Taxpayers Protection Alliance tpa

==

who? drew j gore tenn house BS

color below

promote primary 5 22 show up a lot on important regulation medicare drug negot, net neutrality, energy

CEI

===

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2020/12/pharma-lobby-poured-millions-into-darkmoney-groups/

pharmaceutical companies’ top lobbying group funneled millions of dollars to prominent “dark money” groups that pushed industry friendly messages to lawmakers and 2020 voters.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America raised nearly $527 million last year and spent roughly $506 million, new tax returns obtained by OpenSecrets reveal. That’s a record haul for the organization, which is funded by the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies.

The trade association made its largest political donation of 2019 — $4.5 million — to the American Action Network, a dark money group that backs House Republicans. The conservative nonprofit and its pharmaceutical industry donor share disdain for proposals to regulate the price of prescription drugs.

The same year it received PhRMA’s donation, theAmerican Action Networklaunched several multi-million dollar ad campaigns opposing President Donald Trump’s proposal to let Medicare negotiate drug prices. This year, the group launched multi-million dollar ad campaigns opposing House Democrats’ bill to lower drug prices and ads boosting vulnerable Republicans who supported an alternative bill considered much friendlier to drugmakers.

The alliance between drugmakers and GOP groups isn’t new. PhRMA has given $14.6 million to the American Action Network since 2016. In that time, the American Action Network became a major contributor to GOP causes. During the 2020 election cycle, it gave $26.4 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, the House Republicans’ top super PAC that helped unseat several freshman Democrats.

In several key 2020 races, the American Action Network battled with a Democratic group that also received funding from drugmakers. PhRMA gave nearly $1.6 million to Center Forward, a dark money group aligned with moderate Blue Dog Democrats, last year. That nonprofit provided most of the funding for an allied super PAC that spent $3.3 million supporting House Democrats. The pharma-backed GOP and Democratic groups went head-to-head in several key House races, including a tightly contested New York race that has come down to a handful of votes.

Late last year, as Congress debated drug pricing bills, Center Forward flew House staffers to San Francisco to meet with drug company executives. The nonprofit’s board members have also lobbied for pharmaceutical interests. Republicans in Congress are the most vocal opponents of efforts to have the government regulate drug prices — a measure that would damage drugmakers’ profits — but Blue Dog Democrats also pushed back on more aggressive proposals to lower drug prices.

Drugmakers bankroll groups pushing industry talking points to Trump

Prominent drugmakers have spent much of 2020 developing vaccines to fight COVID-19, and the threat of drug pricing legislation in Congress has died down amid the pandemic. But Trump has continued to push forward with executive actions on prescription drugs opposed by the pharmaceutical industry.

PhRMA deployed creative tactics in an attempt to persuade Trump against following through on his campaign promise to aggressively lower drug prices. During the Trump era, the trade association has bankrolled conservative groups that have access to the president.

The American Conservative Union, which hosts the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, received $150,000 from PhRMA in 2019. Led by Trump ally and corporate lobbyist Matt Schlapp, the conservative nonprofit launched theCoalition Against Socialized Medicine late last year to oppose efforts to regulate drug prices and enact single-payer health care proposals. 

Nearly all of the coalition’s members received funding from drugmakers within the last two years. Big pharma’s trade group gave $505,000 to American Commitment, $78,500 to Americans for a Balanced Budget and $60,000 to the Taxpayers Protection Alliance last year alone, according to new tax returns. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance launched asix-figure ad campaign last month aimed at killing “surprise” medical billing legislation and calling it a “handout” to big insurance companies.

New tax returns also show that pharmaceutical manufacturers’ trade group gave $200,000 to the National Sheriffs Association, a nonprofit representing thousands of law enforcement officials. The group launched a six-figure ad campaign last year warning against Trump’s proposal to import drugs from foreign countries, a measure bitterly opposed by drugmakers. Those ads specifically targeted Trump, airing in Washington, D.C., on his favorite Fox News programs.

Trump ultimately approved a plan to import drugs from Canada in September, but its scope was limited. He also moved ahead with a rule that would allow Medicare to negotiate the cost of drugs based on the price foreign governments pay, another measure strongly opposed by drugmakers.

Still, while Trump has moved ahead with industry-opposed measures, his GOP allies in Congress have not made drug pricing legislation a priority. Republican lawmakers and their aides are consistently fed opinion pieces and ad campaigns from conservative groups urging them to reject “socialist price controls.”

