Nat'l Ctr for Public Pol Res 1 Rid

promoted to primary 1/14

note project 21 AA crypto

promoted to evil 6/14 b/c of crypto apple shareholder:

backstop // CoC?see ncppr capt 816

===

This comes in response to ALEC's announcement Tuesday that it will dismantle its "<a href="http://alecexposed.org/wiki/Guns,Prisons,Crime,and_Immigration" target="blank" style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Public Safety and Elections Task Force</a>" through which corporate lobbyists and elected officials voted behind closed doors to approve "model" legislation that creates obstacles to American citizens voting through restrictive voter ID bills, as well as other damaging legislation, such as reckless gun laws that have been cited to protect violent vigilantes from being held accountable.

NCPPR's press release scolds the 11 corporations, as of yesterday, that have recently announced they had dropped out of ALEC, which has come under intense scrutiny as a result of the Center for Media and Democracy's <a href="http://www.alecexposed.org/" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">ALEC Exposed</a> investigation and the efforts CMD, Color of Change, Common Cause, People of the American Way, Progress Now!, and other groups as well as Daily Kos bloggers. A growing number of concerned citizens are speaking up about ALEC across the country.

NCPPR even set up an email for corporations to reach out to if they "regret" their decision to cut ties with ALEC under the theme "we are not yellow." NCPPR asserts that corporations have succumbed to the "left-wing" which is supposedly using a "trotskyite strategy of making relentless demand-after-demand."

NCPPR is not well known but has hosted other attacks on good government and watchdog groups through a site called "GroupSnoop," which posts highly inaccurate "profiles" of organizations like the Center for Media and Democracy. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/GroupSnoop.org">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/GroupSnoop.org</a>

With NCPPR taking the mantle of fighting voter fraud, NCPPR's historical role in troubling operations is worth a closer look.

<h2 style="line-height: 1.25; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Distributing Millions in Charitable Donations as Directed by Jack Abramoff</h2>

She told the Senate that, at Abramoff's direction, she gave $700,000 of the money NCPPR received to one of his "charities," called the "Capitol Athletic Foundation" (CAF). CAF, which was publicly touting that it was established to help inner city kids get more involved in athetics, reportedly used donations to fund luxury golf trips for (then) Members of Congress, like Ohio Representative Bob Ney. Ney served 17 months in prison for his role in the scandal. CAF also bought sniper scopes and camouflage for West Bank settlers in Israel, among other things.

She also testified that she directed $1.275 million received by NCPPR to another Abramoff entity called "Kaygold, LLC," whose address was listed as that of her then-board member, Abramoff. Ridenour testified that she thought Kaygold was controlled by Michael "Sean" Scanlon, Congressman <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tom_DeLay" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Tom DeLay</a>'s former communications director, who later pleaded guilty to the criminal charge of conspiracy to bribe public officials. Scanlon was publicly known to be working closely with Abramoff.

In addition, NCPPR's Ridenour told congressional investigators that she also gave $500,000 to Scanlon's "Capital Campaign Strategies."

Abramoff was convicted of mail fraud and conspiracy for his dealings with legislators, and he resigned from the board of NCPPR. Ridenour was not charged with any federal crimes for distributing tax-deductible donations NCPPR's received to entities controlled by Abramoff and his associates.

<h2 style="line-height: 1.25; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">NCPPR Has a History of Sending "Fright Mail" to Senior Citizens</h2>

NCPPR's leader Ridenour told the press that "her organization sent donors up to a dozen major pitches a month. The appeals are sent on four different letterheads. She said anyone receiving more than a dozen solicitations in a month probably was on mailing lists the National Center has 'rented' from other organizations, which she said were outside her control."

According to comments on Guidestar, adult children of senior citizens targeted by NCPPR are not happy with the group's tactics. One commentor asserted "Amy R. is the Queen of Scare Mail. My father receives 5-15 letters from them per day under four different names (maybe more I hadn't realized the association). He started giving to them in 2009 and gave them thousands of dollars little by little. When I found out he was spending all his money, I started tracking his junk mail and putting him on a charity budget." That commentor added that: "In my opinion, the biggest challenges facing this organization are... Children of the elderly who find out what they are doing" and "They are Parasites feeding off the elderly."

