March 9, 2012
From The Federation of Connecticut
Taxpayer Organizations, Inc.
Contact Susan Kniep, President
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032
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Disciplined Doctors Still Get Drug Company Cash
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Malloy Administration Investigate Possible Data Breach
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What the Frack
is in That Water?
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Fracking: Gas Drilling's Environmental Threat
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The Bipartisan Force Behind the For-Profit College …
Scam: Big Money
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Should state government offer a retirement plan for private
citizens?
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Sealing Loose Lips: Charting Obama's Crackdown on Leaks
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State fails to recover $60M in missing taxpayer funds
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When the GOP Tried to Ban Dark Money
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PAC Track: What and Where are the
Super PACs Spending?
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FDA considers waiving prescriptions for key drugs
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Ponying Up: How Much Have Big Banks Been Docked for the Financial
Crisis?
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As an Adviser, Goldman Guaranteed Its Payday
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Editorial: Lobbyists who aren't lobbyists
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Joe Rubin: Aging Nuclear Reactors: Are We Doing Enough to
Ensure Safety?
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Afghan Air Force Probed in Drug Running
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National Taxpayers Union: Email - Spotlight: 3 Bills That
Could ... focus on EXPANDING DOMESTIC ENERGY
Disciplined Doctors Still Get Drug Company Cash March 06, 2012|By
LISA CHEDEKEL, Connecticut Health I-Team Writer, The Hartford Courant In 2010,
as state health officials were investigating allegations that Dr. Gerson Sternstein of Berlin was
overmedicating patients, three pharmaceutical companies were showering
thousands of dollars on the psychiatrist for meals and speaking engagements.
Some of the payments continued even after his license was suspended in August
2010. Similarly, Dr. Murray Wellner of West Hartford
was the beneficiary of speaking fees and meals from four drug companies last
year, even as federal prosecutors were investigating allegations that he wrote
11 illegal prescriptions for controlled substances — charges that he settled in
April by paying a $42,500 fine. Sternstein and Wellner are among the most striking examples of doctors in
Connecticut who have reaped benefits from pharmaceutical companies while also
being disciplined for violating medical conduct rules, according to records of
the state Department of Public Health and public disclosures by drug companies
from 2009 to 2011. That dual status — drug company beneficiary and over-prescriber — is not uncommon, experts
say.Continued at ….. http://articles.courant.com/2012-03-06/health/hc-doctors-drug-benefits-20120306_1_drug-companies-pharmaceutical-companies-prostate-cancer-drug
Malloy Administration Investigate Possible Data Breach By Christopher
Keating, Hartford, On March 7, 2012 Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration
is investigating a potential data breach of confidential health information
between two state agencies and state legislators that involves as many as 8,500
recipients of public benefits. Continued
at ….. http://courantblogs.com/capitol-watch/malloy-adminstration-investigating-possible-data-breach-between-agencies/
What the Frack is in That Water?
by Lena Groeger | @lenagroeger Oil and gas companies have long hidden the
"trade secret" chemicals they use in the process of fracking. We break down the most commonly found chemicals
and the ones that pose a serious health risk. Read complete report at http://www.propublica.org/special/what-the-frack-is-in-that-water
More coverage: Fracking: Gas Drilling's Environmental Threat
The Bipartisan Force Behind the For-Profit College …
Scam: Big Money
Zaid Jilani
3.6.2012 at 6:17 PM It starts with high level party functionaries paid by a
rich industry, which uses the talents and connections of those party
functionaries to extract government concessions. In this case, it’s the
for-profit college industry, which perpetually leaves students with astronomical debt while
providing poor quality education. The functionaries were former Bill Clinton
advisor Doug Sosnik and Republican consultant Sara Fagen. Rather than fighting like cats and dogs, these two
