General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTed Cruz and Koch brothers embroiled in shadowy Tea Party scheme
Ted Cruz and Koch brothers embroiled in shadowy Tea Party scheme
Meet the right-wing group masquerading as a mainstream nonprofit -- but pushing extremist laws across the country
Josh Eidelson - Nov 15, 2013 05:30 AM PST - http://www.salon.com/2013/11/15/ted_cruz_and_koch_brothers_embroiled_in_shadowy_tea_party_scheme/
Specifically, the report by the Center for Media and Democracy focuses on the State Policy Network, a little-known network. What we uncovered through our investigation is that SPN along with its affiliates amount to $83 million just flooding into the states to push and promote this agenda , CMD director Lisa Graves told reporters on a Wednesday call. And that money is on the rise. The paper was released Wednesday along with a set of state-level reports on SPN affiliates, authored by affiliates of the progressive network ProgressNow.
The CMD report accuses SPN affiliates of mounting coordinated efforts to push their agenda, often using the same cookie-cutter research and reports, all while claiming to be independent and creating state-focused solutions It charges that, Although SPN think tanks are registered as educational nonprofits, several appear to orchestrate extensive lobbying and political operations to peddle their legislative agenda to state legislators, despite the IRS regulations on nonprofit political and lobbying activities.
............
G_j
(40,367 posts)"The CMD report also cites numerous SPN ties to the better-known ALEC, including a grant from Donors Capital Fund, which Mother Jones called the dark money ATM of the conservative movement, specifically to fund SPN member groups to participate in an ALEC gathering. SPN or its member groups sit on eight ALEC task forces; the largest number are in the Task & Fiscal Policy and Education groups. According to CMD, SPNs annual meeting in September included representatives from Koch Industries, the Charles Koch Institute, the Charles Koch Foundation and several Koch-backed right-wing groups like Americans for Prosperity.
CMD suggests that SPNs billionaire backers may not be motivated by ideology alone. Be it the Koch brothers and environmental policy, the Waltons and minimum and living wage laws, or the Bradley Foundation and education privatization, charges the report, SPN funders end up being a client to the think tanks, receiving a service influencing state legislators and promoting a right-wing agenda that benefits them."
Berlum
(7,044 posts)As usual.
Blue Owl
(50,356 posts)n/t
TomCADem
(17,387 posts)...imagine Dorothy not noticing the man behind the curtain.