Another commentor in 2010 urged fellow citizens to "Be VERY careful before giving money to this organization. You will be swamped by mail and they do not honor requests to be removed from mailing lists." Yet another commentor stated "the National Center for Public Policy Research has several 'projects' such as The National Retirement Security Task Force, etc. These projects simply acquire the names of older people and mail them requests for donations. These requests are sent with letters intended to scare the recipient into donating. Often these requests are sent via Certified Mail in the hope that the recipient will think the contents more important." NCPPR was cited by three other anonymous commentors for praise who said the group shed light on government corruption.

<h2 style="line-height: 1.25; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Who Else Has Funded NCPPR, Aside from Friends of Jack Abramoff?</h2>

<p style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">Over the years, NCPPR <a href="http://mediamattersaction.org/transparency/organization/National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research/funders" target="blank" style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">has received funding</a> from numerous charitable foundations created by billionaires and millionaires who are funding an array of right-wing ventures to dramatically change American public policy. These include the foundation of the Coors family, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Castle_Rock_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Castle Rock Foundation</a>, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_M.Olin_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">John M. Olin Foundation</a>, the Milwaukee-based <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Lynde_and_Harry_Bradley_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation</a>, and the<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sarah_Scaife_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Sarah Scaife Foundation</a>. Other NCPPR funders have included the Armstrong Foundation, Brady Education Foundation, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Carthage_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Carthage Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Earhart_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Earhart Foundation</a>, Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Leadership_Institute" target="blank" style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Leadership Institute</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Randolph_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Randolph Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Roe_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Roe Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Shelby_Cullom_Davis_Foundation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation</a>, and the William H. Donner Foundation.

According to Greenpeace's research, NCPPR has also <a href="http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=59" target="blank" style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">received</a> several hundreds of thousands of dollars from the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Exxon_Mobil_Corporation" target="blank" style="border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Exxon Mobil Corporation</a>. Exxon is also a member of ALEC's corporate board and funder of ALEC. So, perhaps it should surprise no one that NCPPR is part of the so-called "Cooler Heads Coalition," an effort of the "Competitive Enterprise Institute," which is focused on part of the oil industry's climate change denial machinery. ALEC has also helped advance this agenda, as noted by PRWatch, opposing regional agreements to address climate change and even hosting a workshop for ALEC politicians last year about "Warming Up to Climate Change," about how increased carbon dioxide is supposedly good for you and leads to longer lifespans.

<h2 style="line-height: 1.25; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 1em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Now NCPPR Takes on Voter Fraud, along with a Threat?</h2>

<p style="line-height: 22.3999996185303px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In the wake of ALEC's termination of its task force that had advanced "Voter ID" legislation that may thwart and chill citizen voting in this year's elections, NCPPR has jumped into the fray, claiming to take up ALEC's mantle on voter fraud, despite the fact that numerous studies have documented that <a href="http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/policy_brief_on_the_truth_about_voter_fraud/" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">voter fraud in the U.S. is exceedingly rare</a>.

In NCPPR's press release on its new role as a watchdog against fraud in voting ends with the following threat, an unusual choice in the wake of the controversy over the shooting of unarmed high school student Trayvon Martin, which helped shine the spotlight on ALEC's pushing the NRA's extreme gun agenda: "Unlike the Center for American Progress, the National Center for Public Policy Research eschews the use of violent references such as 'War Room.' We are, however, inspired by a particular passage in the 1987 movie The Untouchables: 'They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way.' Indeed."

</div>

</div>

<li class="field-item even" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none; display: inline-block; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px !important;"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/alec-exposed" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">ALEC Exposed</a></li>

<li class="field-item odd" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none; display: inline-block; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px !important;"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/topics/corporations" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Corporations</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

Amy Ridenour, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Ridenour" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">friend of big tobacco, big oil and the big Jack Abramoff</a>, and proprietor of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">National Centre for Public Policy Research</a>, recently held a <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/labels/Liberals.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Deniers' Luncheon</a> with Tim Ball as the guest of honour. Amy has even provided a <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/uploaded_images/BallTim031207c-787903.jpg" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">photo</a> on her blogsite in which you can see Dr. Ball showing the gap between what he says about climate change and what honest-to-goodness climatologists hold to be accurate science.If you strain, you can also see Amy (to Ball's left) and, (continuing to the left) the handsome Mr. (David) Ridenour (I think), S. Fred Singer and Pat Michaels. I would be delighted to know a) who else was at the table and b) who paid for lunch. And I would have paid the tab out of the vast Littlemore family fortune if I could have sat in for the conversation. I don't think I would have learned anything about science, but these folks sure seem to know a good deal about teamwork.http://www.desmogblog.com/how-can-i-get-on-amys-guest-list

