New York Times: Inquiry Looks Into a Shield for Donors in Elections Important story on secret money funneled to influence elections by outside groups: “Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman of New York has begun investigating contributions to tax-exempt groups that are heavily involved in political campaigns, focusing on a case involving the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has
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On Tuesday, the federal government released information about which career training programs and for-profit colleges are passing — and which are flunking — its new “gainful employment” rule.  The Obama Administration watered down this regulation last year after a massive lobbying campaign by the for-profit college industry, and the rule imposes only the most minimal
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Two weeks ago, we were the first news site to report that Mercury Public Affairs, acting on behalf of its client Wal-Mart, sent a senior associate to spy on organizing workers in Los Angeles. The same day, we confronted Mercury at its Washington, D.C. headquarters and were met with tight lips and few details from
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When reporters in Iowa asked Mitt Romney last fall what he planned to do about higher education in America, he praised by name Florida’s Full Sail University and the University of Phoenix, and for-profit colleges in general, which he said used innovative strategies to “hold down the cost of their education.” Romney said, “You are going to
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Citizens United, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that helped bring even more corporate money into politics, has already made history. Outside groups have spent record amounts influencing the 2012 election already propelling unlikely candidates like Newt Gingrich to remain in the race for far longer than actual voters seemed to want them around. People on the
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A Simple Government. To our surprise, the former Arkansas governor quoted a statistic produced by the Republic Report on how members of Congress enrich themselves by becoming lobbyists. In March, we took a look at the salaries of members of Congress who have retired and become lobbyists, and found that on average, they increased their
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How much does corruption cost you?  When you use a non-network ATM, it’s usually a $3 fee, just for accessing your own money.  The cost to the bank charging you that money, however, is just 37 cents.  That’s price gouging, and when you add it all up, it’s a total of $7 billion annually that goes from those
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The Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities is the primary lobbying group for the for-profit college industry. As we’ve reported before on Republic Report, some APSCU member schools have a record of fraudulent practices: targeting veterans and low-income people for recruitment while maintaing atrocious drop-out and loan default rates. APSCU and its members spend thousands of
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