common cause, public citizen, the coalition for accountability in political spending, seiu, move on, u.s. action, campaign for america's future. leadership conference on civil rights. national people's action, progress now. every child matters. healthcare for america now. occupy wall street. the whole gamut of organizations that are trying to make sure our democracy is really here for all of us. simply put, a lot of us are happy to be involved in local and state government. who run pension funds that total by the way $1.5 trillion. a lot of us around the country got together and formed the coalition for accountability in political spending -- caps. we did this in response to the citizens united two years ago. the reason was that we thought our democracy was threatened. we thought that pension funds, local and state government had to play a role in responding to the possibility that money would flood our political system and warp it once and for all. the organizations here every single one of them have been responding as well. every single one of them hassed a a powerful response. now

we had to go back into court thanks to public citizen litigation group. i really have to stop and acknowledge the wonderful depth in the more recent years with the pro bono support they provided. it is essential to get legal assistance and others as well have stepped up to the pro bono attorneys for us. it is absolutely critical. anyway, that's different. today, this does not happen. justice department in general, we did a report and it is out there attracted and despite the really impressive words of president obama and the impressive words of our attorney general talking about not defending agency withholding unless it really was consistent with the purpose of foia, there was real harm potential there or that the law just didn't give them any discretion. it's not worth the paper its written on. absolutely no implementation. that's a really, really sad commentary about how things have changed. today in the way the court process works, the good thing is you can get attorneys fees. i also learned a new wrinkle in getting attorneys fees in the suit by publi

that is not just public citizens saying that. that is goldman sachs. >> you have sung the same tune over and over again. i don't hear you saying speculator tion are fantastic when prices go down. the week of july 15, 2008, when prices reached their all-time high and president bush said you know what we are going to drill a little bit more off the offshore outer continental shelf and also on the coast prices went -- the barrel level went from 147 bucks a barrel that week to $33 a barrel six months later. where were the speculators then, tyson? >> with us the speculative oil burst because of the collapse of the delivetive housing market. the credit default swaps and the banks that dominated the speculation market. >> why don't you just admit it the answer is you don't have anywhere to go with, if. the obama administration is looking all over the place for an answer and don't have it. >> eric, you have 20 years in the oil business and say you owned and operated oil and gas trading businesses. what is the solution to the issue at the

secretary and his records on this web site you're looking at the forget larry campaign this is from public citizen essential information they're arguing the guy that advocated for deregulation and other policies that favor wall street and corporate interests is all wrong for the job and there are reports that developing nations will name two candidates the nigerian finance minister and the former colombian finance minister you see them both there now our guest in golden was vice president of the world bank that was from two thousand and three to two thousand and six he worked there before that too and he's been writing about the importance of this decision in his op ed titled the world bank is flirting with irrelevance he reminds us of what he calls this analyst bilateral deal that is always allow europe to claim the i.m.f. and the u.s. to appoint the head of the world bank but in golden's view with emerging markets now accounting for more than half of the global economy there is no excuse for delaying a global search for the best qualified candidate now. this acros calls i've heard for the last s

sydney wolf, of the consumer advocacy group, public citizen, a dangerous ingredient has found its wayments. how do we know subutramine is dangerous? because it used to be in a prescription drug called mi imeridia because it was pulled off the shelves because it cussed heart attack. everything from weight loss formulas to sexual enhancers. >> there have been an unending number of recalls including more even today as we speak. >> given the current system, can people trust what's on the label of a dietary supplement? >> in too many cases they can't. i think that the best dekripgs of a dietary supplement label is don't know in big red letters. >> reporter: we wondered how could what are supposed to be natural supplements make people so sick, and how on earth could they make it all the way to reputable stores? >> it's like the wild west. they do whatever they want. >> wild, wild west. >> you and i could open a supplement company in the back of a pickup truck. >> 25 milligrams of selenium. >> it might not be in the back of a pickup truck, but we're about to set up our own company and create

