Council For Citizens Against Government Waste America's #1 Taxpayer Watchdog

The Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium (CIETC) is a nonprofit organization that provides job-training services for the Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) program.  As extensively reported by The Des Moines Register, the group’s top three executives were recently fired after a state audit found that they collected a combined $1.8 million in salaries over 30 months.  Congressional earmarks and breakdown of oversight allowed a cadre of greedy schemers to enrich themselves at taxpayer expense.

With 580,000 square feet, three underground stories, and space three-quarters the size of the Capitol itself, the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) is a monument to Congress’s own excess.  It was recently announced that the project is experiencing yet another cost increase and construction delay.  On February 15, an official from the Government Accountability Office testified that the cost of the CVC will reach $584 million, 120 percent more than the original estimate.  Originally scheduled for completion in time for the 2005 presidential inauguration, the Architect of the Capitol (AoC) has esti

In March 2005, The Record revealed that more than 100 retired police officers with the New York Port Authority (PA) are getting at least $100,000 a year in pensions.  Because many senior PA cops were logging long hours of overtime, and because overtime is included in pension calculations, retirees are receiving up to double the pay they made in a normal working year.  At least 25 other PA retirees are getting pensions in excess of $100,000 as well.

In January, the Maryland legislature overrode Governor Bob Ehrlich’s veto of the Fair Share Act.  The legislation requires all businesses in the state of Maryland with 10,000 or more employees to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on employee health benefits or pay the difference in a tax.  Although there are several large employers in the state, the bill only affects Wal-Mart.  In reality, this law has nothing to do with providing health insurance.  It represents the continuing effort of labor unions and their allies to demonize and punish successful, non-unionized companies.  A similar bill was passed in Suffolk County, New York that affects large, non-unionized grocery stores.