![\"The](\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/CapitolBuilding-336x198.jpg\")
Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p>
In the past, CREW has placed U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, former Rep. Heather Wilson and former Sen. Pete Domenici — all Republicans — on its list of the most corrupt members of Congress. The group has also called New Mexico’s last two governors — Susana Martinez, a Republican, and Bill Richardson, a Democrat — among the worst in America.<\/p><\/div>\n
The Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which has a history of watchdogging New Mexico politicians<\/a>, has been taken over by a man who also leads or advises “several of the big-money groups crucial to the Clinton-for-president effort,” The Center for Public Integrity recently reported<\/a>. Many former CREW staffers say that Clinton ally, David Brock, has “defanged” the “prominent,\u00a0nonpartisan watchdog group that helped lay groundwork<\/a> for what\u2019s become the Clinton email server scandal<\/a>,” The Center reported.<\/p>\n In the past, CREW has placed\u00a0U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce,\u00a0former Rep. Heather Wilson and former Sen. Pete Domenici — all New Mexico Republicans —\u00a0on a\u00a0list of people it believes are\u00a0the most corrupt members of Congress<\/a>. It filed formal complaints against them alleging ethics violations.<\/p>\n The group has also called New Mexico’s last two governors — Susana Martinez<\/a>, a Republican, and Bill Richardson<\/a>, a Democrat —\u00a0among the worst in America.<\/p>\n CREW’s hammering of former Gov. Richardson is significant because of the group’s nonpartisan status. In 2010<\/a> the group said the Democrat\u00a0allowed pay-to-play scandals to plague his administration, rewarded allies with state investments and jobs, and failed to make New Mexico government more transparent. He was one of two Democrats — and 11 governors total — CREW criticized that year.<\/p>\n The group has always\u00a0gone after more Republicans than Democrats. But before Brock took over, Democrats weren’t immune to its criticism. From The Center’s article:<\/p>\n “And it was CREW, in December 2012, that filed a Freedom of Information Act request<\/a> demanding U.S. State Department officials cough up information about email accounts Clinton used as secretary of state \u2014 an action that helped give wings to what, this election, has become Clinton\u2019s unshakable<\/a>\u00a0political<\/a> albatross<\/a>.”<\/p>\n Then Brock took over.\u00a0These days,\u00a0CREW isn’t going\u00a0after Democrats with such fervor. From The Center for Public Integrity article<\/a>:<\/p>\n But after Brock became<\/a> CREW\u2019s chairman in August 2014, co-founder and Executive Director Melanie Sloan tendered her resignation<\/a>. She officially quit in January 2015. And since Sloan departed, CREW has all but ignored liberal politicos.<\/p>\n Not so with conservatives: CREW has filed more than 20 formal complaints against various Republican politicians, Republican operatives or right-leaning political groups, a\u00a0Center for Public Integrity<\/a> review of CREW\u2019s publicly disclosed activities indicates.<\/p>\n Among its targets: Christie<\/a>, a political organization backing Rubio<\/a> and a\u00a0charitable organization led by Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n CREW\u2019s most notable public actions against Democrats since January 2015 are comparatively tepid: It filed one complaint<\/a> against a Democratic-aligned organization \u2014 a nonprofit supporting Jersey City, New Jersey, Mayor Steven Fulop \u2014 and scolded federally indicted Sen. Robert Menendez<\/a>, D-N.J., and Rep. Chaka Fattah<\/a>, D-Pa., in statements.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Today Brock is vice chairman of CREW’s board. Two other board members have close ties to Clinton, including\u00a0CREW’s chairman, Albert Dwoskin, who “has donated more than $15,400 to Clinton\u2019s campaigns and pro-Clinton political committees over the years, federal records indicate,” according to The Center.<\/p>\n “That includes $2,700 \u2014 the legal maximum \u2014 to Clinton\u2019s presidential campaign in April 2015,” The Center reported. “That also includes more than $10,700 worth of office space he contributed in-kind to Ready for Hillary PAC during 2013.”<\/p>\n CREW’s offices moved last year, and are now\u00a0located in the same building as two pro-Clinton Super PACs —\u00a0Correct the Record and American Bridge 21st Century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Many former staffers at the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington say Hillary Clinton ally David Brock has “defanged” the “prominent, nonpartisan watchdog group that helped lay groundwork for what\u2019s become the Clinton email server scandal,” The Center for Public Integrity reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72046,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[708,705,113,226,114,116],"class_list":["post-143539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2016-election","tag-money-in-politics","tag-nonprofits","tag-presidential-race","tag-public-corruption","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}