phil anschutz bak

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</div><div>bad format bak 4 23</div><div>
</div><div>WE tag could be generic for guy, rival of Pope for 3rd koch bro?</div><div>
</div><div>helps berman w/ attacking unions?</div><div>
</div><div>evil pending; waiting for superman constantly cited (by those who shd know better even?)</div><div>
</div><div>promoted to primary 5/14 as examiner.com seems to franchise to ideol entre:</div><div>
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</div><div>https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/25/neil-gorsuch-colorado-property-sale-00093579</div><div>
</div><div>politico bad code box size]</div><div>
</div><div>no lnx</div><div>Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has [lnx] to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Now, according to Politico reporter Heidi Przybyla, another relationship involving a High Court justice could merit close scrutiny — and this time, the justice is Donald Trump nominee Neil Gorsuch.</div><div>
</div><div>Przybyla, in an&nbsp; on April 25, reports, "For nearly two years beginning in 2015, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch sought a buyer for a 40-acre tract of property he co-owned in rural Granby, Colorado. Nine days after he was confirmed by the Senate for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, the then-circuit court judge got one: The chief executive of Greenberg Traurig, one of the nation’s biggest law firms with a robust practice before the High Court. Gorsuch owned the property with two other individuals."< according to Przybyla, Brian Duffy of Greenberg Traurig "put under contract the 3000-square-foot log home on the Colorado River and nestled in the mountains northwest of Denver, according to real estate records. >READ MORE:</div><div>
</div><div>"He and his wife closed on the house a month later, paying $1.825 million, according to a deed in the county’s record system," Przybyla reports. "Gorsuch, who held a 20 percent stake, reported making between $250,001 and $500,000 from the sale on his federal disclosure forms. Gorsuch did not disclose the identity of the purchaser. That box was left blank. Przybyla adds, "Since then, Greenberg Traurig has been involved in at least 22 cases before or presented to the Court, according to a Politico review of the Court's docket. They include cases in which Greenberg either filed amicus briefs or represented parties.&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>In the 12 cases where Gorsuch's opinion is recorded, he sided with Greenberg Traurig clients eight times and against them four times." zxz for nearly two years beginning in 2015, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch sought a buyer for a 40-acre tract of property he co-owned in rural Granby, Colo. Nine days after he was confirmed by the Senate for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, the then-circuit court judge got one: The chief executive of Greenberg Traurig, one of the nation’s biggest law firms with a robust practice before the high court. Gorsuch owned the property with two other individuals.></div><div>
</div><div>On April 16 of 2017, Greenberg’s Brian Duffy put under contract the 3,000-square foot log home on the Colorado River and nestled in the mountains northwest of Denver, according to real estate records....federal disclosure forms.<...Since then, Greenberg Traurig has been involved in at least 22 cases before or presented to the court, according to a POLITICO review of the court’s docket....one of the more highly publicized rulings in recent years, a multistate suit which reversed former President Barack Obama’s plan to fight climate change through the Clean Air Act.</div><div>
</div><div>Gorsuch joined the court’s other five conservative judges in agreeing with the plaintiffs — including Greenberg’s client — that the Environmental Protection Agency had overstepped its authority by regulating carbon emissions from power plants in the decision that makes it more difficult for the executive branch to regulate emissions without express authorization from Congress.</div><div>
</div><div>Duffy, who in addition to serving as CEO is chief of Greenberg’s entire 600-lawyer litigation department, said he has never personally argued cases before Gorsuch or met the justice socially.</div><div>
</div><div>“I’ve never spoken to him,” Duffy said. “I’ve never met him.”</div><div>
</div><div>Once he learned Gorsuch was among the owners, Duffy said, he cleared the sale with his firm’s ethics department.</div><div>
</div><div>Gorsuch did not respond to inquiries about the sale, his disclosures or whether he should have reported Duffy’s identity as the purchaser.</div><div>
</div><div>Supreme Court rules do not prevent justices from engaging in financial transactions with people with interest in court decisions, but Gorsuch’s dealings with Duffy expose the weakness of the court’s disclosure procedures. For instance, in reporting his Colorado income, Gorsuch listed as his source only the name that he and his two co-owners gave themselves, Walden Group, LLC. The report didn’t indicate that there had been a real estate sale or a purchaser.</div><div>
</div><div>Such a sale would raise ethical problems for officials serving in many other branches of government, but the Supreme Court sets its own rules. It has largely left justices to make their own decisions about when and how to report outside gifts and income.</div><div>
</div><div>Justice Clarence Thomas is currently under scrutiny for accepting lavish trips from GOP billionaire donor Harlan Crow, who also purchased three Georgia properties from the justice. Thomas did not report the property sales. Of the vacations, Thomas said he had been advised that “personal hospitality from close friends” need not be disclosed.</div><div>
</div><div>Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a frequent critic of Supreme Court ethics rules, sent a statement responding to POLITICO’s inquiry about Gorsuch’s sale of the Colorado property.</div><div>
</div><div>“We have seen a steady stream of revelations regarding Supreme Court Justices falling short of the ethical standards expected of other federal judges and of public servants,” said Durbin. “The need for Supreme Court ethics reform is clear, and if the Court does not take adequate action, Congress must. The Senate Judiciary Committee will be closely examining these matters in the coming weeks,” said Durbin, who has asked Chief Justice John Roberts to testify next month on the court’s ethics rules.</div><div>
</div><div>Kedric Payne, director of ethics at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, said he believes “investments in LLCs require more details than the justice includes in his financial disclosures.“</div><div>
</div><div>“This transaction appears to also require naming the buyer. The public has a right to know that justices will fully comply with disclosure rules instead of providing only a tiny peek into their financial disclosures,” he said, noting more facts are needed to distinguish whether it’s a disclosure omission or violation. The center was founded by a Republican former chair of the Federal Election Commission.</div><div>
</div><div>Unlike Crow, who bought properties from Thomas, Duffy says he is neither a friend nor a confidant of Gorsuch. But he is one of the nation’s most powerful attorneys.</div><div>
</div><div>His Greenberg bio describes him as “A true ‘working CEO,’” and says he “focuses his practice on trial and appellate work in the class action, employment, energy, commercial contract, and product liability areas, serving as counsel in high-profile cases throughout the United States.”</div><div>
</div><div>At the time of the sale, Duffy had headed Greenberg Traurig for about a year. A search of his contributions to political candidates revealed that they went primarily to Democrats, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, (D-N.Y.). He contributed the maximum amount allowable for individual donors to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, though he also made contributions in the past to Republicans such as former Sen. John McCain of Arizona and a GOP New York City mayoral candidate, Joe Lhota.</div><div>
</div><div>The Duffy family has long resided in Colorado. Duffy attended the University of Colorado Law School and, in 2019, he was the recipient of the “most admired CEO” award by the Denver Business Journal.</div><div>
</div><div>Duffy, who described himself as an avid fly fisher, said he’d been looking for the right property for his family for many years. Duffy said he did not know Gorsuch was one of the owners when he made his first offer.</div><div>
</div><div>“The fact that he was going to be a Supreme Court justice was absolutely irrelevant to the purchase of that property. It’s a wonderful piece of property and we’re so glad we bought it,” said Duffy.</div><div>
</div><div>Gorsuch and his associates purchased the property in 2005 through their LLC, the Walden Group, which was dissolved after the 2017 sale. The home was originally listed, in July of 2015, for $2.495 million. The fact that the property had sat on the market for so long and that its price had been lowered a couple times suggests the partners were having trouble finding a buyer.</div><div>
</div><div>The real estate transaction is another example of how the lack of a firm code of ethics for the court stands in contrast to most other branches of the U.S. government, including the White House and Congress as well as lower court judges.</div><div>
</div><div>The code of conduct for lower court U.S. judges says judges should “avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all activities,” and “discourages frequent transactions or continuing business relationships with lawyers or other persons likely to come before the court” on which the judge serves. Unlike many of the country’s state and federal courts, the Supreme Court lacks a code of conduct.</div><div>
</div><div>“This is exactly the type of situation that an ethics code that included vetting of transactions and full disclosure would clear up,” said Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US, a progressive research organization. “Without decisive action, the conservatives on the Supreme Court will forever tarnish its reputation in our public life,” he said.</div><div>
</div><div>At the time of Gorsuch’s appointment, his ownership of the Colorado property drew attention only for the fact that his co-owners were major figures in the oil and gas industry. Gorsuch’s ties to the oil and gas industry run deep.</div><div>
</div><div>As a lawyer at a Washington law firm nearly 20 years ago, Gorsuch represented oil and gas billionaire Philip Anschutz on a variety of matters as outside counsel, and it was through this connection that Gorsuch befriended his future real estate partners.</div><div>
</div><div>Anschutz helped Gorsuch win an appointment to an open seat on a federal appeals court in Denver, including directly lobbying the George W. Bush White House....Gorsuch’s connections to Anschutz extend to .</div><div>
</div><div>The Walden Group included Kevin Conwick, who had advised Anschutz in deals to buy sports teams and other projects like the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and Cannon Harvey, who oversaw Anschutz’s venture capital investment division...</div><div>
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</div><div>BS</div><div>
</div><div>https://www.forbes.com/2009/06/28/anschutz-weekly-standard-business-media-examiner.html</div><div>
</div><div>no lnx</div><div>
</div><div>The Stealth Media Mogul</div><div>
</div><div>Dirk Smillie&nbsp; Former Contributor</div><div>
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</div><div>Jun 29, 2009,</div><div>
</div><div>This article is more than 10 years old.</div><div>
</div><div>Jim Monaghan, a longtime aide to Denver tycoon Philip Anschutz, recalls an afternoon at Washington's Union Station when a TV crew from the PBS program NewsHour had come within a hair of doing the impossible: landing an interview with Anschutz, a man who never grants them. But when the PBS crew began shooting customers receiving free copies of Anschutz's paper, the Washington Examiner, they failed to notice a man two feet away from them, dressed in a track suit and sunglasses, who was helping distribute the papers. It was Anschutz.</div><div>
</div><div>Why hawk his own papers undercover? To collect honest feedback from customers, says Monaghan. "Anonymity has its benefits." Anschutz has done three interviews in four decades, which he considers "three too many," says Monaghan. He declined an interview request from Forbes for this story.</div><div>
</div><div>Flying under the radar keeps Anschutz watchers guessing, but does it work? "So far it has," says media analyst John Morton. Anschutz's latest acquisition, The Weekly Standard, loses an estimated $5 million annually. Virtually all media accounts of the sale, announced earlier this month, reported on the transaction with no comment as to how it fits into his vast collection of business ventures. Anschutz not only doesn't grant interviews, his company releases virtually no information on sales or strategy related to his newest foray: media.</div><div>
</div><div>Worth an estimated $5 billion, Anschutz founded Qwest Communications and owns or controls stakes in some 100 businesses. Among them: railroads; oil companies; cattle ranching; wind farms; national park concessions; professional hockey, basketball and soccer teams; Regal Entertainment Group , the largest movie operator in the U.S.; the Staples Center and Kodak Theater in Los Angeles; the 02 Dome in London, where the late Michael Jackson planned 50 concerts; and movie production house Walden Media.</div><div>
</div><div>Launching free tabloid throwaways, as Anschutz has for the past five years, seems like a puzzling fit in a collection of sports and show business properties. "It's a marginal business whose success really hasn't been tested yet," says Morton. Morton should know--he suggested the concept of a free daily in Washington to editors at Time Inc. nearly 30 years ago after Time’s Washington Star folded.</div><div>
</div><div>Anschutz has been giving away newspapers since 2004, the year he bought the San Francisco Examiner for $11 million. He has used the 139-year-old paper to create brand extensions for two other free papers and a social-networking venture. In 2005, he launched the Washington Examiner; in 2006, the Baltimore Examiner. Both were also free and carried the San Francisco Examiner's famed "Eagle" masthead. Last year he rolled out local Web sites targeting 90 cities under the Examiner name, packed with user-generated content from contributors called "examiners." These bloggers are paid based on page views their content generates.</div><div>
</div><div>With no paid circulation, Anschutz delivers his tabloid newspapers using what he calls "geo-targeting." Requested or not, they land on the front lawns and porches of homes in zip codes and “census blocks” of readers whose average annual household income is $73,000 or more. The pitch to advertisers: Forget spending a fortune on CPM-based ads in The Washington Post, which will reach thousands of readers who will never buy what you're selling. You'll get a better buy spending less to reach only the richest, best-educated households. Of course, it's hard to know whether these freebie editions make it to the kitchen table or the bird cage. Monaghan says eight of 10 households that get the papers read them.</div><div>
</div><div>Anschutz's distribution runs are based on days advertisers think readers want to see what they're selling--Thursdays and Sundays. On Thursday, when shoppers plan for the weekend, distribution is 260,000 in Washington, 200,000 in San Francisco and 236,000 in the recently closed Baltimore paper. The latter edition has drawn national advertisers like Macy's , Southwest Airlines and Citibank, plus local patrons like WJZ-TV, CrossRoads Mortgage and the Gutter Shutter Co. But margins for free newspapers generally hover at around 6%--pretty thin to survive an ad recession. At the start of this year, all three of Anchutz's dailies were losing money. Baltimore was apparently hurting the worst, so the paper was shuttered in February. The Anschutz company that owns the papers, Denver-based Clarity Media Group, hinted that expected advertising and printing synergies between the Baltimore and Washington dailies never materialized.</div><div>
