July, 08 2010, 08:30am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Shelley Walden, International Reform Officer
202.457.0034, ext. 156
shelleyw@whistleblower.org
Beatrice Edwards, International Reform Director
202.457.0034 ext. 155
beatricee@whistleblower.org
Dylan Blaylock, Communications Director
202.457.0034, ext. 137
dylanb@whistleblower.org
Report Exposes Irregularities of Obscure State Department-Funded Organization
Details Questionable Roles of Liz Cheney, Shaha Riza, and Others in Multi-Million Dollar Program
WASHINGTON
A report released by the
Government Accountability Project (GAP), based on documents obtained
through
nearly three years' of U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests,
exposes the highly irregular manner in which the Foundation for the
Future
(FFF) - an obscure project funded by the U.S. Department of State -
was established and operated by Bush administration officials and
appointees.
Specifically, the report details
how high-level State
Department officials misled Congress as they sought millions in public
money
for the Foundation, which was a haven for people with political
connections.
The report also shows that FFF was a pet project of Elizabeth Cheney,
former
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.
Cheney
worked to set up the Foundation with Shaha Riza, Paul Wolfowitz's
companion whose seconding to the State Department (and then to the FFF)
was
directly responsible for the 2007 World Bank scandal that resulted in
Wolfowitz's
departure from the Bank.
"Liz Cheney had the
preposterous idea that the
Foundation for the Future would bring peace and democracy to the Middle
East," said GAP International Program
Officer Shelley Walden, author of the report. "This overlong project
wasted millions of taxpayer dollars."
The report,
which is based on 267
documents released by the Department of State over a period of 33
months, can
be found here: (Full
Report) (Executive Summary) (Key FOIA documents) (Appendix I)
Background
The Foundation for the
Future first became an issue of
public interest inquiry in 2007, when GAP
published the payroll records of Riza, girlfriend of then-World Bank
President Paul Wolfowitz. The records showed that Riza, a British
national who
worked as a World Bank communications officer, was seconded to the U.S.
State
Department after Wolfowitz was appointed, where she was responsible for
establishing the Foundation for the Future (FFF). The FFF was a
nonprofit
organization tasked with promoting democracy and reform in the Broader
Middle
East and North Africa (BMENA) region.
While seconded from the
Bank to the State Department
in 2005 and 2006, Riza received salary raises in excess of what Bank
rules
allowed, earning far more than Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In
October
2006, Riza's secondment was transferred to the FFF itself,
where she remained until returning to the Bank in early 2008, after
Wolfowitz
was forced to resign.
Liz Cheney's Failed
Pet Project
The documents released by
the Department of State
(DOS) show that Liz Cheney, as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of
State
for Near Eastern Affairs, envisioned Riza's highly irregular secondment
to the FFF in May 2005, well before it was established, andbefore Paul Wolfowitz became
President of
the Bank. In this unsupervised position, Riza promoted an overtly
political U.S. agenda in the Middle
East. Riza's activities in this role were in apparent
violation of conflict of interest regulations at the World Bank, as well
as the
national security, tax and visa regulations of the U.S. government. The
report also
shows that Cheney was instrumental in the Foundation's launch and
failure
to obtain broad international support.
"The project was doomed
from the start -
State Department officials in the region warned that restrictive laws in
the
Persian Gulf states would make the Foundation ineffective; BMENA
governments
did not support a Foundation that would give their opposition a platform
from
which to oppose them; and potential donors had misgivings about the
project's lack of indigenous imprint," stated Walden.
"Despite these warning signs, Cheney and the Bush administration moved
full steam ahead and established the Foundation anyway."
In 2005, Cheney, Shaha
Riza and Condoleezza Rice
embarked on an international crusade to obtain financial and diplomatic
support
for FFF. But their efforts at diplomacy were a failure; they raised less
than
25% of the goal (set by Cheney) of $25 million (USD) in contributions
from
other nations. The great majority of funding came from the United
States,
although the legislation creating the institution included a requirement
for
matching funding.
"The
Foundation
for the Future was to promote democracy, transparency and popular
political participation on a multilateral basis in the Middle
East," said GAP International Program Director Bea Edwards.
"So when Liz Cheney - who, in the view of many Middle Eastern
leaders, occupied her position largely because she was the Vice
President's daughter - asked other nations for contributions, they
balked. Add to this the fact that the Foundation's board member
selection
process was directed by the former Deputy Secretary of Defense's
girlfriend and that the Foundation was managed by a personal friend of
Wolfowitz's with little expertise in the region, and it's no wonder
that many potential donors refused to fund it."
