Watercooler: What is your favorite part of Portland, Maine?

LD: It’s a very hip city. It’s really small. But they have a huge art culture and music scene. In the old port it’s all cobblestone streets right on the waterfront with bars and places to go see music and a million art galleries—one on every street—local businesses, and a farmers’ market. It’s great. I love it.

Watercooler: What do you do when are not at POGO?

LD: When I’m not at POGO, I’m typically at home. I’m staying with my aunt and uncle for free, so the deal is that I help out around the house. I have my friends from college down here, which is great. I try to do at least one cultural thing each weekend, like go to a museum or concert. Then I go out at night to Adams Morgan or wherever.

Watercooler: What did you study in college?

LD: I majored in English literature and European history. What I liked most about it…In English it was great because I got the chance to take a lot of different classes. Like westerns in fiction and film, which was a great class. We got to read great books like Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. What I liked most about my history major was that my school gave you the chance to choose one area in the world. I was absolutely fascinated by European history.

Watercooler: What is your favorite place that you have traveled to?

LD: I’ve done a lot of traveling. My absolute favorite place was Egypt. As a bit of a history nerd, it was great to be able to go there with one of my history professors who loves the country and the history. There is nothing better than being able to crawl into one of the pyramids. I’ve also been to Cuba—that was great. Greece—that was great. I got to go to Cuba because my sister married a Cuban and the wedding was in Cuba.

Watercooler: What was the worst or weirdest thing you have ever eaten?

LD: When I was in Egypt we went to a really cute little restaurant on the Nile in Aswan. Since we were part of a group, they just served you without you ordering. We got this fish soup that had some weird fish in it that they caught in the Nile, which is sketchy at best. It was gritty and sandy. It was absolutely inedible. No one ate it.

I (and many others here in the POGO office) are huge fans of HBO’s True Blood. We all have our favorite characters, and mine happens to be Pam, the snarky, Swedish vampiress whose face melts off in season four. The character is played by actress Kristin Bauer, who as we found out, is also a good government advocate.

How do we know? In July, Kristin Bauer re-tweeted a POGO report on how to save almost $600 billion dollars over the next decade in defense spending.

I also happen to enjoy going to conventions, and decided to attend the Monster-mania Con in Hunt Valley, MD this month because both Bauer and Lauren Bowles (who plays a Wiccan waitress on the show) were there. I had the opportunity to meet Bauer, and can personally testify that she is friendly and nice (nothing like her vampire alter ego.) She not only signed an autograph for me, but agreed to take a picture with the POGO bumper sticker (evidence attached).

Yes, I was kind of star struck: she is a class act and extremely cool.

Chris Pabon is POGO’s Director of Development.

Watercooler: What do you like about working at POGO?

Johanna Mingos: I love the office atmosphere. It’s amazing how much important work we’re doing while having way too much fun at the same time.

Watercooler: What’s your favorite POGO program area and why?

JM: My favorite program area is the one that I’m working on that day. My job allows me to experience the behind-the-scenes pieces to so many of the areas that I try to learn as much as I can while I’m working on any project.

Watercooler: We hear you’re kinda into pathology. What’s one of the most interesting diseases you’ve come across in your studies?

JM: Smallpox. From its devastating history and eradication to the continuing debates over the remaining stockpiles, smallpox is fascinating science.

Author Richard Preston illustrates just how dangerous smallpox can be and it was his “Dark Biology” trilogy that sparked my interest in this virus. Another great read about smallpox history and eradication is Smallpox – Death of a Disease.

Watercooler: What’s your favorite restaurant in the Capitol Hill area?

JM: My favorite date-night restaurant is Acqua Al 2, just across the street from Eastern Market. The menu is full of fantastic pasta dishes. As much as I would like to try something new, I always find myself ordering the Topini al Gorgonzola (gnocchi with a gorgonzola sauce).

For after-work pitchers of margaritas, it’s La Plaza on Pennsylvania Ave. Grab a table outside and enjoy people (and pet) watching and lots of good eats. Bonus: complimentary tequila shot after your meal!

Watercooler: You’ve sat at several different desks during your time at POGO. Which spot is the best?

