Dirt Diggers Digest No. 41
August 25, 2003
Editor: Phil Mattera
1. FirstEnergy's political connections (and more) at WhiteHouseforSale.org
2. Corporate Crime Reporter establishes web presence
3. Agribusiness Accountability Initiative site analyzes global food system
4. Corporate subsidy disclosure bill signed by Illinois governor
5. GPO Access will continue to provide key federal resources indefinitely
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1. FirstEnergy's political connections and more at WhiteHouseforSale.org
Public Citizen's new website <http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/>
provides useful background on FirstEnergy Inc., the Ohio-based utility
holding company that was apparently responsible for the recent blackout
in the Northeast. The fact that FirstEnergy escaped serious criticism from
the Bush Administration can be attributed, the site suggests, to the
company's ties to Administration officials and the fundraising efforts of
FirstEnergy executives on behalf of the national Republican Party.
WhiteHouseforSale has a wealth of information on other major Bush
contributors and the interests they are seeking to promote through their
political investments.
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2. Corporate Crime Reporter establishes web presence
The Corporate Crime Reporter, a valuable weekly chronicle of business
misdeeds edited by Russell Mokhiber, has made its online debut. CCR
has put up a website <http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com> that
contains a selection of recent articles as well as features such as
"Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the 1990s" and an index of all the
newsmaker interviews CCR has published in its 16-year history. Full
issues of CCR are still available only in print form (a regular for-profit
subscription costs $795 a year; non-profits, $595).
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3. Agribusiness Accountability Initiative site analyzes global food system
Dirt Diggers Digest subscriber Peter O'Driscoll <podriscoll@coc.org>
recently announced that he and colleagues at the Agribusiness Accountability
Initiative have created a website <http://www.agribusinessaccountability.org>
that offers "a comprehensive overview of problems and solutions related to
corporate power in the food system." The AAI is co-sponsored by the Center
of Concern and the National Catholic Rural Life Conference. The website's
content ranges from data on the impacts of industry concentration to material
on the the global movement against corporate domination of agriculture. It
will also contain a clearinghouse of material on food industry structure.
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4. Corporate subsidy disclosure bill signed by Illinois governor
This month Illinois became the tenth state to adopt a policy of company-specific
disclosure of economic development subsidies when Gov. Rod Blagojevich
signed the Corporate Accountability for Tax Expenditures Act. The law, which
was promoted by the Illinois AFL-CIO and groups such as the Center for Tax
and Budget Accountability and Good Jobs Illinois, provides for electronic
dissemination of information on the awarding of subsidies in the state as well
as progress reports on job creation by subsidy recipients. The text of the law
is at <http://www.legis.state.il.us/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=093-0552>.
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5. GPO Access will continue to provide key federal resources indefinitely
The heads of the Government Printing Office and the National Archives and Records
Administration recently announced an agreement by which key federal publications
will continue to be available at no charge on the GPO Access website. That site
<http://www.gpoaccess.gov/> contains a goldmine of material that used to be
accessible only to Washington insiders who could afford hefty subscription fees.
These include the Federal Register, the Code of Federal Regulations, Commerce
Business Daily, the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents and the
Congressional Record. The many other features of the site range from Davis-Bacon
Act Wage Determinations to Export Administration Regulations.
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Philip Mattera
Director of the Corporate Research Project
Good Jobs First