</div><div>Anschutz cut his losses at his Baltimore paper but doesn't seem to mind losing much more with The Weekly Standard. A bastion of leading conservative writers, including founder Bill Kristol, executive editor Fred Barnes and columnist Charles Krauthammer, it resonates with Anschutz's political conservatism. The 80,000-circulation weekly may not advance his readership footprint much, but it will give him political influence. They'll join conservative voices Anschutz already has working for him at the Washington paper, like Michael Barone and Byron York.</div><div>
</div><div>Could Anschutz be planning to move The Weekly Standard to a free model, as he did the San Francisco Examiner? "That would dilute their demographics," says Morton. "Besides, conservatives are already affluent."</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>I recently left Wall Street, where I was chief content officer at Guggenheim Partners, to work on a biography of Harry Guggenheim. Prior to that I was a senior writer at Forbes magazine. For Forbes, I've covered stories from Paris, Lyon, the Bahamas and Mexico City. Author of 'Falwell, Inc.' (St. Martin's Press). Director, News Research Group. Chair of the news category, Webby Awards and Coro Fellow in public policy. Still thinking about becoming a chef. Read Less</div><div>
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</div><div></div><div>422 BS attack</div><div>
</div><div>apparently an aggregator, but RW slat</div><div>
</div><div>LaborUnionNews.com</div><div>
</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Amazon Objects To Union Threatening Employees If They Voted Against ALU And Bribing Employees With Pot</div><div>
</div><div>Amazon objects to union’s Staten Island victory, reuters/ny post</div><div>alleges NLRB interference</div><div>
</div><div>Zachary Snowdon SmithForbes Staff</div><div>
</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>SUBSCRIBE TO LABOR UNION NEWS’ DAILY DIGEST</div><div>
</div><div>{{denver gazette</div><div>
</div><div>actual old paper bought by anschutz [clarity media?]</div><div>&nbsp;30 East Pikes Peak Ave., Suite 100 Colorado Springs, CO&nbsp;</div><div>Publisher: Christopher P. Reen</div><div>
</div><div>303-569-5804</div><div>
</div><div>chris.reen@gazette.com</div><div>Largest teachers union spent twice as much on politics as on member needs</div><div>Jeremiah Poff, Washington Examiner Apr 7, 2022&nbsp;</div><div>Largest teachers union spent twice as much on politics as on member needs</div><div>
</div><div>EXCLUSIVE — The National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union, spent more than twice as much money on politics-related expenditures than on its membership, an analysis of the union's filings shows.</div><div>
</div><div>The data, compiled by the right-to-work nonprofit organization Americans for Fair Treatment, shows the teachers union donated $66 million to political activities and another $117 million to "contributions, gifts, and grants" that were primarily political donations.</div><div>
</div><div>The data reviewed by Americans for Fair Treatment, which was provided exclusively to the Washington Examiner, showed that the political activities donations totaled 18% of the union's $374 million budget for 2020-2021. The "contributions, gifts, and grants" totaled 32% of expenditures.</div><div>
</div><div>BIDEN RULE COULD FORCE CHARTER SCHOOLS TO CLOSE, FORMER EDUCATION OFFICIAL WARNS</div><div>
</div><div>Meanwhile, only 9% of the NEA's budget was spent on direct assistance to its members, who pay an annual fee of $200 to maintain their membership in the union.</div><div>
</div><div>"The National Education Association's political and charitable spending in 2020-2021 makes the NEA look more like a political organization than a membership organization," Americans for Fair Treatment told the Washington Examiner. "The union spent $2 on politics for every $1 it spent on representing its members."</div><div>
</div><div>The largest beneficiary of the NEA's political spending was its own political action committee, the NEA Advocacy Fund, which received $15.7 million from the union in the 2020-2021 school year.</div><div>
</div><div>Other donations included $6.7 million to the State Engagement Fund, which funnels donations to left-wing political groups and Democratic candidates. A similar organization, the Strategic Victory Fund, received $1.85 million from the union.</div><div>
</div><div>Donations to both organizations were counted among the union's "contributions, gifts, and grants" expenditures rather than as political activities. The union also designated as a contribution a $1 million donation to Future Forward USA Action, a political action committee that backed then-candidate Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign.</div><div>
</div><div>The political donations by the NEA dwarfed the $48.8 million in political activities and $5.9 million in contributions spent by the nation's second-largest teachers union, the American Federation of Teachers, according to Americans for Fair Treatment. The combined total of the AFT's political spending was less than 30% of its 2020-2021 expenses, as opposed to the nearly 50% spent by the NEA.</div><div>
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</div><div>"Those numbers show where [the NEA's] priorities lie," said Americans for Fair Treatment CEO David Osborne.</div><div>
</div><div>In addition to supporting political action committees backing Democratic candidates, the NEA also made sizable donations to liberal advocacy groups, including a $125,000 donation to the nonprofit organization Project 2043, which helps "companies and nonprofit organizations achieve their Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility goals."</div><div>
</div><div>The project's website includes multiple phrases and verbiage often associated with critical race theory, which says U.S. institutions and culture are systemically racist and oppressive to racial minorities.</div><div>
</div><div>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER</div><div>
</div><div>The NEA has previously supported the use of critical race theory in developing classroom curricula, even as Democratic politicians and liberal pundits have claimed the theory is not taught in public schools.</div><div>
</div><div>The NEA did not respond to a request for comment.</div><div>
</div><div>Original Location: Largest teachers union spent twice as much on politics as on member needs</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Washington Examiner Videos}}</div><div></div><div>Anschutz Corporation is an American private holding company headquartered in Denver, Colorado, United States.[1] The company was started in 1958 by Fred Anschutz, a wildcatter, who developed and operated oil wells. Philip Anschutz, Fred's son, assumed control of the company in 1962 and diversified it with holdings in the entertainment and hospitality industries.</div><div>
</div><div>The Anschutz Exploration Corporation subsidiary continues the original business of discovering and developing oil and gas wells, with particular focus on projects in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.[2]</div><div>
</div><div>The company's entertainment industry holdings are mostly controlled by its subsidiary Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), a sporting and music entertainment presenter and the world's largest owner of sports teams and sports events. The company is further broken down into several groups including AEG Presents, AEG Sports, AXS.com and the Anschutz Film Group. AEG Presents organizes several large music entertainment festivals including Coachella and Stagecoach,[3][4] AEG Sports owns the LA Galaxy soccer team and the Los Angeles Kings hockey team, and Anschutz Film Group owns Bristol Bay Productions and Walden Media. The Anschutz Corporation also owns Ken Ehrlich Productions and the Clarity Media Group, the parent company of The Gazette, a newspaper in Colorado Springs and Washington Examiner, a conservative news website and weekly magazine.[5]</div><div>
</div><div>The company's hospitality industry holdings are mostly controlled by its subsidiary Xanterra Travel Collection. Xanterra holds the franchise rights to operate resorts inside several major national parks including Crater Lake (Crater Lake Lodge), Death Valley (Oasis at Death Valley), and the Grand Canyon (Bright Angel Lodge, El Tovar Hotel, Maswik Lodge and Phantom Ranch). Xanterra also operates the Grand Canyon Railway, Kingsmill Resort, and Windstar Cruises. The Anschutz Corporation also owns The Broadmoor-Sea Island Company which operates The Broadmoor hotel, The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway and the Sea Island resort.</div><div>
</div><div>References</div><div>...</div><div>wiki</div><div>=</div><div>
</div><div>colo springs newspaper, got beat</div><div>
</div><div>xian anschutz</div><div>
</div><div>https://hightowerlowdown.org/article/colorado-springs/</div><div>
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</div><div>You’ll be gobsmacked by the populist victories won in this conservative Colorado town</div><div>
</div><div>&nbsp;July 19, 2017&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>togetherforcos</div><div>
</div><div>BREAKING NEWS: COLORADO SPRINGS HAS GONE TO THE DOGS!</div><div>
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</div><div>Believe it or not, that’s a good thing. More about those dogs later, but what has been happening politically and culturally this year in Colorado’s second largest city is astonishing, encouraging … even inspiring. Progressive/populist activists who’re organizing all across America to build grassroots movements strong enough to counter plutocratic rule and govern in the people’s interest now have a radiant model of success in one of the least likely places.</div><div>
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</div><div>Since the 1990s, Colorado Springs has been shaped by an inordinate number of hard, hard, HARD right-wing institutions and forces, including:</div><div>
</div><div>The national and international headquarters of more than 70 evangelical Christian outfits, many preaching fire-and-brimstone intolerance</div><div>
</div><div>A swarm of rabid anti-tax, anti-union, anti-gay, anti-Obama Republican front groups funded by corporate extremists</div><div>
</div><div>The US Air Force Academy and four other military installations employing 65,000 soldiers and civilians</div><div>
</div><div>The Gazette, the city’s one daily newspaper, owned by Philip Anschutz, a multibillionaire buddy of the Koch brothers. The Gazette‘s Fox News-style editorial pages relentlessly push “alternative facts” and reactionary policies</div><div>
</div><div>A paternalistic downtown establishment of politically connected developers who, incredibly, tout themselves as the “moderates”</div><div>
</div><div>Yet, like nearly all such neon-red spots splattered throughout our land, the Springs also is home to a hardy band of progressives, including environ.mentalists, unionists, women’s champions, scrappy entrepreneurs, LGBTQ activists, students and teachers, a sizeable immigrant population, social justice church groups, some sensible libertarians–and, importantly, a vibrant alternative newsweekly. The Colorado Springs Independent regularly links all the above and lives up to its name with a steady output of investigative journalism.</div><div>
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</div><div>Enjoying Hightower? How about a weekly email that gives you the full scoop?</div><div>
</div><div>In 1993, after city leaders and The Gazette led a statewide campaign to legalize open discrimination against gays and lesbians, the Independent was launched as a unifying political vessel for diverse locals trying to advance progressive principles. In this turbulent sea of arch-conservatism, they had to be satisfied with only very occasional victories.</div><div>
</div><div>Cartoon by Brian Duffy]</div><div>
</div><div>A little over year ago, however, John Weiss, founder and recently retired publisher of the Independent, began to think that more could be done. Through a listening tour with engaged locals, he found that on numerous economic and environmental issues–from willingness to spend more tax money on municipal services to outrage over big money’s perversion of local democracy –many townspeople were downright progressive-minded. (Full disclosure: Weiss is a good friend and also serves on the Lowdown’s board of directors.)</div><div>
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</div><div>Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders was bringing new, highly energized voters into play–he handily won the county’s 2016 Democratic caucus. Young people who had previously evinced zero interest in the old Democratic-Republican duopoly were rallying behind Bernie’s grassroots populism. And his revolutionary call to rein in America’s corporate oligarchs also sparked a fire in older, working-class people, including Repubs and none-of-the-above folks who’d given up on the idea that either party gave a damn about people like them. Weiss sensed a shift in Colorado Springs’ political zeitgeist– one that might open a path for new alignments and a progressive-populist movement.</div><div>
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</div><div>Everybody does better when everybody does better.]</div><div>
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</div><div>But movements don’t just happen–until someone literally makes a move, inspiring others to join in, take action … and get moving. That’s what is happening in Colorado Springs.</div><div>
</div><div>In the midst of 2016’s national Trumpian tumult, Weiss and a core group of community allies started exploring strategies for a fresh political organizing effort in Colorado Springs. They pinpointed two decisive shortcomings in past efforts: One, progressive campaigns tended to be defensive, reacting to the extreme right’s framing of issues and then spending much of their time and money countering disinformation and dirty tricks. Two, while developers and the hard right maintained permanent staff and campaigns, progressives started every battle from scratch, scrambling to create new organizations, which were handicapped by lack of institutional memory.</div><div>
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</div><div>Making their move</div><div>
</div><div>DO SOMETHING!</div><div>
</div><div>As the progressively inclined citizens of Colorado Springs formulated the principles behind T4CS, their listening tour let them tap the wisdom of successful grassroots efforts in other states. Together for Colorado Springs co-founder, John Weiss, calls out two models in particular that may be useful to your local efforts:</div><div>
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</div><div>The Durham People’s Alliance (durhampa.org) works at the North Carolina grassroots to organize their community to ensure that all people in it can live well. They celebrated their 40th anniversary last year with–yes!–a big party with “eats, sweets, and drinks,” sponsored by some of Durham’s living-wage certified businesses.</div><div>
</div><div>The Maine Peoples Alliance (mainepeoplesalliance.org) brings individuals and organizations together to realize shared goals on a range of issues from housing and jobs to racial justice and the environment. They focus on preparing citizen leaders to work for positive social change.</div><div>
</div><div>Following their spring successes, T4CS is now looking to hire an experienced community organizer for their city of 750,000. Interested folks can contact them through togetherforcos.org.</div><div>
