Cause of Action Sues TIGTA over Release of Taxpayer Info

Cause of Action filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) for potentially violating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

TIGTA told Cause of Action in March of this year, in response to a FOIA request, that it could “neither confirm nor deny the existence of records” of communication between the White House and IRS concerning taxpayer information, particularly interactions that were not made pursuant to 6103(g) of the tax code, which authorizes the President to request any individual’s tax return information from the IRS.

Yet, the media reported that TIGTA sent a letter to Senator Charles Grassley July 3, 2013, acknowledging eight instances involving potential unauthorized access or disclosure of tax records belonging to political donors or candidates since 2006.

By revealing to Senator Grassley the existence of these communications, TIGTA has potentially violated FOIA with Cause of Action, therefore we are filing a lawsuit against TIGTA in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

ECF No. 1_Complaint

ECF No. 1-1_Exhibits 1-10 to Complaint

ECF No. 1-2_Civil Cover Sheet

ECF No. 1-3_Summons

Federalist Society Teleforum Update on FOIA

FOIA Update – Podcast

Administrative Law & Regulation Practice Group Podcast

July 29, 2013

Daniel Z. EpsteinKip Evan SteinbergAnne L. WeismannMargaret D. StockDean A. Reuter

 

To listen, please right click on the audio file you wish to hear and then select “Save Link As…” or “Save Target As…” After you save the audio file to your computer, you can then listen to it in your audio player of choice.

  FOIA Update – MP3
Running Time: 00:59:24

FOIA UpdateThe Freedom of Information Act has been the subject of several recent developments, each of which raise interesting questions.  On April 2, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington v. FEC that an agency FOIA determination must include disclosure of the relevant time period and scope of the documents it will produce as well as exemptions claimed for any withheld documents.  Will agencies now refuse to disclose the scope of documents and exemptions unless and until a FOIA requester brings a lawsuit?  If so, does the decision really enhance transparency?  In McBurney et al v. Young, the Supreme Court held that the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) grants only citizens of Virginia the right to access the state of Virginia’s public records.  Does McBurney harm transparency?  On April 15, 2009, Gregory Craig, Counsel to the President, sent  a memorandum to all executive department and agency general counsels, concerning the need to consult the White House regarding FOIA, GAO, congressional and judicial subpoena requests concerning “white house equities”.  To what extent does this memo conflict with the current Administration’s policy on FOIA?

Featuring:

  • Mr. Daniel Epstein, Executive Director, Cause of Action
  • Mr. Kip Steinberg, Principal, Law Office of Kip Evan Steinberg
  • Ms. Anne L. Weismann, Chief Counsel, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
  • Moderator: Ms. Margaret Stock, Counsel to the Firm, Cascadia Cross-Border Law Group
  • Introduction: Mr. Dean A. Reuter, Vice President & Director of Practice Groups, The Federalist Society

 

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Watchdog group accuses Forest City Enterprises of profiteering at taxpayer expense

Read the full story here: Cleveland Plain Dealer

Cause of Action released a report today that claims the Cleveland-based developer used “highly paid lobbyists, political connections, campaign contributions and strategic hiring of government officials” to obtain “lavish public subsidies, tax exempt financing and the seizure of private land from eminent domain condemnations.”

 

Its review of lobbying and political contribution records indicates that the company and its employees spent $23 million on campaign contributions and lobbying at the federal state  and local level over the past decade while receiving “fifty two direct and indirect government subsidies or financial benefits with a total value of at least $2.6 billion.”

Wall Street Journal: Watchdog Group Accuses Developer of Massive Pay-to-Play Scheme

Read the full story here: Wall Street Journal

Cause of Action, a Washington, D.C. non-profit accountability group, said in a reportthat Forest City Enterprises, one of the largest publicly traded U.S. developers, spent $23 million in the last decade on campaign contributions and lobbying expenses while receiving $2.6 billion in government subsidies, comprising nearly a quarter of the firm’s revenue during that time span.

 

The group accuses the firm of using its political clout to get massive benefits as it, and its subsidiaries, built massive projects including Atlantic Yards, the site of the Barclays Center, where the Brooklyn Nets play their home games.

Cause of Action Report Exposes Profiteering Scheme Using Taxpayer Funds

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                 

August 6, 2013

 

Cause of Action Report Exposes Profiteering Scheme Using Taxpayer Funds

 “Political Profiteering” Shows How Forest City Enterprises

Makes Private Profits at the Expense of American Taxpayers

 

WASHINGTON – Today, Cause of Action (CoA), a government accountability organization, released “Political Profiteering: How Forest City Enterprises Makes Private Profits at the Expense of American Taxpayers,” the first installment in a three-part investigation examining how real estate development giant Forest City Enterprises (FCE) uses politics for profit.  The report exposes how between 2002 and 2012, FCE secured more than $2.6 billion in direct and indirect government subsidies by spending millions of dollars on campaign contributions. Two of the most high-profile examples of FCE using politics for profit include the Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn, NY and The Yards project in Washington, D.C.

