The president of Citizens Against Government Waste wrote to the Washington Post strongly protesting the paper’s suggestions that its aggressive defense of an Air Force tanker contract with Northrup Grumman crossed the line into partisan lobbying because of CAGW’s links to John McCain. In a letter to the editor headlined "Fighting Waste Without Fear or Favor," Thomas A. Schatz wrote:
In fact, Citizens Against Government Waste has been involved with the refueling tanker issue since 2002 for only one reason: to fulfill its mission to fight government waste, fraud and abuse. The organization’s efforts to kill the original no-bid lease agreement with Boeing Co. helped save taxpayers $23 billion. … As an organization that has been cited as an "equal opportunity nag" and "Washington’s leading opponent of pork-barrel spending," Citizens Against Government Waste serves no one other than its members and the taxpayers in carrying out its waste-fighting agenda.
Unaddressed in Schatz’s letter were the issues of CAGW board member Orson Swindle, a friend of McCain who volunteers on his presidential campaign, and the CAGW lobbying arm that has twice donated to McCain’s campaigns. | 501(c)
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