Research Cited

We don’t need no education: Now Arizona says teachers don’t require college degrees

Source: Salon | Published: 7/12/2022

In fact, ALEC, which has included staffers of online for-profit school corporations among its leadership, has had a model bill called the Alternative Certification Act available for state legislators to adopt since 2005. As Brendan Fischer and Zachary Peters wrote at PR Watch, versions of the act were introduced in four states by 2016, including Wisconsin, which also surreptitiously added […]

Brittney Griner Unlawfully Detained in Russia

ALEC, Democracy, Education, Elections

Source: LA Progressive | Published: 7/8/2022

There has been much criticism recently of Florida’s recently enacted Parental Rights in Education Bill signed into law in April that appeared to follow Russia’s lead. But, it was revealed by The Center for Media and Democracy , a nonprofit that tracks the work of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), that the Parental Rights […]

Super fast internet service — from a mystery provider — coming as early as end of year

Economy, Koch

Source: The Herald-Times | Published: 6/29/2022

The local incumbents, Comcast, AT&T and Spectrum, even got support from the Washington, D.C.-based so-called Taxpayers Protection Alliance, which sent a representative from the nation’s capitol to warn city council members they would be using taxpayer resources “to build out redundant infrastructure.” Sourcewatch classifies the alliance as “an advocacy front group” that is part of […]

What did $50 million buy Ken Griffin in Illinois’ primary? Not much.

Campaign Finance, Democracy, Elections

Source: WBEZ Chicago | Published: 6/28/2022

“Except for wealthy politicians who bankroll their own campaign, this is the largest amount ever given by a single donor to a U.S. candidate at any level,” according to a report from the Center for Media and Democracy, a progressive watchdog group based in Madison, Wis.

Why Does ‘Democrat’ Sheriff Villanueva Have So Many Far-Right Supporters?

Uncategorized

Source: Knock LA | Published: 6/28/2022

David Armiak works at Center for Media and Democracy and has been monitoring the CNP for several years. He told Knock LA that Villanueva’s Democratic Party allegiance seems odd for the CNP: “there [are] no Democrats involved in this, and if they are, then they moved to the right.” He describes CNP initiatives as “weaponized to move […]

Anti-boycott laws like Arkansas’s defy U.S. Constitution

ALEC, Climate, Democracy, Economy

Source: Arkansas Times | Published: 6/25/2022

Now comes an investigative piece from the Center for Media and Democracy detailing another ALEC anti-boycott initiative unveiled at the closed door December 2021 gathering of ALEC and Republican state legislators. This new initiative, which started rolling out in Republican dominated legislatures in 2022, targets banks, universities, investment firms and other financial entities that are […]

How Mark Meadows’ nonprofit benefited from Trump’s ‘Big Ripoff’

Democracy, Elections, Trump

Source: Facing South | Published: 6/24/2022

As a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit, CPI is not allowed to get directly involved in elections, nor is it legally required to disclose its donors. But the Center for Media and Democracy’s (CMD) Sourcewatch.org website has compiled some funding data for the organization by scouring foundation reports. One of CPI’s biggest donors, giving $2.25 million from […]

Anti-Protest Bills: A Formula for Authoritarianism That We Must All Fight

Democracy

Source: Nonprofit Quarterly | Published: 6/14/2022

It is not surprising that these efforts to quash dissent are being backed by the very special interests that demonstrators are trying to hold accountable. If you follow the money, it is the oil companies, police unions, and special interest lobbying groups that are backing these anti-protest bills.

Keeping it Real: We Are Not for Sale– A Response to Wells Fargo and Other Corporate Duplicity

ALEC, Economy

Source: Black Voice News | Published: 6/13/2022

For years Wells Fargo was a dues paying member of this club. It appeared to pivot away from ALEC when it told the Center for Media and Democracy in September 2012 that it had not renewed its membership for the following year, but the following year it sponsored ALEC’s 2013 Annual Meeting. It subsequently told Common Cause […]

Meet Ken Griffin, a GOP hedge fund billionaire who wants to eat Chicago

Campaign Finance, Democracy, Elections

Source: Daily Kos | Published: 6/9/2022

According to the Center for Media and Democracy’s Exposed project (https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2022/05/27/chicago-billionaire-ken-griffin-now-the-largest-gop-political-donor/), in three previous election cycles—2015 through 2020—”the largest GOP donor had been Sheldon Adelson, a casino owner who, with his wife, Miriam, gave a total of $413 million to Republican federal candidates, party committees, and other super PACs. But in the wake of Adelson’s […]