Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
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Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), is a progressive nonprofit 501(c)(3) watchdog organization devoted to U.S. government ethics and accountability.''Washington Information Directory 2017-2018'';
CQ Press CQ Press, a division of SAGE Publishing, publishes books, directories, periodicals, and electronic products on American government and politics, with an expanding list in international affairs and journalism and mass communication. History Nelso ...
; 2017; Pg. 327
Founded in 2003 as a counterweight to conservative government watchdog groups such as Judicial Watch, CREW works to expose ethics violations and corruption by government officials and institutions and to reduce the role of money in politics. Its activities include investigating, reporting and litigating perceived government misconduct, requesting and forcing government information disclosure through
Freedom of information legislation Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments and, where applicable, by state and local governments. The emergence of freedom of information legislation was a response to increasing dissatis ...
requests, and filing congressional ethics complaints against individuals, institutions and agencies. Its projects have included the publication of "CREW's Most Corrupt Members of Congress", an annual report in which CREW lists the people it determines to be the most corrupt in the
federal government of the United States The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...
. From 2005 to 2014, the annual reports named 25 Democrats and 63 Republicans. CREW was founded in 2003 by former federal prosecutor Melanie Sloan and white-collar lawyer
Norm Eisen Norman L. Eisen (born November 11, 1960) is an American attorney, author, and former diplomat. He is a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, a CNN legal analyst, and the co-founder of the States United Democracy Cente ...
, who went on to serve as President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
's chief ethics lawyer and later his ambassador to the Czech Republic. Liberal political consultant David Brock became CREW's chairman in 2014 and stepped down in 2016. He was replaced by Richard Painter, who took a leave of absence to run as a Democrat in Minnesota's 2018 U.S. Senate special election. Under Painter's leadership, CREW pursued aggressive litigation against the Trump administration, which it called the "most unethical presidency" in U.S. history. CREW filed 41 lawsuits during
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
's administration, 38 during Obama's administration and, by January 2018, 180 against the Trump administration.


History

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington was co-founded in 2003 by Norman L. Eisen and Melanie Sloan in part as a liberal / progressive counterweight to conservative watchdog groups such as Judicial Watch. Sloan initially ran the fledgling organization by herself; by 2007, CREW had 13 staff members. By 2016, the group had four lawyers on staff.


Chairmanships of David Brock and Richard Painter

In August 2014, liberal political operative David Brock was elected chairman of CREW's board of directors. At the time, Paul Singer of ''USA Today'' wrote, "One of the most vocal congressional ethics watchdog groups is becoming part of a Democratic political operation." ''Politico'' wrote that Brock's newly announced involvement with CREW was a "major power play that aligns liberal muscle more fully behind the Democratic Party" and that CREW would add a "more politically oriented arm, expand its focus into state politics and donor targeting and will operate in close coordination with Brock's growing fleet of aggressive Democrat-backing nonprofits and super PACs—
Media Matters Media Matters for America (MMfA) is a non-profit left-leaning watchdog journalism organization. It was founded in 2004 by journalist and political activist David Brock as a counterweight to the conservative Media Research Center. It seeks to ...
, American Bridge, and the American Independent Institute." Before Brock's involvement with CREW, the group had aggressively targeted Republican public officials as well as some Democrats. The Center for Public Integrity wrote, "Many key staffers left soon after Brock became its chairman, and since then, the organization has almost exclusively pursued Republicans and conservative organizations through federal complaints and its own investigations." In April 2016, ''Bloomberg'' reported that Republicans had faced the vast majority of CREW investigations in recent months. Brock left CREW's board of directors in December 2017, but did not cut ties with the group and continued to raise money for it. He was replaced by former
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter, "lending the group a bipartisan air", according to ''Politico''. Painter took a leave of absence from CREW to run as a Democrat in Minnesota's 2018 U.S. Senate special election. In December 2016, ''Politico'' wrote that since its 2003 founding, CREW had "quickly built a strong reputation as an ethics watchdog and transparency advocate, filing complaints against lawmakers from both parties, though the bulk of its ethics work targeted Republicans. However, in recent years CREW faced increased questions about its credibility, stemming from a 2014 shift that brought the group under Brock's sway and—in the eyes of many observers—into the Clinton orbit. Brock and his allies joined the group's board, while several longtime employees left." In 2015, CREW had revenue of just under $2.2 million. It filed just one lawsuit in 2015 and three in 2016, all asking the
Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent agency of the United States government that enforces U.S. campaign finance laws and oversees U.S. federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Campaign ...
for stricter enforcement of campaign finance laws.


