ctr for conserv initiatives SGLF
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4/16</font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit</font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">justin elliot 2013</font></p><div class="series-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: none; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 class="series-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px -0.66em; padding: 0.33em 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.025em; text-indent: inherit;"><a href="https://www.propublica.org/series/buying-your-vote" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">BUYING YOUR VOTE</font></a></h3></div><h1 class="hed" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px 163.766px 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.1; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Big Corporations Put Up Seed Funding for Republican Dark Money Group</font></h1><h2 class="dek" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px 245.656px 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">IRS files show that some of the biggest companies in the country provided more than a million dollars a decade ago to launch a Republican dark money group.</font></h2><div class="metadata" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><p class="byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: inherit; text-transform: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit; display: inline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by <a class="name" href="https://www.propublica.org/people/justin-elliott" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;">Justin Elliott</a></font></p> <time class="timestamp" datetime="2013-02-14EST08:00" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; white-space: nowrap;">Feb. 14, 2013, 8 a.m. EST</time></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Some of the nation’s biggest corporations donated more than a million dollars to launch a Republican nonprofit that went on to play a key role in recent political fights.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Like the <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-nonprofits-spend-millions-on-elections-and-call-it-public-welfare" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">nonprofit groups</a> that poured money into last year’s elections, the decade-old <a href="http://www.sglf.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;"><b>State Government Leadership Foundation</b></a> has been able to keep the identities of its funders secret. Until now.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A records request by ProPublica to the IRS turned up <a href="https://www.propublica.org/documents/item/603571-sglf-donors-test" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">a list</a> of the original funders of the group: Exxon, Pfizer, Time Warner, and other corporations put up at least 85 percent of the $1.3 million the foundation raised in the first year and a half of its existence, starting in 2003.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The donor list is stamped <b>“<a href="https://www.propublica.org/documents/item/603571-sglf-donors-test" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">not for public disclosure</a>,</b>” and was submitted to the IRS as part of the foundation’s <a href="https://www.propublica.org/documents/item/603074-state-government-leadership-foundation-irs" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">application</a> for recognition of tax-exempt status. If approved, such applications are public records.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The foundation and other similar nonprofits are allowed to take anonymous and unlimited donations from individuals or corporations. That’s because they are classified as “social welfare” nonprofits, which are supposed to benefit the community at large, and not just one group or political party.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last year, <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-dark-money-helped-republicans-hold-the-house-and-hurt-voters" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">we reported</a> how the State Government Leadership Foundation paid for Republican redistricting consultants to draw new congressional district maps in North Carolina. The resulting gerrymander helped flip the state’s congressional delegation to Republicans.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In recent years, the foundation has also funded TV ads <a href="http://www.wisdc.org/sglf2011.php" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">targeting Democrats</a> during the 2011 Wisconsin showdown over collective bargaining rights; <a href="http://www.sglf.org/sglf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">attacking</a> President Obama in Virginia over his energy policy; and <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/talesfromthetrail/2012/05/08/conservative-group-accuses-teachers-unions-of-bullying-children/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">accusing</a> teachers unions of “destroying our children’s future.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The foundation also <a href="https://www.propublica.org/documents/item/537961-state-leadership-government-foundation-2011-990#document/p28" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">gave</a> $1.25 million in 2011 to the Indiana Opportunity Fund, a state-level nonprofit that <a href="http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120108/LOCAL0202/301089943/1002/LOCAL&template=printart" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">ran</a> anti-union ads featuring Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels. (That group was founded by attorney Jim Bopp, who has <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-21/election-spending-to-exceed-6-billion-thanks-partly-to-jim-bopp.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">long fought</a> against campaign finance regulation.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">)</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The foundation’s single-biggest early donor was the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/2007/09/01/us-citigroup-ameriquest-idUSN3128419320070901" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">now-defunct</a> mortgage lender Ameriquest, </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">which gave more than $260,000. (We contacted a number of the companies on the list; they did not respond to requests for comment.) </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Corporate trade associations including the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the Edison Electric Institute, and the American Tort Reform Association also pitched in, each giving between $50,000 and $100,000.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The foundation’s affiliated organization, the <a href="http://rslc.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Republican State Leadership Committee</a>, focuses on winning state-level elections for the GOP and also gets <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail_contribs.php?cycle=2010&ein=050532524" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">corporate money</a>, including from<b> tobacco and insurance giants. A</b>s an explicitly political organization, the committee has to disclose its donors.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">By contrast, the recent funders of the foundation, which <a href="https://www.propublica.org/documents/item/537961-state-leadership-government-foundation-2011-990#document/p1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">took in</a> $2.5 million in 2011 including a single donation of $1 million, are still secret.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The foundation applied for <b>IRS recognition as a social welfare group in late 2003 but was initially rejected</b>. The IRS <a href="https://www.propublica.org/documents/item/602764-irs-to-sglf-rejection-letter#document/p9" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">concluded</a> the foundation was “a partisan organization” that “operated primarily for the benefit of a select group” – the GOP. Social welfare groups, the IRS’ rejection letter noted, must promote the “general welfare of the whole community” — not a particular group.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The foundation’s lawyers from the firm <b>Arent Fox</b> fired back in <a href="https://www.propublica.org/documents/item/602765-sglf-response-to-irs-rejection" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">an appeal</a>, arguing that the foundation was not a partisan outfit.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The foundation, according to the 2005 appeal, “was created to promote public debate” about issues including pharmaceuticals, securities regulation, and asbestos litigation.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It may be useful to describe what the <b>SGLF is <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">not</em>,</b>” the appeal says. “The SGLF:</font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.625rem 2em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; quotes: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">• Is not affiliated with the Republican Party in any way;</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">• Does not meet with or coordinate its activities with the Republican Party;</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">• Does not make contributions to, or accept contributions from, the Republican Party;</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">• Does not participate in political campaigns, elections or publish electioneering messages on behalf of any candidate or party;</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">• Does not invite Representatives of the Republican Party to speak at its events, and</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">• Does not participate in the Republican Party platform, does not recruit or train Republican candidates, does not fundraise for Republican candidates, and does not coordinate its issue selection or policy positions with the Republican Party.</font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2007, more than three years after the foundation’s application, the IRS ultimately <a href="https://www.propublica.org/documents/item/603074-state-government-leadership-foundation-irs" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">recognized</a> it as a tax-exempt social welfare group.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But the group’s protestations that it has nothing to do with the GOP seems at odds with its recent activities. Besides running ads attacking Democrats, the foundation was involved in redistricting in several states to, as the foundation put it in <a href="https://www.propublica.org/documents/item/537408-hofeller-sglf-rslc-letter" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(26, 162, 230); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">a letter to Republican legislators</a>, draw “legislative lines that we will have to defend in 2012 and beyond.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">”</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Foundation spokesperson Jill Bader told ProPublica that since its creation the foundation’s “activities have <b>evolved </b>in some ways from those that were originally contemplated and conducted by the organization.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bader continued: “<b>SGLF’s present activities are in strict compliance </b>with the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code and all future SGLF activities will be in strict compliance as well.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">REDMAP</font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">North Carolina</font></b></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">RSLC spent heavily in North Carolina state elections in the 2010 cycle through a non-profit, Real Jobs for NC, that attacked Democratic candidates, likely contributing to the Republican party taking control of North Carolina's Assembly for the first time in a hundred years.<sup id="cite_ref-how_dark_money_6-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee#cite_note-how_dark_money-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[6]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">RSLC's influence over the redistricting process was not limited to helping elect Republicans to the Assembly. As </span><i style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ProPublica</i><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> notes, the process of creating new district maps is complex, time-consuming, and expensive. Tax filings show that</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> RSLC's nonprofit arm, the State Government Leadership Foundation, "paid $166,000 to hire the GOP's pre-eminent redistricting experts," including Tom Hofeller, who has previously been the redistricting director for the Republican National Committee.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Hofeller traveled to Raleigh 10 times in 2011.