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</font></div><div><p style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 1.25em;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: 18px;">Franklin’s Right-Wing Watchdog.org Rebrands as The Center Square</span></strong></span></p><p style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 1.25em;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">By <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://default.salsalabs.org/Td545cff3-cbff-49c8-b413-e76cb10cc393/ac94ac0d-31ce-11e7-960b-0a8abee05f34" style="color: rgb(0, 156, 244); overflow-wrap: break-word;">Scott Zimmerman</a> — The Center Square purports to be a service to states without a partisan agenda, but it is actually a new coat of paint on the Bradley-backed Watchdog.org that was central to the infrastructure promoting conservative ideas often unbeknownst to its audiences.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 1.25em;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://default.salsalabs.org/T4dd65b2b-6c2e-42f2-a7a8-06d0e3649af9/ac94ac0d-31ce-11e7-960b-0a8abee05f34" style="color: rgb(0, 156, 244); overflow-wrap: break-word;">Read more >></a></span></p></div><div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Newly revealed documents from the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation show that the foundation gave significant grants to a diverse array of media institutions, including media sites that pursued a highly partisan agenda.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Bradley Foundation provided crucial funding to “Wisconsin Watchdog” as the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Franklin_Center_for_Government_and_Public_Integrity" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity</a>, a right-wing media organization focused on building news bureaus in state capitals across the nation, slowly sank.</font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MYSTERY FUNDER</font></h2><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Franklin Center was founded in 2009 with help from the Sam Adams Alliance, a now-defunct new media group founded in 2006 by <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Eric_O%27Keefe" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Wisconsinite Eric O’Keefe</a>. O’Keefe had long-standing ties to billionaire dark money activist David Koch and late Terry Kohler, a secret donor to <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/11/12293/kohler-heir-walker-supporter-plunges-dark-money-depths" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">O’Keefe’s various dark money groups</a>. Franklin center staff were hired from both the Sam Adams Alliance and the Kochs’ Americans for Prosperity group.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Franklin Center flourished with a huge influx of funds from <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/DonorsTrust" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Donors Trust</a> and Donors Capital, the preferred funding vehicles of the Koch Network of donors that masks the true identity of givers. The Franklin Center reported annual revenue between $7 and $12 million between 2011 and 2015.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2011, CMD <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/10/10971/franklin-center-right-wing-funds-state-news-source" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a> that the Franklin Center claimed to have 43 state news websites with reporters in 40 state capitols. Some outlets, like Wisconsin Watchdog, had received official reporting credentials. In some states, the reporters and news sites were attached to State Policy Network “<a href="http://www.exposedbycmd.org/bradley-files/" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">think tanks</a>,” important institutions in the “infrastructure” Bradley was building nationwide.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Newly obtained documents from the Bradley Foundation show that in recent years the Franklin Center has foundered. The number of state offices dwindled to five in 2016 and employees fled the sinking ship when a single, mystery funder withdrew support.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is a “text book case of imprudent funding,” wrote Bradley staff. “Unable to resist the offer of $10M annually from one source, the organization grew beyond its capacity to manage itself, and became too dependent on one funder, making it able to shrug off criticism from elsewhere (including Bradley). Last year, when that funder shifted priorities and the fecklessness of the administration became evident, the organization began to collapse” (<em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Grant Proposal Record, August 16, 2016). </em>The Bradley documents do not say who the mystery funder was, but they do indicate that the group was also funded by the right-wing Searle Foundation with smaller “matching grants” of $35,000.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The decline of the Franklin Center is a blow to efforts by right-wing funders to develop state capitol media sites to compliment right-wing news sites covering politics in Washington, D.C., such as Breitbart News.</font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A RELIABLE PARTISAN ATTACK DOG</font></h2><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">One of last remaining Franklin state news was Wisconsin Watchdog, a site that Bradley deemed “so effective, and such a valuable partner in the state’s conservative infrastructure, staff believes it is worthwhile to support the local office…” Between 2010 and 2015, Bradley gave $545,500 to the Franklin Center to support this “valuable partner” as Governor Scott Walker launched an extreme right-wing agenda <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">(Grant Proposal Record, August 16, 2016). (</em>An additional $250,000 went through the Franklin Center to fund a fellowship at the <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">National Review.</em>)</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">At the time, the Bradley Foundation was run by Michael Grebe, the former general counsel to the Republican National Committee and the chair of Scott Walker’s campaign for governor 2010, 2012, and 2014 and for president in 2015.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wisconsin Watchdog’s “editor,” “bureau chief,” and reporter was Matt Kittle. Under Kittle, Watchdog was a reliable attack dog of Democratic candidates and campaigns and a reliable booster of right-wing policies and politicians. When Bradley staff were unsure if Franklin CEO Nicolle Niely was “up to the job,” they still funded Wisconsin Watchdog because it was “so effective and such a valuable partner in the state’s conservative infrastructure.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to the Watchdog website, Kittle wrote over 385 articles on Wisconsin’s “John Doe” investigation into coordination between dark money groups like Eric O’Keefe’s <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/09/13142/gableman-wi-supreme-court" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Wisconsin Club for Growth and the Walker campaign</a> during 2011-2012 Wisconsin recall races. Kittle portrayed a investigation, launched by a bipartisan group of district attorney’s and run by a Republican Special Prosecutor, as an untethered partisan witch hunt.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That spin pleased Bradley.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Wisconsin Watchdog became the state’s leading reporter of the John Doe investigation, bringing to light a story of political persecution that is still ongoing,” say the Bradley documents. Bradley especially appreciated the fact that Watchdog had “close ties” to “insiders in the Doe” <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">(Grant Proposal Record, November 10, 2015, August 19, 2014).