Government Integrity Project

NLPC “blows the whistle” on government officials and interest groups engaged in questionable activities. NLPC has filed formal Complaints with a variety of authorities and regulators, including the Federal Election Commission, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Congressional Ethics Committees.

NLPC supports government integrity in two additional ways: by promoting the First Amendment as the basis for campaign finance reform, and by promoting use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Democrats Risk Being ‘Burnt’ by Lev Parnas

Posted on by Peter Flaherty

Fred Lucas of the Daily Signal has a piece titled “4 Things to Know About Lev Parnas, the Left’s New Hero.” Parnas is the Ukrainian under indictment for campaign finance law violations who was arrested while trying to leave the United States in October. From the article:

The National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative watchdog group based in Falls Church, Virginia, looked into some of the information Parnas promoted and determined that he was “disreputable,” said Tom Anderson, director of the center’s Government Integrity Project.

Well before his airport arrest, Anderson said, he warned other reporters to ignore information from Parnas.

“If the Democrats take anything from him, they will end up getting burnt,” Anderson told The Daily Signal. “We’ve never used any information from him. I’m surprised Democrats are going anywhere near him.”

 … Read More ➡

Washington Post Looks at Maya Rockeymoore Cummings’s Charity

Posted on by Peter Flaherty

This article by Steve Thompson today appeared in the Washington Post:

For years, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings ran a charity so closely intertwined with her for-profit consulting firm that they shared the same employees, the same office space and the same director — her.

The private firm carried out the charity’s mission of promoting public health and addressing racial and economic inequity under a cost-sharing agreement that gave the firm a 5 percent management fee. Rockeymoore Cummings signed a contract on behalf of both parties to set up the unusual relationship.

She disclosed the arrangement to the Internal Revenue Service initially, but in subsequent years she checked “no” on 990 tax forms asking whether the charity did business with any entities owned by its director. A “yes” answer would have required her to provide more financial details. Lawyers who specialize in nonprofits say that’s to allow scrutiny by both the … Read More ➡

Adam Schiff Setting ‘Terrible Precedents’ on Release of Private Phone Records

Posted on by Peter Flaherty

From the Daily Signal by Fred Lucas:

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., faces ethics and legal hurdles for obtaining and exposing phone records of political enemies, knowledgeable observers say.

Schiff may have violated the same rule he used to threaten House Republicans, said Tom Anderson, director of the Government Integrity Project at the National Legal and Policy Center, a watchdog group.

Schiff warned Republicans on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence not to reveal the name of the whistleblower who first filed a complaint about President Donald Trump’s now-famous July 25 phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Schiff warned Republicans members if they did anything to publicize the whistleblower, it would be a violation of House ethics rules,” Anderson told The Daily Signal.

“He didn’t want other members to expose private information of the whistleblower,” Anderson said of Schiff, “but he is doing the same thing to … Read More ➡

Hunter Biden’s Company Got $130 Million in Bailout Funds

Posted on by Peter Flaherty

Alana Goodman in today’s Washington Examiner reports that Joe Biden’s son Hunter was associated with a firm that received more than $130 million in financial bailout funds. The firm called Rosemont Capital then set up a fund that was incorporated in the Cayman Islands, presumably for the purpose of avoiding U.S. taxes. From the article:

“This is a great example of the suspicion of many Americans that these bailouts were used to benefit connected insiders while ordinary Americans went broke,” said Tom Anderson, director of the Government Integrity Project at the National Legal and Policy Center, an organization that was critical of TALF at the time.

The bailout program was known as the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, or TALF. It was separate from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) but was part of the same package of actions initiated in 2008 in response to the financial meltdown. TALF was … Read More ➡

Cummings Announces Congressional Bid; Denies Improprieties With Nonprofit

Posted on by NLPC Staff

In response to questions by reporters, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings again denied improprieties in the operation of a nonprofit she heads called the Center for Global Policy Solutions (CGPS). The improprieties were alleged in a May 20 IRS Complaint and June 7 Amendment filed by the National Legal and Policy Center. The denials took place at an event today at which she announced that she is a candidate for her late husband’s Congressional seat.

Cummings claimed, “There’s no merit to the IRS complaint… I’ll be willing to stand before anyone and refute those claims.” So far, Mrs. Cummings has not addressed any of our specific charges. She has only offered sweeping denials, and called NLPC names.

Also, Cummings falsely claimed to NLPC Chairman Peter Flaherty, who was present at the event, that she has provided the group’s annual tax return IRS Form 990 to “everyone who has asked.”

