Investigating Power
While leaders of both major parties were either celebrating their victories or mourning their losses after the November 5 elections, billionaire Charles Koch racked up a big win in Louisiana when Republican Governor Jeff Landry convened a special session of the state legislature on November 6 — the very next day — to overhaul the state’s tax system.
DonorsTrust — the donor conduit favored by the Koch political network — funneled over $152.5 million to MAGA groups, right-wing national and state think tanks and litigation centers, hate groups, youth groups, and more in 2023, according to an analysis of its latest IRS filing obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy.
A review of IRS tax filings reveals that six of the groups leading the legislative attack against environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing principles have received more than $85 million in recent years from several large foundations.
A recent white paper by Isaac Kamola, director of the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, details the ongoing culture-war backlash against higher education in America, largely in response to the grassroots activism of Black Lives Matter in 2020 and increasing LGBTQ+ visibility.
The Bradley Foundation’s “MVP” is positioning itself to be the ALEC of school boards.
The Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and its “aligned” donor advised fund funneled a total of $86.4 million to right-wing litigation outlets, national and state policy groups, media outlets, youth groups, and higher education in 2022, according to an analysis of its most recent IRS filings obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy.
To hide their identities from public scrutiny, megadonors used the Koch political network’s favorite conduit, DonorsTrust, to funnel $134 million to groups promoting the Right’s culture wars and spreading climate misinformation, Trump’s big lie, and hate, as indicated in IRS filings obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy.
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.
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.
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.