Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed a first-quarter lobbying report and stated it was a termination report, effective April 19. The report indicated the committee had spent less than $5,000 on lobbying during the first quarter.

However, Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, stated they were not stopping lobbying altogether, although she did not explain the official filing of the registration termination. It may mean that the organization, based on its level of lobbying activity, may not feel it has a further reporting obligation.

In 2012, the organization spent $75,200 lobbying the White House on Federal Election Commission reform and advocating for an executive order that would require bidders on federal contracts to disclose their political contributions; the Securities and Exchange Commission on rule making to regulate corporate political spending by publicly-held corporations; the Federal Election Commission to advocate for text-based campaign contributions; and the Federal Communications Commission to advocate for new rules requiring TV stations to publish information online about political ads.

It has also lobbied the Senate and House on the Disclose Act; the Shareholder Protection Act; the Clean Up Government Act; the Public Corruption Prosecution Improvements Act; strengthening the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; reforming 501(c)(4) loopholes; and the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act.

The Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization does not disclose its donors, but Time Magazine reported in 2006 it had received $100,000 from George Soros and $10,000 from Barbra Streisand. In 2006, the Service Employees International Union reported to the Department of Labor that it gave $75,000 to CREW. Roll Call reported that from 2003 to 2008 the ARCA Foundation had given $125,000 to CREW. It also reported the Gill Foundation had given $125,000 to CREW in 2006.

For more background, see 2008 Roll Call article.