JM: Considering all factors—location, chair, and computer—my preferred workspace is the window desk in Bryan and Pam’s office. It’s often a hub of activity, conversations, and spur-of-the-moment meetings.

Watercooler: You’ve been an enormous help with our Provoke Accountability sticker distribution project. What’s the most interesting place we’ve ever sent a sticker to? What’s your favorite Provoke Accountability photo in our Facebook album?

JM: Schenectady, NY. Because I like to say “Schenectady.” Try it. Favorite photo, hands down, is the sticker on the horse’s…bumper?

The Watercooler editorial board hears those words all the time from Keith Rutter, POGO’s unflappable Director of Operations. But recently, Keith, along with Pam Rutter, POGO’s Web Manager, and Erin, Pam and Keith’s daughter, put those words into action, and traveled to San Francisco to participate in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer—a two-day, marathon-and-a-half jaunt to raise money for the fight against breast cancer. The Watercooler recently caught up with Keith to find out what inspired them to make the trip and to get the lowdown on the whole experience.

The Watercooler: Why did you decide to walk 39.3 miles in two days for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer?

Keith Rutter: The short answer is that Pam’s brother Wayne was going to do it with his office in San Francisco. He asked Pam to join him and we all decided to take part.

The long-form answer is that POGO’s small, tight-knit family has been directly affected by breast cancer. It started with [POGO General Counsel] Scott Amey’s sister, Cheryl. She was in her 30s and married with two young kids when she died because of breast cancer. Then Pam’s mom, who had moved in with us to seek better treatment for her breast cancer, lost her battle. And last year, as many of you know, after a long, seven-year struggle, Beth Daley succumbed to breast cancer. Right now, friends of POGO—Mary, Shelly, and others—are battling breast cancer. Doing what we can to help stop breast cancer was a no-brainer. POGO staff and alums were very generous in donating to the cause. Finding a cure for breast cancer is not in POGO’s mission, but we are all on board to find a cure.

The Watercooler: What kinds of people participated in the walk?

KR: That was one of the things that was really amazing. The walkers were very diverse. Folks of all ages—our daughter Erin was the youngest person in the walk—from all over the country participated. We were surprised at how many companies and groups had teams of walkers. I swear I saw t-shirts with something like “Dockworkers to Stop Breast Cancer” on them. KRTY, a country music station in San Jose, sent a bus of 65 walkers. They also had a van with a bunch of folks who circled the walk route. They were the greatest folks. (But they did play a lot of Toby Keith ). We heard that over 1,900 people started the walk, and that didn’t count the hundreds or more of folks who lined the streets.

The Watercooler: Can you describe what a typical moment on the course looked / felt / sounded / smelled like?

KR: Most of the walk was surprisingly like if you mixed Mardi Gras and the Tour de France.  There were hundreds of folks who lined the streets where we walked to cheer you on. Many of the folks were in costumes. You saw everything from cops in pink tutus to women in big feather masks with angel wings. The only thing that was consistent was that everything was pink.

Folks along the route would pass out candy, bottled water, inspirational buttons and even beads.  A lot of people brought boom boxes and would blare music and dance while they were encouraging you to keep going. You would pass some folks and they would wait until everyone would pass and then get in their cars—or some on bikes—and then drive ahead on the route to cheer walkers on again. There were even long stretches for a few miles where we were walking on a path through marshlands of Marin county and there were folks there with crazy outfits and music yelling “Go go go!”

We were also very thankful that it was in San Francisco, because Washington experienced an incredible heat wave when we were gone for the walk. So we were thankful for the cool temperatures of northern California. As for the smell, well, it was a mix of sweat, suntan lotion, and ocean breeze. Your standard victory smells.

The Watercooler: Which mile was the hardest?

KR: Bet you are thinking some of those famous San Francisco hills we went up. Or maybe you are guessing the last mile. But actually the hardest mile was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on Sunday. The bridge walkway, which was about eight feet wide, was jammed with not only over a thousand walkers, but also hundreds of tourists—both walking and on bikes—and also lots of hardcore cyclists looking like they were in the Tour de France. Folks going both ways on the bridge. Bikers not wanting to stop riding and walk their bikes. It was bedlam. And we had walked over 30 miles at this point so we were tired and were not as patient as usual.