over failed banks and too big to fail has only gotten bigger take a look at this new video from public citizen calling on the of the day to break up . so what are the chances that we'd ever see b. of a or any of the pi largest banks in the country really break up they want to have more studio in los angeles is only prince senior fellow at demos and author of the latest book black tuesday and we thank so much for joining us tonight and i guess first starters first time in decades that we have not had a new bank created in the u.s. good thing bad thing what he said it's just indicative of the fact that the bigger banks have been able to purchase failed banks or banks that were on the brink of failure at cheap levels in often cases f.d.i.c help and federal guarantees are financing sort of behind the scenes and that's really how the banking system in general has become more consolidated amongst the more powerful bigger banks we of course know got the big five but even the sort of mintier banks along the way have been able to take advantage of failed banks and wiring them there are only three banks

public citizen remains released a report today showing that the volcker rule first of all is like almost a glass steagall glass steagall one hundred thirty five when the banks went down in flames they went down in flames because they had been gambling with their depositors money and their gambles went bad and all of a sudden people who had put had money in checking accounts and savings accounts money was gone thousands of banks closed people lost everything average people who had no investments at all just money in the bank and so glass steagall was put in place and said you can never gambling bank also known as an investment bank or you can have a commercial bank also known as checkbook and savings account but you can't but it can't be won in one thousand nine hundred nine that a blown up with great grandma thanks to phil gramm on behalf of his wife when he was on the board of enron so that enron could do this and now you could do both and so the volcker rule says no you can't do both anymore you have to pick one of the other it's not fully implemented even right now members of congress

are there any members of the public who have applied for the citizens advisory committee? we can open up to your ability to come forward. ok. so, this item, colleagues, we can continue to the next plans and programs meeting? without objection. ok. if we do have someone coming and need to rescind the vote to continue, we can do that. madam clerk, item number five, please. >> item #5. recommend allocation of $124,000 in prop k funds, with conditions, to the san francisco municipal transportation agency for two requests and appropriation of $74,000 for the quint-jerrold connector road, subject to the attached fiscal year cash flow distribution schedules, and amendment of the relevant 5-year prioritization programs. this is an action item. >> good morning, chair and the members. this item is on page 23 of your packet. i will be the first request allocation funds for the asset mta -- sf mta . first, i wanted to do an overview of the traffic signal project. a $42,000 traffic allocation project to match the highway safety improvement fund that are going to make detailed the -- de

. >> out of obligation towards the spanish people and towards all of your citizens is to get our public accounts into shape. -- all other eu citizens is to get our public accounts into shape. we do not want to paralyze any part of the recovery. >> if you look back to when they won power in december, they came out with the reform since. they realize that the public finance they inherited when not as good as they thought and they came out with more reforms and brussels said they were not good enough. then we had another target, more austerity, that is why this budget is so austere. >> -- president said that he will not resign. he has told hundred television that his conscience is clear. he pledged to write a new thesis to prove he can meet current academic standards. the university in budapest withdrew his pieces on thursday when it was clear that he copied large parts. mastercard and visa are investigating a security breach in the u.s. which mutt and -- which might have put the details of customers at risk. reports suggest the numbers from 10 million accounts might have been stolen when

i know because that is how long i was doing it to at public citiz citizen. there is no way that you can continue this kind of work unless you are prepared to look at it in the long run. it may not seem like it's 26 years in all these cases, but sometimes it feels as though it is running 26 years, if not 26 miles. surely, some of the lawyers in some of the cases with you, felt it was going on forever as we passed on to lawyer after lawyer to keep up the battle. if you weren't willing to go the long distance, you know the bureaucracy will wear you down and not get what you want. so sue long, better than anybody else, understands the importance of being a long-distance runner. for that reason and all of the other reasons that i have given and others have given, i am honored to present this award to you today, sue. congratulations. it says in recognition of the remarkable career as a successful requester of government information and creator of litigation of four decades of the freedom of litigation act, foia award to susan b. long. [ applause ] >> tell me where

public. for anyone citizen, for anyone to have access to it. the question is whether in the 21st century ark disclosure obligation that's fulfilled by a filing cabinet alone makes sense or if common sense says broadcasters are required to disclose everything shouldn't that be online? most ojss that broadcasters have to disclose? general at the fcc increasingly interactions are digital not paper whether it's applications, consumer complaints, license information. the suggestion in the report last year as part of a general effort to move from paper to digital as part of a general effort for transparency, if we're going to have any oxes at all to make information public shouldn't that be online? if it should, why should we exempt any particular category? again, there have been questions raised in the record and we'll look at those as part of the proceeding. >> the commissioner mcdowell said you're requiring this of broadcasters, what about radio stations. where i live you buy more radio than you do tv. so is this to apply across the board to every

