2019 - Checks and Balances Project

Gotham Gazette Op-Ed: C&BP Calls on NYC Officials to Investigate $47M Tech Boondoggle

2019-12-17

Since last summer, after receiving a tip, Checks and Balances Project has been looking into questions about New York City’s $30.5M contract with software company Ivalua to custom-build an eProcurement platform for some 40 city government agencies. Fast forward 16 months and the contract amount has risen to $47M while the city still doesn’t have… Read more »

C&BP Retains First Amendment Attorney Karl Olson to Get to Bottom of Decision to Approve Billionaire’s Vanity Basketball Arena

2019-12-16

Records About California Air Resources Board’s Approval of Inglewood Arena Are Slow Walked. City of Inglewood Ignores Basic Requests.

Despite CA Records Law Requirement of Prompt Action, Responses Vary Widely by 4 Government Bodies Enabling Controversial Ballmer Arena

2019-12-10

State records law requires government agencies to respond within 10 calendar days —by December 5th in our case — to acknowledge the records request and tell the requesters whether they have disclosable public records.

Enabled by Controversial Mayor and Powerful Lobbyist, Billionaire Clippers Owner Gets Big Win from California Air Resources Board

2019-12-5

CARB’s approval was a big step forward for Steve Ballmer, but potentially a big step backwards for the nation’s toughest carbon pollution reduction goals.

Will Microsoft Billionaire Gut California’s Carbon Pollution Standards for a Basketball Arena?

2019-12-3

Steve Ballmer — the 15th Richest Person in the World — Appears to Be Attempting to Crash Through the Nation’s Toughest Standards to Address Climate Change

Coordination or Coincidence? 2 NYC Agencies Say They’ll Respond on the Same Day to Our Records Request

2019-11-13

The old-school definition of Freedom of Information means that the public has a right to most documents that are created by officials whose work and salaries are paid by taxpayers. A newer version, it seems, means that public officials have the obligation to protect a government agency from possible embarrassment by hiding documents.

PADS Internal Critics and Defectors Grow

2019-10-30

Some expressed dismay. Others anger. The names of others just disappeared. They include six medical doctors, two professors and a nurse. One of the physicians is listed as a co-chair but has been dead for 20 months.

Big Pharma Is Boosted by PADS Alliance with Association of Mature American Citizens

2019-10-25

Says PADS Founder Dr. Robert Campbell: “Big Pharma does something really special. What we have to do is that when they do something special, they get paid for it.”

Was Spend Matters a Paid Consultant When Defending Ivalua’s Nearly $50M NYC Boondoggle?

2019-10-24

Spend Matters aggressively defended Ivalua after our analysis of how NYC is paying 340 times more per agency for custom-built eProcurement software than Dallas paid for off the shelf software. When one finally discovers its Client Disclosures page, Ivalua is in a list of companies that are Spend Matters clients.

Q&A with Spend Matters Founder Jason Busch

2019-10-22

He denies conflicts while his procurement trade publication Spend Matters cheered the company embroiled in a growing New York City eProcurement contract scandal.

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