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</div><div>So this audacious band of populist allies decided to make a big move. They called on progressive forces throughout the Pikes Peak region–including Democrats, Berniecrats, Greens, and non-partisan issue advocates–to come together and build a permanent social change organization. Moreover, they reached out to fair-minded, commonsense moderates and sensible libertarians who were embarrassed both by religious crazies (whose intolerance sparked the town’s moniker: “Hate City”) and by the political toadies of the area’s corporate kingdom. These business-friendly cronies used city government to further enrich the elites while ignoring pressing needs for funding parks, mass transit, street lights, public bath.rooms, and for saving drought-stricken trees.</div><div>
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</div><div>Through the spring and summer of 2016, the allies met with more than 100 local organizations and activists and formulated a straightforward goal: to mobilize a broad coalition around progressive values and common-interest proposals and then to assemble the full-time staff, tools, and resources needed to initiate and win candidate and issue campaigns.</div><div>
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</div><div>Last October, seven local activists–including local entrepreneurs and digital gurus as well as long-time civil rights and environmental organizers–formed Together for Colorado Springs (T4CS) with a can-do slogan: “Together We Can Move Mountains.” Working committees were formed to handle the nitty-gritty chores of turning the ideas into effective action.</div><div>
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</div><div>After Trump’s surprise victory last November, Colorado Springs moderates and progressives–like folks across the nation–were eager to mobilize in response. These newly activated citizens were able to plug into T4CS, which announced itself in exactly the right fashion: by throwing a wang-dang-doodle of a party. After all, sustaining a grassroots, democracy-building movement requires more than non-stop political action. It also needs social and cultural events to round out its appeal, unite its members, and express its democratic spirit. So T4CS’s public launch last February put the party back in politics, with a joyous crowd of more than 600 coalition supporters jammed into Stargazers Theater for a night of funky music, tub-thumping speeches, and a renewal of hope–plus, of course, plentiful libations to lubricate the new movement.</div><div>
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</div><div>Strawberry Fields</div><div>
</div><div>The very next day, though, it was down to business, for city council elections were coming up in April, less than two months away. The council had long been a rubber stamp for development interests, and its constant subservience to both moneyed and religious royals had irked regular folks of all political stripes. As the elections approached, this cronyism became a defining populist issue as T4CS hammered on one especially galling example of rank favoritism: The Strawberry Fields caper.</div><div>
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</div><div>If a homeless person had been caught stealing strawberries in Colorado Springs, at least one of the council members would have bellowed, “Thou shalt not steal,” and demanded jail time for the wretched miscreant. But when Lord Philip Anschutz–the second richest man in Colorado (and the 35th richest person in America)–wanted to get his hands on a 180-plus-acre public park known as Strawberry Fields, he didn’t need to steal anything. The city council stole it for him.</div><div>
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</div><div>Even though this unique, natural space has been owned by the citizens of the Springs since 1885 and serves as a very popular re-creation and nature area, the mayor and council seemed to expect praise when they announced in January 2016 that they’d cut a deal to let the billionaire take title to the people’s property. The clueless politicos gushed that Anschutz was willing to develop the “useless” land for the betterment of the city.</div><div>
</div><div>But Anschutz is no altruist. He is an imperialist who inherited an oil fortune and used it and his political connections to expand his holdings into railroads, media, pro sports teams, music events, telecommunications, movie theaters, and more. Along the way, he amassed a $12-billion fortune for himself. Far from wanting to help the local citizenry, Anschutz wanted Strawberry Fields so he could bulldoze nature and build an exclusive horse stable and event center on it to serve the wealthy swells (including Charles and David Koch) who pay top dollar for getaways at the nearby Broadmoor hotel and resort. That swank, sprawling 5-star facility happens to be owned by –who else?–Anschutz.</div><div>
</div><div>"Two wrongs don't make a right, but three left turns do." --Jim Hightower]</div><div>
</div><div>Piling outrage atop outrage, the “deal” that city officials approved required no money from the billionaire! Instead, he was allowed to trade some 370 acres of relatively worthless land that The Broadmoor owned elsewhere for the prime space owned by the people. For months after the deal was announced, the Springs boiled in fury. Thousands of locals signed petitions against it, and a subsequent poll commissioned by the Independent found that two thirds of the populace was opposed to the deal. But Anschutz used his financial clout and the PR power of his Gazette newspaper to pull the business establishment behind his proposed theft. So, in May 2016, despite huge public opposition, the city council sold out the people by a 6-3 vote.</div><div>
</div><div>The campaign</div><div>
</div><div>Unfazed by public opinion, Anschutz, The Gazette, the Springs’ corporate political network, and their hard-right Christian allies headed into this spring’s council elections with a business dream team and mountains of money, fully expecting to increase their control by winning all six of the seats up for a vote. Sure, the T4CS group had popped into view, but it was seen as just another collection of liberal losers. Here’s how the city’s district races matched-up:</div><div>
</div><div>DISTRICT 1 Incumbent libertarian Don Knight, a retired Air Force officer and conservative Christian, had stepped on corporate toes by asking too many pesky questions, so Anschutz and local power brokers recruited the CEO of Champion Windows to try to knock him off. T4CS recommended Knight as the better of the candidates.</div><div>
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</div><div>DISTRICT 2 An open seat in this district that went heavily for Trump pitted a right-winger against Dave Geislinger, a lawyer turned Catholic chaplain. Geislinger is himself conservative on many issues, but he idealizes Pope Francis and ran to help ensure that the city’s poor get a fair shake. At the last minute, Dave’s opponent dropped out, leaving the field open to add this relatively progressive Christian voice to the council. T4CS did not endorse Geislinger outright, but recommended him as well.</div><div>
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</div><div>DISTRICT 3 This district includes The Broadmoor itself, and the establishment put up a developer who looked to be a shoo-in. Just before the filing deadline, however, Richard Skorman, a popular small business owner who lives near Strawberry Fields, entered the race with T4CS’s full-throated endorsement. Critically important: When Skorman filed, three other progressively inclined candidates voluntarily dropped out so that the progressive vote would not be split.</div><div>
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</div><div>DISTRICT 4 Either the incumbent (a fervid Trump supporter) or the corporate candidate (a public schools privatizer) was expected to win. T4CS endorsed a long shot–transit activist Yolanda Avila, a Bernie backer who had grown up in this district’s low-income community. Another activist, a bronze star veteran, voluntarily stepped aside to consolidate the progressive vote.</div><div>
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</div><div>DISTRICT 5 Here T4CS endorsed moderate Republican incumbent Jill Gaebler, an independent-minded, retired military officer who has championed pragmatic solutions and neighborhood issues–including opposing The Broadmoor’s Strawberry Fields scam. The right-wing establishment viciously opposed her re-election and bankrolled her opponent, a corporate executive.</div><div>
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</div><div>DISTRICT 6 This district, dominated by tea party disciples and people even farther out on the fringe, was not contested by T4CS.</div><div>
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</div><div>The upshot</div><div>
</div><div>On April 4, with T4CS, the energy of volunteers mobilized by Unite Colorado Springs, strategic use of polling and social media, and a little luck, the upstarts pulled off a stunning upset. Even though T4CS was outspent by at least 10-to-1 (their opponents’ war chest included some $385,000 in secretive “dark money” that many suspect came largely from Anschutz and/or the Koch Brothers), the people’s efforts prevailed. All three T4CS endorsees were elected by substantial margins, as were the two candidates it recommended. These five joined Bill Murray, a progressive holdover whose at-large seat was not up this year and, thus, a pragmatic-progressive coalition now holds a solid majority at City Hall. In its first move, the new council, over the objections of the pro-development establishment, selected Skorman as council president and Gaebler the mayor pro tem. By working together, the citizen uprising in the Springs has, indeed, moved mountains, shifting power from The Broadmoor’s backrooms out to the grassroots.</div><div>
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</div><div>Gone to the dogs</div><div>
</div><div>Big political change is sometimes symbolized by small alterations in routine. When Yolanda Avila became not only the first Latina on the council, but also its first legally blind member, lobbyists backed off on trying to dazzle members with slick power-point visuals. In addition, when Councilwoman Avila took her place on the dais, she was accompanied by her guide dog, Puma, the council’s first canine. Well, thought a few members, why not bring my fido? Thus, Colorado Springs’s council meetings are now graced by the presence of up to four dogs, reducing the pomposity of the proceedings and giving them a bit more common-people’s feel.</div><div>
</div><div>Symbolism aside, change is as changees do, and this council is not hesitating to put its new clout to work for such needed policy changes as:</div><div>
</div><div>No more giveaways of the people’s resources to corporate interests. (A lawsuit challenging the city council’s vote to swap away Strawberry Fields to The Broadmoor is wending its way through the courts, with a decision expected in 2018.)</div><div>
</div><div>Welcoming the LGBTQ community into city government</div><div>
</div><div>Working to close the city’s antiquated coal-burning power plant and transitioning to renewable energy sources</div><div>
</div><div>Public funding of the arts</div><div>
</div><div>Better disclosure of campaign donations</div><div>
</div><div>Promoting in-fill and restraining gluttonous sprawl</div><div>
</div><div>Investing in more open space for all residents to use</div><div>
</div><div>Expanding people’s access to high-speed internet service</div><div>
</div><div>Get moving!</div><div>
</div><div>Resisting Donald Trump’s freak show in Washington is essential, but no more so than building democratic politics where we live. If the everyday people of Colorado Springs–a supposedly rock-solid bastion of plutocracy and theocracy–can come together and take charge, so can the rest of us. As Skorman, the Springs’ new council president put it: People “are frustrated with national politics, but they can get involved locally. …[They] aren’t going to let these local elections slide like they have in the past.”</div><div>
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</div><div>Local offices have formidable power, and winning them creates real opportunities to make bold progressive advances. The Together group threw another party in May–this one to celebrate their remarkable April victories. But while everyone felt great about the election, the real joy at the event was knowing that they are on the brink of making significant positive differences in their city. As T4CS co-chair Dawn Haliburton-Rudy put it to the crowd: “Now our real work begins.”</div><div>
</div><div></div><div>
</div><div>http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Anschutz_Foundation</div><div>
</div><div>The Anschutz Foundation is a 501(c)(3) private exempt foundation located in Denver, Colorado. The foundation, started in 1983, is a grant-giving body that donates to many community or non-profit organizations, like local Boys & Girls Clubs, hospitals, and universities, but has also contributed millions to the State Policy Network, a network of conservative think tanks working to change public policy and opinion and promote policies like privatization, school voucher programs, low taxes, pro-life causes, and more.</div><div>
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</div><div>The foundation reported $110,499,998 in revenue, $55,933,970 in expenses, and $1,043,647,921 in net assets as of November 30, 2013.[6]The founder, Philip Anschutz, is an entrepreneur with a net worth of $11.2 billion, as of January 2015.[1] He is "a radical faith based political activist, a man who uses his vast fortune in attempts to advance an anti-homosexual and anti-science (specifically evolution) agenda," according to SB Nation.[2] His business ventures have included oil, railroads, telecom, and the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG). AEG operates arenas such as the Staples Center in Los Angeles and London's O2, in addition to his music and film divisions managing artists such as Jennifer Lopez and Justin Bieber, and producing films like the Chronicles of Narnia series.[3][4]&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>His ventures into film began when Anschutz wanted to see more family-friendly, wholesome movies on the silver screen, similar values he applies to some of his philanthropic giving.[5] Anschutz also founded, owns, or contributes to many major league sports teams such as the Los Angeles Galaxy, the Houston Dynamo, Chicago Fire, Los Angeles Lakers, and Los Angeles Kings. Despite his ownership and stakes in many sports teams, "Anschutz has managed to remain quietly in the background, limiting any connection between his social conservative activism and his multi-billion dollar sports and entertainment business," according to SB Nation.[2]</div><div>
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</div><div>1<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Connections to State Policy Network, DonorsTrust</div><div>2<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Contributions and Grants, 2009-2011</div><div>3<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Related Organizations and Projects</div><div>3.1<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Anschutz Family Foundation</div><div>3.2<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Foundation for a Better Life</div><div>4<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Staff Members</div><div>4.1<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Board of Directors</div><div>4.2<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Connections to Anschutz Corporation</div><div>5<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Contact</div><div>6<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Articles and Resources</div><div>6.1<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Related SourceWatch Articles</div><div>6.2<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Forms 990</div><div>6.3<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>References</div><div>Connections to State Policy Network, DonorsTrust</div><div>Of the $128,626,905 in total contributions given, $5,052,700 was given to member associations of the State Policy Network from 2009 to 2011. State Policy Network provides funding and support to state-based think tanks, such as the Heritage Foundation and the Goldwater Institute, in addition to working with its associate members like National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and Koch brothers-backed, Americans for Prosperity. From 2009 to 2011, the largest contributions from Anschutz Foundation to State Policy Network members include, but are not limited to:</div><div>