Astroturfing
GAP's report shows that
the FFF was almost entirely
financed and monitored by the U.S.
government, even though the Bush administration repeatedly portrayed it
to
Congress as a multilateral, non-governmental organization created in
response
to democratic demands from grassroots organizations. Documents also show
that
the Bush administration intended to use the Foundation as a vehicle
through
which to demonstrate its purported commitment to democratic processes
and human
rights abroad, at a time when President Bush was subjected to increasing
criticism for human rights violations in Iraq,
Afghanistan, "black
sites" around the world and Guantanamo
Bay.
Dubious Lobbying and
Funding Efforts
From 2005-2007, officials
at the State Department executed a number of questionable legislative
maneuvers
in the US Congress that were favorable to the FFF. In the end, the
Bush-Cheney
administration successfully obtained the passage of three laws related
to the
Foundation and a disbursement of $21.3 million in public funds. They
also
secured $921,064 for the Eurasia Foundation - a non-profit organization
set up by the State Department in the 1990s to promote democracy in the
former Soviet Union - to help establish the FFF.
It appears that in
order
to obtain the disbursement to the FFF, State Department officials
deliberately
misled the US Congress about the funding pledged to the Foundation by
other
governments. Evidence strongly suggests that section 534(k) of US Public
Law
109-102, which at that time stipulated that funds could only be made
available
to the Foundation to the extent that they had been matched by
contributions
from other governments, was violated; the Foundation's own reports show
that less than $6.4 million of the $22.26 million in "matching
funds" listed by the State Department in its communications with
Congress
as pledged ever materialized.
Especially suspicious
was
the State Department's representation of a murky $10 million pledge from
Qatar, the largest "pledge" of any
country other than the United
States. Documents indicate that the State
Department knew that this pledge would never materialize when it asked
Congress
to disburse matching funds.
GAP's report also
suggests that FFF management - including former FFF Chairman (and close
friend of Paul Wolfowitz) Anwar Ibrahim, who is currently a Malaysian
parliamentarian - misled the US Internal Revenue Service. The FFF's
financial statements for 2006 and 2007 state that the Foundation did not
attempt to influence national legislation, an assertion contradicted by
the
cables and reports released by the Department of State. These documents
suggest
that several Foundation representatives actively lobbied the US Congress
in
2006-07 for legislative changes favorable to the FFF.
Shaha
Riza
State Department
documents show generous travel
allowances and salaries for the office of Shaha Riza, whose nebulous
duties did
not seem to require such lavish financial support. Riza was paid a net
salary
of $180,000 to perform such tasks as reviewing a translated draft of the
FFF
bylaws, a PowerPoint presentation of a business plan and a translated
policies
and procedures manual.
The
Foundation for the
Future continues to operate, although the departure of both Cheneys from
public
office appears to have weakened its financial support from Congress.
Because
the vast majority of its funding comes from the U.S. government,
budgetary figures
indicate that the FFF will be unsustainable after 2014.
The Government Accountability Project (GAP) is a 30-year-old nonprofit public interest group that promotes government and corporate accountability by advancing occupational free speech, defending whistleblowers, and empowering citizen activists. We pursue this mission through our Nuclear Safety, International Reform, Corporate Accountability, Food & Drug Safety, and Federal Employee/National Security programs. GAP is the nation's leading whistleblower protection organization.
LATEST NEWS
'Tragic Outcome' for Gig Workers as California Supreme Court Hands Win to Uber, DoorDash
"Today's ruling only strengthens our demand for the right to join together in a union so that we can begin improving the gig economy for workers and our customers," the case plaintiff said.
Jul 25, 2024
Labor advocates on Thursday decried a ruling by the California Supreme Court upholding a lower court's affirmation of a state ballot measure allowing app-based ride and delivery companies to classify their drivers as independent contractors, limiting their worker rights.
The court's seven justices ruled unanimously in Castellanos v. State of California that Proposition 22, which was approved by 58% of California voters in 2020, complies with the state constitution. Prop 22—which was overturned in 2021 by an Alameda County Superior Court judge in 2021—was upheld in March 2023 by the state's 1st District Court of Appeals.
The business models of app-based companies including DoorDash, Instacart, Lyft, and Uber rely upon minimizing frontline worker compensation by categorizing drivers as independent contractors instead of employees. Independent contractors are not entitled to unemployment insurance, health insurance, or compensation for business expenses.
There are approximately 1.4 million app-based gig workers in California, according to industry estimates.
While DoorDash hailed Thursday's ruling as "not only a victory for Dashers, but also for democracy itself," gig worker advocates condemned the decision.
