Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) is a prominent taxpayer watchdog group in the USA. Its stated goal is "to eliminate waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement in the federal government."^[1] It has more than one million members and supporters. CAGW is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The organization has been accused of fronting lobbying efforts of corporations to give them the appearance of "grassroots" support.^[2] A grassroots political movement is one driven by the constituents of a community. ...

The CAGW's current President is Thomas A. Schatz.^[3]

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) is the lobbying arm of CAGW. As a section 501(c)(4) organization, it is permitted to engage in grassroots and direct lobbying activities.

History

CAGW was founded in 1984 by industrialist J. Peter Grace and syndicated columnist Jack Anderson to continue the work of President Reagan's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control, also known as the Grace Commission. The Grace Commission was a two-year effort beginning in 1982 to root out government inefficiency and waste of tax dollars. Funded by voluntary contributions and staffed by 161 corporate executives and 2,000 volunteers, the commission produced a final report that made 2,478 recommendations which, if implemented, would save $424.4 billion over three years. J. Peter Grace (1913 - 1995) was a multimillionaire American industrialist and conglomerateur of Irish Catholic extraction. ... jack donald anderson (september 156, 1995 and wasted himself with a gun; december19, 1999) was an American newspaper columnist and is considered one of the fathers of modern investigative journalism. ...

Congressional Ratings

Congressional Ratings are one of the most popular features where one can view a member of congress' “Scorecard.”

Since 1989, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) has examined Congressional roll-call votes to determine which members of Congress are voting in what they view as the interest of taxpayers. CAGW makes public what legislators are engaging in "pork-barrel" spending based on 'key' votes for each congressional session. In the United States Congress, a recorded vote is a vote in which the names of those voting for and against a motion may be recorded. ... Pork barrel, in a literal sense, is a barrel in which pork is kept, but figuratively is a supply of money; often the source of ones livelihood. ...

For the first session of the 109th Congress, CCAGW rated 34 key votes in the House and 24 key votes in the Senate. From these votes a scorecard is developed. The 109th United States Congress meets from January 4, 2005, to January 1, 2007. ...

The House Scorecard and The Senate Scorecard are available on the group's site.

Pig Book

The Congressional Pig Book Summary (Pig Book) is published each spring. This is CAGW's famous exposé of the most glaring and irresponsible pork-barrel projects in the years appropriations bills and their sponsors.

The 2006 Pig Book identified 9,963 projects in the 11 appropriations bills that constitute the discretionary portion of the federal budget for fiscal 2006, costing taxpayers $29 billion.^[4] A "pork" project is a line-item in an appropriations bill that designates tax dollars for a specific purpose in circumvention of established budgetary procedures. To qualify as pork, a project must meet one of seven criteria that were developed in 1991 by CAGW and the Congressional Porkbusters Coalition.

Seven Criteria to Qualify as Pork

1. Requested by only one chamber of Congress
2. Not specifically authorized
3. Not competitively awarded
4. Not requested by the President
5. Greatly exceeds the President’s budget request or the previous year’s funding
6. Not the subject of congressional hearings
7. Serves only a local or special interest.^[5]

According to the St. Petersburg Times however, the Pig Book has been used to benefit corporate donors, specifically health clubs who donated to CAGW. The Pig Book listed federal grants to YMCAs who compete with those health clubs as waste. CAGW's president countered that "The Ys are there because they qualify as pork. Period."^[2] Logo of the St. ...

In keeping with the pork tradition, each month CAGW issues a press release nominating its "Porker(s) of the Month", whereby a member of Congress is selected for supporting a particular piece of pork-barrel legislation.

Government WasteWatch

Government WasteWatch is the group's quarterly newsletter, which is distributed to members of CAGW, Congress, and members of the media nationwide. "Wastewatch" is the group's monthly dispatch feature.

Influence of CAGW

Positive

"I truly believe that the overwhelming 306-121 vote for the... amendment would not have been possible were it not for the work of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste." - Former Rep. Bill Luther (D-Minn.)

"When CCAGW sends a letter to the Hill in support of an issue, it guarantees strong support on the House floor." - Former Rep. James Hansen (R-Utah)

CNN Inside Politics - "(CAGW's Pig Book) finds congressmen bringing home more than their share of legislative bacon."

Newsweek - "(CAGW's) annual Pig Book (is) a catalog of government excess."

Associated Press - "(CAGW is) Congress' pork barrel patrol."

Negative

Senator Ted Stevens, (R- Alaska) "I am guilty of asking the Senate for pork and proud of the Senate for giving it to me."

