February 22, 2014

WOW: You Won’t Believe What This For-Profit College Lobbyist Just Said (and Did)!

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Steve Gunderson, the former congressman (R-WI) who heads APSCU, the lobbying group for America’s for-profit colleges, seems to be getting desperate. The industry he represents is seeking once again to block the Obama Administration from issuing a “gainful employment” rule that would, eventually, cut off federal student aid to career training schools that consistently leave
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February 21, 2014

Chevron’s Lobbyist Now Runs the Congressional Science Committee

For Chevron, the second largest oil company in the country with $26.2 billion in annual profits, it helps to have friends in high places. With little fanfare, one of Chevron’s top lobbyists, Stephen Sayle, has become a senior staff member of the House Committee on Science, the standing congressional committee charged with “maintaining our scientific
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February 21, 2014

Whistleblower Lawsuit Versus Harris For-Profit College is Tip of the Iceberg

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A front-page New York Times article on Thursday reported on a lawsuit brought by former employees of the for-profit Harris School of Business alleging fraud at the school. The suit, filed under the federal whistleblower law, asserts that Harris regularly misleads students about the value of its programs, and signs up even students who have little
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February 21, 2014

Keystone XL Fight Pointless, Says ‘Green’ Pundit at Fossil Fuel-Funded Think Tank

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Yesterday, NPR’s Robert Siegel invited Paul Bledsoe — whom he introduced only as a former climate change advisor to the Clinton administration — to discuss why the Obama administration should go ahead and approve the Keystone XL pipeline. Bledsoe has appeared across the media in recent days promoting a theory that the Keystone XL will
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February 20, 2014

Palantir Hires Former Congressman to Oversee D.C. Operations, Doesn’t Register Him as a Lobbyist

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“The air is fresher outside of Washington,” said Zach Wamp, a Republican politician after he left his seat in Congress. Wamp told reporters that he would not pursue a career in lobbying. Instead, he founded a firm that he said would focus on “business development” in Chattanooga, Tennessee. But like many other former officials, leaving
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February 19, 2014

Media Companies Lobby for Trans-Pacific Partnership

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Earlier this month, Media Matters for America published a short research note revealing that most major cable and broadcast news outlets have largely ignored the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Media Matters’ “transcript search of CBS Evening News with Scott Pelly, ABC’s World News with Diane Sawyer, and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams from August 1, 2013 through
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February 18, 2014

Obama Must Not Coddle For-Profit Colleges Facing Fraud Probes

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The Obama Administration’s “gainful employment” rule, aimed at protecting students from predatory career colleges, has gone from the Department of Education to the White House Office of Management and Budget, which is holding meetings with interested parties. These include representatives of our coalition of student, veterans, civil rights, consumer, and other groups seeking a strong
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February 18, 2014

Comcast-Funded Latino Groups Celebrate Comcast Merger

Comcast chief executive Neil Smit (left) and Brent Wilkes (center). Smit has been tapped to lead the merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

While many community advocates expressed skepticism about the proposed merger between Comcast Corporation and Time Warner Cable, a certain subset of Latino organizations immediately celebrated the deal. The “United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) congratulates Comcast for its planned acquisition of Time Warner Cable,” proclaimed a press release sent to reporters last week. “Comcast is
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