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FEC Complaint Filed Against Cain Aide Over iPads, Campaign Trips

Ryan J. Reilly | November 4, 2011, 11:37AM

Herman Cain

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Herman Cain chief of staff Mark Block over allegations his former group Prosperity USA footed the bill "for tens of thousands of dollars in expenses for such items as iPads, chartered flights and travel to Iowa and Las Vegas" to help get the Cain campaign off the ground.

The complaint, CREW said in a news release, alleges that Block "personally violated the Federal Election Campaign Act by authorizing the illegal corporate contributions as president of Prosperity USA, and then by accepting the illegal contributions as treasurer of Friends of Herman Cain." CREW says this would make Block "the first person in the history of the Act to have both given and received the same illegal contributions."

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Topics: CREW, FEC, Federal Election Commission, Herman Cain, Mark Block

CREW Calls On Congress To Investigate News Corp. After Phone Hacking Scandal

Jillian Rayfield | July 11, 2011, 5:50PM

Rupert Murdoch

The watchdog group Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is calling on Congress to investigate Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. for evidence that the company's sprawling phone hacking scandal reached the United States.

CREW's letter to Congress follows allegations that the company's now defunct News Of The World tabloid hacked into the phones of murder victims and terrorism victims, and even several prominent British politicians like former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

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Topics: CREW, News Corp., News International, News Of The World, Rupert Murdoch

CREW

Ethics Group Says Richardson Made Staffers Cross Line Into Political Work

Ryan J. Reilly | June 28, 2011, 3:00PM

Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA)

A ethics watchdog is asking the FBI to investigate whether Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA) was misusing her congressional staffers to by forcing them to work at campaign events and run personal errands, a violation of federal law.

The group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) said in a letter to the FBI's Washington field office that "requiring staff members to engage in campaign-related activities undermines the basic principle that government funds should not be spent to help incumbents gain re-election."

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Topics: CREW, Ethics

John Ensign

Watchdogs to Ethics Panel: Keep Pursuing Ensign Hush Money Case

Susan Crabtree | March 8, 2011, 8:43AM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Watchdogs are calling on the Senate Ethics Committee to continue digging into the hush money case against Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) despite his decision not to run for reelection.

The Ethics Committee last month announced the appointment a special prosecutor to lead the investigation into activities surrounding Ensign's affair with a political staffer because the panel was finding it too difficult to pursue the case. But ethics committees don't have jurisdiction over senators and members once they leave the House and Senate, and often the panels decide to drop their cases against lawmakers who announce their retirements and are heading out the door.

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Topics: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), CREW, Cynthia Hampton, Douglas Hampton, Ethics, Ethics Panel, John Ensign, Senate Ethics Committee, Senators

Alvin Greene

CREW Calls For Investigation Of South Carolina Primary Shenanigans

Christina Bellantoni | June 15, 2010, 2:55PM

SC Sen candidate Alvin Greene (D)

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) today joined Democrats calling for a state criminal investigation into the mysterious candidacy of Senate nominee Alvin Greene. Greene (D-SC) was able to capture 59 percent of the vote and win the party nomination last Tuesday despite having never campaigned. CREW also filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission over alleged reporting violations by Greene and two other no-name Democratic candidates in South Carolina.

CREW and others have said the investigation should focus on how Greene came up with the more than $10,000 filing fee. Officials with the watchdog group asked South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster (R) to investigate whether Greene was "induced" to run in a violation of state law. That's an echo of the calls from the state Democratic Party and House Majority Whip James Clyburn, who has suggested Greene's candidacy was part of some sort of conspiracy.

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Topics: Alvin Greene, CREW, James Clyburn, Lindsey Graham, South Carolina, South Carolina Democratic Party, Vic Rawl

John Yoo Emails

Watchdog Group Sues DOJ Over Missing Yoo Emails

Derek Hawkins | May 11, 2010, 2:35PM

John Yoo

The good-government group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department, contending that the group's requests for records related to missing emails in the torture memo investigation have gone unfulfilled.

In February, an internal report from the DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility noted that key emails from John Yoo, the former Bush Justice Department official and one of the authors of the memos, had been deleted and could not be recovered.

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Topics: CREW, DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility, John Yoo, John Yoo Emails, Justice Department, Torture

Jerry Moran

Rep. Jerry Moran: Allegations Of C Street Rent Break Are Attacks On My Faith

Zachary Roth | April 7, 2010, 5:56PM

Rep. Jerry Moran (R-KS)

So this is a pretty neat trick.

Rep. Jerry Moran (R- KS) is trying to turn charges that he's getting a break on his rent at C Street into attacks on his Christian faith. Seriously.

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Topics: C Street, CREW, Jerry Moran, The Family

Frontier Foundation

Rep. Buyer: Ethics Office Closes Review Of Foundation

Justin Elliott | March 30, 2010, 5:00PM

Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN)

Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) announced today that the Office of Congressional Ethics had closed with no further action a review of his foundation, which came under scrutiny last year for collecting donations from companies seeking to curry favor with Buyer but not giving out anything for its stated purpose of providing scholarships.

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) had asked OCE, the independent House ethics office, to look at Buyer's Frontier Foundation in January, citing reporting by TPMmuckraker and other outlets.

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Topics: CREW, Frontier Foundation, Office of Congressional Ethics, Steve Buyer

John Yoo

Former DOJ-ers Doubtful On Missing Yoo Emails Story

Zachary Roth | February 26, 2010, 2:37PM

John Yoo

An internal Justice Department report on the Torture Memos noted that investigators were told that key emails from John Yoo had been deleted and could not be retrieved. But several former DOJ staffers expressed intense skepticism that the emails could in fact have been rendered unrecoverable -- at least without a deliberate effort to destroy them.