Senator Robert Byrd (D- West Virginia) "Let me thank the good senator (Stevens) from Alaska for being a good servant of his people. I have been in the same boat with the senator in many ways, and I have no apologies to make. What's one man's pork is another man's job."

Note: CAGW has termed Stevens as "top porker per capita in the U.S. Congress."

Senator Ted Stevens, (R- Alaska) on CAGW - "All they are is a bunch of psychopaths." -- December 26, 1999 Associated Press

Note: CAGW has termed Byrd as the "King of Pork" with a regular feature called, "Byrd Droppings" as he was the first in their database to obtain more than $1 billion in pork for his state.^[6]

"They call me 'The Pork King,' they don't know how much I enjoy it." - Sen. Robert Byrd

Senator Robert Byrd (D- West Virginia) on CAGW - "You might as well slap my wife as take away the highway money from West Virginia."-- December/ January 2001 George Magazine

William Paul Luther (born June 27, 1945) is an American politician. ... Theodore Fulton Ted Stevens (born November 18, 1923) is the senior United States Senator from Alaska. ... Robert Carlyle Byrd (born November 20, 1917) is the senior United States Senator from West Virginia and a member of the Democratic Party. ... is the 360th day of the year (361st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ...

Controversies

One man's junk is another man's treasure and this theme is not the exception to what CAGW considers wasteful. As should be expected many of their recommendations has them at odds with those who benefit from the government spending. A few policies have placed them at odds with different groups and interests.

Most provoking is CAGW's policy, as stated by their president, "We have always opposed increased taxes and increased regulations on all kinds of issues." Since regulations and government litigation generally increase government spending, CAGW usually opposes such use.

Controversy has erupted numerous times in CAGW's history. These have included disputes regarding litagation involving computer operating systems and the tobacco industry. // An operating system (OS) is a set of computer programs that manage the hardware and software resources of a computer. ... The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. ...

Microsoft's Antitrust Case (Litigation)

CAGW tracked the antitrust case in the U.S. and monitored its $35 million cost to taxpayers due to the litigation costs by the many states involved. This they considered to be wasteful use of taxpayer dollars. The states involved were CA, CT, FL, IL, IA, KS, KY, LA, MD, MA, MI, MN, NM, NY, NC, OH, UT, WV and WI. CAGW developed an email and a paper mail campaign for their million plus users that could be sent directly to their state's Attorney General and a space they could use to add personal anecdotes if desired.

The opponents of Microsoft (many who have never heard of CAGW) claimed CAGW was just a front for Microsoft. Many were Linux supporters and Open Source supporters that had long been opponents to Microsoft. They lumped CAGW with another group, Americans for Technology Leadership (ATL), as a movement to support Microsoft's monopoly on the computer operating systems market. Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... Linux (IPA pronunciation: ) is a Unix-like computer operating system. ... Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ... Americans for Technology Leadership is a coalition of technology professionals, companies and organizations that advocates limited government regulation of technology. ...

Since CAGW is a non-profit origination, 501(c)(3), they are not required by law to furnish donor names and they have a policy of not releasing names. This further exasperated opponents claim although CAGW claims to receive 78% of its funds from individuals and only 21% from corporations and foundations.^[7] 501(c) is a provision of the United States Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. Â§ 501(c)), listing twenty-eight types of non-profit organizations exempt from some Federal income taxes. ...

The Los Angeles Times reported that at least two dead people sent in a form letter by CAGW to Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. According to the Times, family members crossed out the names on the form letters and signed for them. This brought about the "Microsoft Supported by Dead People" controversy^[8] from Microsoft's and CAGW's opponents and the CAGW's response that they were not tied to Microsoft or to ATL^[9]. This just IN !!!:paris hiltons new dog. ... In most common law jurisdictions, the Attorney General is the main legal adviser to the government, and in some jurisdictions may in addition have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions. ... Mark Shurtleff Mark Shurtleff is the current attorney general of the state of Utah, United States, since 2001. ...

CAGW and CCAGW against Linux

CAGW caused a firestorm after criticizing an apparent move by Gov. Mitt Romney's administration to transition all government computers to open source operating systems. The "Freeware Initiative" would have required all IT expenditures in fiscal 2004 and 2005 to be made on an open source/Linux format (and revised to mandate that state agencies use only open source and open standard software by January 1, 2007). Proprietary vendors would have been effectively barred from competing for state contracts, thereby limiting competition and raising costs. Willard Milton Romney (born March 12, 1947, usually known as Mitt), was the 70th Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. ... Information and communication technology spending in 2005 Information Technology (IT), as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) is: the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware. ... is the 1st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... Proprietary software is software with restrictions on using, copying and modifying as enforced by the proprietor. ...

