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| CREW Cuts | October 2007/ Issue #6 | |
CREW Releases Third Annual Most Corrupt Members of Congress Report  On September 18th, CREW released its third annual report on the most corrupt members of Congress entitled Beyond DeLay: The 22 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and two to watch). Beyond DeLay documents the unethical and illegal activities of 24 members of Congress. Among the members listed in CREW's 2007 report, 11 are currently under federal investigation and one member, Rep. Jerry Weller (R-IL), announced his retirement days after the report was released. Ten members listed in the CREW's 2006 report are no longer serving in Congress. The full report and member profiles can be found at www.beyonddelay.org. Media in the members' districts have both reported on the study and editorialized on the allegations, including the Johnstown (PA) Tribune-Democrat and the Chicago Sun-Times. Read CREW's third annual Beyond DeLay report CREW Requests Dept. of Ed. Audit of NCLB Funds Spent on Neil Bush's Ignite! Learning Products On September 12th, CREW requested that the Department of Education's Inspector General (IG) investigate why federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) funds are being spent on educational products sold by Ignite! Learning, a company founded and headed by Neil Bush, President Bush's younger brother. Congress has set rigorous standards for the types of educational approaches and products on which NCLB funds can be spent. CREW's research shows that Ignite! products do not meet those criteria and in fact, there is no scientific data, as defined by NCLB, supporting the effectiveness of Ignite! products. CREW's three-month investigation revealed that school districts are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, including NCLB funds, on Ignite!'s Curriculum on Wheels (COW). At a standard price of $3,800-$4,200 per unit, the COW is a very expensive device with limited use. Adding to the initial expense, schools must pay an annual $1,000 licensing, upkeep and upgrade fee in order to retain the COW for more than one year. Read CREW's letter to the Dept. of Ed. IG Read the Austin American Statesman story Read the Palm Beach Post editorial |
CREW asks Min. Leader McConnell to Remove Sen. Stevens from Committee Assignments CREW executive director Melanie Sloan sent a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on September 17th asking once again that he remove Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) from his committee assignments and refer the criminal matters surrounding the FBI investigation into Sen. Stevens' activities to the Senate Ethics Committee. The letter specifically called for Sen. Stevens to step down from his position on the Senate Appropriations Committee where he oversees the Department of Justice's budget. Sloan sent the letter in response to testimony on September 14th by Bill Allen, founder of VECO Corp., an Alaska-based oil field services and engineering company, who admitted in court that VECO employees worked on Sen. Stevens' home and that VECO paid for some of the renovations. The renovation of Sen. Stevens' Girdwood, Alaska home has been of the subject of federal investigations. Read CREW's letter to Min. Leader McConnell Read the Anchorage Daily News story
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| (c) 2007 Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, all rights reserved. | |||
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