Trump administration

CREW aggressively targeted the
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
administration, filing its first lawsuit against Trump three days after his inauguration as U.S. president. According to ''New York'' magazine, "Since then, it has been launching actions against the administration and its allies in Congress at a rate of about one a day, filing lawsuits and public-record inquiries and lodging complaints with authorities like the Office of Government Ethics." In June 2017, ''New York'' wrote that "CREW is officially nonpartisan, but it's a thin veneer. For the last few years, it has been loosely aligned with a network of organizations, including the super-PAC American Bridge, run by Democratic operative David Brock. After the election, Brock promised to 'kick Donald Trump's ass,' saying in a fund-raising document that CREW's litigation strategy would assure Trump would be 'afflicted by a steady flow of damaging information. CREW co-founder Norman L. Eisen rejoined CREW in December 2016 and set about distancing the organization from Brock. Eisen stepped down from the board in February 2019. In January 2018, CREW issued a 36-page report on Trump's presidency, calling it the "most unethical presidency" in U.S. history. In February 2018, Environment & Energy Publishing wrote that Painter was "at the center of more than 180 legal challenges to Trump and his administration as vice chairman of the left-leaning Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington." During the 2020
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, the group received $432,000 in federally backed small business loans from Newtek Small Business as part of the Paycheck Protection Program.


Mission statements

The organization's website says it is "dedicated to promoting ethics and accountability in government and public life by targeting government officials who sacrifice the common good to special interests." The CREW mission statement has changed several times between 2005 and 2008 to de-emphasize its focus on personal litigation, dropping language that once read that CREW "differs from other good government groups in that it sues offending politicians directly" and that it "is a non-partisan legal watchdog group working to force our government officials to behave responsibly and ethically. CREW's mission is to use the legal system to expose government officials who betray the public interest by serving special interests. CREW aims to counterbalance the conservative legal watchdog groups that made such a strong impact over the past decade". It added that CREW "advances its mission using a combination of research, litigation and media outreach." In 2015, the organization's mission stated, "CREW uses high-impact legal actions to target government officials who sacrifice the common good to special interests ../small> we work to ensure government officials—regardless of party affiliation—act with honesty and integrity and merit the public trust." As of 2018, the organization's mission states, "Dedicated to fighting the influence of money on our political system. CREW uses aggressive legal action, in-depth research, and bold communications to reduce the influence of money in politics and help foster a government that is ethical and accountable. We highlight abuses, change behavior, and lay the groundwork for new policies and approaches that encourage public officials to work for the benefit of the people, not powerful interests."


