Archives for October 2015

Cause of Action in the News:

Daily Caller – The Daily Caller Sues The State Department For A Variety Of Clinton Email Records

Cause of Action is representing The Daily Caller in a lawsuit over five Freedom of Information Act requests that have gone ignored by the State Department.  Our suit states “Defendant has dragged its feet, refused to provide substantive updates on the status of the requests, and, through its delay, prevented Plaintiff’s access to the requested records and effectively denied it expedited processing,”

“The material being sought here is not complicated to understand yet, for whatever reason the State Department has failed to process these FOIA requests in a timely manner, as required by law.  Whether requests have come from big news agencies or organizations like mine, this State Department has repeatedly shown an inability to produce basic information regarding the emails belonging to the former Secretary of State,” said Cause of Action Executive Director Dan Epstein.

In Other News:

Watchdog.org – Double-dose of EPA regulations will make your bank account scream

According to a white paper by the Independence Institute the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan will be billions higher in cost for power and gas.  The research concluded that by 2020 the cost of electricity and gas in a given household will go up an average of $680.00.  All of this cost will result in no environmental change, as admitted by Gina McCarthy, current EPA administrator.

Daily Signal – Lois Lerner Won’t Be Facing Criminal Charges. Here Are the Problems With the ‘Investigation’ That Cleared Her.

Although the Department of Justice has decided to end its investigation into Lois Lerner and her email scandal they have failed to erase all doubt.  In the letter the DOJ sent to the House of Representatives they explain the results of their investigation, but fail to determine criteria for which organizations needed closer watching, among other unresolved issues.

The Hill – Five states sue over EPA’s ozone

The Environmental Protection Agency is being sued by five states because of the newly stated ozone limits. EPA administrator Gina McCarthy has said that every state but California should be able to comply to the new ozone standards by 2025.  However, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich says that “reducing the ozone standards to 70 parts per billion will be nearly impossible for Arizona to attain.” AG Brnovich is leading the charge in the lawsuits against the EPA.

Breitbart – HILLARY CLINTON CHANGES DEFINITION OF ‘WORK-RELATED EMAIL’

Statements made by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have led to questions of what her definition of a work related email is. Mrs. Clinton said “Well, if you are talking about Mr. Blumenthal, which I assume you are, he had some that I didn’t have, and I had some that he didn’t have. And he — I was under no obligation to make any of his emails available unless I decided they were work-related.”  This seems to contradict a previous statement from Mrs. Clinton where she said she had turned over all emails “that could possibly have been work related,” which should include any emails from an advisor personal friend or not.

Forbes – IRS Joins FBI, DEA & Other Federal Agencies With Access To Cellphone Surveillance Technology

For years now the IRS has had in its possession a Stingray, a device that can capture cell phone data such as location and identifying information without needing a warrant.  A recent Freedom of Information Act request revealed an invoice of $70,000 for the purchase of a HailStorm, a more powerful Stingray, and training for its use.  The IRS has not explained how they utilize the device and now make a list with 12 other federal agencies who own such technology.

Cause of Action in the News:

Wall Street Journal – The Latest Progressive Attack on Speech (Still infuriated by the Citizens United ruling, the left keeps trying to undo that blow for freedom.)

Cause of Action Executive Director Dan Epstein wrote about Van Hollen v. FEC which is currently being heard by the D.C. Court of Appeals.  Maryland Representative Chris Van Hollen is arguing that nonprofit organizations should be required to reveal all donors, not just those that donating for an election.  Mr. Epstein writes “If the court forces nonprofits to disclose the identity of their supporters, it will lead to the “threats, harassment, or reprisal” that chill free speech and limit free association, just as the Supreme Court has warned.”

Delaware Online – Bloom rival settles with state over fuel cells

A settlement was reached that will now allow out-of-state fuel cell manufacturers to compete in Delaware.  Dan Epstein, Cause of Action Executive Director, had this to say about the ruling: “This settlement should send a message to government officials that fair interstate competition is a cornerstone of the U.S. Constitution.  Today is a great day, not only for clean energy manufacturers, but for innovators and entrepreneurs everywhere who wish to compete on an even playing field.”

Politico – Lawyer: Clinton ‘unable to obtain’ emails from first weeks as secretary

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s lawyer David Kendall says that while she has turned over all of her federal emails, but is “unable to obtain” emails from the beginning of her time in the State Department.  Mr. Kendall said the following in his letter: “She does not have custody of e-mails sent or received during the first few weeks of her tenure.” Kendall’s letter comes amidst ongoing lawsuits regarding Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private server, including the case brought by Cause of Action.

In Other News:

Breitbart – DEM REP ON FBI INVESTIGATION OF CLINTON EMAILS: ‘ABSOLUTELY, I THINK IT’S LEGITIMATE’

Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff was asked if he thought the FBI should be investigating Hillary Clinton’s emails and private server.  He first insisted that the investigation wasn’t into Mrs. Clinton herself, but rather to find out when the classified emails on her server were originally marked as classified.  Eventually he did say “Absolutely, I think it’s legitimate for the Justice Department to look into the proper classification of the information and whether any steps need to be taken to protect it. If it’s out in the ethosphere because of this investigation, that’s perfectly appropriate.”

Washington Examiner – States can sue EPA over climate rules starting Friday

Today the timer begins for states who want to sue the Environmental Protection Agency over the Clean Power Plan.  There are already 16 states who are ready to sue the EPA and the GOP plans to fight the rules in Congress.  As of today, states must either come up with alternative plans or provide a plan that will explain their compliance with the Clean Power Plan by September 2016.