</em></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But for all the ink spilled by Kittle on the John Doe, those “close ties” were rarely discussed. Kittle neglected to discuss:</font></p><ul style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">that a key source of information on the John Doe, Wisconsin Club for Growth’s <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Eric_O%27Keefe" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Eric O’Keefe</a>, was a founder and early funder of the Franklin Center</font></li></ul><ul style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">that Watchdog’s “Director of Special Operations,” <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/12/12344/why-franklin-center-wisconsin-reporter-attacking-john-doe" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">John Connors,</a> was helping Wisconsin Club for Growth funnel money to sham organizations like Citizens for a Strong America and United Sportsmen, the very subject of the John Doe</font></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By financially supporting Wisconsin Watchdog, Scott Walker’s campaign chairman effectively secured a one-sided, 24-7 propaganda arm for the Walker campaign and the dark money groups under investigation. This agitprop was so successful, Kittle’s articles were cited as fact by the <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2015/07/12887/five-things-know-about-scott-walker-john-doe-ruling" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">right-wing majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court</a> when they shut down the investigation in July of 2015 after failing to develop any fact record in the case.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This the type of “communications” infrastructure Bradley is interested in exporting to other states as CMD detailed in its report “<a href="http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/05/05/documents-detail-bradley-foundation-efforts-build-right-wing-infrastructure-nationwide/" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Weaponized Philanthropy</a>” on the Bradley Foundation’s infrastructure investments.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although Wisconsin Watchdog reporter James Wigderson tweeted on April 14, 2017 that “The Franklin Center is shutting down,” it appears that Franklin fans are keeping it on life support. In a <a href="http://franklincenterhq.org/15282/chris-krug-lead-franklin-center-watchdog-org/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">press release</a> on April 17, Franklin announced that Chris Krug, former editor and manager of the Illinois News Network will be the new President. The Illinois News Network is a project of the Bradley-funded Illinois Policy Institute, a State Policy Network “think tank.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Matt Kittle has landed at the Bradley-funded <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/MacIver_Institute" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">MacIver Institute</a>, another State Policy Network “think tank” and he is already hard at work writing <a href="http://www.maciverinstitute.com/2017/05/whatever-happened-to-the-probe-into-john-doe-leaks-to-the-guardian/" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">more articles</a> about the John Doe.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In Bradley world, titles might be interchangeable, but the hard work of spinning disinformation on behalf of Republican politicians and policies must go on.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.exposedbycmd.org/bradley-files/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Click here</a> for our full series on the Bradley Files.</font></em></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Grayson Quay | Watchdog Arena</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Several states have voiced their opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency’s sweeping Clean Power Plan, but none has been so resolute in its defiance as Oklahoma, which has continually challenged the plan through executive and judicial means.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Clean Power Plan, which is the first nationwide regulation of existing power plants, has not taken effect yet, but it has already inspired vastly different responses from various states.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The plan sets goals for each state and then leaves it to the state to devise a plan, which must be approved by the EPA, to achieve those goals. If a state refuses to devise a State Implementation Plan, the federal government will impose one.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“One state may opt to phase out older coal-burning power plants, while another might seek to expand the use of solar and wind energy. Or a state might add new energy-efficiency programs to cut electricity consumption,” a recent Washington Post article suggested.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The plan, which will likely be finalized within a few weeks, seeks a 30 percent reduction in national carbon dioxide emissions from 2005 levels by 2030, but could hit Oklahoma even harder. Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma’s attorney general, has predicted the plan could force Oklahoma to cut emissions by 33 percent by 2020 and 36 percent by 2030.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Many Republicans, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell chief among them, have expressed skepticism about the EPA’s promise of relative independence for the states.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“(I)t’s difficult to conceive how a plan imposed from Washington would be much different from what a state might develop on its own. Since the Obama administration has already decreed that it will be the judge of whether a plan is acceptable or not, it’s hard to see the White House agreeing to much that diverges from its ideological agenda,” McConnell wrote in March. In the same op-ed, McConnell encouraged governors to refuse to set up implementation plans.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Earlier this month, the U.S. News & World Report reported that six governors had taken up McConnell’s banner. But while Mike Pence of Indiana, Greg Abbott of Texas, Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Earl Ray Tomblin of West Virginia and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana have all threatened noncompliance, none have done so as emphatically as Mary Fallin of Oklahoma.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gov. Fallin signed an executive order in April in which she accuses the EPA of seeking to “go beyond” regulating power plant emissions to “regulate all aspects of state energy systems.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oklahoma has shown its willingness to develop clean energy, with over 12 percent of the state’s electricity generated by wind power, but the administration fears excessive federal control over the state’s energy economy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Citing the difficulty and expense of setting up an implementation plan, Fallin’s order serves to “prohibit the (Oklahoma) Department of Energy Quality from beginning efforts to develop a SIP… in response to the finalization of the Clean Power Plan rules” unless she orders them to do so.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On May 1, Fallin vetoed a bill that would have required the state to develop an implementation plan subject to approval by the state’s attorney general.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The executive order also claims that the plan contains “numerous possible legal defects, each of which may provide an independent basis to invalidate the Clean Power Plan in its entirety.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">McConnell concurred in his op-ed, writing that the plan is “probably illegal.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Attorney General Pruitt has been at the forefront of the legal battle against the Clean Power Plan, although so far the fight is not going well. After six different legal challenges to the plan by a variety of states and private-sector energy companies were tossed out of court, the Natural Resources Defense Council declared “polluters and their allies are now batting 0 for 6.