The Watercooler: What was your first thought when you crossed the finish line?

KR: “What do we have to do to check out, because we have got to get to our hotel.” We had to beg the hotel to let us have a late checkout and we thought we would be back in plenty of time. But, it took us over an hour longer to complete the walk on the second day than we thought. So we crossed the finish line, checked out of the walk, posed very quickly for a few photos, and literally ran…well, some of us did more of a hurried hobble. We had to rush back to our hotel and grab our stuff and had a couple minutes to spare. It was more “Yakety Sax,” the song from Benny Hill, than it was the theme from Rocky.

Watercooler: What attracted you to POGO?

Rohail Premjee: Having worked in Congress before, I really wanted to look at policymaking from a different perspective. I see that POGO is great for me because it is a top-notch non-governmental organization that really advocates causes I value, such as government accountability and transparency. Working at POGO has already taught me how we can work to make government more open and ways we can help strengthen congressional oversight.

Watercooler: What’s the best part about working at POGO so far?

Rohail Premjee: The close-knit environment. Everyone is so personable and not cold-shouldered. And they really want to teach you, which is great!

Watercooler: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

Rohail Premjee: Mmmmhhh I’m hoping to have already completed a graduate degree, but I don’t know in what. I can see myself working in a city like DC or Seattle.

Watercooler: The Watercooler understands that your name translates to “boy who likes to travel.” What’s been your favorite trip of the last three years, and where do you want to go next?

Rohail Premjee: Either Toronto or London, maybe even my stays in Chicago or DC—I love big cities. While I’ve been to Germany before, I want to explore it again, but this time visiting all its major cities such as Berlin and Frakfurt.

Watercooler: Which drivers are worse: DC drivers, or Dallas drivers?

Rohail Premjee: DC, BY FAR.

Did you just hear a sigh of relief coming from the direction of defense contractors or oil corporations? If so, it might be because yesterday marked the last day at the office (at least for the time being) for Mandy Smithberger, our national security / oil royalties investigator extraordinair

Watercooler: You’ve been at POGO since 2006. How has the organization changed since that time?

Mandy Smithberger: We’ve obviously grown a lot. I think we’ve also become better at our investigations. When I first interviewed, Keith and Danni asked me a question about how I would feel if I spent days or weeks looking into something, only to find out there really wasn’t any “there” there—I feel like that doesn’t happen as much anymore, but that may be because Jake’s such a rockstar with whistleblower intake!

Social media has also exploded since I first started, and I think that’s been really exciting because of the new opportunities to discover and connect with the good government underground.

Watercooler: What has been your favorite project that you worked on over the course of your half-decade-tenure?

MS: It’s tough, but I think there’s something special and exciting about your first big investigation, which for me was looking at multi-year procurement issues and conflicts of interest with the F-22. I was only an intern, but it was the first time I found the needle in the haystack (the head of the Institute of Defense Analyses, charged with providing “independent” analysis on the multi-year procurement decision, heading up a subcontractor for the F-22 program) and digging into procurement law minutiae (specifically cost savings requirements—Senator McCain’s reform to that requirement is still powerful today and greatly informed our opposition of multi-year procurement for the DDG-51 in the most recent Defense Authorization bills). It also turned me on to looking at semi-governmental institutions and the opportunities and challenges they present.

Watercooler: Where would you like to see POGO be in another five years?

MS: For one, I hope we’ll have won the fight for protections for federal whistleblowers!

I’m also looking forward to seeing how we further the debates about contracting and outsourcing services and war. I hope that we build a narrative that allows for both the government and businesses to be more publicly minded–both have failed taxpayers and consumers.

As much as I love the muckraking, my heart is really in achieving our policy goals. In my own investigation areas, I’m hoping the Interior department can get its auditing shop in order to get taxpayers their fair share, that we can get our major weapons programs on track, and that we can give auditors across the government the independence they need to succeed and really find savings for taxpayers.