Republicans ran political ads in 2020 that mirrored talking points from major healthcare industry players. Super PACs aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) attacked Democrats’ over their support for a public health insurance option, a proposal that could hurt drugmakers’ profits. Those ads cited a study from the Partnership For America’s Health Care Future, a conglomerate of insurers, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies that received $300,000 from PhRMA last year.

Longtime pharmaceutical ally gets seven-figure gift in retirement 

One of PhRMA’s largest 2019 gifts was a $2 million donation to the Orrin Hatch Foundation, athink tank and research library launched by former Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). The trade group gave $140,000 to the foundation between 2017 and 2018. 

Hatch, who retired in January 2019, was known as the pharmaceutical industry’s “man on the Hill” by the end of his 42-year tenure. Hatch helped shape current laws that regulate generic drugs and opposed measures to limit drugmakers’ monopoly protections. As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Hatch was considered the major roadblock to drug pricing changes proposed by Democrats and Trump.

the pharmaceuticals and health products industry gave $2.8 million to Hatch’s campaign committee since 1998, more than any member of Congress who didn’t run for president.When Hatch faced a primary challenge in 2012, PhRMAgave $750,000 to a super PAC boosting his reelection campaign. 

During Hatch’s final years in office, his allies reportedly asked pharmaceutical companies and K Street lobbyists for donations to fund the Orrin Hatch Foundation. In 2018, the foundation invited major corporations, including pharmaceutical giant Merck, to a luxury mountain resort for a fundraiser.

While the foundation will serve as a library to catalogue Hatch’s government service and provide civic education, it has also put out policy reports on pressing issues. Its most recent report delves into how lawmakers can craft “sensible solutions to both foster innovative biologics and curb skyrocketing drug prices.”

==

https://readsludge.com/2018/08/09/telecom-funded-groups-ask-congress-to-oppose-the-net-neutrality-cra-on-behalf-of-conservatives-everywhere

Nearly three dozen conservative nonprofits and think tanks sent a letter to members of the House of Representatives on Monday, urging them to reject a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution that would overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s recent order killing net neutrality rules.

Democrats in the House of Representatives are attempting to force a vote on the net neutrality CRA by securing signatures from a majority of House members on a discharge petition that would pull the bill out of committee and bring it to the floor. But to succeed they need support from dozens of Republicans.

The letter from the conservative coalition comes as momentum appears to be building for the Democrats.Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) recently became the first Republican to sign their discharge petition. A survey conducted by Republican pollster Bryan Sanders was released earlier this week showing that opposition to net neutrality could hurt Republicans in key House battleground districts this November. The poll found that opposition to net neutrality could be a significant factor tipping the scale towards Democratic candidates for a majority of undecided voters in the districts where the poll was conducted.

“On behalf of conservatives everywhere, please speak out against the CRA and the re-imposition of devastating digital regulations,” the groups wrote in their letter to Congress.

Despite claiming to speak for all conservatives, the letter comes from a particular subset of groups on the right—those that have received funding from the telecommunications industry.

According to a Sludge analysis, at least 29 of the 34 groups that signed the letter have received grants from telecom industry lobbying groups or are funded by organizations that receive substantial telecom industry support.

Since most of the groups signing the letter are set up as nonprofits, they are not required to disclose the identities of their donors. Since they are not primarily focused on lobbying politicians or running political campaigns, they don’t have to file financial information with the Federal Elections Commission or lobbying disclosures with Congress. But a review of 990 tax forms filed at the Internal Revenue Service by grant-giving organizations, as well as other documents, a portion of their funding can be traced.

The letter is hosted by—and appears to be organized by—a nonprofit organization known as the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA). Sludge previously reported about TPA’s telecom industry ties in May when they were running geo-targeted ads on social media to convince people to call their members of Congress and ask them to oppose the net neutrality CRA, a practice they appear to have recently restarted.

TPA, a self-described non-partisan public education group, has received funding from both of the telecom industry’s main trade groups—NCTA  (the Internet and Television Association) and CTIA  ( the Wireless Association) by way of a subsidiary called MyWireless that appears to do most of their grant-giving, according to tax records. From 2012 to 2016, the most recent year for which tax records are available, the two trade groups have given at least $110,000 to TPA.

NCTA and CTIA are funded by and represent all of the major telecommunications and cable companies that are fighting against net neutrality rules in the U.S., including Comcast, Verizon and AT&T.Although the companies lobby the government themselves, they typically rely on trade groups to provide funding to think tanks and other nonprofits that support them on issues.

