Study: Wage Theft Rampant In Cook County | Progress Illinois

Study: Wage Theft Rampant In Cook County | Progress Illinois
A new and unprecedented study of the low-wage labor market in Cook County highlights just how much abuse local workers face each and every day.

In the past year, the problem of wage theft inspired a book by Chicagoan Kim Bobo and, more recently, garnered the attention of the U.S. Labor Secretary. The Illinois Labor Department is doing all it can to protect workers, too. But a new and unprecedented study (PDF) of the low-wage labor market in Cook County highlights just how much abuse local workers face each and every day.

The comprehensive survey, conducted by Center for Urban Economic Development of the University of Illinois-Chicago, updates and localizes a study conducted last year of workers in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Having collected data on 1,140 workers from Cook County (which boasts a low-wage workforce of 310,205), the study found that 47 percent toil in offices, restaurants, or work sites where core employment laws are routinely ignored or exploited. Below are more details:

- Twenty-six percent were paid less than the minimum wage, 60 percent by more than $ 1 per hour. Another 15 percent were not paid the tipped worker minimum wage, which is lower than that for other jobs.

- For workers who worked more than 40 hours in a given week, 67 percent did not receive overtime time.

- Of the workers who experienced a serious injury while on the job, only 9 percent filed for workers compensation, forcing nearly half to pay medical bills out-of-pocket.

- Forty-three percent of workers who worked enough hours to qualify for a meal break did not receive one.

- Almost half of employees were not provided a pay stub, which is required by state law.

The workers surveyed made $322 per week on average, but lost an average of $50 due to these forms of theft. Add that up across the region and you're talking about $7 million that isn't making its way into workers wallets (or the local economy.)

The Illinois Department of Labor tells WBEZ that they were able to recover $3.1 million in unpaid wages and overtime payments last year. While that figure is encouraging, it represents just a tiny step when compared to the rampant violations the UIC researchers estimate are taking place. ...

Toyota to hand off pension bill to U.S. | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Toyota to hand off pension bill to U.S. | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Toyota is leaving a $131-million pension shortfall to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. as it closes the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont, Calif., April 1, said Sergio Santos, president of UAW Local 2244.

But the PBGC, a federal corporation charged with protecting pension benefits of 44 million Americans, wants to discuss ways Toyota can reduce the gap.

The agency has taken legal action to gain control of the NUMMI pension plan. PBGC spokesman Gary Pastorius said the agency wants to talk to Toyota about alternatives to a takeover, "but it just hasn't happened yet. We still have questions."

NUMMI said it had met its obligations regarding the plan when the PBGC began court action, according to a memo issued by Tracy Wakefield, a human resources manager.

Toyota operated NUMMI jointly with General Motors from 1983 until GM's withdrawal last summer.

Santos said NUMMI and Toyota imposed a "gag order that I believe violates our First Amendment rights," preventing workers from commenting on the plant closure.

NUMMI spokesman Lance Tomasu said the union voluntarily pledged not to denigrate NUMMI or Toyota as part of the shutdown agreement.

In recent days, Toyota sweetened the severance offer from $253 million to $281 million for the about 4,500 NUMMI workers, Santos said. Each hourly worker will receive a base severance of $21,175, plus supplements that vary based on years of service, the union president said. ...

Michael Hunter, Former New Orleans Cop, Admits Coverup In Post-Katrina Danziger Bridge Murders

Michael Hunter, Former New Orleans Cop, Admits Coverup In Post-Katrina Danziger Bridge Murders

NEW ORLEANS — A former New Orleans police officer told federal authorities he saw a fellow officer shoot and kick unarmed, wounded civilians in a deadly incident on a bridge in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, marking the first time an officer has provided federal authorities with an eyewitness account of the events.

The former officer, Michael Hunter, pleaded guilty Wednesday to helping cover up the shootings on the Danziger Bridge less than a week after the August 2005 storm.

A court filing Wednesday that describes Hunter's account of the shootings contradicts a police report that said civilians shot at officers before the police opened fire, killing two people and wounding four others.

Seeing no danger to officers, Hunter says he shouted "Cease fire!" after an unidentified sergeant with an assault rifle and other officers opened fire on a group of unarmed civilians who took cover behind a concrete barrier on the bridge.

After they stopped firing, Hunter says he saw several civilians who appeared to be unarmed, injured and subdued.

"(The sergeant) suddenly leaned over the concrete barrier, held out his assault rifle, and, in a sweeping motion, fired repeatedly at the civilians lying wounded on the ground," the filing says. "The civilians were not trying to escape and were not doing anything that could be perceived as a threat."

Moments later, Hunter saw two men later identified as Lance Madison and his 40-year-old mentally disabled brother, Ronald, running away near the bottom of the bridge....