GW BS on hubby blog: Env and enterprise inst

http://www.ncppr.org/Kyoto.html

eg <center>

3 Reasons Obama's University of California at Irvine Commencement Address on Climate Change Was Inappropriate</center>

Washington, D.C. - National Center for Public Policy Research Chairman Amy Ridenour has the following statements regarding President Obama’s commencement speech at the University of California at Irvine on climate change:

<blockquote>It was inappropriate for President Obama to use his commencement address at the University of California at Irvine for a divisive speech promoting his own views on climate change. Here's why:

<li>He hijacked other people's commencement to promote his own views on a contentious issue, no doubt leaving some of the graduates who hold differing views angry and frustrated on an occasion that is supposed to be in their honor.

</li>

</ul>

<li>The leader of the country should not be mocking its citizenry, and if an exception is made to this rule it should be either good-natured ribbing or reserved for partisan events where said leader is speaking as the head of his political party, not as leader of the entire country.</li>

</ul>

<li>If President Obama nonetheless was determined to break the above rules of etiquette, tradition and propriety, he should have done a better job of it. Parts of his speech made no sense, and nothing he said was likely to persuade a catastrophic global warming theory fence-sitter to the President's point of view. Thus, the President insulted people, sowed division and hijacked an important ceremony in other people's lives for no gain to anyone, including himself and his agenda.

</li>

</ul>

</blockquote>

On that last point, Ridenour also elaborated on the content of the President's remarks:

<blockquote>The President said, "So the question is not whether we need to act. The overwhelming judgment of science, accumulated and measured and reviewed over decades, has put that question to rest."

Proper science doesn't rest on "judgments," even multiple judgments that someone somehow "measures." It finds proof.

The President said, "The 18 warmest years on record have all happened since you graduates were born."

Our temperature records are very short, and a <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2217286/Global-warming-stopped-16-years-ago-reveals-Met-Office-report-quietly-released--chart-prove-it.html">16-year period</a> of warming ended about the time today's high school graduates were born. The President could just as accurately said there <a href="http://www.climatedepot.com/2014/05/04/global-temperature-update-no-global-warming-at-all-for-17-years-9-months/">hasn't been any warming since Bill Clinton was President</a> and that one of his own agencies released data this month <a href="http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/06/07/noaa-shows-the-pause-in-the-u-s-surface-temperature-record-over-nearly-a-decade/">showing the United States has cooled slightly over the last decade</a>, but that didn't fit his political agenda.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/06/07/noaa-shows-the-pause-in-the-u-s-surface-temperature-record-over-nearly-a-decade/

vs from amer meteor socThe President said, "Out West, firefighters brave longer, harsher wildfire seasons; states have to budget for that. Mountain towns worry about what smaller snowpacks mean for tourism. Farmers and families at the bottom worry about what it will mean for their water. In cities like Norfolk and Miami, streets now flood frequently at high tide. Shrinking icecaps have National Geographic making the biggest change in its atlas since the Soviet Union broke apart."

If this is the best evidence the President has for the catastrophic global warming theory, it's a wonder he can say he believes in it with a straight face. Wildfires are affected by many circumstances, and did the President not notice that <a href="http://www.weatherworksinc.com/winter-statistics-2013-2014">it snowed a lot</a> last winter? <a href="http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/05/worried-about-floods-due-to-rising-sea-level-forget-it-not-happening.php">Sea levels have been rising for thousands of years</a>, and the fall of the Soviet Union was only 23 years ago, not even a blink in climate terms. And, by the way, <a href="http://notrickszone.com/2014/05/11/warming-meteorologist-joe-bastardi-possibility-were-going-to-break-all-time-global-sea-ice-records/">global sea ice is approaching record high levels</a>. Give it up, Mr. President, if this is all you've got.

Columnist Mark Sappenfield of the Christian Science Monitor <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/Decoder-Buzz/2014/0615/Obama-mocks-climate-change-skeptics-Wise-move-video">wrote</a> Sunday that 43 percent of all Americans don't agree with President Obama on climate change, and so with this speech, "Obama is doing more than blowing a raspberry [at] a recalcitrant Congress. He's poking fun at almost half of America." Mr. Sappenfield is exactly right.

</blockquote>

The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank. Ninety-four percent of its support comes from individuals, three percent from foundations, and three percent from corporations. It receives over 350,000 individual contributions a year from over 96,000 active recent contributors. Contributions are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated.

