• Citizens Against Government Waste is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. As stated, their goal is "to eliminate waste, mismanagement and inefficiency in the federal government."Official Site: Citizens Against Government Waste About

  While this organization itself is a non-profit and cannot therefore lobby congress, it is actually associated with the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, which is a lobbying organization, organized under chapter 501(c)(4) of the IRS tax code.Official Site: Citizens Against Government Waste About This has caused some controversy over the years, and accusations have abounded that the organization is not truly a "grass roots" movement as it claims.O'Reilly XML BlogYou know "CAGW" is a corporate front group, right?

• Fast Facts

  1. Founded in 1984
  2. Founder: J. Peter Grace
  3. President: Thomas A. Schatz
  4. President's Salary: $267,472 (2006)
  5. Net Assets: $1,666,253
  6. 1. Requested by only one chamber of CongressCAGW: 2007 Pig Book Summary
  7. 1. Not specifically authorizedCAGW: 2007 Pig Book Summary
  8. 1. Not competitively awardedCAGW: 2007 Pig Book Summary
  9. 1. Not requested by the PresidentCAGW: 2007 Pig Book Summary
  10. 1. Greatly exceeds the President's budget request or the previous year's funding
  11. 1. Not the subject of congressional hearingsCAGW: 2007 Pig Book Summary
  12. 1. Serves only a local or special interestCAGW: 2007 Pig Book Summary
  13. 2008 edition lists over $17 Billion in "pork"PA Pundits: 2008 Congressional Pig Book...(March 29, 2008)
  14. Lobbying arm Council for Citizens Against Government Waste supported John McCain in the 2004 presidential election and in 2008Seattle Times: Nonprofits Role in Defending McCain Raises Questions (June 1, 2008)

• CAGW Controversy

  Many of their detractors point to the fact that they repeatedly side with corporate interests in high profile cases, such as the Microsoft anti-trust lawsuit, and discourage users and producers of the open source movement.O'Reilly XML BlogYou know "CAGW" is a corporate front group, right?

• Pig Book

  Each spring the organization puts out its Pig Book, highlighting the excessive earmark spending of congress for special interest groups and local congressional districts. It also grades each member of congress on how they vote on various bills that contain this type of "pork barrel" spending, giving them a rating between 'hostile' and 'taxpayer superhero'. The group also puts out a press release each month highlighting one lawmaker as the "Porker of The Month". This person qualifies according to the group, by showing "a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers."CAGW: Introduction

• Related Pages on Mahalo

  Pig Book | John McCain | Republican Party | Democratic Party | United States Congress

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