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Many Americans have givenup on our political system,writing off our elected leadersas crooks. At CREW, we

believe politicians must be heldaccountable for their actions.Day in and day out, we work toensure government ofcialsregardless of party afliation

act with honesty and integrityand merit the public trust.

LeeLorenz/TheNewYorkerCollection/www.cartoonbank.com.

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Section

1 Summary StatementActivities for the 12 Months Ended

December 31, 2009

REvEnuE

Total Revenue & Support $2,240,7

ExpEnsEs

Education

(Research & Communications) 1,158,6

Legal 605,9

Ethics Watch Colorado 310,2

Total Program 2,074,8

General Administrative 369

Development 151,4

Total Expenses 2,595,4

Change in Net Assets (354,6

Net Assets, Beginning of Period 3,250,4

nEt AssEts, End of pERiod 2,895,7

The above information should be read in conjunction with CREWs nancial statements fo

the 12 months ending December 31, 2009 from which the summarized information is deri

CREW accomplishes this by marrying

in-depth research and investigation

with hard-charging legal action and an

aggressive communications strategy.

We augment these efforts by building

coalitions to push for policies favoring

transparency and accountability. To

garner support for our efforts, we use all

mediums of the modern mediatelevision,

radio, print, and social networkingtomaximize coverage of our work.

Its always easier to tear something down

than to build it up, and building a better

Washington is no different. CREW rmly

believes, however, that a small group of

committed citizens can change the world;

it is the only thing that ever has. totAl pRogRAm 80%

gEnERAl AdministRAtivE 14%

dEvElopmEnt 6%

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Section

2

Avoiding Judicial RevieThe dysfunctional FEC is

failing to fulll its mission

dEmAnding ACtion

The dysfunctional Federal Election

Commission often takes years to

act on campaign nance violation

complaints. Even when it does reach

a decision, the agency frequently

fails to provide the legally required

60 days notice of when and why

it has dismissed a complaint. Frus-

trated by the FECs obvious efforts

to avoid enforcing the law, CREW

sued, alleging the commission has

a policy and practice of dismissing

complaints in order to avoid judicial

review of its decisions. In this post-

Citizens Unitedera, the FECs refusal

to fulll its mission presents an

even greater danger that it will

be considered optional to follow

campaign nance laws.

Used with the permission of Adam Zyglis and The Buffalo News.

TE DEpARTMET F JSTCE has

launched several signicant public corruptioninvestigations over the past few years.

Nevertheless, prosecutions of lawmakers

have been few and far between. DOJ recently

declined to prosecute former House Majority

Leader Tom DeLay, despite the luxury travel,

meals, and tickets he received from Jack

Abramoff in return for legislative favors.

Similarly, following the guilty plea of the

founder of the PMA Group, Paul Magliocchett

to making illegal conduit campaign

contributions, DOJ ended its investigation

into a possible pay-to-play scheme between

the lobbying rm and members of the House

Defense Appropriations Committee. CREW

wants to know why Mr. DeLay and the

members of Congress implicated in the PMA

scandal walked away clean so we led Freedo

of Information Act (FOIA) requests for record

in both cases. The American people deserve

to learn the truth about these scandals.

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Jack AbramoffAfter AlexGibney, the Oscar-winning

director ofCasino Jack and theUnited States of Money, revealed

to CREW that the Bureau ofPrisons blocked Jack Abramoff

from participating in the movieabout him, CREW submitted

a FOIA request for recordsregarding how the Departmentof Justice handled requests to

interview Mr. Abramoff. WhenDOJ stonewalled, CREW sued

to discover who wanted to keephim quiet.

Domestic Violence CREW suedthe Army for failing to produce

data of acts of domestic violencecommitted by soldiers. We

learned the Department ofDefense (DOD) does not track

acts of domestic violence,despite promising Congressto do so. CREW is working with

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)to push the DOD to take this

problem seriously.

onest Services CREW led anamicus brief before the SupremeCourt in U.S. v.Black, arguing

in favor of the constitutionality

of the honest services fraudstatutea key prosecutorial toolghting public corruption. Since

the Court held most uses of thecharge unconstitutional, CREWhas worked with congressional

staff and DOJ to craft a revisedstatute that would withstand

judicial scrutiny.

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Cororate Secrecy CREWled an amicus brief before

the Supreme Court inAT&T v.FCC, arguing that the Freedom

of Information Act does notafford corporations privacy

rights. Finding a corporate rightto privacy under the statutewould deny the public access

to records concerning a widerange of public health, safety,

and welfare issues just becausecorporations might be subject

to public embarrassment.

Seech or Debate CREW ledan amicus brief on behalf ofthe government in its prosecu-

tion of former Rep. Rick Renzi(R-AZ) before the Ninth Circuit

Court of Appeals. CREWargued Rep. Renzis expansive

view of the Speech or DebateClause of the Constitution,which prohibits the government

from using legislative materialagainst a member of Congress,

would render lawmakersimmune from prosecution

for abusing their positionsfor personal nancial gain.

Ew YEAR,Ew CRESS,Ew wESTE!

Seen here for the rst time,

the new citizensforethics.org

will allow CREW to better

engage supporters and

reporters across all media

platforms and signicantly

increase online engagement.

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