“We are exposing an enterprise of corruption within one of the largest private real estate developers in the country,” said Dan Epstein, Cause of Action’s executive director.  “For far too long, Forest City Enterprises has operated on the model of political profiteering, essentially rigging the marketplace by paying off government officials with lavish campaign contributions and gambling with taxpayer funds for its private profit.”

“Unless there is effective oversight of how government subsidies are granted to companies like Forest City Enterprises, businesses will continue to use American taxpayer dollars to bolster their own private profits.”

CoA’s nearly two-year investigation uncovers how Forest City Enterprises, one of the largest publicly-traded real estate development companies in the United States, runs on the practice of using public money and government influence to reap millions in profit and finance its net worth of nearly $10.6 billion. In its pursuit of land development projects, FCE regularly uses highly paid lobbyists, political connections, campaign contributions, and strategic hiring of government officials to obtain lavish public subsidies, tax-exempt financing and the seizure of private land from eminent domain condemnations.

 Among the most blatant examples of FCE’s political profiteering CoA uncovered:

  • From 2002 to 2012, FCE and its subsidiaries received or signed agreements for fifty-two direct and indirect subsidies or financial benefits with a total value of at least $2.6 billion.
  • FCE, its subsidiaries, and its employees spent $23 million on political spending such as campaign contributions and lobbying at the federal, state, and local level from 2002 to 2012.
  • In key election years, eighty-five percent of FCE’s eighty-one federal political contributions were given to candidates in areas where FCE had real estate projects.
  • Forest City Washington (FCW) in the District of Columbia (D.C.) used campaign contributions to extract favors from the politicians on the D.C. City Council, the D.C. Mayor, and D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton for its Yards project. FCW also hired an employee from the Mayor’s office dealing with development to assist in pushing its project.

In the reports that follow, CoA will show how FCE took public benefits under the premise of providing jobs for minority workers but failed to deliver, as well as how FCE enriched itself through bribery and political graft, without ever being subjected to investigation or oversight.

About Cause of Action:

Cause of Action is a non-profit, nonpartisan government accountability organization that fights to protect economic opportunity when federal regulations, spending and cronyism threaten it. For more information, visit www.causeofaction.org.

To schedule an interview with Cause of Action’s Executive Director Dan Epstein, contact Mary Beth Hutchins,  202-400-2721 or Jamie Morris, jamie.morris@causeofaction.org.

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New York Post: Barclays builder ‘pay to play’

Read the full story here: New York Post

“For far too long, Forest City Enterprises has operated on the model of political profiteering, essentially rigging the marketplace by paying off government officials with lavish campaign contributions and gambling with taxpayer funds for its private profit,” said Dan Epstein, CoA’s executive director.

 

The oversight group accuses the company of a “decade of kickbacks” and coordinating its campaign contributions, and says it is investigating multiple companies that use “political connections for profit.”

REPORT: Political Profiteering: How Forest City Enterprises Makes Private Profits at the Expense of America’s Taxpayers Part I

Executive Summary

When the politically powerful, not the competitive marketplace, determine winners and losers in America’s business decisions, taxpayers take on all of the risk and crony companies extract the profits. The cycle of political profiteering is born when politicians exchange public subsidies for campaign contributions. This method of using the government to profit has become a trademark of one of the largest publicly traded real estate development companies in the United States: Forest City Enterprises.

Forest City Enterprises (FCE) is a $10.6 billion company that most Americans have likely never heard of, even though the public finances twenty-three percent of FCE’s revenue. The FCE business model is dependent upon political profiteering: relying on public money and government influence to reap millions in profit.  Using highly paid lobbyists, political connections, campaign contributions, and strategic hiring of government officials, FCE obtains lavish public subsidies, tax-exempt financing and the seizure of private land from eminent domain condemnations.

The following report exposes the money trail between FCE and its political friends that have resulted in a decade of kickbacks for both FCE and politicians. Between 2002 and 2012, FCE, its subsidiaries, and its employees spent $23 million on campaign contributions and lobbying at the federal, state, and local level. FCE even went so far as to coordinate donations among employees in its project locations: $15.4 million of the $23 million in contributions were made by multiple employees of FCE on the same day. During that same time frame, FCE and its subsidiaries received or signed agreements for fifty-two direct and indirect government subsidies or financial benefits with a total value of at least $2.6 billion. The subsidies amounted to twenty-three percent of FCE’s $11.4 billion revenue during that time period.

The FCE business model is one that damages competition in the market by abusing market mechanisms in ways that capitalizes off government handouts. This report is Part One of a three-part series examining how Forest City Enterprises uses politics to profit.

FCEGraph

 

FCEtable

FCWDonate

Preview of subsequent reports:In the reports that follow, resulting from Cause of Action’s two year investigation, CoA will show how FCE took public benefits under the premise of providing jobs for minority workers but failed to deliver as well as how FCE enriched itself through bribery and political graft, without ever being subject to investigation or oversight.

Subsidy and Political Spending Data:

Forest City Enterprises Data

Emails from Forest City Washington’s Alex Nyhan to former colleagues at the District of Columbia (D.C.) Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development

Forest City Washington Emails

Full FOIA Production

 

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