Research Cited

The Truth Behind the Stand – Walter Carpenter

Source: Caledonian Record | Published: 5/24/2017

According to the Center for Media and Democracy, “ALEC is not a lobby; it is not a front group. It is much more powerful than that. Through the secretive meetings of ALEC, corporate lobbyists and state legislators vote as equals on “model bills” to change our rights that often benefit the corporations’ bottom line at public expense (www.alecexposed.org/wiki).” Member dues and donations, usually untraceable, from such conservative and libertarian groups as the Koch Brothers, fund ALEC. This group has been noted, for example, to be behind voter ID laws and other forms of voter suppression. It is hardly surprising that they rated Vermont as they did, using their “15 state policy variables,” created by their lobbyists and member legislators.

‘You Can’t Make This Up’: Comcast Threatens Legal Action Against Net Neutrality Proponents

Democracy, Trump

Source: Common Dreams | Published: 5/23/2017

Indeed, the fake comment scandal in addition to the FCC’s failure to process comments in favor of net neutrality drew sharp criticism in the wake of the FCC’s vote, and raised concern over how much influence the telecom industry holds over Pai, and now the FCC.

In case there was any question on that front, The Intercept’s Lee Fang and Nick Surgey reported on Tuesday on an internal email from GOP leadership instructing House Republicans on how best to defend the FCC’s decision.

Lawsuit Targets Trump’s Climate-Change Censorship

Climate, Environment, Trump

Source: Common Dreams | Published: 5/23/2017

On March 23 the [Center for Biological Diversity] joined conservation biologist Stuart Pimm and the Center for Media and Democracy in a separate Freedom of Information Act request to prevent the administration from removing hundreds of environmental data sets on government websites.

Cable Industry Lobbyists Write Republican Talking Points on Net Neutrality

Democracy, Trump

Source: The Intercept | Published: 5/23/2017

Following the vote last week by the Federal Communication Commission to unwind the net neutrality rules enacted during the Obama administration, House Republican lawmakers received an email from GOP leadership on how to defend the decision. The email was shared with The Intercept and the Center for Media and Democracy.

Pruitt’s ‘Political Ambition’ Could Imperil Overhaul — Ebell

SPN, Trump

Source: E&E News | Published: 5/22/2017

Speaking in a closed-door session at the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy in Fairfax County, Ebell said the Trump administration has made a series of errors that could trip up efforts to cut red tape — chief among them delays in appointing key EPA officials.

“This is an impending disaster for the Trump administration,” Ebell said in the recording provided to the Center for Media and Democracy and shared with Reuters.

Maine Resolution Would Aid Scheme to Rewrite U.S. Constitution

ALEC, Democracy

Source: Portland Press Herald | Published: 5/22/2017

“These are three sweeping areas that amount to a rewrite of the Constitution,” said Arn Pearson, general counsel for the Center for Media and Democracy, a Wisconsin-based organization that closely tracks ALEC. “I really see it as a return to the Confederacy. They want the ability for states to override Supreme Court rulings and any federal law they don’t like.”

Trump EPA Transition Chief Laments Slow Pace in Killing Green Rules

Climate, Environment, SPN, Trump

Source: Newsline | Published: 5/22/2017

In closed-door remarks to members of the conservative Jefferson Institute in Virginia on April 18, a recording of which was obtained by Reuters, Ebell said Trump’s administration had made a series of missteps, including delays in appointing key EPA officials, that could hamper efforts to cut red tape for industry.

“This is an impending disaster for the Trump administration,” Ebell, a prominent climate change doubter, said in the recording provided to the Center for Media and Democracy and shared with Reuters.

Report: Out-of-State Group Bankrolls Attacks on CO Workers

Bradley Files

Source: Public News Service | Published: 5/17/2017

The Bradley Foundation, a Wisconsin-based conservative powerhouse, is taking its successful strategies targeting unions and public education to swing states including Colorado, according to new, separate reports by the Center for Media and Democracy and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Rick Perry’s Early Days as Energy Secretary Have Been a Bonanza for Corporations and the Koch Brothers

Climate, Environment, Koch

Source: AlterNet | Published: 5/17/2017

At least three staffers from conservative, anti-clean energy think tanks now have roles in the Energy Department. This comes after Thomas Pyle, a former Koch Industries lobbyist, ran Trump’s transition team for the department. Pyle is president of the Institute for Energy Research (IER), a think tank co-founded and partially funded by fossil fuel industrialist Charles Koch, as well as its advocacy arm, the American Energy Alliance. A leaked Pyle memo obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy from December revealed Trump’s energy plan, a “fossil fuel industry wish list.”

Billionaires Lay Siege to State Governments

Koch

Source: OtherWords | Published: 5/17/2017

This is why we must pay attention: Donald Trump isn’t the only — or even the biggest — danger to our democratic republic. As Arn Pearson, general counsel of Center for Media Democracy, warns: “There are a lot of different parts of the Koch machine pulling on this oar. From their think tanks up through their elected officials, they’re pushing on it. Hard.”