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Bill Buzenberg interviews former Representative Lee H. Hamilton

The Center in the News . . .

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.

"The numbers behind the stories" is a new report by the Center for Global Development (CGD) based on data provided by the Center. In 2006, in response to a lawsuit brought by the Center, the U.S. government released funding information about the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR). Part of that data was used in the Center's award-winning Divine Intervention investigation and part was shared with CGD for their report.

The Courier-Journal in "Lobbyists throw Thunder party for senators" mentions that a special dinner for Kentucky state senators will be paid for by more than a dozen Kentucky companies and lobbying firms during Thunder Over Louisville.

The Denver Post reported in "Abramoff ties cloud Schaffer's '99 fact-finding trip" the details behind a "fact-finding" trip taken by former Conressman Bob Schaffer to the Northern Mariana Islands organized by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

News Releases

For more information on the Center and its projects, contact:
Steve Carpinelli
Media Relations Manager
(202) 481-1225

(4/15/2008) The Center for Public Integrity has won three 2007 Sigma Delta Chi awards in journalism for three of its investigations. Collateral Damage: Human Rights and U.S. Military Aid after 9/11 won first place in the online investigative reporting independent category; Wasting Away: Superfund's Toxic Legacy won first place in the online non-deadline reporting independent category; and States of Disclosure: Tracking the private interests of public officials won in the online public service in journalism independent category. With these three awards, the Center has now won a total of eleven SPJ awards since its founding in 1989.
(4/3/2008) The Center for Public Integrity is pleased to announce that David E. Kaplan has been named the new Director of its International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
(3/25/2008) WASHINGTON, D.C. March 25, 2008 — The Center for Public Integrity has won the 2007 Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) award for online investigative journalism for Collateral Damage: Human Rights and U.S. Military Aid after 9/11. This recognition marks the eleventh time since 1997 that the Center has either won first place or was a finalist for an IRE award.
(1/23/2008) Leading up to the five-year anniversary of the Iraq war, the Center for Public Integrity has released the first analysis of its kind, "Iraq – The War Card: Orchestrated Deception on the Path to War." This comprehensive examination of top Bush administration officials' statements over a two-year period shows how top officials galvanized public opinion in the run-up to the March 18, 2003 invasion of Iraq.
(1/9/2008) The Center for Public Integrity has assembled an award-winning team of journalists and researchers to build one of the most comprehensive, illuminating, and frequently updated websites on presidential politics and fundraising, The Buying of the President 2008.
(12/10/2007) The Center for Public Integrity has won the National Press Foundation's 2007 Excellence in Online Journalism award, prestigious national recognition for the highest standards in the field of journalism.
(11/19/2007) It's been four years since the Center released its acclaimed Windfalls of War investigation, which first named Halliburton as the largest single contractor in Iraq and revealed the most comprehensive list of the top Iraq and Afghanistan contractors available at the time. That list included more than 70 American companies that had been awarded up to $8 billion in contracts from 2002 through July 1, 2004. By the end of 2006, U.S. contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan have grown to $25 billion, while oversight has seriously deteriorated, according to a new Center analysis, Windfalls of War II.
(9/13/2007) The Center for Public Integrity's Takings Initiatives Accountability Project was awarded first place in the outstanding online reporting category by the Society of Environmental Journalists. This marks the second time the Center has won SEJ's annual award in the online reporting category.
(8/28/2007) The Center for Public Integrity's lawsuit to obtain broadband records from the Federal Communication Commission was denied in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle on the grounds that public disclosure of the requested data would be "likely to cause substantial competitive harm" to the submitting companies. The Center originally filed its lawsuit on Sept. 24, 2006, in an effort to make broadband data publicly searchable by ZIP code.
(8/7/2007) The Center for Public Integrity's Hired Guns investigative project, featuring its lead story, "Statehouse Revolvers," has been awarded first place for excellence in the in-depth online reporting category by Capitolbeat, the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors. This marks the fifth time the Center has won the annual Capitolbeat Excellence Award for its state-related investigative projects.
(7/19/2007) The state of Washington was the only state to receive an "A" for disclosure laws for its governors, while Idaho, Michigan, Utah and Vermont scored a "0," according to a six-month Center for Public Integrity survey ranking and comparing the personal financial disclosure requirements for the nation's 50 governors.
(7/13/2007) The Congresspedia Wiki Website today added the Center for Public Integrity's "Well Connected" project on telecommunication and media to its telecom, media and intellectual property policy portal.