Marines Salvaging Aircraft Parts to Keep Flying

Posted on April 14, 2016April 14, 2016 by Denise Simon

Congressional failures just forced the Marines to raid a museum for aircraft parts

MilitaryTimes: Marine aviation squadrons are salvaging aircraft parts from museums in order to keep planes flying, according to anecdotes from a key congressional leader.

During a recent trip to several Southern U.S. military bases, Marines told House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, that they’ve been paying for their units’ supplies like pens and paper towels, and were forced to raid decommissioned aircraft for parts.

“I have heard firsthand from service members who have looked me in the eye and told of trying to cannibalize parts from a museum aircraft … getting aircraft that were sent to the boneyard in Arizona back and ready to fly missions, pilots flying well below the minimum number of hours required for minimal proficiency,” Thornberry said.

To see the short real time video go here.

Lawmakers are livid about the fiscal shortfalls, even if their budget infighting in Congress is partly to blame.

At issue are military readiness accounts stretched thin by more than a decade of war and four years of defense penny pinching. Earlier this month, chiefs from each of the four services told lawmakers that those two stressors have led to belt-tightening headaches for units across the military, in some cases deferring long-term needs in favor of short-term solutions.

PhotoCamel

Thornberry would not identify which Marine air station had the parts shortage, and Marine Corps officials at the locations he visited would not confirm the stories.

But Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford did not dispute and seemed to confirm the incidents when confronted with the anecdotes at a March 22 hearing.

“What you saw in the Marine Corps I think reflects in some part what you’ll see in all the services, perhaps not to the same degree as Marine aviation,” he told the chairman. “But that same dynamic exists in each one of the services.”

The Marine Corps has about 180 F/A-18A-Ds, said Marine Corps spokesman Maj. Clark Carpenter. Typically, 43 F/A-18s from deployable squadrons and nine from training squadrons are in depot for maintenance at any given time. That leaves only about 60 percent of the deployable aircraft in flyable, “fight tonight” status.”

Lt. Gen. Glen Walters, the Corps’ deputy commandant for programs and resources, told lawmakers earlier this month that budget cuts have left the entire service “under-resourced” for spare parts.

The Marine Corps has requested $460 million from Congress in fiscal 2017, some of which would buy spare parts for aircraft, but aviation readiness is not expected to fully recover until at least 2020.

Thornberry said the museum salvage attempt he learned about didn’t work, and the Marines were forced to find another fix to get the aircraft ready for an overseas mission.

“The part they took off the museum aircraft did not fit the aircraft they were trying to keep flying,” he said. “But they’re looking for whatever they can do to keep these things up in the air. It’s just amazing.”

Earlier this month, Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller blamed some of the maintenance and repair woes on the continued high tempo of operations.

“The fight in ISIL continues to put stress on equipment, particularly aviation,” he told lawmakers, using an acronym for the Islamic State group. “We’re in the process of resetting our equipment and then you’re trying to maintain legacy gear, and at the same time modernize every model type series of aircraft.”

Other service officials have echoed similar problems. Dunford and Defense Secretary Ash Carter point to Congress’ defense spending caps, which have limited maintenance and investment accounts in recent years, and begged for relief in upcoming budgets.

But committee members have questioned the Pentagon leaders’ assessments that the White House’s fiscal 2017 budget request is truly enough to fix the deep-seated problems, criticizing their promises that next year’s spending caps will be enough to right the force.

Thornberry said that several service members have told him they’ve started buying “basic supplies” like pens and cleaning products “because otherwise it would take three to four months to get them if they could get them at all.”

“I’d say my concern level was very high when I hear [anecdotes] like that. You have folks out there doing their job and they can’t get a pen from the federal government procurement system.

“It just makes you think ‘my gosh, can’t we do better than this?’”

Obamaphones Back in the News, the Scandal was a Secret

Posted on April 13, 2016April 13, 2016 by Denise Simon

Primer: Remember YOU, the taxpayer are subsidizing this program.

FNC/WSJ: The U.S. government spent about $2.2 billion last year to provide phones to low-income Americans, but a Wall Street Journal review of the program shows that a large number of those who received the phones haven’t proved they are eligible to receive them.

The Lifeline program—begun in 1984 to ensure that poor people aren’t cut off from jobs, families and emergency services—is funded by charges that appear on the monthly bills of every landline and wireless-phone customer. Payouts under the program have shot up from $819 million in 2008, as more wireless carriers have persuaded regulators to let them offer the service.

The FCC on the Lifeline program.

FCC Kept ‘Obamaphone’ Fraud Under Wraps Until After It Expanded Program

Commissioners were instructed not to reveal $5 million fine until day after controversial Lifeline expansion vote

Federal regulators were instructed to keep a massive fraud investigation under wraps until a day after a controversial vote to expand a program that was allegedly used to bilk taxpayers of tens of millions of dollars, one those regulators claims.

