02/8/2013
Friday February 8, 2013 Morning News
There is more coverage of the Drakes Bay Oyster Conflict today. The Washington Free Beacon has the latest:
The Drakes Bay Oyster Company is appealing a judge’s decision to deny injunctive relief against the secretary of the interior’s decision not to renew the business’ permit to use federal land, Cause of Action announced Wednesday. “We are committed to fighting against government abuse and overreach to keep the Lunny family in business … and are taking all the necessary legal steps to appeal this ruling,” said Amber Abbasi, Cause of Action’s chief counsel for regulatory affairs, in a statement. Cause of Action is representing the company and its owner in this case along with Briscoe Ivester & Bazel, LLP, and SSL Law.
Retiring DOT Secretary, Ray LaHood says, “America is one big pothole.” More from The Hill:
Critics of President Barack Obama’s recess appointments are calling on Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan to recuse herself from a potential Supreme Court hearing on the matter. The Chamber of Commerce raised the prospect of recusal, citing then-solicitor general Kagan’s defense of President Obama’s recess appointments in a previous case regarding the composition of the National Labor Relations Board.
Senators are blaming congress for agency waste and duplication. Government Executive has this story:
Key reasons for wasteful duplication of federal programs include a lack of knowledge among lawmakers and their tendency to think parochially and short-term, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said Wednesday. “We have a great federal workforce, but the problem is that members of Congress, while well intentioned, lack oversight and knowledge of what programs are out there,” Coburn told business executives at a forum on transforming government for the 21st century sponsored by the Business Roundtable and Governing magazine.
02/7/2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013 Morning News
The Drakes Bay Oyster Company has decided to appeal the judge’s decision to deny the motion for preliminary injunction. More from the Associated Press:
The owners of a Northern California oyster farm that is scheduled to be removed from Point Reyes National Seashore are appealing a judge’s refusal to allow it to stay open while its lawsuit against the government proceeds. Drakes Bay Oyster Co. on Wednesday filed an appeal with the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Bloom Energy whistleblower speaks about the crony company’s mistreatment of workers. Read the account on Mercury News:
They traveled 1,300 miles and toiled long hours, earning the equivalent of $2.66 an hour in Mexican pesos while working in the Bay Area for acclaimed Silicon Valley tech startup Bloom Energy. “It wasn’t right what they were doing. It’s not the way to treat people,” said a former Bloom Energy contractor who claims he blew the whistle to authorities about the company’s mistreatment of the workers, who were brought to this country on visitor visas from the Bloom Energy plant in Chihuahua.
The Oversight Committee is demanding information from agencies who have failed to be transparent, delay FOIA requests. The Hill reports:
Scores of agencies across the federal government have failed to update their regulations involving the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), despite a 2009 directive from Attorney Gen. Eric Holder ordering them to adopt a “presumption of openness,” Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said. Additionally, the lawmakers pointed to a backlog of requests for information at some agencies, an excessive use of exemptions allowing officials to withhold information and exorbitant — and potentially illegal — fee assessments.
President Obama continues to fill his cabinet, his latest pick for the Department of Interior.
02/6/2013
Wednesday February 6, 2013 Morning News
More coverage of the Drakes Bay Oyster Conflict today. The Wall Street Journal reports (see also print edition, A4):
Its owners, Kevin and Nancy Lunny, declined to comment through Cause of Action, a Washington, D.C., advocacy group that represents them legally. “The Lunnys are weighing their options for next steps,” said Amber Abbasi, a lawyer for the group, in a statement.”
There is continued fallout from the NLRB case that overturned President Barack Obama’s recess appointments. More from The Washington Free Beacon:
Critics of President Barack Obama’s recess appointments are calling on Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan to recuse herself from a potential Supreme Court hearing on the matter. The Chamber of Commerce raised the prospect of recusal, citing then-solicitor general Kagan’s defense of President Obama’s recess appointments in a previous case regarding the composition of the National Labor Relations Board.
