Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has close personal and political connections to a tiny Pennsylvania college that is negotiating a no-bid contract to train intelligence analysts for the sprawling agency. Late last month, the Department of Homeland Security filed notice it was entering into negotiations on a sole source basis with Mercyhurst College in […]
Posted inNational Security
Tiny school gets no-bid work from Homeland Security
A tiny college located in the hometown of ex-Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is negotiating a no-bid contract to train intelligence analysts for the sprawling agency. In doing so, the agency is short-circuiting a selection process that would normally include a host of bigger and better known institutions already working in that field such as […]
Posted inAccountability
Interview: Unprecedented opportunity
Rami Khouri, a veteran editor and reporter who currently serves as editor-at-large for the Lebanese English language newspaper, The Daily Star, spoke to the staff of the Center for Public Integrity on March 2, 2005. He discussed recent events in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East and their implications for American foreign policy. Khouri […]
Posted inInequality
Two hundred channels and nothing on – literally
In 1982, the Federal Communications Commission created a new broadcast television service designed to provide local and niche programming to rural Americans and urbanites whose special-interest needs were not being met by existing broadcasters. Since then low-power television service (LPTV) has grown to include 2,034 stations across the nation, and according to the FCC and […]
Posted inDemocracy, Silent Partners
Battling over social security
Indictment of a system By Elizabeth Brown and Alex Knott November 21, 2005 Interest groups that spent millions through their 527 committees in Election 2004 are now turning their sights on a different target: Social Security. In recent weeks, a half-dozen organizations have begun fundraising, television and print campaigns to promote or oppose President Bush’s […]
Posted inBuying of the President 2004, Democracy, Elections
Democrats likely to choose Howard Dean as leader
Former presidential candidate Howard Dean is the front runner to succeed Terry McAuliffe as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. The Center for Public Integrity profiled Dean in our New York Times bestselling book, The Buying of the President 2004, an excerpt of which runs below. The Center has also posted a list of […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment, Politics of Oil
Private interests
Big oil wields ultra deep influence By Laura Peterson December 20, 2004 Methodology By The Center for Public Integrity July 15, 2004 Iosif Dan, a top advisor to Romanian President Ion Iliescu, explained in a recent interview with the Center for Public Integrity why he had accepted money from a petroleum company vying for a […]
Posted inOur Private Legislatures
Frequently asked questions
Louisiana tightens its ethics standards By Sarah Laskow February 28, 2008 Methodology By The Center for Public Integrity September 24, 2004 Nationwide numbers By The Center for Public Integrity May 21, 2000 Q: Why should the public care about the private financial interests of state lawmakers? A: The public should care about the private financial […]
Posted inOur Private Legislatures
Posted: State legislators’ 2004 personal disclosures
Ever wonder what outside financial interests a legislator in your state might have? Now you can find out with a couple of clicks of your mouse. Putting the country’s government ethics laws to work, the Center for Public Integrity today made thousands of state legislators’ outside interest disclosure filings available to online users. Researchers at […]
Posted inHealth, Pushing Prescriptions
PhRMA’s envoys
Exporting prices By M. Asif Ismail July 1, 2005 The U.S. pharmaceutical industry, which is mounting a multi-million dollar campaign to prevent importation of prescription drugs from across the northern borders, enlisted an ex-envoy to Canada and his former top aide to lobby the government with which they once conducted diplomacy. Gordon Giffin, who served […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment, Politics of Oil
U.S. pushed to ratify deep sea treaty
Big oil wields ultra deep influence By Laura Peterson December 20, 2004 Appealing to a higher authority By Kevin Bogardus December 7, 2004 Energy companies prospecting for oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico have used advanced technologies to drill in the deepest waters of U.S. territory. But what happens when they have the […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment, Politics of Oil
Big oil wields ultra deep influence
Private interests By Paul Radu January 25, 2005 U.S. pushed to ratify deep sea treaty By Laura Peterson December 20, 2004 In the spring of 2001, at a cocktail party on Capitol Hill, a staff member of the House Committee on Science brought up a subject of great interest to a lobbyist for the Gas […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment, Politics of Oil
Can a free market help clear the air?
