Investigating Power
At the request of NL’s [NL Industries, formerly National Lead] lobbyist, Republicans inserted a handful of words into the 2013-15 state budget that sought to halt such lead-paint lawsuits, including the one filed by Yasmine, according to a memo obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy, a left-leaning watchdog organization that exposes corruption in government.
Three state advocacy groups — Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, Center for Media and Democracy and One Wisconsin Now — recently urged the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council to rescind the award it gave Walker [Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin] in March for issuing executive orders directing state agencies to improve their performance on open records requests. They noted other occasions in which Walker has failed to release information, and dinged him for signing a 2015 bill ending the requirement that donors of more than $100 to political campaigns identify their employer.
The Institute [Maryland Public Policy Institute] wouldn’t tell us who their donors are, but according to tax records obtained by Conservative Transparency, their leading donors through 2014, which covers the period Hogan [Larry Hogan, Governor of Maryland] served on their board, is Donors Capital Fund, which has been called the dark money ATM of the conservative movement. Another major funder is State Policy Network, who, according to a report by the Center for Media and Democracy, is funded by the Koch donor network. On top of that, an adjunct staffer at the Institute, Wendell Cox, is the former legislative director of ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. Another arm of the Koch network, which pushes corporate-friendly and anti-worker model legislation in statehouses across the country.
State Farm Insurance, UPS, Comcast, Dow, FedEx, Nucor, Alkermes, Verizon and Century Link gave donations to Baldwin [Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.)] through their political action committees. The firms have ties to ALEC according to the Center for Media and Democracy ALEC Exposed website.
We urge you to rescind the “Openness” award you gave to Gov. Walker earlier this year.
ALEC Exposed, a website by the Center for Media and Democracy, a Madison-based liberal government watchdog, has published hundreds of model bills propagated by ALEC. Such bills are crafted by politicians and corporate representatives meeting behind closed doors.
But ALEC provided a platform for a Trump hatemonger to spread his racist and sexist propaganda this year. At a workshop of the Convention of States (COS), a project to call an Article V constitutional convention for the purposes of amending the federal Constitution to limit the power of the federal government, right-wing provocateur David Horowitz was a featured panelist. Horowitz, who runs his own think tank, has been described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “one of America’s most dangerous hatemongers.” According to the Center for Media and Democracy, Horowitz is bankrolled to the tune of $3.4 million by the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation. He recently gained fame as a key mentor to Trump adviser Stephen Miller, the “architect” of Trump’s family separation policy, according to the Atlantic.
As the great journalist, A.J. Liebling, warned nearly 40 years ago, “Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.” To help battle the monopolists, go to The Center for Media and Democracy www.prwatch.org/cmd.
The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) sued Vukmir in 2013 for violating an open records request.
When the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) convenes its 45th annual meeting of legislators and corporate lobbyists at the swank Hilton New Orleans Riverside hotel on August 8, it will serve up a veritable banquet of union-busting, gerrymandering, pro-fossil fuel, and school privatization proposals for lawmakers to take back home.