Read the full story: Washington Free Beacon
A government watchdog group announced Monday that it is suing a dozen federal agencies for improperly delaying Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for White House review.
Cause of Action is suing 10 cabinet agencies, as well as the Internal Revenue Service and White House Office of Management and Budget, for failing to release documents regarding how the White House reviews agency FOIA requests.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 18, 2014
Cause of Action Sues A Dozen Federal Agencies for Allowing the White House to Obstruct Transparency
WASHINGTON – Cause of Action (CoA), a government accountability organization, sued 10 cabinet agencies, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Internal Revenue Service today for refusing to disclose communications concerning documents the agencies shared with the White House. The records would reveal whether and how the White House politicizes records requests sent to federal agencies.
“Accountable and transparent government does not involve instructing agencies to send politically sensitive records to the White House for review. The bureaucracy has violated the law by stonewalling the public’s access to documents for political reasons. Cause of Action’s own investigation reveals that the White House is actually demanding access from agencies to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and Congressional document requests, as well as the documents subject to those requests, in a manner that may obstruct congressional oversight and violate the spirit of FOIA,” stated Dan Epstein, Cause of Action’s executive director.
After sending 22 FOIA requests between 2013 and 2014 to various agencies regarding the review of agency records by the Office of White House Counsel and releasing a report in April of this year about “White House equities,” a broad term the White House uses to review and advise agencies on what should or shouldn’t be released to FOIA requesters and Congress, 10 of the agencies have responded to Cause of Action.
Cause of Action’s White House equities investigation previously uncovered internal emails from the Environmental Protection Agency showing that the White House improperly withheld documents related to a request from Congress, leading to a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee. Cause of Action also obtained documents revealing that a public records appeal filed by Americans for Limited Government with the Department of Labor (DOL) concerning former Secretary Hilda Solis’ calendars was held up for years before DOL released the information, showing that agencies are hiding responsive documents, or delaying the production of responsive documents, because of what they are sharing with the White House.
In addition to the Internal Revenue Service and Office of Management and Budget, the remaining cabinet level agencies that have gone an average of eight months without producing documents are:
The lawsuit, along with our exhibits, can be found here and here.
You can find more information on White House equities here.
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Read the full story: Washington Post
Cause of Action said the agencies have not handed over documents the organization asked for up to 14 months ago and that the requests appear to be under White House review, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Washington Post. The group plans to file its lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Cause of Action pointed to an April 2009 White House memo as the source of the delays, noting that Gregory Craig, former counsel to President Obama, instructed federal agencies to consult with his office on “all document requests that may involve documents with White House equities.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:
August 7, 2014 Mary Beth Hutchins, (202) 400-4232
Cause of Action Submits Statement to House Oversight Committee
Demonstrating IRS’s Improper Use of Tax Code to Block Transparency
Washington, DC – Cause of Action (CoA), a government accountability organization, submitted a Statement for the record today to the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (OGR) highlighting the Federal Government’s inconsistent and overbroad application of taxpayer confidentiality laws, therefore blocking transparency. The Statement accompanies an OGR hearing on the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) abuses and targeting of conservative and libertarian groups.
“It’s alarmingly clear that the IRS improperly interpreted the tax code in order to hamper government transparency,” said Cause of Action’s Executive Director Dan Epstein. “The IRS is picking and choosing when and how the law is convenient for its purposes, which is just wrong. Its actions are frustrating public access to records that may demonstrate wrongdoing by Federal officials. Therefore, Congress needs to start us down the path of meaningful reform by preventing agencies from continuing to use laws intended to protect taxpayers as a sword against political enemies and shield for political allies.”
Cause of Action’s Statement for the Record addresses a number of key issues:
Read the Statement for the Record here.
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, mary.beth.hutchins@causeofaction.org
Read the full story: Washington Examiner
Cause of Action Executive Director Daniel Epstein said the Pluta emails appear to be an effort to improperly withhold official documents.
“Federal agencies cannot avoid their transparency obligations simply because they want to. Cause of Action has previously exposed how CFPB advises its employees to FOIA-proof their work calendars, but these new documents evidence an overt attempt by a senior CFPB employee to change standard protocol in order to improperly shield records from the public,” Epstein said.
Read the documents:
Sen. David Vitter joined Cause of Action for a discussion on how collusion among a handful of individuals, environmentalist groups and the government is shaping public policy. Sen. Vitter will presented new evidence of the large amounts of money behind the environmental movement.
Read the full story: Fox News
Dan Epstein, director of the conservative Cause of Action, said in a statement that the report also speaks to a problem of “fiscal sponsorship” – where charities effectively sell nonprofit status to others, in turn receiving charitable donations for another group.
“Cause of Action has asked the IRS to take simple steps to define the rules for fiscal sponsorship, but they refused to do so, protecting their political friends, while targeting their political enemies,” Epstein said.