</div><div>Alliance for Choice in Education received $1,750,000.</div><div>American Enterprise Institute received $575,000.</div><div>Center for Union Facts received $225,000.</div><div>Independence Institute received $316,700.</div><div>Manhattan Institute for Policy Research received $225,000.</div><div>Mountain States Legal Foundation received $170,000.</div><div>National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation received $155,000.</div><div>Pacific Research Institute received $205,000.</div><div>Philanthropy Roundtable received $195,000.</div><div>State Policy Network associate member, DonorsTrust, also received $82,000 in a single donation from 2009. DonorsTrust is a grant-giving body designed to protect the identities of wealthy donors or corporations as they funnel money into the trust, and then widely distribute funds to various conservative think tanks and organizations. DonorsTrust has not received funding from the foundation since 2009.</div><div>
</div><div>P. Anschutz said he often prefers anonymity when giving donations, the crux of DonorsTrust's organizational values:</div><div>
</div><div>"We have always seen anonymity as a high form of charitable giving,” he says. “There are few instances where our name is on something. If there is a reason to name names, a valid reason to use it, we will agree to attach our name. If, for example, the gift creates other contributions that encourage further support or helps to validate a project which in turn might bring broader community support. But, by and large, we think it’s probably most effective to be quiet.” [7]</div><div>From 2009 to 2011, the foundation contributed $195,000 to Philanthropy Roundtable, another right-wing grant-giving body. In honor of their philanthropic work, Philanthropy Roundtable also awarded P. Anschutz, and his wife Nancy, the William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership. The award is given to "highlight the power of philanthropy to promote positive change and to inspire others to support charities that achieve genuine results." [8] Other recipients of the award include Charles Koch, and Richard and Helen DeVos from the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation.</div><div>
</div><div>During this time period, Anschutz Foundation also contributed to ALEC in 2010, with a single donation of $10,000.</div><div>
</div><div>Contributions and Grants, 2009-2011</div><div>Other contributions from the Anschutz Foundation in 2009 to 2011 include, but are not limited to:</div><div>
</div><div>Alpha USA received $1,250,000 total.</div><div>American Museum of Western Art received $17,435,000 total.</div><div>Axl Academy Foundation received $625,000 total.</div><div>Center for Neurological Disease-Rocky Mountains MS Center received $750,000 total.</div><div>Colorado Historical Society received $5,000,000 total.</div><div>Colorado State University Foundation received $1,715,000 total.</div><div>Denver Museum of Nature & Science received $1,051,000 total.</div><div>Denver Options Inc. received $1,160,000 total.</div><div>Denver Public Schools and Foundation received $1,320,550 total.</div><div>Denver Zoological Foundation received $1,010,000 total.</div><div>Graland School received $1,115,000 total.</div><div>Leadership Network received $2,849,000 total.</div><div>Mile High United Way received $635,000.</div><div>Providence Network received $900,000.</div><div>Random Acts of Kindness Foundation received $704,561 total.</div><div>Teach for America received $2,600,000 total.</div><div>United Service Organization received $1,750,000 total.</div><div>University of Colorado Foundation received $2,686,284 total.</div><div>University of Colorado Hospital Foundation received $3,530,698 total.</div><div>Volunteers of America received $900,000 total.</div><div>Young Life received $779,600 total.</div><div>Related Organizations and Projects</div><div>The foundation is associated with the other Anschutz family organizations, such as the Anschutz Family Foundation, the Anschutz Medical Campus, and the Anschutz Corporation (and its entities: AEG, Clarity Media, the Examiner) [9]</div><div>
</div><div>Anschutz Family Foundation</div><div>Fred B. Anschutz (1909-1993) and Marian P. Anschutz (1910-1986), parents of director and entrepreneur, Philip F. Anschutz, "created the Anschutz Family Foundation in 1982 as a result of many years of successful gas and oil, real estate and ranching ventures." [10]</div><div>
</div><div>While the Anschutz Foundation serves local and national non-profit and community organizations, the Anschutz Family Foundation gives funds to Colorado based organizations or Colorado chapters or national organizations. Their funds are divided among 10 categories, including low income housing organizations, crisis intervention groups, senior programs, children's programs, and more. In 2012, of the 369 grants given by the foundation, 99 went to youth development and children's programs, 68 went to self sufficiency/families/literacy organizations, and 60 went to food/shelter/homeless organizations. [11]</div><div>
</div><div>Foundation for a Better Life</div><div>The Foundation for a Better Life, created by the Anschutzes', intends to promote "common-sense values" such as "respect," "service," and "leadership" by creating public service ads. P. Anschutz said the project is an "entrepreneurial idea applied to a philanthropic platform," and is seen in over 200 countries on TV and on the Internet. Anschutz commented on the foundation's values as a way to let people help themselves, as opposed to seeking help from organizations and the government:</div><div>
</div><div>"Food banks, charter schools, and homeless shelters are a good way to help people, Mr. Anschutz notes, but in the long run, people grounded in solid values will be better situated to prosper on their own." [7]</div><div>Staff Members</div><div>Board of Directors</div><div>According to their 2011 Form 990, the foundation's board of directors includes: [12]</div><div>
</div><div>Christopher W. Hunt, director</div><div>Thomas G. Kundert, assistant treasurer</div><div>Philip F. Anschutz, chairman/director</div><div>Nancy P. Anschutz, director</div><div>Cannon Y. Harvey, vice president/director</div><div>Craig D. Slater, secretary/treasurer/director</div><div>M. Lavoy Robison, director</div><div>Sarah A Hunt, vice president/director</div><div>Ted E. Harms, executive director</div><div>Connections to Anschutz Corporation</div><div>Three of the directors are employees of P. Anschutz and Anschutz Corporation. Cannon Y. Harvey works as the President and Chief Operating Officer at The Anschutz Company and Anschutz Corporation, and has served in those positions since December 1996. [13] Craig D. Slater also serves as the Executive Vice President of Anschutz Corporation and Anschutz Company since May 1999. [14] Thomas G. Kundert also serves as Treasurer of Anschutz Corporation. [15]</div><div>
</div><div>Contact</div><div>Anschutz Foundation</div><div>1729 Tremont Place</div><div>Denver, CO 80202</div><div>(303) 308-8220 [12]</div><div>
</div><div>Articles and Resources</div><div>Related SourceWatch Articles</div><div>State Policy Network</div><div>SPN Members</div><div>DonorsTrust</div><div>American Legislative Exchange Council</div><div>Forms 990</div><div>Anschutz Foundation, 2012 Form 990 (for 12/1/12-11/30/13), organizational IRS tax filing, August 25, 2014.</div><div>Anschutz Foundation, 2011 Form 990 (for 12/1/11-11/30/12), organizational IRS tax filing, October 7, 2013.</div><div>Anschutz Foundation, 2010 Form 990 (for 12/1/10-11/30/11), organizational IRS tax filing, October 10, 2012.</div><div>Anschutz Foundation, 2009 Form 990 (for 12/1/09-11/31/10), organizational IRS tax filing, October 12, 2011.</div><div>Anschutz Foundation, 2008 Form 990 (for 12/1/08-11/31/09), organizational IRS tax filing, November 1, 2010.</div><div>References</div><div>Jump up↑ Philip Anschutz, Forbes profile, accessed January 2015.</div><div>↑ Jump up to:2.0 2.1 Zach Woosley, The Two Sides of Philip Anschutz, SB Nation, November 10, 2011.</div><div>Jump up↑ Christopher Helman, The Man Behind the Curtain, Forbes, October 21, 2010.</div><div>Jump up↑ Virginia Citrano, Billionaire Anschutz May See Redemption With 'Narnia', Forbes, December 6, 2005.</div><div>Jump up↑ George Anders, The Reel Life of Phil Anschutz, The Wall Street Journal, April 23, 2004.</div><div>Jump up↑ Anschutz Foundation, 2012 IRS Form 990, foundation's annual IRS filing, August 25, 2014.</div><div>↑ Jump up to:7.0 7.1 Last, Jonathan V. Philanthropy Roundtable: Pass It On Fall 2009 Cite error: Invalid&nbsp; tag; name "Pass_It_On" defined multiple times with different content</div><div>Jump up↑ Philanthropy Roundtable: William E. Simon Prize</div><div>Jump up↑ Anschutz Familiy Foundation</div><div>Jump up↑ History, Anschutz Family Foundation, accessed September 8, 2008.</div><div>Jump up↑ Anschutz Family Foundation 2012 Grants</div><div>↑ Jump up to:12.0 12.1 2011 Form 990 2011.</div><div>Jump up↑ BusinessWeek</div><div>Jump up↑ BusinessWeek</div><div>Jump up↑ The Anschutz Corporation</div><div></div><div>
</div><div>many links</div><div>
</div><div>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/us/politics/neil-gorsuch-supreme-court.html</div><div>
</div><div>Neil Gorsuch Has Web of Ties to Secretive Billionaire</div><div>
</div><div>By CHARLIE SAVAGE and JULIE TURKEWITZ&nbsp; MARCH 14, 2017</div><div>
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</div><div>Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, represented a Colorado billionaire’s companies and lower-ranking business executives. Credit Al Drago/The New York Times</div><div>
</div><div>WASHINGTON — The publicity-shy billionaire Philip F. Anschutz inherited an oil and gas firm and built it into an empire that has sprawled into telecommunications, railroads, real estate, resorts, sports teams, stadiums, movies and conservative publications like The Weekly Standard and The Washington Examiner.</div><div>
</div><div>Mr. Anschutz’s influence is especially felt in his home state of Colorado, where years ago Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, a Denver native, the son of a well-known Colorado Republican and now President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, was drawn into his orbit.</div><div>
</div><div>As a lawyer at a Washington law firm in the early 2000s, Judge Gorsuch represented Mr. Anschutz, his companies and lower-ranking business executives as an outside counsel. In 2006, Mr. Anschutz successfully lobbied Colorado’s lone Republican senator and the Bush administration to nominate Judge Gorsuch to the federal appeals court. And since joining the court, Judge Gorsuch has been a semiregular speaker at the mogul’s annual dove-hunting retreats for the wealthy and politically prominent at his 60-square-mile Eagles Nest Ranch.</div><div>
</div><div>“They say a country’s prosperity depends on three things: sound money, private property and the rule of law,” Judge Gorsuch said at the 2010 retreat, according to his speaker notes from that year. “This crowd hardly needs to hear from me about the first two of the problems we face on those scores.”</div><div>
</div><div>With the Senate Judiciary Committee set to take up Judge Gorsuch’s nomination next week, Democrats have based much of their criticism of him on the argument that his judicial and economic philosophy unduly favors corporations and the wealthy. But his relationship with Mr. Anschutz, 77, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes to be $12.6 billion, has received scant attention.</div><div>
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</div><div>
</div><div>Democrats’ Line of Attack on Gorsuch: No Friend of the Little Guy MARCH 13, 2017</div><div>
</div><div>In Judge Neil Gorsuch, an Echo of Scalia in Philosophy and Style JAN. 31, 2017</div><div>
</div><div>In Fall of Gorsuch’s Mother, a Painful Lesson in Politicking FEB. 4, 2017</div><div>
</div><div>U.S. Court Rules Against Tax Deferral Strategy JULY 23, 2010</div><div>
</div><div>New Owner for Weekly Standard as Political Tastes Change AUG. 2, 2009</div><div>
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</div><div>The Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation, which developed the list of potential Supreme Court nominees from which Mr. Trump selected Judge Gorsuch, receive funding from Mr. Anschutz. But it is not clear how well the two know each other, in part because the mogul and those around him keep a low profile.</div><div>
</div><div>Photo</div><div>
</div><div>A property in Granby, Colo., co-owned by Judge Gorsuch and high-ranking members in the business empire of the billionaire Philip F. Anschutz. Credit Julie Turkewitz/The New York Times</div><div>
</div><div>When a reporter called Mr. Anschutz’s company and asked for a press officer, a woman who answered said, “We do not respond to media requests.” She hung up when asked her name.</div><div>
</div><div>But he has connections with others who work with the Colorado billionaire. For nearly a dozen years, Judge Gorsuch has been partners in a limited-liability company with two of Mr. Anschutz’s top lieutenants. Together, they own a 40-acre property on the Colorado River in the mountains northwest of Denver, where they built a vacation home together.</div><div>
</div><div>Judge Gorsuch began representing Mr. Anschutz and his companies when he was working for the Washington law firm then known as Kellogg Huber. Mark Hansen, a senior partner at the firm, said he assigned the future judge, then a junior partner, to help on various cases involving the Anschutz Company “both because of his skills and experience and because he had expressed to me an interest in getting involved in things relating to his home state.”</div><div>
</div><div>A 2004 case was typical. A teachers’ retirement fund that owned shares in the Regal Entertainment theater chain sued over its decision to issue a debt-financed dividend that would permit Mr. Anschutz, who owned 58 percent of the company, to extract $368 million. The plaintiffs said this amounted to self-dealing.</div><div>
</div><div>Judge Gorsuch helped win a ruling in Regal’s favor by arguing that it could handle the extra debt, telling a judge, “This company is what some analysts call a cash cow.”</div><div>
</div><div>Another set of shareholder lawsuits in which Mr. Gorsuch represented Mr. Anschutz involved Qwest Communications International, whose stock price had collapsed amid an accounting fraud scandal after Mr. Anschutz, a Qwest board member, had sold off a large stake. Mr. Hansen said a judge dismissed Mr. Anschutz from the case, although Qwest paid a settlement.</div><div>
</div><div>In 2005, Judge Gorsuch left private practice to work at the Justice Department. But soon afterward, a seat on the federal appeals court in Denver became vacant, and Mr. Anschutz sought to secure it for him.</div><div>
</div><div>Photo</div><div>
</div><div>The billionaire Philip F. Anschutz helps fund the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society, which developed the list of potential nominees from which President Trump selected Judge Gorsuch. Credit David Zalubowski/Associated Press</div><div>
</div><div>In January 2006, a top lawyer for Mr. Anschutz sent a letter on the billionaire’s behalf to President George W. Bush’s White House counsel, Harriet E. Miers, suggesting that he nominate Judge Gorsuch. The letter said Mr. Anschutz had spoken to Colorado’s only Republican senator at the time, Wayne Allard, about his idea.</div><div>
</div><div>“I have had the pleasure of knowing Mr. Gorsuch for several years, as we worked closely together on several complex federal cases,” wrote the lawyer, Bruce Black, who is now the executive vice president and general counsel of the Anschutz Company. “I have found Mr. Gorsuch to be an exceptionally talented lawyer.”</div><div>
</div><div>When he was named to the appeals court, Judge Gorsuch sought to recuse himself from numerous Anschutz-related cases “because my former client” was involved, according to a list he submitted to the Senate.</div><div>