==

BS

For Release: February 28, 2014

Contact: Judy Kent at (703) 759-7476 or <a href="mailto:jkent@nationalcenter.org">jkent@nationalcenter.org</a> or David Almasi at (202) 543-4110 x11 or (703) 568-4727 (text enabled) or <a href="mailto:dalmasi@nationalcenter.org">dalmasi@nationalcenter.org</a>

<div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Tim Cook to Apple Investors: Drop Dead </div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Apple CEO Tim Cook tells Investors Who Care More About Return on Investment than Climate Change: Your Money is No Longer Welcome </div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div>

<div style="text-align: left;">As Board Member Al Gore Cheers the Tech Giant's Dedication to Environmental Activism, Investors Left to Wonder Just How Much Shareholder Value is Being Destroyed in Efforts to Combat "Climate Change" </div>

<div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Free-Market Activist Presents Shareholder Resolution to Computer Giant Apple Calling for Consumer Transparency on Environmental Issues; Company Balks</div>

</center>

Cupertino, CA / Washington, D.C. - At today's annual meeting of Apple shareholders in Cupertino, California, Apple CEO Tim Cook informed investors that are primarily concerned with making reasonable economic returns that their money is no longer welcome.

The message came in response to the National Center for Public Policy Research's shareholder resolution <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/Apple_Proposal_Statement_2014.pdf" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">asking</a> the tech giant to be transparent about its environmental activism and a question from the National Center about the company's environmental initiatives.

"Mr. Cook made it very clear to me that if I, or any other investor, was more concerned with return on investment than reducing carbon dioxide emissions, my investment is no longer welcome at Apple," said <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/bios/danhof.html">Justin Danhof, Esq.</a>, director of the National Center's Free Enterprise Project.

Danhof also asked Apple CEO Tim Cook about the company's green energy pursuits. Danhof asked whether the company's environmental investments increased or decreased the company's bottom line. After initially suggesting that the investments make economic sense, Cook said the company would pursue environmental goals even if there was no economic point at all to the venture. Danhof further asked if the company's projects would continue to make sense if the federal government stopped heavily subsidizing alternative energy. Cook completely ignored the inquiry and became visibly agitated.

Danhof went on to ask if Cook was willing to amend Apple's corporate documents to indicate that the company would not pursue environmental initiatives that [DON"T?] have some sort of reasonable return on investment - similar to the <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/PR-GE_Climate_Change_022114.html">concession the National Center recently received from General Electric</a>. This question was greeted by boos and hisses from the Al gore contingency in the room.

"Here's the bottom line: Apple is as obsessed with the theory of so-called climate change as its board member Al Gore is," said Danhof. "The company's CEO fervently wants investors who care more about return on investments than reducing CO2 emissions to no longer invest in Apple. Maybe they should take him up on that advice."

"Although the National Center's proposal did not receive the required votes to pass, millions of Apple shareholders now know that the company is involved with organizations that don't appear to have the best interest of Apple's investors in mind," said Danhof. "Too often investors look at short-term returns and are unaware of corporate policy decisions that may affect long-term financial prospects. After today's meeting, investors can be certain that Apple is wasting untold amounts of shareholder money to combat so-called climate change. The only remaining question is: how much?"

The National Center's shareholder resolution noted that "[s]ome trade associations and business organizations have expanded beyond the promotion of traditional business goals and are lobbying business executives to pursue objectives with primarily social benefits. This may affect Company profitability and shareholder value. The Company's involvement and acquiescence in these endeavors lacks transparency, and publicly-available information about the Company's trade association memberships and related activities is minimal. An annual report to shareholders will help protect shareholder value."

Apple's full 2014 proxy statement is available <a href="http://investor.apple.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1193125-14-8074&CIK=320193">here</a>. The National Center's proposal, "Report on Company Membership and Involvement with Certain Trade Associations and Business Organizations," appears on page 60.

The National Center filed the resolution, in part, because of Apple's membership in the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), one of the country's largest trade associations. In its 2013 "Retail Sustainability Report," RILA <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/PR-RILA_071713.html">states</a>: "Companies will often develop individual or industry voluntary programs to reduce the need for government regulations. If a retail company minimizes its waste generation, energy and fuel usage, land-use footprint, and other environmental impacts, and strives to improve the labor conditions of the workers across its product supply chains, it will have a competitive advantage when regulations are developed."

