Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

Make Your Reservation for the Yankee Institute Brunch, Saturday, May 5, 2012� 10:30 AM 700 East Main Street, Stamford, CT,Guest Speaker MSNBC's Joe Scarborough Have Brunch with Morning Joe! lease reserve your seat today if you have not done so already! ickets are $40 per person and include free parking.Want a picture with Joe? Come at 10 a.m. for a photo op! Tickets are $250 and include one photo for an individual or couple as well as brunch and free parking. Proceeds will benefit the Yankee Institute.� All questions should be directed to Jessica at (860) 282-0722 or jessica@yankeeinstitute.org.

As Use Of License Plate Scanners Spreads, Privacy Concerns Deepen Jon Lender April 21, 2012 The issue of who's watching ordinary citizens is becoming as omnipresent in the 2012 Connecticut legislature as the eye of the surveillance camera in so many parking lots, stores and other buildings�"The thing that we are trying to safeguard against is a massive buildup of data, [which] creates an instant dossier" on citizens, ACLU staff attorney David J. McGuire said Friday. Legislative leaders have been reluctant to grapple this year with the license-plate scanners issue, but the ACLU now has managed to get a couple of lawmakers to insert substitute language into the empty shell of a bill that was headed nowhere � in effect, creating a new measure that would require police within 14 days to dump any license-plate data they've scanned, unless they're relevant to an investigation or prosecution. Continued at �.. http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-lender-column-plate-scanners-0422-20120421,0,7896326.column

Social Security heading for insolvency even faster April 23, 2012 WASHINGTON (AP) - Social Security is rushing even faster toward insolvency, driven by retiring baby boomers, a weak economy and politicians' reluctance to take painful action to fix the huge retirement and disability program. The trust funds that support Social Security will run dry in 2033 - three years earlier than previously projected - the government said Monday. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SOCIAL_SECURITY_MEDICARE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-04-23-19-19-24

Edwards and Rowland and Wilson-Foley by Kevin Rennie The Register Citizen marks the opening of the John Edwards campaign contribution-private gift nexus trial with a revelation on the relationship between felonious former Governor John G. Rowland and nursing home magnate Brian Foley and his wife, Republican congressional hopeful Lisa Wilson-Foley. The newspaper reports that Rowland and the nursing home had some sort of business deal. Campaign spokesman and one-time Rowland critic Chris Healy provided a muted response to inquiries from the Register Citizen�s Jordan Fenster. Healy did not know when the dough stopped flowing from the Foleys to Rowland, but he could not be sure it did not overlap with Wilson-Foley�s campaign. There�s probably an easy way to find out�ask. Even better, release the consulting agreement. It will have dates, amounts, duties and obligations in it. Continued at �.. http://www.dailyructions.com/edwards-and-rowland-and-wilson-foley/

Appropriations Committee Passes Education Bill Untouched

More details in Secret Service scandal

State of Connecticut Single Audit Report

For Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2011

March 30, 2012

State of Connecticut Office of Legislative Research

DEATH ROW INMATES

CHARACTERISTICS OF CHARTER AND PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS

Check out Additional Reports by the

State of Connecticut Office of Legislative Research http://www.cga.ct.gov/olr/rptsbytopic.asp?olrYear=2012&olrTopic=ALL

An Attorney Advocates For School Vouchers �CTNewsjunkie.com by Michael Lee-Murphy | Apr 23, 2012 7:09am American society generally views education as enough of a public good to completely fund it and make it free for all.That standard, according to Richard Komer, an attorney with the Institute for Justice, is �from an economic point of view, nonsense.�Komer spoke at the Legislative Office Building as part of a panel on school choice, hosted by the Federalist Society, a self identified conservative-libertarian law society.The Federalist Society, said Connecticut chapter president Peter Bowman, does not take positions on specific issues like Gov. Dannel P. Malloy�s education bill, but rather functions as something of a debate society.Komer, who has argued several school choice cases before the Supreme Court, said that school choice would open up the system to market forces.Public education, Komer said, cannot be reformed from within. Continued at �� http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/an_attorney_advocates_for_school_vouchers/

Investigation: Two Years After the BP Spill, a Hidden Health Crisis Festers �On March 3 Nicole Maurer learned of the proposed settlement between BP and hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast businesses and residents harmed by its 2010 oil spill, the largest in US history.Antonia Juhasz

� April 18, 2012 | This article appeared in the May 7, 2012 edition of The Nation.� On February 27, US District Court Judge Carl Barbier was to hear opening arguments against BP, Transocean, Halliburton and all the companies involved in the disaster. The case consolidates virtually every civil charge brought against the companies by individuals, business and property owners, and the federal and state governments. It is the most complex and significant environmental litigation in history. As this article goes to press it seems unlikely that the plaintiffs will ever get their day in court. Read complete article at �..

http://www.thenation.com/article/167461/investigation-two-years-after-bp-spill-hidden-health-crisis-festers

FedStats, �Federal statistical information resource

PAC Track

What and Where are the Super PACs Spending?