showed a keen sense of bipartisanship as they told leaders of these for-profit
education companies how they can use their power to manipulate Congress into
handing them more money….The joint presence of a senior Clinton advisor like Sosnik
and a veteran of the Bush White House like Fagen echoes the bipartisan nature of the lobbying effort
the for-profits continue to wage to avoid accountability for waste, fraud, and
abuse with federal dollars and students’ futures. Continued at ….. http://www.republicreport.org/2012/for-profit-colleges-sopa-union-consultants/
Should state government offer a retirement plan for private
citizens? By Keith M. Phaneuf
on March 7, 2012 State
government should offer a retirement plan to the increasing number of people
whose companies don't provide a pension or a 401(k) savings program, labor
groups and other advocates this week told a legislative panel. The Labor and Public Employees Committee has
raised a bill that would create a
task force to study that concept and report back when the 2013 General Assembly
session convenes next January. Read more
at http://ctmirror.com/story/15661/should-state-government-offer-retirement-plan-private-citizens
Sealing Loose Lips: Charting Obama's
Crackdown on Leaks by Cora Currier |
@coracurrier A timeline of the Obama
administration's aggressive campaign against government leakers. March 9, 2012
While the Obama administration has promised to strengthen protections for
whistleblowers, it has also launched an aggressive crackdown on government
employees who have leaked national security information to the press. The
administration has brought a total of six cases under the Espionage Act, which
dates from World War I and criminalizes disclosing information “relating
to the national defense.” (The Department of Justice has five
criminal cases and the Army has one against alleged Wikileaks
source Bradley Manning.) Prior to the current administration, there had been only three known casesresulting in indictments in
which the Espionage Act was used to prosecute government officials for leaks. A spokesman for the Department of Justice told
us the government “does not target whistleblowers.” (Read their full statement
below the timeline.) As they point out, government whistleblower protections
shield only those who raise their concerns through the proper channels within
their agency—not through leaks to the media or other unauthorized persons.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper summed up the government’s approach in a 2010 memo:
“people in the intelligence business should be like my grandchildren—seen but
not heard.” Here’s a timeline of leak prosecutions under the Espionage Act,
showing how they’ve picked up steam under Obama. Continued
at …… http://www.propublica.org/special/sealing-loose-lips-charting-obamas-crackdown-on-national-security-leaks
State fails to recover $60M in missing taxpayer funds
Dayton Daily News By Josh Sweigart, March 8, 2012 State watchdogs tout
their ability to track down misspent public money. But when it comes to
retrieving that money, state officials have been largely ineffective, a Dayton Daily News
investigation found. Of roughly $72 million the state auditor’s office has
singled out in audits of local government entities as mishandled and missing
since it began tracking it in 2001, only about $12 million has been brought
back to public coffers. Some outstanding debts are in the millions of dollars,
a Daily News investigation found. In the Miami Valley,
an analysis of state data found 578 findings totaling more than $2 million
outstanding. Continued at …… http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/state-fails-to-recover-60m-in-missing-taxpayer-funds-1340243.html
When the GOP Tried to Ban Dark Money
by Justin Elliott | @elliottjustin March 9, 2012
Last month, when House Democrats introduced [1] the DISCLOSE 2012 Act to try to
stop the flow of secret "dark money" into the electoral process, it
marked an ironic twist.
A decade ago, it was Republicans who were pushing for
disclosure of donors to nonprofit social welfare groups who are now pouring
millions into political attack ads and House Democrats who opposed them.
Continued at …. http://www.propublica.org/article/when-the-gop-tried-to-ban-dark-money
More coverage: PAC Track: What and Where are the Super
PACs Spending?
FDA considers waiving prescriptions for key drugs USAtoday.com March
9, 2012 WASHINGTON – Some of the most widely used prescription drugs, including
those to treat cholesterol and high blood pressure, could be available over the
counter under a new proposal being weighed by government regulators. Continued
at ….. http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2012-03-08/FDA-considers-waiving-prescriptions-for-key-drugs/53416812/1
Ponying Up: How Much Have Big Banks
Been Docked for the Financial Crisis?
