Cancelling AARP Because of Obama?
(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
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August 14, 2009 1:27 PM CBS News has learned that thousands of people are cancelling their AARP memberships, angry over the organization’s support of health care reform. In the face of membership opposition, the AARP has offered somewhat confusing positions - so much so that even President Obama is apparently confused about exactly where they stand.
January 5, 2009 6:32 PM 
While Bernard Madoff, the financier accused of running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, was in a New York courtroom Monday answering to prosecutors, lawmakers in Washington held their first hearing on Madoff's investment scandal.
Democratic lawmakers charged that the Securities and Exchange Commission had “failed miserably” in ignoring warnings that could have uncovered wrongdoing years ago.
But as CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports on the CBS Evening News, a crucial witness in helping determine how Madoff's scheme evaded regulators was a no-show: whistleblower Harry Markopolos.
He agreed to testify at first, but ended up telling Congress he was too physically worn down and needs more time.
Markopolos, A derivatives expert, first alerted officials ...
Madoff Whistleblower No-Show At Hearing
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Democratic lawmakers charged that the Securities and Exchange Commission had “failed miserably” in ignoring warnings that could have uncovered wrongdoing years ago.
But as CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports on the CBS Evening News, a crucial witness in helping determine how Madoff's scheme evaded regulators was a no-show: whistleblower Harry Markopolos.
He agreed to testify at first, but ended up telling Congress he was too physically worn down and needs more time.
Markopolos, A derivatives expert, first alerted officials ...
October 27, 2008 6:33 PM 
Sharyl Attkisson is an investigative correspondent for CBS News.
Fake occupations like "lover"? Non-existent zip codes like "00000"? Imaginary people like "Doodad Pro"? Neither campaign appears to corner the market on odd entries from the donor files.
But with Obama receiving many more individual donations, a stunningly larger total (Obama's got more than $603 million to McCain's $358 million), and -depending who you ask - an impressive (or suspicious) month of record fundraising in September, some are trying to take a closer look at Obama's stats.
"He's been taking in a lot of money very rapidly," says Sheila Krumholz who heads up the Center for Responsive Politics. She says ...
Breaking Down The Money Race
(CBS)
Fake occupations like "lover"? Non-existent zip codes like "00000"? Imaginary people like "Doodad Pro"? Neither campaign appears to corner the market on odd entries from the donor files.
But with Obama receiving many more individual donations, a stunningly larger total (Obama's got more than $603 million to McCain's $358 million), and -depending who you ask - an impressive (or suspicious) month of record fundraising in September, some are trying to take a closer look at Obama's stats.
"He's been taking in a lot of money very rapidly," says Sheila Krumholz who heads up the Center for Responsive Politics. She says ...
August 22, 2008 3:12 PM Sharyl Attkisson is investigative correspondent for CBS News.
Back in 1972, a Republican convention corporate contributions scandal shook things up. Executives from the International Telephone and Telegraph Corp. had allegedly met secretly with Nixon administration officials – and offered to underwrite the Republican convention. In return, the Justice Department was allegedly urged to "go easy" on ITT in a pending anti-trust lawsuit. ITT ended up with what was widely regarded as a favorable out-of-court settlement.
To eliminate the appearance of tainted funding, election law was changed. The idea was to provide public funds for the conventions and limit corporate contributions. But things haven't really worked out that way. Here's why.
Corporations are still allowed to donate money through convention "host committees" (committees that presumably help promote the locality that's holding the convention). But the "host committee" exemption has become a giant loophole exploited by corporations seeking influence – and politicians eager to provide it. Corporate contributions have soared from just $1 million in 1980 to an estimated $112 million for 2008.
Tonight on the CBS Evening News our Follow the Money story will talk about what some corporate donors "get" in exchange for their generous contributions ...
Paying To Party ... With The Parties
(CBS)
Back in 1972, a Republican convention corporate contributions scandal shook things up. Executives from the International Telephone and Telegraph Corp. had allegedly met secretly with Nixon administration officials – and offered to underwrite the Republican convention. In return, the Justice Department was allegedly urged to "go easy" on ITT in a pending anti-trust lawsuit. ITT ended up with what was widely regarded as a favorable out-of-court settlement.
To eliminate the appearance of tainted funding, election law was changed. The idea was to provide public funds for the conventions and limit corporate contributions. But things haven't really worked out that way. Here's why.
Corporations are still allowed to donate money through convention "host committees" (committees that presumably help promote the locality that's holding the convention). But the "host committee" exemption has become a giant loophole exploited by corporations seeking influence – and politicians eager to provide it. Corporate contributions have soared from just $1 million in 1980 to an estimated $112 million for 2008.
Tonight on the CBS Evening News our Follow the Money story will talk about what some corporate donors "get" in exchange for their generous contributions ...
August 1, 2008 5:43 PM Sharyl Attkisson is the Capitol Hill Correspondent for CBS News.
