Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

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Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a watchdog group founded in 2003. Its stated mission is to "promote ethics and accountability in government and public life by targeting government officials - regardless of party affiliation - who sacrifice the common good to special interests."^[1] CREW advances its mission by engaging in litigation, public advocacy, Freedom of Information Act requests, media outreach and official complaints to government agencies such as the Federal Election Commission and the Internal Revenue Service.^[1] "We are progressive," said Naomi Seligman, the group's deputy director and communications director. "We do work within a larger progressive infrastructure." Seligman suggested her group is the progressive counterweight to Judicial Watch.^[2] One of their most visible projects is an annual report of Washington's most corrupt politicians entitled, "Beyond Delay."

CREW's Work

Founded in 2003, CREW uses a combination of litigation, investigative research and communications to advance its mission of restoring public trust in government by targeting government officials who prioritize their own unethical agendas over the needs of those they serve. CREW is the only progressive organization aggressively using the legal system to target unethical government conduct. Despite its short history and limited resources, CREW has been integral in exposing the culture of corruption in Washington and motivating both the public and policymakers to change it.

CREW has released dozens of reports on timely issues related to government corruption including, Record Chaos, a report that concluded that the federal government is inadequately managing its electronic records. CREW also publishes the annual CREW’s Most Corrupt Members of Congress which provides a detailed analysis of the unethical and sometimes illegal activities of members of the House and Senate who have most egregiously betrayed the public’s trust.

In May 2009 CREW released You Don’t Know Jack, an “interactive graphic illustrating the intricate web of special interests Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA) has spun around him.”

In 2008, CREW, along with two eminent historians and three organizations of historians and archivists, sued Vice President Cheney to ensure his vice presidential records will be accessible to future generations.

CREW has filed two lawsuits regarding millions of emails missing from White House servers during the Bush Administration. CREW sued the White House for failing to preserve the emails and for failing to maintain an effective electronic record keeping system as required by law. CREW also sued the White House Office of Administration for the recovery plan it prepared when it discovered that the millions of emails were missing from the White House servers.

CREW and VoteVets.org exposed an internal [Dept. of Veterans Affairs] (VA) e-mail advising VA mental health staff in Texas to consider diagnosing returning veterans with adjustment disorder rather than post traumatic stress disorder as a cost-cutting measure. Since that time, top leaders in the Congress have called for and held hearings on this pressing concern and CREW filed a lawsuit to uncover how widespread this issue is.

CREW has also sued the Department of Homeland Security to discover why the administration is forcing the less affluent to accommodate the administration’s border fence on their land, while averting the property of the wealthy and politically connected.

CREW serves as counsel to former covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, against Bush Administration officials. The suit alleges that bush officials revealed Valerie Wilson’s classified CIA status in retaliation against Joe Wilson after he questioned statements President Bush made in 2003 about the war in Iraq.

CREW was created a range of websites to educate the public including:

• www.bermanexposed.org A site dedicated to exposing lobbyist Richard Berman’s activities, his myriad front groups and projects, his employees’ work, and his firm’s tactics.
• www.corporatecrackdown.org A site looking at the intersection between corporate interests and government regulation.
• www.fixthefec.org A site following the work of the [Federal Elections Commission] which administers and enforces the [Federal Election Campaign Act] (FECA) - the statute that governs the financing of federal elections.
• www.governmentdocs.org A site that allows users to browse, search, and review hundreds of thousands of pages acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and other public disclosure, or “sunshine,” laws.
• www.tarptales.org A site that serves as a central repository for [Troubled Asset Relief Program] information.

Director

Melanie Sloan serves as CREW's Executive Director. Prior to starting CREW in 2003, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia. Before becoming a prosecutor, Ms. Sloan served as Minority Counsel for the House Judiciary Committee, working on criminal justice issues for then-Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI). Ms. Sloan also served as Counsel for the Crime Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by then-Representative Charles Schumer (D-NY). Ms. Sloan received her B.A. and J.D. from the University of Chicago and has published in the Yale Law and Policy Review, and numerous other publications. She currently serves on the legal team of Valerie Plame.^[3]. She is married to Eric Anderson, who is the deputy director of an Asian policy consulting group of Science Applications International Corporation, a military contractor in San Diego. He is a major in the Air Force Reserve. ^[4]

Some cases with CREW involvement

• Theft of Democratic documents within the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary
• Ethics violations by Tom DeLay
• Valerie Plame Wilson and Joseph C. Wilson v. I. Lewis Scooter Libby, Karl Rove and Richard B. Cheney.
• Tax allegations against Leslee Unruh, who spearheaded the South Dakota abortion ban.
• Former Representative Mark Foley (see Mark Foley scandal)
• Curt Weldon, presently being investigated by the FBI
• Bush White House e-mail controversy
• Allegations against Sen. John McCain that he failed to disclose gambling earnings.

References

External links

• Official CREW Website
• Beyond Delay: The 22 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and two to watch)
• Homeland Security for Sale
• Fix the FEC