Last week, Republic Report inaugurated our weekly feature, Sell Out Of The Week, a series on political leaders who have sold out the public interest in favor of greedy corporate interests. A year ago this week, at the height of the Arab Spring democratic revolt across the Middle East, protesters calling for better economic conditions
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Early this month, the Republic Report’s Lee Fang broke the story that Patricia McKeon, the wife of House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA), had taken major campaign contributions from the defense industry in her state legislature race. It is entirely likely that the defense industry is trying to influence the congressman by
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Turn on the television in southwest Michigan this week, and you might see an ad from the Michigan Chamber of Commerce praising Congressman Fred Upton (R), who now locked in a contentious primary election with former State Representative Jack Hoogendyk (R). The narrator thanks Upton for “creating jobs” with lower taxes and less regulations. View
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Last year, Congress passed three trade deals with foreign countries — South Korea, Panama, and Colombia. Although these deals were referred to in mainstream political debate as “free trade” agreements, the truth is that all three agreements protected certain industries over others rather than completely drop trade barriers.  The agreements, like past free trade pacts, also
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Republic Report’s Suzanne Merkelson contributed writing and research to this article. The Huffington Post published an excellent piece yesterday by reporter Chris Kirkham describing how the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) wants to buy up state prisons, all under the guise of helping state governments deal with their budget shortfalls. Called the Corrections Investment Initiative
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The ways in which industry advances a policy agenda are multifaceted, and often extend far beyond the realm of traditional “inside lobbying.” To influence policymakers, industry will often try to manipulate public opinion. In the case of greenhouse gas pollution, industry has taken to new levels of influence peddling to suppress the science of global
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Former President George W. Bush will speak at the annual meeting of APSCU, the leading association of for-profit colleges, on June 22 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Bush is an appropriate speaker, in a sense, because his Administration’s deliberate actions made it easier for bad actors among for-profit schools to
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Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the start of the pro-democracy protest movement in the Kingdom of Bahrain. As demonstrators took to the streets to speak out against the government, police attacked protesters and detained a number of people, including American citizens Huwaida Arraf and Radhika Sainath. After media pressure forced their release, both Americans were
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