Here’s a list of some of the groups that have signed the letter and how much money they have taken from the telecom industry:

• The Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI), a think tank founded by former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey that says its mission is to “research, develop and promote innovative and non-partisan solutions to today’s public policy problems.” From 2010 to 2015, IPI received $263,000 in general support funding from NCTA and MyWireless (CTIA), according to tax documents reviewed by Sludge. In 2008, Armey worked as a lobbyist for Verizon, among other clients.
• The American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Researchsigned the letter against the CRA despite the fact that without net neutrality internet service providers are can engage in throttling and paid prioritization deals that could lead to slower and more expensive internet access. According to tax documents, the group has received $25,000 per year from MyWireless from 2010 to 2015, and in 2016 that amount was increased to $30,000.
• The Hispanic Leadership Fund signed the letter despite many groups representing minorities arguing that the lack of net neutrality rules will disproportionately harm communities of color. The Hispanic Leadership Fund is a member of Broadband for America, an anti-net neutrality coalition that received $2 million a year in general support funds from NCTA from 2010 to 2014, tax records show.
• Another consumer group, Consumer Action, broke with the majority of organizations representing consumers to sign the anti-CRA letter. According to tax documents reviewed by Sludge, they received $10,000 per year from MyWireless (CTIA) from 2012 to 2015, and their donor pagefrom 2008-2009 (the most recent information available on their website) lists AT&T and Verizon as benefactors, but does not provide details on the amount of money they companies have given them.
• The State Policy Network is an umbrella organization and grant maker for conservative think tanks across the country, more than a dozen of which signed the anti-CRA letter. According to a document obtained and described by the Center for Media and Democracy, as of 2010 their funders included AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and Time Warner Cable. Tax records show that they group also received annual support from NCTA for their tech policy working group from 2012 to 2015. Organizations funded by the State Policy Network that signed the letter include the Goldwater Institute, John Locke Foundation, Montana Policy Institute, Freedom Foundation of Minnesota, Alaska Policy Forum, and several more.  
• Americans for Tax Reform also signed the letter. They are best known for their ties to prominent conservative figures like founder Grover Norquist, Karl Rove, and the Koch brothers, but they also have financial ties to the telecom industry. The NCTA gave them $50,000 per year for general support from 2011 to 2015 according to tax records. The CTIA (via MyWireless) chipped in another $165,000 from 2010-2016. They are also a member of the State Policy Network.
• The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) signed the letter through their 501(c)(4) affiliate ALEC Action. ALEC is well known for their work with corporations and interest groups on crafting model legislation for state legislatures, and among those corporate partners are major net neutrality opponents like AT&T, Comcast, Charter, and Verizon. ALEC has also received at least $10,000 from MyWireless, tax records show.

==

==

Solar Industry Prepares for Battle Against Koch Brothers’ Front Groups

Ken Johnson, Solar Energy Industries Association

Mark Twain said it best, there are “lies, damned lies and statistics.” It’s hard to tell which is which after closely reviewing the latest hatchet job on solar energy by the Koch brothers’ front group, The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA).

Aside from spelling solar correctly, much of the report, Filling the Solar Sinkhole, is untrue or misleading—including its basic assertion that the U.S. solar industry receives $39 billion in annual subsidies. Seriously? How can that be? How can an industry with a U.S. market value of $15 billion receive $39 billion in annual subsidies? The answer: it doesn’t. This is fuzzy math, and dirty tricks, at their very worst. But that shouldn’t come as a surprise. The purpose of this report isn’t to inform or educate. The purpose is to incite activists and generate scandalous headlines, when, in fact, no scandal exists.

According to PV-Tech’s John Parnell, who did a thoughtful analysis, “The report doesn’t make it clear how it arrived at the $39 billion figure. Of the 26 references cited in the report, 16 of them are from organizations that were either founded by the Koch brothers, or have received funding from them.”

Enough is enough. If clean energy critics want a bare knuckle brawl, then they’re going to get one. This type of guerrilla warfare simply isn’t going to work. Americans overwhelmingly support clean, renewable solar energy—and that scares the hell out of the Koch brothers and their lackeys. Here’s the dirty little truth: few industries benefit more from the U.S. tax code than carbon-rich big oil. By their own estimates, oil and gas tax breaks amount to a staggering $100 billion over 10 years. So how do the Koch brothers divert attention away from this? They prod conservative groups, many of which they fund directly or indirectly, to attack clean energy. If it served their purposes, they would portray Snow White as an adulteress, a deadbeat and a crack queen.