Rep. Paul Kanjorski, was just trying to do something great for his hometown: He got several million federal tax dollars to build an office building in Nanticoke, Penn., so that a major business had a place to operate and bring several hundred jobs to town. It was named the Kanjorski Center. But a few years ago, the business moved out of the city-owned Kanjorski Center, leaving Nanticoke stuck paying the $15,000 a month bill for the empty building.
Kanjorski's follow up plan was to build a city-owned parking garage for the empty city-owned Kanjorski Center in hopes of attracting new tenants. Once again, he turned to federal taxpayers for help, earmarking more than $5 million for the Kanjorski Center parking garage project.
Critics say federal tax dollars aren't meant to buy economic stimulus projects for every Congressman's hometown – there isn't enough money to go around as it is. Further objections came from local officials who said Kanjorski shouldn't be able to use an earmark to force the city to build and own another liability: a parking garage ...
Of Pork And Parking
(CBS)
Rep. Paul Kanjorski, was just trying to do something great for his hometown: He got several million federal tax dollars to build an office building in Nanticoke, Penn., so that a major business had a place to operate and bring several hundred jobs to town. It was named the Kanjorski Center. But a few years ago, the business moved out of the city-owned Kanjorski Center, leaving Nanticoke stuck paying the $15,000 a month bill for the empty building.
Kanjorski's follow up plan was to build a city-owned parking garage for the empty city-owned Kanjorski Center in hopes of attracting new tenants. Once again, he turned to federal taxpayers for help, earmarking more than $5 million for the Kanjorski Center parking garage project.
Critics say federal tax dollars aren't meant to buy economic stimulus projects for every Congressman's hometown – there isn't enough money to go around as it is. Further objections came from local officials who said Kanjorski shouldn't be able to use an earmark to force the city to build and own another liability: a parking garage ...
July 25, 2008 4:56 PM Sharyl Attkisson is investigative correspondent for CBS News.
For years, members of Congress have been investigating financial ties between pharmaceutical companies and the government, doctors and researchers, research hospitals, colleges and universities. Sen. Charles Grassley, who has most recently been digging into money links between drug companies and the American Psychiatric Association, puts it this way: “I have come to understand that money from the pharmaceutical industry can shape the practices of nonprofit organizations that purport to be independent in their viewpoints and actions.”
In a letter to its members, the APA says it supports complete transparency and plans to provide Grassley with the information he's requested: "a complete accounting of APA revenues, except from advertising in our journals, from pharmaceutical companies, starting in 2003." The APA notes: "We are not alone; recent public focus on relationships between medicine and the pharmaceutical industry is a challenge for the whole field of medicine."
Indeed, the APA is not alone in being the subject of public focus and scrutiny for its relationships with the pharmaceutical industry. Tonight, on the CBS Evening News, we dig into the allegations of financial conflicts of interest among some widely-quoted "independent" voices in the debates over vaccine safety. We weren't as lucky as Grassley ...
The "Independent" Voices Of Vaccine Safety
(CBS)
For years, members of Congress have been investigating financial ties between pharmaceutical companies and the government, doctors and researchers, research hospitals, colleges and universities. Sen. Charles Grassley, who has most recently been digging into money links between drug companies and the American Psychiatric Association, puts it this way: “I have come to understand that money from the pharmaceutical industry can shape the practices of nonprofit organizations that purport to be independent in their viewpoints and actions.”
In a letter to its members, the APA says it supports complete transparency and plans to provide Grassley with the information he's requested: "a complete accounting of APA revenues, except from advertising in our journals, from pharmaceutical companies, starting in 2003." The APA notes: "We are not alone; recent public focus on relationships between medicine and the pharmaceutical industry is a challenge for the whole field of medicine."
Indeed, the APA is not alone in being the subject of public focus and scrutiny for its relationships with the pharmaceutical industry. Tonight, on the CBS Evening News, we dig into the allegations of financial conflicts of interest among some widely-quoted "independent" voices in the debates over vaccine safety. We weren't as lucky as Grassley ...
July 18, 2008 5:37 PM Sharyl Attkisson is investigative correspondent for CBS News.
What's worse than an earmark that wastes tax dollars and abuses the system by allowing Congress to funnel money outside the normal process to favored businesses or entities?
Plenty, you might say. But how about a secret, classified earmark that costs American lives?
That's the allegation from a military intelligence officer Maj. Eric Egland. In an exclusive interview, Egland told me the amazing story of being on the ground in Iraq at the height of IED (Improvised Explosive Device) deaths and injuries. It was his job to evaluate a large contract that was supposed to send resources and trained people to attack the IED networks. It wasn't working. Egland says it didn't take long for him to discover the contractor was, in his words, completely unqualified for the task at hand. The workers, he said, lacked the experience, resources and know-how to do this important job. He wondered ...
Did Legislator Favor Gifts Over Saving Soldiers' Lives?
(CBS)
What's worse than an earmark that wastes tax dollars and abuses the system by allowing Congress to funnel money outside the normal process to favored businesses or entities?
Plenty, you might say. But how about a secret, classified earmark that costs American lives?