Medicare funding to run short by 2024

Mitt Romney Budget Promises Leave Tough Cuts To Social ... Programs, Domestic Agencies� By ANDREW TAYLOR 04/23/12 04:12 AM ET AP� WASHINGTON � Reducing government deficits Mitt Romney's way would mean less money for health care for the poor and disabled and big cuts to nuts-and-bolts functions such as food inspection, border security and education. Romney also promises budget increases for the Pentagon, above those sought by some GOP defense hawks, meaning that the rest of the government would have to shrink even more. Nonmilitary programs would incur still larger cuts than those called for in the tightfisted GOP budget that the House passed last month.� Continued at ��

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/23/mitt-romney-budget-promises_n_1445368.html

Facing bankruptcy, Detroit's mayor spends $330K on Washington lobbyists

Romney backs student loan proposal Obama supports

Weighing the Legal Ramifications of the Wal-Mart Bribery Case

By PETER J. HENNING Henry Romero/Reuters A Wal-Mart store in Mexico City. The New York Times reported that a vast bribery case in Mexico was hushed up by the company after a top-level struggle. The United States government puts a premium on corporate cooperation in foreign bribery cases, relying on companies to conduct thorough internal investigations and voluntarily disclose any wrongdoing. Indications that Wal-Mart Stores may have taken steps to keep an internal investigation from digging deeper into $24 million in questionable payments � and later promoting an executive who may have been implicated in them � may affect how the government decides to proceed against the giant retailer. Wal-Mart first disclosed in December that it had started �a voluntary internal review of its policies, procedures and internal controls pertaining to its global anticorruption compliance program.� That review was the result of reporting by The New York Times about bribery by Wal-Mart de M�xico to secure permits and approvals to build new stores. �Read complete article at http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/04/23/weighing-the-legal-ramifications-of-the-wal-mart-bribery-case/

Wal-Mart Hushed Up a Vast Mexican Bribery Case - The New York ...

Confronted with evidence of widespread corruption in Mexico, top Wal-Mart executives focused more on damage control than on rooting out wrongdoing, an examination by The New York Times found. By DAVID BARSTOW

Published: April 21, 2012 �MEXICO CITY � In September 2005, a senior Wal-Mart lawyer received an alarming e-mail from a former executive at the company�s largest foreign subsidiary, Wal-Mart de Mexico. In the e-mail and follow-up conversations, the former executive described how Wal-Mart de Mexico had orchestrated a campaign of bribery to win market dominance. In its rush to build stores, he said, the company had paid bribes to obtain permits in virtually every corner of the country. �Read complete article at �. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/business/at-wal-mart-in-mexico-a-bribe-inquiry-silenced.html?_r=1

Citizens United Constitutional Amendment Backed By Vermont Legislature Resolutions have been introduced in 20 other states and have been approved in at least one legislative chamber in Alaska, California and Iowa. April 19, 2012 WASHINGTON -- Vermont has become the third U.S. state to pass a resolution calling on Congress to amend the Constitution to get money out of politics and reverse the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling that allows unlimited corporate money in politics The resolution passed the Vermont House 92-40 on Thursday, one week after the state Senate approved it 26-3. Aquene Freechild, the senior organizer in Vermont for Public Citizen's Democracy Is For People campaign, called the passage of the resolution "absolutely amazing."�.. Activists involved with Vermonters Say Corporations Are Not People got at least 65 towns to pass statements supporting a state resolution.� Continued at

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/19/citizens-united-constitutional-amendment-vermont_n_1439002.html

High court to hear Arizona immigration case this week

McClatchy Newspapers April 22, 2012 WASHINGTON � Immigration politics will hit the Supreme Court this week as justices consider how much border-control clout the states can deploy.The court must decide whether Arizona went too far with a crackdown that includes ordering police to routinely check the legal residency status of people they stop. The court's ruling answer this election year could ignite Capitol Hill, other states and, especially, Hispanic voters."This is a huge case, of great importance," said Andrew I. Schoenholtz, a visiting professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center.Arizona v. United States, the case being heard Wednesday, carries well-beyond the notoriously porous Southwest border. South Carolina, Idaho, Florida and 13 other states have allied themselves with Arizona, arguing for the power to impose certain immigration measures if they choose. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and 16 other House Democrats from California take the opposite position. On both sides, dozens of friend-of-the-court briefs press different points.� Read complete article at �..