</span><sup id="cite_ref-how_dark_money_6-2" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee#cite_note-how_dark_money-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[6]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[7]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Communications from RSLC and its foundation to state legislators reveal the organization offering its "assistance" and claiming to have influence maps in other states:</span></font></p><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Our team would be happy to assist in drawing proposed maps, interpreting data, or providing advice," wrote Chris Jankowski, the head of both the RSLC and<b> State Government Leadership Foundation,</b> in a letter of introduction to North Carolina legislators...</font></dd></dl><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We are engaged in a number of states and believe we are playing a meaningful role in helping draw fair and legal lines that will allow us to run competitive elections in 2012 and in future cycles," Jankowski added.</font></dd></dl><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The same letter emphasized that the Republican redistricting push was being funded through its dark money nonprofit: "The entirety of this effort will be paid for using non-federal dollars through our 501c(4) organization."<sup id="cite_ref-how_dark_money_6-3" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee#cite_note-how_dark_money-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[6]</a></sup></font></dd></dl><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><i>ProPublica'</i>s investigation revealed "two parallel redistricting processes" in the state: a series of public meetings that purported to gather input on districts, and the secret process undertaken by Hofeller's team. "Hofeller did not attend or read transcripts of any of the public meetings, according to his deposition" in a North Carolina court case.<sup id="cite_ref-how_dark_money_6-4" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee#cite_note-how_dark_money-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[6]</a></sup> The mapmaking process also involved a mysterious nonprofit called Fair and Legal Redistricting for North Carolina, and consultation from influential right-wing donor <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope" title="Art Pope" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Art Pope</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-how_dark_money_6-5" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee#cite_note-how_dark_money-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[6]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Two of the new North Carolina districts were ruled to be unconstitutional racial gerrymanders in February 2016. (See <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Republican_State_Leadership_Committee#North_Carolina_Voting_Districts_RSLC_Helped_Create_Ruled_Unconstitutional" title="Republican State Leadership Committee" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">below</a>.)</font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wisconsin</font></b></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/z43493/how-the-telecom-lobby-rewrites-americas-laws"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/z43493/how-the-telecom-lobby-rewrites-americas-laws</font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A telecom-funded <a href="http://sglf.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/04/SGLF-Muni-Broadband-Study-1.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">policy paper</a> slamming local government-owned broadband networks published Wednesday is masquerading as a serious "economic analysis," but is yet another example of the dominant players in telecom manipulating the political system to suit their interests.</font></p><div data-type="body-text" class="articlebody dsp-block-xs bod-m" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.6; position: relative;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the last couple years, there's been a <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/101-us-cities-have-pledged-to-build-their-own-gigabit-networks" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">strong push by local municipalities</a> to provide Gigabit fiber internet connections for their residents, whether that means incentivizing a company like Google to come to their city, partnering with a startup ISP, or building the entire network by themselves using taxpayer money. The "municipal-owned" broadband networks are the ones taken on by <a href="http://sglf.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/04/SGLF-Muni-Broadband-Study-1.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;"><i style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Impact of Government-Owned Broadband Networks on Private Investment and Consumer Welfare</i></a>, and are, at least in theory, the ones that present the biggest threat to existing ISPs.</font></p><div class="ad-unitcontainercontainer" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: inherit;"><div class="article-iacwrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Municipal networks are also the <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-path-to-community-broadband-runs-through-an-army-of-telecom-lawyers" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">easiest targets for telecom lobbying</a>—taxpayer money being used to build a service that competes with private companies make an easy mark for small-government types. And when muni broadband networks fail, they often <a href="http://www.coalitionfortheneweconomy.org/blog/2016/02/scandal-plagued-bvu-wants-to-sell-bristol-va-s-municipal-broadband-network/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">fail spectacularly</a>. That's why, over the past few decades, the most severe and destructive broadband lobbying has happened at the state level, as incumbent internet operators have found it easier to get state and local level policies against municipal broadband. So far, <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-21-laws-states-use-to-crush-broadband-competition" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">23 states have passed anti municipal broadband</a> laws, and often times, the legislation itself is written by lobbying groups such as the <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/tech-giants-finally-abandon-alec-the-group-that-killed-broadband-competition" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">American Legislative Exchange Council</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Federal Communications Commission <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-fcc-says-your-city-can-build-a-public-internet-even-if-your-state-says-no" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">is working to preempt</a> some of these laws to allow greater municipal investment in some states, a crisis for telecom that has led to a bevy of pending lawsuits.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It's in this context that the paper is released, and there's no doubt that it will be used as a study to support telecom-written legislation that are passed to governors and state lawmakers as evidence that taxpayer-funded internet services just don't work.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This is not my opinion, this is the stated purpose of the paper, published by the <b>State Government Leadership Foundation,</b> a group that, like ALEC, "has assisted state elected leaders around the country in crafting sound policy solutions and promoting their successes."</font></p><div class="ad-unitcontainercontainer" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: inherit;"><div class="article-iacwrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On a conference call with reporters Wednesday, <b>former Congressman Tom Reynolds, the chairman of the SGLF, s</b>aid the purpose of the paper is to "protect taxpayers."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"When the FCC decided to <b>preempt state laws</b> in March of last year dealing with municipal broadband, SGLF realized it needed to lend its voice to help [state legislators] craft economically sound laws that <b>protect taxpayers from undesired consequences of government-run broadband,</b>" he said.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The SGLF was <a href="https://www.propublica.org/documents/item/603571-sglf-donors-test" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">founded in part</a> with donations from <a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/big_corporations_put_up_seed_funding_for_gop_dark_money_group_20130217" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">AT&T and Time Warner</a>, and has since made its funding sources unknown. As a lawmaker, Reynolds counted Verizon and AT&T among his top donors, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=Career&cid=N00001295&type=I" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">according to Open Secrets</a>.<b> George S. Ford,</b> the man they tapped to write the report, spent the late 1990s and early 2000s <a href="http://www.phoenix-center.org/FordVitaMar07.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">working for telecom companies</a> MCI and Z-Tel. He now works for the <b>Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Public Policy Studies</b>, a think tank that <a href="http://www.teletruth.org/FTCspeakercorporateties.htm" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">grew out of AT&T's old research arm</a> and has regularly received telecom support throughout its history.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last year, the organization <a href="http://www.phoenix-center.org/PhoenixCenterAmicusBrief.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">filed a legal brief</a> in support of the US Telecom Association's challenge of the FCC's net neutrality rules, and both Ford and his boss, Lawrence Spiwak, have written a <a href="http://www.phoenix-center.org/rt1.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">dizzying array of op-eds and reports</a> in support of the telecom industry.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This paper, then, will be fed to lawmakers and governors under the guise of a serious economic analysis that proves that local governments have no place becoming internet service providers. But if you actually read the study, it quickly becomes clear that there's little substance here.</font></p><div class="ad-unitcontainercontainer" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: inherit;"><div class="article-iacwrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The study itself paints municipal broadband networks as a financial disaster for taxpayers, for the communities that install them, and for the telecom companies that Ford argues should be receiving the subsidies that are used to build out municipal networks.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"If subsidies are to be used, theory indicates that subsidies to existing firms to increase output to achieve externalities is likely to be a more efficient approach," he wrote.</font></p><p class="articlepull-quote" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 50px auto 30px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; position: relative; border-left: 6px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"People are kooky for broadband … there's no rational broadband thinking at the FCC and people are carrying on about it so much"<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While Ford is correct that not every municipal broadband project has succeeded—<a href="http://watchdog.org/128705/burlington-telecom-scandal-credit-rating/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">there have been some catastrophic failures</a> beset with scandal that have undermined the movement in general—there are many examples (Chattanooga, Tennessee; Lafayette, Louisiana; and Leverett, Massachusetts come to mind) of it working quite well. So far, at least <a href="http://muninetworks.org/communitymap" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">83 cities in the US have offered fiber</a> to their citizens. Many—most—are not economic disasters.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The most glaring problem with Ford's paper is that he uses economic theory over and over to prove his point, without doing any deep dives into the economics of these real-world examples. Time and time again, cities have been thrilled with the fact that investment in broadband technology has led to businesses relocating to take advantage of fast and reliable internet. Ford dismisses this phenomenon as "business stealing" that may be good for one city but is bad for the rest of the country.</font></p><div class="ad-unitcontainercontainer" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: inherit;"><div class="article-iacwrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Chattanooga and other cities were perhaps wise to get a first-mover advantage in stealing businesses from other cities, but as the deployment of fiber networks becomes more pervasive the first- or early-mover advantages of cities with municipal broadband networks is diminished," he wrote. "Most troubling is that the federal subsidies used to support financially municipal networks are funded through federal taxation; therefore, the people in cities losing businesses are perversely funding the broadband networks that are destroying their economy."