"Over the last three years, gig workers across California have experienced firsthand that Prop 22 is nothing more than a bait-and-switch meant to enrich global corporations at the expense of the Black, brown, and immigrant workers who power their earnings," plaintiff Hector Castellanos, who drives for Uber and Lyft, said in a statement.
"Prop 22 has allowed gig companies like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash to deprive us of a living wage, access to workers compensation, paid sick leave, and meaningful healthcare coverage," Castellanos added. "Today's ruling only strengthens our demand for the right to join together in a union so that we can begin improving the gig economy for workers and our customers."
Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, said that "we are deeply disappointed that the state Supreme Court has allowed tech corporations to buy their way out of basic labor laws despite Proposition 22's inconsistencies with our state constitution."
"These companies have upended our social contract, forcing workers and the public to take on the inherent risk created by this work, while they profit," she continued. "A.B. 5 granted virtually all California workers the right to be paid for all hours worked, health and safety standards, unemployment insurance, workers compensation, and the right to organize."
"Rideshare and delivery drivers deserve those rights as well," Gonzalez stressed.
The Gig Workers Rising campaign said on social media that "Uber and other app corporations spent $220 million to buy this law, and they did it by tricking Californians."
Prop 22's passage in November 2020 with nearly 59% of the vote was the culmination of what was by far the most expensive ballot measure in California history. App-based companies and their backers outspent labor and progressive groups by more than 10 to 1, with proponents pouring a staggering $204.5 million into the "yes" campaign's coffers against just $19 million for the "no" side.
"Voters were told the initiative would provide us with 'historic new benefits' and guaranteed earnings," said Gig Workers Rising. "But since it went into effect, drivers have seen our pay go down, learned the benefits are a sham, and have to accept unsafe rides because of the constant threat of being 'deactivated,' kicked off the app with little explanation or warning."
"If Uber really cared about good benefits and fair wages, it could make that happen tomorrow," the campaign added. "Instead, it has shown it would rather slash pay, bamboozle voters, and put drivers' lives and livelihoods in danger—all while promising $7 billion in stock buybacks to banks and billionaires."
Veena Dubal, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine who focuses on labor and inequality, toldCalMatters that Thursday's ruling was "a really tragic outcome," but "it's not the end of the road."
Dubal's sentiment was echoed by some California state legislators, who said the ruling presents an opportunity to act.
"While this decision is frustrating, it must also be motivating," said state Senate Labor Committee Chair Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-28). "I'm more determined than ever to ensure that all workers—including our diverse and Black, Indigenous, and people of color-led gig workforce—have the basic protections of workers compensation, paid sick leave, family leave, disability insurance, and the right to form a union."
Prop 22 has served as a template for lawmakers in other states seeking to deny or limit basic worker rights, benefits, and protections.
In Massachusetts, app-based companies have been fighting for years to get a measure to classify drivers as contractors on the state ballot. In 2022, Lyft made the largest political donation in state history—$14.4 million—to a coalition funding one such proposal.
Last month, Uber and Lyft reached an agreement with the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, a Democrat, to pay $175 million to settle a lawsuit filed in 2020. As part of the deal, the companies also agreed to increase driver pay and provide paid sick leave, accident insurance, and some health benefits. The agreement does not address how app-based gig workers should be classified.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Young Voters Tell Kamala Harris to 'Fight for Our Future'
"This is your chance to energize young people and our communities to vote, mount one of the greatest political comebacks in decades, and deliver a resounding defeat to the far-right agenda of Trump and Vance."
Jul 25, 2024
Four youth-led groups on Thursday urged Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, to "fight for our future" by pursuing a policy agenda the coalition unveiled in a March letter to U.S. President Joe Biden.
It's been less than a week since Biden left the race and endorsed Harris, who is expected to face former Republican Donald Trump and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), in the November election. Since then, she's racked up endorsements from Democratic members of Congress and progressive groups focused on issues including climate, labor, and reproductive rights.
March for Our Lives, which was launched after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, honored Harris with the group's first-ever endorsement on Wednesday, calling her "the right person to stand up for us and fight for the country we deserve."
"To defeat Trump, you must rebuild support and enthusiasm among young voters."
The gun violence prevention organization is part of the youth-led coalition behind the new letter, which also includes the climate-focused Sunrise Movement; Gen-Z for Change, which advocates on a range of issues; and the national immigrant network United We Dream Action.
"You have an urgent and important task. To defeat Trump, you must rebuild support and enthusiasm among young voters," the coalition told Harris on Thursday, noting that she sought the Democratic nomination during the last cycle. "You should build on your 2020 campaign platform where you put forward a strong vision to make the economy work for everyday people and ensure a livable future for us all."
