Pioneer Inst

...<div><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">SPN itself is <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_Ties_to_ALEC" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">a dues-paying "private sector" ALEC member</a> and has paid an additional premium to be one of the top-billed sponsors of ALEC conventions, as 44 major corporations have dumped ALEC in the wake of controversy over its role in spreading controversial gun bills, union-busting legislation, and bills to suppress voter rights -- after CMD helped reporters and concerned citizens connect the dots between ALEC corporations, bills, and legislators after a whistleblower provided its executive director with the nearly 1,000 bills that were secretly voted on by private sector members voting as equals with state elected officials.<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sharp's role in promoting the ALEC agenda has been recognized by ALEC. It gave her one of its "Private Sector Member of the Year" awards in 2009. Others given the same recognition that year included the ALEC rep from the huge tobacco firm Altria.<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In fact, all of SPN's member think tanks push parts of ALEC's agenda in their respective states and, according to a recent review by CMD, 35 of SPN's 64 member think tanks have additional direct ties to ALEC (such as sitting on ALEC task forces, speaking at ALEC conferences, or sharing personnel with ALEC). Legal changes in which SPN affiliates are particularly active include clamoring for expansion of school vouchers, charter schools, and other forms of education privatization; hamstringing labor unions and urging wage suppression; privatizing pensions; pre-empting paid sick leave; fighting health care reform; and repealing renewable energy standards and denying climate change.<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Of these 34, at least 19 SPN-connected think tanks are known to have participated in ALEC task forces, where state legislators give an equal vote to corporate lobbyists and other special interests at closed door meetings about templates to change state laws. SPN think tanks have participated in each of ALEC's task forces, including the now-disbanded Public Safety and Elections Task Force, which adopted Florida's NRA-written "Stand Your Ground" law and the "Voter ID Act" as "model" bills.<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Additionally, SPN affiliates sponsored at least 41 ALEC "model" bills between the summer of 2010 and the spring of 2012, according to a CMD review of ALEC documents that CMD and/or Common Cause have obtained. For example, Michigan's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mackinac_Center_for_Public_Policy" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Mackinac Center</a> sponsored a set of bills strongly resembling sections of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's controversial collective bargaining bill, Act 10, at ALEC's 2011 Spring Task Force Summit.<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">(A tabulation of SPN ties to ALEC and a list of recent bills known to have been sponsored or spearheaded by SPN think tanks, see the SourceWatch article here.)<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">SPN's role in ALEC is multi-faceted. It is a member and a funder, and its member think tanks sit on many ALEC task forces and plan ALEC workshops and trainings. SPN members also regularly write bills and bring them to ALEC to be pushed as legislation in the states with great success.<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=SPN_Ties_to_ALEC#Bills_Introduced_and_Sponsored_by_SPN_Th" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Click here for a list of recent known "model" bills introduced by SPN think tanks.</a><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But it is back in the states where the real synergy happens. When ALEC bills are introduced in state legislatures, the SPN think tanks are often standing by to write the studies, spin the most favorable data, provide the expert talking points, put out the media releases, do the press interviews that give an aura of academia to the efforts -- or they may already have these in the can or in the works before the bill is even introduced in the legislature by an ALEC lawmaker.<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Among their various objectives to change state law, SPN think tanks have written, presaged, pushed, and promoted ALEC's effort to:<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">1) ATTACK UNIONS<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ALEC's <a href="http://alecexposed.org/w/images/c/c8/1R10-Right_to_Work_Act_Exposed.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">"Right to Work Act"</a> seeks to limit union rights. SPN member state think tanks have published articles and reports supporting "right to work" legislation in at least <a href="http://www.alabamapolicy.org/issues/guides/GTI%20-%20Brief%20Right%20to%20Work%20Laws.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Alabama</a>, <a href="http://www.bipps.org/category/right-to-work-2/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Kentucky</a>, <a href="http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/uploads/files/BUCKEYE-ohio-right-to-work-rev2012-3.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Ohio</a>, <a href="http://www.caesarrodney.org/pdfs/Could_Move_to_Right_to_Work_help_Delaware2.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Delaware</a>, <a href="http://cascadepolicy.org/pdf/pub/RighttoWork01.31.12.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Oregon</a>, <a href="http://insightnews.com/news/8456-center-for-the-american-experiment-report-on-right-to-work-legislation-warrants-skepticism-cassutt-says" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Minnesota</a>,<a href="http://w3.nexis.com/new/docview/getDocForCuiReq?lni=4J3P-62B0-TX0S-R26C&csi=293520&oc=00240&perma=true" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Indiana</a>, <a href="http://www.mackinac.org/16278" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Michigan</a>, <a href="http://www.mainepolicy.org/2012/01/the-case-for-right-to-work-in-maine-examining-the-evidence-in-oklahoma/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Maine</a>, <a href="http://www.riograndefoundation.org/content/new-study-%E2%80%9Cright-work%E2%80%9D-law-could-spur-new-mexico%E2%80%99s-economy-create-thousands-new-jobs" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">New Mexico</a>, and <a href="http://www.commonwealthfoundation.org/policyblog/detail/right-to-work-works" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Pennsylvania</a>.<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">SPN think tanks have also joined ALEC in pushing a broad agenda to undermine other worker protections including <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/05/11490/koch-funded-mackinac-center-brings-wisconsin-act-10-provisions-alec" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">tearing down collective bargaining</a>, <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7BFB3C17E2-CDD1-4DF6-92BE-BD4429893665%7D/35_day_mailing_cied_stfs2012.