On October 18, 2018, CfA called on officials at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to investigate whether Scott Lloyd, Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, used his government position to help secure a government contract for his former employer, the Catholic fraternal service organization, the Knights of Columbus.
On October 15, 2018, CfA joined a coalition of 85 organizations opposing protest fees on the National Mall.
On September 26, 2018, CfA released a new report, "The New Corporate Colonialism," which comprehensively documents BlackRock’s efforts to expand its infrastructure business in Mexico through aggressive courtship of Mexican political leaders and organizations mired in corruption and conflict of interest scandals.
On September 4, 2018, CfA released a report documenting how CfA bought politically divisive ads on Google using Russian rubles and a Russian IP address. CfA posed as the infamous Russian troll farm, the Internet Research Agency (IRA), and bought ads using similar language and the same images that the IRA deployed during its 2016 influence campaign. The ads ran on major U.S. media websites and their YouTube channels.
On August 31, 2018, CfA requested access to communications to, from, or between any Ravalli County Commissioner(s) regarding Wilderness Study Areas, the Our Land Our Legacy (OLOL) coalition, and commissioners’ efforts to cajole state officials into investigating Montana conservation organizations.
On August 30, 2018, CfA filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeking communications between Sec. Alex Azar, and any representative or lobbyist for Eli Lilly and Company. Sec. Azar worked at Eli Lilly for a decade, and he has supported a proposed rule change at HHS that would greatly benefit the pharmaceutical manufacturer.
On August 28, 2018, CfA called on ethics officials at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to open an investigation into HHS Secretary Alex Azar and his relationship with his former employer, the pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly and Company. HHS recently proposed a new rule that would greatly benefit Eli Lilly, and Sec. Azar has championed the issue while at the helm of HHS.
On August 27, 2018, CfA released a new report detailing how BlackRock – the world’s largest asset manager – appears to have been intimately involved not only in advising the Trudeau government about the creation of its Canada Infrastructure Bank, a government-backed financial institution championed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but also in the government’s appointment of key Bank personnel and staff. The new revelations add to the growing conflict of interest concerns surrounding the Bank’s creation and provide new evidence for those calling for a full investigation of BlackRock’s advisory role with the Trudeau government.
On August 21, 2018, 45 organizations, including CfA, endorsed the Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act, legislation introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren that seeks to eliminate the influence of money in our federal government and to ensure that Washington works for working families.
On August 15, 2018, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and Campaign for Accountability filed an amicus brief urging a federal appeals court to rule that the Office of Legal Counsel must proactively process its formal written opinions for public release under the Freedom of Information Act.