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The cases were dismissed either due to a lack of jurisdiction, or because the courts only have the power to review actual federal regulations, not proposals. In a recently dismissed lawsuit brought by 14 states, including Oklahoma, the states argued the proposed plan was already negatively affecting them, The Hill reported. The states recently appealed for a rehearing.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Waiting until the rule is finalized before a court can rule on its lawfulness will force states like Oklahoma into making policy decisions on power generation and distribution that will be irreversible,” Pruitt said, explaining that to ensure compliance, the state would have to begin efforts to reduce emissions before the plan is finalized.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pruitt also filed a separate lawsuit of his own in Tulsa last week, which was thrown out for lack of jurisdiction, and has since tried to appeal his case to a federal appeals court in Denver.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last year, the New York Times reported on a “secretive alliance” between Pruitt and large energy companies, showing that Pruitt routinely signed his name to letters from energy lobbyists and passed them on to policymakers with minimal revision. Pruitt’s office responded that he was merely consulting experts to better understand the effects of federal regulation. “It is the content of the request not the source of the request that is relevant,” the statement read.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to questioning its legality, many opponents of the Clean Power Plan also fear its economic consequences. “While the environmental benefits of these regulations will be minimal, the economic devastation of these overreaching and unrealistic regulations will be very real,” Fallin said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association has predicted that the plan could cause a 10 percent jump in electricity prices, which could drain $2.8 trillion from the national GDP from 2020 to 2040 and kill 2.1 million jobs in 2021 alone.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Proponents of the plan argue that the nation cannot afford not to implement it. The EPA has claimed the plan will produce $7 in health benefits for every dollar it costs, while the Economist recently warned of the potentially disastrous economic consequences of climate change.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This article was written by a contributor of Watchdog Arena, Franklin Center’s network of writers, bloggers, and citizen journalists.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SPN's Legislative Agenda Is Frequently Buttressed by Its Forays as "Press" and the Echoes of Its Allies in the Growing Right-Wing State "Press" Corps. As CMD was one of the first to document, SPN groups like the Goldwater Institute are hiring people to act as reporters, and the legislative agenda of SPN is increasingly echoed by the growing right-wing infrastructure of groups that pose as press. Some even get their stories or "reports" picked up as news and delivered to state newspapers as a "wire" service like the Associated Press, as with the Franklin Center's Watchdog.org groups and the Ryun brothers-allied "American Majority" and "Media Trackers" operations.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Portal:State_Policy_Network</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://watchdoglabs.org/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">eg</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The National Institute on Money in State Politics documents 29 million state campaign finance contributions over the last two decades to state candidates and state committees that total a staggering $23.5 billion.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Each of the 29 million records identifies the state of the contributor and the state of the recipient.  In most records, the contributors and recipients are in the same state, but not always.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">State population differences</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">State population explains part of the differences among states.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the largest state by population, California’s 38 million people accounted for 1.87 million state political donations that totaled $4.46 billion.  California’s state political causes received 1.75 million contributions that totaled $5.04 billion.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">California was a net “importer” of state political money.  With about 12% of the US population, donors from California gave almost 19% of state political money while California causes received more than 21% of the national total.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wyoming, the smallest state by population with about 600,000 people, represents about 0.20% of the US population. Wyoming donors gave 0.13% of all state campaign finance amounts, while Wyoming candidates received about 0.13%.   Wyoming was a slight net “importer” of state political money, but the difference is small....</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">from http://www.followthemoney.org/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">-------</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Center for Media and Democracy / By Brendan Fischer [1]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-Wing Front Group Poses as Journalists to Attack Investigation Into Political Money Laundering</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">December 19, 2013  |  </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity (through its Wisconsin Reporter and Watchdog.org [2] websites) has aggressively attacked the government’s "John Doe" probe into possible campaign finance violations during Wisconsin's 2011 and 2012 recall elections. Its media outlets have also published new information about the apparent targets of the investigation, but they have omitted an important detail: Franklin Center has close ties to individuals and groups that may be caught up in the John Doe probe.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The only name associated with the investigation led by the Milwaukee County's District Attorney's office, Eric O'Keefe, helped launch the Franklin Center's operations in 2009, and his Sam Adams Alliance group provided the majority [3] of its startup budget. O'Keefe has spoken publicly [4] about being subpoenaed in his capacity as director of Wisconsin Club for Growth. Franklin Center's Director of Special Projects [5] John Connors, and the Executive Assistant to the President [5] Claire Milbrandt, also have close ties to a group reportedly involved in the probe. Its former Director of Operations and General Counsel, James Skyles, worked with another group active in the Wisconsin recalls.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Franklin Center's Wisconsin Reporter has written 16 stories so far that are highly critical of the anti-corruption probe and prosecutors (calling its series "Wisconsin's Secret War" [6]), but these latest revelations raise questions about whether the outfit has a conflict of interest in its coverage.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It does sound like a conflict-of-interest situation that minimally ought to be disclosed, whenever stories are written," said Robert Drechsel, Director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin School of Journalism and Mass Communications. "Particularly if the reporting in question is being done by an entity that holds itself out as nonpartisan and as doing the same kind of journalistic work being done by any traditional journalism institution."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Franklin Center Attacks John Doe, Citing Unnamed Sources</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Dan Bice first reported on [7] the new "John Doe" investigation -- a secret inquiry unique to Wisconsin that is "just like a grand jury except no jury [8]," led by special prosecutor Francis Schmitz, a former federal counterterrorism prosecutor with Republican credentials [9] -- interest was high, but thanks to the John Doe's strict secrecy rules, details were hard to come by.