A self-described nonpartisan non-profit government accountability organization in Washington, D.C., is accusing

of using its political clout to profit at taxpayer expense.

released

today that claims the Cleveland-based developer used "highly paid lobbyists, political connections, campaign contributions and strategic hiring of government officials" to obtain "lavish public subsidies, tax exempt financing and the seizure of private land from eminent domain condemnations."

Its review of lobbying and political contribution records indicates that the company and its employees spent $23 million on campaign contributions and lobbying at the federal state and local level over the past decade while receiving "fifty two direct and indirect government subsidies or financial benefits with a total value of at least $2.6 billion."

"We are exposing an enterprise of corruption within one of the largest private real estate developers in the country," said Dan Epstein, Cause of Action's executive director, a former

for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform under chairman Darrell Issa. "For far too long, Forest City Enterprises has operated on the model of political profiteering, essentially rigging the marketplace by paying off government officials with lavish campaign contributions and gambling with taxpayer funds for its private profit."

He called for more effective oversight over how corporations get government subsidies.

Forest City spokesman Jeff Linton called the report "absurd." He said Forest City's activities are no different from that of other corporations. He said it's not surprising that the company's political donations would go to "candidates who support economic development urban policies and job creation, and it shouldn't surprise anybody that we have focused our giving on the markets where we have offices and activity."

"We are being criticized for participating in our democracy in a way that is transparent, above board and adheres to all the rules," Linton said.

Records compiled by the

show that Forest City donated

$578,087

to federal politicians in 2012, ranking it 690 out of 21,050 groups the organization tracks. The $340,000 that Forest City spent on lobbyists ranked 759 of 4,371 organizations that employed lobbyists. Although Forest City donates to politicians from both political parties, it tends to give

.

Cause of Action spokeswoman Mary Beth Hutchins said her two-year-old organization is looking at how a variety of companies have been "getting handouts from the government and using their political connections to do that." She said this is the first company on which her group is releasing a report.

She said her 501-c-3 organization is funded by "a variety of private donors who prefer to remain anonymous." Although Epstein, the group's executive director,

, Hutchins said Cause of Action is not funded by the Koch brothers -

wealthy industrialists who back ultra-conservative and Tea Party groups.



The group's

are not yet publicly available on the Guidestar website.

Hutchins said the "common denominator among folks that work for us is a desire for transparency and accountability in government," and that her organization has also represented a

in California who were fighting the Food and Drug Administration over sperm donor regulations, and a

who faced a long prison sentence after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration accused her of illegally feeding a killer whale.

Hutchins says that in several months, the group will release another report that will show Forest City "took public benefits" under the premise of providing jobs for minority workers but failed to deliver those jobs, and a third report that will show that "FCE enriched itself through bribery and political graft, without ever being subject to investigation or oversight."

"By and large, Forest City Enterprises is not a household name across America like a lot of other real estate giants," said Hutchins. "Americans don't know how much this company is profiting from taxpayer dollars. We think this is something they should be aware of. It is happening due to political connections, not from a competitive market arena."