Excite News - Scientist: FDA suppressed imaging safety concerns

Excite News - Scientist: FDA suppressed imaging safety concerns

By MATTHEW PERRONE

WASHINGTON (AP) - A former Food and Drug Administration scientist said Tuesday his job was eliminated after he raised concerns about the risks of radiation exposure from high-grade medical scanning.

Dr. Julian Nicholas said at a public hearing that he and other FDA staffers "were pressured to change their scientific opinion," after they opposed the approval of a CT scanner for routine colon cancer screening. Nicholas said that he objected to exposing otherwise healthy patients to the cancer risks of radiation.

After FDA officials pushed ahead with plans to clear the device, Nicholas, now a physician at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego, said he and eight other staffers raised their concerns with the division's top director Dr. Jeffrey Shuren last September. The device apparently is still under review.

"Scientific and regulatory review process for medical devices was being distorted by managers who were not following the laws," Nicholas said. A month later Nicholas' position was terminated, he said.

...

Hundreds of studies have linked certain types of radiation, including the type used in medical imaging, to cancer that can surface decades later.

FDA medical reviewer Dr. Robert Smith, a colleague of Nicholas who also presented at Tuesday's public meeting, said he hoped the FDA would learn a lesson from Nicholas' testimony.

"Science must not be ignored, suppressed or distorted as that endangers the public," Smith told the audience.

Smith, who still works for the agency, supported Nicholas' conclusion that CT scanning for colon cancer should be rejected on safety grounds. ...

CREW, VoteVets File IRS, FTC Complaints Against Sean Hannity Charity Freedom Concerts

CREW, VoteVets File IRS, FTC Complaints Against Sean Hannity Charity Freedom Concerts

Freedom Concerts, Sean Hannity's scholarship charity for the children of fallen soldiers, has violated its charitable tax status, according to a Washington advocacy group.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington alleges that Hannity's Freedom Concerts has "engaged in deceptive and illegal marketing practices by suggesting that all concert ticket sale revenue goes directly to scholarships for children of killed and wounded service members." CREW and veterans groupVoteVets have filed complaints with the IRS and the Federal Trade Commission about Freedom Concerts, Freedom Alliance, and Lt. Col. Oliver North.

The two groups hosted a joint press conferenceMonday to discuss their complaints. VoteVets Chair Jon Soltz questioned Freedom Concert's priorities. "It's appalling and absurd that... 80-90% of the money [raised] is going toward overhead, not scholarships," Soltz said.

"They've made statements that 100% of [all] funds go toward scholarships," said Melanie Sloan, the executive director of CREW. "This is the kind of deceptive marketing the FTC looks poorly upon."

Freedom Concerts events have been organized by Premier Marketing, according to conservative blogger Debbie Schlussel and CREW. Premier Marketing is operated by Duane Ward, the speaking engagement agent for both Sean Hannity and Oliver North, according to Schlussel.

According to CREW, Freedom Concerts donates some money to Freedom Alliance, an organization founded by North. He is now the group's honorary chairman.

A little more than a week ago, Schlussel called out Hannity's charity for what she described as a "huge scam":

...less than 20%-and in two recent years, less than 7% and 4%, respectively-of the money raised by Freedom Alliance went to these causes, while millions of dollars went to expenses, including consultants and apparently to ferry the Hannity posse of family and friends in high style. And, despite Hannity's statements to the contrary on his nationally syndicated radio show, few of the children of fallen soldiers got more than $1,000-$2,000, with apparently none getting more than $6,000, while Freedom Alliance appears to have spent tens of thousands of dollars for private planes. ...

OpEdNews - Article: Brutal Prisons Are Hurting Us All

OpEdNews - Article: Brutal Prisons Are Hurting Us All

For OpEdNews: Stephen Unger - Writer

Get caught stealing a lamb in 18th century England and you wound up dancing in the air at the end of a rope. Recidivism was not a problem. But the "hang 'em high" approach did not work all that well due to corruption and soft-hearted juries.

If we give up the idea of executing all convicted criminals, what should we do with them? Transporting them to Australia was another British solution, but that probably isn't an option today. Rejecting other old England ideas such as branding and the pillory, the principal solution of choice today in the US is, of course, the prison. But, since it would be far too expensive to imprison all convicts for life, nearly all of them have to be released at some point.

Unfortunately, rather than deter people from committing crimes, our system seems to have the reverse effect, as a lot of inmates are brutalized by their prison experience and come out worse than when they went in. The overall effect is to train and motivate criminals. Most of those released wind up back inside within a few years. The cost of this failure to all of us is enormous, both in human and in monetary terms [1]. Before considering possible solutions, let's take a look at what exists today.

...

Inmates are often assaulted by both prison guards and by other prisoners. Many violent inmates belong to prison gangs, who exercise considerable control over life within the walls. Prison authorities often find it convenient to tolerate gangs.

