Month: September 2011

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Press Release: Evidence Suggests Justice Thomas Flouted Federal Ethics Law

He Correctly Filled Out Federal Disclosure Forms for Five Years Before he Stopped, Citing Misunderstood Instructions

For Immediate Release
September 30, 2011

Contact: Blair FitzGibbon
202-503-6141

Washington, DC – Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas flouted federal law by deliberately withholding information about his wife’s sources of income from a disclosure form required of all judges, Common Cause said today. The statement comes on the heels of a new request made Thursday by 20 House Democrats requesting a federal investigation into whether Thomas broke federal disclosure laws.

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Buzzflash: Watch Out, Democrats: A New Silicon Valley-Funded Group Prepares to Rock the Conservative Christian Vote

-by Bill Berkowitz

September 29, 2011- "As the nation gears up for the 2012 presidential election," Ari Berman recently wrote in Rolling Stone magazine, "Republican officials have launched an unprecedented, centrally coordinated campaign to suppress the elements of the Democratic vote that elected Barack Obama in 2008." Amongst the methods being put forward in Republican-controlled state houses across the country are initiatives making registering to vote a much more difficult and laborious process.

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Huffington Post: Clarence Thomas Should Be Investigated For Nondisclosure, Democratic Lawmakers Say

-by Jennifer Bendry

September 29, 2011- Democratic lawmakers on Thursday called for a federal investigation into Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' failure to report hundreds of thousands of dollars on annual financial disclosure forms.

Led by House Rules Committee ranking member Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), 20 House Democrats sent a letter to the Judicial Conference of the United States — the entity that frames guidelines for the administration of federal courts — requesting that the conference refer the matter of Thomas' non-compliance with the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to the Department of Justice.

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Press Release: Slaughter, 19 Colleagues, Call for Investigation into Justice Thomas’s Non-Disclosure

Under Law, Judicial Conference Must Refer Issue to US Attorney General

WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee, together with 19 Members of Congress, today sent a letter to the Judicial Conference, requesting that the Conference follow the law and refer the matter of Justice Clarence Thomas's non-compliance with the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to the Department of Justice. Throughout his entire tenure on the Supreme Court, Justice Thomas has checked a box titled "none" on his annual financial disclosure forms, indicating that his wife had received no income, despite the fact that his wife had in fact earned nearly $700,000 from the Heritage Foundation from 2003-2007 alone.

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Huffington Post: Rick Perry Supporters Start Non-Profit That Can Accept Unlimited, Secret Donations

-by Paul Blumenthal

September 28, 2011- Supporters of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's presidential bid have organized a non-profit under the 501(c)(4) section of the tax code to aid his candidacy, according to a report from the Center for Public Integrity's iWatch News.

The group, Citizens for a Greater America, will be able to accept unlimited contributions from corporations, unions and individuals without having to publicly disclose those donations. A fact sheet obtained by iWatch News highlights this feature to donors. The new non-profit was revealed to iWatch News by a person who raises funds for both Perry and the pro-Perry super PAC, Make Us Great Again.

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Huffington Post: Political Groups Are Flouting IRS Rules To Keep Donors Secret, Reformers Say

-by Dan Froomkin

September 28, 2011- Good-government advocates on Wednesday asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate four groups they say are blatantly flouting the law by claiming tax-exempt status as "social welfare" groups when they are in fact overtly political organizations.

The so-called c4 designation, in addition to exempting organizations from taxes, also allows groups to keep their donors secret — even while accepting unlimited funds.

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Brad Blog: National Security Lab Hacks Diebold Touch-Screen Voting Machine by Remote Control With $26 in Computer Parts

Hack team leader: 'Can do similar things on pretty much every e-voting machine'…

-By Brad Friedman

September 27, 2011- The Vulnerability Assessment Team (VAT) at the U.S. Dept. of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois has managed to hack a Diebold Accuvote touch-screen voting machine in what I describe at my exclusive today at Salon as perhaps "one of the most disturbing e-voting machine hacks to date."

As noted by the computer scientists and security experts at Argonne's VAT, largely all that's needed to accomplish this hack is about $26 and an 8th grade science education.

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Salon: Diebold voting machines can be hacked by remote control

Exclusive: A laboratory shows how an e-voting machine used by a third of all voters can be easily manipulated

-By Brad Friedman

September 27, 2011- It could be one of the most disturbing e-voting machine hacks to date.

Voting machines used by as many as a quarter of American voters heading to the polls in 2012 can be hacked with just $10.50 in parts and an 8th grade science education, according to computer science and security experts at the Vulnerability Assessment Team at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. The experts say the newly developed hack could change voting results while leaving absolutely no trace of the manipulation behind.

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