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11/14/2012

Statement on Opposition for Motion to Dismiss, Nichols et al. v. Markell et al.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                        CONTACT:

NOVEMBER 14, 2012                                                      Mary Beth Hutchins 202-499-4232

 

Regarding Oral Arguments for Motion to Dismiss in the matter of Nichols et al. v. Markell et al.

Cause of Action is committed to exposing the story of cronyism that has been going on between Bloom Energy and Jack Markell. We’re grateful we had the opportunity to speak out today, and inform the judge about the need for a fair trial. We believe that this issue of cronyism is one that, if left untreated, will continue to negatively affect the taxpayers of Delaware. We look forward to the judge’s decision to allow our case to proceed and for the chance to fight the corporate welfare that continues to harm both business and citizen alike.

 

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11/1/2012

Press Release: Cause of Action Files Hatch Act Complaint Against Interior Sec. Ken Salazar

 

Cause of Action Files Hatch Act Complaint Against Interior Sec. Ken Salazar

Did Salazar Campaign for President Obama While On Official Business?

WASHINGTON – Cause of Action (CoA) filed a complaint on Monday with the Office of Special Counsel requesting an evaluation of activities and statements made by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar at an October 5, 2012 event in Colorado that appear to violate the Hatch Act, 5 U.S.C. §§ 7323(a) & 7324(a).

As first reported by The Colorado Observer, Sec. Salazar, “a former state attorney general and U.S. senator from Colorado, appeared at an event sponsored by the Montrose County Democratic Party. The party’s online calendar encouraged would-be participants to ‘(m)eet and greet our Democratic elected officials on their RV tour of the Western Slope, including Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.’”

Reports from the event claim that Sec. Salazar invoked support for the re-election of President Obama, which, if done in his official capacity as Secretary of the Interior, would be a violation of the Hatch Act.

 

“Cause of Action has serious concern about yet another administration official using taxpayer-funded time, travel, and title for direct political campaigning,” said Dan Epstein, executive director of Cause of Action. “First we exposed two Federal Aviation Administration officials for directing employees how to vote. The very next week, Sec. Kathleen Sebelius was found to have violated two counts of the Hatch Act, and now it appears Sec. Ken Salazar violated the Hatch Act in using his official capacity to campaign for the President. His behavior warrants attention and investigation by the OSC, as no violator of the Hatch Act should get away with such behavior.”

 

If Sec. Salazar is found to have violated the Hatch Act, his activity is considered illegal. As Cause of Action wrote in their complaint filed with the Office of Special Counsel:

 

“On October 5, 2012, Secretary Salazar may have used his official title to promote the 2012 candidacy of Barack Obama for President. Secretary Salazar appeared at numerous rallies in Colorado where he encouraged citizens to register to vote in the November election and he leveraged his title to appeal to swing voters about the importance of Colorado -one of eight so-called purple states – in this election, as well as the importance of re-electing Obama because of the supposed damage a President Romney would do for the country’s future. This is clearly partisan activity in violation of 5 U.S.C. § 7323(a) and possibly a violation of 5 U.S.C. § 7324(a), if Secretary Salazar was acting while on official duty.”

 

The complaint filed with OSC can be found here.

 

About Cause of Action:

Cause of Action is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that uses investigative, legal, and communications tools to educate the public on how government accountability and transparency protects taxpayer interests and economic opportunity. For more information, visit www.causeofaction.org.

 

To schedule an interview with Dan Epstein, Cause of Action’s Executive Director contact Mary Beth Hutchins, mary.beth.hutchins@causeofaction.org or Briton Bennett, briton.bennett@causeofaction.org.

 

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10/23/2012

Press Release: FTA Confirms Overreporting by the CTA

FTA Confirms Overreporting by the CTA

Cause of Action’s Investigation Into Potential Fraud With Federal Grant Money Exposes CTA & the Department of Transportation

 

WASHINGTON – In the wake of Cause of Action’s investigation into potential fraud at the Chicago Transit Authority, new facts have emerged confirming not only overreporting by the CTA, but knowledge by the Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration of the overreporting.

FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff sent a letter to CTA on April 27, 2012 stating that FTA had “conducted an in-depth review regarding the way in which Vehicle Revenue Miles (VRM)” were reported. The conclusion of this review was that “CTA should revise its data for the 2011 Report Year to reflect the definition of ‘revenue service’.”

Cause of Action’s Executive Director Dan Epstein issued the following statement in response:

“FTA’s letter highlights two very important facts. First, CTA was, as Cause of Action suspected, violating the reporting manual used to calculate VRM, thereby improperly receiving federal grant money.

But secondly, FTA is revealing that it had knowledge of overreporting occurring, and by conducting a review of only 2011, it ignored the 2007 report presented by auditor Thomas Rubin that showed the same potential actions happening in fiscal year 2006.

It appears an explanation for why FTA limited its review to one year, and failed to disclose its findings to Cause of Action following our expedited FOIA request, is that there is clearly a politically motivated cover-up happening at the Department of Transportation.

Cause of Action’s revealing investigation into opaqueness and poor stewardship of tax dollars only further raises the spectre of corruption at the same agency Cause of Action revealed to have had two officials violate the Hatch Act.  Just as no punishment occured when Kathleen Sebelius violated the Hatch Act, no punishment will occur with a CTA that defrauded the American taxpayers. Cause of Action exists to fight this kind of corruption and show the American taxpayers exactly what is happening to their money in the hands of corrupt politicians.”

This revelation by the FTA raises a number of questions that Cause of Action views as critical to the public interest:

  1. Why did FTA not act on Thomas Rubin’s 2007 report of this exact behavior by the CTA?
  2. When did DOT Inspector General Calvin Scovel decide to investigate the matter?
  3. Is there evidence to suggest that this same type of overreporting is happening at other transit authorities around the United States?
  4. Why hasn’t the FTA reported the CTA to the Department of Justice for a criminal investigation in light of their overreporting and potential years of defrauding American taxpayers?
  5. How does the President explain the Chicago connections of Secretary LaHood, Robert Rivkin, Valerie Jarrett and himself in light of this misuse of taxpayer dollars?

About Cause of Action:

Cause of Action is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that uses investigative, legal, and communications tools to educate the public on how government accountability and transparency protects taxpayer interests and economic opportunity. For more information, visit www.causeofaction.org

 

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10/18/2012

Cause of Action Reveals As Much As $150 Million in Potential Fraud by the Chicago Transit Authority

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 18, 2012                                                                                                    

CONTACT:  Mary Beth Hutchins, 202-507-5887

 

 

Cause of Action Reveals As Much As $150 Million in Potential Fraud by the Chicago Transit Authority

Were Taxpayer Dollars Improperly Granted to Chicago’s Bus System?

 

WASHINGTON – Federal government accountability group Cause of Action (CoA) today released a report based on insider audit information that reveals the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) may have improperly received up to $150 million in taxpayer funds, dating as far back as 1982.

 

Documented in “A Bus Tour of Chicago-Style Fraud,” a 2007 audit report of the CTA obtained by Cause of Action reveals that the transit agency was found to have overreported the city’s bus Vehicle Revenue Miles (VRM). This misrepresentation of data could have led to the disbursement of a larger share of available federal U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) formula grant funds than the CTA was entitled to receive. In fiscal year 2006 alone, CTA may have received from $1 million to potentially over $5 million in excess grant funding.

 

“For thirty years, the CTA may have been defrauding US taxpayers of millions of dollars and investigators at the Department of Transportation, though aware of this potential fraud, have seemingly taken no steps to investigate or report on the matter,” said Dan Epstein, executive director of Cause of Action. “Our own investigation revealed a web of connections and influence among the CTA, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the White House where investigating potential fraud may be mired in politics. In 2011, when notified of the audit we recently obtained, the DOT and its IG acknowledged that while they would look into the matter, a conflict of interest with current staff and CTA existed. To our knowledge no investigation has taken place.”

