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Research Cited

Two Weeks Bring In Nearly $17.5 Million: Who’s Contributing to Colorado Campaigns?

Democracy

Source: Colorado Springs Gazette | Published: 9/19/2018

A third independent expenditure committee supporting Stapleton [Walker Stapleton, Republican gubernatorial candidate and state Treasurer in Colorado], the Colorado Campaign for Jobs and Opportunity, took in a $450,000 contribution from the Workforce Fairness Institute, which, according to SourceWatch, is an anti-union organization backed by Neil Golub of New York, who owns a northeastern supermarket chain. The campaign committee, which is based in Massachusetts, has now raised $810,000, all of it from the institute.

Heavy-Handed Industry Maneuver to Crush Soda and Grocery Taxes Is on Oregon Ballot

Democracy, Economy

Source: NationofChange | Published: 9/7/2018

As public health advocates across the country push for small tax boosts to sodas and other sugary drinks to battle obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, the soda industry and its allies are playing hardball.

To put an end to successful soda tax campaigns in California, industry lobbyists threatened to put a measure on the California ballot banning all local taxes — not just soda taxes — a form of high-stakes hostage taking that forced legislators in Sacramento to ban local soda taxes until 2030 in exchange for taking the measure off the ballot.

Secret Political Cash Quietly Reshaping Wisconsin Laws

Democracy, Wisconsin

Source: StarTribune | Published: 9/1/2018

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.

Scrutinize Candidates on Openness

Democracy, Wisconsin

Source: DoorCountyDailyNews.com | Published: 8/31/2018

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.

Hogan Adopts Trump’s ‘Fake News’ Attack on Media

ALEC, Koch, SPN

Source: The Real News Network | Published: 8/29/2018

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.

Rep. Chris Taylor: ALEC Gathering Gives Platform to Hatemonger Horowitz

ALEC, Bradley Files

Source: Madison.com | Published: 8/20/2018

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.