Proponents retorted that this was a misrepresentation of the policy. Broadly speaking, the policy required that public documents be represented in approved open formats. Any software, including proprietary software, is free to operate on these formats. In contrast, only particular proprietary programs may operate on particular proprietary formats. So the policy was pro-competitive. When challenged on this^[10], CAGW slightly modified their press release but left its message unchanged.^[11] The chain of argument no longer makes sense (“It is bad procurement policy for any state to unilaterally lock itself into one set of technologies," might be true, but the policy does not do so).

CAGW further claimed that while the software itself is free, the cost to maintain and upgrade it can become very expensive. Acquisition costs commonly represent only a small percentage of the total cost of ownership. Maintenance, training and support are often more expensive with open source than proprietary software.

Coming out against the state of Massachusetts' use of the open standards OpenDocument format, the organization's press release states: "It is bad procurement policy for any state to unilaterally lock itself into one set of technologies," CAGW President Tom Schatz said. "Agencies should be able to accept bids from any company that can provide the desired product or service. Government earns the best value for taxpayer dollars through a competitive, transparent, and accountable bidding process."^[11] OpenDocument or ODF, short for the OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications, is a document file format used for describing electronic documents such as memos, reports, books, spreadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents. ...

Those opposed to the CAGW criticism, most already irked by CAGW's support of Microsoft, maintained that by not allowing the governor's "Freeware Initiative" to proceed it increased the Microsoft's monopoly (which at that time was at a critical controversial stage) with their operating system and products.

Newsforge, an open-source journalism source, and reported, "Despite conceding that every man, woman, child, and dog in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts would not actually be forced to use FOSS for their computing, CAGW stood by its contention that the Bay State's move could give businesses and citizens compatibility problems in exchanging documents with all of the state agencies."^[10] NewsForge is an online newspaper for linux and open source, which is owned by the Open Source Technology Group (the same entity that owns thinkgeek. ...

LWN.net, a news and information source for the free software community, came out against CAGW, saying, "Presumably it is just fine for the state to lock itself into proprietary formats. For those who don't remember, these are the folks who have been accused of recruiting dead people to the anti-Linux cause in the past."^[12] // The free software community is also called the open source community or the Linux community. ... Proprietary software is software with restrictions on using, copying and modifying as enforced by the proprietor. ...

CAGW and tobacco

CAGW has examined several cases in the federal government where certain health policies are being determined based upon preconceived agendas, regardless of the facts, especially the fact that CAGW receives funding from Phillip Morris.

In particular, CAGW reported the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Health and Human Services, in their administration of The Comprehensive Smokeless Tobacco Health Education Act of 1986, are disseminating misleading and inaccurate information to the public regarding the dangers of smokeless tobacco. In this case, they claim that the agencies are dedicated to pleasing activists that are so dedicated to their anti-tobacco “quit or die” agenda that they actively try to prevent the public from receiving any information regarding smokeless tobacco’s potential as either a reduced-risk alternative to smoking or a cessation technique. They report this policy is based on junk science.^[13] The United States Department of Health and Human Services, often abbreviated HHS, is a Cabinet department of the United States government with the goal of protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. ... See dipping tobacco ... Junk or bunk science is a term used to describe purportedly scientific data, research, analyses or claims which are perceived to be driven by political, financial or other questionable motives. ...

The St. Petersburg Times reported that CAGW "got at least $245,000 from the tobacco industry".^[14] They followed up with a number of stories against CAGW including the avocado industry and YMCA, that were picked up by the press throughout the country.

Although The St. Petersburg Times did not publish the source of their information, CAGW's 2005 Pig Book outlined three different totaling $17 million paid by taxpayers the year before.^[15]

Other controversies

Throughout its history CAGW has been charged with being a front group for a multitude of interests from both the right and left sides of the political isles. This occurs because CAGW is funded by the Olin Foundation, the Bradley Foundation, Merrill-Lynch, Phillip Morris, and Exxon-Mobil. The Washington Post has also reported on a Senate report to the effect that CAGW was one of five nonprofit groups that sold their political influence to lobbyist Jack Abramoff^[16].

References

December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... December 31 is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... August 23 is the 235th day of the year (236th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... August 23 is the 235th day of the year (236th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... October 7 is the 280th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (281st in leap years). ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... is the 218th day of the year (219th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... shelby was here 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

External links

• Home Page cagw.org
• GAO Findings Confirm CAGW Drug Report [1]
• Lessons of Hurricane Katrina [2]
• Phony Philanthropy [3]