</font></p><p class="articlepull-quote" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 50px auto 30px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; position: relative; border-left: 6px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Municipal broadband is a repudiation of the status quo, an emphatic statement by voters and their representatives that the free market has not worked for them.<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is a bizarre argument does not leave room for the idea that top-of-class broadband can spur and support the creation of new businesses that take advantage of higher bandwidth connections; it also does not take into account research that suggests faster connections <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/gigabit-internet-connections-make-property-values-rise" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">lead to higher real estate values</a> and more <a href="https://www.uschamber.com/sites/default/files/legacy/about/US_Chamber_Paper_on_Broadband_and_Education.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">educational opportunities for residents</a>, which are associated with better economic outcomes overall. Finally, it operates on the assumption that the status quo should be good enough going forward—that America's businesses can and should continue to compete globally with companies based in countries with broadband that runs laps around ours.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Ford wrote that labeling broadband a "necessity" or "a human right" is "melodramatic"</b> and wrote in the paper that "downloading a movie in five seconds rather than five minutes is a private issue, not a social good worthy of taxes and subsidies."</font></p><div class="ad-unitcontainercontainer" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: inherit;"><div class="article-iacwrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He also says that competition alone has not been proven to increase the quality or quantity of any given good, then uses this to suggest that building municipal networks will not be enough to improve someone's internet experience. But he does this in a totally abstract economic theory sense without looking at the fact that new fiber networks—be they run by Google, a startup, or the local government—are objectively leaps and bounds faster than the existing infrastructure.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"We're almost 'high' on it," Ford said in the conference call. "People are kooky for broadband … there's no rational broadband thinking at the FCC and people are carrying on about it so much."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Ford argues that existing telecom companies often can't compete with taxpayer-subsidized networks and thus don't end up trying, leading to less overall competition.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The thing is, there are multiple paths toward a sufficient broadband experience: In a perfect world, private companies would compete with each other and would offer fast cheap internet to its customers. In cities where that's happened, such as Kansas City and Austin, there is no clamoring for municipal networks.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alternatively, a city—and its residents—can decide that they're tired of being underserved and overcharged and can opt, with their own tax dollars, to do something about it. Municipal broadband is inherently a repudiation of the status quo, an emphatic statement by voters and their representatives that the free market <i style="box-sizing: inherit;">has not worked for them</i>.</font></p><div class="ad-unitcontainercontainer" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: inherit;"><div class="article-iacwrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Municipal broadband certainly isn't right for every city, but it's <i style="box-sizing: inherit;">an</i> option that individual communities should be legally allowed to explore. State-level laws that put up significant barriers to exploring that option serve no one but the telecom companies that helped write them. <br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>So Ford is right: Municipal broadband is bad for telecom companies. He says they can't compete with municipal providers who are "truly not interested in profit maximization." But after years of watching big telecom care about profits and nothing else, who can blame communities for taking control of their broadband destiny?</b></font></p></div><div class="site-signature-icon m-b-5-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 30px;"><picture style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><source srcset="https://vice-web-statics-cdn.vice.com/logos/vice-tombstone.svg" media="" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><img class=" " priority="5" src="https://vice-web-statics-cdn.vice.com/logos/vice-tombstone.svg" style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: 20px;" /></source></font></picture></div><ul class="topics topic-list m-b-5-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TAGGED:</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></li><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="topiclink" href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/topic/tech" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">TECH</a></li><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="topiclink" href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/topic/motherboard" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">MOTHERBOARD</a></li><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="topiclink" href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/topic/power" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">POWER</a></li><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="topiclink" href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/topic/opinion" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">OPINION</a></li><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="topiclink" href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/topic/alec" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">ALEC</a></li><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="topiclink" href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/topic/lobbying" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">LOBBYING</a></li><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="topiclink" href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/topic/motherboard-show" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">MOTHERBOARD SHOW</a></li><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="topiclink" href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/topic/municipal-broadband" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">MUNICIPAL BROADBAND</a></li><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="topiclink" href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/topic/broadband-competition" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">BROADBAND COMPETITION</a></li><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="topiclink" href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/topic/telecom-lobbying" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">TELECOM LOBBYING</a></li><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="topiclink" href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/topic/big-telecom" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">BIG TELECOM</a></li><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="topiclink" href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/topic/fiber-networks" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">FIBER NETWORKS</a></li></ul><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref</font></p><p><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/603571-sglf-donors-test"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/603571-sglf-donors-test</font></a></p><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4/16</font></p><p><a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/z43493/how-the-telecom-lobby-rewrites-americas-laws"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/z43493/how-the-telecom-lobby-rewrites-americas-laws</font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A telecom-funded <a href="http://sglf.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/04/SGLF-Muni-Broadband-Study-1.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">policy paper</a> slamming local government-owned broadband networks published Wednesday is masquerading as a serious "economic analysis," but is yet another example of the dominant players in telecom manipulating the political system to suit their interests.</font></p><div data-type="body-text" class="articlebody dsp-block-xs bod-m" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.6; position: relative;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the last couple years, there's been a <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/101-us-cities-have-pledged-to-build-their-own-gigabit-networks" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">strong push by local municipalities</a> to provide Gigabit fiber internet connections for their residents, whether that means incentivizing a company like Google to come to their city, partnering with a startup ISP, or building the entire network by themselves using taxpayer money. The "municipal-owned" broadband networks are the ones taken on by <a href="http://sglf.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/04/SGLF-Muni-Broadband-Study-1.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;"><i style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Impact of Government-Owned Broadband Networks on Private Investment and Consumer Welfare</i></a>, and are, at least in theory, the ones that present the biggest threat to existing ISPs.</font></p><div class="ad-unitcontainercontainer" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: inherit;"><div class="article-iacwrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Municipal networks are also the <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-path-to-community-broadband-runs-through-an-army-of-telecom-lawyers" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">easiest targets for telecom lobbying</a>—taxpayer money being used to build a service that competes with private companies make an easy mark for small-government types. And when muni broadband networks fail, they often <a href="http://www.coalitionfortheneweconomy.org/blog/2016/02/scandal-plagued-bvu-wants-to-sell-bristol-va-s-municipal-broadband-network/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">fail spectacularly</a>.</span> That's why, over the past few decades, the most severe and destructive broadband lobbying has happened at the state level, as incumbent internet operators have found it easier to get state and local level policies against municipal broadband. So far, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-21-laws-states-use-to-crush-broadband-competition" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">23 states have passed anti municipal broadband</a> laws</span>, and often times, the legislation itself is written by lobbying groups such as the <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/tech-giants-finally-abandon-alec-the-group-that-killed-broadband-competition" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">American Legislative Exchange Council</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Federal Communications Commission <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-fcc-says-your-city-can-build-a-public-internet-even-if-your-state-says-no" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">is working to preempt</a> some of these laws to allow greater municipal investment in some states, a crisis for telecom that has led to a bevy of pending lawsuits.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It's in this context that the paper is released, and there's no doubt that it will be used as a study to support telecom-written legislation that are passed to governors and state lawmakers as evidence that taxpayer-funded internet services just don't work.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is not my opinion, this is the stated purpose of the paper, published by the<b> State Government Leadership Foundation, a group that, like ALEC</b>, "has assisted state elected leaders around the country in crafting sound policy solutions and promoting their successes."</font></p><div class="ad-unitcontainercontainer" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: inherit;"><div class="article-iacwrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On a conference call with reporters Wednesday, former Congressman Tom Reynolds, the chairman of the SGLF, said the purpose of the paper is to "protect taxpayers."