In early August, the White House quietly informed the U.S. Senate that it was withdrawing the nomination of labor lawyer John J. Sullivan for a seat on the Federal Elections Commission. Read More
Jay Peters is a psychology instructor at a Durham, North Carolina, community college who has donated tens of thousands of dollars to conservative, Republican, and Libertarian causes over the past two decades. One repeated recipient of his generosity has been a political action committee (or “PAC”) founded and chaired by former presidential candidate Alan Keyes: Black America’s PAC (BAMPAC, for short). Peters made three contributions to the Washington-based group, expecting that his donations would be used to help elect conservatives to federal office. Read More
For many powerful GOP operatives and allied fundraisers, the luncheon last April felt like one part reunion and one part strategy summit for the fall. In reality, the get-together at Karl Rove’s house and office on Weaver Terrace in Washington, D.C., was a bit of both. Read More
For an agency so widely feared and demonized by American business, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is a relative pushover. Read More
In 2004, America Coming Together (ACT) made a big splash as one of the larger independent “527” committees set up to influence the presidential election. The organization was created and funded largely by wealthy donors and labor unions who opposed the re-election of George W. Bush and hoped to spend millions to influence the outcome. Though ACT ceased its political advocacy in 2005, a Center for Public Integrity analysis of political action committee filings — part of an upcoming project focused on PAC spending habits — discovered that the group’s political action committee is still alive and has spent nearly $1.8 million since the start of 2007. Read More
A long-delayed government epidemiological study of possible ties between diesel exhaust and lung cancer in miners may finally be published this fall -- but only after a mining industry group, represented by the Washington lobbying powerhouse Patton Boggs, finishes a pre-publication review of the study's drafts. Read More
Bryan Freund compares his fragile condition to having “a time bomb in your head. You just don’t know when it’s going to go off.” Read More
Phyllis Nelson defied her doctors’ predictions by surviving chronic lung disease for the last seven years, and until late July she had her symptoms under control with just a single puff a day from her inhaler. Read More
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 7, 2010 — The Center for Public Integrity, a 20-year leader in nonprofit investigative journalism, will speed its transformation into a 21st century news organization with a new $1.7 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Read More
Center money and politics journalist Peter Stone has been unraveling the complicated issues of campaign finance for more than 20 years. He’s written for The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Atlantic, among others, and during his tenure at the National Journal he broke several stories on the Jack Abramoff scandal, and wrote a book about it: Casino Jack and the United States of Money. He now leads the Money & Politics team at the Center for Public Integrity. He’s been tracking the campaign cash gold rush by independent groups since the Citizens United ruling. Read More
Archive InvestigationsCalifornia Assembly Speaker Jesse M. Unruh once famously said of moneyed political interests: “If you can't take their money, drink their booze, eat their food, screw their women, and vote against them, you don't belong here.” In other words, giving cash to politicians is no guarantee they’ll carry your water. But campaign contributions to elected officials don’t hurt either. The links between money and votes is an endlessly debated subject in official Washington. Cynics say campaign cash often buys support. Others claim that examining who opened their wallets most for a politician is simply an indication of who those backers think best advocates their agenda. Either way, though, following the money is often illuminating.
Two refineries owned by oil giant BP account for 97 percent of all flagrant violations found in the refining industry by government safety inspectors over the past three years, a Center for Public Integrity analysis shows. Most of BP’s citations were classified as “egregious willful” by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and reflect alleged violations of a rule designed to prevent catastrophic events at refineries.
America’s transportation policy is dysfunctional. It’s also nearly bankrupt. Now, as debate reaches a crescendo over a new $500 billion transportation bill, can the national interest trump hundreds of special interests?
According to a report funded by the Department of Justice, roughly one in five women who attend college will become the victim of a rape or an attempted rape by the time she graduates. But official data from the schools themselves doesn’t begin to reflect the scope of the problem. And student victims face a depressing litany of barriers that often either assure their silence or leave them feeling victimized a second time, according to a nine-month investigation by the Center for Public Integrity.
How federal, state, and local governments have managed - or mismanaged - anti-terror programs.
Global attempts to craft a pivotal new climate treaty in Copenhagen this December are being stymied by a far-reaching, multinational backlash led by fossil fuel industries and other heavy carbon emitters, according to an ICIJ investigation based on reporting in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, and the United States.
The Government National Mortgage Association authorizes lenders to bundle mortgages into securities and sell them to investors — backed by U.S. taxpayer funds. But dozens of firms that have secured Ginnie Mae's blessing have troubled pasts.
Following up on allegations of influence peddling involving Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, a Center for Public Integrity computer analysis reveals that three-quarters of his subcommittee’s members have been involved in similar patterns of behavior that include 16 former aides-turned lobbyists, $100 million in earmarks, and $1 million in campaign cash. Among those involved are members of Congress from Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.
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The federal agency that investigates applicants for senior government jobs and for top-secret national security positions must ensure that its 7,000 field investigators are protecting the highly sensitive medical, financial, and personal information they collect, the Government Accountability Office says. Read More
In the more than two years since Lehman Brothers went bust, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has shuttered more than 250 banks, but has sued executives from just one bank. What's the hold up? Read More
California Sen. Barbara Boxer is now being hit by independent expenditure ads in two languages. Yesterday, You Report: Election 2010 noted that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has an ad criticizing the Democrat for her budget votes. Now, two socially conservative groups based in Washington are running a Spanish-language ad blasting Boxer for her record on social issues. Read More
The Department of Defense (DOD) has struggled since 1988 to establish a comprehensive medical records database for the 9.6 million service members and families it covers under its behemoth health insurance coverage. Over the years, the DOD has dumped money, time, and additional resources into creating an electronic health record system to coordinate military medical facilities around the world. Read More
The White House announced this afternoon that President Barack Obama would not sign a bill to ease restrictions on interstate commerce, which some consumer advocates feared would also make it more difficult for homeowners to fight fraudulent foreclosures. Read More
A calendar of events to help consumers monitor the transparency and accountability of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. Read More
The news about the nation’s foreclosure scandal has been coming fast and furious, driven by tales of backdated documents, false affidavits and “rocket dockets” that push families into the street. Read More
Among the best-known independent expenditure groups attempting to shape the November election is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has decided that defeating California Sen. Barbara Boxer is in the best interests of its 3 million business members. Read More
The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is given broad powers to regulate non-traditional financial institutions. But it can't cap the exorbitant interest charges on loans made by payday lenders. Read More
The World Bank is throwing open the doors to thousands of its global development indicators and inviting the public to use the data in mash-ups, smart phone applications, and other tech tools that can help support clean energy and fight poverty.
The current political environment looks bleak for any congressional action soon on disclosure requirements to narrow the Citizens United ruling, efforts for more public financing of elections, and a fix for the out-of-date presidential public finance system. Read More
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