That's the allegation from a military intelligence officer Maj. Eric Egland. In an exclusive interview, Egland told me the amazing story of being on the ground in Iraq at the height of IED (Improvised Explosive Device) deaths and injuries. It was his job to evaluate a large contract that was supposed to send resources and trained people to attack the IED networks. It wasn't working. Egland says it didn't take long for him to discover the contractor was, in his words, completely unqualified for the task at hand. The workers, he said, lacked the experience, resources and know-how to do this important job. He wondered ...
July 17, 2008 4:38 PM Sharyl Attkisson is investigative correspondent for CBS News.
In a news conference this morning, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., laid down the gauntlet against the Washington Post – and, by proxy, other journalists who have reported on the wisdom of some of the choices he's made while holding a powerful position in Congress. Most recently, the Post printed a story and an editorial involving Rangel's use of his congressional stationery and other congressional perks to allegedly help in fundraising efforts for the "Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service" at New York City College.
In the news conference today, Rangel defended his actions, saying that in the letters he wrote on his congressional stationery, he never asked for money outright. He said repeatedly that he's violated no laws or ethics rules.
Remember Rangel's "Monument To Me?"
(CBS)
In a news conference this morning, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., laid down the gauntlet against the Washington Post – and, by proxy, other journalists who have reported on the wisdom of some of the choices he's made while holding a powerful position in Congress. Most recently, the Post printed a story and an editorial involving Rangel's use of his congressional stationery and other congressional perks to allegedly help in fundraising efforts for the "Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service" at New York City College.
In the news conference today, Rangel defended his actions, saying that in the letters he wrote on his congressional stationery, he never asked for money outright. He said repeatedly that he's violated no laws or ethics rules.
July 11, 2008 5:54 PM Sharyl Attkisson is an investigative correspondent for CBS News.
Teach for America is an organization that helps recruit and place bright college graduates and professionals as temporary teachers in needy schools. The non-profit group wins lots of kudos for its intentions and work. It has grown from modest beginnings in 1990: $2.5 million and 500 teachers. Today, the group says it has 5,000 teachers in training – and the 2007 budget was $75 million.
Funding comes from a mix of public and private sources. According to Teach for America's financial disclosures, about a third of its money is your tax dollars – because it comes from local school districts, and state and federal government. But a recent audit by the Education Department Inspector Genera raises the question: Has this group grown too quickly without the proper accounting systems in place?
Teach For America Learns A Lesson
(CBS)
Teach for America is an organization that helps recruit and place bright college graduates and professionals as temporary teachers in needy schools. The non-profit group wins lots of kudos for its intentions and work. It has grown from modest beginnings in 1990: $2.5 million and 500 teachers. Today, the group says it has 5,000 teachers in training – and the 2007 budget was $75 million.
Funding comes from a mix of public and private sources. According to Teach for America's financial disclosures, about a third of its money is your tax dollars – because it comes from local school districts, and state and federal government. But a recent audit by the Education Department Inspector Genera raises the question: Has this group grown too quickly without the proper accounting systems in place?
July 8, 2008 11:29 AM 
Sharyl Attkisson is an investigative correspondent for CBS News.
Yesterday I spoke to the families of young women who believe the Gardasil HPV vaccine may have – or did in fact – cause their child's serious illness. One of the cases involves a now 18-year old young woman named Amanda.
Amanda's parents say she developed a serious reaction to Gardasil after her first dose last summer. It began with soreness where she received the injection. The soreness eventually travelled down her arm, her legs, and led to a horrible autoimmune myofasciitis that is so painful Amanda had to go on morphine for the pain.
She was transformed, through the illness, from a high school varsity sport athlete to a chronically ill person who takes a handful of pills a day just to keep her illness tolerable. When she goes off the medicine, the excruciating pain and other debilitating symptoms return.
One thing that's different about Amanda's case than some of the others is that both of her parents medical doctors who didn't think twice about having their daughter get the shot – but are now second-guessing themselves. They call their daughter's illness after Gardasil "a very sobering experience."
Vaccine Watch: Gardasil Side-Effects?
(AP (file))
Yesterday I spoke to the families of young women who believe the Gardasil HPV vaccine may have – or did in fact – cause their child's serious illness. One of the cases involves a now 18-year old young woman named Amanda.
Amanda's parents say she developed a serious reaction to Gardasil after her first dose last summer. It began with soreness where she received the injection. The soreness eventually travelled down her arm, her legs, and led to a horrible autoimmune myofasciitis that is so painful Amanda had to go on morphine for the pain.
She was transformed, through the illness, from a high school varsity sport athlete to a chronically ill person who takes a handful of pills a day just to keep her illness tolerable. When she goes off the medicine, the excruciating pain and other debilitating symptoms return.
One thing that's different about Amanda's case than some of the others is that both of her parents medical doctors who didn't think twice about having their daughter get the shot – but are now second-guessing themselves. They call their daughter's illness after Gardasil "a very sobering experience."
Mike Huckabee on GOP "rock stars," 2012, health care reform and more.