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"When the FCC decided to preempt state laws in March of last year dealing with municipal broadband, SGLF realized it needed to lend its voice to help [state legislators] craft economically sound laws that protect taxpayers from undesired consequences of government-run broadband," he said.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 153);">The SGLF was <a href="https://www.propublica.org/documents/item/603571-sglf-donors-test" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">founded in part</a> with donations from <a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/big_corporations_put_up_seed_funding_for_gop_dark_money_group_20130217" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">AT&T and Time Warner</a>, and has since made its funding sources unknown. As a lawmaker, Reynolds counted Verizon and AT&T among his top donors, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=Career&cid=N00001295&type=I" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">according to Open Secrets</a>. George S. Ford, the man they tapped to write the report, spent the late 1990s and early 2000s <a href="http://www.phoenix-center.org/FordVitaMar07.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">working for telecom companies</a> MCI and Z-Tel. He now works for the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Public Policy Studies, a think tank that <a href="http://www.teletruth.org/FTCspeakercorporateties.htm" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">grew out of AT&T's old research arm</a> and has regularly received telecom support throughout its history.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last year, the organization <a href="http://www.phoenix-center.org/PhoenixCenterAmicusBrief.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">filed a legal brief</a> in support of the US Telecom Association's challenge of the FCC's net neutrality rules, and both Ford and his boss, Lawrence Spiwak, have written a <a href="http://www.phoenix-center.org/rt1.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">dizzying array of op-eds and reports</a> in support of the telecom industry.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This paper, then, will be fed to lawmakers and governors under the guise of a serious economic analysis that proves that local governments have no place becoming internet service providers. But if you actually read the study, it quickly becomes clear that there's little substance here.</font></p><div class="ad-unitcontainercontainer" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: inherit;"><div class="article-iacwrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The study itself paints municipal broadband networks as a financial disaster for taxpayers, for the communities that install them, and for the telecom companies that Ford argues should be receiving the subsidies that are used to build out municipal networks.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"If subsidies are to be used, theory indicates that subsidies to existing firms to increase output to achieve externalities is likely to be a more efficient approach," he wrote.</font></p><p class="articlepull-quote" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 50px auto 30px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; position: relative; border-left: 6px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"People are kooky for broadband … there's no rational broadband thinking at the FCC and people are carrying on about it so much"<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While Ford is correct that not every municipal broadband project has succeeded—<a href="http://watchdog.org/128705/burlington-telecom-scandal-credit-rating/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">there have been some catastrophic failures</a> beset with scandal that have undermined the movement in general—there are many examples (Chattanooga, Tennessee; Lafayette, Louisiana; and Leverett, Massachusetts come to mind) of it working quite well. So far, at least <a href="http://muninetworks.org/communitymap" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">83 cities in the US have offered fiber</a> to their citizens. Many—most—are not economic disasters.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The most glaring problem with Ford's paper is that he uses economic theory over and over to prove his point, without doing any deep dives into the economics of these real-world examples. Time and time again, cities have been thrilled with the fact that investment in broadband technology has led to businesses relocating to take advantage of fast and reliable internet. Ford dismisses this phenomenon as "business stealing" that may be good for one city but is bad for the rest of the country.</font></p><div class="ad-unitcontainercontainer" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: inherit;"><div class="article-iacwrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Chattanooga and other cities were perhaps wise to get a first-mover advantage in stealing businesses from other cities, but as the deployment of fiber networks becomes more pervasive the first- or early-mover advantages of cities with municipal broadband networks is diminished," he wrote. "Most troubling is that the federal subsidies used to support financially municipal networks are funded through federal taxation; therefore, the people in cities losing businesses are perversely funding the broadband networks that are destroying their economy."</font></p><p class="articlepull-quote" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 50px auto 30px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; position: relative; border-left: 6px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Municipal broadband is a repudiation of the status quo, an emphatic statement by voters and their representatives that the free market has not worked for them.<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is a bizarre argument does not leave room for the idea that top-of-class broadband can spur and support the creation of new businesses that take advantage of higher bandwidth connections; it also does not take into account<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> research that suggests faster connections <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/gigabit-internet-connections-make-property-values-rise" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">lead to higher real estate values</a> and more <a href="https://www.uschamber.com/sites/default/files/legacy/about/US_Chamber_Paper_on_Broadband_and_Education.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: bold;">educational opportunities for residents</a></span>, which are associated with better economic outcomes overall. Finally, it operates on the assumption that the status quo should be good enough going forward—that America's businesses can and should continue to compete globally with companies based in countries with broadband that runs laps around ours.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ford wrote that labeling broadband a "necessity" or "a human right" is "melodramatic" and wrote in the paper that "downloading a movie in five seconds rather than five minutes is a private issue, not a social good worthy of taxes and subsidies."</font></p><div class="ad-unitcontainercontainer" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: inherit;"><div class="article-iacwrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He also says that competition alone has not been proven to increase the quality or quantity of any given good, then uses this to suggest that building municipal networks will not be enough to improve someone's internet experience. But he does this in a totally abstract economic theory sense without looking at the fact that new fiber networks—be they run by Google, a startup, or the local government—are objectively leaps and bounds faster than the existing infrastructure.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We're almost 'high' on it," Ford said in the conference call. "People are kooky for broadband … there's no rational broadband thinking at the FCC and people are carrying on about it so much."</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ford argues that existing telecom companies often can't compete with taxpayer-subsidized networks and thus don't end up trying, leading to less overall competition.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The thing is, there are multiple paths toward a sufficient broadband experience: In a perfect world, private companies would compete with each other and would offer fast cheap internet to its customers. In cities where that's happened, such as Kansas City and Austin, there is no clamoring for municipal networks.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alternatively, a city—and its residents—can decide that they're tired of being underserved and overcharged and can opt, with their own tax dollars, to do something about it. Municipal broadband is inherently a repudiation of the status quo, an emphatic statement by voters and their representatives that the free market <i style="box-sizing: inherit;">has not worked for them</i>.</font></p><div class="ad-unitcontainercontainer" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: inherit;"><div class="article-iacwrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Municipal broadband certainly isn't right for every city, but it's <i style="box-sizing: inherit;">an</i> option that individual communities should be legally allowed to explore. State-level laws that put up significant barriers to exploring that option serve no one but the telecom companies that helped write them. <br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So Ford is right: Municipal broadband is bad for telecom companies. He says they can't compete with municipal providers who are "truly not interested in profit maximization." But after years of watching big telecom care about profits and nothing else, who can blame communities for taking control of their broadband destiny?</font></p></div><div class="site-signature-icon m-b-5-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 30px;"><picture style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><source srcset="https://vice-web-statics-cdn.vice.com/logos/vice-tombstone.svg" media="" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><img class=" " priority="5" src="https://vice-web-statics-cdn.vice.com/logos/vice-tombstone.svg" style="box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: 20px;" /></source></font></picture></div><ul class="topics topic-list m-b-5-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; list-style-position: inside;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TAGGED:</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></li><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="topiclink" href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/topic/tech" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">TECH</a></li><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="topiclink" href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/topic/motherboard" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">MOTHERBOARD</a></li><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="topiclink" href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/topic/power" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">POWER</a></li><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; 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margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="topiclink" href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/topic/telecom-lobbying" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">TELECOM LOBBYING</a></li><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="topiclink" href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/topic/big-telecom" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">BIG TELECOM</a></li><li class="topic hed-xs dsp-inline-block-xs m-b-0-xs" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2; display: inline-block; text-transform: uppercase;"><a class="topiclink" href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/topic/fiber-networks" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">FIBER NETWORKS</a></li></ul><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref bs paper 67 pp DC stinktank</font></p><p><a href="http://sglf.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/04/SGLF-Muni-Broadband-Study-1.pdf"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">http://sglf.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/<b>2016</b>/04/SGLF-Muni-Broadband-Study-1.pdf</font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Since its founding over a decade ago, The State Government Leadership Foundation (SGLF) has served as the premier national conservative policy organization equipped to engage state leaders at all levels of state government.