By Cora Currier | @coracurrier March 6, 2012
Nearly four years after the financial crisis, settlements with the big players
on Wall Street keep coming out, one after the other. It can be hard to keep
track of it all. So who’s been hit, with what, and for how much in total? We
put together a chart of notable settlements reached between big banks and the
government—namely, the SEC and the Department of Justice—over charges stemming
from the crisis. In the case of the SEC settlements we list here, the firms
neither admitted nor denied the charges when agreeing to the terms of the
settlement. (The SEC’s habit of letting banks sidestep the question of culpability has been widely criticized.)Overall, the SEC says it has brought in almost $2 billion in
penalties as well as money for investors from settlements related to the
crisis, and the Department of Justice lists dozens of criminal cases it has brought
against smaller players. And the investigating isn’t over yet. The SEC recently sent notices of
possible charges to JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo, and the
DOJ reportedly has issued subpoenas to eleven financial institutions related to
mortgage securities. Check out the chart and more
at http://projects.propublica.org/tables/financial_settlements
As an Adviser, Goldman Guaranteed Its Payday New York Times By ANDREW
ROSS SORKIN, March 8, 2012
Kinder Morgan announced it had agreed to acquire El Paso for $21.1 billion in
cash and stock. When the deal was announced, buried at the end of the news
release was a list of Wall Street banks that had advised on the deal, including
Goldman
Sachs. Goldman received a $20 million fee for playing matchmaker for
El Paso. The
fee, of course, was not disclosed, nor was the Kinder Morgan stake owned by
Goldman Sachs’s private
equity arm, worth some $4 billion. Nor did the release disclose that
the Goldman banker who advised El Paso
to accept Kinder Morgan’s bid owned $340,000 worth of Kinder Morgan stock.Now, however, a court ruling in a shareholder lawsuit has laid
bare the truth: Goldman was on every conceivable side of the deal. As a result,
El Paso may
have unwittingly sold itself far too cheaply. Mr. Blankfein
may have said he was “very sensitive to the appearance of conflict,” but the
judge’s order ruling “reluctantly” against a motion to block the merger made it
clear that Goldman’s conflicts went far beyond mere appearances. Continued at
….. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/advising-deal-goldman-sachs-had-all-angles-for-a-payday/
Editorial: Lobbyists who aren't lobbyists USAtoday.com March 9, 2012
The Obama administration has a ban
on hiring lobbyists, but Vice
President Biden recently hired the president of a lobbying firm as a
senior adviser. How could that happen? The answer is that new Biden aide Steve Ricchetti isn't
technically a "lobbyist" under current law, which defines the job so
narrowly that many people who work in Washington
to help clients influence the federal government don't have to register as
lobbyists. They aren't subject to the ethics and disclosure rules they'd have
to follow if they admitted that they are what common sense says they are. http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/story/2012-03-08/lobbyists-Biden-Obama-law/53422454/1?loc=interstitialskip
Joe Rubin: Aging Nuclear Reactors: Are We … Doing
Enough to Ensure Safety? In the U.S.,
all nuclear power plants were initially licensed to operate for 40 years, and
many aging plants are now reaching the end of that period. The NRC allows
nuclear plants to apply for a 20-year license extension; so far 71 out of the
country's 104 reactors have been relicensed. No applications for license renewal have been rejected. While reporting on the Diablo Canyon
story, one of the most surprising things that I learned was how the NRC oversaw
the relicensing
of aging nuclear power plants. As reactors approach the end of their original
lifespan, utilities can apply for a 20-year license extension without ever
conducting a thorough review of the plant's actual condition after decades of
wear and tear; and without a
reevaluation of newly discovered hazards, such as the new earthquake fault at Diablo Canyon.
According to the NRC, key safety issues are dealt with as part of the agency's
regular operational oversight of the plants, and therefore do not need to be
addressed during relicensing. But as I continued to
work on the story, I found that there were surprising problems with this
approach. Read complete report at
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-rubin/nuclear-reactor-safety_b_1336085.html
Afghan Air Force Probed in Drug Running By Jonathan Miller March
8, 2012 | The U.S. is investigating
allegations that officials in the Afghan Air Force, which was established
largely with American funds, have been using aircraft to ferry narcotics and
illegal weapons around the country, The Wall Street Journal reports. U.S. Army Lt.
Gen. Daniel Bolger called the allegations “fairly dramatic,” saying that Afghan
Air Force officials are being investigated for ferrying the materials on
aircraft not owned by the Afghan government. Bolger cautioned that the
investigation was still preliminary and the allegations could not be proved at
this stage. Read complete report at
http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/afghan-air-force-probed-in-drug-running-20120308
National Taxpayers Union: Email - Spotlight: 3 Bills That
Could ... focus on EXPANDING DOMESTIC ENERGY The sponsors intend their
legislation to bring America
closer to energy independence and to create quality jobs through increased
energy output. More importantly, they see their proposals as a step toward
lower energy costs for Americans by opening up new areas for oil and natural
gas drilling. Though each one focuses on a different geographic area, the bills
serve as three (of many) bills introduced in the 112th Congress
with their merits and economic impacts available to taxpayers. Continued at …..
http://action.ntu.org/site/MessageViewer?dlv_id=13441&em_id=10481.0