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">prohibiting paid union activity in the form of "release time,"</a> and ending the ability to deduct union dues from paychecks for private and public employees (so-called <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7BFB3C17E2-CDD1-4DF6-92BE-BD4429893665%7D/35_day_mailing_cied_stfs2012.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">"paycheck protection"</a>). (See, for example, <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/05/11490/koch-funded-mackinac-center-brings-wisconsin-act-10-provisions-alec" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Michigan's Mackinac Center</a> and <a href="http://goldwaterinstitute.org/sites/default/files/12-01%20Collective%20Bargaining%20PDF.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Arizona's Goldwater Institute</a>.)<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2) PRIVATIZE EDUCATION<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">SPN think tanks have joined ALEC in pushing a broad education agenda to privatize public schools, including pushing <a href="http://www.ethanallen.org/pdf/educationreport_2009.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">for-profit online schools</a>, <a href="http://caesarrodney.org/index.cfm?ref=30200&ref2=360" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">for-profit charter schools</a>, using taxpayer dollars for <a href="http://www.virginiainstitute.org/pdf/Ed-study-final-Aug-2009.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">vouchers</a> to for-profit schools, and even so-called <a href="http://www.texaspolicy.com/center/education-policy/blog/california%E2%80%99s-parent-trigger-causes-stir" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">"parent triggers"</a> to allow a small group of parents to close a public school for current and future students, and turn the school into a charter school or require a voucher system. (Although it appears to be part of the convergence of the SPN-ALEC agenda across the board, recent examples of SPN activity in support of one or more of these changes include <a href="http://www.texaspolicy.com/center/education-policy/blog/california%E2%80%99s-parent-trigger-causes-stir" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Texas</a>, <a href="http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2012/02/20/%E2%80%98parent-empowerment%E2%80%99-bill-has-roots-in-democratic-republican-circles/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Arizona</a>, California, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Wisconsin, Hawaii, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and Wyoming.)<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">3) PRIVATIZE PUBLIC PENSION SYSTEMS<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">SPN think tanks have joined ALEC in pushing to privatize public employee pension systems, reducing retirement security and changing agreements that many workers negotiated for years ago, by making them 401(k)-style defined contribution type accounts rather than defined benefit plans. Such 401(k)s operate as fee-taking enterprises by the corporations administering them, which can result in reduced retirement income for workers. (See, for example, <a href="http://www.yankeeinstitute.org/2011/04/states-struggle-to-meet-pension-liabilities/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Connecticut</a>, <a href="http://wyliberty.org/feature/more-money-for-pensions-means-less-money-for-roads/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Wyoming</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Freedom_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Washington</a>, and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Illinois_Policy_Institute" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Illinois</a>.)<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">4) ROLLBACK ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ALEC's <a href="http://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/4/49/3C0-ALEC_State_Withdrawal_from_Regional_Climate_Initiatives_Exposed.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">"State Withdrawal from Regional Climate Initiatives"</a> would allow states to pull out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative or the Western Climate Initiative, cap-and-trade programs to cut greenhouse gases and carbon-dioxide emissions, and uses language that denies climate change. SPN state think tanks have published articles and reports supporting states' withdrawals from these regional initiatives in <a href="http://www.alabamapolicy.org/issues/guides/GTI%20-%20Brief%20Cap%20and%20Trade.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Alabama</a>,<a href="http://www.thecitywire.com/?q=node/7332" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Arkansas</a>, <a href="http://www.beacontn.org/2010/10/tcpr-warns-against-cap-and-trades-impact-on-our-state/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Tennessee</a>, <a href="http://patrickdavisconsulting.com/2011/11/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Delaware</a>, <a href="http://cascadepolicy.org/news/2009/03/06/cap-and-trade-in-oregon-a-primer-for-legislators-and-citizens/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Oregon</a>, <a href="http://www.csinj.org/2011/06/governor-christie-withdraws-new-jersey-from-climate-pact/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">New Jersey</a>, <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20101227210032/http://www.montanapolicy.org/files/pdf/Montana_Policy_Institute_Cap_Trade_Study_2010.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Montana</a>, <a href="http://www.thomasjeffersoninst.org/files/3/CapTradeReports.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Virginia</a>, <a href="http://w3.nexis.com/new/docview/getDocForCuiReq?lni=4DPS-GNR0-TWTB-W24V&csi=279860&oc=00240&perma=true" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Connecticut</a>, and possibly other states.<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">5) DISENFRANCHISE PEOPLE OF COLOR, THE ELDERLY, AND STUDENTS THROUGH MAKING IT HARDER FOR AMERICANS TO VOTE<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ALEC's <a href="http://alecexposed.org/w/images/d/d9/7G16-VOTER_ID_ACT_Exposed.