</b> SGLF has worked proactively to promote sound policy throughout the states, educate the public and state government officials, and defend key policy ideas, state leaders and legislation when they come under attack. SGLF devotes resources in the form of research and training, public issue advocacy engagement, public communications, policy analysis, conferences and other means of dialogue among conservative state leaders and the public with specific emphasis on<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> free market solutions, education reform, tort reform, labor reform and American energy freedom</span>. SGLF believes that America is at its most prosperous and productive when there is limited government, free enterprise solutions, less spending, less taxes, less dictation from Washington and less encroachment into the states. SGLF is dedicated to educating the public and policy makers on these issues and advocating for officials who support strong conservative policies that greatly benefit society. SGLF is a<b> 501(c)4 social welfare organization.</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Dr. George S. Ford</b> is the<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Chief Economist of the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Public Policy Studies (www.phoenix-center.org),</span> an internationally respected <b>Washington D.C.-based non-profit public policy think-tank</b> specializing in the law and economics of the digital age. Since receiving his PhD at Auburn University, Dr. Ford has worked in both the public and private sectors, including positions at the <b>Federal Communications Commission</b> and multiple private communications providers. Dr. Ford has conducted numerous technical business and economic studies—an effort which has resulted in over <b>sixty published journal articles</b>, many more unpublished works, and many internal business reports, some of which drove significant investments in telecommunications infrastructure. Dr. Ford has authored over one hundred reports released by the Phoenix Center. </font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to his publication record, Dr. Ford<b> regularly testifies on economic matters in forums such as the U.S. Congress,</b> the U.S. Copyright Royalty Judges, the Canadian Royalty Board, and numerous state regulatory agencies. Over the years, he has advised governments, both domestic and foreign, consulted to large companies, and delivered academic papers and public addresses at conferences around the world. Dr. Ford is a leading expert in the areas of government regulation, the technology industry, intellectual property, and economic development, advising governments and private parties on issues involving economics, econometrics and business and regulatory strategy. Dr. Ford has studied municipal provision of communications services for over twenty-five years, both in academic research and as a consultant. His research on the topic is frequently cited. <b>The views expressed in this paper are the author’s alone and do not represent the views of the Phoenix Center or its staff</b>. The author indebted to Phoenix Center President Lawrence J. Spiwak and to Phoenix Center Senior Fellows Professors Randy Beard and Michael Stern for their assistance and comments on earlier drafts of this paper. As is customary, Dr. Ford takes full responsibility for any remaining errors or omissions.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>How much dark money is fueling the Kavanaugh confirmation fight?</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By John Kruzel on Friday, October 5th, 2018 at 3:05 p.m.</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">Brett Kavanaugh faces Senate confirmation hearing on Sept. 6, 2018.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., waded into Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination and the millions of dollars that has been spent both for and against the would-be justice.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Dark money is paying for over 80 percent of (Kavanaugh’s) ads," Tester said in Sept. 29 debate. Tester has said he would vote against Kavanaugh’s confirmation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Much of that funding has taken the form of "dark money," which refers to political spending by unknown donors for the purpose of influencing public opinion.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We found no one who knows how much money in total has been spent in support of Kavanaugh's nomination. On top of that, the dark money groups aren't required in most cases to report their expenditures.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But many of those organizations like the publicitly and announce that they're spending millions to get Kavanaugh on the court. And those amounts are substantial.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amount of 'dark money' unknown</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tester’s campaign pointed us to a slew of announcements from eight groups that are funding pro-Kavanaugh ads. Here’s their tally as of Oct. 2:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Funding for pro-Kavanaugh ads</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Group</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amount</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Judicial Crisis Network</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">> $6 million</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Great America Alliance</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">~ $4.5 million</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">America First Policies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">~ $2 million</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NRA-ILA</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">> $1 million</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Americans for Prosperity</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">> $1 million</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Citizens United</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">> $250,000</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">45Committee</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$650,000</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Great America PAC</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$448,000</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TOTAL: ~ $15.84 million</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With the possible exception of Great America PAC, none of these groups needs to disclose their donors or their expenditures.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to data flagged by Tester’s campaign, the Brennan Center for Justice compiled data from the Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks television ad buys in national markets. Here's their list of pro-Kavanaugh ads as of Oct. 3:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kantar Media data (via Brennan Center for Justice; current as of Oct. 3)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Judicial Crisis Network</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">$3,692,730</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NRA-ILA</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$1,243,070</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">America First Policies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$1,109,950</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">State Government Leadership Foundation</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">$473,230</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One Nation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$404,440</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">45Committee</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$118,490</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Citizens United</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$27,490</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Great America PAC</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$5,550</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>TOTAL: $7.07 million</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>To be clear, this is an estimate of dark money spending.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, groups like the National Republican Congressional Committee have also spent on advertisements in support of Kavanaugh.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Such groups do have to disclose their donors and expenditures, but don't need to do so until the next deadline for the Federal Elections Commission. That means no one can put together a total ad budget favoring Kavanaugh.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Without those reports, no one can have a complete accounting of the pro-Kavanaugh ad spending.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nevertheless, Anna Massoglia, an analyst who tracks the flow of dark money at the Center for Responsive Politics, said this type of spending played a significant role in the Kavanaugh confirmation fight. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">" 'Dark money' does make up a substantial portion of spending on the Supreme Court confirmation fight," she said. "But I would be reluctant to classify all spending on Kavanaugh as 'dark money' due to the structure of some of the entities spending on ads."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Our ruling</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tester said, "Dark money is paying for over 80 percent of (Kavanaugh’s) ads."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We did our best to tally up the outside spending on the Kavanaugh confirmation fight. But it’s difficult if not impossible to conclusively say how much money is involved.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Experts said dark money comprises a substantial portion of spending on the Supreme Court confirmation fight. It’s even possible dark money makes up 80 percent or more of the overall share, as Tester said. But we simply can’t be sure. Neither can Tester. And his precise-sounding statement leaves out that important context.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We rate this statement Half True.</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">sw Oz</font></div><div><div id="mw-content-text" lang="en" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr" style="direction: ltr;"><div class="mw-parser-output" style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> <b>Conservative Leadership Foundation</b> (CLF) is a group founded in 2009 by conservative Liberal Senator <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Cory_Bernardi" title="Cory Bernardi" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Cory Bernardi</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-about_1-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#cite_note-about-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[1]</a></sup></font></p><div id="toc" class="toc" style="background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1;"><div class="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#Astroturfing" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Astroturfing</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#Aims_and_activities" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Aims and activities</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#International_links" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">International links</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#Personnel" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">4</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Personnel</span></font></a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#Advisory_board" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">4.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Advisory board</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#Contact_details" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">5</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Contact details</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#Articles_and_resources" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">6</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Articles and resources</span></font></a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#Related_SourceWatch_articles" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">6.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Related SourceWatch articles</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#References" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">6.2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">References</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#External_resources" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">6.3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">External resources</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#External_articles" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em;">6.4</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">External articles</span></font></a></li></ul></li></ul></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;" /><h2 style="background: none; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Astroturfing"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Astroturfing</font></span></h2><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In October 2011 it was reported that the CLF had "set up at least six websites, including the </span><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Conservative_Action_Network" class="mw-redirect" title="Conservative Action Network" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Conservative Action Network</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> under the name </span><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=CANdo" title="CANdo" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">CANdo.org.au</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> and </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Stopgillardscarbontax.com" class="mw-redirect" title="Stopgillardscarbontax.com" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">stopgillardscarbontax.com</a>.