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CfA's April 19, 2024 Newsletter

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

This Week's Updates:

Anti-Abortion Contractor Rejected by Iowa Seeks Funding in Louisiana
Last week, Iowa restructured a program that directed taxpayer dollars to crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) because it was unable to find a qualified administrator – hardly a surprising outcome, given that CPCs operate outside ofmainstream medicine and are typically not licensed healthcare facilities. One of the applicants rejected by the state was the newly-formed Iowa Pregnancy Network (IPC), which is affiliated with another anti-abortion organization called the Texas Pregnancy Care Network (TPCN). IPC’s application contained serious issues that were “not capable of correction”— according to documents obtained by Iowa Public Radio—and omitted information about the nonprofit’s organizational structure and timeline for deliverables.

The faulty application was submitted by John McNamara, who serves as TPCN’s Executive Director and has overseen the distribution of hundreds of millions of dollars to Texas CPCs with minimal oversight. In 2021, TPCN gave $1,020,960 to a CPC that redirected the funds to out-of-state trips, limousines, and a smoke shop. The TPCN-linked Oklahoma Pregnancy Care Network was also audited in 2022, and was found to be “seriously underperforming.” Meanwhile, in Louisiana, McNamara has just registered the “Louisiana Pregnancy Care Network” with the Secretary of State’s Office and appears to be lobbying lawmakers in support of legislation that would channel state CPC funding through a third-party administrator.

Big Tech Plays Hardball in Vermont
This week, VTDigger’s Sarah Mearhoff reported that tech companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and AirBnB had contracted over 20 lobbyists in Vermont, as the state inches closer to passing bills concerning data privacy and children’s online safety. Those efforts appear to be paying off; both the Vermont Data Privacy Bill and the Vermont Kids Code have been stalled by lawmakers, who say they’re concerned with the burden such legislation could place on small businesses.

Now, some representatives are calling foul. Rep. Monique Priestley, who played a major role in drafting the data protection bill, believes that industry forces have sabotaged the policymaking process. In an interview with Mearhoff, Priestley cited TTP’s 2021 report titled Big Tech’s Go-To Defense: Hiding Behind Small Business, which highlighted tech-backed nonprofits like the Connected Commerce Council (C3). C3 claims to be a small business organization, but allows itself to be used as a lobbying tool for Big Tech, and has advocated on behalf ofcompanies like Amazon and Google that are known for squeezing small businesses. Mearhoff noted that C3 has retained four contract lobbyists in Vermont, where one of its representatives recently appeared before state lawmakers to lobby against the data privacy bill.

Monetized Pro-Nazi Content Thriving on X
On Tuesday, NBC news reported that over 150 pro-Nazi accounts had paid X for premium services and were using their accounts to spread hate speech and conspiracy theories, along with clips of Adolf Hitler. While this content violates X’s policies, the platform neglected to perform enforcement, even when the posts racked up millions of views. X owner Elon Musk has already lost advertisers due to his own antisemitic comments, and recently intervened on behalf of a well-known neo-Nazi cartoonist by locking and suspending the accounts of journalists who revealed his identity.

X may not be breaking any laws by hosting neo-Nazi accounts, but its other content moderation failures could bring serious consequences. In February, TTP reported that X may have violated U.S. law by providing paid, premium services to sanctioned entities. These entities included the leaders of terrorist organizations, like the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, as well as Russian and Iranian state media outlets.

What We're Reading
Consumer health information: Handle with (extreme) care
Emergency rooms refused to treat pregnant women, leaving one to miscarry in a lobby restroom
Whistleblower says Boeing should stop production of 787 Dreamliner due to safety issue

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Be on the lookout for more updates about our work in the upcoming weeks. Thanks again for signing up to be a part of CfA!

Sincerely,

Michelle Kuppersmith
Executive Director, Campaign for Accountability

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