</div><div>In 2007 he did participate in a case involving a firm that had merged with Qwest. The disability fund of the old firm, not Qwest, was named as the defendant, although the opinion, written by another judge, noted the old firm was “now Qwest.”</div><div>
</div><div>Liz Johnson, a spokeswoman for Judge Gorsuch, portrayed his participation in that Anschutz-linked case as inadvertent, explaining that he did not include the old firm’s name in a recusal list he filed with the court clerk because “it did not exist as an independent company” when he became a judge.</div><div>
</div><div>Steven Lubet, a Northwestern University law professor who has written about judicial ethics and recusals, said that so long as Judge Gorsuch disqualifies himself on a case-by-case basis from Supreme Court cases that are too involved with Mr. Anschutz’s interests, his ties to the billionaire should not be a problem.</div><div>
</div><div>But the judge appears to be leaving the door open to participating in Anschutz-related cases on the Supreme Court.</div><div>
</div><div>Ms. Johnson said his recusal practices at the appeals court went further than what is required on the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court’s procedure is that individual justices decide for themselves whether any particular case meets a vague standard for recusal set by a 1974 statute. It does not address whether cases involving former clients raise an improper appearance of a conflict of interest.</div><div>
</div><div>James Sample, a Hofstra University law professor who has studied Supreme Court recusals, said, “It’s very reasonable to ask a Supreme Court nominee for a more thorough answer” about how he will weigh such decisions, especially since “it seems as though there is a kind of continuous relationship — this is not just a past client.”</div><div>
</div><div>One of the Anschutz executives Judge Gorsuch represented in a Qwest lawsuit was Cannon Harvey, the head of the venture capital investment arm of Mr. Anschutz’s empire. In 2005, a company called the Walden Group filed paperwork with the Colorado secretary of state that listed Mr. Harvey as the company’s registered agent, but did not disclose any other partners’ identities.</div><div>
</div><div>But when he was nominated for the appeals court, Judge Gorsuch disclosed in his Senate questionnaire that he was a partner, too. The Walden Group attracted little attention until his nomination to the Supreme Court, when American Bridge, a liberal research group, identified public records about it that linked Judge Gorsuch to Mr. Harvey.</div><div>
</div><div>Days after its formation, the Walden Group purchased a 40-acre property along the Colorado River’s headwaters in the mountains northwest of Denver. The group then built a 2,923-square-foot log house there overlooking “the quiet seclusion of the private fishery,” including both sides of 2,000 feet of the river, according to a real estate listing.</div><div>
</div><div>Ms. Johnson said the Walden Group has three partners: Judge Gorsuch, Mr. Harvey and Kevin Conwick. The judge befriended Mr. Harvey while representing Anschutz companies, and Mr. Conwick was a friend of the judge’s late father, a Denver lawyer, she said.</div><div>
</div><div>Mr. Conwick is also another important member of Mr. Anschutz’s network. His law firm profile focuses on his work through the years as the billionaire’s counsel in deals to buy sports teams and develop stadium and entertainment district projects, like the Staples Center in Los Angeles.</div><div>
</div><div>Photo</div><div>
</div><div>The Walden Group, including Judge Gorsuch, purchased a 40-acre property along the Colorado River’s headwaters in the mountains northwest of Denver. Credit Julie Turkewitz/The New York Times</div><div>
</div><div>Ms. Johnson said Judge Gorsuch contributed $360,000 to the Walden Group, giving him a 20 percent stake; Mr. Harvey and Mr. Conwick each own 40 percent. She said the partners divide the time when each has a right to vacation on the river property, as well as taxes and utilities, based on their respective shares.</div><div>
</div><div>Although the judge’s stake is smaller than his partners’, county records direct correspondence about the property to him at the federal courthouse in Denver.</div><div>
</div><div>A longtime friend of Judge Gorsuch’s whom Ms. Johnson made available to discuss the property said the partnership had its origin years ago, when Judge Gorsuch’s father and a dozen friends — including Mr. Conwick — bought an adjoining property to be a timeshare they called the Walden Hollow Fishing Club. When the 40-acre property became available, the judge’s father persuaded Mr. Harvey and Mr. Conwick to partner with him to buy it for a similar timeshare, the friend said.</div><div>
</div><div>Mr. Conwick and Mr. Harvey declined to discuss the partnership, but since 2015, the Walden Group has been trying to sell the property, and few neighbors know who owns it.</div><div>
</div><div>“They’re very protective of their fishing,” said Dawn Murphy, 46, who said she was one of only a few year-round residents nearby.</div><div>
</div><div>But down the gravel road from Ms. Murphy’s cabin, a man outside a ranch house identified himself as the river property’s caretaker.</div><div>
</div><div>“I’m one of maybe half a dozen people in this valley who know of Neil Gorsuch,” he said.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Then, emphasizing that he was a former law enforcement official, he asked a reporter to leave.</div><div>
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</div><div>http://www.salon.com/2017/03/15/supreme-court-nominee-neil-gorsuch-has-close-ties-to-conservative-megadonor-activist-philip-anschutz/</div><div>
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</div><div>Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch, has been variously criticized as too liberal or too conservative, or in some cases as simply being a slap in the face of good governance. Yet now there is a new controversy emerging around Gorsuch — the Supreme Court nominee who’s replacing Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland — he has a long-lasting connection to Colorado billionaire Philip F. Anschutz.</div><div>
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</div><div>Anschutz, whose business empire ranges from real estate and telecommunications to railroads and oil and gas, is first known to have been connected to Gorsuch in the early 2000s, when Gorsuch represented both Anschutz and his companies as an outside counsel from the firm Kellogg Huber, according to The New York Times. Given Anschutz’s ownership of conservative publications like The Weekly Standard and The Washington Examiner, it is quite likely that he shares a sense of ideological kinship with Gorsuch, who has long been on the conservative end of the political spectrum.</div><div>
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</div><div>Anschultz’s support played a key role in Gorsuch’s nomination to a federal appeals court in 2006. President Trump’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees was given to him by the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation, both of which receive donations from Anschutz.</div><div>
</div><div>Although it is unclear whether Gorsuch and Anschultz are friends (Anschultz is notoriously private), Gorsuch has frequently spoken at Anschultz’s lavish retreats at his 60-square-mile Eagles Nest Ranch. Similarly, Gorsuch shares a limited-liability company with two of Anschultz’s “lieutenants,” the Times notes, with the three of them co-owning a 40-acre property in the Colorado mountains.</div><div>
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</div><div>While Gorscuh’s past with Anschultz is not necessarily unusual, it is concerning that (as The Times reported) “the judge appears to be leaving the door open to participating in Anschutz-related cases on the Supreme Court.” That could pose a conflict of interest if Gorsuch fails to adequately address it.</div><div>
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</div><div>2. Philip Anschutz: The Invisible Billionaire</div><div>
</div><div>Phil Anschutz is a 71-years-old business tycoon worth $7.1 billion, making him the 34th richest American on the Forbes [16] 400. He is minority owner of the NBA’s L.A. Lakers and the NHL’s L.A. Kings. He also owns Staples Center in L.A., which is among 120 entertainment venues controlled by his privately held Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG). AEG promotes tours for the top names in music, like the Black Eyed Peas, Cher, Jon Bon Jovi and Justin Bieber.</div><div>
</div><div>Despite his enormous wealth and colossal empire stretching from energy and telecommunications to cinemas and railways, most people have never heard of Phil Anschutz. His utter invisibility may be due in part to a dearth of media appearances. According to Forbes, Anschutz has given just three interviews over the last four decades, which his spokesperson said was “three interviews too many [17].”</div><div>
</div><div>Anschutz epitomizes what Zirin calls “the Keyser Soze principle,” which is based on the movie The Usual Suspects, when Kevin Spacey’s character says, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”&nbsp; The title of a Forbes cover story that profiled Anschutz last year agreed, calling him “The Man Behind the Curtain [18].”</div><div>
</div><div>Zirin describes Anchutz as “somebody who preaches an Ayn Randian ideology to his various underlings about the genius and wonderment of the free-market,” which explains why he subsidizes two money-losing conservative publications, the Weekly Standard and the Examiner, both of which he uses to amplify conservative propaganda.</div><div>
</div><div>In his free time, Anschutz keeps busy with Christian conservatism and opposition to gay marriage. According to the Independent [19], he bankrolled the conservative group Colorado for Family Values, which was behind Colorado’s Amendment 2, a ballot initiative that sought to eliminate state laws protecting gay rights. He also donates to the Discovery institute, a “think-tank” that criticizes evolution and promotes “a new spin on creationism.”</div><div>
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</div><div>fang machine: C ent complx: pol and poker; running reality tv of cands; right to laugh; jackpot justice (class action)tory; stakelbeck on terror ~ muslim 180-1.</div><div>
</div><div>ed snider ceo comcast ~ dems on gulf war 2</div><div>
</div><div>fox, ailes, rush; cato forum nra fam res cncl; ailes Am talking --> msnbc 1996; fox news boost when favored by b2 admin 186</div><div>
</div><div>movies: Mot Pict Inst (Fdn for indiv rights in educ staffers 2005) rob Pfaltzgraff 187) the Cartel --> wait for superman, vonnegut bergson; eliz koch on mpi bd; pac res, CEI w/ MPI, also Horowitz/ The DFilm Inst blames BC for 911 (aborts mission to get Osama, aired by ABC as docudrama 188-9, busted , so tfi lower profile; horo also matchmaker of rw to stars eg Braveheart producer Steve McEveety,&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>// Movieguide Ted Baehr xian (templeton fdn funds awards) converted jewish produces 189</div><div>
</div><div>MGM remake Red Dawn ~chineese; kalifornistan jason apuzzo paised by malkin, boosted 24 creators surnow and manny coto 191 ; pal of rush into to ailes led to Daily show mirror 191; the n The Kennedy's for History channel: doz sex scene but not cuban crisis (waves of sec serv msg to have sex in pool) 191</div><div>
</div><div>ex GS now media bank) Stephen Bannon Libertas films ( free office sp to Breitbart) 191 w/ Phil A on Narnia; fire from heartland gop women bachmanm couklter and TP loesch</div><div>
</div><div>CU Bossie: hype: the Obama effect; bunch with newt: john paul II;&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>rightnetwork via Verizon cabe</div><div>
</div><div>rupert pays 11$ per viewer on local cable, oppisite of biz model</div><div>
</div><div>bannon/phil: The Hope and the chagwe (~ bo) 2016 Obama's Am&nbsp; 194-5</div><div></div><div>
</div><div>wa examiner etc</div><div>
</div><div>LOS ANGELES, Jan. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- AXS, AEG's digital ticketing and media platform, has acquiredExaminer.com, a top content destination, it was announced today by Bryan Perez, President of AEG Digital, Ticketing and Media.</div><div>
</div><div>Launched in 2008, Examiner.com is the leading content creation network, connecting consumers to effective online influencers, known as Examiners; and creating meaningful and authentic interactions through compelling stories. Garnering more than 40 million unique visitors every month, Examiner.com is the 37th largest website in the U.S. and the 10th largest mobile website according to Quantcast.</div><div>
</div><div>With the resources and content created by the thousands of affiliated, established writers, AXS.com will now have the ability to populate original content directly into the AXS.com platform. The end result will be a new immersive experience for AXS.com users around live events.&nbsp; The experience will couple the power of the thousands of 'Examiners' writing each day about live events, with AXS.com's ticketing platform and AEG's insider access to events to create a one of a kind destination – uniquely focused on the live experience – both the content and the commerce.</div><div>
</div><div>"Fans have told us they don't see the populated social media feeds of other event focused websites as truly engaging content; instead they are craving content with a deeper, authentic and editorial connection, curated for their live entertainment interests," said Mr. Perez.&nbsp; "The Examiner platform allows AXS to do this at scale immediately."&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>"We have created a large scale content platform and we are truly excited about the integration with AXS.com.&nbsp; With this merger, AXS will now have the opportunity to tap into our contributors who are passionate about live events and direct them towards bringing consumers great stories around live entertainment," said Ashish Kapur, CEO ofExaminer.com, who will now be joining the AXS team as the Senior Vice President of Content.</div><div>
</div><div>Existing content not related to live entertainment will continue to live on Examiner.com.</div><div>
</div><div>About Examiner.com</div><div>
</div><div>Examiner.com is an enterprise-quality publishing and community platform where independent, self-motivated contributors write on topics that matter to them and share content with like-minded audiences around the world. Every month over 10,000 Examiners create more than 70,000 articles adding to a growing library of over 4 million articles.&nbsp; The site averages 40M unique visitors per month and is ranked #37 according to Quantcast and #89 by comScore.</div><div>
</div><div>About AXS</div><div>
</div><div>Developed and operated by AEG, one of the leading sports and entertainment presenters in the world, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Anschutz Company, AXS is a new entertainment platform that also serves as AEG's primary consumer brand. AXS provides fans the opportunity to purchase tickets directly from their favorite venues via a user-friendly ticketing interface.&nbsp; AXS serves all phases of the event life-cycle beyond just ticketing, through its consumer facing website, AXS.com and the AXS App, as well as its portfolio of investment companies, including Carbonhouse, a leading website developer for venues, Frontgate Ticketing, a festival oriented ticketing platform owned in partnership with C3 Presents, and Bypass, the venue industry's leading supplier of cloud-based food and beverage point-of-sale systems.&nbsp; For more information on AXS, please visit AXS.com.</div><div>
</div><div>About AEG</div><div>