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Franklin Center/Wisconsin Reporter quickly filled the void.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wisconsin Reporter launched its "Wisconsin's Secret War" series in October, citing unnamed sources to reveal [10] that Wisconsin Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity, and Republican Governors Association had received subpoenas [11], and describing details about "after-hours visits to homes and offices" and prosecutors' "demands for phone, email and other records." Thanks to those unnamed sources, Wisconsin Reporter had a new platform, and used it to recast the John Doe investigation as "an abuse of prosecutorial powers" with "the apparent goal of bringing down Gov. Scott Walker." The Walker campaign and 28 other groups also reportedly received subpoenas.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"This is a taxpayer-funded, opposition-research campaign," an anonymous source told the Wisconsin Reporter.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wisconsin Club for Growth soon became the most prominent name associated with the John Doe after its director, Eric O'Keefe, told the Wall Street Journaleditorial board [4] that he had been subpoenaed, with the investigation allegedly looking into what the Wall Street Journal called "illegal campaign coordination" between campaigns and independent groups. The group is also led by RJ Johnson, a top Walker advisor. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CMD uncovered [12] how in 2011, O'Keefe's Wisconsin Club for Growth took in $12 million [13], some of it from dark money conduits like the Koch-connected Center to Protect Patient Rights [14] (CPPR) and the Wellspring Committee [15], and in turn shuffled millions [12] to other organizations that spent money on ads during Wisconsin's Supreme Court race and recall elections. (CPPR, which is connected to the billionaire Koch brothers, was recently fined $1 million [16] by California's elections board for its role in what the Washington Post called "a series of money swaps and transfers through a network of politically active nonprofit groups [16]" to avoid donor disclosure. California prosecutors called it "campaign money laundering").</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">All of the groups involved in Wisconsin Club for Growth's monetary transfers are "dark money [17]" groups, a phrase which refers to election spending by nonprofits that exploit loopholes in campaign finance disclosure laws, and keep their donors secret by running "issue ads" designed to influence elections.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Franklin Center's John Connors Directly Connected to Dark Money Web</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A central character in the Wisconsin Club for Growth dark money web is John Connors, the Franklin Center's "Director of Special Projects," who has close ties to many of the groups receiving funding from O'Keefe's Wisconsin Club for Growth. Some of those groups have reportedly been subpoenaed.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the wake of the Center for Media and Democracy's reporting [12] on money changing hands between O'Keefe's Wisconsin Club for Growth and groups tied to Connors, Franklin Center's Wisconsin Reporter [18] quickly went on the offensive in a series [19] of articles [20], making up its own definition of "dark money" [21] for an unfounded attack on CMD's credibility, and falsely claiming that CMD's reporting constituted the launch of a "national campaign" to "unseat the governor."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">None of the articles note Connors' ties to the Franklin Center/Wisconsin Reporter, even when attacking [19] CMD's stories that address him by name.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here are some examples of those ties:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Connors is president of Citizens for a Strong America, whose entire $4.62 million budget [22] in 2011 came from Wisconsin Club for Growth [22], and which spent $836,000 [23] on ads (some of which included misleading [24] claims) in support of Justice David Prosser during his 2011 Supreme Court race, and additional undisclosed amounts [25] on Senate recall races that year. The Treasurer of Citizens for a Strong America is Valerie Johnson, wife of R.J. Johnson, who is a top advisor to both Wisconsin Club for Growth and Governor Walker.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">90 percent [12] of the grants received by [26] Wisconsin Family Action in 2011 came from Connors' Citizens for a Strong America [22], which was entirely funded by Wisconsin Club for Growth. Wisconsin Family Action spent an estimated $850,000 [27] on the Senate recall campaigns in 2011. Connors acted as a consultant [28] to Wisconsin Family Action during the election year and helped plan a scheme that resulted in a different John Doe investigation [29] into possible election bribery, which resulted in no charges. The Wall Street Journal [4] reports that Wisconsin Family Action has received a subpoena in the latest John Doe probe.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Connors registered [30] the web domain for United Sportsmen of Wisconsin, a group that worked with [31] Wisconsin Family Action and Americans for Prosperity on an operation during the 2011 recall races in which absentee ballot applications were sent with the incorrect date for elections. Connors' Citizens for a Strong America transferred $236,000 [22] to United Sportsmen in 2011. The United Sportsmen group was embroiled in scandal [32] earlier this year after outgoing Assembly Majority leader Scott Suder cut a $500,000 [31] taxpayer-funded "sweetheart deal" for the group, which Governor Walker rescinded [33] after public outcry.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A review of Franklin Center's tax filings shows that it has paid $235,157 to Connors' Milwaukee-based consulting firm, J Connors & Co, over the past two years ($114,930 in 2012[34] and $119,227 in 2011 [35]). A close Connors associate, Claire Milbrant, who has worked at J Connors & Co since its founding in 2009, was also hired by the Franklin Center last month as its Executive Assistant to the President.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to being the Franklin Center's "Director of Special Projects" -- part of its "leadership team," according to the organization's website [5] – Connors registered [36] Wisconsin Reporter's "Watchdog.org [2]" web domain.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Franklin Center/Wisconsin Reporter has attacked CMD's reporting [19] about Connors' groups but has failed to mention that one of its directors is directly tied to those organizations.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CMD's calls to John Connors for comment have not been returned.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Club for Growth's Eric O'Keefe Helped Launch and Fund Franklin Center</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mike McCabe, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, cautioned that the public still doesn't actually know what the John Doe investigation is about: we only know what Franklin Center has reported, and what Eric O'Keefe, the Wisconsin Club for Growth chair, told the Wall Street Journal editorial board.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Its no accident that he went to Murdoch's newspaper, and no accident that it ran as an editorial [in the Wall Street Journal] rather than a news story," said McCabe, whose nonpartisan, nonprofit group tracks election spending in Wisconsin.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Wisconsin Club for Growth's last published IRS Form 990, O'Keefe was listed as one of just three board members who spend hundreds of hours a year leading and guiding that group, whose budget increased twelve-fold in 2011 while Scott Walker was facing a potential recall election and also grew in the 2012 election year.