 

As CoA’s report highlights, those potential conflicts of interest could include Robert S. Rivkin, the current General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Transportation who was General Counsel of the Chicago Transit Authority from 2001 to 2004, during the time CTA was likely overreporting its VRM.  Additionally, Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President, was Chair of CTA from 1995 to 2003. As of April of 2009, Jarrett was still receiving deferred compensation from the Chicago Transit Authority.

 

 

About Cause of Action:

Cause of Action is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that uses investigative, legal, and communications tools to educate the public on how government accountability and transparency protects taxpayer interests and economic opportunity. For more information, visit www.causeofaction.org

 

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10/12/2012

COA Internal Audit Finds No Wrongdoing

INTERNAL AUDIT FINDS NO WRONGDOING

Federal Agency Spending on Commemorative and Promotional Items Accurately Represented

WASHINGTON —Government accountability group, Cause of Action, released on Friday a report that outlines its own internal review following statements made by the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General.

 Analysis of the internal review found that the original report, “Coin for Coins,” remained an accurate and true picture of federal spending on promotional and commemorative items at the nine federal agencies that are highlighted. This analysis was reached based on two findings:

  1. Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General did, indeed, spend money on promotional items during the fiscal years under review.
  2. That this information, including information about cash awards to employees, was reported to Cause of Action by the FOIA office at DHS OIG to Cause of Action, during an interim FOIA production.

 Despite attempts to the contrary, the fact remains that the DHS OIG did indeed purchase promotional and commemorative items during the time period in question.

 “The DHS OIG accused Cause of Action of misrepresentation, claimed our report was misleading and erroneous, and stated our reporting was shoddy – in addition to attacking the credibility of Fox News and Government Executive,” said Dan Epstein, executive director of Cause of Action.

“Not only has DHS OIG failed to show any factual inaccuracies in Cause of Action’s work product, DHS OIG has been deceptive in its statements – failing to publicly disclose that DHS OIG spent tax dollars on trinkets, including paperweights, plaques, shadow boxes, mugs, Nike crush ball sleeves, zippered leather portfolios, rollerball pens, curved tumblers, and clocks. Furthermore, our review revealed DHS OIG gave commemorative items given to U.S. Attorneys, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, the U.S. Department of Justice, federal special agents, the FBI, a staffer at the U.S. House of Representatives, and to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. One wonders why the IG is providing tokens to federal investigators when top officials within the inspector general’s headquarters have been placed on administrative leave or transferred outside the agency as a result of a grand jury probe. Among those on leave are the inspector general’s top criminal investigator, Thomas M. Frost and a deputy, John Ryan. Instead of investigating the processes and procedures of the OIG FOIA office or disclosing DHS OIG’s commemorative item spending – or actually fully producing the documents owed to Cause of Action under FOIA, the taxpayer-funded IG decided to spend his time going after a taxpayer watchdog group.”

Highlights of the 95-page report include:

  • Pages 13-23: CoA’s April 4, 2012 FOIA request to DHS OIG on promotional items
  • Pages 25-27: Letter from Katherine Gallo at DHS OIG producing only an “interim response” to CoA’s request “seeking records pertaining to commemorative items.”
  • Pages 41-42: E-mails between Nikki Gramian and CoA staff where Nikki Gramian suggests producing cash awards to CoA.
  • Pages 45-47 & 77-86: DOJ OIG Commemorative Item Award Spending from 2009-2012
  • Pages 91-95: E-mail communications between DHS OIG and Cause of Action concerning the report.

 As always, Cause of Action remains committed to informing the public on issues of government accountability and transparency, which is why CoA conducted a thorough internal audit to ensure that no wrong had been done by the organization or its staff.

 About Cause of Action:

Cause of Action is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that uses investigative, legal, and communications tools to educate the public on how government accountability and transparency protects taxpayer interests and economic opportunity. For more information, visit www.causeofaction.org.

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The report can be seen here.