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765570744/High-court-to-hear-Arizona-immigration-case-this-week.html

Student Loan Borrowers Dazed and Confused by Servicer Shuffle

by Marian Wang ProPublica, April 23, 2012, The Department of Education has been transferring large batches of federal student loans to new loan-servicing companies [1] � leaving in the lurch some borrowers who are suddenly encountering problems with their loans, such as payments that are mysteriously adjusted up [2] or down [3]. The switch, which has been going on for months and will ultimately include millions of loans, is mandated by a little-known provision tucked into the 2010 healthcare overhaul. Pushed by a consortium of nonprofit student loan companies, the provision forces the DOE to use nonprofit loan servicers. But at least in the short run, the switch has caused problems. Read complete article at �.. http://www.propublica.org/article/student-loan-borrowers-dazed-and-confused-by-servicer-shuffle#id=I1_1335226673187&parent=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.propublica.org&rpctoken=793888295&_methods=onPlusOne%2C_ready%2C_close%2C_open%2C_resizeMe%2C_renderstart

Dozens Killed In Wave Of Attacks Across Iraq - Sky News

Read the Tax Returns From Karl Rove�s �Dark Money� Group (Donors Still a Mystery) by Kim Barker ProPublica, April 18, 2012 The returns for nonprofit Crossroads GPS are the first glimpse of how much the group, which has spent millions on political ads, raised in 2010 and 2011. One of the most talked-about "dark money" groups of the election released its tax returns yesterday, showing it raised almost $77 million [1] from fewer than 100 donors over 19 months. Most of the money spent in its first year went directly to political ads or grants to other groups. (Here are the full returns, for both 2010 [2] and 2011 [3]. We've marked interesting bits. If you spot something we haven't, let us know [4].)

By choosing to include the number of donors and the amounts of some of its larger donations, including one of $10.1 million in the first year and another of $10.1 million in the last seven months of 2011, the group was somewhat more transparent than the IRS requires. Still, Crossroads GPS [5], also known as Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, retained plenty of mystery � namely, their donors' identities. There are no donor names, no clues as to whether they are individuals, companies or trade groups, and no hint as to whether there are repeated donors from year to year. Read complete article at �.. http://www.propublica.org/article/read-the-tax-returns-from-karl-roves-dark-money-group-donors-still-a-myster

Meet the Media Companies Lobbying Against Transparency

by Justin Elliott | @elliottjustin ProPublica April 20, 2012, � News organizations cultivate a reputation for demanding transparency, whether by suing for access to government documents, dispatching camera crews to the doorsteps of recalcitrant politicians, or editorializing in favor of open government. But now many of the country�s biggest media companies, which own dozens of newspapers and TV news operations, are flexing their muscle in Washington in a fight against a government initiative to increase transparency of political spending. The corporate owners or sister companies of some of the biggest names in journalism � NBC News, ABC News, Fox News, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Politico, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and dozens of local TV news outlets � are lobbying against a Federal Communications Commission measure that would require broadcasters to post political ad data on the Internet. As we have recently detailed [1], political ad data is public by law but not easy to get because it is kept only in paper files at each station. The FCC has proposed fixing that by requiring broadcasters to post online the details of political ad purchases, including the identity of the buyer and the price. Continued at ......

http://www.propublica.org/article/meet-the-media-companies-lobbying-against-transparency

More coverage: If TV Stations Won't Post Their Data on Political Ads, We Will

Citi shareholders say 'no' to bloated executive pay

12th military member tied to prostitution scandal

Malloy makes budget predictions Mark Davis Monday, 23 Apr 2012, 6:08 PM EDT HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) -- Despite numbers that seem to indicate his budget is in trouble, Governor Malloy continues to predict that the state will end the budget year in the black. However, republicans are already predicting the General Assembly will need a Special Session to deal with the growing deficit.

The Governor correctly notes that the red ink is very small compared to the $3.5 billion deficit he faced when he came to office, but it's still a hole and not one he seems willing to acknowledge. Continued at �.. http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/politics/malloy-makes-budget-predictions

25 Percent Of Americans Uninsured

Scandals Spur Action on Pension Forfeitures - Governing� Magazine�. Connecticut lawmakers scrambled to find a way to prevent former Gov. John Rowland, convicted in 2004 of selling access to his office for personal gain, from receiving the $50,000 annual pension to which he was entitled when he turned 55, the Hartford Courant reported in April 2008. A new law was adopted in October 2008, requiring the state attorney general to request a court order to have the pension rescinded. However, it was too late to revoke Rowland's pension; Constitutional law is routinely interpreted to prohibit laws being applied retroactively, NCSL's Snell said.� Continued at �. http://www.governing.com/blogs/view/gov-scandals-spur-action-on-pension-forfeitures.html