The Federal Communications Commission on Friday announced that it would seek $51 million in damages from a cell phone company that allegedly defrauded the federal Lifeline program of nearly $10 million.

The commission’s five members unanimously backed the Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL), but Republican commissioner Ajit Pai parted from his colleagues in a partial dissent. According to Pai, he and other commissioners were told not to reveal the details of its investigation until April 1, a day after the FCC voted to expand the Lifeline program.

“Commissioners were told that the Notice of Apparent Liability could not be released or publicly discussed until April 1, 2016, conveniently one day after the Commission was scheduled to expand the Lifeline program to broadband,” Pai wrote. “That’s not right.”

Pai did not say who issued that directive. However, it had the effect of preventing public knowledge of widespread fraud in the Lifeline program ahead of a contentious vote on expanding it despite persisting concerns about a lack of internal safeguards.

FCC spokesman Will Wiquist insisted that the timing was completely coincidental. “The timing of the enforcement action was in no way related to the timing of the vote on the program modernization,” he said in an email.

Lifeline has faced controversy over enrollment requirements that its critics say are too lax and vulnerable to fraud. The service, which subsidizes cell phone plans for low-income Americans, allows beneficiaries to enroll using cards issued for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a welfare program that has also faced fraud allegations.

Critics of the Lifeline program began calling its subsidized cell phones “Obamaphones” early in the Obama administration in response to viral YouTube videos of beneficiaries thanking the president for their free phones. The program was actually created under President Ronald Reagan.

The FCC’s NAL last week accused cell phone provider Total Call Mobile, which provides Lifeline services in 19 states, of “systematic and egregious misconduct” and “widespread enrollment fraud.”

According to the commission, Total Call employees enrolled tens of thousands of duplicate Lifeline beneficiaries and pocketed the extra subsidies. The FCC caught onto the scheme when the company enrolled an undercover FCC investigator in the program without asking for any eligibility documentation.

“Since 2014, Total Call has requested and received an estimated $9.7 million dollars in improper payments from the Universal Service Fund for duplicate or ineligible consumers despite repeated and explicit warnings from its own employees, in some cases compliance specialists, that company sales agents were engaged in widespread enrollment fraud,” the FCC said in a news release.

A common means of fraudulent enrollment was the repeated use of a single SNAP identification card, according to the FCC. That drew the ire of Commissioner Michael O’Reilly, who said the use of SNAP cards as Lifeline verification mechanisms is woefully inadequate.

“I must once again lodge my extreme frustration that the Commission continues to rely on SNAP as an entry point in the Lifeline program, and has the gall to claim that it is a highly accountable program, when it is painfully obvious to anyone paying attention that SNAP is riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse,” he wrote in a partial dissent in the Total Call case.

Despite those ongoing concerns, the FCC recently voted to expand the Lifeline program to include subsidies for 3G wireless broadband service.

That vote followed a contentious debate over the scope of the expansion and its accompanying price tag. The commission approved the expansion by a narrow 3-2 vote on March 31, a day before the FCC announced its Total Call NAL.

The existence of a massive ongoing Lifeline fraud investigation might’ve affected public perception of that vote, if not the vote itself, leading Pai to call the muzzling of commissioners on the Total Call investigation “conveniently” timed.

Pai also objected to commission delays that he said prevented it from sanctioning Total Call for the full scale of its apparent misconduct.

“Even though [the FCC] identified 32,498 intra-company duplicates, we pursue only 2,587. Even though we have evidence that Total Call Mobile bypassed federal safeguards to enroll 99.8% of its subscribers, we hold the company liable for only 16%,” Pai wrote.

“Under these circumstances, our precedent suggests that a forfeiture of at least $84,295,910 would have been appropriate. Yet the Commission settles for something much less.”

Even as the FCC was investigating this pattern of alleged fraud, Total Call was pouring money into its new Washington lobbying operation. According to disclosure forms, it hired lobbyists with the firm ML Strategies in June of last year, a month after the FCC subpoenaed the company.

ML Strategies has reported collecting $120,000 in fees from Total Call to lobby Congress and the FCC on “general issues related to the Lifeline program.”

The FCC’s investigation is not Total Call’s first time running afoul of federal regulators: the commission issued a $12,000 NAL in 2010 accusing the company of failing to abide by regulations on hearing aid compatibility.

Its sister companies have faced far larger fines for more egregious offenses.

Total Call Mobile is wholly owned by prepaid phone card company Total Call International, which is wholly owned by Japanese telecommunications giant KDDI. KDDI is also the sole shareholder of Locus Telecommunications.

The FCC has targeted Locus in numerous enforcement actions over the past decade, and sought fines reaching into the eight figures.

The FCC levied a $5 million penalty against the company in October “for deceptively marketing its prepaid telephone calling cards.” Previous Notices of Apparently Liability sought fines from the company of $5 million, $330,000, $25,000, $23,000, and $12,000.

