Congressional Republicans are demanding an investigation into LightSquared’s contacts with White House officials—and thousands of dollars in campaign contributions the company made to Democrats and President Obama—as it sought government approval to operate its broadband network. Rep. Michael Turner, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee’s Strategic Forces Subcommittee, cited an iWatch News report in […]
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Posted inDemocracy, LightSquared, Profiles in Patronage, The White House
Emails show wireless firm’s communications with White House as campaign donations were made
Wireless firm LightSquared pressed its case for government approval of a new national broadband network in numerous contacts with presidential aides, at times citing its fundraising for Democratic causes and President Obama, White House emails show. On the day that LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja made a $30,400 contribution to the Democratic Party, two of his […]
Posted inDemocracy
During Mitch Daniels’ decade at Eli Lilly, the drug giant paid billions in fines and settled thousands of lawsuits
Key findings Mitch Daniels worked at Eli Lilly for 10 years in top positions including president of North American operations During his tenure, Lilly paid more than $2.7 billion in fines and settled 32,000 personal injury claims Zyprexa and Evista were marred by controversy during Daniels’ era Lilly was stung when it lost its Prozac […]
Posted inDemocracy, Scared Red
Scared Red: The PACs that followed the nation rightward in 2010
Methodology for Scared Red By Elizabeth Lucas March 1, 2011 Blue Dogs, decimated by defeats and retirements, turn to lobbying shops By Aaron Mehta May 16, 2011 Roy DeLoach, CEO of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, tried to keep an even hand as the group’s political action committee distributed campaign contributions. But the Texas-based […]
Posted inCongress, Democracy, The Chairmen
Howard “Buck” McKeon — Armed Services Committee
Rep. Howard McKeon (R-Calif.) answers to the nickname “Buck,” an appropriate moniker for the man about to help oversee one of the biggest chunks of the federal budget. McKeon, 72, will likely become the next chair of the House Armed Services Committee, which keep watch on defense spending and military policy. McKeon’s southern California district […]
Posted inDemocracy
Five lobbyists for each member of Congress on financial reforms
One year after reform law passed, Wall Street still spending big on lobbying By Shirley Gao August 2, 2011 Businesses, trade groups and other interests hired more than five lobbyists for each member of Congress to influence financial regulatory reform legislation pending before the Senate, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis. More than […]
Posted inCongress, Democracy, Murtha Method
The Murtha Method
For months, a cloud has swirled around Congressman John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, and the relationship that Murtha and other subcommittee members had with the PMA Group, a lobbying firm filled with former subcommittee aides. Murtha and fellow panel members Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) and Jim Moran (D-Va.) steered a […]
Posted inDemocracy
U.S. Chamber, GOP block election ad transparency bill
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., accompanied by Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., speak about the DISCLOSE act during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Charles Dharapak/AP Politics Campaign donations, lobbying and influence in government and reports on the special interests that are funding elections and buying power. Stories in this […]
Posted inDemocracy
SuperShuttle: A job or a business?
Okieriete Enajekpo needs money. It’s not that the Nigerian-born Maryland resident is unemployed. But as a driver for the airport van service, SuperShuttle, he must pay the company upwards of $900 a week before he takes home any money of his own. And going into his fourth day this week in January, Enajekpo is still […]
Posted inImmigration
Child advocates say more should be done to assist immigrant minors crossing the border
In December 2010, Washington attorney Jennifer Podkul received a call from the Department of Homeland Security inspector general’s office, asking to speak with one of her clients. The client was a minor, 17, when Podkul, a legal aid group attorney, happened to meet him during a routine visit to a Virginia juvenile jail. The boy […]
Posted inEnvironment
Coal ash: The hidden story
Pat Nees never liked the water at the Moose Lodge. Almost everyone in tiny Colstrip, Montana, drank and dined at Lodge #2190, but the well water was notorious — it smelled like a sewer. It felt oily, gritty from sediment. Lodge members braving a drink — Nees among them — frequently doubled over from indigestion. […]
Posted inEnvironment
The hidden costs of clean coal
Down in Washington, Pennsylvania, an hour’s drive southwest from Pittsburgh, one message can be found plastered on billboards, newspapers, even diner placemats. It reads: “Coal, Pennsylvania’s #1 Fuel for Electricity. Now Clean and Green.” Those last words probably don’t spring to mind for citizens in the coalfields of northern Appalachia, where longwall mining thrives. A […]
Posted inEnvironment
Undermined
Rebecca Foley, by contrast, seems desperate to discuss that topic. Sitting at a cluttered desk in her library, she talks a blue streak about the seven-year battle that she’s waged against Consol Energy, the owner of Dilworth Mine. A petite nurse whose golden locks and ruby cheeks belie the warrior within, Foley, 50, lives atop […]
Posted inEnvironment
The big seep