A substantial number of convicts are uneducated to the point of illiteracy. Many suffer from mental or physical illnesses that directly or indirectly got them into trouble. These factors add substantially to their difficulty in fitting into normal life after release.

If our prison system were truly serious about reducing recidivism, then major efforts would be made to educate prisoners and to treat their physical and mental problems. Addiction to drugs and alcohol would also be addressed. Few prison systems make more than token efforts along these lines. The result is that most convicts are back in -prison within three years after release. ...

If we could improve the system so as to reduce recidivism from over 50% to say, less than 30%, the number of criminals. both on the street and behind bars, would be greatly reduced. The number of people hurt by criminals in various ways would fall dramatically, and the costs of the system would eventually go down sharply. The beneficiaries would also include those currently committing the crimes, and their families.

Another, more idealistic, reason for concern is well captured in the quote below, from an unexpected source:

The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilisation of any country. A calm and dispassionate recognition of the rights of the accused against the state and even of convicted criminals against the state, a constant heart-searching by all charged with the duty of punishment, a desire and eagerness to rehabilitate in the world of industry of all those who have paid their dues in the hard coinage of punishment, tireless efforts towards the discovery of curative and regenerating processes and an unfaltering faith that there is a treasure, if only you can find it in the heart of every person.

I'll bet you didn't guess that these words were written by that well known bleeding heart liberal, Winston Churchill. This is part of a statement he made a century ago when, as Home Secretary in the British cabinet, he proposed major reforms in the British penal system [6].

When thinking about convicted criminals it is natural to picture vicious hoodlums gunning down gas station attendants or raping 16 year olds. Sadly, such people do exist, and need to be dealt with appropriately. I'll get back to them shortly. First, let's understand that they constitute a small fraction of the prison population, The majority of prison inmates are there because they were caught with 6 ounces of marijuana or crack cocaine, or stole a car, or forged a check, or stole a jacket from a department store, or a DVD player from someone's house. Many of the violent crimes committed by other inmates were of the nature of bar room brawls. The point is that the great majority of those in prison, especially the younger people, are far from being beyond redemption. ...

Who Gets Locked Up?

Note first that the US leads the world in the incarceration race. We have more prisoners, roughly 2.3 million, and more prisoners per capita than any other country. Think of it! The land of the free jails more people than China or Russia!

...

Right Plays the Race Card | People For the American Way

Right Plays the Race Card | People For the American Way

RIGHT WING LEADERS FOMENT RACIAL RESENTMENT AND POINT FINGERS TO AVOID ACCOUNTABILITY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Inntroduction
• The Political Use of Racial Resentment
• The Sotomayor Nomination
• A consistent line of attack
• Health care reform
• Blaming the Black Church for the Obama 'Curse'
• Other race or race-coded strategies from the Right
• Other Racial Politics on the Right
• Real Dangers
• Conclusion

Introduction

Right-wing pundits and political leaders committed to the destruction of the Obama presidency have been openly fomenting racial resentment or tolerating those who do. In one breath, they accuse President Obama of being racist and in the next they and their media allies howl with indignation if their own racial rhetoric is challenged. Among their charges: that President Obama hates "white culture" and that his health care reform efforts are a backdoor means to reparations for slavery that will "enslave" doctors and put the "racial grievance industry" in charge of emergency rooms.

Race-baiting pundits try to insulate themselves by falsely claiming that liberals play the "race card" to equate any criticism of the Obama administration with racism. In fact, this charge is itself an example of inflaming racial resentments for political gain. In other words, crying "You can't even criticize Obama without being called a racist" is just one more way to suggest that white conservatives are being oppressed.

At the same time, Religious Right leaders insist that Obama's election has put the nation under a "curse" and ask Black Christians to repent for putting "race over God."

It is imperative that political, media, and cultural leaders be willing to hold public figures accountable for destructive rhetoric while not allowing right-wing racial arsonists to divert energy and focus from the administration's legislative agenda. The most important question is not whether a particular pundit or politician harbors racist feelings; it is whether they are fomenting and inflaming racial resentment as a political strategy without concern for the destructive and dangerous consequences. That political behavior can and must be challenged without getting stuck in "is he or isn't he" arguments. ...

The BRAD BLOG : Feds Finds Massive Fraud in Bush's $150 Billion Iraq Reconstruction; Also Looking at Afghanistan

The BRAD BLOG : Feds Finds Massive Fraud in Bush's $150 Billion Iraq Reconstruction; Also Looking at Afghanistan

...

Investigators looking into corruption involving reconstruction in Iraq say they have opened more than 50 new cases in six months by scrutinizing large cash transactions - involving banks, land deals, loan payments, casinos and even plastic surgery - made by some of the Americans involved in the nearly $150 billion program.