New Balance Sneakers vs. the Pentagon

Posted on April 13, 2016April 13, 2016 by Denise Simon

Enter the early consequences of the Trans Pacific Partnership

New Balance accuses Pentagon of reneging on sneaker deal

BostonGlobe: New Balance is renewing its opposition to the far-reaching Pacific Rim trade deal, saying the Obama administration reneged on a promise to give the sneaker maker a fair shot at military business if it stopped bad-mouthing the agreement.

John Tlumacki/Globe Staff/File

New Balance has several Northeast factories, including in Lawrence.

After several years of resistance to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a pact aimed at making it easier to conduct trade among the United States and 11 other countries, the Boston company had gone quiet last year. New Balance officials say one big reason is that they were told the Department of Defense would give them serious consideration for a contract to outfit recruits with athletic shoes.

But no order has been placed, and New Balance officials say the Pentagon is intentionally delaying any purchase.

New Balance is reviving its fight against the trade deal, which would, in part, gradually phase out tariffs on shoes made in Vietnam. A loss of those tariffs, the company says, would make imports cheaper and jeopardize its factory jobs in New England.

The administration has made the pact a priority. It could be voted on by Congress later this year, though possibly not until after the November elections.

“We swallowed the poison pill that is TPP so we could have a chance to bid on these contracts,” said Matt LeBretton, New Balance’s vice president of public affairs. “We were assured this would be a top-down approach at the Department of Defense if we agreed to either support or remain neutral on TPP. [But] the chances of the Department of Defense buying shoes that are made in the USA are slim to none while Obama is president.”

The administration says the issues of foreign tariffs and of whether the Pentagon should be required to buy shoes made domestically are entirely separate.

New Balance disagrees. Though most of the company’s shoes are made overseas, domestic manufacturing is a big priority for owner Jim Davis, a longtime Republican donor.

WH to Employers, Make them Preferred Hiring Candidates

Posted on April 12, 2016April 12, 2016 by Denise Simon

We have been enduring the misguided mission by the White House to release criminals early from their prison sentences ah…you know those that were based on drugs but non-violent. Pssst, the last jail break included 1/3 of them that were in prison for life sentences. Anyway, now the White House is becoming their advisors and promoters to get jobs for them, almost by force. Check this out. The corporations also have to take a pledge?

If employers spent more time implementing better hiring practices, then perhaps this wouldn’t be necessary. There are now more and more ways to find out if your new employee has a criminal record, for example, using something like https://www.nationalcrimecheck.com.au/. But, albeit, we live in a world where not everything is so straight forward.

Is this really the best use of time by the White House?

FACT SHEET: White House Launches the Fair Chance Business Pledge

“Now, a lot of time, [a] record disqualifies you from being a full participant in our society — even if you’ve already paid your debt to society. It means millions of Americans have difficulty even getting their foot in the door to try to get a job much less actually hang on to that job. That’s bad for not only those individuals, it’s bad for our economy. It’s bad for the communities that desperately need more role models who are gainfully employed. So we’ve got to make sure Americans who’ve paid their debt to society can earn their second chance.

– President Barack Obama, Rutgers University, November 2, 2015

Today at the White House, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, and other White House officials hosted 19 companies from across the American economy who are standing with the Obama Administration as founding pledge takers to launch the Fair Chance Business Pledge. The pledge represents a call-to-action for all members of the private sector to improve their communities by eliminating barriers for those with a criminal record and creating a pathway for a second chance.

Companies signing the pledge today include: American Airlines, Busboys and Poets, The Coca-Cola Company, Facebook, Georgia Pacific, Google, Greyston Bakery, The Hershey Company, The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System, Koch Industries, Libra Group, PepsiCo, Prudential, Starbucks, Uber, Under Amour/Plank Industries, Unilever and Xerox.

Right now, there are approximately 2.2 million Americans behind bars. The United States accounts for 5 percent of the world’s population, and 25 percent of its inmates. Each year, more than 600,000 inmates are released from federal and state prisons, and another 11.4 million individuals cycle through local jails. Around 70 million Americans have some sort of criminal record — almost one in three Americans of working age.

Too often, that record disqualifies individuals from being a full participant in their communities — even if they’ve already paid their debt to society. As a result, millions of Americans have difficulty finding employment.

Since President Obama took office, this Administration has been committed to reforming America’s criminal justice system. Last summer, the President spoke about the importance of reducing barriers facing people who have been in contact with the criminal justice system and are trying to put their lives back on track. He then became the first President to visit a federal prison where he sat down with individuals who would be returning to their communities. In November, he visited with formerly incarcerated individuals and emphasized that a smarter approach to reducing crime and enhancing public safety must begin with investing in all of our communities. He also announced new efforts by this Administration to help formerly incarcerated individuals to rehabilitate and reintegrate back into their communities, including an upcoming rule from the Office of Personnel Management that will “ban the box,” delaying inquiries into criminal history until later in the federal hiring process. One way to prevent criminals in the workplace may be to use pre-employment tests (as found at https://www.berkeassessment.com/solutions) in order to find out more about your candidates before you accept their application for the role. Berke has many options available.