speak in support of karen donovan cornell a little bit served for two years on the public utilities commission citizens advisory committee where i was appointed to serve. she also has experience as a deputy city attorney on the public utility team and is an eternity -- an attorney at east bay mud. she has a range of experience that is appropriate. i did not know mr. sheehy. we should find some way to find -- involve him in the puc. the more people who are paying attention to the big important work at puc, the better. i wanted to see those comments. i have no problem with continuing this item. supervisor kim: thank you. is there any other public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. thank you for being here. i was really impressed by what you had written in your application. it seems like you do know about the water system and it is not something our average denizen knows that much about. i appreciate your interest and for your experience. also great to have a fourth generation san franciscan applied. that would make supervisor farrell quite happy. being that we could not hear from the other a

agencies must have a procedure to investigate complaints by members of the public against peace officers. the office of citizen complaints serbs that purpose for the san francisco police department. we are staffed by the first group of citizens who have never been police officers. we have a 35 member staff. the majority are investigators. the balance consists of attorney and support staff. the goal is to increase the public trust in law enforcement by being the bridge between the public and the police in matters of police misconduct and matters of police policy. our mission is to ensure police accountability by conducting fair, timely, and unbiased investigations in making investigations on police policy and practices. when conducting an investigation, we do so to find out what happened. we follow the evidence come to interview the person who brought the complaint, sometimes in person, sometimes by phone. the involved police officers are also interviewed in civilian witnesses are interviewed. we have subpoena power to obtain evidence. we obtained additional -- we obtain additional information from the police d

for years and something called the clean halls policy and we see this most acutely in public housing where citizens really don't have first and fourth amendment rights they're not allowed in the hallways they're not allowed to hang out in the vestibules in the in the foyer in front of the building on the stoops is that there's just a system of prohibition. and so now we're starting to see that in occupy all the things that the city's been doing to communities of color and to to to marginalized communities in the city for years we're now seeing that we have so much to learn from these communities that have struggled with this kind of suppression and police terror for years and years we're talking this is eight hundred sixty five and slavery was. so hot abolished and that's the same year that the prison industrial complex rises up in this country and this is largely due to the thirteenth amendment which grants freedoms except if one is cruel convicted rather of a crime but this is not just about this relationship with police because certainly you know we got video of it we've seen some of the brutali

, afsme, americans for financial reform, consumer action, the consumer federation of america, public citizen, the economists committee for stable, accountable, fair and efficient financial reform, and u.s. perg and other investor protection groups. they have said that the bill will in fact only make it more difficult for a small business to access investment capital. and it risks exposing investors to a new round of damaging fraud and abuse while undermining market transparency. president obama recently urged the senate to find common ground by supporting the most effective aspects of the house bill to increase capital formation for growing businesses while also improving the house bill to ensure there is sufficient safeguards to prevent abuse and protect investors. i cosponsored the substitute amendment offered by senators reid, landrieu, and levin because it precisely does what the president asked. it adds essential provisions to the house legislation. among other things, the invest act amendment would retain protections put in place after the internet stock bubble burst, ensure that banks

the citizens of san francisco are disenchanted. public employees of the city and county are disenchanted with the services that the board, that they trust -- president chiu: thank you. next speaker. >> i am going to piggyback on what mr. maxwell was saying, asking americans being wrongfully terminated, for instance at sfmta -- if an operator has 10 plus years and is african-american, they come after you. i filed a sexual harassment charge. i went to the eeoc. i went to the dsc h -- dseh. management came after me like a lion, and i was wrongfully terminated in less than a year. i challenge you to go into sfmta and do an investigation and see what is going on. people are being wrongfully terminated who have 10 plus years and are african-american. i challenge you. sexual harassment -- there is wrongful retaliation. it has to stop. because you are a whistle- blower, i challenge you. do an investigation. >> steve zeltzer, united public workers for action. proposition c was supposed to defend the interests of public workers while making concess

through the corporate reform corp., public citizen's and people here, on behalf of shareholder resolutions not spend money on elections, or at least disclose what they are spending, support efforts of the new rules that requires complete set to disclose political elections. we are committed with our colleagues here that is found to be funneling its money to independent organizations that enable it to conceal from the public what it is doing. we know that corporations value secrecy when it comes to political spending. secrecy of ceo's it is or no go. there will not spend money because they know reputation no harm will come from being associated with disclosure. that is why some are pushing for laws and disclosure. until we get to the day were disclosure is mandated, or restricted by their own sense of market share holiday, we're going to hold them to account. the message is this -- if you think you can run money through independent organizations secretly in the 2012 election, you are wrong. you will be fanned out. you'll be held to account. and you, not our democracy, you will pay the price

the second should focus on the rights of citizens and protecting public health. third, government should take a flexible approach towards coordination and governments around the world have started to recognize the waste and the human toll of our existing approach. there models to look at like switzerland, germany, the netherlands and portugal where ten years ago it led to a large reduction in other drug use and massive drops in property crime, hiv and violence. i hope this hearing can start a new debate around the policy and we look forward to discussing this with you today. we need obviously to reduce the prime and social problems associated with drug markets in whatever way is most effective. also i will say a couple of words. >> the chairman arestein ask questions. >> i want to say how i can give evidence from my experience and as a woman of the global commission, i was for ten years minster of health and as witserland. during the time of my responsibility, we introduced a change in the law and introduced new kinds of harm reduction and treatments. i think i c

citizens. the largest public works our city has season in many years going on now the private project that 1 rincon hill. huge project. we had 5 or 6 people work on that project thus far. the rebuilding of the academy of science in golden gate park. the rebuilding of our public hospital laguna honda this is on going work with the same contract ors that move successful apprentices from one project to another and keep

citizens. the largest public works our city has season in many years going on now the private project that 1 rincon hill. huge project. we had 5 or 6 people work on that project thus far. the rebuilding of the academy of science in golden gate park. the rebuilding of our public hospital laguna honda this is on going work with the same contract ors that move successful apprentices from one project to another and keep them working for several years. the construction workers of the future to be the superintendents the construction owners. that's the perfect thing there. that's success. i'm the president of friends of mclaren park. it is one of the oldest neighborhood community park groups in san francisco. i give a lot of tours through the park. during those tours, a lot of the folks in the group will think of the park as very scary. it has a lot of hills, there's a lot of dense groves. once you get towards the center of the park you really lose your orientation. you are very much in a remote area. there are a lot of trees that shield your view from the urban setting. you would simply see different gr

on thursday, he made his last public appearance as a normal citizen, promoting a campaign against racismn sports. the fight against discrimination looks set to be a central theme of his presidency. >> we have to combat detestable attitudes and offensive propaganda, but we mustn't delude ourselves by thinking we can turn everybody into an enlightened citizens. that is not possible. >> he wants sports clubs to help fight far right extremism. he is promoting two new web sites designed to show young sports people how to deal with racism if they encounter it in their daily lives. the future president wants to germans to play an active role in fighting the far right. says the problem will not be solved until individuals make a stand. >> we will not be scared of the people who hate our democracy. we confront them with our bravery. >> once he has been voted on as president by a special assembly in parliament on sunday, he will be able to draw attention to the issues close to his heart. he is already getting used to being the center of attention. >> time for a short break. we'll be back in a minu

everyone should know that you are the founding director, together with ralph nader for the public citizen group which is fair to say over the decades has been that we just openness in government litigation group, and then he you retired in 2004, where you wednesday then teach at a number of law schools, stanford, nyu, harvard, georgetown, tulane, a university in china and even here at the washington college of law. professor morrison has argued 20 cases before the supreme court including some particularly significant ones, and he was a well deserved recipient of this award last year. i'm sorry to say that professor from himself was unable to be with us this morning, but are besser morrison will present the award to professor long. we have all professors here, very insular i suppose and a small community is it not? and then professor long will be giving you the benefit of her long years of wisdom in this area, that is for sure. so, without anything further, we will try to stick to the time as best we can. let me pass you over to professor allen morrison. >> thank you diana and welcome. i d