Some of the cases involve people who are suspected of having mailed tens of thousands of dollars to themselves from Iraq, or of having stuffed the money into duffel bags and suitcases when leaving the country, the federal investigators said. In other cases, millions of dollars were moved through wire transfers. Suspects then used cash to buy BMWs, Humvees and expensive jewelry, or to pay off enormous casino debts.

Some suspects also tried to conceal foreign bank accounts in Ghana, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Britain, the investigators said, while in other cases, cash was simply found stacked in home safes.

There have already been dozens of indictments and convictions for corruption since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. But the new cases seem to confirm what investigators have long speculated: that the chaos, weak oversight and wide use of cash payments in the reconstruction program in Iraq allowed many more Americans who took bribes or stole money to get off scot-free.

But by all means, let's focus instead on ACORN, which helps some 400,000 low-income families in 75 cities with basic needs, because they've received an average of $3.5 million in federal dollars to help with their efforts for each of the last 15 years.

That's "million" (with an m), as opposed to the "billions" as still misreported by James O'Keefe and the other journalistic malpracticers at "Andrew Breitbart Presents...Big Government." Six months ago, in a still-uncorrected item at Breitbart's website --- their first one on the phony ACORN "pimp" hoax videos --- O'Keefe mis-reported that ACORN "receive[s] billions in tax money."

Whiff of Eugenics: Ginsburg Tells NYT Roe Was About 'Populations That We Don't Want .... Too Many Of' | NewsBusters.org

Whiff of Eugenics: Ginsburg Tells NYT Roe Was About 'Populations That We Don't Want .... Too Many Of' | NewsBusters.org

In a July 7 New York Times Magazine article ("The Place of Women on the Court"; HT to an e-mailer) apparently scheduled to appear in its July 12 print edition (based on its URL), Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told the Times's Emily Bazelon that "at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don't want to have too many of."

Who is this "we" Ginsburg refers to?

Alleged reporter Bazelon did not follow up on this astounding admission.

...

Q: If you were a lawyer again, what would you want to accomplish as a future feminist legal agenda?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: Reproductive choice has to be straightened out. There will never be a woman of means without choice anymore. That just seems to me so obvious. The states that had changed their abortion laws before Roe [to make abortion legal] are not going to change back. So we have a policy that affects only poor women, and it can never be otherwise, and I don’t know why this hasn’t been said more often.

Q: Are you talking about the distances women have to travel because in parts of the country, abortion is essentially unavailable, because there are so few doctors and clinics that do the procedure? And also, the lack of Medicaid for abortions for poor women?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: Yes, the ruling about that surprised me. [Harris v. McRae — in 1980 the court upheld the Hyde Amendment, which forbids the use of Medicaid for abortions.] Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion. Which some people felt would risk coercing women into having abortions when they didn’t really want them. But when the court decided McRae, the case came out the other way. And then I realized that my perception of it had been altogether wrong.

Q: When you say that reproductive rights need to be straightened out, what do you mean?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: The basic thing is that the government has no business making that choice for a woman.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2009/07/09/whiff-euthanasia-ginsburg-tells-nyt-roe-was-about-populations-we-dont-wa#ixzz0iiqd6Q9k

OpEdNews - Article: Tax Records Show Hannity Freedom Concerts Mostly Fund White Collar Write-Offs

OpEdNews - Article: Tax Records Show Hannity Freedom Concerts Mostly Fund White Collar Write-Offs

For OpEdNews: Gustav Wynn - Writer

Top-rated talk host Sean Hannity is incessant in plugging his Freedom Concert tours on the radio, advertised as fundraisers for a great cause: college tuition money earmarked for the children of slain US troops. His disclaimers always included the usual mumbo-jumbo if you listen closely, 100% of the profits would be going to the families of our heros.

But where creative accounting can make almost anything look like an "expense", many have wondered what kind of money is going to the families and how much is being used for all the paper-pushing, marketing, consulting or direct mail jobs, bureaucratic overhead, patronage contracts or worse.

A nasty donnybrook recently begun by ultra-right wing blogger Debbie Schlussel asked some of these questions, accusing Hannity and the Freedom Alliance of exploiting public trust. Schlussel described lavish travel expenses and favored treatment for Hannity's pals, interspersed with descriptions of paltrey donations given to soldiers with grotesque injuries.

But the official tax returns filed by the Freedom Alliance did indeed show that the foundation's overhead was far greater than it's charitable payouts for the last three years. Just 7-12% of funds were directed towards "grants and allocations" meaning they give far less percentage-wise than other scholarship funds such as the United Negro College Fund's average rate of approximately 50%.

