a small business,” said Amber Abbasi, chief regulatory counsel at Cause of Action. “The evidence clearly shows how NPS, despite being called out by another federal agency and a credible member of the National Academy of Sciences, is using junk science to bully a family business into shutting down. We’ve sent a complaint to the NPS urging them to adhere to their own information-quality standards for the use of scientific information and correct the Final Environmental Impact Statement. NPS needs to make clear that a neutral scientific analysis reveals that DBOC does not adversely impact the environment in Drakes Estero.”

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08/17/2012

WSJ Blog Reports on CoA’s NARA Lawsuit

Read the full article here. Wall Street Journal

“A government accountability group filed a lawsuit on August 14 against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for withholding records pertaining to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) and claiming that these records are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.”

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08/15/2012

Cause of Action Sues For Public Release of Records Revealing the Cause of the Financial Crisis

CAUSE OF ACTION SUES FOR PUBLIC RELEASE OF RECORDS REVEALING THE CAUSE OF THE FINANCIAL CRISIS

National Archives Refuses to Grant Records Concerning Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Claims Records Are Not Subject to FOIA

WASHINGTON – Government accountability group Cause of Action (CoA) filed a lawsuit on August 14 against the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for wrongfully withholding records pertaining to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) and claiming that these records are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

 

“The FCIC was created to examine the causes of the financial and economic crisis in the United States, an issue that impacted all Americans,” said Dan Epstein, executive director of Cause of Action. “At a time when the American public is still wondering what or who caused the financial crisis, the National Archives’ refusal to release these records keeps the American public in the dark.”

 

On October 3, 2011, CoA submitted a FOIA request to NARA for:

“[A]ll documents, including e-mail communications, memoranda, draft reports, and other relevant information and/or data contained in the records transfer of Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission documents stored at NARA to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform at the U.S. House of Representatives.”

 

On December 1, 2011, NARA denied CoA’s FOIA request on the grounds that FCIC records are not “agency records” that must be disclosed pursuant to FOIA’s disclosure provisions and that the FCIC established a five-year restriction on public access to FCIC records.

 

CoA has appealed this FOIA denial, only to be shut out once again by NARA.

 

“NARA has been in possession of these documents since February of 2011, so to claim that these records are not Agency documents is an obfuscation of the truth,” stated Karen Olea, senior counsel at Cause of Action. “Cause of Action is committed to pursuing these documents so that the American public can know what went into the report that helped shaped the national discussion about the financial crisis.”

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08/15/2012

120814 NARA complaint re FCIC documents

102962636-NARA-Complaint-as-Filed-8-14

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08/15/2012

Mother Jones: National Archives Sued Over Financial Crisis Documents

Read the full story here. Mother Jones

“Cause of Action, a Washington transparency watchdog that filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking the FCIC documents last year, thinks the American public should not have to wait that long. Late Tuesday, the group sued NARA in federal court in Washington, DC, aiming to force the disclosure of thousands of pages of as-yet-unreleased documents.

“The FCIC had a big impact on the national discussion about what caused the financial crisis and all Americans have an interest in what really happened,” Mary Beth Hutchins, Cause of Action’s communications director, told Mother Jones. “We have an administration that from day one promised greater transparency in government, and what we’ve seen is that instead of having the public interest in mind, they’re bowing to the whims of this commission. It’s important that people be able to draw their own conclusions and judgments in addition to those the commission may have drawn from these documents.”

In the lawsuit, Cause of Action writes that NARA’s five-year restriction on the release of the documents (except for certain documents FCIC had pre-designated for release) is the same restriction that Phil Angelides, the commission’s Democratic chairman, advocated in a letter he sent to NARA in February 2011. But Cause of Action goes on to note that Peter Wallison, a Republican member of the commission, has said that he believes “the public should have access to all FCIC documents except those records provided to the FCIC on condition of confidentiality” and that he was “not even aware” of Angelides’ letter, “which expresses a position materially inconsistent with his own views.” (Hutchins said Wallison made those statements in phone conversations with Cause of Action’s legal team.)”

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