And as great as the investigations were, I’d like for us to be known for more than toilet seats and vodka butt shots.

Watercooler: You’ve been prolific on POGO’s blog. Give us your top five favorite posts you’ve authored.

MS:

1. Recently I loved writing this one.
2. A bunch of the blogging on the Deepwater Horizon spill, I think, really looked at a different side of the issues than what the mainstream press was covering, but maybe the best was pointing out the lunacy of an oversight-oriented agency giving awards to industry.
3. There are only so many ways of saying “The Minerals Management Service (MMS) doesn’t do anything about program heads snorting meth off of toasters.” But this was a fun way to try to switch it up.
4. One of the things I admire most about POGO is that we don’t check off our accomplishments and never look back—we follow through and make sure that agencies don’t just say they’ll fix an agency, but actually look at what they do to accomplish it. This post on the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) and the concerns with their reform efforts seems like a good example.
5. It turns out the problems at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and their coziness with industry may be even worse than what we saw at MMS before the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
6. Bonus: Also not technically a blog post, but I had a lot of fun creating these oversight valentines. And here’s something I generated as an intern that I’m also really proud of.

Watercooler: Anything you’d mention to lawmakers, given the chance?

MS: When it comes to hearings, don’t book it in the afternoon. And especially not on a Friday. I always think of that when I lament that Senator [Claire] McCaskill’s great contracting subcommittee hearings are always booked in the afternoon. By the afternoon, most press deadlines have passed. On Friday, the hearing risks getting bumped off the news broadcast in lieu of another celebrity adoption. A congressional oversight hearing is newsworthy business—let it get the copy it deserves.

Photo: Danni Downing Photography.

Fair warning to foreign lobbyists and defense contractors: POGO’s just added some major firepower to its national security team. In June we were joined by Ben Freeman—a corruption-busting,

Watercooler: What got you interested in working for POGO and in the realm of national security?

Ben Freeman: POGO was an easy choice. I’ve always been very patriotic and concerned with making our government the best it can possibly be. POGO has been doing precisely this for 30 years. What I like most about POGO is that the organization doesn’t just identify problems and complain about them, it tells policymakers and American taxpayers precisely how the system can be fixed. This is an invaluable service to America and a very noble calling. POGO’s task is not easy because it often works to change entrenched systems filled with very powerful people that thrive within those systems. POGO does what’s right regardless of who’s doing what’s wrong, and that makes me immensely proud to be a part of POGO.

I study national security and U.S. foreign policy because America enjoys phenomenal influence over the entire world—more so than any other country ever has. The flip-side is that with globalization, technological advances, and heightened political interconnectedness, America is also more open to foreign influence than it has ever been. So, it’s vital for us, as Americans, to be concerned about national security and to consider the impact of U.S. foreign policy on other countries. There’s just so much at stake on both counts that it’s impossible for me to NOT investigate national security and U.S. foreign policy.

Watercooler: What brought you to Texas?

Ben Freeman: I ended up in Texas because I fell in love with studying politics. I’m one of those crazy people who actually loves numbers, math, and statistics, so I was drawn to the Political Science Department at Texas A&M University, which has a top-notch quantitative methods program. Although I definitely missed Florida, where I was born and raised, Texas was awesome! Some of the greatest people in the world live in the great state of Texas. Aggieland and Austin, where I lived for a year, will always have a place in my heart.

Watercooler: Why did you decide to write a book, and what is it about? How was the experience of writing a book like?

Ben Freeman: At A&M, I was doing some work on U.S. foreign aid—the amount of economic assistance we give to other countries—and I kept noticing some very odd patterns. Basically, we give a lot of aid to a lot of countries that we probably shouldn’t. Something was missing from conventional, academic theories of aid allocations—lobbying by foreign governments. So, I wrote a dissertation explaining how this foreign lobbying drives U.S. aid allocations.