Because the Freedom Alliance writes off expenses of up to ten million dollars per year before funds are allocated for these families, it seems the operation is far more efficient at creating white-collar jobs for right-wing foundation staffers and third party consultants, air travel, "caging services" or mailing list providers than it is at raising money for military families....

Ground Zero workers settlement unfair: judge | Raw Story

Ground Zero workers settlement unfair: judge | Raw Story

NEW YORK (AFP) – A proposed 657-million-dollar health settlement for some 10,000 people who worked at Ground Zero after the September 11 attacks was too low and must be renegotiated, a judge ruled Friday.

"In my judgment, this settlement is not enough," federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein said in New York after hearing two hours of testimony from plaintiffs in the huge case.

"There are some questions that have to be addressed," he added, calling for "additional negotiations to come up with a fair deal."

Last week, a preliminary deal was announced in which a government-funded insurance company would compensate more than 10,000 people claiming health problems from their work in the toxic debris of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the 2001 attacks.

The deal needs the court's approval to go ahead, as well as the backing of 95 percent of plaintiffs. They would have 90 days to review the proposal before making a decision.

Hellerstein singled out payment of lawyers' fees, which are expected to amount to some 200 million dollars or more -- about a third of the compensation package.

The judge said the insurance company, not the plaintiffs should foot the attorneys' bill. "The fees should be paid by the Captive Insurance" company, he said. ...

Leaders in House Block Earmarks to Corporations - NYTimes.com

Leaders in House Block Earmarks to Corporations - NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — House Democratic leaders on Wednesday banned budget earmarks to private industry, ending a practice that has steered billions of dollars in no-bid contracts to companies and set off corruption scandals.

The ban is the most forceful step yet in a three-year effort in Congress to curb abuses in the use of earmarks, which allow individual lawmakers to award financing for pet projects to groups and businesses, many of them campaign donors.

But House Republicans, in a quick round of political one-upmanship, tried to outmaneuver Democrats by calling for a ban on earmarks across the board, not just to for-profit companies. Republicans, who expect an intra-party vote on the issue Thursday, called earmarks “a symbol of a broken Washington.”

...

The House ban came less than two weeks after the public release of an investigation by theOffice of Congressional Ethics laid bare the pay-to-play culture on Capitol Hill, particularly on the defense appropriations subcommittee. The report found that there was a “widespread perception” among the private-sector recipients of earmarks that giving political contributions to lawmakers on the panel helped secure the grants.

Even so, the House ethics committee on Feb. 26 cleared seven members of the defense panel — five Democrats and two Republicans — of accusations that they had improperly tied earmarks to contributions. The decision prompted protests from government watchdog groups, who said the standard the committee had set for ethical wrongdoing would open the way to further abuse of the earmark process.

The practice of inserting earmarks into spending bills, once used fairly sparingly by Congress as a way of imposing its budget priorities on the executive branch, has mushroomed, with lobbyists competing for the attention of committee members who control the money. Congress, which can award no-bid contracts at its discretion, doled out nearly $16 billion in awards last fiscal year.

Banks step up spending on lobbying to fight proposed stiffer regulations - latimes.com

Banks step up spending on lobbying to fight proposed stiffer regulations - latimes.com

WALL STREET

Banks step up spending on lobbying to fight proposed stiffer regulations

Expenditures jumped 12% to $29.8 million last year among the eight financial firms that spent the most to influence legislation.

By Nathaniel Popper

February 16, 2010

Even as the financial industry has sought to keep a low public profile, some of the country's largest banks have ramped up their spending on lobbying to fight off some of the stiffest regulatory proposals pending in Congress.

Lobbying expenditures jumped 12% from 2008 to $29.8 million last year among the eight banks and private equity firms that spent the most to influence legislation, according to data compiled from disclosure forms filed with Congress.

The biggest spender was JPMorgan Chase & Co., whose lobbying budget rose 12% to $6.2 million, enough for the firm to have more than 30 lobbyists working for it. Among other banks, spending on lobbying rose 27% at Wells Fargo & Co. and 16% at Morgan Stanley.

"I have never seen such a scrum of bank lobbyists as I have in the last year -- and I've worked on quite a few bank issues over the years," said Ed Mierzwinski, a lobbyist for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a coalition of state consumer organizations. "It seems like everybody is out of work except for bank lobbyists."

Much of the increase in spending on lobbying in 2009 came in the final three months of the year as Congress voted on financial reform bills. Many Washington observers say industry lobbying has been even more intense this year, as President Obama has proposed a new tax on big banks, caps on their size, and curbs on their investment in often lucrative but risky hedge funds and private equity funds.

"This is a watershed moment," said Scott Talbott, a lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents about 100 of the largest financial firms. "The industry will be changed forever after this year."

Bank lobbyists, however, are trying to limit just how much the industry has to change. They are fighting some provisions in the Obama administration's broad industry-overhaul proposal, especially a plan to create a consumer protection agency to oversee financial services.

