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CfA's May 26, 2023 Newsletter

With your support, Campaign for Accountability is working to expose corruption and hold the powerful accountable.

This Week's Updates:

New TTP Op-Ed: Tech Execs Protect Their Kids from Their Own Products. America’s Children Deserve the Same
This week, Tech Transparency Project Director Katie Paul released an op-ed calling out tech executives for keeping their own children off social media and smart phones – all while their companies fight regulation intended to protect other peoples’ kids.

This screen-skepticism amongst the same execs pushing these products to young users predates the pandemic and the accompanying shift to remote learning; in 2018, The New York Times reported that nannies in Silicon Valley were being asked to sign “no-phone use contracts,” to minimize children’s exposure to screens. In the same year, Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed that his then-11-year-old son didn’t have a smartphone. For parents in the tech industry – and wealthier parents in general – keeping children offline has become a priority. These facts raise a very important question, writes Katie: “Why shouldn’t America’s young people receive the same levels of protection that Silicon Valley parents provide for their own?”

DeSantis Campaign Kicks Off Campaign Finance Gymnastics
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis formally announced his campaign for the presidency on Wednesday night, meaning he can begin accepting donations to “Ron DeSantis for President.” However, he already has $86 million stored in the “Friends of Ron DeSantis” PAC, which was used to finance his campaign for governor. Thanks to a loophole in campaign finance laws, DeSantis will be able to transfer those funds to a separate PAC, allowing him to re-purpose funds and dodge the FEC rules surrounding transfers from nonfederal committees. This maneuver is hardly new, but it illustrates the weakness of existing campaign finance regulations in a post-Citizens United America.

Texas Border Protection Bill Undergoes Major Modification
On Wednesday, the Texas Senate approved a package of immigration legislation which would create a new “Texas Border Force,” consisting of commissioned law enforcement officers overseen by the state’s Department of Public Safety. This marks a significant change from the previous version of the bill, which would have allowed civilians to serve as officers with the power to arrest and “deter” migrants. Critics of the original bill argued that codifying vigilante groups into law would have been human rights disaster, particularly in a state which is already home to violent, anti-migrant militias. Texas Sen. Phil King (R), who introduced the change to the bill, said that he believed “noncommissioned employees” could transfer arrested migrants and provide logistical support.

The modified immigration bill only needs final approval from the Texas House before it can be signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott. Legal challenges to other aspects of the bill should be expected, and the Department of Justice is currently investigating Texas’s Operation Lone Star initiative to determine whether it complies with the Civil Rights Act.

What We're Reading:

DeJoy rebuffs USPS regulator looking into agency’s ‘dramatic changes’ to cut costs

Texas House committee recommends Attorney General Ken Paxton be impeached

'No Question That It's Illegal': Watchdogs Pan DeSantis Super PAC Scheme

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Sincerely,

Michelle Kuppersmith
Executive Director, Campaign for Accountability

Campaign for Accountability

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