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">O'Keefe ties to the Franklin Center run deep. He was the CEO and chairman of the Sam Adams Alliance, which in 2009 launched and funded the Franklin Center. According to an O'Keefe bio from last year: [37] "Under his leadership, the Sam Adams Alliance (SAM) has established some of the most active and respected organizations in the freedom movement, including American Majority and the Franklin Center." Whether he continues to fund or direct funds to Franklin Center is unknown.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">O'Keefe's Sam Adams Alliance, whose president was the former executive director of the Illinois State Republican party, acted as [38] the Franklin Center's "sponsoring organization" until the group obtained its 501(c)(3) status, according to its communications director [38]. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel [3], much of the $2.9 million Franklin Center raised in its first year came from the Sam Adams Alliance. (The other group that O'Keefe boasts of creating in his bio, American Majority, was established to recruit and train Tea Party political candidates, and held a rally [39] in support of Governor Walker during the height of the 2011 protests featuring Andrew Breitbart and others.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Franklin's President, Jason Stverak, previously worked as Regional Field Director for O'Keefe's Sam Adams Alliance, after leading the South Dakota Republican Party for six years. Their allies speak of O'Keefe and Stverak in the same breath. For example, in the acknowledgement section [40] of James O'Keefe's book, the undercover videographer whose heavily-edited videos helped bring down ACORN (and who is not related to Eric O'Keefe) thanks "Eric O'Keefe and Jason Stverak for their role in the citizen journalism movement."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In only one [41] of the sixteen articles Franklin Center/Wisconsin Reporter has written on the John Doe have they touched on O'Keefe's ties to Franklin Center.  </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The public has to be very wary of taking for granted what is being reported by the Wall Street Journal and Wisconsin Reporter," McCabe said. "O'Keefe and others have decided that is who they want reporting on John Doe, they've decided what to leak, and how they want it framed, and what they want the public to believe what the investigation is about," he said, while prosecutors and judges are gagged by the John Doe's secrecy order.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ties to the "Coalition for American Values"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Franklin Center also has connections to another mysterious organization active during the Wisconsin recalls called "Coalition for American Values." That group dropped $400,080[27] on a flood of ads in the final weeks before Governor Walker's recall election, and attracted significant attention by making a unique appeal: instead of promoting Walker or attacking his opponent, the ads attacked the premise of the recall itself. The ads depicted individuals who claimed they would vote for Walker not necessarily because they support his policies, but because they opposed the use of recall under these circumstances.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These ads, coupled with similar messaging from Governor Walker, proved effective. Exit polls on June 5, 2012 showed that sixty percent of voters thought recalls were only appropriate for cases of official misconduct -- a complete reversal from polls conducted in November 2011, just as the recall was launched.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The address Coalition for American Values lists on its filings with Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board [42], and on its associated PAC's filings with the Federal Election Commission [43], is 119 S Emerson St #231 in Mt. Prospect, Illinois. This is also the address given for Coalition for American Values' lawyer, James Skyles, who was General Counsel and the Director of Operations for the Franklin Center [44] until March 2011.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The "treasurer" listed on Coalition for American Values' FEC filings and the contact on its filings with Wisconsin's election board is Brent Downs. In 2008, when Connors chaired the Marquette College Republicans, Downs was his treasurer [45]. Both were both students at Marquette University at the same time, and Downs, like Connors, also chaired the Students for Prosperity [46] chapter of David Koch's Americans for Prosperity at Marquette University.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In its FEC filings, the Coalition for American Values reports [43] tens of thousands [47] of dollars [48] of payments [49] to [50] Connors' Campaign Now! consulting and direct mail firm (which he has run out of the same office as J Connors & Co, along with Claire Milbrant).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Coalition for American Values explicitly called for the reelection of Governor Walker, so the group reported its spending, but it did not report the true origin of its funds. Wisconsin law requires that nonprofits or corporations disclose the source of all contributions "made for" the purpose of funding their ads -- but Coalition for American Values sidestepped those rules by claiming that the $400,080 was not specifically provided to the group for the ads, despite there being few other reasons that a donor would have given the group hundreds of thousands of dollars.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Franklin Center Takes Bull by Horns</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Franklin Center/Wisconsin Reporter has led the charge against the John Doe investigation, the prosecutors involved, and even reporters covering the topic. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Professor Theodore L. Glasser [51], a Professor of Communications at Stanford University, told CMD that at a minimum, a news outfit should disclose their connections to the subjects they are reporting on. "For the reader, without that transparency, it is hard to make a judgment about the independence of that reporting," he said.  </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Not to say that the conflict [of interest] would go away with transparency, but it would at least allow readers to judge for themselves."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">See more stories tagged with:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wisconsin recall elections [52],</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wisconsin dark money groups [53],</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wisconsin john doe investigation [54],</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">franklin center [55],</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Center for Media and Democracy [56]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/right-wing-front-group-poses-journalists-stop-campaign-finance-investigation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Links:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/brendan-fischer</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[2] http://Watchdog.org/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[3] http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/127152603.html</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[4] http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304799404579155953286552832</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[5] http://franklincenterhq.org/about/staff/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[6] http://watchdog.org/series/wisconsins-secret-war/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[7] http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/secret-probe-spreads-to-five-wisconsin-counties-b99124190z1-228569231.html</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[8] http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/what-even-is-a-wisconsin-john-doe-investigation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[9] http://sensenbrenner.