Solar energy is an American success story—not a fairy tale. Since first being enacted in 2006 under a Republican administration, the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) has been a tremendous boon to both the U.S. economy and our environment, changing America for the better and helping to secure our nation’s energy future. Today, the solar industry employs nearly 175,000 U.S. workers, pumps $15 billion a year into our economy and offsets more than 20 million metric tons of damaging carbon emissions into the air, which is the equivalent of removing 4 million cars off U.S. highways and roads.  In the past four years, employment in the solar industry has increased by more than 85 percent—and last year alone, we created one out of every 78 new jobs in America.

But the news keeps getting better. We now have an estimated 20 gigawatts (GW) of installed solar energy capacity nationwide, which is enough to power more than 4 million U.S. homes—or every single home in a state the size of Massachusetts or New Jersey—with another 20 GW in the pipeline for 2015-16. This remarkable progress is due, in large part, to smart, effective public policies like the ITC.

If the Koch brothers and their minions want to have a discussion about the solar ITC, then let’s have one at the same time about intangible drilling costs and the oil depletion allowance. And while we’re at it, let’s take a few questions on refinery explosions, oil spills and deadly train derailments. Yep. We’ll have that debate with them any day of the week.

Ken Johnson serves as vice president and head of communications for the Solar Energy Industries Association.

:{==

}:

bs http://protectingtaxpayers.org/

no updates post 2012?

==

Paula Melton ofEnvironmental Building Newsdescribes how the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has filed Freedom of Information Act requests for all of the emails (nine years worth) between the US Green Building Council, creators of LEED, and the General Services Administration. TPA President David Williams tellsthe Daily Caller:

We’re trying to see if there is a connection between the U.S. Green Building Council, a 501(c)3, that is benefitting financially from these new standards, to get to the genesis of these LEED standards and see exactly just how much influence this nonprofit had.

On their website,the TPA explains in more detail, (emphasis mine)

TPA has been concerned about private,non-science based non-profit organizations like the USGBC being involved in creating environmental standards that are then relied upon to dictate government policies and in turn cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Last year, TPA highlighted the fundamental problems with LEED and the attempt to institute LEED v.4. In TPA’s public comment letter to the USGBC, TPA pointed out that products such as plastic insulation, vinyl roofing, and LED lighting are discouraged through the chemical avoidance credits in LEED v4, which uses the European Union’s REACH regulations as a benchmark.This is a standard that small and medium U.S. based manufacturers are unfamiliar with and will struggle to meet. Moreover, there are credits for certification in this new standard that could reward architects for rejecting modern technology and chose instead to use a thatched straw roof, yet the standards dissuade builders who use bullet resistant glass in federal courthouses. LEED v4 is filled with arbitrary and requirements that pick winners in losers in the marketplace. The USGBC seems to have undue influence in mandating LEED standards and now TPA wants answers.

So who is the TPA and who is behind it? Paula Melton asked TPA President Williams.  She writes:

This attention from a tax-focused interest group comes on the heels of aggressive lobbying against LEED by certain segments of the forestry and chemical industries. Their efforts have contributed to anti-LEED legislation in a few states and, at the federal level, restrictions on LEED for the U.S. military. When EBN asked if industry groups are backing his efforts, Williams refused to say. “It comes from private sources, and I don’t reveal who my donors are,” he replied.

David Williams does not have much of a paper trail. On thewebsite his bio saysthat he is "an expert in finding and exposing government waste and has helped fine tune criteria in identifying and ultimately eliminating earmarks. " He has a "Senior Fellow",Drew Johnson, who has been a guest on Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity shows, and got famous for going after Al Gore in 2007 for using as much electricity in his house in a month as average Americans use in a year. Neither of them are big fish.

...owever when you dig up the 990, a form required by the IRS for every tax-exempt non-profit, you find some very big fish indeed.

Barry Bennett and the Alliance for America's Future

Barry Bennett is described lovingly inHuffington Post:

Bennett has a history as a frontman for Republican Party ventures financed by donors intent on maintaining their anonymity. Since the 1990s, he has headed two nonprofits set up for the purpose of influencing elections while maintaining donor secrecy. He has operated within the underbelly of politics where secret money flows through obscure trusts and foundations to finance attack ads and campaigns free of fingerprints.

