Press Releases

CfA Releases New Report Showing Connected Commerce Council is Big Tech’s Latest Astroturf Campaign

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.

Coalition of Watchdog Groups Calls for IG Investigation of Interior Department’s FOIA Awareness Process

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.

Watchdog Calls for Perjury Investigation of Trump Officials for False Testimony About Citizenship Question on 2020 Census

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.

Watchdog Again Calls for Investigation of David Bernhardt’s Former Lobbying Firm for Lobbying Disclosure Violations

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.

New Report, Trolling for Title X Funds, Reveals How the Anti-Birth Control Group, Obria, Misleads the Public

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.

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