Flaherty has been … Read More ➡

Rep. Ilhan Omar Continues to Break Law on Boyfriend’s Travel

Posted on by Peter Flaherty
Mynett and Omar

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) continues to violate Federal Election Commission (FEC) regulations governing travel by her campaign staff. As detailed in an amendment to our August 28, 2019 FEC Complaint, Omar failed to itemize travel expenses to E Street Group, a firm owned by her boyfriend Tim Mynett in her FEC disclosure reports for the third quarter of 2019.

The amendment charges, “Respondents either continue to willfully disregard the law, or misunderstand it.” From the amendment:

On October 12, 2019, Ilhan Omar for Congress filed FEC Form 3, Report of Receipts and Disbursements for the period covering July 1, 2019 through September 30, 2019. The filing reports Total Operating Expenditures of $441,638.95. Of that amount, disbursements totaling $146,712.64 were reported on Schedule B to E Street Group, LLC, owned by Tim Mynett.

Disbursements to E Street Group, LLC totaled more than a third of total disbursements and

… Read More ➡

Senator Biden Went to Bat for Son Hunter’s Lobbying Clients

Posted on by Peter Flaherty

Alana Goodman in the Washington Examiner details today how Joe Biden, while a member of the U.S. Senate, twice intervened with government officials in a way that benefited clients of his son Hunter’s lobbying firm. The information contradicts Joe Biden’s repeated assertions that his son’s business activities have always been separate from his official duties.

From the article:

The National Legal and Policy Center, a government watchdog group, said Biden should have avoided involvement with issues that his son’s firm was also lobbying on because of the appearance of conflict.

“It’s implausible Sen. Biden did not know his son’s firm was lobbying on this arcane issue,” said Tom Anderson, the director of NLPC’s Government Integrity Project.

“Sometimes appearances are exactly what they are,” he said. “This is a recurring problem we’ve seen on the Hill, where family members are enriched because of their relationship with a member.”

Click here to … Read More ➡

Will Cummings Wife Seek His Seat?

Posted on by Peter Flaherty

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has passed away.

Of course, President Trump and Cummings clashed after Cummings went to the Mexican border, criticized conditions there, and attacked the Border Patrol.

The Oversight Committee has subpoenaed documents from President Trump’s accountant. Lawyers for the President sued to thwart the subpoena. The U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. ruled on October 11 that the documents must be turned over, a decision that is being appealed.

On May 20, NLPC filed a Complaint with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) against the Center for Global Policy Solutions, headed by Cummings’ wife, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings. The Complaint alleges a score of apparent Internal Revenue Code violations, including prohibited private benefit and inurement of the Cummings.

At the same time she heads CGPS, Mrs. Cummings heads a for-profit consulting firm with a similar name, Global Policy Solutions, LLC, whose operations appear … Read More ➡

Rep. Ilhan Omar Files for Divorce

Posted on by Peter Flaherty
Mynett and Omar

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on Friday filed for divorce from her husband Ahmed Abdisalen Hirsi, contradicting her denials in August that she was experiencing problems in her personal life. The denials came in the wake of our Complaint to the Federal Election Commission alleging that Omar may have illegally used campaign funds to facilitate an extramarital affair. A few days previous, the wife of a political consultant named Tim Mynett alleged that her husband’s travel with Omar was not work-related, but for romance.

Omar married Hirsi in 2002 when she was 19 in what she claims was a Muslim religious ceremony. They did not legally marry. The couple had two children before allegedly separating in 2008. Omar legally married Ahmed Nur Said Elmi in 2009. It appears that Elmi may be Omar’s brother who she wed to enable him to obtain U.S. citizenship. Omar and Elmi claimed … Read More ➡

Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin Revisit Cummings IRS Complaint

Posted on by NLPC Staff

Yesterday, House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) threatened to subpoena the White House as part of House Democrats’ impeachment investigation, prompting Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin to revisit our IRS Complaint against Cummings and his wife.

Levin interviewed NLPC Chairman Peter Flaherty about the Complaint, filed in May and amended in June. Flaherty pointed out the irony of Cummings demanding documents when his wife’s “nonprofit” still has not complied with our request for the group’s annual tax return. IRS regulations require nonprofit groups to provide a copy of the return to any member of the public upon request.

The Flaherty interview begins at 58:10.

Limbaugh read parts of the original Washington Examiner story that detailed the allegations in our Complaint. Click here to read a transcript. The Cummings commentary is towards the end of this rather lengthy transcript.… Read More ➡