Research Cited

The Capitol riot wasn’t a fringe ‘uprising’. It was enabled by very deep pockets

Source: The Guardian | Published: 1/18/2021

Likewise, although Koch Industries is the single largest corporate donor to Republican representatives who pledged to try to overturn the election results, the next biggest contributors included defense companies like Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon, as well as tech (Amazon) and finance (Goldman Sachs) and insurance (AFLAC), according to the Center for Media and Democracy. And while Charles Koch […]

Oil Industry Reconsiders Donations to Election Deniers — But Has Its Own Big Lie

ALEC, Climate, Democracy, Environment, Koch

Source: The Intercept | Published: 1/16/2021

Also listed on the march’s website was Turning Point USA, which recently entered into a partnership with the Koch-backed American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC, as the group is known, brings together lobbyists and lawmakers to promote industry friendly legislation at the state level. Turning Point and ALEC are working together to place right-wing students on […]

Doctor Who Joined Capital Attacks Leads a Far-Right Campaign Against COVID-19 Vaccine

Democracy, Trump

Source: The Intercept | Published: 1/14/2021

It’s clear that Gold still has deep ties to far-right groups that support Trump. She was one of 27 “extremely pro-Trump” doctors that Republican activist Nancy Schulze proposed to promote the message that it was appropriate to reopen the economy during the surging pandemic. Schulze is a member of the Council for National Policy, an organization […]

Chicago-Area Billionaire Gave Millions To ‘Patriots’ Group That Backed Pro-Trump Rally

Democracy, Trump

Source: WBEZ | Published: 1/12/2021

“The group lent its name to a rally that led to an insurrection,” said Don Wiener, a researcher with the left-leaning Center for Media and Democracy in Madison, Wis. “Donors bear some responsibility for the activity of the groups they fund.”

Democracy Organizations Call for Making Coup Donors Accountable

Democracy, Koch, Trump

Source: Nonprofit Quarterly | Published: 1/12/2021

Many are calling out right-wing politicians for aiding and abetting the coup attempt in the Capitol, but what about their donors? The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) has outlined in great detail how the Kochs’ PAC machinery has invested over $15 million on the political careers of all 13 US senators who initially publicly […]

How Ginni Thomas and the Shadowy Council of National Policy Advanced the Election Disinformation Campaign

Democracy, Trump

Source: Right Wing Watch | Published: 1/12/2021

A Dec. 10 letter posted on the Conservative Action Project website, reported by Alex Kotch at Exposed by CMD, asked state legislatures in battleground states to “exercise their plenary power under the Constitution and appoint clean slates of electors to the Electoral College to support President Trump,” and that the House and Senate only recognize […]

Who’s getting rich off child support? (Hint: It’s not the moms)

Democracy, Economy

Source: Mississippi Today | Published: 12/29/2020

A 2014 report by the Center for Media and Democracy also questioned Wells’ contribution of $2,000, the state maximum, to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback shortly before the state outsourced the bulk of its child support enforcement program to YoungWilliams. “While YoungWilliams boasted that it landed the contract because of its ‘innovative service delivery structure,’ there […]

The white nationalist ties of the next big civil rights case

Democracy, Koch

Source: Media Matters for America | Published: 12/21/2020

To pay for these repeated trips to an increasingly conservative Supreme Court, Blum has long been a beneficiary of millions of dollars funneled through DonorsTrust, the donor-advised fund that shuffles money from anonymous sources to the entire spectrum of right-wing advocacy. And now, as reported by Alex Kotch for the Center for Media and Democracy, […]

Investigation on Weed Killer Dicamba Adds to Pattern of Corporate Deception on Pesticide Hazards

Democracy, Environment

Source: Beyond Pesticides | Published: 12/18/2020

The Center for Media and Democracy’s (CMD’s) PR Watch reported in 2012 on documents it had obtained showing that Syngenta’s “PR team investigated the press and spent millions to spin news coverage and public perceptions in the face of growing concerns about potential health risks from the widely used weed-killer atrazine.” The company used a variety […]

Koch-Funded Group Seeks to Overturn Voter-Approved Tax on Arizona’s Wealthiest 1%

ALEC, Bradley Files, Democracy, Economy, Education, Koch, News, SPN

Source: Sludge | Published: 12/16/2020

Behind the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling, reporters Scott Zimmerman and David Armiak found at Exposed by CMD, was a 2017 bill passed by Republicans that required a “strict compliance” legal standard for ballot initiatives. That law signed by Gov. Doug Ducey, in turn, had been supported by the right-wing Barry Goldwater Institute for Public Policy […]