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=54611</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[10] http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/jack_craver/wisconsin-reporter-says-new-john-doe-investigation-focused-on-conservative/article_b3c94a06-40b2-11e3-bda1-001a4bcf887a.html</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[11] http://watchdog.org/113017/conservatives-wisconsin/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[12] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/11/12309/new-john-doe-investigation-probes-dark-money-wisconsin-recall-elections-club</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[13] http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/contrib.php?cmte=C90009945&cycle=2012</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[14] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_to_Protect_Patient_Rights</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[15] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wellspring_Committee</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[16] http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/politics/a-money-shuffle-to-avoid-donor-disclosure/552/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[17] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_money</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[18] http://watchdog.org/about/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[19] http://watchdog.org/117604/liberal-money-conservative/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[20] http://watchdog.org/118311/shouting-echo-chamber/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[21] http://watchdog.org/118639/dark-money-wisconsin/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[22] https://bulk.resource.org/irs.gov/eo/2012_12_EO/27-1204594_990O_201112.pdf</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[23] http://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/judicial-public-financing-wisconsin-%E2%80%94-2011</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[24] http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/apr/01/citizens-strong-america/ad-says-joanne-kloppenburg-jailed-80-year-old-farm/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[25] http://m.startribune.com/news/?id=127118328</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[26] https://bulk.resource.org/irs.gov/eo/2012_08_EO/83-0448717_990O_201112.pdf</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[27] http://www.wisdc.org/pr072512.php</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[28] http://media.jsonline.com/documents/Martens+Letter_120511.pdf</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[29] http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/groups-accused-of-voter-bribery-cleared-by-das-investigation-953bdus-135147838.html</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[30] http://cognidissidence.blogspot.com/2011/04/koch-brothers-heavy-hand-behind-anti.html</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[31] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/08/12224/wisconsin-prepares-hand-half-million-taxpayer-funds-koch-tied-gop-lobby-shop</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[32] http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/221667081.html</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[33] http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/fishing-trip-underscores-close-ties-between-suder-united-sportsmen-b99108668z1-225745101.html</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[34] http://franklincenterhq.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/990-2012-Franklin-Center.pdf</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[35] https://bulk.resource.org/irs.gov/eo/2012_12_EO/26-4066298_990_201112.pdf</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[36] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/04/10534/group-called-citizens-strong-america-operates-out-ups-mail-drop-runs-expensive-ad</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[37] http://www.libertyguide.com/resources/9-how-understanding-politics-helps-in-policy/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[38] http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/the-group-em-behind-em-the-group-behind-that-sketchy-wisconsin-poll?ref=fpa</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[39] https://www.facebook.com/events/192810837409217/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[40] http://books.google.com/books?id=XpB5w-rpUq4C&pg=PT251&lpg=PT251&dq=Jason+Stverak+and+Eric+o'keefe&source=bl&ots=amTAoCkq9l&sig=tYkGFrMHYYP_k8REbk82x7tCV9k&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3QGpUtvFJ8XuyQGc9IGQBA&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Jason%20Stverak%20and%20Eric%20o'keefe&f=false</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[41] http://watchdog.org/116566/conservative-john-doe-democrats/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[42] http://www.prwatch.org/files/cfav_gab_registration.pdf</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[43] http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/581/13964021581/13964021581.pdf#navpanes=0</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[44] http://www.prwatch.org/files/skyles_linkedin.pdf</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[45] http://www.prwatch.org/files/connorsdowns.doc</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[46] http://www.prwatch.org/files/downs_website.png</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[47] http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/452/12954430452/12954430452.pdf#navpanes=0</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[48] http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/138/12961466138/12961466138.pdf#navpanes=0</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[49] http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/824/12951655824/12951655824.pdf#navpanes=0</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[50] http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/614/13940509614/13940509614.pdf#navpanes=0</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[51] https://comm.stanford.edu/faculty-glasser/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[52] http://www.alternet.org/tags/wisconsin-recall-elections</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[53] http://www.alternet.org/tags/wisconsin-dark-money-groups</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[54] http://www.alternet.org/tags/wisconsin-john-doe-investigation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[55] http://www.alternet.org/tags/franklin-center</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[56] http://www.alternet.org/tags/center-media-and-democracy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[57] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">kos</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SUN AUG 18, 2013 AT 07:05 AM PDT</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rightward-Facing Dog: Who is Watchdog.org?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If you want to know the source of the conspiracy theories floating around Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe's former company, GreenTech Auto, look no further than a little website named Watchdog.org and its so-called "Virginia bureau."  It sounds like some sort of muckraking investigative site -- until a closer look reveals that this is in fact a watchdog trained to only bark at Democrats and wag its tail at Republicans.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, it's not just another volunteer-based, opinionated blog like, say, Blue Virginia.  Watchdog is funded by big corporate, conservative interests -- including the Koch brothers -- to essentially manage the opposition research for campaigns like Ken Cuccinelli's so that the campaigns can focus their time and money on other things.  </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">They're certainly not legitimate journalists, but they've established their "bureaus" in state capitals across the country, and some state capital correspondents' associations grant them press credentials.  