</div><div>AEG is one of the leading sports and entertainment presenters in the world. AEG, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Anschutz Company, owns or is affiliated with a collection of companies including over 100 of the world's preeminent facilities such as STAPLES Center (Los Angeles, CA), StubHub Center (Carson, CA), Best Buy Theater (Times Square, New York), Sprint Center (Kansas City), Rose Garden Arena (Portland, OR), Target Center (Minneapolis, MN), Mercedes-Benz Arena (Shanghai, China), MasterCard Center (Beijing, China), Allphones Arena (Sydney, Australia), Stockholm Globe Arenas (Stockholm, Sweden), O2 World arena (Berlin, Germany), O2 World Hamburg, Indigo2 and The O2 arena and entertainment district (London, England) which are all part of the portfolio of AEG Facilities. Developed by AEG, L.A. LIVE is a 4 million square foot / multi-million dollar downtown Los Angelessports, residential & entertainment district featuring Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE and Club Nokia, a 54-story, 1001-room convention "headquarters" destination along with entertainment, restaurant and office space that "officially" opened in 2010.&nbsp; In addition to overseeing privately held management shares of the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA), assets of AEG Sports include franchises and properties such as the Los Angeles Kings (NHL), Los Angeles Galaxy and Houston Dynamo (MLS), two hockey franchises in Europe and the Amgen Tour of California cycling race.&nbsp; AEG Live, the company's live-entertainment division, is the world's second largest concert promotion and touring companies and is comprised of touring, festival, exhibition, broadcast, merchandise and special event divisions with fifteen regional offices.&nbsp; AEG Global Partnerships, a division responsible for worldwide sales and servicing of sponsorships naming rights and other strategic partnerships and AEG Merchandising, a multi-faceted merchandising company are also core business units of AEG.&nbsp; In 2010, AEG launched its AEG 1EARTH environmental program with the announcement of 2020 environmental goals and the release of the industry's first sustainability report while in 2011, AEG introduced AXS Ticketing, the first phase of its new entertainment platform serving as the company's primary consumer brand. For additional information: aegworldwide.com&nbsp;</div><div>
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</div><div>Bay Area Moderate Conservative Examiner</div><div>Dwight L. Schwab Jr.</div><div>Dwight has 30 years of work experience in the publishing industry, including ABC/Cap Cities and International Thomson. He has a BS in journalism from the University of Oregon and minors in political science and American history. He is a native of Portland, Oregon and a resident of the SF Bay Area since 1977. Dwight has written over 800 articles, since 2009, regarding domestic politics and international affairs. Send any comments to dwight.schwab@gmail.com.</div><div>=</div><div>
</div><div>OAKLAND, California, Aug 20 2008 (IPS) - Right-wing groups are stepping up their campaign against Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, with two new books on the best-seller lists, another on the verge of publication, and a full-length documentary that will premiere during the party conventions later this month.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>Jerome Corsi, a veteran of the 2004 Swiftboating campaign that helped sink the candidacy of the Democratic Party’s John Kerry, had his book “The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality” debut at No. 1 on the New York Times hardcover nonfiction best-seller list on Sunday. Aug. 17 – although the list’s editors noted that some bookstores have reported receiving bulk orders.</div><div>
</div><div>“The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media’s Favorite Candidate” by David Freddoso is currently ranked at number five. And another Obama-bashing tome, expected sometime next month, is tentatively titled “Obama Unmasked,” and is written by Floyd Brown – the creator of 1988′s infamous Willie Horton television advertisement that helped put the kybosh on the presidential hopes of the Democrat’s Michael Dukakis.</div><div>
</div><div>Now, on Aug. 24, the eve of the Democratic Party’s convention in Denver, “Hype: The Obama Effect” – a full-length documentary that attacks everything about the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee – will be premiering at the Regal Pavilions 15 in the host city. The free showing is being sponsored by Citizens United and Chairman Dick Wadhams of the Colorado Republican Committee.</div><div>
</div><div>(The Regal Entertainment Group, which own Regal theaters, is the largest motion picture exhibitor in the world – it operates nearly 20 percent of all indoor screens in the U.S. The chain is owned by Philip Anschutz, an oil magnate, media mogul, and long-time contributor to conservative political causes.)</div><div>
</div><div>The film, through interviews with a host of Republican Party supporters, criticises Obama’s political positions, mocks the so-called cult of personality that many critics claim embodies his campaign, casts doubts about his judgment, and questions his character.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>“While ‘Hype’ may not generate large box office receipts, it is sure to become another prong in the right-wing attack machine,” Mike Reynolds, a longtime investigative reporter covering politics and religion, told IPS. “[Citizens United head David] Bossie might be hopeful that as the campaign moves forward, some right-wing websites might offer the film as a premium as they have for the books.”</div><div>
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</div><div>fracking blackfeet&nbsp;</div><div>
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</div><div>Three oil companies are undertaking most of the drilling on the Blackfeet Reservation at present: Denver-based Anschutz Exploration Corp. and Rosetta Resources and Newfield Exploration Co. of Houston. Though the drilling is simply exploratory at this point, with no definitive results announced, the fact that the Blackfeet Reservation makes up part of the Bakken Shale formation – which is currently spurring an oil boom in Eastern Montana and Western North Dakota – means a good chance exists that the wells on the Blackfeet Reservation could lead to steady production, along with millions in royalties for the Tribe.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
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</div><div>The Anschutz Corporation</div><div>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div><div>Jump to: navigation, search</div><div>The Anschutz Corporation is a privately held holding company headquartered in Denver, Colorado, United States.[1] It was started in 1958 by Fred Anschutz, a wildcatter, and the father of Philip Anschutz, who took over the company in 1962.[1]</div><div>
</div><div>The Anschutz Corporation, and affiliates Anschutz Company and Anschutz Investment Company, are vehicles for the diversified investments for Anschutz;[1] the latter is a venture capital firm with minority stakes in sectors such as mass media, entertainment, sports, telecommunications, energy, and transportation.[2] Larger investments include Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and the Regal Entertainment Group.[3] The company is also the owner, through Clarity Media Group and The Oklahoma Publishing Company, of several media properties, including The Weekly Standard, The Oklahoman, The Gazette (Colorado Springs), and The Washington Examiner.[4]</div><div>
</div><div>References</div><div>^ a b c The Anschutz Corporation, a company history and profile from FundingUniverse.com</div><div>^ Anschutz Investment Company from Bloomberg Businessweek</div><div>^ Regal Entertainment Group from the Anschutz Entertainment Group website</div><div>^ Avery, Greg (November 30, 2012). "Anschutz buys Colorado Springs Gazette". Denver Business Journal. Retrieved November 30, 2012.</div><div>
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</div><div>greenpeace aspen mtg 2010:&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>Philip Anschutz -- Owner of the Washington Examiner, the San Francisco Examiner, Examiner.com and the Weekly Standard, via Clarity Media Group.</div><div>
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</div><div>Philip Anschutz, CEO of the Anschutz Corporation, has served on the boards of both the American Petroleum Institute and the National Petroleum Council and has ties to Union Pacific Railroad and Forest Oil. He owns the Oil & Gas Asset Clearinghouse industry auction house. Anschutz founded telecommunications company Qwest, owns the Regal Entertainment theater chain and NRC broadcasting, which operates a string of radio stations in Colorado.</div><div>
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</div><div>Anschutz’s Clarity Media Group has played a flagship role in standing up for the billionaire Kochs over the last year. Since the Aspen meeting, pro-Koch publications from both Examiner.com and the Weekly Standard have been featured on Koch Industries’ “Koch Facts” webpage, created to dismiss allegations of Koch’s various unsavory business practices. Clarity’s outlets also published articles attacking Greenpeace after our March, 2010 release of Koch Industries: Secretly Funding the Climate Denial Movement.</div><div>
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</div><div>The Weekly Standard, which published a lengthy defense of the Koch brothers in March, 2011, has also been a promoter of so-called “climategate” emails. The magazine has served as a platform for prominent career climate skeptics Steven Hayward and Kenneth Green of the Koch-funded American Enterprise Institute (AEI).</div><div>
</div><div>Forbes estimates that Anschutz is the 34th richest American, just above Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, with a net worth of seven billion dollars.</div><div>
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</div><div>Philip Anschutz, Right-Wing Billionaire, Owns Production Company</div><div>Philip Anschutz</div><div>
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</div><div>"Won't Back Down," is a production of Walden Media, owned by billionaire investor and right-wing extremist Philip Anschutz. Anschutz participates in the Koch brothers' secretive political strategy summits and funds David Koch’s Americans for Prosperity group, which backed Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's union busting proposal and is working to defeat Barack Obama and other Democratic candidates across the country.</div><div>
</div><div>Anschutz bankrolls ALEC and ALEC member groups. In 2010, The Anschutz Foundation, gave ALEC $10,000 and his Union Pacific firm was an ALEC sponsor the following year. The Foundation funded three ALEC members who sat on the ALEC Education Task Force which approved the Parent Trigger Proposal: The Independence Institute, Center for Education Reform, and Pacific Research Institute.&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>Anschutz has also supported the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which backs legislation designed to cripple unions; the Discovery Institute, which seeks to get creation “science” accepted in public schools; and the Mission America Foundation, whose president considers homosexuality to be a “deviance.” He also owns the conservative magazine, the Weekly Standard.</div><div>
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</div><div>Walden Media was one of the producers of the pro-charter documentary film “Waiting for 'Superman'.” This film was criticized by Diane Ravitch as propaganda and as “a powerful weapon on behalf of those championing the ‘free market’ and privatization.”</div><div>
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</div><div>Philip Anschutz -- Owner of the Washington Examiner, the San Francisco Examiner, Examiner.com and the Weekly Standard, via Clarity Media Group.</div><div>
</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>Philip Anschutz, CEO of the Anschutz Corporation, has served on the boards of both the American Petroleum Institute and the National Petroleum Council and has ties to Union Pacific Railroad and Forest Oil. He owns the Oil & Gas Asset Clearinghouse industry auction house. Anschutz founded telecommunications company Qwest, owns the Regal Entertainment theater chain and NRC broadcasting, which operates a string of radio stations in Colorado.</div><div>
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</div><div>Anschutz’s Clarity Media Group has played a flagship role in standing up for the billionaire Kochs over the last year. Since the Aspen meeting, pro-Koch publications from both Examiner.com and the Weekly Standard have been featured on Koch Industries’ “Koch Facts” webpage, created to dismiss allegations of Koch’s various unsavory business practices. Clarity’s outlets also published articles attacking Greenpeace after our March, 2010 release of Koch Industries: Secretly Funding the Climate Denial Movement.</div><div>
</div><div>The Weekly Standard, which published a lengthy defense of the Koch brothers in March, 2011, has also been a promoter of so-called “climategate” emails. The magazine has served as a platform for prominent career climate skeptics Steven Hayward and Kenneth Green of the Koch-funded American Enterprise Institute (AEI).</div><div>
</div><div>Forbes estimates that Anschutz is the 34th richest American, just above Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, with a net worth of seven billion dollars.</div><div>
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</div><div>http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/anschutz_philip</div><div>
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</div><div>bought weekly std from murdoch</div><div>
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</div><div>Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer, who writes for the Weekly Standard and the Washington Post, Philip Anshutz, owner of the Examiner newspapers and the Weekly Standard, Stephen Moore, a Wall Street Journal editorial board member, are just some of the conservative media figures who attend the Kochs' exclusive, private annual gatherings.</div><div>
</div><div>Main Source: Mother Jones, February 4, 2011</div><div>
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</div><div>http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Philip_F._Anschutz</div><div>
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</div><div>As of March 2005, the "Anschutz Empire" included:[4]</div><div>
</div><div>Anschutz Company, "which has stakes in five U.S. soccer teams, including the MLS's San Jose Earthquakes, Los Angeles Galaxy, Chicago Fire and Colorado Rapids; the NHL's Los Angeles Kings; the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers; the Staples Center and the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles; and the London Arena."</div><div>Crusader Entertainment</div><div>Forest Oil</div><div>Pacific Energy Group</div><div>Qwest Communications, "regional telephone company (he owns 17 percent of the company.)"</div><div>Regal Entertainment Group "(the largest U.S. theater chain with approximately 6,000 screens. Anschutz owns more than half of the company, which is a collection of former bankrupt chains. It operates under the Regal Cinemas, Edwards Theaters, United Artists Theaters, and Hoyts Cinemas brands.)"</div><div>Union Pacific Railroad "(he is the company's largest shareholder, with 6 percent.)"</div><div>Clarity Media Group, owner of the San Francisco Examiner and Washington Examiner. In June 2009, Clarity Media Group acquired The Weekly Standard, a conservative opinion journal, from Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.[5]</div><div>Honorary Trustee, American Museum of Natural History [6]</div><div>
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</div><div>http://mediamatters.org/research/200502030002</div><div>
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</div><div>Anschutz has also made significant financial contributions to Republicans. The Washington Post described Anschutz as "an active Republican donor" stating that "he, his companies and members of his family have given more than $500,000 in campaign contributions to GOP candidates and committees" since 1996. Variety noted in its October 4, 2004, edition that Anschutz has supported "a number of Republican political candidates, including John Ashcroft and Peter Coors."</div><div>