"This shows that rather than fighting increased government regulation, RILA is cooperating with Washington, D.C.'s stranglehold on American business in a misguided effort to stop so-called climate change," said Danhof. "That is not an appropriate role for a trade association."

For even more information on RILA, read "<a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA651.html" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA): A </a><a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA651.html" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Cartel</a><a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA651.html" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> that Threatens Innovation and Competitiveness</a>," by National Center Senior Fellow <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/bios/cohen.html">Dr. Bonner Cohen</a>.

"Rather than opting for transparency, Apple opposed the National Center's resolution," noted Danhof. "<a href="http://www.conservativeblog.org/amyridenour/2013/6/28/green-apple-may-turn-red-1.html">Apple's actions</a>, from hiring of President Obama's former head of the Environmental Protection Agency Lisa Jackson, to its investments in supposedly 100 percent renewable data centers, to Cook's antics at today's meeting, appear to be geared more towards combating so-called climate change rather than developing new and innovative phones and computers."

After Danhof presented the proposal, a representative of CalPERS rose to object and stated that climate change should be one of corporate America's primary concerns, and after she called carbon dioxide emissions a "mortal danger," Apple board member and former vice president Al Gore turned around and loudly clapped and cheered.

"If Apple wants to follow Al Gore and his chimera of climate change, it does so at its own peril," said Danhof. "Sustainability and the free market can work in concert, but not if Al Gore is directing corporate behavior."

"Tim Cook, like every other American, is entitled to his own political views and to be an activist of any legal sort he likes on his own time," said Amy Ridenour, chairman of the National Center for Public Policy Research. "And if Tim Cook, private citizen, does not care that over 95 percent of all climate models have over-forecast the extent of predicted global warming, and wishes to use those faulty models to lobby for government policies that raise prices, kill jobs and retard economic growth and extended lifespans in the Third World, he has a right to lobby as he likes. But as the CEO of a publicly-held corporation, Tim Cook has a responsibility to, consistent with the law, to make money for his investors. If he'd rather be CEO of the Sierra Club or Greenpeace, he should apply."

"As in the past, Cook took but a handful of questions from the many shareholders present who were eager to ask a question at the one meeting a year in which shareholder questions are taken," added Ridenour, "leaving many disappointed. Environmentalism may be a byword at Apple, but transparency surely is not."

The National Center's <a href="http://nationalcenter.org/fep.html">Free Enterprise Project</a> is a leading free-market corporate activist group. In 2013, Free Enterprise Project representatives attended 33 shareholder meetings advancing free-market ideals in the areas of health care, energy, taxes, subsidies, regulations, religious freedom, media bias, gun rights and many more important public policy issues. Today's Apple meeting was the National Center's third attendance at a shareholder meeting so far in 2014.

The National Center for Public Policy Research is an Apple shareholder, as are National Center executives.

<p class="style3" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank. Ninety-four percent of its support comes from individuals, less than four percent from foundations, and less than two percent from corporations. It receives over 350,000 individual contributions a year from over 96,000 active recent contributors.

Contributions are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated.