Unfortunately that includes our very own Virginia Capital Correspondents Association, of which Watchdog's Kenric Ward -- unlike any other blogger or lobbyist -- is allowed to be a member.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Thanks to some investigative journalism done about them, here's what we do know about the shadowy Watchdog.org:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It gets big bucks from right wing donors:  Watchdog is run by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, which itself was launched by the conservative Sam Adams Alliance.  These groups are so tied in to all the other major Tea Party power brokers and organizations that it's hard to go through all those links without pulling out a progressive version of Glenn Beck's chalkboard.  </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to Source Watch, 95% of the Franklin Center's funding in 2011 came from Donors Trust, a group that Mother Jones has called "the dark-money ATM of the conservative movement" for its record of steering half a billion dollars anonymously from wealthy conservative donors to the poster children of the Tea Party, including Americans for Prosperity, the execrable ALEC, and climate denial groups like Heartland Institute.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Franklin Center's parent, Sam Adams Alliance, in turn gets money from another parent organization, the State Policy Network, which (in turn!) gets cash from such right wing notables as the Claude R. Lambe Foundation and, of course, the Koch brothers.  (Do money-laundering operations have so many layers of middlemen?)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Its bias is unquestionable:  The Franklin Center's leanings are obvious, as it has for example (per a story in Media Matters) funded "a conservative blogger conference...that featured discredited right-wing voices Dana Loesch and James O'Keefe" and was "a co-sponsor of the 2012 Conservative Political Action Conference. According to the CPAC site, that means Franklin Center contributed at least $5,000 to the right-wing event."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And per TruthOut, "At the 2011 American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) annual conference in New Orleans, The Franklin Center was listed as a 'Vice-Chairman' level sponsor of the ALEC conference. In 2010, this equated to a gift of at least $25,000."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yet Franklin Center officials profess that their Watchdog practices objective journalism.  Watchdog claims to be</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"a collection of independent journalists covering state-specific and local government activity...doing what legacy journalism outlets prove unable to do: share information, dive deep into investigations, and provide the fourth estate that has begun to fade in recent decades."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sadly, the only estates this group is protecting are the ones with the high fences and guard dogs owned by the richest 1%.  </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Watchdog's Virginia website, you can search on the names of our gubernatorial candidates, and quickly find that there is no balance in their coverage -- it's universally negative against McAuliffe (in 54 articles so far, and counting) while keeping hands off of Cuccinelli.  (There is some criticism of Governor McDonnell -- for not being conservative enough.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In fact, Watchdog is the original source of most of the stories you've seen about GreenTech -- and the investigations into the company.  And they brag about it: "Watchdog.org series leads to EB-5 investigation."  </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here's a great window into how today's conservative establishment manipulates the media and public opinion -- funnel lots of money into alleged "news" organizations, have them stir up lots of smoke over alleged "scandals", followed by powerful politicians calling for investigations (in this case, Sen. Chuck Grassley), milk those investigations for all they're worth as your Tea Party organizations -- funded by the same donors -- whip up hatred against your opponents, all the while diverting attention from the real issues and the failings of your own candidates.  Stir and repeat.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is a pattern Watchdog has manifested in state capitals nationwide.  While there are numerous examples from Iowa to West Virginia, perhaps the most noteworthy is the work of Watchdog affiliate Wisconsin Reporter, which has worked diligently to support the right-wing agenda of Gov. Scott Walker in that state.  As one who applied to work for that organizationreported, the application process uses a questionnaire inquiring into the applicant's beliefs on a range of political issues like "How do free markets help the poor?" and "Do higher taxes lead to balanced budgets?"  </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Journalism?  Um, no.  </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It slants its coverage to fit its donors:  Just as interesting is how the organization gears its coverage to meet the specific lobbying needs of its corporate donors.  Hence you see the organization bragging to its donors in a fundraising email, "When you give to the Franklin Center, you have an immediate impact on the power of our reporting."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Media Matters recounts how Watchdog affiliate IdahoReporter.com posted numerous stories against a seemingly uncontroversial bill to ban minors from commercial tanning beds, ultimately leading to the bill's defeat.  </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wonder which industry paid them for that story?  It was enough to lead the Capitol Correspondents Association of Idaho to revoke Watchdog's credentials and for the association's president to call the group "basically a lobbying organization linked to a news arm."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Questions worth asking:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While states like Idaho and Ohio have revoked their Watchdog.org affiliate's credentials, in Virginia, you can see for yourself that they are granted the same status as legitimate press.  Yet the Virginia Capital Correspondents Association website states that its credentialed members:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"must (i) work independently of any government, industry, or institution and (ii) not engage, directly or indirectly, in any lobbying, political activity or other activity intended to influence elections or any matter before the General Assembly or before any independent agency, or any department or other instrumentality of the Executive Branch."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So Watchdog's crusade against McAuliffe's campaign doesn't count?  And their work for the obviously right wing Franklin Center counts as "working independently"?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If you think their credentials as state correspondents should be revoked, you can contact VCCA at officers@vapress.org, or even better, contact the members of the VCCA, whose names Virginians will recognize as the most active (real) journalists covering Virginia politics.  You may want to ask them why they're imperiling their own reputations by allowing a phony "news organization" to be granted the same status as theirs.  </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Also check your local press outlets to see if they're using material from Watchdog and passing it off as "news".  The Media Matters story quotes Cort Kirkwood, managing editor of the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Virginia as admitting that he does, with the excuse that he can't afford his own capital correspondents.  </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And I would strongly encourage reporters and pundits who have jumped on the GreenTech story to do their own reporting and stories on what Watchdog is all about.  One question bugging me is whether Watchdog is just a sneaky way for donors to funnel their money indirectly to support a campaign like Cuccinelli's without anyone knowing.  