NY Post – Revolt of the watchdogs: Federal inspectors general vs. the Obama stonewall

Federal inspector generals have continued time and again to be blocked by the current administration.  Last year over 60 percent of the federal inspectors general wrote a letter stating “serious limitations on access to records that have recently impeded the work” and have reduced their “ability to conduct our work thoroughly, independently, and in a timely manner.”

Cause of Action in the News:

Daily Caller  – Watchdog Group Hopes To Depose Hillary, State Department Officials                                                                                                       
Cause of Action has requested to depose former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Under Secretary of Management for State Patrick Kennedy, the State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Margaret Grafeld, in addition to officials in the National Archives and Records Administration.

Our hope is that if the deposition of these individuals is allowed we will be able to shine a bright light onto the mystery of Hillary Clinton’s private email server.  A couple of the questions we plan on asking Mrs. Clinton include why she deleted emails in the first place and why she didn’t turn over electronic copies, which could contain insightful metadata.

In Other News:

Examiner.com – FTC joins EPA, Justice in probes of Volkswagen

In addition to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission has joined the Volkswagen investigation.  The FTC is planning on looking into VW’s advertisements.  With at least 250 consumer lawsuits in 28 states and criminal probes in other countries this just adds to the car manufacturer’s woes.

Slate – IRS Hasn’t Finished Doing Windows Upgrades Because It Can’t Find a Bunch of Its Computers

Even after spending $128 million upgrading their computers from Windows XP on their computers and Windows 2003 from their servers, the Internal Revenue Service isn’t finished. An audit revealed that almost fifty percent of the servers and over a thousand computers have not yet been upgraded.  It was also revealed that the IRS cannot find these computers and servers to upgrade them. “At the conclusion of our fieldwork, the IRS had not accounted for the location or migration status of approximately 1,300 workstations and upgraded only about one-half of its Windows servers.”

Washington Examiner – New EPA climate rules target your air conditioning

The Environmental Protection Agency has introduced new rules that will directly affect the American people in their homes.  Air conditioners and refrigerators are the next target the EPA has in its sights.  The EPA’s administrator said that the rules would get us closer to meeting the current administration’s climate agenda.

Business Insider – Facebook, Google, Amazon and other big tech companies just slammed a proposed US cybersecurity law

A group of large tech companies have grouped together and have gone after the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, which they claim “does not sufficiently protect users’ privacy or appropriately limit the permissible uses of information shared with the government.”  The act is supposed to make it easier for the government to get customer information from big tech companies.  As of right now, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act is being deliberated in Congress.

Wall Street Journal – Clinton Server’s Technical Problems Boosted Use of Personal Accounts (In less than a month, the server appeared to stop functioning at least twice, according to emails the conservative group Citizens United obtained)

By now everyone has heard of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server.  What everyone may not know is that after being in use for only a month the server started having technical difficulties.  When the server was down the email addresses that it was responsible for weren’t working either, which may have led to the use of personal email accounts to send State Department emails.

Cause of Action in the News:

Government Exec – OMB Pressured to Invoke Bush Directive Banning Earmarks

The week Cause of Action has partnered with Demand Progress, another government watchdog, to petition the Office of Management and Budget to enforce an executive order that was put in place to protect taxpayers.  When looking into the discretionary spending of federal agencies, we discovered “that OMB’s current efforts to ensure that discretionary grant decision-making is transparent and merit-based are ineffective.”

Dan Epstein, Executive Director of Cause of Action, said the following about the matter: “Cause of Action’s research shows that for years, federal agencies have been ignoring a binding executive order designed to protect taxpayer dollars from being misused. Our organizations believe that Washington has a duty to the public to ensure that federal discretionary spending decisions are transparent and merit-based.”

In Other News:

Politico – Judges refuse to align Clinton email FOIA lawsuits

With almost 40 Freedom of Information Act lawsuits concerning Hillary Clinton’s private email server, the current administration had requested that they all be combined into one suit.  The federal court judges in charge of those cases have all denied the request.  Chief Judge Richard Roberts said “The judges who have been randomly assigned to these cases have been and continue to be committed to informal coordination so as to avoid unnecessary inefficiencies and confusion, and the parties are also urged to meet and confer to assist in coordination.”

Daily Signal – Audit: IRS Fails Transparency Test on Over 1 in 10 FOIA Requests

“Although the IRS properly released thousands of pages from these documents, taxpayer rights still may have been violated because some information was erroneously withheld.”  This was said in an audit that determined that 12.3 percent of the time the IRS failed to turn over Freedom of Information Act documents.  In addition, the audit also found that “eight cases we identified included improperly withheld information of examination and collection activity and other tax return information that the taxpayer or authorized Power of Attorney should have received.”

Washington Business Journal – DHS leads federal cybersecurity efforts, but will other agencies follow?

The Department of Homeland Security has announced that they will be using a private company Raytheon Co. to help with their cybersecurity.  They are the first government agency to adopt this method of protection for their IT environment.  Experts believe this shows us that the agencies themselves are unable to handle all of their cybersecurity without private sector assistance.

Washington Examiner – Attorney general blasts FBI leaks in Clinton email probe

Attorney General Loretta Lynch chastised the FBI for the anonymous leak of information regarding the FBI investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private server.  Since the leak, the FBI has confirmed an investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s email. Attorney General Lynch said “I think leaks are detrimental to any matter, no matter what it is, no matter who is involved.”

Breitbart – REP. JIM JORDAN SAYS HOUSE WILL IMPEACH HEAD OF IRS

Representative Jim Jordan has claimed that IRS Commissioner John Koskinen will be impeached by the House this session.  The IRS has failed to be helpful and has in fact discouraged the investigations into the Tea Party scandal. “If we don’t hold some people accountable in the executive branch for the executive overreach we’ve seen in [the Obama] administration, then they’ll never get the message,” said Rep. Jordan about the issue.