New on The Public i

Special Report
Marketing the New �Dogs of War�
(WASHINGTON, Oct. 30, 2012) -- In October 1996, three ex-soldiers met for lunch in an Italian restaurant just off King's Road in Chelsea, one of London's toniest districts. They discussed the fortunes of a company with which they were all associated called Executive Outcomes, whose business was intervening in Africa's wars -- for a price. �It was becoming clear that EO � carried a lot of political baggage,� Tim Spicer, one of the diners who was perhaps Britain's best-known mercenary, later observed. His companions suggested a plan to rebrand, restyle and relaunch the "dogs of war." Read the third part of Making a Killing: The Business of War.>>

Special Report
Making a Killing: The Business of War
(WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2012) -- Amid the global military downsizing and increasing number of small conflicts that followed the end of the Cold War, governments have turned increasingly to private military companies � a recently coined euphemism for mercenaries � to intervene on their behalf. A nearly two-year investigation by the Center for Public Integrity's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has identified at least 90 such companies worldwide. The ICIJ investigation also uncovered a small group of individuals and companies with connections to governments, multinational corporations and, sometimes, criminal syndicates in the United States, Europe, Africa and the Middle East that have profited from war commerce. Read more in ICIJ's 11-part series.>>

Commentary
Paul Wellstone: A Lost Voice for Democracy
(WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2012) Sen. Paul Wellstone was killed in a plane crash last Friday that also claimed the lives of his wife, daughters, aides and the plane's pilots. The Center offers its deepest sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims. Wellstone shared his thoughts with Executive Director Charles Lewis on representative government and the influence of money on the political system for the Center's 1998 book, The Buying of the Congress. The text of the interview, and a RealPlayer version, is available on the Center's Internet site.>>

News Report
Center Provides Data on Interests of Candidates for Governor and Attorney General
(Washington, Oct. 25, 2012) Of the 244 candidates running in 37 states for the offices of governor and attorney general, 41 are not required to file financial disclosure forms. Six of the states holding elections for statewide offices this year do not require candidates to disclose any of their financial interests, leaving voters ill-informed about their backgrounds, the Center for Public Integrity has found. As a public service, the Center has entered information from those candidates for governor and attorney general who are required to disclose information about their personal financial interests into a searchable database.>>

News Report
National GOP Exchanges Soft Money for Hard in Florida
(WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2012) The National Republican Senatorial Committee sent $3.2 million in soft money to the Republican Party of Florida this election cycle, though there's no Senate race in that state this year. There is a gubernatorial contest with national implications, however -- Republican incumbent Jeb Bush is facing a tight race against Bill McBride, his opponent. In exchange for the soft money, Florida's GOP has transferred $2.7 million in hard money to the NRSC, which can be spent to influence close Senate races with far fewer restrictions.>>

Primary Sources
Bush, Harken, and the Public's Right to Know
(WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 2012) Earlier this summer, national media outlets reported on President George W. Bush's activities as a director with Texas oil company Harken Energy in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The stories referenced documents obtained by the Center during the course of research for the The Buying of the President 2010, as well as two Center investigative reports.

As a public service, the Center posted a number of documents related to a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of Bush for insider trading. In an attempt to allow for easier navigating of the information, we are re-posting all the information in chronological order.

We are also making available some new documents from our files that shed additional light on what was transpired at Harken while Bush was a director.>>

News Report
Impending Ban Hasn't Stopped Soft Money Rush by Presidential Hopefuls
(WASHINGTON, Oct. 17, 2012) The presidential primaries are more than a year away, but that hasn't stopped some of the potential frontrunners in that contest from exploiting a provision of the current campaign finance system to raise more than $7.6 million in unregulated soft money. Attorneys, Hollywood producers, investment firms, and others have written five- and six-figure checks to political committees affiliated with politicians who hope to be the next occupant of the White House.>>