The House passed its version of the legislation in December. But its prospects are uncertain in the Senate, where talks between Republicans and Democrats on a compromise version recently broke down.

At a hearing this month, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), who has had a generally warm relationship with the financial community, lashed out at the "refusal of large firms to work constructively with Congress."

"Too many people in the industry have decided to invest in an army of lobbyists, whose only mission is to kill the common-sense financial reforms that we are working so hard up here to try to achieve," Dodd said. ...

Ethics panel clears 7 on earmarks - washingtonpost.com

Ethics panel clears 7 on earmarks - washingtonpost.com

By Paul Kane and Carol D. Leonnig

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 27, 2010

The House ethics committee ruled Friday that seven lawmakers who steered hundreds of millions of dollars in largely no-bid contracts to clients of a lobbying firm had not violated any rules or laws by also collecting large campaign donations from those contractors.

In a 305-page report, the ethics committee declared that lawmakers are free to raise campaign money from the very companies they are benefiting so long as the deciding factors in granting those "earmarks" are "criteria independent" of the contributions. The report served as a blunt rejection of ethics watchdogs and a different group of congressional investigators, who have contended that in some instances the connection between donations and earmarks was so close that it had to be inappropriate.

"Simply because a member sponsors an earmark for an entity that also happens to be a campaign contributor does not, on these two facts alone, support a claim that a member's actions are being influenced by campaign contributions," the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct said in a unanimous statement.

Ethics watchdogs issued sharp denunciations, citing portions of the report that showed that the private companies thought their donations helped them win earmarks. The lawmakers -- Reps. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), Peter J. Visclosky (D-Ind.) and C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) -- claimed vindication.

...

... In fiscal 2008 alone, the seven lawmakers sponsored $112 million worth of earmarks for clients of the PMA Group while accepting more than $350,000 in contributions from the firm's lobbyists and its clients, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group.

The final word on this practice may come from the Justice Department. The PMA Group folded a year ago after an FBI raid on its Arlington offices, part of an investigation into whether its founder and staff directed illegal campaign contributions to lawmakers who helped clients obtain earmarks. Last spring, a federal grand jury issued subpoenas to Visclosky, a former aide and his political committees.

Congress subpoenas thousands of allegedly damaging Toyota documents | Raw Story

Congress subpoenas thousands of allegedly damaging Toyota documents | Raw Story

The head of embattled Toyota has bowed to calls to testify in US Congress as lawmakers demand a whistleblower lawyer hand over potentially damning internal company documents on alleged safety defects.

A key congressional committee has subpoenaed former Toyota lawyer Dimitrios Biller, who has accused the world's biggest car maker of hiding and destroying evidence of safety problems and of "a culture of hypocrisy and deception".

Toyota is recalling more than eight million cars worldwide for defects linked to more than 30 deaths in the United States that have sparked a host of US lawsuits which could cost the company billions of dollars in damages. ...

Payments in question - baltimoresun.com

Payments in question - baltimoresun.com

WASHINGTON — - Former Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele's personal political accounts were billed at least $188,000 by Washington law firms during his first year as chairman of the Republican National Committee, according to state and federal disclosure reports.

Steele used state campaign funds to pay the law firms, but the specific purpose for most of the expenditures wasn't disclosed, in apparent violation of Maryland reporting guidelines.

Some of the costs appear to involve activity that predated his tenure as Republican national chairman. An RNC spokesman declined comment, on grounds that the payments didn't involve national party business.

...

According to elections board guidance, campaign finance reports "are supposed to inform the public on how the campaign funds are being used. Simply recording a large expenditure for 'consultant services' is not sufficiently descriptive."

...

Last summer, the Republican State Central Committee agreed to return $77,500 to Steele's state campaign committee, which improperly spent leftover campaign funds to help settle an old legal bill dating from Steele's service as Maryland Republican chairman.

...

Over the years, Steele has been dogged by questions involving finances.

His decision to continue giving paid speeches while serving as party chairman drew criticism recently from some former RNC chairmen, who said that he should treat the position as a full-time job.

Steele, who is paid $223,500 a year plus benefits, also received undisclosed royalties for a book published last month. His defenders have pointed out that some of his predecessors as Republican chairman also received outside income in addition to their party salary. ...

Washington Times - Stimulus foes see value in seeking cash

Washington Times - Stimulus foes see value in seeking cash
...

Sen. Christopher S. Bond regularly railed against President Obama's economic stimulus plan as irresponsible spending that would drive up the national debt. But behind the scenes, the Missouri Republican quietly sought more than $50 million from a federal agency for two projects in his state.

Mr. Bond was not alone. More than a dozen Republican lawmakers, while denouncing the stimulus to the media and their constituents, privately sent letters to just one of the federal government's many agencies seeking stimulus money for home-state pork projects.