Bloom Energy continues to reveal cronyism in their business dealings, this time paying workers nearly 2/3 less than minimum wage. Mercury News has this story:
A prominent Silicon Valley clean-energy startup has been ordered to pay back wages and penalties for bringing in workers from Mexico and paying them about $2.66 an hour in pesos, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Tuesday. Sunnyvale-based Bloom Energy, which makes fuel cells and sells energy to clients including AT&T, Adobe, Coca-Cola, eBay, Google and Wal-Mart, was ordered by a judge to pay $31,922 in back wages and an equal amount in damages to 14 welders who were brought in to work alongside domestic workers refurbishing power generators.
02/5/2013
Tuesday February 5, 2013 Morning News
The judge in our Drakes Bay Oyster company lawsuit issued a ruling on the motion for preliminary injunction yesterday. The Associated Press reports:
A federal judge on Monday denied a Northern California oyster farm’s request to have its removal from Point Reyes National Seashore overturned, and ruled against allowing it to continue doing business in the park while its lawsuit is being heard in court. The judge denied owner Kevin Lunny’s request to void Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s refusal to renew the historic oyster farm’s lease for another 10 years. The rulings dealt a blow to the popular Drakes Bay Oyster Co.’s last-ditch effort to remain in business beyond its March 15 eviction date.
[UPDATE] Be sure to read our response to the judge’s ruling.
President Obama is starting to vet replacements for cabinet members. More from Reuters:
A California-based hospital company says it will not comply with at least two National Labor Relations Board rulings from the past year after a federal court invalidated three of President Barack Obama’s recess appointments to the NLRB last week.
A DOJ memo detailing legal justification for drone strikes, even on American citizens, was leaked. The New York Times has this story:
Obama administration lawyers have asserted that it would be lawful to kill a United States citizen if “an informed, high-level official” of the government decided that the target was a ranking figure in Al Qaeda who posed “an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States” and if his capture was not feasible, according to a 16-page document made public on Monday.
02/4/2013
Monday, February 4, 2013 Morning News
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu has announced his resignation, joining the ranks of other members of the president’s cabinet to step down after his first term in office. The Daily Caller has the latest:
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced on Friday that he would leave the Obama administration sometime after February and planned to return to academic life in California after serving four years and coming under harsh criticism from Republicans.
The Republican Oversight Committee has been seeking documents related to potential contract-rigging at USAID. More from the Washington Post:
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has threatened to subpoena the nation’s foreign aid agency if it doesn’t hand over documents and information relating to alleged wrongdoing by top agency officials…The oversight committee is examining an inspector general’s investigation into possible contract-rigging by the agency’s general counsel and allegations that USAID’s second-ranking executive interfered with the probe.
Retired monkeys living it up on federal tab in Louisiana ‘Chimp Haven’
02/1/2013
Friday, February 1, 2013 Morning News
Coverage of our FEC Complaint against the Democratic National Committee continues to grow. Roll Call brings us this story of the allegations:
The government watchdog group Cause of Action has alleged in a complaint to the Federal Election Commission that the Democratic National Committee misreported payments to the Health and Human Services Department following a 2012 trip by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that violated the Hatch Act. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel concluded in September that Sebelius had violated the 1939 Hatch Act, which restricts political activities by government employees, when she called for President Barack Obama’s re-election at a February 2012 rally in Charlotte, N.C..
There has been more fallout from the recent Federal Court ruling stating Obama appointments to the NLRB were illegal. More from Reuters:
A California-based hospital company says it will not comply with at least two National Labor Relations Board rulings from the past year after a federal court invalidated three of President Barack Obama’s recess appointments to the NLRB last week.
The CFPB may not be immune to the NLRB fallout either. The Huffington Post has this story:
Republican senators are moving to target the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as well as the National Labor Relations Board in the wake of a court ruling that found President Barack Obama’s appointments to the NLRB were unconstitutional. A bill offered Thursday by Sens. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) would withhold any funding for actions taken by the leaders whom Obama named to their posts more than a year ago.
The Oversight Committee is going after USAID for potential wrongdoing.