Newsletter June 2011

CREW Cuts
The Monthly Newsletter of CREW // June 2011 // Issue No. 50

Ensign Must be Prosecuted

Almost two years after CREW filed a complaint against former Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), the Senate Ethics Committee released a damning report concluding what we’ve been saying all along: Sen. Ensign broke the law and he should be prosecuted. As a result, the committee referred the matter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Election Commission (FEC), both of which previously declined to pursue the case against Sen. Ensign.

The ball is now back in DOJ’s court, but its recent track record for taking on politicians is abysmal. It is puzzling how DOJ, with the vast resources of the criminal justice system, was unwilling or unable to uncover evidence the ethics committee found showing the senator had committed criminal violations. Hopefully, the committee’s report will embarrass DOJ into taking action against Sen. Ensign.

But Sen. Ensign isn’t the only one implicated by the committee report. It also highlights the dubious conduct of Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), both of whom helped Sen. Ensign try to cover up his actions. While Sen. Coburn has offered creative, contradictory and baffling explanations for his role, Sen. Santorum has maintained a studied silence. The ethics committee’s report noted CREW’s outstanding complaint against Sen. Coburn, but has not made public any conclusions as to whether he violated any laws or Senate rules.

We’ll keep pushing to see those involved held accountable for their part in this seedy episode.

CREW Chief Counsel Fights Efforts to Turn Transparency into a Political Weapon

CREW Chief Counsel Anne Weismann testified before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations regarding the White House visitor logs. Early on in the Obama administration, to settle CREW’s lawsuits against the Bush and Obama administrations over access to White House visitor logs, the Obama administration began posting the logs online.

Republicans argued the posted records are incomplete, often lacking details about who was visited or what was discussed. Ironically, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) preached about the need for transparency despite having argued vehemently against the disclosure of the identities of those on the Cheney Energy Task Force back in 2004. As Anne testified, visitor logs were never intended to serve as a substitute for calendars and appointment books. Rather, they include only information needed by the Secret Service to ensure visitors pose no security risks.

The Obama administration has work to do on the transparency front, but this hearing wasn’t about how the president could create a more open and accountable government. Rather, it was just an occasion for Republicans to take swipes at the administration in the hope of realizing a short-term political gain.

CREW Files IRS and FEC Complaints against Commission on Hope, Growth and Opportunity

IRS Logo More than $4 billion was spent on the 2010 election, much by shady groups in violation of our tax laws. CREW revealed that one such group, the Commission on Hope, Growth and Opportunity (CHGO) did little other than spend millions of dollars running political ads in violation of its status as a 501(c)(4) organization. We also found CHGO ignored the law requiring it to report its spending on political ads to the FEC. As a result, we’ve asked both the IRS and the FEC to investigate.

Only two weeks after the IRS granted CHGO tax-exempt status, the group’s founder bragged that it planned to spend $25 million on political ads, and that it had already raised half of that. Soon after, CHGO’s attack ads hit the airwaves. The tax code prohibits 501(c)(4) groups from engaging primarily in political activities, but CHGO appears to have done little else. In addition, CHGO failed to file any reports with the FEC, despite a requirement that groups spending more than $10,000 on independent expenditures or electioneering communications report their spending to the agency. We found CHGO exceeded the spending trigger in at least 12 races.

Like we’ve always said, there is nothing wrong with working to elect Republicans (or Democrats), but you can’t violate the law to do it.

Learn more.
Read our IRS complaint against CHGO. [PDF]
Read our FEC complaint against CHGO. [PDF]
Watch the ads that CHGO ran last year.

American Action Network: Not That Big a Network

American Action Network logo It was hard to turn on the TV in dozens of congressional districts last fall and not see one of the American Action Network’s (AAN) campaign ads. Former Sen. Norm Coleman’s (R-MN) group bombarded us with at least $18 million in ads supporting Republican congressional candidates last fall. Wouldn’t it be nice to know who paid for them?

We dug deeper, and got our hands on the group’s first tax return. It turns out the “network” probably isn’t as big as AAN would like you to think. From July 2009 to June 2010, AAN brought in $2,750,351 in total contributions, of which all but $351 came from just 11 anonymous donors. It gets better. Roughly 82% of the donations were made up of three large gifts: two of $1 million each and one of $250,000.

We helped The Washington Post highlight this faux network. AAN is proof that a remarkably few very wealthy donors can have a disproportionate impact on America’s elections. This is no way to run a democracy.

CREW Sues FEC for Failing to Produce Records Regarding Commissioners’ Outside Contacts

FEC Seal With the three Republican FEC commissioners pursuing a blatantly partisan political agenda, CREW submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to determine whether outside interests are guiding that agenda. We want to learn who these commissioners are meeting and talking with, and whether they have properly recorded their contacts with outside individuals and groups.

Considering the FEC isn’t known for prompt action, it’s probably not all that surprising the commission ignored our FOIA request. Last week we sued to force the FEC to turn over responsive records.

With a little help from Stephen Colbert, more and more people are noticing just what a lousy job the FEC is doing. President Obama could go a long way to fixing the problem by appointing new commissioners, but with his own reelection campaign on the horizon he may not be eager to take on this intractable problem. We’ll have to keep the pressure on.