Activities

According to the organization, its activities include litigation, FOIA requests, congressional ethics complaints,
Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...
complaints,
Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent agency of the United States government that enforces U.S. campaign finance laws and oversees U.S. federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Campaign ...
complaints, and requests for investigation with government agencies. ;CREW's Most Corrupt list Each year since 2005, CREW has published its "Most Corrupt Members of Congress" report. The 2012 election cycle saw 11 of the 32 lawmakers included in the last two reports either defeated or retiring. As of 2014, the list had named 88 individuals, 63 of them Republicans and 25 Democrats. The last report was in 2013. ;Family Affair report In 2012, CREW released a report entitled ''Family Affair'', which examined how members of Congress had used their positions to benefit themselves and their families. The report included 248 members of the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
, 105 Democrats and 143 Republicans, "about equal to their parties' proportional makeup in the House." Common practices that do not appear to violate laws or House ethics rules but still raise ethical questions include: paying family for congressional office and campaign work, collecting reimbursements from official US House and campaign budgets, earmarking to projects connected with family members, and charging interest on personal loans given to their campaigns. ;Criticism of Continuing Appropriations Resolution CREW raised questions about some of the content of the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014 (H.J.Res 59; 113th Congress). One controversial provision of the bill was section 134, which stated that "notwithstanding any other provision of this joint resolution, there is appropriated for payment to Bonnie Englebardt Lautenberg, widow of Frank R. Lautenberg, late a Senator from New Jersey, $174,000." CREW protested the inclusion of this in the bill, since Lautenberg's assets in 2011 were over $57 million. The group questioned why this "death gratuity" was considered a "top funding priority". ;Emoluments Clause A legal team representing CREW (including Laurence H. Tribe, Norman L. Eisen, Erwin Chemerinsky, Richard Painter, and Zephyr Teachout) announced its intention to file suit in federal court in New York on January 23, 2017, on the grounds that President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
's business interests violate a provision in the Emoluments Clause in the Constitution by receiving payments from foreign government entities. The suit has asked the court to order Trump to stop receiving payments from foreign government via his hotels, golf courses, rentals and leased properties. United States District Judge George B. Daniels dismissed the case on December 21, 2017, holding that plaintiffs lacked standing.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington v. Trump
', 17 Civ. 458 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 21, 2017).
CREW announced plans to appeal, and separate Emolument Clause lawsuits are pending in other judicial districts.Peter Overby
1 Emoluments Clause Lawsuit Is Dismissed, Trump Faces Others In 2018
''Morning Edition'', NPR (January 19, 2018).
Peter Overby
Federal Judge Seems Sympathetic To Anti-Corruption Case Against President Trump
''Morning Edition'', NPR (January 26, 2018).
;Presidential Records Act CREW joined with the National Security Archive to challenge Trump's deletion of tweets as a violation of the Presidential Records Act of 1981.


Personnel

Norman L. Eisen, an attorney specializing in fraud, and eventual (in 2009) Special Counsel for Ethics and Government Reform in the White House, co-founded CREW in 2003. He became known for his stringent ethics and anti-corruption efforts, and for limiting registered lobbyists from taking positions in the administration. Melanie Sloan served as CREW's first executive director. In August 2014 former Republican activist and current Democratic activist David Brock was elected chairman of CREW's board, and Sloan announced her intention to resign as executive director, pending Brock's hiring of a new executive director. Prior to co-founding CREW in 2003, Sloan served as one of more than 300 Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the
District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
from 1998 to 2003 after having worked for congressional Democrats John Conyers, Charles Schumer, and Joseph Biden. Mark Penn, pollster for
Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...
,
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...
, both Bill and
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
, also became a director and vice president at CREW. Brock was elected as CREW's board president after laying out a broad plan to turn the organization into a more muscular organization. Along with Brock, consultant David Mercer and investor Wayne Jordan joined CREW's board of directors. Noah Bookbinder, a former Justice Department prosecutor and Chief Counsel for the U.S. Senate's Judiciary Committee where he advised Judiciary Committee Chairman Senator
Patrick Leahy Patrick Joseph Leahy ( ; born March 31, 1940) is an American politician and attorney who represented Vermont in the United States Senate from 1975 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he also was the pr ...
(D-VT), was named executive director of CREW in March, 2015. Brock left CREW in December 2016, and was replaced as chairman of the board of directors by former
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
ethics lawyer Richard Painter.


Allegations of partisanship

CREW operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit prohibited from engaging in partisan activity. In 2010, Ben Smith of ''
Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...
'' described CREW's founding in 2003 as "one of a wave of new groups backed by liberal donors" and called CREW "a vehicle for assaults on largely—but not entirely—Republican targets",Ben Smith
"Staffing up for Congressional investigations"
Politico.com, November 18, 2010.
but a 2010 Associated Press story stated that CREW "has a history of targeting members of Congress representing different races, philosophies and both major parties." Writers for ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' have called CREW a "nonpartisan watchdog group" and a "liberal watchdog", while ''
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'' has called it "a liberal-funded watchdog group" and the ''
New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...
'' has described it as "nonpartisan". ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' has called CREW a "liberal government watchdog group" while '' U.S. News & World Report'' calls it "nonpartisan". In a report specifically about CREW, the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' noted the group "calls itself nonpartisan, but progressive", and employs staff from both Republican and Democratic administrations. After CREW named him one of the "13 most corrupt members of Congress" in 2005, U.S. Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) called the group "partisan hacks" and their allegations "maliciously false". The '' Billings Gazette'' reported that CREW defended itself: Naomi Seligman, the group's deputy director, said "We've gone after a fair number of Democrats, even in this study" nd Burns"should be answering the charges, not slinging charges." In 2006, '' Congressional Quarterly'' reported, "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has taken aim almost exclusively at GOP members of Congress. Since its founding in 2003, it elpedinvestigate 21 lawmakers, only one of them a Democrat" (Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, in a complaint that also targeted Senator
Bill Frist William Harrison Frist (born February 22, 1952) is an American physician, businessman, conservationist and policymaker who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1995 to 2007. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as ...
(R-TN), then Senate Majority Leader). A report by ''
McClatchy News Service McClatchy Media Company, or simply McClatchy and MCC, is an American publishing company incorporated under Delaware's General Corporation Law. Originally based in Sacramento, California, United States, and known as The McClatchy Company, it b ...
'' called CREW "a Democratic-leaning watchdog group".Greg Gordo
"Congressman in tight race for re-election comes under federal investigation"
, mcclatchydc.com, October 13, 2006.
In 2007, ''
Ms. Magazine ''Ms.'' is an American feminist magazine co-founded in 1971 by journalist and social/political activist Gloria Steinem. It was the first national American feminist magazine. The original editors were Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Mary Thom, Pat Carbine ...
'' quoted longtime Democratic pollster Celinda Lake as saying, "Corruption was a top issue in the
006 Alec Trevelyan is a fictional character who is the main antagonist in the 1995 James Bond film ''GoldenEye,'' portrayed by actor Sean Bean. Bean's likeness was also used as the model for Alec Trevelyan in the 1997 video game '' GoldenEye 007' ...
midterm elections, and CREW was critical to the Democrats' success. The fact that they were bipartisan and had created this dirty-dozen list of corrupt politicians really helped people process that these politicians were acting well outside the norm." The journal ''
Broadcasting & Cable ''Broadcasting & Cable'' (''B&C'', or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') was a telecommunications industry monthly trade magazine and, later, news website published by Future US. Founded in 1931 as ''Broadcasting'', subsequent mergers, acquisitions and ...
'' in 2011 described CREW's former chief legal counsel, Anne Weismann, as "a Democrat-recommended witness and so the closest to an bamaadministration defender".online "House Republicans Hammer White House on Transparency"
Broadcasting & Cable magazine, May 3, 2011.
When asked in 2014 if CREW would continue pursuing complaints against Democrats, Brock responded, "No party has a monopoly on corruption and at this early juncture, we are not making categorical statements about anything that we will and won't do. Having said that, our experience has been that the vast amount of violations of the public trust can be found on the conservative side of the aisle." During a span of "recent months" in early 2016, Republicans were reportedly the target of the vast majority of CREW's campaign-finance allegations.


''Roll Call'' article

'' Roll Call'' reported in January 2008 that CREW files most of its complaints against members of Congress, and "all but a handful ... have targeted Republicans". The article stated that CREW had issued press releases against Democrats but had usually not filed complaints against them, with the exception of now former Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), a conservative Democrat. CREW defended itself to ''Roll Call'': After the article was published, CREW stated that it was "baseless" and "omitted key facts". CREW suggested the ''Roll Call'' reporter had been prompted by a conversation with Landrieu, the target of a recent CREW lawsuit at the time.


Funding

''Roll Call'' reported that CREW doesn't disclose its donor list, and quoted former Deputy Director Naomi Seligman as saying that "donors play no role in CREW's decisions as to the groups or politicians we target." Donors to CREW have included such groups as Democracy Alliance, Service Employees International Union, the Arca Foundation, and the Gill Foundation. In January 2012, Democracy Alliance dropped a number of prominent organizations, including CREW, from their list of recommended organizations to receive donations. Support was withdrawn because these groups are more apt to work outside the Democratic Party's infrastructure.


See also

* Campaign for Accountability * Center for Effective Government * Government Accountability Project * Project On Government Oversight


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Citizens For Responsibility And Ethics In Washington Business ethics organizations Charities based in Washington, D.C. Ethics organizations Government watchdog groups in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C. Organizations established in 2003 Political organizations based in the United States Progressivism in the United States Whistleblower support organizations 2003 establishments in Washington, D.C. Progressive organizations in the United States