Appealing to a higher authority By Kevin Bogardus December 7, 2004 K Street lobbyists carry water for OPEC By Kevin Bogardus September 22, 2004 NEW DELHI — Late last year, officials at the World Bank decided it was time to practice what they had been preaching about reducing carbon emissions. Well, sort of. Some environmentally-friendly […]
Posted inEnvironment
Appealing to a higher authority
After scores of private meetings with Big Oil giants such as ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is aggressively undermining the authority of state and local governments to reject dozens of proposed liquefied natural gas facilities all across the country. The energy companies’ influence with FERC and its chairman, Pat Wood III, is […]
Posted inAccountability
In the news: Ukraine in the news
WASHINGTON, November 29, 2004 — Accusations of massive election abuses have rocked Ukraine recently. Those familiar with the Center’s reporting on the country won’t be surprised. Here’s a wrap-up of the Center for Public Integrity’s reports on the former Soviet republic. Ukraine’s corruption timeline The current crisis in Ukraine is not an isolated event; the […]
Posted inAccountability
Commentary: Clamping down on freedom of the press
The tension between power and the press, between spinning and searching for truth, between disinformation and information, is of course endemic to the human condition itself. And in trying times like these, when it occasionally looks like things are going to hell, it is strangely consoling to recall that actually others before us also have […]
Posted inNational Security, Outsourcing the Pentagon, War in Afghanistan and Iraq
Investing in war
A dozen companies in which Carlyle had a controlling interest netted more than $9.3 billion in contracts. Overall, six private investment firms, including Carlyle, received nearly $14 billion in Pentagon deals between 1998 and 2003. (See related report, “The Sincerest Form of Flattery.”) From its founding in 1987, the Carlyle Group has pioneered investing in […]
Posted inNational Security, Outsourcing the Pentagon
The sincerest form of flattery
Following the extraordinary success of the Washington-based Carlyle Group, which has built a private equity empire that’s earned billions for its investors, a number of firms have lined up rosters of former government officials and high ranking military officers as they pursue companies that are in the national security business. Carlyle, which ranked as the […]
Posted inNational Security, Windfalls of War
Documents reveal concern regarding Halliburton contracts
Halliburton contracts balloon By André Verlöy and Daniel Politi August 18, 2004 Contracting intelligence By André Verlöy and Daniel Politi July 28, 2004 Winning contractors – An update By Daniel Politi July 7, 2004 Private contractors By The Center for Public Integrity June 13, 2004 Documents obtained by the Center for Public Integrity show that […]
Posted inDemocracy, Silent Partners
GOP 527s outspend Dems in late ad blitz
Indictment of a system By Elizabeth Brown and Alex Knott November 21, 2005 527 Fundraising Nets a Record Haul By Derek Willis October 18, 2004 Section 527 organizations supporting President Bush spent nearly $30 million on broadcast ads in the final three weeks of the election — from Oct. 13 through Election Day — triple […]
Posted inBuying of the President 2004, Democracy, Elections
Kerry almost doubles Bush’s recount funds
Sen. John F. Kerry may have a $24.8 million advantage over President George W. Bush in pursuing any recounts that result from Tuesday’s election, according to the campaigns’ most recent financial filings. Under Federal Election Commission rules, both candidates are allowed to use remaining funds from their primary election committees to conduct recount activities, which […]
Posted inNational Security, War in Afghanistan and Iraq
The Abu Ghraib supplementary documents
Classified documents, obtained and posted by the Center for Public Integrity, reveal the extent to which problems at Abu Ghraib prison were mirrored in other confinement camps in Iraq. Above all, what emerges from the documents is a picture of troops tasked beyond their ability, lacking adequate training, support or supplies and hampered by inadequate […]
Posted inInequality
Industry battles re-regulation
The cable television industry has significantly* increased the amount it spends to sway opinion in Congress and at the Federal Communications Commission since 1998, according to a new Center for Public Integrity analysis. The industry spent more than $10 million* on lobbying in 1999 compared with more than $15 million* in 2003, a jump of […]
Posted inInequality
Networks of influence
Note to readers: This story has been reposted. Since the report was originally released, the Center for Public Integrity has changed the way it calculates lobbying expenditures to reflect a more stringent methodology for determining the total amounts. The change was made to correct the potential overstatement of totals. Figures or relevant text that have […]
Posted inInequality
From government service to private practice
Note to readers: This story has been reposted. Since the report was originally released, the Center for Public Integrity has changed the way it calculates lobbying expenditures to reflect a more stringent methodology for determining the total amounts. The change was made to correct the potential overstatement of totals. Figures or relevant text that have […]
Posted inInequality
Broadcast lobbying tops $186 million
A new investigation by the Center for Public Integrity has found that the broadcast industry spent more than $186 million* lobbying the federal government from 1998 through June 2004—a period of increasingly intense battles over ownership rules. In addition, television and radio companies contributed more than $26.5 million to federal candidates and lawmakers during the […]
Posted inInequality
Bells vs. AT&T
Note to readers: This story has been reposted. Since the report was originally released, the Center for Public Integrity has changed the way it calculates lobbying expenditures to reflect a more stringent methodology for determining the total amounts. The change was made to correct the potential overstatement of totals. Figures or relevant text that have […]
Posted inBroadband, Inequality, Well Connected
Sinclair flap proves exception to the rule
A Center for Public Integrity examination of contributions by broadcasters and their chief lobbying organization, the National Association of Broadcasters, reveals that when it comes to politics, the industry does not play favorites: since 1998, records show, broadcasters have donated $13,528,000 to Democratic candidates and party organizations and $13,391,000 to Republicans. A glaring exception to […]
Posted inDemocracy
K Street’s investment in the status quo
When registered lobbyists dig into their wallets, incumbent senators almost always benefit. More than 1,000 federally registered lobbyists have personally donated $2.76 million to the campaigns of U.S. senators seeking re-election this year, according to a Center for Public Integrity study of contributions from 1999 through September 2004. That represented 95 percent of lobbyist contributions […]
Posted inDemocracy, Elections, Party Lines
Cautious about hard money
Consultants By Kevin Bogardus May 26, 2005 A little-used campaign finance rule By Neil Gordon October 14, 2004 The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 brought about monumental changes in campaign finance practices, forcing political parties at all levels to significantly modify their operations. County parties—which are often closest to the ground during key elections […]