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> While membership is free, the sites do ask for donations. In most cases, it is only when attempting to pay that subscribers can discover who the backer is. The websites do not declare that the South Australian senator is behind them, and the majority do not reveal that the money raised goes to either the Conservative Leadership Foundation or its think tank Menzies House, which was co-founded by Bernardi."</span><sup id="cite_ref-Gough_2-0" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#cite_note-Gough-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[2]</a></sup></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Debra Gough reported that while the Conservative Leadership Foundation "openly claims ownership of the Conservative Action Network and its website, www.CANdo.org.au, on its own website, web visitors who find CANdo independently are only told who the backer is when they attempt to make a donation through PayPal." She also reported that the foundation's national director, <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Geoffrey_Greene" title="Geoffrey Greene" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Geoffrey Greene</a> stated that <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Menzies_House" title="Menzies House" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Menzies House</a> was "part of us".<sup id="cite_ref-Gough_2-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#cite_note-Gough-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[2]</a></sup></font></p><h2 style="background: none; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Aims_and_activities"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Aims and activities</font></span></h2><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">On its website the CLF states that it "believes that the principles of limited government, personal responsibility, free enterprise and traditional values are vital to our future security, stability and prosperity. Our training and leadership programs aim to increase the number of conservative activists supporting these principles and their effectiveness in engaging with the public policy process."<sup id="cite_ref-about_1-1" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#cite_note-about-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[1]</a></sup></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The group states that it "recruits, educates, trains and supports volunteer activists to fight for our core principles and take leadership roles in business, the media, academia, political and community organisations. Through a range of specialist courses, networking events and grassroots campaigns, the CLF equips conservatives with the skills required to develop and communicate their ideas in an efficient, effective and successful manner. The mission of the CLF is two-fold: to develop leaders and to support action."<sup id="cite_ref-about_1-2" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#cite_note-about-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[1]</a></sup></font></p><h2 style="background: none; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><span class="mw-headline" id="International_links"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">International links</font></span></h2><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">On its website the CLF states that it has "connections with several overseas training organisations that share our mission and our goals" and that this "allows us to send promising young conservative activists to our affiliate training schools and leadership courses in the US and the UK."<sup id="cite_ref-international_3-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#cite_note-international-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[3]</a></sup></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Groups that it lists on its website, as of January 2012, as having links with are:</font></p><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.1%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%0A%3Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E%0A%3Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E%0A%3C/svg%3E%0A" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Young_Britons%27_Foundation" title="Young Britons' Foundation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Young Britons' Foundation</font></a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=The_Leadership_Institute" title="The Leadership Institute" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">The Leadership Institute</font></a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Young_America%27s_Foundation" title="Young America's Foundation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Young America's Foundation</font></a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Competitive_Enterprise_Institute" title="Competitive Enterprise Institute" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Competitive Enterprise Institute</font></a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clare_Boothe_Luce_Policy_Institute&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute</font></a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Network_of_Enlightened_Women" title="Network of Enlightened Women" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Network of Enlightened Women</font></a></li></ul><h2 style="background: none; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Personnel"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Personnel</font></span></h2><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The CLF lists key people involved in the group as<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[4]</a></sup></font></p><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.1%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%0A%3Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E%0A%3Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E%0A%3C/svg%3E%0A" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Cory_Bernardi" title="Cory Bernardi" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Cory Bernardi</a>, Founder and Chairman – Conservative Leadership Foundation</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Geoffrey_Greene" title="Geoffrey Greene" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Geoffrey Greene</a>, National Director – Conservative Leadership Foundation</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dani_Keys&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Dani Keys (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Dani Keys</a>, National Co-ordinator – Campus Action Plan</font></li></ul><h3 style="background: none; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Advisory_board"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Advisory board</font></span></h3><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.1%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%0A%3Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E%0A%3Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E%0A%3C/svg%3E%0A" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sophie_York&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Sophie York (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Sophie York</font></a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jai_Martinkovits&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Jai Martinkovits (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Jai Martinkovits</font></a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Paul_Russell&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Paul Russell (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Paul Russell</font></a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Damian_Wyld&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Damian Wyld (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Damian Wyld</font></a></li></ul><h2 style="background: none; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Contact_details"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contact details</font></span></h2><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bert_Kelly_Research_Centre" class="mw-redirect" title="Bert Kelly Research Centre" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Bert Kelly Research Centre</a>
77 Fullarton Road
Kent Town, SA 5067
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PO Box 202,
Walkerville, <b>South Australia</b>, 5081
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Phone: 1300 847 908 (int +61 8 8378 2986)
Fax: 1300 847 918 (int +61 8120 0727)
Email: admin AT conservative.org.au
Website: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.conservative.org.au/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.0%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22" standalone="%22no%22%3F%3E%3Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E%3Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22/%3E%3C/svg%3E" stroke="%22%2306c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" cpath="Cpath" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" break-word="break-word" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">http://www.conservative.org.au/</a>
</font></p><h2 style="background: none; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Articles_and_resources"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Articles and resources</font></span></h2><h3 style="background: none; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Related_SourceWatch_articles"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Related SourceWatch articles</font></span></h3><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.1%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%0A%3Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E%0A%3Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E%0A%3C/svg%3E%0A" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=CANdo" title="CANdo" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">CANdo</font></a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Global_warming_skeptics" class="mw-redirect" title="Global warming skeptics" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Global warming skeptics</font></a></li></ul><h3 style="background: none; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><span class="mw-headline" id="References"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">References</font></span></h3><div class="references-small" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); column-count: 2;"><div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references" style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li id="cite_note-about-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;">↑ <sup style="line-height: 1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#cite_ref-about_1-0" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up to:</span>1.0</a></sup> <sup style="line-height: 1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#cite_ref-about_1-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.1</a></sup> <sup style="line-height: 1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#cite_ref-about_1-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.2</a></sup></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.conservative.org.au/about-us.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.0%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22" standalone="%22no%22%3F%3E%3Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E%3Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22/%3E%3C/svg%3E" stroke="%22%2306c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" cpath="Cpath" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"About the Conservative Leadership Foundation"</a>, Conservative Leadership Foundation website, accessed January 2012.</span></font></li><li id="cite_note-Gough-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;">↑ <sup style="line-height: 1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#cite_ref-Gough_2-0" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up to:</span>2.0</a></sup> <sup style="line-height: 1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#cite_ref-Gough_2-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.1</a></sup></span> <span class="reference-text">Deborah Gough, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/bernardi-busy-behind-grassroots-anticarbon-tax-movement-20111015-1lqj7.