Federal Accountability

Watchdog Again Calls for Investigation of Interior Nominee David Bernhardt for Lobbying Disclosure Violations

On April 5, 2019, CfA again called on federal officials to investigate whether Acting Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt and his former lobbying firm, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP, violated the Lobbying Disclosure Act and the False Statements Act by failing to disclose Mr. Bernhardt’s apparent lobbying in connection with Westlands Water District (Westlands), an agricultural conglomerate in California. New documents indicate that Mr. Bernhardt continued to work for Westlands through April 2017 despite formally withdrawing his lobbying registration on November 18, 2016.

Bernhardt pushes ethics reforms amid complaints

"Bernhardt's ethics memo yesterday also happened to come on the same day the Campaign for Accountability, a nonprofit watchdog group, announced that Interior's Office of Inspector General confirmed it is reviewing a request for investigation into Bernhardt and his relationship with his former lobbying client, Westlands Water District in California."

Interior Dept. watchdog reviewing allegations that acting secretary violated Trump ethics pledge

"Several groups, including the Campaign Legal Center and the Campaign for Accountability, as well as Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), have questioned Bernhardt’s role in the Interior Department’s push to conduct an environmental analysis of proposed changes to federal and state water projects in California. That effort could free up more water for the Westlands Water District, which serves farmers in California’s Central Valley."

Trump Administration Gives Family Planning Grant to Anti-Abortion Group

"The Title X changes and the grant to Obria suggest that the Trump administration is 'more interested in courting religious ideologues than in providing real health care to low-income Americans,' said Alice Huling, counsel for a liberal watchdog group called the Campaign for Accountability, which this month sued the administration seeking Obria’s communications with the Department of Health and Human Services."

New Report Reveals Google’s Business Dealings, America’s Foreign Policy Entangled in Cuba and North Korea

On March 29, 2019, CfA released a new report, Google’s Diplomatic Edge, documenting how Google selfishly – and perhaps misleadingly – involved itself in some of America’s thorniest foreign policy engagements for the apparent purpose of opening new markets for its products.

Campaign for Accountability Asks for Criminal Investigation into Whether Former ORR Director Scott Lloyd Made False Statements to Congress

On March 20, 2019, CfA asked the House Judiciary Committee to refer Scott Lloyd, previously the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the Department of Health and Human Services, to the Department of Justice for investigation into whether he deliberately lied to Congress. Because his tenure was so controversial, Lloyd stepped down from that position to serve Senior Advisor to the HHS Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives.

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