===Lawyers challenging the voter ID law appealed to the <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/Pennsylvania+Supreme+Court" target="self" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow" style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.32px; line-height: 32px; color: rgb(0, 137, 150); text-decoration: none; outline: medium none;">Pennsylvania Supreme Court</a>. That court returned the case to Judge Simpson with instructions to take a closer look at the disenfranchisement issue.Simpson said his injunction was tailored to address the portion of the new voter ID law that threatened to disenfranchise would-be voters. He noted that the law, which took effect March 14, had provided for a transition period that allowed voters to vote without presenting an ID during the Pennsylvania primary election.In effect, the judge extended that transition period to include the general election on November 6. He said in a 16-page decision that election officials may continue to ask prospective voters to show photo ID at the polls, but that each vote must be counted regardless of whether a valid photo ID is presented.He also directed that voters without identification would not have to cast provisional ballots. Instead, their ballots would be immediately counted.Pennsylvania officials have issued roughly 12,000 new photo IDs in advance of the election. An estimated 100,000 eligible voters are believed to lack valid photo identification in the state, but estimates vary widely.Simpson, who conducted a week-long hearing in August and two days of hearings last week, said he had expected the commonwealth to have issued more photo IDs by now. In that light, Simpson said that he was no longer convinced in his “predictive judgment that there will be no voter disenfranchisement…”Opponents of the Pennsylvania ID law praised the ruling.“Today’s decision is a clear victory for Pennsylvania voters and the cause of voting rights across the country,” Wendy Weiser of the <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/New+York+University+School+of+Law" target="self" class="inform_link" rel="nofollow" style="color: rgb(0, 137, 150); text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Brennan Center for Justice</a> said in a statement.Those who support the new law saw the decision as a setback.“The court’s ruling accepts the principle that the voter ID rules are legal. Unfortunately, the timing of the change meant that Pennsylvania will have to wait one more election cycle before they can be sure their elections are fraud-free,” said Horace Cooper of the National Center for Public Policy Research.But not all opponents of the law were pleased with the narrowness of Simpson’s opinion. Lawyers challenging the ID law had asked the judge to block the entire statute – including the requirement that poll workers ask for photo ID.“While we’re happy that voters in Pennsylvania will not be turned away if they do not have an ID, we are concerned that the ruling will allow election workers to ask for ID at the polls and this could cause confusion,” said Advancement Project Co-director Penda Hair. “This injunction serves as a mere Band-Aid for the law’s inherent problems, not an effective remedy.”Justin Danof, general counsel of the National Center for Public Policy Research, was also displeased with the outcome. But for a different reason."Judge Simpson should have held strong to his prior convictions and the rule of law,” he said, “rather than bending to race-baiters and fraud enablers.”Ms. Weiser of the Brennan Center said the ruling does not end the controversy over the ID law.

===

Ur-TP

<h3>Other third-party groups: tobacco industry and Tea Party affiliations</h3>

In 2001, Humber announced that the NSA [nat'l smokers alliance?] would be dissolved, with some of its funds being transferred to the Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF, <a id="xref-fig-1-8" class="xref-fig" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#F1">figure 1</a>),<a id="xref-ref-133-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-133">133</a> ,<a id="xref-ref-134-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-134">134</a> which Humber founded in 1998.<a id="xref-ref-135-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-135">135</a> Its mission is to ‘protect and defend individual freedoms and individual rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.’<a id="xref-ref-136-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-136">136</a> As of 2012, CFIF's president was former NSA spokesperson Jeffrey Mazzella<a id="xref-ref-137-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-137">137</a> ,<a id="xref-ref-138-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-138">138</a> and CFIF's corporate counsel and senior vice president was former NSA attorney Renee Giachino.<a id="xref-ref-139-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-139">139</a> ,<a id="xref-ref-140-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-140">140</a>

The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR, <a id="xref-fig-1-9" class="xref-fig" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#F1">figure 1</a>), which promotes ‘principles of a free market, individual liberty and personal responsibility [as] the greatest hope for meeting the challenges facing America in the 21st century,’<a id="xref-ref-141-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-141">141</a> has been a longstanding tobacco industry ally and employs or collaborates with individuals who worked for the tobacco industry. Philip Morris funded NCPPR in the 1990s,<a id="xref-ref-142-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-142">142–144</a> and NCPPR was a member of RJR's GGOOB.<a id="xref-ref-31-2" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-31">31</a> NCPPR also opposed FDA regulation of tobacco<a id="xref-ref-145-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-145">145</a> and the DOJ RICO lawsuit against the tobacco industry.<a id="xref-ref-146-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-146">146</a> In 2012 NCPPR was continuing efforts, such as its ‘Occupy Occupy D.C. Smoke-in’ to protest about taxes on smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes.<a id="xref-ref-147-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-147">147</a>

Thomas Borelli, also an NCPPR senior fellow and his spouse, Deneen Borelli, an NCPPR fellow (as well as a FreedomWorks’ fellow<a id="xref-ref-148-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-148">148</a>) worked for Philip Morris for over 20 years and have spoken at Tea Party events (<a id="xref-fig-1-10" class="xref-fig" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#F1">figure 1</a> and online supplementary table S2). While at Philip Morris, Thomas Borelli served on its public policy advisory council, which reviewed and prioritised public policy grants for funding and designated CSE a Category A public policy organisation for funding.<a id="xref-ref-54-3" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-54">54</a> Dana Joel Gattuso, a NCPPR senior fellow, had been CSE's deputy director of regulatory affairs.<a id="xref-ref-149-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-149">149</a>

Steve Milloy, who served as co-director of NCPPR's Free Enterprise Project with Tom Borelli,<a id="xref-ref-150-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-150">150</a> helped the industry contest the link between second-hand smoke and disease.<a id="xref-ref-29-2" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-29">29</a> Milloy directed The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition<a id="xref-ref-151-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-151">151</a> (TASSC, <a id="xref-fig-1-11" class="xref-fig" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#F1">figure 1</a>), which was created for Philip Morris in 1993 by the public relations firm APCO Associates, as part of the effort to undermine the EPA's second-hand smoke risk assessment.<a id="xref-ref-29-3" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-29">29</a> Though TASSC was eventually disbanded, Milloy maintained <a href="http://junkscience.com">http://junkscience.com</a> as of 2012<a id="xref-ref-152-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-152">152</a> (see online supplementary table S2).

