Check out this short clip from a Radio America interview with COA Executive Director Dan Epstein.
02/15/2013
02/15/2013
Morning News for Friday, February 15, 2013
The GAO released its biennial report of the agencies at the highest risk for waste, fraud and abuse. The Washington Guardian has the latest:
Congress’ main investigative arm, the Government Accountability Office, has released its latest list of government programs at high-risk of waste, fraud and abuse, continuing a tradition of providing lawmakers with the report every two years at the start of a new Congress. And most on this year’s list are long-time, repeat offenders.
DOE Loan Recipient Tesla Motors attempts to defend its name after the NY Times piece doubted the car’s capabilities. Daily Caller has this coverage:
The New York Times is under attack from electronic-car maker Tesla, whose chairman and CEO on Wednesday posted a full-page, data-filled refutation of claims made by Times reporter John Broder that its Model S failed spectacularly during a test drive. The CEO, Elon Musk, flatly accuses the reporter of both lying in his story and repeatedly attempting to sabotage the car. “We assumed that the reporter would be fair and impartial, as has been our experience with The New York Times, an organization that prides itself on journalistic integrity,” wrote Musk, in a post on Tesla’s website called “A Most Peculiar Test Drive.”
President Obama continues to claim that his administration is leading the charge in terms of transparency despite mounting evidence to the contrary. The Washington Free Beacon has this story:
President Obama once again claimed his administration is the “most transparent in history” Thursday, despite lengthy record of failed reform and increased secrecy. Obama was answering questions during a Google hangout when a woman questioned him on his promises of greater government transparency, noting things “feels a lot less transparent. “This is the most transparent administration in history,” Obama assured the woman. “I can document that this is the case.”
02/14/2013
Morning News for Thursday, February 14, 2013
The Energy Dept. funded a battery company that has yet to begin production. The Washington Post reports:
The Energy Department gave $150 million in economic Recovery Act funds to a battery company, LG Chem Michigan, which has yet to manufacture cells used in any vehicles sold to the public and whose workers passed time watching movies, playing board, card and video games, or volunteering for animal shelters and community groups. Those are the conclusions of a report released Wednesday by Energy Department Inspector General Gregory H. Friedman, who said the grant to a subsidiary of South Korean giant LG “had not been managed effectively.”
Coverage of the Drakes Bay Oyster Company continues. Read more from Bay City News:
The owners of the Drakes Bay Oyster Farm announced last week they are appealing a ruling in which a federal trial judge declined to block the closure of the decades-old farm at Point Reyes National Seashore. In a statement released by his lawyers, co-owner Kevin Lunny said, “We continue to be grateful for the outpouring of support from our community. We have had time to weigh our options carefully, and have decided to appeal the judge’s decision.”
From The New York Times: President Obama resubmits appointees for the NLRB.
Despite opposition from nearly all Senate Republicans, President Obama asked the Senate on Wednesday to confirm two Democrats whose recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board were ruled unconstitutional by a federal appeals court last month. The two, Sharon Block, a former labor counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and Richard Griffin, former general counsel for the International Union of Operating Engineers, have been serving on the board since January 2012, appointed by the president during a Senate break after Republicans blocked their confirmations.
02/13/2013
Morning News for Wednesday, February 13, 2013
The future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be discussed in a press conference today. The Republican reports:
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., will join Democratic colleagues from the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday in a press conference discussing the future of an agency she holds close to her heart- the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Warren, who helped create the bureau and was passed over as its first chief due to staunch Republican opposition, will now get the chance to defend it in the Senate.
The Dept. of Energy reconsiders loan guarantee for a wind farm. Read more from The Boston Herald:
Cape Wind is back in line for a big loan from the Obama administration, over the objections of project opponents and Republican congressmen who are sounding the alarm about investing taxpayer cash in another potential Solyndra. The U.S. Department of Energy shelved the offshore wind developer’s request for $2 billion in federal aid in 2011 because of a lack of progress, but recently reconsidered the application — although reportedly for a smaller amount.
From The Washington Examiner: Dept. of Veterans Affairs accuracy in reports questioned.
Accuracy reports have been manipulated by the Department of Veterans Affairs to make it appear employees make fewer mistakes on claims for disability payments than they actually do, The Washington Examiner has found. Audits of individual case files by the agency’s inspector general consistently show error rates on disability claims much higher than those claimed in official reports.
02/12/2013
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02/12/2013
Morning News for Tuesday, February 12, 2013
The latest update in the Drakes Bay Oyster case covered today by The Press Democrat:
A federal judge on Monday denied Drakes Bay Oyster Company’s second legal bid to remain in business beyond a Feb. 28 deadline to quit harvesting oysters from Drakes Estero in the Point Reyes National Seashore. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers issued a 70-word order rejecting oyster farm operator Kevin Lunny’s appeal of her previous ruling on Feb. 4.
DNC chairwoman tries to deceive the press in an effort to criticize Marco Rubio. The Washington Examiner has this story:
Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz attempted a bit of deception Monday in an effort to criticize GOP rising star Marco Rubio ahead of his State of the Union rebuttal Tuesday night. But on this occasion, the press wasn’t falling for it. In a conference call Monday, Wasserman Schultz enlisted the help of Annette Capella, described by party officials as a “Medicare recipient from Florida,” to warn of the “extreme budget priorities,” they believe Rubio is likely to outline in his televised response to President Obama’s address.
A senator sharply criticizes overspending and program duplication by the Justice Department. The Daily Caller reports:
Pointing to charts showing the web of redundant and expensive Justice Department grants, Coburn argued that the last thing the Senate should do is add to the mess. “Department of Justice grants — 253 different programs, not just run by the Department of Justice, but nine other agencies besides them — [are] spending $3.9 billion a year,” he said, while displaying a cost chart. “And we might say that’s okay. Now let’s look at the organization.”
02/11/2013
Morning News for Monday, February 11, 2013
There is more coverage of the Drakes Bay Oyster Conflict today. The Press Democrat has the latest:
Attorneys for Drakes Bay Oyster Company have asked a federal judge to rule Monday on their request to postpone a Feb. 28 deadline for shutting down the business in Marin County’s Point Reyes National Seashore. The request for an expedited ruling is necessary to “avoid the total destruction” of oyster farm owner Kevin Lunny’s livelihood, the loss of more than 30 jobs and “a crop of 19 million shellfish in the waters of Drakes Estero,” the court filing said.
The Daily Caller News Foundation covers the multiple hatch act violations in the Obama administration:
A troubling pattern of illegal campaigning by government officials, including two members of President Obama’s cabinet, is raising questions about the federal oversight agency that monitors such infractions.
There is continued uncertainty surrounding the now illegal NLRB appointments. Legal Times has this story:
More than 30 workplace disputes, including one involving a national wholesale company, are now on hold in a federal appeals court in Washington as the U.S. Justice Department mulls whether to challenge a ruling that voided President Barack Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board.