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">"Voter ID Act"</a> makes it more difficult for American citizens to vote. It would change identification rules so that citizens who have been registered to vote for decades must show certain kinds of ID in order to vote. As some courts have found, such legislation can have the effect of disenfranchising college students and many low-income, minority, and elderly Americans who do not have driver's licenses but have typically used other forms of ID, groups often considered to include large numbers of Democratic Party voters. Such legislation could adversely affect <a href="http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/study_new_voting_restrictions_may_affect_more_than_five_million/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">more than five million people</a> and such bills are being promoted by Republican legislators based on spurious claims of systemic voter fraud, which is virtually non-existent. SPN state think tanks have published articles and reports supporting voter ID bills in at least <a href="http://www.advancearkansas.org/storage/eyedeeweb.pdf" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Arkansas</a>, <a href="http://myfreedomfoundation.com/causes/publication/detail/eff-urges-us-supreme-court-to-uphold-voter-identification-law" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Washington state</a>, <a href="http://www.nccivitas.org/2012/another-look-at-voter-photo-id-myths-and-f-a-q-s/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">North Carolina</a>, and<a href="http://www.wpri.org/Commentary/2011/1.11/Ni1.13.11/Ni1.13.11.html" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Wisconsin</a>.<h2 style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.25; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">SPN Member Think Tank Funding Sources Include Koch Money and Mystery Funds</h2><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">SPN and its member state think tanks do not disclose their donors to the public, but CMD and Common Cause have reviewed donation information from IRS filings of major foundation funders in order to compile a partial list of funders. Among them are some of the most ideological extreme families in the nation. SPN itself has received<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_Funding" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">funding</a> from the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Claude_R.Lambe_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Claude R. Lambe Foundation</a> (which is controlled by Charles Koch and his right-hand man,<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard_Fink" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Richard Fink</a>), the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Olin_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Olin Foundation</a>, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard_and_Helen_DeVos_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation</a>, the Bradley Foundation, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Castle_Rock_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Castle Rock Foundation</a> (from the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Coors" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Coors</a> family fortune), the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Adolph_Coors_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Adolph Coors Foundation</a>, the McCamish Foundation, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/JM_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">JM Foundation</a>, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Smith_Richardson_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Smith Richardson Foundation</a>, and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Roe_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Roe Foundation</a> (Thomas Roe's family foundation), among others.<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Funding for SPN has increased rapidly. In 2007, the nearly $40 million in combined revenue of the then-52 SPN member think tanks in 45 states was less than the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Heritage_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Heritage Foundation's</a> budget that year of $50 million. SPN president <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tracie_Sharp" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">Tracie Sharp</a> announced a plan to expand revenues for SPN's state members by $50 million by 2012. For the calendar/tax year 2011 (the most recent for which information is available for SPN and all its member groups), the total revenue had risen to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_2011_Funding" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">$83.2 million</a> and the number of state think tanks in SPN to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_Members" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">59</a>, according to a review of the groups' IRS filings. When the Illinois-based Heartland institute is added in, which is not a state think tank but a hybrid state and national one, the total revenue for these related organizations that year was <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_2010_Funding" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">$87.8 million</a>. The total spent in 2012 was likely significantly higher.<h4 style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.25; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">HOW THE KOCH FORTUNE FUNDS SPN THINK TANKS: A CASE STUDY</h4><p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">For decades, the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch have financed scores of right-wing groups and causes via their charitable foundations. (Their personal fortune is estimated to be <a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/david-koch/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">$68 billion</a>.) Grants from foundations are public information, which means the public can know just how much money Koch foundations give to organizations like ALEC (<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_Family_Foundations" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; text-decoration: none;">$748,858</a> between 1998 and 2011; in addition the Kochs approved a nearly $500,000 loan to ALEC in the late 1990s, when ALEC was in financial straits).<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">However, it has long been believed that the Kochs also bankroll their ideological agenda through personal contributions in addition to via checks from their various corporate interests, like Koch Industries, none of which is required to be publicly disclosed -- unless a check is made out directly to a candidate or a PAC.<p style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(74, 74, 74); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Documents discovered by researchers now show how Koch Industries, one of the biggest privately held corporations in the U.S. and the world, use some of its corporate revenue to fund its owners' ideological agenda in the states, and also how the Kochs may use their personal checking accounts to fund their agenda.The detailed list of funders of two SPN members -- the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) in 2010 and the Massachusetts based <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pioneer_Institute" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Pioneer Institute</a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pioneer_Institute" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 119, 187) !important; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"> for Public Policy Research</a> (PIPPR) in 2007 -- was included in public materials relating to their annual IRS form 990 filings.....</div>