On July 16, 2019, CfA released a new report, Plumbers, Pub-Keepers and Notaries: Big Tech’s New Disguise, revealing that the Connected Commerce Council (3C), a small, newly-founded Washington-based nonprofit that bills itself as the “voice of small business,” appears to be an Astroturf-style front group for the nation’s largest technology companies.
Last year, CfA called on then-Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine to investigate two Ohio crisis pregnancy centers, Elizabeth’s New Life Center and Heartbeat of Toledo, for engaging in deceptive business practices in violation of Ohio’s Consumer Sales Protection Act.
On June 26, 2019, CfA sent letters to executives at Apple and Google calling on the companies to remove from their platforms apps belonging to the anti-abortion behemoth Susan B. Anthony List and anti-choice/anti-LGBT group, the Family Research Council, for violating company policies.
On June 26, 2019, CfA called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate the anti-abortion behemoth Susan B. Anthony List for violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
On June 20, 2019, CfA called on the Texas Attorney General to direct the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission to release records regarding an incident at a nightclub partially owned by state Sen. Joan Huffman and her husband, Keith Lawyer.
On June 17, 2019, CfA along with American Oversight, American Bridge 21st Century Foundation, Democracy Forward, and Western Values Project, filed a complaint with the Office of Inspector General at the U.S. Department of the Interior (Interior) calling for an investigation of the agency’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Awareness Process. Political appointees at Interior appear to be using the Awareness Process to interfere with the release of documents in response to FOIA requests.
On June 13, 2019, CfA called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to open a criminal investigation into A. Mark Neuman, a former transition official at the Department of Commerce, and John Gore, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General at DOJ, for having potentially committed perjury by lying about their efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. CfA also called on the Office of Professional Responsibility at DOJ to investigate Mr. Gore and discipline him appropriately for violating Bar rules prohibiting dishonesty.
On May 28, 2019, CfA called on the IRS to investigate the anti-abortion advocacy group Susan B. Anthony List, Inc. for, among other things, abusing its nonprofit status, misleading the IRS, overpaying its outside fundraisers, and failing to disclose payments to firms owned by its corporate directors.
On May 14, 2019, CfA called on the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives to investigate the lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP and one of its lobbyists, Luke Johnson, for possible violations of the Lobbying Disclosure Act in connection with their representation of Northeast Maglev, a company seeking to build a high-speed train along the Northeast Corridor.
On May 13, 2019, CfA released a new report, Trolling for Title X Funds, which documents the growth and deception of Obria, a network of anti-abortion, anti-birth control clinics that received a $1.7 million grant from the Trump administration to provide family planning services, and is set to receive an additional $3.4 million over the next two years. CfA’s report provides a comprehensive history of Obria and reveals how the group has transformed from a single crisis pregnancy center in California to a national umbrella organization seeking to wrest Title X Funds away from legitimate healthcare providers.