Privacy

Cable competition bill clears Senate

August 31, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Contra Costa Times (California)</p> <p>Weakened regulations will eliminate the Public Utility Commission's ability to require the phone companies to offer services in low-income neighborhoods, and to provide quality service, said Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "If the PUC doesn't have the power to take away a license, what good is a regulation? There's literally no one watching. And, with all these new amendments, it was done very secretively in a back room. They're trying as much as they can to avoid consumer protections," Court said.</p>

Perata, others enter final workweek under clouds

August 31, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Half-million-dollar contribution from developers came after Senate leader pulled flood-plain legislation</h3><p class="source">Oakland Tribune</p> <p>The busy political time has been punctuated not only by the flap involving Perata's flood bills and developer contributions but also by two other disclosures of the kind that raise eyebrows.</p>

Prop. 89 Supporters’ Unique Campaign;

August 30, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Campaign Finance Reform Initiative</h3><p class="source">KGO-TV ABC - San Francisco, CA</p> <p><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=IhdS9BWXpgo">Check out this Web video</a> shot by the Yes on 89 campaign. It was shot last week outside a fundraiser for Assemblyman Rick Keene of Chico. He was charging $1,500 a head and serving donuts for breakfast. The woman from Proposition 89 is offering the lobbyists donuts for 89-cents. </p>

Pledging muddles campaign finance picture;

August 30, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Legislators accept promises instead of cash, confounding watchdogs who want to know who is trying to influence bills as the session winds down.</h3><p class="source">The Orange County Register</p> <p>"It's like Enron accounting for politicians," said Doug Heller, executive director for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights and a vocal critic of end-of-session fundraisers. "That's a total evasion of the disclosure expectations we have of politicians. The reason we have disclosure is because we want to have confidence that politicians are not making decisions based on contributions."</p>

Big business lobbies hard for video licensing bill;

August 28, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Creating statewide franchises would shake up telecom world</h3><p class="source">THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE</p> <p>Another byproduct of more companies jumping into the video service fray could be tearing up of streets to lay the fiber optic cables, and in the case of AT&T, installing large gray boxes that contain circuitry to bring faster Internet connection to each home, said Judy Dugan, a researcher at the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights in Los Angeles.</p>

Getting Arnold in the Spirit of Wine Month

August 28, 2006  ·  Jamie Court

<font face="Verdana,helvetica,Arial"><br/> </font> <!-- body text starts --><!-- startbodytext --> <font face="verdana,sans-serif" size="2">Arnold has been all over the airwaves this week toasting California's wine industry and...</font>

Donors to governor get posts of prestige;

August 28, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Del Mar Fair Board a prized assignment</h3><p class="source">The San Diego Union Tribune</p> <p>At least 13 of Schwarzenegger's appointees, their spouses and their companies have contributed more than $1.4 million to his campaigns, according to campaign disclosure forms and a review by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "Large contributors shouldn't be rewarded for their loyalty. These appointments should be based on merit alone," said Carmen Balber, who works for FTCR. "In some cases, these people weren't the best appointees." </p>

Cable monopoly bill in works as lawmakers wrap up session

August 27, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Inside Bay Area (California)</p> <p>"The cloud of industry influence over our elected officials in this debate is just as thick as it was when politicians crafted the doomed electricity deregulation law in 1996," said Judy Dugan of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.</p>

Builders give Perata $500,000

August 25, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Sacramento Bee</p> <p>Rebuilding California, a campaign committee founded by Don Perata to promote housing, transportation and flood control, received a $500,000 donation from the Building Industry Association two days after the Senate President Pro Tem killed flood-control legislation opposed by the group. </p>

Patent foes get a break in fight;

August 25, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Breakthrough in stem-cell engineering may weaken group's lock on research.</h3><p class="source">Sacramento Bee</p> <p>Last month, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a Santa Monica-based consumer-advocacy group, requested that the U.S. Patent Office reconsider the patents, arguing that they are overly broad and contrary to the public interest. "We still very much think that the WARF patents should never have been issued," said John Simpson, the group's spokesman, on Thursday.</p>

There’s a new dynamic in the stem cell debate;

August 24, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<h3>Impact of new stem cell extraction on WARF patents remains unclear</h3><p class="source">Wisconsin Technology Network</p> <p>If the WARF patents are upheld, would the organization have the right to make a claim on stem cells derived by this new method? John Simpson, stem cell project director for the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, believes they would. "They would claim the right to human embryonic stem cell patents derived in this [new] way," Simpson stated. He also said the new method of deriving stem cells doesn't make the WARF patent a moot point because it hasn't been replicated elsewhere, and the research community still isn't sure how robust it is.</p>

Arnold flexes fundraising muscle in Texas

August 23, 2006  ·  Consumer Watchdog

<p class="source">Austin American-Statesman (Texas)</p> <p>ArnoldWatch, a project of California's nonpartisan Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, says Schwarzenegger has corralled more than $97 million in donations since 2003. Doug Heller of ArnoldWatch called Schwarzenegger "the most prolific fundraiser in California history. He usually doesn't travel anywhere without holding a fundraiser. He's very efficient."</p>