Building on these efforts, the White House issued a challenge to businesses to take on the Fair Chance Business Pledge. A broad array of businesses have come together to support the reforms needed to bring about this change.

By signing the Fair Chance Business Pledge, these companies are:

Voicing strong support for economic opportunity for all, including the approximately 70 million Americans who have some form of a criminal record.

Demonstrating an ongoing commitment to take action to reduce barriers to a fair shot at a second chance, including practices like “banning the box” by delaying criminal history questions until later in the hiring process; ensuring that information regarding an applicant’s criminal record is considered in proper context; and engaging in hiring practices that do not unnecessarily place jobs out of reach for those with criminal records.

Setting an example for their peers. Today’s announcement is only the beginning. Later this year, the Obama Administration will release a second round of pledges, with a goal of mobilizing more companies and organizations to join the Fair Chance Business Pledge.

Companies and organizations interested in joining the Fair Chance Business Pledge can so do by signing up HERE.

Building on today’s announcement, in the coming weeks, the White House and the Department of Justice will host events in Washington, D.C. and across the country to amplify leaders taking steps to provide fair chance opportunities:

The Justice Department has designated the week of April 24-30, 2016, as National Reentry Week and is coordinating reentry events across the country – from job fairs, to practice interviews, to mentorship programs, to events for children of incarcerated parents – designed to help prepare inmates for release. To learn more, click HERE.

In the coming weeks, the White House will host a Champions of Change event to honor individuals expanding fair chance opportunities. The event will highlight local leaders and programs that are improving their communities by partnering with the philanthropic and private sectors to help those who have been incarcerated rehabilitate and reintegrate. To learn more, click HERE.

THE FAIR CHANCE BUSINESS PLEDGE

We applaud the growing number of public and private sector organizations nationwide who are taking action to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to succeed, including individuals who have had contact with the criminal justice system. When around 70 million Americans – nearly one in three adults – have a criminal record, it is important to remove unnecessary barriers that may prevent these individuals from gaining access to employment, training, education and other basic tools required for success in life. We are committed to providing individuals with criminal records, including formerly incarcerated individuals, a fair chance to participate in the American economy.

These companies put forth their pledges as follows:

AMERICAN AIRLINES: At American Airlines, our employees are the source of our success, with a clear connection between the quality of our team and the quality of the experience we can provide our customers. American is working hard to recruit, develop, retain and engage the very best people – those with unique perspectives and ways of thinking that will position us as a global leader – while recognizing the importance, in appropriate circumstances, of giving people a second chance.

To ensure we aren’t removing qualified individuals from employment consideration, we have banned the box and we don’t ask criminal history questions until someone accepts an offer. We are also conducting consistent, reliable, and fair-minded background checks as part of our hiring process.

We commend the Administration and applaud the many corporations and organizations that are taking similar actions to give all Americans a fair chance to succeed and enjoy everything our country has to offer. American Airlines is proud to take the Fair Chance Business Pledge.

THE COCA-COLA COMPANY: Fair chance policies and programs not only enhance the likelihood of success for the more than 600,000 individuals who are released annually from state and federal prisons – they also help to reknit families and rebuild communities. For these and other reasons as outlined below, The Coca-Cola Company is pleased to join the Fair Chance Business Pledge as a signatory.

The Coca-Cola Company has a long-standing commitment to equal opportunity. This spans our employment practices and development of existing employees. We are dedicated to maintaining workplaces that are free from discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, pregnancy, veteran status, genetic information, citizenship status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, or any other reason prohibited by law. The basis for recruitment, hiring, placement, training, compensation and advancement at the Company is qualifications, performance, skills and experience.

We are particularly proud to share that The Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola Refreshments do not engage in background screening related to criminal history until after a decision to hire has been made. When there is a successful applicant who has a criminal history, our talent acquisition team has in place a process to review the relevancy of the history to make an informed decision. We recognize that creating a pathway for a second chance is an important first step in creating successful, sustained re-entry into mainstream society.

FACEBOOK: Facebook is a vocal supporter of equality and we are proud to stand with a growing number of companies who have chosen to ban the box. We strongly oppose hiring practices that discriminate against qualified applicants on the basis of criminal record.

Recently, Facebook collaborated with the California Department of Justice on the agency’s OpenJustice initiative, a program that promotes transparency in the criminal justice system to strengthen the public trust, enhance government accountability, and inform public policy development.

Signing the Fair Chance Hiring pledge allows us to reaffirm our commitment to find ways that our company can create opportunities for all to succeed. And we encourage other organizations and employers to do the same.

