After years of criticizing progressives for shareholder activism focused on social justice and environmental concerns, right-wing groups and ideologues are embracing the same strategy themselves.
Archives for 2023
Koch Spending to Influence Policy and Politics Eclipses Charitable Giving
In 2021, a fleet of 27 organizations controlled by Charles Koch and other Koch Industries executives spent a combined net total of $656.8 million on political and charitable causes.
Texas “Death Star” Bill on Track to Decimate Local Worker and Consumer Protections
An omnibus regulatory preemption bill in Texas—where versions are currently being considered in both the Senate and the House—would strip local governments of the ability to protect workers, consumers, and the environment.
How Koch Cash Is Bankrolling the Effort to Kill Big Tech Reform
When the next big disaster unfolds due to deregulation, don’t be fooled. Republicans are deflecting blame by attacking the Biden administration as insufficiently populist, but the seeds of the East Palestine train derailment and Silicon Valley Bank bailout were sown under the Trump deregulatory regime and more broadly by the anti-government ethos of the GOP and its Big Money donors.
Court Ruling Could Curtail Koch’s Legal Sleight of Hand on Asbestos Claims
A recent legal decision in a case involving Johnson & Johnson (J&J) may ultimately impact the massive profits Koch Industries and its Georgia-Pacific subsidiary have been raking in while sidestepping asbestos liability claims.
ALEC Loses Last-Ditch Efforts to Blunt Repeal of Michigan’s “Right-to-Work” Law
Michigan’s Senate and House have both passed legislation to repeal the state’s “right-to-work” law despite attempts by three ALEC-aligned Republican senators to salvage the anti-union legislation the group helped pass more than a decade ago.
Florida Bills Deliver on DeSantis and ALEC Anti-Union Wish Lists
Florida’s 2023 legislative session has kicked off with a pair of bills chock full of new labor regulations long sought after by anti-union activists.
ALEC to SFOF Pipeline Unearthed
One in every four members of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF)—the group of Republican state treasurers, auditors, and other financial officers on the frontlines of the campaign against “woke capitalism”—has been a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Center for Media and Democracy has found.
Utah State Treasurer Compares ESG Policies to Nazism at Heartland’s Climate Misinformation Fest
In his keynote address at The Heartland Institute’s International Conference on Climate Change, Utah Treasurer Marlo Oaks—a longtime investment banker prior to being appointed state treasurer in 2021—proclaimed key similarities between Hitler’s drive to create a uniform Aryan society and the desire of “global elites” to implement uniform investment practices.
Center for Media and Democracy Launches New Website Exposing Right-Wing Group of Anti-ESG State Financial Officers
The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is launching a new website, SFOFExposed.org, to expose the State Financial Officers Foundation’s role in legitimizing the latest front in the Right’s culture wars.