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10/9/2012

Coin for Coins: Cause of Action Finds Federal Agencies in Violation of Executive Order on Spending

Coin for Coins: Cause of Action Finds Federal Agencies in Violation of Executive Order on Spending

Taxpayer Dollars Purchased iPods, Plaques, Yo-Yos and Coins 

WASHINGTON – Federal government accountability group Cause of Action (CoA) today released findings of direct violations of President Obama’s order for agencies to limit spending on promotional items. A six month investigation reveals a pattern of wasteful spending across nine specific federal agency offices that are catalogued in Coin for Coins: Federal Agency Spending on Promotional and Commemorative Items, a report released today.

In November 2011, President Obama advised federal agencies through the Executive Order on Promoting Efficient Spending (EO 13589) that “[a]gencies should limit the purchase of promotional items (e.g., plaques, clothing and commemorative items), in particular where they are not cost-effective.”

Some of the most egregious examples of spending include:

  • One United States Department of Agriculture office spent $38,870 on GPS systems, Nook 3G digital readers, Apple iPods, and Nikon Coolpix cameras for staff.
  • Department of Justice COPS spent over $12,000 on commemorative items for a single conference.
  • Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service spent over $86,000 on commemorative items between 2009 and 2012.

Dan Epstein, executive director of Cause of Action, highlights how this pattern of spending is a symptom of a larger problem in Washington:

Our investigation shows that a federal government culture of waste, fraud and mismanagement remains an unchecked liability throughout federal agencies. A cavalier attitude toward the efficient use of tax dollars permeates the executive branch. While some agencies track their spending, revealing patterns of waste, others don’t even bother to document it. The Department of Defense, with one of the largest budgets, informed Cause of Action that it has no means of tracking promotional spending, rendering accountability impossible. Just in the past year we’ve seen reports of the Government Services Administration and Veterans Affairs conference spending scandals, Secretary Sebelius’s Hatch Act violations, and conflict of interest violations by NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon.  It is clear that those in the current Administration with the responsibility to steward taxpayer dollars, the President included, are not taking their jobs, nor a commitment to ethics and transparency, seriously.

Following the April, 2012 GSA spending scandal report from the GSA Inspector General, CoA submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to 32 federal agency offices demanding production of information concerning commemorative awards that have been paid for by taxpayer dollars.

Coin for Coins: Federal Agency Spending on Promotional and Commemorative Items analyzes spending from the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), OIG, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), United States Department of the Interior (DOI), Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service (FS) Alaska Region, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service (FS) Southwestern Region, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Rural Development (RD), Department of Energy (DOE), OIG, and the United States Department of Defense.

About Cause of Action:

Cause of Action is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that uses investigative, legal, and communications tools to educate the public on how government accountability and transparency protects taxpayer interests and economic opportunity. For more information, visit www.causeofaction.org

This release was updated on October 11, 2012. The following sentences that appeared in the original release have been removed:

“CoA’s initial investigation into nine agency offices documents $1,123,118 spent on items such as yo-yos, water bottles, pens, trophies, and other awards.”

“Department of Homeland Security OIG offices spent nearly $700,000 on awards in fiscal year 2010.”

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10/2/2012

Cause of Action Sues IRS for President Obama’s Tax Record Requests

CAUSE OF ACTION SUES IRS FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA’S TAX RECORD REQUESTS

Where’s the transparency? IRS refuses to reveal information on whose taxes the President has requested

 

WASHINGTON – Federal government accountability group Cause of Action (CoA) today filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for refusing to release documents that would identify the names of individuals and businesses of which President Obama has requested tax records.

 

“Hiding behind a claim of privacy that does not stand up when you consider the commitment to transparency made by this Administration, the IRS has no grounds for refusing our request,” stated Karen Groen, Chief Oversight Counsel at Cause of Action. “American taxpayers deserve to know if the President has requested to see their tax information. I’d like to know if he wanted to see my tax returns, wouldn’t you?”

 

CoA filed a FOIA request in April for communications between President Obama and the IRS requesting the tax returns of either individuals or businesses. The IRS denied CoA’s request for the names of those taxpayers, obstructing the path to transparency that will help taxpayers know what is happening in Washington. Today, CoA filed suit against the IRS demanding the production of this request.

 

The complaint filed today, along with our exhibits, can be found here.

 

 

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