The groups urged Harris to support the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and the Reverse Mass Incarceration Act. They pushed her to expand pathways to citizenship, keep families together, end fossil fuel subsidies, and create good, union jobs. They also called on her to prioritize gun violence prevention and investments in public health solutions and green, affordable housing.
"Democrats are at a critical crossroads with young people," the coalition wrote to Harris on Thursday. "Polls showed Biden and Trump neck-and-neck among young voters."
ANew York Times/Siena College poll conducted July 22-24 shows Trump leading Harris 48% to 47% among likely voters and 48% to 46% among registered voters—differences that fall within the margin of error.
Forbesnoted Thursday that "Democrats are far more enthusiastic about Harris than they were Biden, the Times/Siena survey found, with nearly 80% of voters who lean Democrat saying they would like Harris to be the nominee, compared to 48% of Democrats who said the same about Biden three weeks ago."
The outlet also pointed to two other polls conducted by Morning Consult and Reuters/Ipsos since Biden dropped out, which both show Harris with a narrow lead over Trump.
"You have an opportunity to win the youth vote by turning the page and differentiating yourself from Biden policies that are deeply unpopular with us, such as approving new oil and gas projects, denying people their right to seek refuge and asylum, and funding the Israeli government's killing of civilians in Gaza," the youth coalition highlighted Thursday. "You must speak to the economic pain young people are facing from crushing student debt and skyrocketing housing and food prices."
Looking beyond November, the groups told Harris—who could be the first Black woman and person of Asian descent elected to the country's highest office—that "you could be a historic president. Not just because of who you are, but what you can accomplish."
"Young people are energized and ready to organize against fascism and for the future we deserve," they concluded. "This is your chance to energize young people and our communities to vote, mount one of the greatest political comebacks in decades, and deliver a resounding defeat to the far-right agenda of Trump and Vance."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Video Game Actors Strike for AI Protections
"The video game industry generates billions of dollars in profit annually," said one union leader. "The driving force behind that success is the creative people who design and create those games."
Jul 25, 2024
After nearly two years of negotiations with video game giants and no deal that would protect performers from artificial intelligence, unionized voice and motion capture actors who work in video game development announced Thursday that they will go on strike starting at 12:01 am on Friday, July 26.
The performers are represented by Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), which last year won a contract for TV and film actors that included "unprecedented provisions for consent and compensation that will protect members from the threat of AI," after the union went on strike for four months.
The union has been negotiating on behalf of video game actors with major production companies including Disney Character Voices Inc., Activision Productions Inc., and WB Games Inc., and has won concessions over wages and job safety—but "AI protections remain the sticking point," said SAG-AFTRA on Thursday as the impending strike was announced.
Unionized actors want protections that would stop video game companies from training AI to replicate actors' voices or likeness without their consent and without compensating them.
"The video game industry generates billions of dollars in profit annually," said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, national executive director and chief negotiator for SAG-AFTRA. "The driving force behind that success is the creative people who design and create those games. That includes the SAG-AFTRA members who bring memorable and beloved game characters to life, and they deserve and demand the same fundamental protections as performers in film, television, streaming, and music: fair compensation and the right of informed consent for the AI use of their faces, voices, and bodies."
"Frankly, it's stunning that these video game studios haven't learned anything from the lessons of last year—that our members can and will stand up and demand fair and equitable treatment with respect to AI, and the public supports us in that," he added.
Sarah Elmaleh, negotiating committee chair for the union's interactive media agreement, said the negotiations have shown the companies "are not interested in fair, reasonable AI protections, but rather flagrant exploitation."
"We look forward to collaborating with teams on our interim and independent contracts, which provide AI transparency, consent, and compensation to all performers, and to continuing to negotiate in good faith with this bargaining group when they are ready to join us in the world we all deserve," said Elmaleh.
The unionized actors voted in favor of the strike authorization with a 98.32% yes vote, said SAG-AFTRA.
The strike was announced as more than 500 workers who help develop the popular World of Warcraft video game franchise voted to join the Communications Workers of America (CWA), with the games publisher, Blizzard Entertainment, recognizing the bargaining unit.
CWA noted that the workers' journey to union representation began with a walkout in 2021 at Activision Blizzard, which was later bought by Microsoft, over sexual harassment and discrimination.
"What we've accomplished at World of Warcraft is just the beginning," Eric Lanham, a World of Warcraft test analyst, said in a statement. "We know that when workers have a protected voice, it's a win-win for employee standards, the studio, and World of Warcraft fans looking for the best gaming experience."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular