Thread: Justice Department will no longer funnel cash to liberal special-interest groups

Justice Department will no longer funnel cash to liberal special-interest groups



June 8, 2017 - 9:00 pm

Jeff Sessions announced this week that the U.S. Justice Department will no longer serve as a fundraiser for leftist special-interest groups. The move is long overdue.

At issue was the practice, common under Barack Obama, of forcing big companies that had reached financial agreements with the government to funnel a portion of the loot to progressive activist organizations.

For instance, a $17 billion deal the Justice Department cut with Bank of America in the wake of the housing crisis included provisions that some of the money be directed to liberal nonprofits. In other cases, environmental groups have received settlement funds. The Gibson Guitar Corp. had to cut a check to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Fox News reports, when it settled a complaint that it illegally imported exotic wood.

“When the federal government settles a case against a corporate wrongdoer,” the attorney general said, “any settlement funds should go first to the victims and then to the American people — not to bankroll third-party special-interest groups or the political friends of whoever is in power.”
What a radical concept.

Paul Larkin of The Federalist Society summed it up in a 2016 essay. “No private lawyer could give away a client’s settlement money,” he wrote, “and no government lawyer may do so either. It is time for this unlawful practice to end.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel also deserves much credit for a series of columns over the past few years that brought attention to this insidious practice.

Sen. Charles Grassley, the Iowa Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the policy overhaul is “welcome news for those of us who respect the rule of law and demand a more accountable government.”

Amen.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/opinio...terest-groups/

Change: DoJ No Longer Sharing Lawsuit Payouts With Activist Groups

Started by MW, 06-08-2017 08:56 AM

Fom 2015.
Omnibus Omits Justice Department ‘Slush Fund’ Rider Ending Payments to Liberal Groups

Rider would have ended settlement payments from going to groups such as La Raza, National Urban League

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AP

BY: Joe Schoffstall December 17, 2015 2:05 pm
President Obama on Wednesday backed the final spending package that would continue to fund the government through September 2016, with the White House saying it meets his expectations without containing "hundreds of needless ideological riders."

The bill was praised by the likes of Planned Parenthood and will continue to allow American funding to go toward "international climate" efforts in poorer nations. The bill would also provide handouts for NASCAR tracks, college students, teachers, and racehorses.

However, one provision that did not make the final omnibus bill would have eliminated what critics refer to as a Department of Justice "slush fund" that allows money to be funneled to third-party activist groups—a practice that has come under scrutiny due to the liberal ideological bent of some of the approved organizations.

The practice in question began on August 21, 2014 when the department entered into a nearly $17-billion settlement with Bank of America for selling residential mortgage-backed securities leading up to the 2008 financial collapse. Similar settlements were made with J.P. Morgan and Citigroup that brought the total amount to $36.65 billion.

During settlement, the companies agree to pay financial penalties that sometimes include "donations" given to nonprofits instead of being paid directly to the Treasury.

With the Bank of America and Citigroup settlement, a provision was included that required $150 million in donations to groups that are supposed to help people who have been hurt by a corporations actions. The donations count as twice as much as cash paid towards the settlement total. For example, if a company were to donate $500,000 to an approved organization, it would count as $1,000,000 toward their bill.

The approved groups to where donations can go include the likes of the National Council of La Raza, National Urban League, and NeighborWorks America, which gives grants to community organizing groups that lean left.

In the case of Bank of America, two payments were made totaling $1.5 million to La Raza that were credited as $3,450,00 while another $1,150,000 was donated to the Urban League and counted as $2,265,000 towards their bill, according to the bank’s latest settlement report released on November 2.

"The purpose of financial penalties is to punish, and to provide restitution to real victims," the Wall Street Journal wrote on Dec. 3. "The Justice Department would make the case that this money is flowing to groups that aid the targets of supposed banking abuse, such as homeowners. But that assumes the work these groups do is targeted at actual victims—which it isn’t. It assumes that the work these groups do in housing is nonpartisan—which it isn’t. And it ignores that money is fungible."

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R., Va.), the head of the Judiciary Committee, has expressed concern for some time now over these actions. The Justice Department "may be systematically subverting Congress’ budget authority by using settlements to funnel money to activist groups," Goodlatte said in February.

On June 2, the House of Representatives passed an amendment brought forth by Goodlatte to be included in the original appropriations bill that sought to end the practice.
"The passage of this amendment finally puts an end to the serious executive overreach of the Department of Justice in regards to improper donations being allocated in mortgage settlement agreements," Goodlatte said after its passage. "A long and difficult investigation led by the House Judiciary Committee shows that the [Justice Department] DOJ systematically subverted Congress’s budget authority by allocating donations to third-party groups, rather than to the victims who are deserving of settlement money."

An aide for the House Judiciary Committee informed the Free Beacon that the amendment did not make it into the final omnibus bill. The Appropriations Committee did not respond to request for comment on why it failed to make the final bill and whether anyone in particular nixed it.

Government accountability groups such as Cause of Action have launched investigations into the practice. The group has also filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act seeking "clarity from the Justice Department on its legal authority to enter into financial settlements and arbitrarily allocate settlement funds."

A senior policy adviser for Freedom Partners said the Obama administration is circumventing Congress in what equates to taxpayer funds being funneled to liberal special interests.

"The Obama administration is circumventing Congress by doling out funding from bank settlements to its left-wing allies," Andy Koenig said. "This is billions of dollars in taxpayer money that instead of going to far-left special interests, should be going toward paying down our debt. Ending shady deals like this should be commonsense."

The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.

http://freebeacon.com/issues/omnibus...iberal-groups/

March 2016.

Obama DOJ Busted Funneling Bank Fine Money To Far Left Activist Groups

DIARY / DEAN CHAMBERS // Posted at 6:43 pm on
March 6, 2017
by Dean Chambers

Thomas Jefferson said “To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” But that is exactly what the Barack Obama Administration was doing, under the Department of Justice (DOJ) lead by Attorney General Eric Holder. Funds collected from bank fines, resulting from settlements with the DOJ, are paid to other groups rather than bank customers or taxpayers.

“Advocates for big government and progressive power are using the Justice Department to extort money from corporations,” Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton told Fox News. “It’s a shakedown. It’s corrupt, pure and simple.”

Under the settlements, the banks were allowed and incentivized to send the money to non-victim groups. A great deal of the money ended up going to far-left political groups. Some of the groups receiving these funds included the National Council of La Raza, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and the National Urban League.

A report of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs documents NCRC’s “checkered history” and promotion of “illegal immigration and advocating for benefits and driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants.” The NCRC also opposed the confirmation of Jeff Sessions as Attorney General.

Some of the money is being used to fund protests organized recently by far left groups. “The protests are as organic as a plastic cup,” says Fitton. “There is a massive left-wing infrastructure in place trying to protect the monstrous government created by the Obama administration.”

Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) has filed in the Senate the Stop Settlement Slush Fund Act of 2017 to end this abuse of settlement money. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), a strong champion of the Tenth Amendment and limited government, has filed similar legislation in the House.

Barack Obama had every intent to do everything possible to move the country to the far left when he said, days before the 2008 election, that we were just days away from fundamentally transforming America. He was serious, and meant every word of that. We can only hope that the Lankford and Goodlatte bills move forward on Capitol Hill, and that Congress puts a stop to this blatant abuse of government authority.
http://www.redstate.com/diary/qstarw...tivist-groups/

FIRE 'EM ALL!!

The government should not be giving or funneling money to any organization.

It's time we draw back and do exactly what the constitution says.

Isn't it funny we have a 'separation of church and state' constantly harped on by some groups - except - where the church gets money from the government for bringing in, funding, hiding illegals.

Hyprocrisy -