Hi everyone, this is my first time using this service :)
Saw this nonsense in the front page of Google News, an entry in the LA Times:
The nonpartisan taxpayer watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste is out with its newest Pig Book...
According to the Pig Book ("The Book Washington Does Not Want You to Read"), New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is our new grand national oinker among presidential contenders for most pork barrel spending...
The new national hero, on the other hand, for not inserting one penny of pork barrel spending is the Republican Party's presumptive nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
Wha...? how exactly did the authors of this book define "special spending"? They must have read the same dictionary Bill had when he used the term "is". No mention of the Iraq War or McCain's own shady connections with lobbyists...
All told, there are 11 current or former lobbyists working for or advising McCain, at least double the number in any other campaign. Among the current and former lobbyists working for McCain are: Campaign CEO Rick Davis, a partner at Davis Manafort, where his clients have included SBC Communications and Verizon; and former Davis Manafort associate, National eCampaign Director Christian Ferry. At the end of 2006, Mike Dennehy, who founded The Dennehy Group, a New Hampshire lobbying firm, was appointed McCain's national political director. He gave up that post in May to become a senior campaign advisor
Hm, who exactly are these Citizens against Government Waste?
http://www.sourcewatch.org/...
CAGW, an IRS 501(c)(3) tax deductable charity, is closely linked to the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) which is an IRS 501(c)(4) and therefore it is not a tax deductable organization but more free to do lobbying. "[CCAGW] is the lobbying arm of CGAW." [6]
According to the CAGW website "Eighty-five percent of the organization's funding comes from individual contributors around the nation. Corporate and foundation gifts account for the other 15 percent". [7]
In 2001 CAGW's total budget was $4.7 million.
Media Transparency's database records CAGW as having received 8 grants totalling $225,000 (unadjusted for inflation) from three foundations - the Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation, John M. Olin Foundation and Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. Since 1998 the only foundation funder has been Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation.[8]
The conservative Capital Research Center (CRC) notes in its Searchlight database (which records corporate and general foundation contributions) that CAGW has "received funding from:
* Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
* Merrill Lynch & Company Foundation
* Exxon Corporation (now ExxonMobil)
* Ingersoll-Rand Company
* Johnson & Johnson
* F.M. Kirby Foundation
* Philip Morris
* RJR Nabisco (now part of the Altria Group)
* Sears Roebuck & Company[9]
Others listed include:
* John Deere Foundation
* Eaton Charitable Fund
* Columbia/HCA Foundation
However, CRC's database generally does not record direct corporate contributions as distinct from grants from corporate foundations.
A few examples of tobacco industry donations to CAGW:
* Philip Morris
o 1995, $50,000 [10]
o 1996, $50,000 [11]
o 1997, $50,000 [12]
o 1998, $35,000 [13]
o 1999, $10,000 (budgeted) [14]
* The Tobacco Institute
o 1999, $10,000 (budgeted) [15]
http://www.sptimes.com/...
WASHINGTON - Two years ago, the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste launched a lobbying campaign about avocados.
The group, which enjoys a strong reputation in the nation's capital for keeping an independent eye on government spending, plunged into an obscure agricultural dispute. It issued press releases and prodded its members to support avocados from Mexico.
Hm, does it make sense for an organization ostensibly against pork-barrel spending to double as a lobbying firm for Big Tobacco and Big Agriculture? I don't think so.