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The Seattle Times: Editorial: Commercial photography rule makes the Forest Service look bad

September 29, 2014 by

Read the full story: The Seattle Times

The government watchdog group Cause of Action is suing a dozen federal agencies for allegedly allowing the White House to conduct politically tinged screenings of public-records requests. Just last week, it was revealed that the White House even seeks to censor the mundane daily “pool” reports, which are the equivalent of an Obama’s official Fitbit log of public activities.

 

No wonder an obscure proposed federal rule started a First Amendment wildfire, especially in the Pacific Northwest, where the government plays a large role due to the amount of federal land here.

 

The Forest Service is still taking public comment on it. Let ’em have it. The Obama administration, rightly called the greatest threat to press freedom in a generation, deserves it.

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Lessons for the Next Attorney General

September 26, 2014 by

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is resigning after five-and-a-half years in the Obama administration. Despite Cause of Action raising the following concerns to the Department of Justice (DOJ) during Attorney General Holder’s tenure, here are four DOJ failures that Cause of Action hopes the next Attorney General would ensure the agency corrects:

  1. Cause of Action asked DOJ to take the claims of IRS targeting seriously, but the available evidence suggests a failure to conduct a full and fair investigation.
  2. The IRS appears to have violated the Federal Records Act (and possibly other laws) by losing or deleting Lois Lerner’s emails, but DOJ has given no indication that it will investigate the email destruction in any meaningful way.
  3. Cause of Action provided DOJ with evidence of up to $150 million in fraud at the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) in May 2012.  When given the opportunity to intervene and recover taxpayer dollars under the False Claims Act, DOJ declined.  Cause of Action is continuing to pursue this fraud lawsuit against the CTA because American taxpayers deserve accountability.  DOJ retains the ability to intervene, despite its initial failure to do so.
  4. On March 19, 2009, AG Holder issued a memo on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) stating: “In the face of doubt, openness prevails.”  Despite this proclamation, Associated Press Washington Bureau Chief Sally Buzbee says the transparency of the Obama administration “is significantly worse than previous administrations.”  Cause of Action’s own investigation found that improper White House review of FOIA requests violated both the letter and spirit of FOIA. In fact, DOJ is one of twelve agencies Cause of Action is suing for allowing the White House to obstruct the processing of FOIA requests.
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Cause of Action Sues A Dozen Federal Agencies for Allowing the White House to Obstruct Transparency

August 18, 2014 by

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:

  • Department of Homeland Security
  • Department of Justice
  • Department of Transportation
  • Department of Housing and Urban Development
  • Department of State
  • Department of Veterans Affairs
  • Department of Defense
  • Department of Health and Human Services
  • Department of Energy
  • Department of the Treasury.

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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Fox News: Republican report alleges ‘billionaire’s club’ funding environmental causes through ‘shady’ network

July 30, 2014 by

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.

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The Hill: Green movement backed by ‘Billionaire’s Club’

July 30, 2014 by

Read the full story: The Hill

Cause of Action, a conservative group that has fought for the government to take action against environmental tax-exempt groups, welcomed the report.

 

“While the IRS seems to be over-inclusive in auditing legitimate nonprofits that differ politically from the administration, they have been under-inclusive in their oversight of politically favored groups who are actually abusing the law,” Dan Epstein, the group’s director, said in a statement.

 

“What EPW’s report shows is the environmental movement is following the very model President Obama criticized, manipulating the tax code in the process, with no repercussion from the IRS.”

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Cause of Action Statement on New Report by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works

July 30, 2014 by

Cause of Action’s Executive Director Dan Epstein commented on the new report, “The Chain of Environmental Command,” released by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works revealing how collusion amongst a handful of individuals, environmentalist groups and the government is shaping public policy:

“Despite our request nearly two years ago to TIGTA to investigate organizations violating their tax-exempt status through fiscal sponsorship, the agency has done nothing and as the Committee’s new findings show, the abuse of fiscal sponsorship is obviously still a problem.  While the IRS seems to be over-inclusive in auditing legitimate nonprofits that differ politically from the Administration, they have been under-inclusive in their oversight of politically favored groups who are actually abusing the law. Even the President has spoken out against millionaires and billionaires ‘bankrolling whoever they want, however they want, in some cases undisclosed.’ But what EPW’s report shows is the environmental movement is following the very model President Obama criticized, manipulating the tax code in the process, with no repercussion from the IRS. 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.”

Read our report on fiscal sponsorship here.

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Cause of Action Demands Investigation of CPSC for Waste, Abuse and Mismanagement Relating to Buckyballs Matter

July 24, 2014 by

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                       CONTACT:      

July 23, 2014                                                    Mary Beth Hutchins, 202-400-2721

 

Cause of Action Demands Investigation of CPSC for Waste, Abuse and Mismanagement Relating to Buckyballs Matter

WASHINGTON – Cause of Action (CoA), a government accountability organization, sent a letter Wednesday to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)’s Inspector General (IG) seeking an investigation of CPSC for improprieties related to its investigation of Mr. Craig Zucker, the former CEO of the company that sold Buckyballs.  The CPSC’s investigation led to waste of taxpayer dollars and forced Mr. Zucker to expend considerable resources to defend himself.

“The CPSC’s actions regarding Craig Zucker were never about consumer safety, they’re about punishing an entrepreneur who spoke out against the agency’s overzealous, overreaching activity,” said CoA Executive Director Dan Epstein. “The IG’s role is to prevent and root out fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement.  Therefore, it must investigate the CPSC’s behavior concerning Mr. Zucker.”

CoA’s request centers on 3 primary allegations:

  • CPSC Made Material Misrepresentations in its Amended Complaints – Former CPSC Executive Director Kenneth Hinson and CPSC Assistant General Counsel Mary B. Murphy claimed that they obtained Commission authorization to amend CPSC’s original Complaint against Mr. Zucker’s company and to potentially hold Mr. Zucker personally responsible for conducting a recall.  But they never obtained such authorization, in violation of CPSC regulations and Mr. Zucker’s due process rights.
  • CPSC Retaliated Against Mr. Zucker for his Exercise of First Amendment Rights.  Mr. Zucker aggressively defended his actions in numerous forums, and CPSC responded by pursuing the complaint against Mr. Zucker personally in an attempt to deter him and other corporate officers from exercising their rights to free speech.  Never before in the history of CPSC had an action been filed to require an officer or former officer of a company to personally conduct a recall.
  • CPSC Failed to Comply with the IQA and FOIA.  In connection with this matter, CPSC’s actions demonstrated its failure to comply with its information collection, dissemination and quality requirements under the Information Quality Act (IQA) and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  CPSC made public statements that failed to include information required by the IQA and/or were inconsistent with the facts.  CPSC also failed for months to respond to a FOIA request for records relating to the Buckyballs investigation and the prosecution of Mr. Zucker.  As a result, CoA was forced to file an IQA petition (on Mr. Zucker’s behalf) and a FOIA lawsuit.

Read the letter here.

Read the exhibits 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

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