america, the council of institutional investors, the national association of consumer advocates, public citizen, u.s. perg, the afl-cio, afscme, the national education association, the american institute of c.p.a.'s, the c.f.a. institute and the main street alliance, just to name a few. a broad spectrum of experts who feel that this bill is, as they say, not ready for prime time. in an op-ed in "the washington post" on march 14, two harvard securities professors, john coats and robert posen state in their words -- "this bill does more than trim regulatory fat. parts of it cut into muscle. small businesses will have a harder time raising capital if investors do not receive sufficient disclosure or other legal protections." in his "motley fool" column on march 19, mr. moscowitz says there are four problematic things about the jobs act. motley fool is one of the most per executive of the securities markets from many different perspectives. they point out significant faults. the bill as currently written would exempt 90% of current i.p.o. from accounting requirements. it defines small companies as

everyone should know that you are the founding director, together with ralph nader of the public citizen litigation group, which i think is fair to say has been over the years, over the decades, the leading openness of leading group in the land. and then he retired in 2004, where he went to then teach at a number of law schools, stanford, nyu, harvard, georgetown, tulane, sudan university in china, and even here at the washington college of law. professor morrison has argued 20 cases before the supreme court, including some particularly significant ones, and he was a well deserved recipient of this award last year. i'm sorry to say that professor von himself was unable to be with us this morning. but professor more simple present the award to professor long. we have all professors here. very answer i suppose. this is a small community, is it not? and then professor long will be giving you the benefit of her long, long years of wisdom in this area, that's for sure. so without anything further, we try to stick to tight time limits you as best we can. let me pass you over to professor alan

public citizen. >> bart, good to see you again. >> nice to see you.chairman bernanke said before the house and senate financial committees that it won't be ready by july 21st when the statute provides that it be in force and i think in his words, it, they obviously, his words, won't enforce it if there is no rule. your views, what's your forecast? trading account is, was the home of some of the most illiquid and problematic financial positions some of which are in your purview. when do you expect to begin enforcing the volcker rule? >> you know, it is a collaborative effort between i think it is six regulators and the department of treasury. we published a rule for comment a little after the others because we, frankly had capacity issues. you know, just, moving through all the matters congress has asked us to do. so we just published ours in the last week or two and our comment period closes april 16th. so any of you want it comment, we look forward to that comment on how to best protect the public through this means and i would assume that we would w

could lead to expensive lawsuits after all many of these detainees are related to american citizens their public lives were still ice cold when confronted with the reality of these facilities and the conditions of treatment there perhaps the most outlandish statement came from republican steve king when discussing the number of i.c. cheney's that have died in recent years king said one hundred ten deaths is not alarming to me really we care that little for human life what if one hundred ten american detainees died in custody of brought in another country no matter how they got there documented or not would that be alarming now isn't alarming as the administration's attempts to at least address this issue even if they have proposed the best possible solution what's alarming as republicans efforts to undermine human rights and sensible policy by pandering to their zenith of the base. are you guys now it's time for our financial check up or we take a look at some of the biggest headlines from wall street the fed the eurozone everywhere so we try to make sense of them all so tonight we're getting an

citizen. is he a spiritual leader. >> laura: isn't he a public figure? >> is he a spiritual. >> laura: indicate he was a private citizen. he says some of the most. >> is he a minister. is he a private citizen. he can say what he wants. >> laura: one at a time otherwise we don't have a dialogue. he has put himself out there on some of the most controversy viewpoints. by the way i think he he should be allowed to speak. i disagree with his speech. i think it is reprehensible. you are saying is he a private citizen so he shouldn't be criticized for what he said? it's ridiculous. is he basically saying the jews control everything. former slave masters are still trying to keep us down and making a variety of comments about homosexuals that enormous segment of society find to be reprehensible. suddenly he is supposed to get a past for all of this because you call him the honorable. why is he the honorable? >> okay. my turn? okay. first of all, he he is a private citizen. is he also a spiritual leader, okay? second of all, you know, you can take a peek in any ch