Government Is Illegally Taking Money From Soldiers and Veterans Who Used Military Credit Cards, Lawsuit Alleges

Public Citizen Files Class Action on Behalf of Soldiers and Veterans Nationwide

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) is breaking the law by taking money from soldiers and veterans who have military credit card debts that were either improperly calculated, too old to collect or both, Public Citizen said today in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco.

Public Citizen, with San Francisco consumer lawyers Chandler Visher and Marie Appel, filed the suit on behalf of veteran Julius Briggs and a class of soldiers and veterans nationwide.

For years, the AAFES has offered credit cards, known as Military Star cards, to military personnel to purchase uniforms and other items from the stores it operates on military bases. If a service member is delinquent in paying a debt, the government has the right to deduct the money owed from the member’s government benefits or tax refunds. The government can add interest, penalties and administrative costs as permitted by the credit card contract or federal law.

AAFES, however, is not permitted by law to collect debts that have been outstanding for more than 10 years or amounts in excess of what the contract allows. In improperly collecting these debts, the AAFES has steadily appropriated millions of dollars from soldiers and veterans nationwide, Public Citizen says.

“It is shocking that a U.S. government agency would illegally take this money from veterans who have served our country well, particularly from those veterans who may be depending on government benefits,” said Deepak Gupta, an attorney for Public Citizen who is working on the lawsuit.

Briggs, the plaintiff, is a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Army and Army Reserves with an honorable record. He served in Germany and later in Saudi Arabia in the aftermath of Operation Desert Storm. While on active duty in 1977, he suffered a back injury that has since limited the number and types of jobs he can take.

Since 2004, the U.S. government has withheld more than $2,300 in federal payments to Briggs to pay an AAFES debt that was outstanding more than 10 years. The withheld payments have caused Briggs to be unable to pay his housing costs, leaving him homeless for several periods over the past few years. Not only has the government collected money beyond the time limit, but it also has inflated the amount due through improper interest rate calculations.

“With any luck, this lawsuit will force AAFES to stop collecting money that it has no right to take,” said Briggs.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction against further illegal collection of debts by AAFES and restitution of all funds inappropriately collected.

READ the complaint.

Number of Lobbyist-Fundraisers for 2008 Presidential Candidates on Pace to Eclipse 2004

WASHINGTON, D.C.– With more than a year left until the 2008 election, presidential candidates already have signed up two-thirds as many lobbyist-fundraisers as they did for the entire 2004 campaign season.

According to a study Public Citizen released today, candidates already have signed up 92 federal lobbyists, compared to the 136 lobbyists who raised money for 2004 candidates. And the candidates’ army of lobbyist-fundraisers will likely grow because 70 percent of the 2004 lobbyist-fundraisers are still on the sidelines.

In-house, or salaried, lobbyists particularly appear to be holding back until front-runners emerge. While dozens of in-house trade association and corporate lobbyists signed up as fundraisers – mostly for Bush – during the 2004 campaign, only four have signed up so far for the 2008 race, according to available information. Those who have signed up are mainly from lobbying firms.

To better track candidates’ fundraising efforts, Public Citizen has created a new feature on its Web site, http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/, that indicates whether each of the 2008 mega-fundraisers, often referred to as bundlers, have registered as federal lobbyists at any time since 1998.

The subject of accepting lobbyists’ fundraising help has driven a wedge between those Democratic front-runners who accept their help and those who don’t. A recent Gallup poll found that fully three-quarters of adults of voting age consider contributions from lobbyists to be “unacceptable.”

“It is stunning with so many serial fundraisers holding back that the number of 2008 lobbyists is already approaching 2004 levels,” said Laura MacCleery, director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division. “It’s just another sign that the unhealthy, symbiotic relationship that binds politicians and lobbyists continues in force.”

Republican John McCain and Democrat Hillary Clinton each have enlisted more than twice as many lobbyist-fundraisers as any candidate in their respective parties, according to information available. Clinton’s showing was not a surprise given that her two top competitors, Barack Obama and John Edwards, have policies of not accepting federal lobbyists’ help, although a handful of their bundlers registered as lobbyists in years past.

Getting details about efforts made by the lobbyist-fundraisers for Republican candidates is more difficult than obtaining the same data from Democratic candidates. Unlike Clinton and Obama, who provide some information about how much their fundraisers have raked in, Republican front-runners have thus far offered next to no such information.

Public Citizen’s study found that 10 of the bundler-lobbyists are former members of Congress, including Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, a McCain supporter; Rep. Bob Livingston of Louisiana, a Fred Thompson supporter; and Rep. and Gov. James J. Blanchard (D-Mich.), a Clinton supporter.
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