Research Cited

“Women’s Bill of Rights” created by secretive group that opposes women’s rights

Source: Popular Info | Published: 5/10/2023

The Center for Media and Democracy reports that “no fewer than half of the Independent Women’s Forum’s full-time staff previously worked directly for Koch-controlled groups or for entities that received Koch funding.” IWF’s current chairman, Higgins, is a longtime Koch operative. She was previously the director and secretary at the Koch-affiliated Center to Protect Patient Rights, and […]

How conservatives have moved to undermine federal authority

ALEC, Democracy, Extremism

Source: The Week | Published: 5/10/2023

Rick Santorum, a former GOP senator, can allegedly be heard pushing for a convention in audio obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy, a progressive government watchdog. Two-thirds of U.S. states — 34 of them — would need to approve a convention, and Santorum reportedly pushed for red states to join him in the effort.

Hillsdale College: From 1990s Sex Scandal to Setting Educational Standards for Christ Nationalists

Education, Extremism

Source: Daily Kos | Published: 4/20/2023

The three men appointed to spearhead the operation, Scott W. Atlas, M.D., of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, also known as Trump’s COVID guy, Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D., of Stanford University, and Martin Kulldorff, Ph.D., of the Brownstone Institute, “are connected to right-wing dark money attacking public health measures,” according to Walker Bragman and Alex Kotch, […]

Citing Neo-Nazi Plots Against The Grid, States Pass Laws Meant To Thwart Climate Protests

ALEC, Climate, Environment

Source: Huffpost | Published: 4/19/2023

If legislators really “wanted to keep people’s lights on, they’d be more focused on making our energy infrastructure cleaner and modernizing the grid,” said Connor Gibson, an independent researcher who is tracking the influence of anti-protest legislation with the watchdog Center for Media and Democracy.

Whales versus wind turbines: truth or fiction?

Climate, Environment, SPN

Source: Bay Journal | Published: 4/13/2023

Fact: Much of the anti-turbine disinformation is supported by “dark money” that is connected to conservative anti-environmental organizations. Two of those, Protect our Coast New Jersey and Save Our Beach View, purport to be grassroots organizations but are actually funded by the Ocean Legal Defense Fund, which is controlled by the Caesar Rodney Institute. That […]

What Can Democrats Do About Clarence Thomas’s Ethics Fiasco?

Democracy

Source: Intelligencer | Published: 4/11/2023

Yes. I think it has grown rapidly in the last few years. I think the Dobbs decision was a clarion call. We’re going to continue to have an uphill struggle against that Republican political machine because the same big donors who ran the court-capture operation for all those years, which Center for Media and Democracy […]

Key conservative group joins attacks on partnership that improves voter rolls

Democracy, Elections, Extremism

Source: The Guardian | Published: 4/11/2023

To be sure, Judicial Watch has had success raising big bucks from conservative donors and foundations, as Fitton has risen in the right’s ecosystem. Since 2010, Judicial Watch has roped in six- and seven-figure checks from such top conservative donors as the Schwab Charitable Trust, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, Donors Trust and others, according to […]

Koch Industries Backed Tennessee Republicans Who Expelled Black Democrats

ALEC, Campaign Finance, Democracy, Koch

Source: TYT Network | Published: 4/11/2023

Koch Industries, which is controlled by right-wing billionaire Charles Koch, is also one of the corporate backers of the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which has crafted model gun legislation for Republican allies to pass in state legislatures around the country, according to a report by the Center for Media and Democracy’s (CMD) ALEC […]

AGs Defending Fossil Fuel Industry, Not Their States

Climate, Democracy, Economy, Environment, RAGA

Source: LA Progressive | Published: 3/30/2023

That “aggressive pursuit” goes both ways. According to emails and documents obtained by the nonpartisan Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), Republican AGs offer lobbyists and lawyers private, confidential meetings in exchange for contributions to RAGA, which—as a 527 political organization—can raise unlimited amounts of cash from individuals and corporations.

Apple’s Diversity Efforts Targeted as the Right Steals the Left’s Activist Playbook

Climate, Economy, Environment

Source: Observer | Published: 3/29/2023

Many anti-ESG efforts, especially those directed at climate change, have been documented as being funded by the fossil fuel industry since at least the late 1990s. NCPP does not identify its donors, but it was explicitly founded as a conservative and free-market think tank. The Center for Media and Democracy has identified a history of dozens of major […]