Todd Nelson resigned as chief executive of Apollo Group, parent company of the University of Phoenix, in 2006, in the wake of two controversies that ended up in court. In the first case, Apollo, the nation’s largest for-profit college business, paid $9.8 million in 2004 to settle a U.S. Department of Education complaint that it had engaged in systematic violations of rules regulating aggressive recruiting of students. The second, less well known, was a case brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), several months after Nelson left, charging that for years the University of Phoenix had discriminated against employees …
The Detroit News: House Democrats Seek to Overturn Supreme Court Super PAC Rule
A group of House Democrats led by Rep. John Dingell introduced legislation Thursday seeking to overturn a Supreme Court decision that allows corporations and wealthy individuals to make unlimited donations to political action committees.
Politico: Congress Scrambles to Delay Ethics Law
Congress moved Thursday to temporarily delay implementation of the highly touted STOCK Act while some kinks are being worked out. One worry: that the high-profile law — intended to shine daylight on the financial transactions of top lawmakers, staffers and family members — could unintentionally reveal the identity …
As the campaign against the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has shown, sometimes the best way to tackle corporate influence in our politics is to name and shame corporations that are secretly financing front groups to manipulate our democracy. Dozens of corporations have left ALEC thanks to this tactic.
On a recent national call with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), leading campaign finance reformer Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) endorsed a version of this tactic to tackle dark money in our elections. He referenced the anti-Apartheid movement, which called for divestment from funds that supported South Africa, and suggested this …
87% percent of Americans find, “reducing corruption in the federal government,” to be “extremely,” or, “very important” according to a new Gallup poll on American’s top priorities for the next president. This is the #2 issue, following only job creation.
Corruption in government usually ranks as an important issue when it is asked about specifically, though it is not as top-of-mind as jobs or the economy.
Particularly, corruption does less well in polls when respondents are asked to volunteer priorities. However, only 2% thought corruption was not an important issue. In addition, corruption, like job …
The Partnership for a Secure Financial Future is working on image rehab for the financial industry.
They released a lovely video that features a slew of financial services employees talking about how they help their community and why they like their jobs.The Partnership is supported by the Consumer Bankers Association, Mortgage Bankers Association, Financial Services Institute, and The Financial Services Roundtable.
Directly next in line to this video is a written report commending themselves for their “industry initiative” for “these dramatic improvements” in banking. It then calls for a re-examination of the Dodd-Frank, “provisions and combination of provisions that needlessly …
The following is a joint investigation of In These Times and Republic Report.
By Mike Elk and Lee Fang
As labor seeks to communicate its message in the media and influence policy, many unions are looking to outside consultant firms. These groups sometimes provide the technical expertise, media suaveness, and necessary connections for unions to get their message out to the right audience. However, a recent joint investigation by In These Times and Republic Report reveals that several millions dollars of union members’ dues have been going to firms that are actively working against labor’s top priorities on behalf of business interests. In some cases, …
GOP lawmakers huddled with fossil fuel industry lobbyists on Monday to lay the “groundwork for the party’s official energy platform at August’s national convention.”
The Hill quotes Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) as explaining, “Everyone just kind of threw in a pitch. There were a lot of different people up there.” By everyone in this “small group discussion,” he meant lobbyists representing coal, oil, gas, wind, and electric utilities as well as GOP lawmakers and their aides.
Many of these same lobbyists will make a repeat appearance on committees this week to aid Republican attacks on Obama energy policies, claiming they are too limited and …
Last night, Lee Fang joined a panel on Thom Hartmann’s television program to discuss the failure of the DISCLOSE Act, legislation designed to bring transparency to the election system. Under current law, much of the electioneering in our political system is undisclosed. The legislation, which was filibustered twice last week, would have forced secretive 501(c) campaign committees to disclose their donors in the same manny in which PACs and Super PACs reveal financial information.
Take a look at Republic Report’s coverage of the DISCLOSE Act debate last week:
– Ron Paul organization Campaign for Liberty advances falsehoods to smear the …
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