GOOGLE: Google has banned the box in its hiring process since 2011. In the last year alone, Google has advanced racial justice and criminal justice reform with grants to organizations and leaders totaling over $5 million. Google will continue its commitment to criminal justice reform and creating opportunities for formerly incarcerated Americans by:

Convening other leading technology companies to recruit more companies to ban the box and go beyond the box to support formerly incarcerated Americans re-entering the job market.

Conducting listening sessions with criminal justice organizations and formerly incarcerated leaders to understand what specific supports are needed and consider how Google products can be used to raise awareness of the issue of mass incarceration in America.

Hosting a series of regional forums on criminal justice reform with formerly incarcerated women and men.

GREYSTON BAKERY: As part of our Fair Chance Pledge, we commit to:

Banning the Box – by delaying criminal history questions until later in the hiring process, or not asking them at all and giving individuals a chance to prove themselves through hard work regardless of background;

Training human resources staff on making fair decisions regarding applicants with criminal records, and other employment barriers, and reporting data on the number of applicants through Open Hiring;

Ensuring jobs, internships, apprenticeships, and regular and progressive job trainings are available to individuals with criminal records and other employment barriers;

Keeping an open door policy for Open Hiring for anyone to sign up for a chance at a job, when one becomes available; in the meantime, accessing workforce development trainings for employment readiness;

Providing mentorship and “soft-skills” support once on the job to ensure retention and readiness, particularly through the apprenticeship/internship period;

Supporting with placement to area employers from workforce development training programs whenever possible, through matching services and providing trainings in demand;

Providing key worker benefits past the apprenticeship period including: subsidized childcare, access to lower-cost nutritious food, and access to affordable housing, to address the highest risk factors of low-income workers and previously incarcerated individuals in sustaining employment;

Working to provide a “living wage” to all our workers in addition to subsidized worker benefits, to help those with employment barriers sustainably break the cycle of poverty.

Greyston also takes action in our local community of Yonkers, NY by supporting other employers in considering Open Hiring in their businesses, de-risking fair chance employment for them by investing in workforce development and job training programs, to increase overall regional employability and job readiness, including in “soft skills” such as literacy and numeracy, mentorship, etc.

Greyston also provides other community programs such as an early childcare center, community gardens, and housing supports for both worker benefit as well as community health and well-being, to truly contribute to sustained Fair Chance employment.

THE JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL AND HEALTH SYSTEM: The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System’s (JHHS) practice of providing access and opportunity to the returning citizens of Baltimore is not a charitable endeavor, but a strategic part of the way we conduct our business. We are not just an organization that conducts business in Baltimore, but an integral part of the community — interwoven and connected for 126 years and counting.

When Mr. Hopkins endowed the Hospital, he recognized that the service we provide can only have a positive lasting impact if all members of the community are a part of JHHS mission. We have made sure to keep Mr. Hopkins’ directives, which in many ways mirror the Fair Chance Business Pledge, at the forefront of all that we do. This is evidenced in our hiring practice, which embraces our community’s citizens who meet our hiring requirements — including returning citizens.

We have banned the box in our hiring process and have an established practice of individually reviewing applicants that have criminal background. This thoughtful, detailed process has enabled us to have a strong returning citizen hire rate over the years.

Our long standing partnerships with community based partners, particularly those that serve returning citizens, and understand our organization and the work we do, provides us with a pipeline of talented applicants. We share our practices with other Baltimore City companies and encourage dialogue on the importance of engaging all of our citizens in the employment process.

Lastly, our organizations unwavering commitment to Baltimore City and Maryland is reflected in our Institution’s leadership, managerial and supervisory staff, who understand that we have a lot of talented people in our community. We recognize that we cannot afford to let good talent get away — especially talent that might need a second chance.

KOCH INDUSTRIES AND GEORGIA PACIFIC: Koch Industries and Georgia-Pacific support the Fair Chance Business Pledge and applaud the leadership of the White House on this critically important issue. The Pledge is consistent with Koch and Georgia-Pacific’s mission to help people improve their lives and remove barriers to opportunity for all Americans, especially the least advantaged.

We believe that we shouldn’t be rejecting people at the very start of the hiring process who may otherwise be capable and qualified, and want an opportunity to work hard.

LIBRA GROUP: The Libra Group believes strongly in the twin values of hope and opportunity. Investing in the community isn’t just a matter of ‘paying back’ with the fruits of commerce; it is good business in its own right. A community with hope and opportunity is one better equipped to contribute in tomorrow’s world. Part of our responsibility in running an international business is to actively give something back. We do this through a series of 10 managed programs and initiatives which are broadly linked to the themes of community support and assisting people who have been denied or have limited opportunity, including the formerly incarcerated. Some of these initiatives include:

Drive Change: Libra Group supports Drive Change and its mission to use the food truck workplace to run a 1-year Fellowship for young people returning home from prison so they can obtain preferred employment and educational opportunities. Our monetary and in-kind support, in the form of essential skills trainings have allowed Drive Change to:

Hire a part-time “Truck Coach” who will empower the young people in the program to gain the most from their entire Drive Change experience;

Host hospitality trainings to make sure the Fellows are receiving quality instruction that can drive their future career opportunities;

Support instructors in developing courses in work-place readiness, social media, marketing, money management and small business development;

Provide management training for Executive Staff.

Defy Ventures: Libra Group provides funding to Defy Ventures to support its mission of harnessing the natural talents of formerly incarcerated individuals and redirecting them towards the creation of profitable and legal business ventures.

Libra Internship Program: Libra Group Internships are a unique opportunity for bright, talented young people with proven leadership potential to undertake a paid placement of up to six months’ duration with the Libra Group and its subsidiaries around the world. We work with organizations such as LEDA (Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America), SEO, Prep for Prep, Harlem Children’s Zone, Miami Dade College, Olivier Scholars and CUNY, who are dedicated to provide educational opportunities to students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Through Libra’s Internship Program, we support the children of formerly incarcerated parents. We have hosted a number of students who have grown up with either one or both parents in the criminal justice system.

PEPSICO: We all have a vested interest in creating conditions that allow individuals with criminal convictions to succeed. Finding a job is often one of the biggest barriers to a second chance; that’s why PepsiCo is proud to sign the Fair Chance Business Pledge. A fair chance at a good job significantly increases an individual’s chances of successfully re-entering society while strengthening the communities we all share.

We already “ban the box” by eliminating criminal history questions on our employment applications and delaying a background check until after a conditional offer of employment has been made. In cases of a criminal background, we individually review each case to understand the relevancy of the conviction, time passed, evidence of rehabilitation and other factors. All candidates have the opportunity to tell their unique story and will not be eliminated from consideration based solely on the fact of a criminal conviction.

PepsiCo has a long history of promoting equal opportunity. We evaluate current and prospective employees solely on their qualifications, experience and performance – and we have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind.

We will continue our efforts to create opportunities for formerly incarcerated Americans by working with community partners to provide job readiness training and support, such as Stanford Law School’s Justice Advocacy Project, an effort to assist individuals with navigating the challenges of reentry.

PRUDENTIAL FINANCIAL: Prudential Financial is proud to take the White House Fair Chance Business Pledge, building upon our long-standing commitment to equal opportunity. Our efforts to date have focused on establishing internal policies and supporting programs that rebuild communities and provide second chances to individuals and families.

Internally, Prudential is committed to inclusive hiring practices when it comes to recruiting and retaining the best talent. We post our open roles publicly and do not inquire about an individual’s criminal history until after an offer of employment is extended. If it is revealed that a candidate does have a criminal record, that does not in and of itself necessarily disqualify him/her.

Additionally, Prudential has provided nearly $50 million to support fair chance hiring policies by investing in businesses and organizations who have demonstrated a commitment to inclusive hiring practices. These practices include assisting individuals with criminal backgrounds through workforce training, which includes occupational skills training and workplace soft skills training, so that they can successfully re-enter the workforce.

STARBUCKS: Starbucks continues to encourage its partners (employees) and others to recognize the choices we, as organizations and as citizens, can each can make every day to see a different story for America. The Company believes that equal access to opportunities, for those willing to work hard and play fair, continues to be the promise of our country. In many ways, Starbucks is demonstrating responsible, compassionate ways to provide more individuals a second chance:

Ban the Box: Starbucks does not inquire about criminal histories on initial job applications and runs background checks only after a conditional offer of employment. The intent is to provide applicants with a criminal history the chance to be evaluated as a whole person by having their circumstances considered on a case-by-case basis.

Access to Opportunity: In partnership with like-minded organizations, Starbucks has come up with creative solutions to open doors for transitioning veterans, aspiring students seeking debt-free college degrees, and Opportunity Youth- 16-24 year olds who face systemic barriers to jobs and education.

100,000 Opportunities Initiative: Supported by many of the country’s youth and opportunity-focused nonprofit organizations, local governments, and participating funders, the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative is an employer led coalition of over 30 companies committed to engaging at least 100,000 opportunity youth by 2018 through experiential job fairs, apprenticeships, internships, and both part-time and full-time jobs. Since August, Starbucks has already hired over 7,000 opportunity youth, and plans to host its next hiring fair in its hometown of Seattle in May.

UBER: Providing economic opportunities to those with certain offenses on their records is a way for Uber to help reentering citizens find a way to earn a living. Driving for the Uber platform is a great option for someone looking to get back on their feet: it’s easy to get started and completely flexible.

We believe that the right path forward is to tailor our driver screening process to focus on issues that are directly relevant to providing a safe and reliable ride. We also conduct a transparent, up-to-date, and fair assessment of who should be on the Uber platform and who shouldn’t. This ensures rider safety without excluding people who deserve a fair shot at work opportunities.

To that end, in California—where more than 100,000 people drive with Uber—we’ve committed to:

Notifying people who don’t pass Uber’s pre-screening process that they could be eligible for getting felonies on their records adjusted under Proposition 47 (which they only have until November 2017 to do) and pointing them to resources to help them do that.

Aligning our pre-screening process with Proposition 47 to give people with low-level, nonviolent convictions on their records the same economic opportunities as everyone else.

Referring people who still don’t qualify to Defy Ventures to get work and entrepreneurship training as well as mentoring and job placement assistance.

We look forward to making similar commitments across the country, and we’re pleased that already, our technology and our background check processes—which include screening through national, state, and local databases—are reliable and accurate without unnecessarily discriminating against minorities as fingerprint-based checks do. We’re excited to continue working with community groups and reentry organizations across the country to explore ways our policies and technology can make our screening process fair for everyone.

UNDER ARMOUR AND PLANK INDUSTRIES: Under Amour and Plank Industries want to commend the Administration for their leadership in promoting the Fair Business Pledge with employers across this country and we are proud to take the pledge across all of our businesses. This initiative serves as an important reminder that while we all seek to improve our economy and create jobs, we must also consider the barriers that prevent qualified individuals from joining the workforce.

Under Armour comes from very humble beginnings in Baltimore, Maryland. Today, we are a global brand in performance footwear, apparel and technology with nearly $4 billion in annual revenue employing 12,000 teammates in 28 offices across 18 countries. Baltimore is home to Under Armour, and as we grow, so will the opportunities in this great city.

While Under Armour continues to be a catalyst for economic activity in Baltimore, we believe there is even more we can do to grow the economy. Taking the Fair Business Pledge is just one example of how we can make our hiring practices more inclusive for some in our community. Through the Blocal initiative, we have also pledged to work with other business leaders in Baltimore to promote locally owned businesses, hire more from the local community, buy from local suppliers and continue to give back to our local communities.

As leaders in business, we all focus on creating economic opportunity. As leaders in our community, we should also consider how everyone can participate in the opportunities we create.

UNILEVER: Through the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, Unilever is committed to enhancing livelihoods and creating a brighter future for all. We believe that businesses like ours can and should play an important role in generating wealth and jobs around the world, improving skills and offering access to markets. Fairness in the workplace is about respecting the rights of all those who work with us. Furthermore, business can only truly flourish in societies and economies where human rights are respected and upheld.

Several years ago, Unilever was one of the first companies to implement the “banning the box” policy, meaning that we no longer ask applicants to declare a criminal record prior to being invited to interview for a position. More recently, we decided that we will not conduct criminal background checks until a contingent offer has been made to a potential applicant. By taking these actions, Unilever is proud to be a signatory of the Fair Chance Business Pledge. We are committed to providing equal opportunities to individuals with criminal records a fair chance to participate in the American economy.

XEROX: Xerox is proud to join other corporate leaders in “banning the box.” Xerox is committed to fostering an environment where everyone can contribute and succeed at every level of the corporation.

Our outreach into diverse and broad employment markets for qualified individuals results in hiring our talented workforce and allows us to build and maintain an inclusive corporate culture. We strive continually to strengthen our work environment on an ongoing basis by valuing employees with different backgrounds and perspectives.

Panama Papers Snares Another Clinton Tax Haven?

Posted on April 11, 2016April 11, 2016 by Denise Simon

First the Panama Papers revealed the Podesta Group. John and Tony Podesta, the founders have connections to a Russian bank which is blacklisted. John Podesta is the architect of the Hillary presidential campaign.

John Podesta, a real operative in the White House for years.

John Podesta was an Obama advisor and upon leaving that role, he said his greatest regret not revealing more about UFO’s. Sheesh…

The mailman must be real busy and overworked at the address below.

This Delaware Address Is Home to 200,000 Shell Companies—Including Hillary Clinton’s

In wake of ‘Panama Papers’ scandal, renewed interest in tax avoidance efforts

FreeBeacon: The address “1209 North Orange Street” in Wilmington, Del., has become known in recent years as the epicenter of U.S. corporate secrecy. The squat, split-level building is the official address of over 285,000 companies, many of which are looking to take advantage of Delaware’s Panama-like secrecy rules, tax incentives, and business-friendly case law.

In the wake of the recent “Panama Papers” scandal, this unassuming brick office has received renewed scrutiny from the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Telegraph, and advocates for corporate tax reform.

But one of its tenants may come as a surprise—a company owned by Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

Hillary and Bill Clinton quietly set up two shell companies listed at “1209 North Orange Street” in 2008 and 2013, the Washington Free Beacon has found. The names of the companies, but not their location, were first made public in tax filings released by Hillary Clinton last year.

According to records, one of the Clintons’ “1209 North Orange Street” companies is WJC, LLC, which was set up by Bill Clinton in 2008 as a pass-through for his consulting fees.

Another company at the same location, ZFS Holdings, LLC, was set up in February 2013, one week after Hillary Clinton left the State Department. Hillary Clinton received $5.5 million from her book publisher, Simon & Schuster, through the company.