The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) is another example of a Tea Party-related organisation with strong roots in the tobacco industry. In 2002, Guest Choice Network became the CCF to oppose efforts by ‘the anti-consumer forces [to] expand their reach beyond the restaurants and taverns, going into your communities and even your homes.’<a id="xref-ref-153-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-153">153</a>  Lobbyist Richard Berman created Guest Choice Network in 1995, with US$600 000 in startup funds,<a id="xref-ref-154-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-154">154</a> as well as continued funding from Philip Morris.<a id="xref-ref-155-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-155">155–157</a> It was meant to appear as ‘a restaurant-driven programme’ to oppose smoke-free restaurants that was not ‘owned’ by Philip Morris.<a id="xref-ref-158-1" class="xref-bibr" href="http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2013/02/07/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815.full#ref-158">158</a>

</div>

==

In a widely reprinted column, the National Center for Public Policy Research’s (NCPPR) David Ridenour attacks White House energy and climate change adviser Carol Browner as a “socialist” and “zealot” with “<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/30/no-time-for-zealots/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">so much baggage</a> she could be an airline”:

</blockquote>

Ridenour’s arguments include the <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/01/12/socialist-czar-conspiracy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">bizarre Drudge Report attack</a> that Browner is a socialist, accusing Browner of complicity in an EPA case for which <a href="http://gcn.com/articles/2003/07/25/lamberth-finds-epa-in-contempt-for-edocument-purge.aspx" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">she was fully acquitted</a>, and the repetition of a 1995 claim of “illegal lobbying” by then-Congressman David McIntosh (R-IN), which the New York Times explained then involved “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/05/us/chief-of-epa-says-she-didn-t-illegally-lobby.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">doing things that have long been routine</a> functions of officials in the executive branch, practices that lawyers in Republican and Democratic administrations alike have declared legal.”

In fact, it is the National Center for Public Policy Research that has little respect for the law, and even less for science:

<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Little Respect For The Law: Laundering $2.5 million for Jack Abramoff. Jack Abramoff was a member of NCPPR’s Board of Directors; he resigned in October 2004. From 1999 to 2001, NCPPR wrote “repeated articles that aligned with the positions of the lobbyist’s clients.” In October 2002, Abramoff directed the Mississippi Band of Choctaws to give $1 million to NCPPR, and then told Amy Ridenour to distribute the funds to front organizations he controlled. In June 2003, Greenberg Traurig, the firm that employed Abramoff, sent $1.5 million to NCPPR, which Ridenour again distributed to front organizations controlled by Abramoff. Amy Ridenour later testified to Congress that she was an unwitting dupe. [Raw Story, <a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2006/Washington_nonprofit_where_Abramoff_was_director_0308.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">3/8/06</a>]

Less Respect For Science: NCPPR Is Part Of The Right-Wing Climate-Denier Machine. The National Center for Public Policy Research was founded in 1982 by Amy Ridenour, David’s wife and a compatriot of Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed, and Grover Norquist in the leadership of the College Republicans in 1981. NCPPR is a member organization of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Cooler Heads Coalition and the right-wing State Policy Network. In 25 years of operation, NCPPR has received about $280,000 from Exxon Mobil, in part to fund its “Envirotruth” climate denial website. [<a href="http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=59" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ExxonSecrets</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Envirotruth" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">SourceWatch</a>]

Less Respect For Science: NCPPR Uses African Poverty to Attack Climate Change Action. Using its Project 21 front group, NCPPR put out a press release supporting CEI’s Third-World vs. Gore campaign on Amy Ridenour’s blog. It attacked “Gore and his celebrity friends” for “living opulent lifestyles” while “many in the Third World – particularly those in Africa – are literally dying due to a lack of adequate power, and the catastrophe that could result from imposing anti-global warming emissions regulations on power generation in these areas.” In fact, Africa is “one of the most vulnerable continents to climate change and climate variability,” with between 75 and 250 million Africans facing increasing water scarcity by 2020, potential food shortages and a rise in disease. [Project 21, <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/2008/03/project-21-helps-expose-hypocrisy-of.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">3/10/2008</a>] [IPCC, <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg2/ar4-wg2-chapter9.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2007</a>]