The sound of the longwall machine hits you first, a steady churning, methodical chomping that seems to emanate from everywhere at once. Stand before the six-foot-high layer of coal — the “coal face,” in mining parlance — and you’ll witness the source of this cacophony. It thunders like an industrial slicer: you can hear the […]
Posted inEnvironment
After the whistle blows
Christopher De Rosa, a top scientist at the Centers for Disease Control, is still serving as a scapegoat for leaders at the organization, judging from a new congressional report released Monday about the CDC’s failure to act on dangerous formaldehyde levels reported in trailers for refugees from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. De Rosa’s name might […]
Posted inEnvironment, Land Use Accountability Project, Natural Resources
An uncivil war: The battle of Loudon
Civil War remains a reality in Loudoun County, Virginia. Abundant historical and cultural touchstones of that era dot the landscape. Scores of villages that bore witness to battles remain, some nearly unchanged. Activists work to preserve the churches that served as hospitals and graveyards for soldiers during the war. Families tell stories of forbears who […]
Posted inEnvironment, Land Use Accountability Project, Natural Resources
From Wye Island to Wye Mills: Suburban Maryland sprawls to the Eastern Shore
James W. Rouse was an Eastern Shore boy, born and raised in Easton (pop. 14,000), the county seat of rural Talbot County. Rouse’s hometown sits on the Chesapeake Bay side of Maryland’s Eastern Shore — the chunk of Maryland that, combined with Delaware and a bit of Virginia, droops down from the mainland between the […]
Posted inWorkers’ Rights
‘Safe’ pesticides now first in poisonings
Perils of the New Pesticides Stories in this series ‘Safe’ pesticides now first in poisonings By M.B. Pell and Jim Morris July 30, 2008 A crawling issue: Head lice treatments worse than the pest itself? By Jeremy Borden September 6, 2011 EPA cracks down on flea, tick labels in wake of Center probe By M.B. […]
Posted inEnvironment, Pollution, Wasting Away
Frequently Asked Questions
EPA diverts money from shared Superfund pool By Richard Mullins and Joaquin Sapien May 10, 2007 Close connections By Anupama Narayanswamy May 10, 2007 Bankrupt companies avoid more than $700 million in cleanup costs By Kevin Bogardus May 3, 2007 Wasting Away Stories in this series Superfund today By Joaquin Sapien and Richard Mullins April […]
Posted inEnvironment, Pollution, Wasting Away
Human exposure ‘uncontrolled’ at 114 Superfund sites
Contaminated, but still not off-limits By Joaquin Sapien May 18, 2007 Wasting Away Stories in this series Superfund today By Joaquin Sapien and Richard Mullins April 26, 2007 Most Dangerous Superfund Sites By The Center for Public Integrity May 18, 2007 Superfund progress drops off under Bush By Joaquin Sapien and Richard Mullins April 26, […]
Posted inEnvironment
Bush administration kills safety regulation opposed by donors
WASHINGTON, April 11, 2002 — The Bush administration quietly shelved a proposal to tighten regulations on a group of hazardous chemicals despite evidence linking dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries to accidents involving those chemicals, an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity has found. At issue in the shelved proposal is a particular […]
Posted inEnvironment
Bush’s choice of EPA advisers signals tilt toward industry
February 12, 2001 — The composition of the team that advised George W. Bush on the Environmental Protection Agency during his transition to the presidency signals a new era of a weakening federal role and a bias toward free-market solutions in complying with environmental regulations, say veteran EPA observers. Just over half of the team […]
Posted inState Integrity 2012, State Integrity Investigation, State Politics
Hawaii gets C grade in 2012 State Integrity Investigation
Find your state’s grade What grade did my state get? Find it in the drop-down menu below. Select a state:AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming For years Hawaiian state lawmakers have enjoyed lavish spreads at receptions hosted by groups with business before the legislature. No harm, no foul, right? Wrong. […]
Posted inState Integrity 2012, State Integrity Investigation, State Politics
Oklahoma gets D grade in 2012 State Integrity Investigation
Find your state’s grade What grade did my state get? Find it in the drop-down menu below. Select a state:AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming The story goes that the state seal of Oklahoma was smuggled out of Guthrie, the original capital, in the dark of night, hidden in some […]
Posted inAccountability
Justice backs new category of secret gov’t files
Other White House secrets, AP reports Meanwhile, the Obama administration appears to have decided to keep one more secret. As first reported by Bloomberg, the White House declined to identify the name and vintage of wines it served during the June 2011 state dinner for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and it’s unclear whether it will […]
Posted inAccountability
FACT CHECK: Fanciful ‘facts’ at Fox News debate
FACT CHECK: An antidote for Bachmann’s anecdote By FactCheck.Org September 15, 2011 FACT CHECK: Bachmann, Perry butt heads on STD vaccine By FactCheck.Org September 14, 2011 FACT CHECK: Spinning job growth By FactCheck.Org September 8, 2011 Nine Republican presidential candidates debated for two hours in Orlando, Fla., and they served up more exaggerations and falsehoods […]
Posted inWorkers’ Rights
Use of toxic acid puts millions at risk
How we did this story A worst-case scenario for each refinery is filed by its owner with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Specifically, companies include what’s known as an “Offsite Consequences Analysis,” part of a larger plan that details how they manage myriad risks involved in manufacturing usable fuel from crude oil. The EPA keeps […]