Bennett now runs The Alliance for America's Future; Paul Blumenthalcontinues in Huffpo:

Joining him at the new conservative nonprofit wereMary Cheney,the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and Kara Ahern, Cheney's former chief of staff. The nonprofit was formed after the Citizens United ruling that, among many other things, allowed nonprofits to spend money on express advocacy for candidates seeking election. This change effectively sanctioned much of the activity that Bennett and CCF [his former gig] had pursued in the 1990s. The CCF ads had to mask their negative message about a candidate behind criticisms over issues. The Alliance for America's Future, however, could raise unlimited contributions from anonymous donors to fund ads that openly call for the victory or defeat of candidates.

The nonprofit is part of a network of independent conservative groups that have either been established or increased their visibility in the wake of the Citizens United decision. They include the Karl Rove-linked American Crossroads and the Koch brothers-fundedAmericans for Job Security....

Stephen Demaura and Americans for Job Security

And who is president of Americans for Job Security? Why, it is Stephen Demaura, Treasurer and Secretary of the Taxpayer Protection Alliance. According to Sourcewatch,

AJS has long been ahead of the trends for dark money political spending. "You could say Americans for Job Security has been keeping donors anonymous since before it was cool," Talking Points Memo wrote in December 2012....in a FEC Complaint, Public Citizen wrote that AJS is a "sham front group that would be better called Corporations Influencing Elections ... masquerading as a non-profit to conceal its funders and the scope of its electioneering activities."

No wonder TPA Prez David Williams refused to tell Paula where his money came from; he's the front man for two of the biggest conservative dark money organizations in the country, funded by the Kochs and no doubt the American Chemistry Council and SFI, who are all working together to gut LEED and make America safe for the makers of formaldehyde, vinyl and clearcut lumber...

===

http://insideclimatenews.org/content/60-pro-keystone-xl-comments-tied-industry-group-says

==

bs

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA)is a non-profit non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis and dissemination of information on the government’s effects on the economy. TPA, through its network of taxpayers will hold politicians accountable for the effects of their policies on the size, scope, efficiency and activity of government and offer real solutions to runaway deficits and debt. Through blogs, commentaries, and special spending alerts, TPA will publish timely exposés of government waste, fraud, and abuse.  Recognizing the importance of reaching people through traditional and new media, TPA will utilize use blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and user generated videos to reach out to taxpayers and government officials. Ultimately recognizing that the greatest power of change rests with the millions of Americans across the country who are ready for a smaller more accountable government, TPA will be a catalyst for connecting taxpayers to their elected and non-elected officials. David Williams is the President of TPA.  In his 18 years in Washington, DC, David has become an expert in finding and exposing government waste and has helped fine tune criteria in identifying and ultimately eliminating earmarks.  David has appeared on numerous television, radio, and print outlets such as ABC World News Tonight, The Jim Bohannon Show and The New York Times. David’s international expertise ranges from appearing on government waste panels in South Korea and France and he has also advised taxpayer groups from around the world and was instrumental in helping form a taxpayer group in Great Britain. Drew Johnson is a Senior Fellow at TPA. Drew is the founder of the Council on Responsible Local Government (CRLG). Prior to his work with CRLG, Drew founded and, from 2004-2009, served as president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research (TCPR).    Drew is known for infusing investigative reporting and policy research, exposing government waste, corruption and hypocrisy as a result. These efforts have made him a frequent guest on television and radio, including appearances onGlenn Beck, Hannity and Colmes, All Things Considered, the BBC, Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and The Sean Hannity Radio Show, among others. Additionally, Drew’s columns and articles have appeared in scores of newspapers, magazines and journals, including the Wall Street Journal, National Review and Human Events. Michi Iljazi is the Communications and Policy Manager for the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. He earned his Master's Degree in Political Science at American University in Washington, D.C. and has worked in Communications and Policy Research for the last several years with multiple organizations including Americans for Tax Reform and Americans for Prosperity. Michi’s past work includes policy research on Taxes, Health Care,  Energy, Voter Trends, and the Media; longitudinal campaign tracking and voter trends for Federal Races nationwide; overseen communications for both state-based and nationally-based grassroots activities; written about politics, and policy with his work appearing on numerous sites including Americans for Tax Reform, Red State, and Menzies House (where he currently holds US Politics Editor status).

==