Research Cited

The Far-Right Campaign to Destroy Our National Monuments

Source: The Nation | Published: 12/20/2017

The Sutherland Institute is also a member of the State Policy Network, or SPN, an association of state-based think tanks and advocacy groups that the Center for Media and Democracy describes as “the tip of the spear” of a “nationally funded policy agenda in the states that undergirds extremists in the Republican Party.” SPN and its member groups have together received large cash contributions over the years from corporate interests and conservative billionaires, including the Donors Trust, Donors Capital Fund, the Bradley Foundation, and the Scaife Foundations.

Scott Walker Crushes Wisconsin Democracy to Advance Koch Brothers’ Agenda

ALEC, Democracy, Koch

Source: The Cap Times | Published: 12/12/2017

“All of the bills (enacted by those states) are closely tailored to model measures being promoted by the Koch-backed American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force,” reported the Madison-based Center for Media and Democracy. “Funded and controlled by large corporations, including Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, telecom, and tobacco companies, ALEC has supported a balanced budget amendment since 1995 and renewed its push for a constitutional convention in recent years, publishing an Article V convention handbook for legislators and hosting numerous strategy sessions.”

Koch-Backed Business Group Splinters in Climate-Change Dispute

ALEC, Democracy, Koch

Source: Bloomberg | Published: 12/8/2017

In addition to model legislation mirroring Trump’s executive order requiring two regulations be repealed for every new one, ALEC also is considering a resolution recommending that Congress repeal the 17th amendment, adopted over 100 years ago to allow citizens to directly elect their U.S. senators instead of state legislators.

…

“It’s a new radically reactionary proposal that came up in this new period of Trump-dom,” said Lisa Graves, a former Justice Department attorney who launched the Center for Media and Democracy’s “ALEC Exposed” program in 2011. “This certainly seems to be evidence of them feeling emboldened to embrace an extreme counter-democratic measure.”

Think Tank Worked to Control Arizona School Voucher Program Behind Scenes, Emails Show

ALEC, Education, Koch, SPN

Source: AZCentral.com | Published: 12/7/2017

Lisa Graves, a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Clinton administration, said groups like Goldwater succeed in spreading their ideas because they access funding and expertise beyond the reach of everyday citizens. Graves heads the Center for Media and Democracy, which investigates the activities of conservative political non-profits.

Goldwater, which as a non-profit is not required to disclose the sources of its funding, took in about $4.3 million in 2015 and spent about $5.6 million on salaries, legal expenses, advertising, lobbying, fundraising and other expenses, according to the group’s most recent disclosures.

Graves said elected officials increasingly allow special-interest groups with which they’re ideologically aligned greater say in policymaking — far more than the voters who elect them.

Graves said Goldwater’s communication with state officials shows “the taking away (of) the power of ordinary people to influence policy, and to really, truly have oversight of programs that are being pushed by these really, very narrow special interests.”

GOP Angles for More Campaign Cash, Less Disclosure

Economy

Source: Moyers & Company | Published: 12/7/2017

Last week Senate Republicans passed a tax bill that hands massive tax breaks to corporations and the rich at the expense of low-income and middle-class Americans. Written behind closed doors with the help of 6,000 lobbyists and rammed through before anyone could read it, the bill offers Christmas presents for special interests, like eliminating a tax that private jet owners have fought the federal government over and tax breaks hedge-fund managers living in the Virgin Islands. And it sets the stage for a sweeping attack on the New Deal and Great Society reforms of the past century that built America’s middle class.

Advocates Alarmed by Powerful Conservative Group’s Attention to Voting

ALEC, Democracy

Source: Huffington Post | Published: 12/6/2017

An ALEC spokeswoman said in 2012 the organization was ending the task force to focus more on economic issues. But at a policy summit this week, the group will hold two panels focused on voting issues, setting off alarm bells among activists.

“After a lot of controversy over voter ID, ALEC disbanded its task force that dealt with democracy issues and purported to be out of the business of mucking around with voting laws,” said Arn Pearson, general counsel for the Center for Media and Democracy, a group that closely follows ALEC. “This is the first time we’re seeing them come back in on it.”

Legislature Should Cap Regulations, Think Tank Researchers Advise

ALEC, Environment, Koch, SPN

Source: Charleston Gazette-Mail | Published: 12/4/2017

According to the Center for Media and Democracy’s SourceWatch, the Mercatus Center was founded and is largely funded by the Koch Family Foundations, with Charles and David Koch described as key funders of right-wing infrastructure, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network.

According to SourceWatch, the Mercatus Center has engaged in campaigns involving deregulation, especially environmental deregulation.

Koch Latino Front Group Instructs Arizona Moms About School Vouchers

Education, Koch

Source: Common Dreams | Published: 11/28/2017

Two of the richest men in the world believe that transforming the public school system into for-profit money making operations is the “choice” Arizona moms should be making.

Can Time Inc. Survive the Kochs?

Koch

Source: The New Yorker | Published: 11/28/2017

Despite the reassurances from those close to the deal that the Kochs have no plans to use the media platform to proselytize, many of the liberal activists who closely track them remain suspicious. “There is zero chance that the Koch brothers are going to keep their hands off the content of these magazines,” Mary Bottari, the deputy director of the Center for Media and Democracy, a nonprofit that documents right-wing and corporate influence-buying, told me. “When they donated nearly three million dollars to Florida State University, they wrote a contract giving them control over hiring decisions in the economics department,” she said. (Donations were made between 2007 and 2015.) “The entire point of the purchase is to infuse the mainstream media with their extreme views.”

Who’s Behind the ‘Project Veritas’ Sting Operation Against the Washington Post?

Koch, Trump

Source: International Business Times | Published: 11/28/2017

Another prominent donor to Project Veritas is the foundation of now-President Donald Trump, which gave Project Veritas $20,000 in 2015. Alleged funder of Project Veritas, Eric O’Keefe (no relation to James O’Keefe), a Koch and Scott Walker ally, reportedly gave the group $50,000 in 2013, although he denied doing so when asked by the Center for Media and Democracy. And before O’Keefe established Project Veritas, PayPal co-founder and Trump campaign donor Peter Thiel reportedly gave O’Keefe between $10,000 and $30,000 to produce a video in which he mocked people of color by leading them to believe they had won a lottery.