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.0%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22" standalone="%22no%22%3F%3E%3Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E%3Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22/%3E%3C/svg%3E" stroke="%22%2306c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" cpath="Cpath" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"Bernardi busy behind 'grassroots' anti-carbon tax movement"</a>, <i>The Age</i>, October 16, 2011.</span></font></li><li id="cite_note-international-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#cite_ref-international_3-0" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span>↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.conservative.org.au/international.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.0%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22" standalone="%22no%22%3F%3E%3Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E%3Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22/%3E%3C/svg%3E" stroke="%22%2306c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" cpath="Cpath" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"International Associations & Exchanges"</a>, Conservative Leadership Foundation website, accessed January 2012.</span></font></li><li id="cite_note-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-cite-backlink" style="user-select: none;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation#cite_ref-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up</span>↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.conservative.org.au/our-people.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.0%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22" standalone="%22no%22%3F%3E%3Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E%3Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22/%3E%3C/svg%3E" stroke="%22%2306c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" cpath="Cpath" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"Our People"</a>, Conservative Leadership Foundation website, accessed January 2012.</span></font></li></ol></div></div><h3 style="background: none; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><span class="mw-headline" id="External_resources"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">External resources</font></span></h3><h3 style="background: none; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><span class="mw-headline" id="External_articles"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">External articles</font></span></h3><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.1%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%0A%3Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E%0A%3Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E%0A%3C/svg%3E%0A" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tom Arup, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/call-to-turn-on-the-lights-20100324-qwr7.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.0%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22" standalone="%22no%22%3F%3E%3Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E%3Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22/%3E%3C/svg%3E" stroke="%22%2306c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" cpath="Cpath" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"Call to turn on the lights"</a>, <i>The Age</i>, March 25, 2010.</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Deborah Gough, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/bernardi-busy-behind-grassroots-anticarbon-tax-movement-20111015-1lqj7.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.0%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22" standalone="%22no%22%3F%3E%3Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E%3Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22/%3E%3C/svg%3E" stroke="%22%2306c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" cpath="Cpath" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">"Bernardi busy behind 'grassroots' anti-carbon tax movement"</a>, <i>The Age</i>, October 16, 2011.</font></li></ul></div></div><div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface" style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); padding: 5px; margin-top: 1em; clear: both;"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories" style="text-decoration-line: none; 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text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000067623" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php%3Fid%3DD000067623&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjABegQIBxAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">State Government Leadership Foundation: Summary | OpenSecrets</a></font></h3>
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cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 1.54;"><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=related:https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php%3Fid%3DD000067623+sourcewatch+State+Government+Leadership+Foundation&tbo=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQHzABegQIBxAF" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><span class="st" style="line-height: 1.54; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Find the companies and other organizations seeking to influence U.S. politics and policy via campaign donations and lobbying spending, and see which ...</font></span></a><div class="TXwUJf" style=""><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=related:https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php%3Fid%3DD000067623+sourcewatch+State+Government+Leadership+Foundation&tbo=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQHzABegQIBxAF" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Missing: <s>sourcewatch</s> | Must include: </font></a><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22sourcewatch%22+State+Government+Leadership+Foundation&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQ5t4CMAF6BAgHEAg" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">sourcewatch</font></a></div></div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div data-hveid="CAgQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFSgAMAJ6BAgIEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><div class="r" style="margin: 0px; line-height: 1.54;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjACegQICBAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /></font><h3 class="LC20lb" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.33;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjACegQICBAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjACegQICBAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjACegQICBAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjACegQICBAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjACegQICBAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjACegQICBAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Conservative Leadership Foundation - SourceWatch</a></font></h3>
<div class="TbwUpd" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.54; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-top: 1px;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal; padding-top: 1px; line-height: 1.43;">https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation</cite></div><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=sourcewatch+State+Government+Leadership+Foundation&oq=sourcewatch+State+Government+Leadership+Foundation&aqs=chrome..69i57.5447j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#" id="am-b2" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQ7B0wAnoECAgQAg" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 1px 0px 2px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none 0s ease 0s; user-select: none; background-image: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQqR8wAnoECAgQAw" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; white-space: nowrap; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:jgAEt9TRi3EJ:https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:jgAEt9TRi3EJ:https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation%2B%26cd%3D3%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQIDACegQICBAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 1.54;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:jgAEt9TRi3EJ:https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:jgAEt9TRi3EJ:https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Conservative_Leadership_Foundation%2B%26cd%3D3%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQIDACegQICBAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><span class="st" style="line-height: 1.54; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="f" style="line-height: 1.54;">May 13, 2012 - </span>The Conservative <span style="font-weight: bold;">Leadership Foundation</span> (CLF) is a group founded in ... CLF <span style="font-weight: bold;">states</span>that it "believes that the principles of limited <span style="font-weight: bold;">government</span>, ...</font></span></a></div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div data-hveid="CAkQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFSgAMAN6BAgJEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><div class="r" style="margin: 0px; line-height: 1.54;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjADegQICRAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /></font><h3 class="LC20lb" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.33;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjADegQICRAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjADegQICRAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjADegQICRAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjADegQICRAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjADegQICRAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjADegQICRAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Republican State Leadership Committee - SourceWatch</a></font></h3>
<div class="TbwUpd" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.54; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-top: 1px;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal; padding-top: 1px; line-height: 1.43;">https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee</cite></div><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=sourcewatch+State+Government+Leadership+Foundation&oq=sourcewatch+State+Government+Leadership+Foundation&aqs=chrome..69i57.5447j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#" id="am-b3" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQ7B0wA3oECAkQAg" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 1px 0px 2px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none 0s ease 0s; user-select: none; background-image: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQqR8wA3oECAkQAw" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; white-space: nowrap; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:g9enWuajXVEJ:https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:g9enWuajXVEJ:https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee%2B%26cd%3D4%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQIDADegQICRAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 1.54;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:g9enWuajXVEJ:https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:g9enWuajXVEJ:https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_State_Leadership_Committee%2B%26cd%3D4%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQIDADegQICRAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><span class="st" style="line-height: 1.54; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="f" style="line-height: 1.54;">Mar 28, 2018 - </span>The Republican <span style="font-weight: bold;">State</span> Leadership Committee (RSLC) is a 527 group .... head of both the RSLC and <span style="font-weight: bold;">State Government Leadership Foundation</span>, ...</font></span></a></div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div data-hveid="CAYQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFSgAMAR6BAgGEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><div class="r" style="margin: 0px; line-height: 1.54;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAEegQIBhAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /></font><h3 class="LC20lb" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.33;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAEegQIBhAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAEegQIBhAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAEegQIBhAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAEegQIBhAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAEegQIBhAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAEegQIBhAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Big Corporations Put Up Seed Funding for Republican Dark Money ...</a></font></h3>