"It's hard for me to believe that those emails weren't kept -- unless somebody didn't want them kept," one career Justice Department lawyer, who left in 2005, told TPMmuckraker.

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Topics: CREW, DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility, John Yoo, John Yoo Emails, Justice Department, Pat Leahy, Torture

Securities and Exchange Commission

SEC Sued Over Failure To Disclose Post-Madoff Reforms

Nick Pinto | January 6, 2010, 3:52PM

The Securities and Exchange Commission is being sued over its failure to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests for information about what reforms, if any, it has undertaken since it failed to detect Bernard Madoff's multibillion fraud.

The government watchdog Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington announced the lawsuit today, saying that the SEC has yet to reply to CREW's October 2009 information request.

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Topics: Bernard Madoff, CREW, POGO, Securities and Exchange Commission

Comeback

Richard Pombo: An Ethics Retrospective

Justin Elliott | January 4, 2010, 6:31PM

Former Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA)

Tomorrow, former Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) is set to burst back onto the national political scene with a new bid for Congress in California.

Luckily, TPM's archives are bursting with stories of Pombo's ethical troubles -- the very troubles that helped sink his 2006 reelection bid after seven terms in office.

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Topics: Bush Administration, CREW, Comeback, House Committee on Natural Resources, Jack Abramoff, Pac/West Communications, Richard Pombo, Tom DeLay, WWF

George Bush

Obama Administration Will Restore Missing Bush White House Emails

Zachary Roth | December 14, 2009, 3:59PM

George W. Bush

The White House has announced a settlement in a lawsuit filed by two good-government groups concerning emails that went missing over a two-and-a-half year period during the Bush administration.

Under the terms of the deal, 94 days of emails -- which could shed light on controversial topics that the Bush administration sought to obscure from public view, such as the Valerie Plame scandal and the run-up to the war in Iraq -- will be transferred to the National Archives, and eventually made public.

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Topics: Barack Obama, CREW, Dick Cheney, George Bush, Iraq, Iraq War, Valerie Plame

Global Warming

Bush Climate Team Still Impacting The Debate, Report Finds

Nick Pinto | December 7, 2009, 11:39AM

James L. Connaughton, President Bush’s chief environmental advisor from 2001 to 2009.

As the next round of UN climate change negotiations begin in Copenhagen, a new report describes how 22 Bush-era officials are still influencing the climate debate, many of them as registered lobbyists for industry.

Among the former officials listed in the report from watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington are the following:

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Topics: Bush Administration, CREW, Global Warming

Secret Holds

Watchdog Calls For End To Secret Holds

Nick Pinto | December 2, 2009, 5:08PM

Few of the arcane traditions and privileges enjoyed by U.S. senators fly in the face of the principles of accountability and transparency as blatantly as the secret hold -- the legislative technique whereby a single lawmaker can scuttle a nomination or pending legislation anonymously.

As TPM readers know, we've tracked a number of secret holds in recent years, with the goal of bringing the lawmaker's identity to light. In 2006, for instance, we enlisted readers' help in identifying the senator who had placed a secret hold on legislation to make a searchable database of government grants and contracts.

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Topics: CREW, Ethics Panel, Secret Holds, Senate Ethics Committee

Mary Landrieu

CREW Files Complaint Over Landrieu Camp's 'Mysterious' $25K Donation

Zachary Roth | November 20, 2009, 11:04AM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed its complaint with the FEC over that mysterious $25,300 donation made to the US Treasury by Sen. Mary Landrieu's campaign -- framing the issue as one of transparency.

The Landrieu camp continues to refuse to reveal the reason for the donation, citing the need to protect the privacy of the original contributors. That's prompted CREW to suggest that the campaign may have feared a federal probe into the source of the money.

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Topics: CREW, Campaign Contributions, Campaign Finance, FEC, Mary Landrieu

John Ensign

Will Ensign Escape Criminal Probe?

Zachary Roth | November 19, 2009, 12:03PM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Is the Justice Department leaning towards laying off Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)?

That's the direction in which Politico's reporting seems to point. According to the new site, DOJ officials "signal that the case is a low-priority matter for them." It adds that "no one close to Ensign or the Hamptons has been contacted by any federal investigators." And it notes that the Senate Ethics committee, which usually stands down when Justice is involved, has been forging ahead with its probe of the philandering Nevada senator.

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Topics: CREW, Doug Hampton, Eric Holder, John Ensign, Justice Department, Lobbyists, Sex

Mary Landrieu

CREW

CREW: Bachmann Rally May Have Violated House Rules

Zachary Roth | November 17, 2009, 12:29PM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

A recent rally against health-care reform, organized on the Capitol steps by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), may have violated House rules.

The good-government group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is asking the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) to probe whether Bachmann misused her congressional website in publicizing the rally.

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Topics: CREW, Health Care, Michele Bachmann, Office of Congressional Ethics

Mary Landrieu

Landrieu Camp Mum On $25K "Donation" To U.S.

Zachary Roth | November 16, 2009, 10:10AM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

So here's an intriguing mystery...

Why did Sen. Mary Landrieu's campaign last year donate $25,300 to the U.S. Treasury Department? The donation was buried in the campaign's lengthy FEC report, from which it was picked out by CREW, the tireless good-government watchdog.