In effect, other countries actually buy aid, and the return on investment is enough to make Bernie Madoff blush. Estimates vary, but on average countries can expect $50 in additional aid for every dollar they spend lobbying for it, all else equal. My book, The Foreign Policy Auction (due out late 2011/early 2012), is based upon this, but it goes much, much deeper into foreign lobbying in America. The most sensational part of the book is that I was able to find dozens of instances where lobbyists made campaign contributions to representatives on the very same day they met with the reps to discuss their foreign clients’ issues. At the very least, these exchanges reek of quid pro quo; at worst, they’re illegal because the [Federal Elections Commission] FEC prohibits campaign contributions from foreign nationals.

In case you can’t tell, I LOVED writing the book! Obviously a very solitary task and I often wished I had someone else around simply so I could jump up and say, “Look at this! Can you believe this sh*t?! WTF?!” Research tourettes aside, I truly enjoyed exposing the rampant corruption that surrounds foreign lobbying in America. Hopefully, readers will share my enthusiasm and outrage, then we’ll work together to change policy and better insulate policymakers from corrupt foreign influence.

Watercooler: What’s the biggest difference between living in Texas and living in DC?

Ben Freeman: $8 beer. Are you kidding me?!?! In Texas I could, literally, get entire pitchers of good beer (Shiner, oh how I miss thee!) for less than $8.

Watercooler: Favorite place in the city?

Ben Freeman: Tough question. I’m such a patriotic guy, so I get awed just by walking down the street. It’s crazy just to be strolling along and see all the embassies, national museums, and even the White House! If I had to pick a single spot it might be the Jefferson Memorial. The location is great because it’s on the water and a great spot for watching sunsets, and the inscriptions on the interior walls rock—“Almighty God hath created the mind free…”—love it! Ok, I might be a nerd.

Watercooler: Team LeBron or Team Nowitzki?

Ben Freeman: Gotta go for Dirk and Big-D on this one. Though I’m from Florida, I’m a huge fan of the Orlando Magic, which are rivals of and in the same division as the Heat. Plus, many of my Aggie friends are from Dallas, so I had to cheer for the Mavs. That said, I believe LeBron is one of—if not the most—skilled basketball players ever. Hopefully, this will bring him back down to Earth and he’ll come back humble and hungry next year.

The SEC officials shuttle fast through the revolving door
219 raced from the government to Wall Street
They promised they hadn’t worked on these issues before

Stopping the Stanford Ponzi Scheme seemed like a chore
Spencer Barasch saw a get rich scheme and wanted a place at the teat
The SEC officials shuttle fast through the revolving door

Peter Simonyi’s work at Goldman Sachs would be different, he swore
His work on the issues at the SEC was marginal, discrete
They promised they hadn’t worked on these issues before

One left for industry after two days, one after three, another after four
For ACA Compliance, Deloitte, KPMG
The SEC officials shuttle fast through the revolving door

Peter Bresnan went from Enforcement to represent Bank of America Corp
And got his clients a settlement the judge found too sweet
But he promised he hadn’t worked on these issues before

Industry coziness doesn’t temper their roar
That financial collapse wasn’t because they didn’t have the fire to their feet
They promised they hadn’t worked on these issues before
So what if the SEC officials shuttle fast through the revolving door?

Any bards out there in the crowd? We’d welcome any, limericks, haiku, talkin’ blues ramblings, or other forms of poetic expression dedicated to the revolving door from our readers.

Chris Pabon, Director of Development: Ziplining at GoApe up in Rock Creek.

Paul Thacker, Investigator: I like getting together with a bunch of friends and taking a long bike ride together on the weekend. For the last one, six of us rode up Beach Drive through Rock Creek Park to the very edge of Silver Spring.  We then hopped on the Crescent Trail, down to Bethesda, and stopped for ice cream.  We continued riding down the Crescent Trail along the Potomac and the C & O Canal until Georgetown.  The trip back up to Mt. P. was a bit difficult as it was uphill and we had to deal with traffic, especially on the mean streets of DuPont Circle.

Danni Downing, Editor: Although spring does mean lots of pretty flowers and budding trees to photograph and lots of local trails to bike (Mount Vernon is a good one, as are the Paint Branch/Indian Creek trails, which connect up to each other and a bunch of other trails), spring really means an indoor sport for me: hockey! Every year hope springs eternal that the Washington Capitals will not only make the playoffs, but go deep into them—possibly all the way to lifting the Cup. This year, so far so good, but I’m not uncrossing my fingers until June.

