Judicial Watch Details Ambitious Investigative Agenda for 112th Congress

/PRNewswire/ -- Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its list of investigative priorities for the new 112th Congress. The list, in alphabetical order, includes:

ACORN Corruption: Including, but not limited to, ACORN restructuring and rebranding; unethical activities by ACORN affiliates; incidents of voter registration fraud (Project Vote); and new Obama administration grants and funding for ACORN-linked groups.

Climategate: Including, but not limited to, the U.S. federal government's involvement in the international scheme to exaggerate the rise in world temperature readings, the Environmental Protection Agency's hyper-aggressive campaign to expand control over the economy through carbon restrictions and various controversies involving taxpayer-supported "green energy" programs.

Financial Solvency: Including, but not limited to, the impact nationally if individual States should begin to default on their debt.

Government Bailouts: Including, but not limited to, the government's legal and constitutional justification for authorizing the bailouts of private financial institutions; government deliberations regarding which institutions received grants from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP); the decision by the Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) to place Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under "conservatorship;" and the government takeover of the American automotive industry.

Illegal Immigration: Including, but not limited to, the President's attempts to enact stealth amnesty for illegal aliens without approval by Congress; deteriorating security on the nation's southern border with Mexico; and the Obama administration's unwillingness to enforce federal immigration laws.

National Security: Including, but not limited to, the Obama administration's mishandling of Guantanamo Bay and the decision to prosecute 9/11 terrorists including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other terrorists in civilian courts on U.S. soil.

Obama Administration Czars: Including, but not limited to, the President's decision to bypass Senate confirmation and appoint "czars" to hold positions of power within the Obama administration as well as various corruption scandals involving individual "czars."

Obamacare: Including, but not limited to, the criteria used by the Obama administration to provide "waivers" to companies and unions exempting them from provisions of Obamacare; the Obama administration's decision to evaluate medical treatments based solely on cost; and the regulation and funding of Obamacare in general.

Pension Fraud: Including, but not limited to, the funding and management of public pension plans for municipal, state and unionized government workers.

Politicization at the Department of Justice: Including, but not limited to racially and politically motivated decision-making in federal civil and voting rights enforcement (such as the decision to largely abandon a voter intimidation lawsuit against the Black Panthers); Justice's decision to attack states that attempt to address illegal immigration through enhanced law enforcement measures; and the duties and responsibilities of lawyers inside Justice who previously represented terrorists.

White House Bribery: Including, but not limited to, an effort by the Obama administration to allegedly interfere with Senate elections in Pennsylvania and Colorado by offering federal appointments to candidates Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) and Andrew Romanoff in exchange for abandoning their campaigns.

"The American people spoke clearly on Election Day: No more backroom deals, no more influence peddling and no more corruption. This new Congress has an obligation to honor the intense desire by the American people to clean up corruption in Washington," stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "The federal government has grown by trillions of dollars, yet much of this historic new government activity (and control) has escaped effective congressional oversight. It is well past time for Congress to help pry loose information from the Obama administration, which is the most secretive in recent American history."

Public Notice Launches New Radio Ads Targeting Government Overspending

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Public Notice, a non-partisan, non-profit, will launch this week a ten-state radio ad campaign to draw attention to the crisis of government overspending and the staggering fiscal problems it has created.

“Overspending isn’t helping the economy and it isn’t creating jobs. In reality, we’ve been burying the American people under a mountain of debt for the last decade.”

This week, Congress will interrupt its “August Recess” to rush back to Washington to...you guessed it: add tens of billions more onto the deficit with another round of spending the nation clearly can't afford.

Despite overspending by $1.5 trillion (projected fiscal year 2010 deficit) this year alone--and despite endless pledges to get its spending under control--Congress returned to Washington today to vote on a $26-billion spending package to pay for state workers the states themselves cannot afford.

This will be the latest in a string of bailouts to add to our already-record deficit, and prevent state and local governments from scaling back their own bloated budgets. It will also be another example of Washington paying lip service to fiscal discipline, but continuing to overspend at historic levels.

Public Notice's new ad campaign highlights this problem in hopes of enlisting Americans to push for change.

Gretchen Hamel, executive director of Public Notice said the following:

“Overspending isn’t helping the economy and it isn’t creating jobs. In reality, we’ve been burying the American people under a mountain of debt for the last decade.

“The good news for the U.S. is that we still have time to cut spending to avert disaster. However, this requires an amount of political courage currently lacking in Washington. A fiscal crisis could happen here; thinking it won’t has been the mentality of far too many nations…just before they tumble off the brink.”

Ads airing include:

“Stop Digging” – We’re $13 trillion in debt but Washington just keeps spending more. This ad questions the wisdom of Washington politicians continuing to dig our nation into a fiscal hole ever deeper.

“European Crisis” – Think it couldn’t happen here in America? It’s happening now. This ad highlights how Washington’s out-of-control spending and unfunded mandates are actually hurting the economy.

The 60-second radio ads are set to target the metropolitan areas of Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia and will run for the next month.