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Bill Buzenberg interviews former Representative Lee H. Hamilton

The Center in the News . . .

A recent Council on Foreign Relations backgrounder titled U.S-Pakistan Military Cooperation cited the Center's Collateral Damage project, which found among its major findings that Pakistan was the largest recipient of U.S. military aid, receiving almost $5 billion since 9/11, with little in the form of federal oversight and accountability.

The House of Representatives recently amended the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). Among the newly expanded public provisions, White House task forces will be prohibited from operating in secrecy, transcripts or recordings of committee meetings will be electronically available, and advisory committee appointments must be made without regard to political affiliation or activity. The Center's Shadow Government project investigated FACA loopholes and several conflict of interest cases more than a year ago.

The Wall Street Journal featured the Center's latest analysis of the lobby spending by the pharmaceutical industry, health product manufacturers, and their trade groups. The Center found that the pharmaceutical manufacturers and their trade groups spent a record $168 million on federal lobbying last year, a 32 percent increase from 2006.

A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), requested by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, tasked the Defense Department with providing greater oversight in the way it handles Pakistan reimbursement claims for coalition support funds (CSF), a program created after 9/11 to reimburse key U.S. allies in the global war on terror. In May 2007, the Center's Collateral Damage project found that post-9/11 U.S. military aid to Pakistan, totaling more than $5 billion, was subject to virtually no congressional oversight.

Washington Post national politics reporter Shailagh Murray in the paper's daily campaign 2008 blog, 'The Trail,' cited a Center interview with James A. Johnson, who recently resigned from Senator Obama's vice presidential search committee. In the interview, Johnson had "kind words" to say about veteran senator, and potential VP contender, Christopher Dodd.

On Thursday, the Senate Intelligence Committee released its Phase II report on prewar Iraq intelligence. Committee Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller said: "It is my belief that the Bush administration was fixated on Iraq, and used the 9/11 attacks by Al Qaeda as justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein. To accomplish this, top administration officials made repeated statements that falsely linked Iraq and Al Qaeda as a single threat and insinuated that Iraq played a role in 9/11. Sadly, the Bush administration led the nation into war under false pretenses." To read more about the Bush administration's false statements about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq, check out the Center's War Card project.

A Morning Call.com editorial cited a 2003 Center survey that ranked all 50 states' lobby disclosure laws. Until 2006, Pennsylvania had no lobbying law at all and was ranked 50th in the nation by the Center's survey. Currently, the legislature will consider a measure that would forbid gifts and entertainment from lobbyists to public officials.

Harry Shearer, actor, entertainer, musician, artist, and creator of the song 935 Lies - featured in his upcoming CD, Songs of the Bushmen - said in The Huffington Post, "Just in case Scott McClellan wasn't keeping count, the Center was: at least 935 falsehoods told by the president and his aides in the run-up to the [Iraq] war."

The Sunlight Foundation's SunSpots blog featured the "eye-popping reports" from the Center's Shadow Government project. The Center's Shadow Government project investigated a few federal advisory committees, part of a vast maze of committees, tasked with influencing federal government agencies on a variety of safety and policy issues, often done under secretive conditions with little public accountability.

Douglas Feith, President Bush's undersecretary of defense for policy from July 2001 to August 2005, was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart May 12 and talked about the Iraq War. He said, "I think a lot of what the administration said was correct." The Center's Iraq War Card project, which documented 935 false statements made by Bush and six top administration officials in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq, would prove otherwise.

Watch the world premier video of Harry Shearer's video "935 Lies." Shearer, best known for his work on The Simpsons, This is Spinal Tap, Le Show, Saturday Night Live, For Your Consideration and A Mighty Wind, unveiled a video satire based on the Center's Iraq War Card project, which documented the 935 false statements orchestrated by top Bush Administration officials in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune's Kirsten Mitchell reported that Sen. Pete Domenici and 16 other Republican senators, who support the easing of offshore drilling restrictions on the Outer Continental Shelf for oil and gas, have received more than $3 million in campaign contributions from individuals and PACS affiliated with the oil and gas industry since Jan. 1, 2007.

The Washington Post's Matthew Mosk reported that Steven A. Betts, a top presidential campaign fundraiser for Sen. John McCain, was one of several Arizona developers who benefited from McCain-engineered land swaps.

TheStreet.com's John Stout cited the Center's Buying of the President 2008 chapter on Stealth Campaigns in "How Much Does It Cost to Buy a Presidency?" Political non-profit groups, such as MoveOn.org and the American Leadership Project, "will probably play an important role in this presidential election," he said.

Center for Public Integrity Sues FCC for Broadband Records

WASHINGTON, D.C. September 25, 2006 — The Center for Public Integrity today filed suit against the Federal Communications Commission for failure to provide a database of records requested under the Freedom of Information Act.

The lawsuit alleges that the FCC has failed to provide the Center with an electronic copy of a database about the companies that provide broadband within particular zip codes in the United States.

"We filed suit against the FCC to obtain the data that the public and policy-makers need in order to get a complete and accurate picture of the current state of broadband," said Drew Clark, who leads the Center's Telecommunications and Media Project.

