A review of hundreds of tax filings by the Center for Media and Democracy has uncovered 39%—or $16.4 million—of the $41.7 million ALEC received in contributions between 2017 and 2021.
ALEC’s Funding Revealed
By David Armiak | at
Democracy
Leonard Leo Bankrolls Former Lieutenant to Challenge GOP Incumbent in Missouri’s 2024 Race for AG
By David Armiak | at
Trump’s “judge whisperer” Leonard Leo, the Christian conservative largely responsible for moving the federal court system to the far right in the past decade, is deploying his powerful network to get a friend and former employee elected as Missouri’s next attorney general.
Federal Covid Relief Funds Fuel Koch-Backed Flat Tax “Revolution”
By Don Wiener and Arn Pearson | at
A decade-long push by Koch’s political and policy network to get more states to flatten or abolish income taxes is finally beginning to pay off, thanks to billions in federal Covid relief funds flowing to the states.
GOP Candidates Race to Outdo Each Other in Attacking ESG Investing
By Don Wiener | at
Several Republican candidates jockeying to take on Trump in next year’s presidential primary have seized on the Right’s culture wars and defense of big oil. And they’re not alone.
Koch Spending to Influence Policy and Politics Eclipses Charitable Giving
By Connor Gibson | at
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.
How Koch Cash Is Bankrolling the Effort to Kill Big Tech Reform
By Mike Lux | at
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.
Florida Bills Deliver on DeSantis and ALEC Anti-Union Wish Lists
By Juliana Broad | at
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.
Center for Media and Democracy Launches New Website Exposing Right-Wing Group of Anti-ESG State Financial Officers
By ExposedByCMD Editors | at
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.
Michigan Think Tank Launches New Dark Money Group as “Right-to-Work” Fight Heats Up
By Don Wiener and Arn Pearson | at
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a right-wing think tank that was instrumental in getting Michigan’s right-to-work legislation passed, announced the creation of a new spin-off last month that is legally able to raise and spend unlimited amounts of dark money to influence legislation and ballot measures.
Fossil Fuel Producers Urge ALEC to Help “Preserve [Their] Freedom”
By Juliana Broad | at
An oil and gas industry group recently urged the board of directors of the American Legislative Exchange Council—the right-wing corporate bill mill—to reconsider adopting a model policy that would blacklist companies that limit their business with fossil fuels