With all the focus right now in Virginia on gifts from corporate buddies, this may be a convenient time for such subterfuge.  </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It's more important than ever for media consumers to be aware of the sources of what they're reading, as right wing groups like Watchdog shamelessly manipulate the system to let corporate donors and their wholly-owned politicians work their will.  We need more real watchdogs -- and fewer corporate lapdogs.  </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wiki</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watchdog.org is a non-profit (news) website that features reporting on state and local government. It is a project of the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity.[2]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to the Watchdog.org website, the organization exists to “(enhance) communication between reporters and (provide) a forum for published journalism, Watchdog.org promotes a vibrant, well-informed electorate and a more transparent government. Watchdog.org utilizes a state-specific approach, in order to provide readers with information that is of proximate and practical interest.”[3]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contents  [hide] </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1 Organization</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2 Watchdog News Bureaus</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3 New Technology</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4 External links</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5 References</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Organization[edit]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to the website, “Watchdog.org is a collection of independent journalists covering state-specific and local government activity. The program began in September 2009, a project of Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to promoting new media journalism. Watchdog.org’s investigative journalists and capitol news reporters across the country are doing what legacy journalism outlets prove unable to do: share information, dive deep into investigations, and provide the fourth estate that has begun to fade in recent decades.”[4]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In July 2011, the Pew Foundation's Project for Excellence in Journalism was reported to have found that, among other non-profit news outlets, "the conservative Watchdog.org sites ... don't reveal much about who’s paying their bills, and their work skews clearly in one direction, both in the topics they cover and the content of individual stories".[5]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In response to such criticism, Vice President for Journalism Steven Greenhut wrote in the Huffington Post: “Like many non-profits, we don't publicize our donors. We do publicize our approach to journalism: We approach stories from a free-market, pro-liberty perspective, just as other publications have their own take. We state ours upfront and let the readers make their own decisions about the veracity of our pieces.”[6]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watchdog.org states that it abides by the Code of Ethics promulgated by the Society of Professional Journalists[7] and is guided by standards of the Associated Press.[8] On February 16, 2010, the organization was certified by Google News.[9]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watchdog.org's sponsor, the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, does not disclose donor information. According to the organization website,[10] "The Franklin Center protects the identification of its generous donors and ensures anonymity of all contributions.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watchdog News Bureaus[edit]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watchdog.org consists of 23 state news bureaus with journalists reporting on state and local government.[11][12] The Watchdog.org brand of news organizations is used by over a dozen state-watchdog news groups[12][13][14][15] in the network. Many of these publications are projects by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, the same non-profit group that sponsors Watchdog.org.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The network includes news outlets such as Hawaii Reporter, Illinois Watchdog, Wisconsin Reporter and bureaus in Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio Watchdog, Oklahoma, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wyoming, Washington, Colorado, Oregon and Idaho.[16][17][18][19]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Technology[edit]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watchdog.org's sponsoring organization, the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity promotes itself as an advocacy group for “transparency in government.”[20] They support this through the use of “new media.” Watchdog.org and the Franklin Center believe[21] that journalists must master new media, and they offer[20] in-depth training and education to individuals and organizations interested in learning new media techniques and how to be citizen journalists.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On June 13, 2011, Franklin Center announced[22] that Watchdog.org news coverage would be accessible through an IPhone application.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">External links[edit]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watchdog.org website</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity website</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Mexico Watchdog website</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Illinois Watchdog</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hawaii Reporter</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wisconsin Reporter</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watchdog Wire</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">References[edit]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ "Watchdog.org Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2013-12-01.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ Peters, Justin. "‘Serious, point-of-view journalism’?". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 28 October 2012.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ Watchdog.org About Page</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ Organization self-description</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ Benton, Joshua, "Pew: Nonprofit journalism doesn’t mean ideology-free", Neiman Journalism Lab, July 18, 2011 9 am. Link to Pew study. Retrieved 2011-12-04.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ Greenhunt response to critics</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ AP Guidelines</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ Franklin Center Now Featured on Google News</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ Franklin Center Media Statement</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ Watchdog.org FAQ page</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Jump up to:a b Watchdog States</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ West Virginia Watchdog</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ Kansas Watchdog</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ Nebraska Watchdog</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ PA Independent Welcomed Into State Press Association</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ "Franklin Center". Nieman Journalism Lab. Retrieved 29 October 2012.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ Colorado Watchdog</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ Northwest Watchdog</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Jump up to:a b Franklin Center FAQ page</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ Franklin Center Mission page</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jump up^ Watchdog.org and Statehouse News Online Now Available As iPhone Apps</font></div></div></div>