On April 30, I published an article criticizing former Obama Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and National Urban League President Marc Morial for joining the board of Corinthian Colleges, one of the most irresponsible and predatory for-profit college businesses. (The Los Angeles Times ran a piece addressing this matter on May 31.) Corinthian, which operates under the
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Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley says she’s expanded her investigation of whether for-profit colleges have deceived students in her state about their prices, graduation rates, and job placement records. “The more we look, the more we see it as a real problem,” Coakley told the Boston Globe. Coakley identified one school she’s probing — American Career Institute (ACI),
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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