The “1209 North Orange Street” building is the headquarters for the Corporation Trust Company. The firm acts as a registered agent for thousands of corporations that are not actually located in Delaware, including the Clintons’ companies.

Anti-secrecy advocates say the building is prime evidence that Delaware has become a corporate haven that’s comparable to more well-known, offshore locales.

“If you imagined a building with 1,000 corporations in it, you’d imagine a building like the Empire State building,” said Richard Phillips, a senior policy analyst with Citizens for Tax Justice. “But apparently 285,000 companies claim [1209 North Orange Street] is their address.”

“What this shows is this is not really the address of companies that are doing real business. This is the address of a lot of companies that are just shell companies,” he added. “In this case, it doesn’t even look like they have mailboxes. They just claim that address as the places they’re doing business, even though they’re not doing business there.”

Similar registered agents have come under scrutiny in recent years. While campaigning in 2008, President Obama slammed the “Ugland House,” a five-story building in the Cayman Islands that is reportedly home to over 18,000 companies.

“That’s either the biggest building in the world, or the biggest tax scam on record,” said Obama.

The Clinton campaign declined to comment on why the Clintons, who live in New York and have no evident residential ties to Delaware, set up companies in the state. But the presidential candidate isn’t alone. Experts say Delaware is the most popular place to register a company in the United States, due in part to its established system of business case law and tax incentives for intellectual property and real estate holdings.

One of the biggest draws may be the state’s lack of disclosure requirements—businesses can be created completely anonymously, allowing the owners to avoid public detection and even hide income from U.S. authorities.

According to advocates for corporate tax reform, Delaware’s laws rival well-known secrecy havens like the Cayman Islands and Panama.

“General secrecy laws and the ability of these corporations to hide the identities of those who own it, that’s what makes [Delaware] an onshore tax haven, and that’s what makes it just as bad as the Cayman Islands,” said Phillips.

Hillary Clinton has promised to crack down on tax havens on the campaign trail. Referring to the Panama Papers last Wednesday, Clinton condemned “outrageous tax havens and loopholes that super-rich people across the world are exploiting in Panama and elsewhere.”

The Clinton Foundation also has three shell companies in Delaware, according to its amended financial disclosures released last year.

One is the Acceso Fund, LLC, which was registered by the Corporation Trust Company at 1209 North Orange Street in 2009. The Clinton Foundation has used the company to channel money to its Colombia-based private equity fund, Fondo Acceso.

The private equity fund, which is run out of the Clinton Foundation’s Bogota office, has invested in telecom and food processing companies in Colombia, the Free Beacon reported last November.

Another Clinton Foundation company, Acceso Worldwide Fund, Inc., was registered in 2013 by the Corporation Services Company, located in Wilmington, Delaware.

A third company, the Haiti Development Fund, LLC, was registered in 2010 by National Corporate Research, Ltd, located in Dover.

In Delaware, limited liability companies such as WJC, LLC, and ZFS, LLC, are not required to file annual statements disclosing their directors or owners. The Clintons also registered both companies in New York after they were established.

There is no evidence the Clintons are using the entities for any nefarious purposes, and it is perfectly legal for non-residents to set up corporations in Delaware. But even if corporations stay within the law, critics say Delaware shell companies can sometimes be used to legally circumvent taxes in other states.

According to a report published last December by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Delaware’s popularity as a hub for shell companies is “responsible for the loss of billions of dollars in revenue in other U.S. states.”

“It’s legal tax avoidance,” said Phillips. “We would say it’s immoral, or not the best thing for the country.”

Anti-secrecy advocates also say the laws make it easier for criminals to evade federal taxes or finance terrorism, all under the radar of the public and U.S. authorities.

“Some anonymous shell companies have financed terrorism and supported corruption and human trafficking and Delaware is a traditional hub for creating these fake companies,” said Andrew Hanauer, campaign director at the Jubilee USA Network.

Jubilee USA Network and other groups have been advocating for legislative reform. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.), Rep. Peter King (R., N.Y.), and Rep. Carolyn Maloney recently put forward legislation that would force U.S. companies to disclose their actual owners.

The Clinton campaign did comment on whether Hillary Clinton supports the legislation. The campaign also did not comment on whether she or Bill Clinton have any other companies registered in Delaware.

But the concerns over corporate secrecy and tax avoidance have trickled into the Democratic presidential race, with Sen. Bernie Sanders incorporating it into his stump speeches. Clinton has also railed against tax havens on the trail and vowed to take action.

“Some of you may have just heard about these disclosures about outrageous tax havens and loopholes that super-rich people across the world are exploiting in Panama and elsewhere,” said Clinton during a campaign event last Wednesday.

“Now some of this behavior is clearly against the law, and anyone who violates the law anywhere should be held accountable,” she added. “But it’s also scandalous how much is actually legal.”