<div class="TbwUpd" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.54; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-top: 1px;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal; padding-top: 1px; line-height: 1.43;">https://www.propublica.org/.../big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-n...</cite></div><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=sourcewatch+State+Government+Leadership+Foundation&oq=sourcewatch+State+Government+Leadership+Foundation&aqs=chrome..69i57.5447j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#" id="am-b4" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQ7B0wBHoECAYQAg" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 1px 0px 2px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none 0s ease 0s; user-select: none; background-image: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQqR8wBHoECAYQAw" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; white-space: nowrap; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Oq5nja6B-vUJ:https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit+&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:Oq5nja6B-vUJ:https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit%2B%26cd%3D5%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQIDAEegQIBhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=related:https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit+sourcewatch+State+Government+Leadership+Foundation&tbo=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQHzAEegQIBhAF" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 1.54;"><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=related:https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit+sourcewatch+State+Government+Leadership+Foundation&tbo=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQHzAEegQIBhAF" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><span class="st" style="line-height: 1.54; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="f" style="line-height: 1.54;">Feb 14, 2013 - </span>Like the nonprofit groups that poured money into last year's elections, the decade<wbr />-old <span style="font-weight: bold;">State Government Leadership Foundation</span> has been able ...</font></span></a><div class="TXwUJf" style=""><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=related:https://www.propublica.org/article/big-corporations-put-up-seed-money-for-republican-nonprofit+sourcewatch+State+Government+Leadership+Foundation&tbo=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQHzAEegQIBhAF" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Missing: <s>sourcewatch</s> | Must include: </font></a><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22sourcewatch%22+State+Government+Leadership+Foundation&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQ5t4CMAR6BAgGEAk" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">sourcewatch</font></a></div></div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div data-hveid="CAMQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFSgAMAV6BAgDEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><div class="r" style="margin: 0px; line-height: 1.54;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/11/13169/republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-state-houses-red" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/11/13169/republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-state-houses-red&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAFegQIAxAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /></font><h3 class="LC20lb" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.33;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/11/13169/republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-state-houses-red" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/11/13169/republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-state-houses-red&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAFegQIAxAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/11/13169/republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-state-houses-red" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/11/13169/republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-state-houses-red&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAFegQIAxAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/11/13169/republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-state-houses-red" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/11/13169/republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-state-houses-red&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAFegQIAxAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/11/13169/republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-state-houses-red" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/11/13169/republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-state-houses-red&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAFegQIAxAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/11/13169/republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-state-houses-red" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/11/13169/republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-state-houses-red&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAFegQIAxAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/11/13169/republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-state-houses-red" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/11/13169/republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-state-houses-red&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAFegQIAxAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Republican State Leadership Committee Spends Big to Keep State ...</a></font></h3>
<div class="TbwUpd" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.54; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-top: 1px;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal; padding-top: 1px; line-height: 1.43;">https://www.prwatch.org/.../republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-st...</cite></div><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=sourcewatch+State+Government+Leadership+Foundation&oq=sourcewatch+State+Government+Leadership+Foundation&aqs=chrome..69i57.5447j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#" id="am-b5" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQ7B0wBXoECAMQAg" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 1px 0px 2px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; 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line-height: 1.54;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:y-6egmSC088J:https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/11/13169/republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-state-houses-red+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:y-6egmSC088J:https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/11/13169/republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-state-houses-red%2B%26cd%3D6%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQIDAFegQIAxAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><span class="st" style="line-height: 1.54; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="f" style="line-height: 1.54;">Nov 8, 2016 - </span>The little-known Republican <span style="font-weight: bold;">State</span> Leadership Committee (RSLC) is ... a project of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">State Government Leadership Foundation</span>, a "dark ...</font></span></a></div></div></div></div><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:y-6egmSC088J:https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/11/13169/republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-state-houses-red+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:y-6egmSC088J:https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/11/13169/republican-state-leadership-committee-spends-big-keep-state-houses-red%2B%26cd%3D6%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQIDAFegQIAxAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; 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cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><span class="sFZIhb b w xsm" style="font-weight: bold; cursor: auto; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; float: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">[XLS]</font></span></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%20Crisis%20Network%20Funding%202018_0.xlsx" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%2520Crisis%2520Network%2520Funding%25202018_0.xlsx&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAGegQIABAC" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /></font><h3 class="LC20lb" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.33;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%20Crisis%20Network%20Funding%202018_0.xlsx" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%2520Crisis%2520Network%2520Funding%25202018_0.xlsx&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAGegQIABAC" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%20Crisis%20Network%20Funding%202018_0.xlsx" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%2520Crisis%2520Network%2520Funding%25202018_0.xlsx&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAGegQIABAC" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%20Crisis%20Network%20Funding%202018_0.xlsx" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%2520Crisis%2520Network%2520Funding%25202018_0.xlsx&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAGegQIABAC" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%20Crisis%20Network%20Funding%202018_0.xlsx" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%2520Crisis%2520Network%2520Funding%25202018_0.xlsx&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAGegQIABAC" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%20Crisis%20Network%20Funding%202018_0.xlsx" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%2520Crisis%2520Network%2520Funding%25202018_0.xlsx&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAGegQIABAC" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%20Crisis%20Network%20Funding%202018_0.xlsx" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%2520Crisis%2520Network%2520Funding%25202018_0.xlsx&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQFjAGegQIABAC" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Judicial Crisis Network's funding - DeSmogBlog</a></font></h3>
<div class="TbwUpd" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 1.54; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-top: 1px;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal; padding-top: 1px; line-height: 1.43;">https://www.desmogblog.com/.../Judicial%20Crisis%20Network%20Funding%202018...</cite></div><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=sourcewatch+State+Government+Leadership+Foundation&oq=sourcewatch+State+Government+Leadership+Foundation&aqs=chrome..69i57.5447j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#" id="am-b6" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQ7B0wBnoECAAQAw" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 1px 0px 2px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none 0s ease 0s; user-select: none; background-image: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQqR8wBnoECAAQBA" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; white-space: nowrap; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:WywCnwIQ8DwJ:https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%2520Crisis%2520Network%2520Funding%25202018_0.xlsx+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:WywCnwIQ8DwJ:https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%252520Crisis%252520Network%252520Funding%2525202018_0.xlsx%2B%26cd%3D7%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQIDAGegQIABAF" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 1.54;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:WywCnwIQ8DwJ:https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%2520Crisis%2520Network%2520Funding%25202018_0.xlsx+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:WywCnwIQ8DwJ:https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%252520Crisis%252520Network%252520Funding%2525202018_0.xlsx%2B%26cd%3D7%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQIDAGegQIABAF" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><span class="st" style="line-height: 1.54; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">43, <span style="font-weight: bold;">State Government Leadership</span> Fund, $50,000, $50,000. 44, Susan B Anthony List, $50,000, $50,000, https://www.<span style="font-weight: bold;">sourcewatch</span>.org/index.php/Susan_B.</font></span></a></div></div></div></div></div><div><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:WywCnwIQ8DwJ:https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%2520Crisis%2520Network%2520Funding%25202018_0.xlsx+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:WywCnwIQ8DwJ:https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Judicial%252520Crisis%252520Network%252520Funding%2525202018_0.xlsx%2B%26cd%3D7%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiouaGJtpLjAhXuB50JHfFwDrAQIDAGegQIABAF" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="" color="#000000">=</font></a></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>