Bill Buzenberg interviews former Congressman Lee H. Hamilton

The Center in the News . . .

The Sunlight Foundation's SunSpots blog featured the "eye-popping reports" from the Center's Shadow Government project. The Center's Shadow Government project investigated a few federal advisory committees, part of a vast maze of committees, tasked with influencing federal government agencies on a variety of safety and policy issues, often done under secretive conditions with little public accountability.

Douglas Feith, President Bush's undersecretary of defense for policy from July 2001 to August 2005, was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart May 12 and talked about the Iraq War. He said, "I think a lot of what the administration said was correct." The Center's Iraq War Card project, which documented 935 false statements made by Bush and six top administration officials in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq, would prove otherwise.

Watch the world premier video of Harry Shearer's video "935 Lies." Shearer, best known for his work on The Simpsons, This is Spinal Tap, Le Show, Saturday Night Live, For Your Consideration and A Mighty Wind, unveiled a video satire based on the Center's Iraq War Card project, which documented the 935 false statements orchestrated by top Bush Administration officials in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune's Kirsten Mitchell reported that Sen. Pete Domenici and 16 other Republican senators, who support the easing of offshore drilling restrictions on the Outer Continental Shelf for oil and gas, have received more than $3 million in campaign contributions from individuals and PACS affiliated with the oil and gas industry since Jan. 1, 2007.

The Washington Post's Matthew Mosk reported that Steven A. Betts, a top presidential campaign fundraiser for Sen. John McCain, was one of several Arizona developers who benefited from McCain-engineered land swaps.

The New York Times reported that influential Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby's ties run deep in the mortgage industry and local real estate market.

McClatchy Newspapers correspondent Greg Gordon in the Kansas City Star article, "Disclosures understate finances of Clinton, McCain, Obama," reported that Sen. Hillary Clinton excluded nearly $24 million of her husband's earnings from Senate financial statements from 2004 through 2006.

TheStreet.com's John Stout cited the Center's Buying of the President 2008 chapter on Stealth Campaigns in "How Much Does It Cost to Buy a Presidency?" Political non-profit groups, such as MoveOn.org and the American Leadership Project, "will probably play an important role in this presidential election," he said.

Craig Newmark, Internet entrepreneur and Craigslist founder, mentioned the Center's examination of political 501(c)(4) and 527 committees in the presidential race in his Huffington Post blog. In part II of its series on stealth campaigns, the Center compared Freedom's Watch with MoveOn.org.

The Huffington Post, in "Wal-Mart Plays Politics with Charity," talked about the Center's posted video footage of Wal-Mart manager meetings that discussed employee contributions to the company's PAC.

In the The Politico's blog, "The Crypt," Jeanne Cummings called the Center's Wal-Mart clips "some pretty interesting video."

The Center's Wal-Mart videos were featured in Harper's Magazine Washington Babylon weblog in "Wal-Mart Political Videos: The ABCs of Buying Influence."


On HDNet, Dan Rather Reports examines Wal-Mart's PAC mentality.

The Kansas City Star in "Wal-Mart videos give Lenexa firm a new lease on life" featured the video production company hired to videotape Wal-Mart Store openings, shareholder and manager meetings.

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Center Blogs
Technology has created a chessboard of corporate and government interests in telecommunications and media. The players battle it out in Congress, at the Federal Communications Commission and in state houses. The "Well Connected" Project tracks this inside influence game. Read
The Center spotlights the best coverage of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath and tracks government contracts awarded for cleanup and reconstruction. The Katrina Watch project presents original Center reports and a daily roundup of links to the latest information culled from media and government Web sites. Read
THE CENTER ON
For decades, Indian pharmaceutical companies have manufactured and supplied low-cost generic medicines, such as the life-saving antiretroviral drugs prescribed to AIDS patients. But recent changes in India’s patent law could soon make these drugs unaffordable in many parts of the world.
Watch “Patients vs. Patents” on the website of HDNet’s Dan Rather Reports for the Center’s investigation into how global pharmaceutical giants, with the help of the U.S. government, have changed India’s patent law for their own benefit.


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