The letters to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, expose the gulf between lawmakers' public criticism of the overall stimulus package and their private lobbying for projects close to home.

"It's not illegal to talk out of both sides of your mouth, but it does seem to be a level of dishonesty troubling to the American public," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Mr. Bond noted that one project applying to the USDA for stimulus money would "create jobs and ultimately spur economic opportunities."

He and other lawmakers make no apologies for privately seeking stimulus money after they voted against it and continue to criticize the plan: "I strongly opposed the stimulus, but the only thing that could make it worse would be if none of it returned to the taxpayers of Missouri," said Mr. Bond, who is retiring.

But watchdog groups say the lawmakers' public talk and private letters don't square, highlighting a side of government spending largely overshadowed by the "earmarking" process. While members of Congress must disclose their earmarks — or pet projects they slip into broader spending bills — the private funding requests they make in letters to agencies fall outside of the public's view.

"There is a definite disconnect between the public statements and the private letters," said Thomas A. Schatz, president of the nonpartisan Citizens Against Government Waste. "It does seem inconsistent to say you're against the bill but then you want some little piece of it." ...

..

Rep. Joe Wilson, South Carolina Republican who became famous after yelling, "You lie," during Mr. Obama's addresses to Congress in September, voted against the stimulus. Nonetheless, Mr. Wilson elbowed his way into the rush for federal stimulus cash in a letter he sent to Mr. Vilsack on behalf of a foundation seeking funding.

"We know their endeavor will provide jobs and investment in one of the poorer sections of the Congressional District," he wrote to Mr. Vilsack in the Aug. 26, 2009, letter.

...

Also facing a competitive race, Rep. Pat Tiberi, Ohio Republican, in October called the final Democratic stimulus bill "loaded with [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi's grab bag of big spending wishes" and that it "saddles future generations with mountains of debt."

He struck a different tone in a letter to Mr. Vilsack.

"While this project is intended to expand rural broadband in Alaska, I understand that the project could support businesses and jobs in communities across the country," Mr. Tiberi wrote, citing one such company in his district.

...

Sen. Lamar Alexander, Tennessee Republican, who easily won re-election in 2008, said of the stimulus, "This is spending, not stimulus."

In a letter to Mr. Vilsack for a project applying for stimulus money, Mr. Alexander noted, "It is anticipated that the project will create over 200 jobs in the first year and at least another 40 new jobs in the following years." ...

Daily Kos: Shelby holds Senate hostage to win military contract for European firm

Daily Kos: Shelby holds Senate hostage to win military contract for European firm

by Jed Lewison

Fri Feb 05, 2010

As you may have heard, U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) has placed a hold on all Obama Administration nominees, effectively holding every Obama appointment hostage to the Senate's filibuster rule.

So what's Shelby's ransom? Basically, he wants the Pentagon contract for aerial refueling tankers to be awarded to Airbus, the European aerospace firm, instead of Boeing, the domestic aerospace giant. Why does Shelby want to award a key military contract to a foreign company? Because portions of the Airbus-built tankers would be assembled in Alabama.

Marcy Wheeler explains:

The key issue is that Shelby wants the Air Force to tweak an RFP for refueling tankers so that Airbus (partnered with Northrup Grumman) would win the bid again over Boeing. The contract had been awarded in 2008, but the GAO found that the Air Force had erred in calculating the award. After the Air Force wrote a new RFP in preparation to rebid the contract, Airbus calculated that it would not win the new bid, and started complaining. Now, Airbus is threatening to withdraw from the competition unless the specs in the RFP are revised.

Essentially, then, Shelby’s threat is primarily about gaming this bidding process to make sure Airbus–and not Boeing–wins the contract (there’s a smaller program he’s complaining about, too, but this is the truly huge potential bounty for his state). ...

Josh Silver: Senator Franken Rips Into Comcast CEO Brian Roberts

Josh Silver: Senator Franken Rips Into Comcast CEO Brian Roberts

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and NBC President Jeff Zucker testified in front of House and Senate subcommittees Thursday as regulators decide whether to allow the proposed merger of the two media giants. Comcast is the largest cable TV and residential high-speed Internet company in the nation. NBC is one of the largest content providers.

...

"You'll have to excuse me if I don't trust these promises, and that is from experience in this business," Franken said. "It matters who runs our media companies....the media are our source of entertainment, but they're also the way we get our information about the world. So when the same company produces the programs and runs the pipes that bring us those programs, we have a reason to be nervous."

We sure do. Here are 10 more reasons to be very afraid of the proposed Comcast/NBC merger:

1) Comcast Buys Influence
The communications industry is, after all, second only to Big Pharma in Washington influence-peddling. Comcast spent more than $5.5 million in campaign contributions since 2006 alone to have their way in Washington. That's not counting more than $50 million they've spent on lobbying in the past three years!