In 2004, President George W. Bush declared that it was a national priority to spur the development of broadband, or high-speed Internet access.

"I'm talking about broadband technology to every corner of our country by the year 2007 with competition shortly thereafter," Bush said on April 26, 2004.

The Center desires to make the data that examines broadband deployment publicly available, which will aid in the nation's understanding of the extent of broadband availability.

"All of the legislative debates surrounding communications policy rely on the availability of broadband – whether the subject is Net neutrality, universal service, or video competition," said Clark.

The Center for Public Integrity's ongoing project on the political influence of the telecommunications and media industries, "Well Connected," has published an Internet-based searchable database of the radio, television, newspaper and cable companies reaching any particular zip code. The Center plans to add broadband to its Media Tracker database, which is available online at http://www.publicintegrity.org/telecom.

"The updated Media Tracker is a wonderful database tool that already provides every American with the ability to know who owns the media in their hometown, even in their own zip code," said Acting Executive Director Wendell Rawls. "It will be even more useful with the addition of the public information about broadband and who controls it, which the FCC is withholding for some reason."

With or without the FCC's broadband data, the Center's Telecommunications and Media Project is undergoing a major upgrade, which includes:

  • A redesign and update of the Center's Media Tracker database of more than 5 million pieces of information from governmental sources, corporate disclosure documents and original research.
  • Corporate information about the broadcast and cable properties of more than 200 leading telecommunications, media and broadband providers.
  • New profiles investigating the legislative and regulatory activities of the top 40.
  • A redesigned Web site promoting the Media Tracker, and highlighting up-to-date reporting and blog entries from Center staff devoted to telecommunications.

The case, Center for Public Integrity v. Federal Communications Commission, was filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It was assigned to Judge Rosemary M. Collyer.

The "Well Connected" project is made possible primarily by support from the Ford Foundation.

The Center for Public Integrity today filed suit against the Federal Communications Commission for failure to provide a database of records requested under the Freedom of Information Act.

The lawsuit alleges that the FCC has failed to provide the Center with an electronic copy of a database about the companies that provide broadband within particular zip codes in the United States.

"We filed suit against the FCC to obtain the data that the public and policy-makers need in order to get a complete and accurate picture of the current state of broadband," said Drew Clark, who leads the Center's Telecommunications anrad Media Project.

In 2004, President George W. Bush declared that it was a national priority to spur the development of broadband, or high-speed Internet access.

"I'm talking about broadband technology to every corner of our country by the year 2007 with competition shortly thereafter," Bush said on April 26, 2004.

The Center desires to make the data that examines broadband deployment publicly available, which will aid in the nation's understanding of the extent of broadband availability.

"All of the legislative debates surrounding communications policy rely on the availability of broadband – whether the subject is Net neutrality, universal service, or video competition," said Clark.

The Center for Public Integrity's ongoing project on the political influence of the telecommunications and media industries, "Well Connected," has published an Internet-based searchable database of the radio, television, newspaper and cable companies reaching any particular zip code. The Center plans to add broadband to its Media Tracker database, which is available online at http://www.publicintegrity.org/telecom.

"The updated Media Tracker is a wonderful database tool that already provides every American with the ability to know who owns the media in their hometown, even in their own zip code," said Acting Executive Director Wendell Rawls. "It will be even more useful with the addition of the public information about broadband and who controls it, which the FCC is withholding for some reason."

With or without the FCC's broadband data, the Center's Telecommunications and Media Project is undergoing a major upgrade, which includes:

  • A redesign and update of the Center's Media Tracker database of more than 5 million pieces of information from governmental sources, corporate disclosure documents and original research.
  • Corporate information about the broadcast and cable properties of more than 200 leading telecommunications, media and broadband providers.
  • New profiles investigating the legislative and regulatory activities of the top 40.
  • A redesigned Web site promoting the Media Tracker, and highlighting up-to-date reporting and blog entries from Center staff devoted to telecommunications.

The case, Center for Public Integrity v. Federal Communications Commission, was filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It was assigned to Judge Rosemary M. Collyer.

The "Well Connected" project is made possible primarily by support from the Ford Foundation.

Copy of the filed complaint

Copy of the FCC's response to the complaint.

Copy of the Center's administrative appeal to the FCC.

To obtain details about the Telecommunications and Media Project, please e-mail telecom@publicintegrity.org

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The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit, nonpartisan independent Washington, D.C.-based organization that does investigative reporting and research on significant public issues. Since 1990, the Center has released more than 400 investigative reports and 17 books. It has received the prestigious George Polk Award and more than 22 other national journalism awards and 16 finalist nominations from national organizations, including PEN USA and Investigative Reporters and Editors. In April 2006, the Society of Professional Journalists recognized the Center with a national award for excellence in online public service journalism for the fifth consecutive year. In October 2006, the Center was honored with the Online News Association’s coveted General Excellence Award. In March 2007, the Center was given a special citation for the body of its investigative work from the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.