</div><div>While at Qwest, Anschutz was involved in an accounting scandal that led to his resignation. According to a November 20 Post article:</div><div>
</div><div>In 2002, New York Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer sued Anschutz and four telecom executives, accusing Anschutz of making $1.5 billion in "unjust enrichment revenue," including the sale of initial-public-offering stock Anschutz received in the hopes he would steer investment banking business to Citigroup Inc. Anschutz and Spitzer reached an agreement in which Anschutz admitted no wrongdoing and later paid $4.4 million to law schools and charities, and Spitzer agreed to drop the suit.</div><div>
</div><div>That same year, Anschutz stepped down as Qwest's non-executive chairman. Anschutz remains on Qwest's board and still has 80 percent of his original Qwest holdings, which have lost significant value.</div><div>
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</div><div>Fox replaced Beck ad defectors with:</div><div>
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</div><div>The Foundation for a Better Life</div><div>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div><div>
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</div><div>&nbsp;<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>This article needs additional citations for verification.</div><div>Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009)</div><div>The Foundation for a Better Life is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2000 to promote positive behavioral values;[1] it is entirely funded by Philip Anschutz, a conservative Evangelical Christian.[2] The Foundation creates public service campaigns to communicate its values, such as honesty, caring, optimism, hard work, and helping others, in an attempt to make a difference in communities. Viewers are encouraged to step up to a higher level and to pass on positive values, with the rationale that these seemingly small examples of individuals living values-based lives may not change the world, but collectively they make a difference. The Foundation communicates its message through television, outdoor advertising, theatre, radio, and the Internet.</div><div>Contents</div><div>[hide]</div><div>1 History</div><div>2 Funding</div><div>3 Notes</div><div>4 External links</div><div>[edit] History</div><div>Founded in 2000 with a $700 million endowment from Mr. Anschutz, the organization was first headed by Gary Dixon, president of the foundation. The organization launched its first campaign on November 9, 2001. The original start date was September 13, 2001, but it was postponed due to the September 11th terrorist attacks. More than $10 million was spent on the initial campaign, which appeared on about 10,000 billboards, signs and posters nationwide.[3]</div><div>
</div><div>The original message of the campaign was modified to include themes which recognized the state of the nation following the attacks. Specifically, the values of "unity" and "courage" were added with images of flags and firefighters.[3]</div><div>
</div><div>Prior to the launch of the campaign, Mr. Dixon contacted Nancy Fletcher, president and chief executive at the outdoor advertising association in Washington. He reportedly was inspired by the association's billboard campaign called God Speaks, which generated enormous attention in 1999 and 2000.[3]</div><div>
</div><div>The foundation continues to sponsor public service messages on various media.</div><div>
</div><div>[edit] Funding</div><div>The Foundation neither solicits nor accepts monetary donations from the public. It is not officially affiliated with any religion, instead hoping that "the values we share transcend any particular religion or nationality".[4][5]</div><div>
</div><div>Anschutz's $7.2 billion fortune came from his investments in oil, land, railroads, telecommunications and entertainment businesses.</div><div>
</div><div>[edit] Notes</div><div>^ "About us". Foundation for a Better Life. http://www.forbetterlife.org/about_us/index.asp.</div><div>^ Outdoor Advertising Association of America article confirming Anschutz's role[dead link]</div><div>^ a b c Elliott, Stuart (November 9, 2001). "The Media Business; ADVERTISING; A campaign promotes noble behavior and the adoption of better values by everyone.". New York Times (New York Times). http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/09/business/media-business-advertising-campaign-promotes-noble-behavior-adoption-better.html?scp=2&sq=foundation%20for%20a%20better%20life&st=cse.</div><div>^ "FAQ". Foundation for a Better Life. http://www.values.com/about-us/faq.</div><div>^ Bunting, Glenn F. (July 23, 2006). "A Denver Billionaire's Invisible Hand". Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times). http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jul/23/local/me-anschutz23.</div><div>[edit] External links</div><div>The Foundation for A Better Life</div><div>Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Foundation_for_a_Better_Life"</div><div>Categories: Non-profit organizations based in the United States</div><div>=</div><div>
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</div><div>http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jul/23/local/me-anschutz23</div><div>
</div><div>&nbsp;A Denver Billionaire's Invisible Hand</div><div>
</div><div>Industrialist Philip Anschutz, intensely private and `focused beyond belief,' is quietly changing the face of downtown Los Angeles.</div><div>SPECIAL REPORT</div><div>July 23, 2006|Glenn F. Bunting | Times Staff Writer</div><div>...</div><div>
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</div><div>"Philip Anschutz is sort of like the Wizard of Oz," said Los Angeles economist Jack Kyser. "He is the man behind the curtain pulling the levers. Nobody sees him, yet he has a huge impact on Los Angeles."</div><div>
</div><div>In addition to the Home Depot Center in Carson, Anschutz built the $400-million Staples Center, dug a 130-mile oil pipeline from Kern County to Wilmington and is pumping $1.8 billion into a sports and entertainment district in downtown Los Angeles. He also has assembled the nation's largest chain of movie theaters and operates a Hollywood production company that is leading a revival of family-oriented films.</div><div>
</div><div>"There isn't a single person in the history of Los Angeles that has put more of his own money into this city," said developer Steve Soboroff, a onetime advisor to former Mayor Richard Riordan. "My feeling is we should rename the Harbor Freeway the Anschutz Freeway."</div><div>
</div><div>With an estimated net worth of $7.2 billion, Anschutz ranks No. 28 on Forbes' list of the richest people in America. Over the last four decades, he has amassed a global empire of more than 100 companies, nearly all of them privately held. In addition to oil and gas, real estate, movies and sports, his enterprises are active in railroads, telecommunications, agriculture, live entertainment, art and newspapers.</div><div>
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</div><div>Jim Monaghan, a longtime aide to Denver tycoon Philip Anschutz, recalls an afternoon at Washington's Union Station when a TV crew from the PBS program NewsHour had come within a hair of doing the impossible: landing an interview with Anschutz, a man who never grants them. But when the PBS crew began shooting customers receiving free copies of Anschutz's paper, the Washington Examiner, they failed to notice a man two feet away from them, dressed in a track suit and sunglasses, who was helping distribute the papers. It was Anschutz.</div><div>
</div><div>Why hawk his own papers undercover? To collect honest feedback from customers, says Monaghan. "Anonymity has its benefits." Anschutz has done three interviews in four decades, which he considers "three too many," says Monaghan. He declined an interview request from Forbes for this story.</div><div>
</div><div>Article Controls</div><div>Flying under the radar keeps Anschutz watchers guessing, but does it work? "So far it has," says media analyst John Morton. Anschutz's latest acquisition, The Weekly Standard, loses an estimated $5 million annually. Virtually all media accounts of the sale, announced earlier this month, reported on the transaction with no comment as to how it fits into his vast collection of business ventures. Anschutz not only doesn't grant interviews, his company releases virtually no information on sales or strategy related to his newest foray: media.</div><div>
</div><div>Worth an estimated $5 billion, Anschutz founded Qwest Communications ( Q - news - people ) and owns or controls stakes in some 100 businesses. Among them: railroads; oil companies; cattle ranching; wind farms; national park concessions; professional hockey, basketball and soccer teams; Regal Entertainment Group ( RGC - news - people ), the largest movie operator in the U.S.; the Staples Center and Kodak Theater in Los Angeles; the 02 Dome in London, where the late Michael Jackson planned 50 concerts; and movie production house Walden Media.</div><div>
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</div><div>"Won't Back Down" Film Pushes ALEC Parent Trigger Proposal</div><div>by Mary Bottari [1] — September 19, 2012 - 10:00am</div><div>Topics: Front Groups [2], Issue Management [3], Public Diplomacy [4], Third Party Technique [5], Children [6], Corporations [7], Democracy [8], Education [9]</div><div>Projects: ALEC Exposed [10]</div><div>Share/Save Share this [11]</div><div>-- Mary Bottari and Sara Jerving</div><div>
</div><div>Well-funded advocates of privatizing the nation's education system are employing a new strategy this fall to enlist support for the cause. The emotionally engaging Hollywood film "Won't Back Down" -- set for release September 28 -- portrays so-called "Parent Trigger" laws as an effective mechanism for transforming underperforming public schools. But the film's distortion of the facts prompts a closer examination of its funders and backers and a closer look at those promoting Parent Trigger as a cure for what ails the American education system.</div><div>
</div><div>While Parent Trigger was first promoted [12] by a small charter school operator [13] in California, it was taken up and launched into hyperdrive by two controversial right-wing organizations: the American Legislative Exchange Council [14] (ALEC) and the Heartland Institute [15].</div><div>
</div><div>ALEC brings together major American corporations and right-wing legislators to craft and vote on "model" bills behind closed doors. These bills include extreme gun laws, like Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law implicated in the Trayvon Martin shooting, union-busting legislation, Arizona style anti-immigrant legislation and voter suppression laws that have sparked lawsuits across the nation. The organization's agenda is so extreme that in the last few months 40 major U.S. companies [16], including Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, Kraft, and General Motors, have severed ties [17] with ALEC.</div><div>
</div><div>Similarly, the Heartland Institute recently suffered an exodus of corporate sponsors [18] after it launched a billboard comparing those who believe in the science behind global warming to the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski.</div><div>
</div><div>As the movie's stars take to the airwaves this week to promote the film, it is unlikely they will discuss the agenda of the film's billionaire backers or the right-wing politicians and for-profit firms who are promoting the Parent Trigger idea, the purpose of which is to promote the transformation of the American public school system into a for-profit enterprise. We provide a primer below.</div><div>
</div><div>Hollywood Fiction vs. the Facts on Parent Trigger</div><div>What is a Parent Trigger law? The proposals have varied from state to state, but they generally allow parents at any failing school, defined by standardized testing, to sign a petition to radically transform the school using any of four "triggers." Parents can petition to: 1) fire the principal, 2) fire half of the teachers, 3) close the school and let parents find another option, or 4) convert the school into a charter school. While the details of how the school can be "restructured" vary from state to state, the charter school option is always [19] present. Charter schools are privately managed, taxpayer-funded public schools which are granted greater autonomy from regulations applicable to other public schools, ostensibly in exchange for greater accountability for results, but they have been criticized for uneven and mediocre track records.</div><div>
</div><div>The film, starring Oscar nominee Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal, reportedly portrays the struggle of a teacher and a parent who work to transform a low-performing Pennsylvania school, despite resistance from the local union -- cast as the enemy of reform. Together, the African American teacher and the white, single mom unite to overcome hurdles and go door-to-door [20] convincing parents to sign a petition to trigger a transformation.</div><div>
</div><div>While in reality most teachers do not sign the petitions and teachers are likely to get fired under Parent Trigger laws, "Won't Back Down" has teachers uniting with parents to sign the petition and transform the school. Eventually, 50 percent of teachers sign as well as parents and the intrepid duo finally turns the school into a charter school run by the Viola Davis character.</div><div>
</div><div>The film portrays Parent Trigger laws as a successful way of inspiring and uniting teachers and parents and the community. The real life history of Parent Trigger is quite different. Only two [21] school districts, both in California, have used the petition mechanism: Compton Unified School District and Adelanto School District. In Compton, a new group called "Parent Revolution" founded by a charter school operator paid [22] individuals to collect signatures to hand [23] the school over to a charter school operator [24], but the courts threw [25] out the petitions.</div><div>
</div><div>In Adelanto, parents first signed petitions, then had second thoughts. The school board rejected the petition after parents withdrew [26] their support, resulting in a lawsuit [27]. The courts ruled [28] that parents could not rescind their signatures. The parents had advocated for turning the school into a charter school, a plan which was rejected [29] by the school board. Instead, an advisory panel was created and headed by the superintendent. The legal battles are continuing.</div><div>
</div><div>Instead of prompting reform-minded unity, both petition drives have been criticized [30] for creating "chaos and division" in the community. Charges of fraud and intimidation abound. "This is destroying friendships and all relationships," one Adelanto parent, Chrissy Guzman-Alvarado, told The New York Times. "With our school divided, parents are scared to speak out or sign anything, and our community is falling apart. All for what?" she asks.</div><div>
</div><div>ALEC Spreads Parent Trigger Nationwide</div><div>The first Parent Trigger law was enacted [19] in 2010 in California and, with an assist from Heartland and ALEC, the idea is rapidly spreading.</div><div>
</div><div>The California law was based on a proposal [12] from Ben Austin, a policy consultant for a small non-profit education organization called Green Dot Public Schools, which manages charter schools [13] for the city of Los Angeles. Austin subsequently formed Parent Revolution, which promotes these laws across the country. But this is not your local PTA. Parent Revolution is backed [31] by big money, including receiving funding from the conservative Walton Family Foundation [31] (think Wal-Mart), which has spent over a billion to promote school privatization.</div><div>