Bryan Rahija, Blog Editor: I always enjoy hanging out by the drum circle in Meridian Hill Park.

Johanna Mingos, Data Specialist: Eastern Market on Saturday/Sunday mornings! We can’t have pets in our apartments, so my husband and I like to play with the dogs out for their morning walk.

Abby Evans, Development Associate: Playing disc golf in Bluemont Park in Arlington!

Danielle Brian, Executive Director: The Grief statue in the Rock Creek Cemetery.

Jake Wiens, Investigator: I like to bike in Rock Creek Park.

Joe Newman, Director of Communications: I like to to get out of the city and head to my favorite hikes on Old Rag or the Billy Goat Trail.

Neil Gordon, Investigator: Wheaton Regional Park and Brookside Gardens, which are just a short walk from where I live.

Keith Rutter, Director of Operations: Kennilworth Aquatic Gardens National Park is a hidden gem of the city.

Angela Canterbury, Director of Public Policy: The kids and I like to bike the Capital Crescent Trail from Bethesda to Georgetown. It’s 11 miles (at a gentle grade downhill). We stop for a treat on the Potomac waterfront (them ice cream, me a beer)—and then we take the metro from Foggy Bottom or Farragut North back up!

Image by Flickr user Keith Ivey, used under Creative Commons License

Pam Rutter, Web Manager: Dragonfly In Amber by Diana Gabaldon, it is second in her Outlander series.  Can’t put it down…18th century Scotland, highlander adventures, Scottish clans, lots of kilts and a time traveler!

Neil Gordon, Investigator: Tales from the 5th Street Gym: Ali, the Dundees, and Miami‘s Golden Age of Boxing by Ferdie Pacheco. Accounts of the legendary 5th Street Gym in Miami Beach, where many world-class boxers, most notably Muhammad Ali, used to train. Fight doctor Ferdie Pacheco, Ali trainer Angelo Dundee and others who were there during the gym’s existence from the 1950’s through the 1980’s share their stories.

Chris Pabon, Director of Development: Final Crisis Legion of 3 Worlds by Geoff Johns. Its a tale of how endings can turn out to be new beginnings. And past mistakes can in the end be redeemed.

Angela Canterbury, Director of Public Policy: Who needs books when you can read bills, letters, and reports stranger than fiction!

Danielle Brian, Executive Director: I’m reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett and Prague Golem: Jewish Stories of the Ghetto.

Paul Thacker, Investigator: I usually read multiple books at the same time.  I know; it’s weird. The Last Good Kiss, by James Crumley – just a great book.  You can understand why Crumley had such a large influence on other writers.  Would recommend it to anyone. City of Bones, by Michael Connelly – another in the series about LAPD homicide detective, Harry Bosch.  Let me guess.  He gets the girl, loses the girl and solves the city’s biggest crime by ignoring his superiors, breaking every rule, and following his internal moral compass?  Even though I know this is how it’s gonna end, it’s still great reading.On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, by David Grossman – an historical and sociological exploration of how the military trains young men to commit taboo.

Nick Schwellenbach, Director of Investigations: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution by Jack Rakove. Fighting Power: German and U.S. Army Performance, 1939-1945 by Martin van Creveld.

Danni Downing, Editor: Black and Blue, by Ian Rankin: Two teens are killed at a private school by a Scottish Army vet who then kills himself. Detective Rebus investigates to find out why.

Joe Newman, Director of Communications: Griftopia by Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone. I like what I’ve read so far. Taibbi looks at Wall Street’s crimes and misdemeanors and wonders pointedly why no one is in jail?

Bryan Rahija, Blog Editor: Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat, by Bill Watterson.
Revisiting an old classic.

Rebecca Rotenberg, Intern: The Information, by James Gleick. Basically it is about everything and how everything is taught and communciated in our world today. Kind of a weird read at first, but tough to put down as you get deeper into understanding the message Gleick is trying to get across.

Image by Flickr user Helen Cook, used under Creative Commons License