Investigating Power
Bradley Files, Democracy, Economy, Koch
The Foundation has connections to several conservative groups according to the Center for Media and Democracy. It was originally founded in 1968 as the legal arm of the National Right to Work Committee (NRTWC). The NRTWC is a lobbying organization that works with legislators at the state and federal levels to push anti-union legislation. One […]
Behind Informing America, however, is the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation, a $1.5 billion institution that played a significant part in funding a network of voter suppression groups following the 2020 election, according to a report by the Center for Media and Democracy.
Billionaire Charles Koch, for instance, sits 16th on the latest Forbes 400 list. The 27 donor organizations that Koch and his fellow Koch Industries execs control, the Center for Media and Democracy detailed this past spring, spent a combined $657 million on contributions to nonprofits in 2021, on top of $525 million in 2019 and $639 million in 2020. Only 6 […]
The new round of targets will include the hosts and host committee members of Wednesday’s gala, who include usual suspects like Newt Gingrich, Mike Pence, and Philip Morris; major companies like Guarantee Trust Life Insurance and the United Parcel Service; but also, surprisingly, the Humane Society of the United States, according to a list obtained […]
ALEC, Climate, Democracy, Economy, Environment
Additionally, the Center for Media and Democracy has found links between dozens of Ohio lawmakers and ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-funded group that favors fossil fuel development and opposes renewable energy standards. At least seven lawmakers on a committee set up under a 2014 law that cut back and froze Ohio’s clean energy standards for two years […]
The Center for Media and Democracy and its ALEC Exposed project have published hundreds of bills promoted at ALEC meetings and introduced in state legislatures. Lisa Graves, president of the board of CMD and president of True North Research, described how ALEC operates in an article published this year, which focused in part on ALEC’s […]
Membership dues from legislators, on the other hand, account for less than 1% of Alec’s annual revenues, according to tax filings uncovered by the Centre for Media and Democracy (CMD). The second-largest known donor to Alec is Charles Koch, whose foundations gave the organization just over $2m between 2017 and 2021, CMD found.
Because of the way it encourages representatives of private interests to collaborate on legislation as equals with public officials, ALEC is often described by its critics as a “corporate bill mill.” ALEC’s press materials have promoted the fact that both state lawmakers and business people have “a voice and a vote in shaping policy,” according […]
The nonpartisan Center for Media and Democracy has been highly critical of RAGA and its dark money affiliate, the Rule of Law Defense Fund, accusingthem of operating a “pay-to-play operation.” Corporations and other monied interests give the group millions of dollars to both bankroll and buy access to Republicans running for and serving as state […]
Attorney General Marshall also has connections to Leo through the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) and its affiliated Rule of Law Defense Fund (RLDF), where Marshall has been a director since 2020. Leo’s groups are the largest known funder of RAGA since its launch as a separate 527 group in 2014, as The Center on […]