2) How Much Is Enough?
Comcast earned more than $3.6 billion in profits in 2009 while claiming they didn't have enough money to invest in faster Internet networks ... and while raising rates as much as 50 percent over the past five years in some markets.

3) Fat Cat CEO
In 2008, CEO Brian Roberts was ranked as one of five "Highest Paid Worst Performers" in America. 2008 income: $40.8 million. Sitting on Capitol Hill yesterday, he raked in more than $100,000.

4) Bad Customer Service
Comcast ranked second only to AOL in poor customer service, according to a 2009Zogby/MSM Money poll. Comcast service is so bad they drove a 75-year-old woman named Mona Shaw to wreck one of their stores with a hammer.

5) Comcast Lies and Plays Dirty
In official 2006 testimony, Comcast Vice President David L. Cohen said: "If Comcast were to try to 'deny, delay, or degrade' the Internet experience that our more than 9 million cable Internet customers have paid for, how can we possibly expect to keep them as customers. ... Any provider that does not meet the needs of users will suffer from a serious backlash from consumers and policymakers."

In 2008, after being caught illegally blocking content Cohen admitted: "Comcast may on a limited basis temporarily delay certain P2P traffic." That's the same year Comcast was caught paying for seat fillers at a public FCC hearing into their illegal Internet blocking. Only this year, after being censured by the FCC, did Roberts admit to the company's "mistake."

6) Comcast Censors Political Speech
Comcast prevents ads from running that criticize the company's political friends. They evenfired a newscaster who dared to question an award they were bestowing on Bill O'Reilly.

7) Comcast Blocks Independent Voices
Despite digging up our city streets and enjoying a near-monopoly for decades, Comcast has consistently tried to shirk its community responsibilities - including trying to kick public, educational and government channels into the cable-tier equivalent of Siberia. ...

Sen. Conrad, Deficit Hawk, Brings U.S. Dollars Home to North Dakota - WSJ.com

Sen. Conrad, Deficit Hawk, Brings U.S. Dollars Home to North Dakota - WSJ.com

...

Mr. Conrad has long pushed to curb deficit spending. As a freshman senator, he had a hand in a bruising 1990 budget deal that raised taxes and restrained spending. In 1993 and 1997, he backed legislation that trimmed Medicare and required Congress to pay for all spending hikes or tax cuts.

Those steps helped pave the way for surpluses beginning in 1998. With increased taxes, a booming economy and strict spending restraints, Congress racked up surpluses until 2001, the longest such stretch since the 1920s.

"Those balanced budgets got us to stop borrowing from the Social Security trust fund," Mr. Conrad says. "That was our high-water mark, if you will."

While advocating fiscal responsibility at the national level, the senator has ministered adroitly to one of the most government-dependent states in the country: a vast swath of parched prairie that is home to needy military air bases, Indian reservations, an aging population of 639,000 and thousands of farmers who, over the last decade, have collectively gobbled up an average of $715 million a year in crop subsidies and disaster payments.

"His heart is in the right place," says Doug Holtz-Eakin, a former head of the Congressional Budget Office who now advises Republican campaigns. "But when your party, your colleagues, and even your constituents are all pressuring you to give in to the dark side, it's tough to make real progress." ...

Study: Charter schools promote segregation, perform worse than traditional schools | Minnesota Public Radio NewsQ

Study: Charter schools promote segregation, perform worse than traditional schools | Minnesota Public Radio NewsQ

by Tom Weber, Minnesota Public Radio

November 26, 2008

Nearly 20 years after Minnesota passed the nation's first charter school law, charters in the Twin Cities continue to perform worse, are more segregated than traditional public schools and are forcing those traditional public schools to become more segregated.

Those are the findings of a new report called "Failed Promises" -- from the Institute on Race and Poverty at the University of Minnesota.

But the conclusions are not necessarily swaying those who run charters.

...

Orfield's research team gathered test scores and other data from all traditional public and charter schools in the Twin Cities. That other data included poverty measurements, as a way of lining up schools in similar economic situations.

What they found was charter schools performed worse than traditional public schools.

To read the entire report, click here.

The report also looks at schools' racial make-up, and includes a map that plots all metro area charter schools. It shows segregated schools far outnumber integrated - and in some cases, predominately white schools are surrounded by predominately non-white schools.

To see a map of Twin Cities charter schools, click here.

This is the result of charters locating in poor neighborhoods where kids are having bad experiences in the public schools, Orfield says.

"Parents that have had a bad experience with the public schools will take almost any choice, and they will move to the charter school. This will pull enrollment out of the public school, so you have two schools racing towards more segregated schools - and both types of schools are doing badly," he says. ...