</div><div>The rabid pro-privatization Heartland Institute [15] quickly took up the Parent Trigger idea in 2010. The Heartland version of the bill [32] (PDF) went a step further and gave parents the authority to trigger a school's restructuring regardless of whether it is "failing" or not. Heartland's version of the bill also calls for a "school voucher" option, which allows students to receive a monetary voucher to attend another private or public school. Voucher or "choice" schools have been criticized for diverting funds from public schools to unaccountable private schools, including for-profit religious and virtual schools.</div><div>
</div><div>When a new wave of school choice supporters were swept into power at the state level in November 2010, Heartland saw an opportunity to put the Parent Trigger idea on steroids by bringing it to ALEC, the controversial corporate "bill mill."</div><div>
</div><div>While ALEC has a governing board of state legislators it also has a governing board of corporations [33], packed with tobacco firms, giant pharmaceutical firms, and energy companies like Exxon Mobil. The ultra-conservative, billionaire Koch Brothers, have had a representative on the board for years and Koch-controlled money has funded ALEC to the tune of at least $1 million, according to estimates calculated by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) [34].</div><div>
</div><div>The ALEC Education Task Force [35] voted to approve the "Parent Trigger Act" [36] (PDF) at their critical December 2010 strategy meeting in Washington, D.C., and the idea quickly spread. According to CMD's analysis, ALEC members introduced or cosponsored various versions of the bill in 17 states.</div><div>
</div><div>At the time, ALEC's education task force was chaired [37] by the for-profit education firm Connections Academy, which specializes [38] in K-12 online education. Others on the task force include tech companies, testing companies and higher-education diploma mills like Bridgepoint Education [39] and Corinthian Education [40], both of which are under investigation [41] by state Attorneys General for aggressive recruiting policies that leave too many students in debt with no degree.</div><div>
</div><div>We have seen this pattern before. When the NRA finally succeeded in getting its first "Stand Your Ground" gun law passed into law in Florida, a law implicated in the tragic Trayvon Martin killing, its next step was to bring [42] the bill to ALEC which helped it spread to two dozen other states in short order.</div><div>
</div><div>Parent Trigger and ALEC were a match made in heaven. ALEC's education bills encompass more than 30 years [43] of effort to privatize public education through an ever-expanding network of school vouchers, an idea first advocated by economist Milton Friedman in the 1950s. ALEC bills also allow schools to loosen standards for teachers and administrators, exclude students with physical disabilities and special educational needs, eschew collective bargaining, and experiment with other pet causes like merit pay, single-sex education, school uniforms, and political and religious indoctrination of students.</div><div>
</div><div>Parent Trigger "A Clever Way to Trick Parents"?</div><div>But does it work? The support for Parent Trigger, according to University of Illinois Professor Christopher Lubienski [44], is based more on ideology than empirical data. Lubienski is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Organization.</div><div>
</div><div>"There is not good evidence that the options given [after the trigger is pulled] improve student achievement. The goal has more to do with changing school governance and giving opportunities for some of these organizations to get control of the public dollar," Lubienski said. "Policymakers need to look at the factors that actually influence student achievement."</div><div>
</div><div>"Unfortunately, that points to a lot more difficult issues than simply changing the structure of a school. It's relatively simple to fire the staff and bring in a charter operator. It's more important that kids are getting proper medical attention before they are born, that their mothers are getting the right nutrition at that time, that kids are read to at home, and that they are raised in an environment that values education. This is much more difficult to influence through policy."</div><div>
</div><div>The data shows that the conversion to charter schools, which Lubienski said is the constant theme running throughout the "Parent Trigger" legislation passed in states, has not shown to be effective in improving student outcomes. A study [45] conducted at Stanford University's Hoover Institution presents evidence that students in only 17 percent of charter school show greater improvement in math and reading than students in similar traditional public schools, whereas 37 percent, deliver learning results that are significantly worse than the student would have realized had they remained in public schools. However, the conversion to charter schools has proven profitable to many U.S. firms such as ALEC member National Heritage Academies, a for-profit charter school management organization operating in eight states, and K-12, Inc., which promotes "virtual" charter schools as well as "virtual" voucher schools. K-12, Inc. is under investigation [46] in Florida for improperly certifying teachers and asking them to cover it up.</div><div>
</div><div>In short, Parent Trigger laws are a "clever way to trick parents into seizing control of their schools and handing it over to private corporations," according to Diane Ravitch [47], an education historian and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education in the first Bush Administration.</div><div>
</div><div>Philip Anschutz, Right-Wing Billionaire, Owns Production Company</div><div>"Won't Back Down," is a production of Walden Media, owned by billionaire investor and right-wing extremist Philip Anschutz. Anschutz participates in the [48] Koch brothers' secretive political strategy summits [49] and funds [50] David Koch's Americans for Prosperity [51] group, which backed Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker [52]'s union busting proposal and is working to defeat Barack Obama and other Democratic candidates across the country.</div><div>
</div><div>Anschutz bankrolls ALEC and ALEC member groups. In 2010, The Anschutz Foundation, gave [53] ALEC $10,000 and his Union Pacific firm was an ALEC sponsor [54] the following year. The Foundation funded [53] three ALEC members who sat on the ALEC Education Task Force which approved the Parent Trigger Proposal: The Independence Institute, Center for Education Reform, and Pacific Research Institute.</div><div>
</div><div>Anschutz has also supported the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which backs legislation designed to cripple unions; the Discovery Institute, which seeks to get creation "science" accepted in public schools; and the Mission America Foundation, whose president considers homosexuality to be a "deviance." He also owns the conservative magazine, the Weekly Standard.</div><div>
</div><div>Walden Media was one of the producers of the pro-charter documentary film "Waiting for 'Superman' [55]." This film was criticized by Diane Ravitch [56] as propaganda and as "a powerful weapon on behalf of those championing the 'free market' and privatization."</div><div>
</div><div>Rupert Murdoch, Media Mogul and Owner of Education Testing Company, Distributes Film</div><div>The film is being distributed [20] by 20th Century Fox, owned [57] by News Corp. and media mogul Rupert Murdock. News Corp. owns Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. Murdoch formerly owned the British newspaper News of the World, which imploded once it was revealed that reporters hacked into the cell phones of the family of a murdered child [58], as well as the cell phones of the royal family, politicians and celebrities. The paper's top editors and reporters were arrested although Murdoch himself has not been charged.</div><div>
</div><div>As CMD previously reported [59], News Corp. has been a member of both ALEC's Education Task Force and Communications and Technology Task Force. Wall Street Journal editorial board member Stephen Moore, is an ALEC "scholar" and both the Wall Street Journal and Fox News have gone to bat for ALEC as member corporations began to flee earlier this year. What is less well known is that News Corp. owns Wireless Generation, a for-profit online education, software, and testing corporation, acquiring it in 2010 for $360 million. Wireless Generation is also an ALEC member. Apparently, Murdoch was anxious to get a piece of the nation's education system, which he describes [60] as a "500 billion sector in the U.S. alone that is waiting desperately to be transformed." News Corp's senior Vice President in charge of its education division is none other than former Chancellor of New York City Schools, Joel Klein, who promoted a corporatist model of education reform.</div><div>
</div><div>Lubienski, for one is skeptical of "self-proclaimed experts on the topic of education" like Murdoch who "aren't accountable to the public" and who have a profit motive coupled with a political agenda of widespread privatization.</div><div>
</div><div>Michelle Rhee, Former D.C. Chancellor of Schools, Pushes Parent Trigger</div><div>The film is being promoted by former Washington, D.C., public schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. Rhee spoke at both the RNC and DNC screenings of "Won't Back Down," and her involvement underscores what is often the bipartisan nature of the modern "school reform" movement.</div><div>
</div><div>Her tenure as the head of the D.C. school system was so controversial, she is widely credited with losing D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty's reelection campaign. She was credited with greatly improving test scores in Washington, D.C. schools, but this accomplishment was cast into doubt by a USA Today [61] investigation that suggested that test score gains during her term may have been the result of cheating on the part of school officials. The report found extremely high erasure rates that were statistically anomalous.</div><div>
</div><div>After resigning from her position in 2010, Rhee went on to start StudentsFirst [62], a 501(c)4 non-profit organization planning to engage in "direct and grassroots lobbying" on education issues including Parent Trigger. [63] Derrell Bradford, a state director for StudentsFirst, [64] spoke on "Enacting a Comprehensive K-12 Education Reform Agenda" at the 2011 ALEC annual meeting.</div><div>
</div><div>Rhee's group receives funding from Murdoch, who "has pledged to spend more than $1 billion to bring for-profit schools, including virtual education, to the entire country by electing reform-friendly candidates and hiring top-notch state lobbyists." News Corp's Joel Klein serves [65] on her organization's board. Other supporters include New Jersey hedge funder manager David Tepper [66], and Alan Fournier (reportedly [64] big backers of Romney).</div><div>
</div><div>Rhee was also featured [55] in Anschutz's film "Waiting for 'Superman'."</div><div>
</div><div>Reform or Russian Roulette?</div><div>The movie ends when the hard work of turning around a struggling school begins. The Hoover Institution study [67] discussed above shows that only 17 percent of charter schools do a better job educating students.</div><div>
</div><div>With no data backing the benefits of the Parent Trigger proposal, many doubt that throwing a school system into chaos is the best way to improve troubled schools. Chaos does however give the privatizers and the profiteers starring roles in the ongoing debate over the future of the American educational system.</div><div>
</div><div>The Center for Media and Democracy is a non-profit investigative reporting group whose work aids public awareness about the people, companies, and groups attempting to shape the media and our democracy. CMD launched its award winning ALEC Exposed [68] project in July 2011. Our websites are ALECExposed.org [68], PR Watch.org [69], SourceWatch.org [70], BanksterUSA.org [71], and FoodRightsNetwork.org [72].</div><div>
</div><div>Center for Media and Democracy • 520 University Avenue, Suite 260 • Madison, Wisconsin 53703</div><div>Phone: 608-260-9713 • Fax: 608-260-9714</div><div>Source URL: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/09/11763/wont-back-down-film-pushes-alec-parent-trigger-proposal</div><div>Links:</div><div>[1] http://www.prwatch.org/users/35270/mary-bottari</div><div>[2] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations/front-groups</div><div>[3] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations/issue-management</div><div>[4] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations/public-diplomacy</div><div>[5] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations/third-party-technique</div><div>[6] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/children</div><div>[7] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/corporations</div><div>[8] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/democracy</div><div>[9] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/education</div><div>[10] http://www.prwatch.org/projects/alec-exposed</div><div>[11] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prwatch.org%2Fnews%2F2012%2F09%2F11763%2Fwont-back-down-film-pushes-alec-parent-trigger-proposal&linkname=%22Won%27t%20Back%20Down%22%20Film%20Pushes%20ALEC%20Parent%20Trigger%20Proposal</div><div>[12] http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2077564,00.html</div><div>[13] http://www.greendot.org/page.cfm?p=1646</div><div>[14] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Legislative_Exchange_Council</div><div>[15] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Heartland_Institute</div><div>[16] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/09/11740/merck-and-wells-fargo-dump-alec-while-duke-energy-holds-out</div><div>[17] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Corporations_Which_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC</div><div>[18] http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/09/heartland-institute-donors-lost-unabomber-ad</div><div>[19] http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/educ/state-parent-trigger-laws.aspx</div><div>[20] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiQ3NMveKU8</div><div>[21] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/07/backers-of-parent-trigger-law-score-victory-in-court-.html</div><div>[22] http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/parent-trigger-compton-NCLB</div><div>[23] http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/26/local/la-me-0526-compton-charter-20110526</div><div>[24] http://www.celerityschools.org/about.html</div><div>[25] http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/18/hopes-and-feard-for-parent-trigger-laws/triggers-create-nothing-but-chaos-and-division</div><div>[26] http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/10/opinion/la-ed-parent-trigger-adelanto-20120910</div><div>[27] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/04/adelanto-parent-trigger-lawsuit.html</div><div>[28] http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/24/local/la-me-parent-trigger-20120724</div><div>[29] http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/20/local/la-me-parent-trigger-20120820</div><div>[30] http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/18/hopes-and-fears-for-parent-trigger-laws/triggers-create-nothing-but-chaos-and-division</div><div>[31] http://parentrevolution.org/content/our-funders</div><div>[32] http://heartland.org/policy-documents/parent-trigger-model-transforming-education</div><div>[33] http://www.alec.org/about-alec/private-enterprise-board/</div><div>[34] http://www.thenation.com/article/161973/koch-connection</div><div>[35] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Education_Task_Force</div><div>[36] http://www.sourcewatch.org/images/9/96/ALEC_Parent_Trigger_Act.pdf</div><div>[37] http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7BFB3C17E2-CDD1-4DF6-92BE-BD4429893665%7D/ed_35daymailing-dc.pdf</div><div>[38] http://www.connectionsacademy.com/our-program/free-public-school-program.aspx</div><div>[39] http://www.bridgepointeducation.com/aboutus/mission.htm</div><div>[40] http://www.cci.edu/</div><div>[41] http://www.republicreport.org/2012/wash-post-kaplan-alec/</div><div>[42] 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