Investigating Power
The progressive Center for Media and Democracy watchdog group started tracking ALEC activities in 2011, noting prominent members like Exxon Mobil, the American Gas Association, the Heritage Foundation and multiple Koch brothers-related companies.
To learn more, check out the extensive Koch web files at the Center for Media and Democracy: www.exposedbycmd.org/koch/
The Koch conspiracy’s attack on our democratic rights has already rigged our country’s economic and political rules so the richest of the rich can now grab even more of society’s wealth and power, thus shattering America’s commitment to the Common Good and creating a savage level of inequality. To learn more, go to the watchdog group, Center for Media and Democracy.
When Pruitt bought the lot, it was the subject of litigation. A report from the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) published earlier this month in Salon said Pruitt and his wife bought it “just days before a court ruled that it had been fraudulently transferred by a Las Vegas developer who was on the hook for a $3.6 million loan default.”
Pioneer [Institute] is a right-wing think-tank, a member of the State Policy Network, an $83 million web of right-wing think-tanks who serve as a “dating service” between major corporations and state legislatures which operates in 49 states. According to the Center for Media and Democracy, The New York Times, and Blumberg Businessweek, the State Policy Network and their associate the American Legislative Exchange Council, write legislation for state legislatures; legislation which is often passed unchanged. The Pioneer Institute and its co-conspirators subvert the democratic process. They are lobbyists and propagandists.
Since then, information has been more difficult to come by. The Center for Media and Democracy, another watchdog group that tracks ALEC, says Duke was a $10,000 sponsor for the group’s 2015 annual meeting and a $25,000 sponsor for its 2016 annual meeting.
The wording is in a 2017 ruling that ordered the attorney general’s office to provide the Wisconsin-based Center for Media and Democracy with records it had requested in 2015 involving Pruitt, who now heads the Environmental Protection Agency.
Documents obtained by DBA Press and the Center for Media and Democracy showed that the FBI misused a counter-terrorism program known as “Operation Tripwire” to spy on peaceful Occupy protestors, in concert with private-sector informants.
Helping workers and advocates to have at least awareness on our side is Mary Bottari. She’s deputy director of the Center for Media and Democracy, part of their critical ALEC Exposed investigation. Her report “Behind Janus” appears in the March issue of In These Times.
The Kochs’ criminal justice reform initiative is yet another cynical investment. In conjunction with related grants, Charles Koch Foundation officials have made statements regarding equal treatment under the law, something they may hope will endear the brothers to those who have historically been victimized by the criminal justice system, including people of color. But the Center for Media and Democracy analyzed this push for reform, calling it “a Trojan horse” with a goal to, conveniently, make life a lot easier for business executives facing criminal charges.