Research Cited

Comcast Leaves Conservative ‘Think Tank’ Behind Voter ID, Stand-Your-Ground Laws

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer | Published: 6/10/2019

The Center for Media and Democracy, a nonprofit investigative news organization in Wisconsin, has published stories on ALEC since 2011, initially based on leaked documents. The group posts its research and stories online here.

With an ALEC membership, “Comcast got legislators behind closed doors,” David Armiak, research director at the Center for Media and Democracy, said on Friday. “ALEC would hold two meetings a year when state legislators from around the country came to fancy hotels and would meet” with Comcast and other companies.

Cap Times’ Evjue Foundation Gives $1.8 Million to Area Nonpofits and UW-Madison

Bradley Files, Democracy, Wisconsin

Source: The Cap Times | Published: 6/5/2019

Center for Media and Democracy — $5,000 to help defray expenses to research Bradley Foundation funding.

Mary H. Hall: Lessons from Tobacco Industry in Climate Change Crisis

Climate

Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette | Published: 5/28/2019

The recent letter names Dr. Richard Lindzen as his champion of climate denial. Court documents show Lindzen has accepted fossil fuel funding, although just how much he has received from the carbon-combustion complex is not public knowledge. Meanwhile, in an article on him at sourcewatch.org, I have read Lindzen favors the claim of big tobacco that smoking does no harm.

Louisiana Law Turning Pipeline Protests Into Felonies Violates Constitution, New Lawsuit Alleges

ALEC, Climate, Environment

Source: DeSmog | Published: 5/22/2019

ALEC, which also circulates a model bill describing climate change as “a historical phenomenon” and subject to continuing debate, counts Bayou Bridge pipeline builder Energy Transfer among its donors, according to the Center for Media and Democracy’s Sourcewatch project.

Outside Groups Co-Wrote 47 State Laws

ALEC, Wisconsin

Source: Urban Milwaukee | Published: 5/22/2019

Several current and former Wisconsin legislators, including GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, have been members of ALEC or attended ALEC conferences over the past several years, according to the Center for Media and Democracy.

Is Trump DOA in the Rust Belt?

Democracy, Koch, Trump, Wisconsin

Source: The New Republic | Published: 5/21/2019

That’s a particularly interesting assessment given the role that outside consultants and money has played in Wisconsin’s transformation into a Republican laboratory. “There is tremendous frustration with the influence of out-of-state organizations and out-of-state money,” Lisa Graves, the executive director of the Madison-based Center for Media and Democracy, told Kaufman in a 2012 New York Times article about the state. The Kochs, in particular, have taken interest in the state’s Republican Party — particularly its assault on organized labor — and have poured millions of dollars into the state in recent years, aiding the conservative revolution. Unfortunately, after going for broke to re-elect Scott Walker in 2018, the party is now broke — one maxed-out credit card cost the party $600 a month in interest payments alone.

CMD Wins Reversal of Restrictive DOJ Public Records Policy

Democracy, Wisconsin

Source: Urban Milwaukee | Published: 5/21/2019

In a victory for transparency in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) has agreed to reverse former Attorney General Brad Schimel’s restrictive policy automatically denying any open records request that generates more than 500 potentially responsive documents, and has turned over several thousand records to the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) concerning Schimel’s legal war against the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Who Is David Langdon? New Details On The Conservative Evangelical And Why He’s Attacking Elizabeth Warren

Koch

Source: YourTango | Published: 5/17/2019

According to Ohio state records, The Coalition to Restore American Values is a 501c4 registered non-profit organization. But according to SourceWatch, the sole thing that The Coalition to Restore American Values has done is donate more than $400,000 in advertisements to support Scott Walker. The SourceWatch report also says that nearly all the company’s funding comes from Center to Protect Patient Rights, a Koch Brothers-funded “think tank” headed up by Sean Noble.

More Preemptive ALEC Strikes

ALEC, Chambers of Commerce, Koch, SPN

Source: High Plains Reader | Published: 5/8/2019

Approved by ALEC, Americans for Prosperity, Koch Industries, Peabody Energy, US Chamber of Commerce, and Exxon Mobil in 2018, the copycat bill is dubbed the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act, and it seeks to conceal actions and curtail dissent against the oil and gas industry, according to The Center for Media and Democracy.

A Former Corn-Syrup Lobbyist is Drafting New Federal Dietary Rules (Seriously)

Democracy

Source: Los Angeles Times | Published: 5/7/2019

She also has served as a trustee of the International Life Sciences Institute, which, according to SourceWatch, “was first established in 1978 by Coca-Cola, Heinz, Kraft, General Foods and Procter & Gamble.”