</blockquote>

This hit piece was published in several right-wing publications, including <a href="http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=320370300722673" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Investor’s Business Daily</a>, <a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/055/000126674/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Robert Decherd</a>‘s Providence Journal, and Rev. Sung Yun Moon’s <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/30/no-time-for-zealots/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Washington Times</a>.

<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2009/03/31/174296/ridenour-little-respect/">http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2009/03/31/174296/ridenour-little-respect/</a>

---

<a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/04/11466/right-wing-operatives-take-alecs-voter-suppression-agenda">http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/04/11466/right-wing-operatives-take-alecs-voter-suppression-agenda</a>

takes handoff from ALEC, support gp for  corps that bail

===srcwatch:

National Center for Public Policy Research

funded Delay's scotland golf junket

Ridenour attacked climate scientists b...

</div>

The National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) began operations in 1982. It was created to present the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Conservative" title="Conservative">conservative</a> perspective on issues of significant public concern. As its first project, it exposed <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Human_rights" title="Human rights">human rights</a> abuses by the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Soviet_Union" title="Soviet Union">Soviet Union</a> in <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Afghanistan" title="Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a>. It then fought against a proposed "nuclear freeze" and began supporting the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Reagan_Administration" title="Reagan Administration">Reagan Administration</a>'s policies regarding Central America. It now calls itself a "communications and research foundation dedicated to providing free market solutions to today's public policy problems."</div><div id="jump-to-nav">
<table class="toc" id="toc" summary="Contents"><tbody><tr><td>

<h2>Contents</h2>

[<a class="internal" href="javascript:toggleToc()" id="togglelink">hide</a>]</div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research#History">1 History</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research#Personnel">2 Personnel</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research#Office_bearers">2.1 Office bearers</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research#Staff">2.2 Staff</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research#Funders">3 Funders</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research#Affiliated_organizations">4 Affiliated organizations</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research#Contact_information">5 Contact information</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research#Articles_and_resources">6 Articles and resources</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research#Related_SourceWatch_articles">6.1 Related SourceWatch articles</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research#References">6.2 References</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research#External_resources">6.3 External resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research#External_articles">6.4 External articles</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2>History</h2>

In 1997, NCPPR opposed action on <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Global_warming" title="Global warming">global warming</a> at an international summit in Kyoto, Japan. It established the Kyoto Earth Summit Information Center, issued an "Earth Summit Fact Sheet" and fed anti-treaty quotes to the media through a "free interview locator service" that offered "assistance to journalists seeking interviews with leading scientists, economists and public policy experts on global warming."

Following the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=September_11,_2001" title="September 11, 2001">September 11, 2001</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Terrorist" title="Terrorist">terrorist</a> attacks, NCPPR began using the rhetoric of anti-terrorism to attack environmentalists. In May 2002, it created the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Envirotruth" title="Envirotruth">Envirotruth</a> web site, to attack what it called the "jihad" that environmental activists are waging against corporations. <a class="external autonumber" href="http://envirotruth.org/" title="http://envirotruth.org/" rel="nofollow">[1]</a>

<h2>bs analysis of warner liberman cf http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA570.html</h2>

<a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/">http://www.nationalcenter.org/</a>

<h2>Personnel</h2>

<h3>Office bearers</h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Amy_Moritz_Ridenour" title="Amy Moritz Ridenour">Amy Moritz Ridenour</a> Chairman/President was paid $155,000 in 2002.</li>

<li><a class="new" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jay_W._Timmons&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Jay W. Timmons (page does not exist)">Jay W. Timmons</a> Director</li>

<li><a class="new" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=David_A._Ridenour&action=edit&redlink=1" title="David A. Ridenour (page does not exist)">David A. Ridenour</a> Vice-President/Secretary was paid $130,000 in 2002.</li>

<li>Victor Porlier, Director</li>

<li>Edmund F. Haislmaier, Director</li>

<li>Horace Cooper, Director</li>

</ul>

<h3>Staff</h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Amy_Moritz_Ridenour" title="Amy Moritz Ridenour">Amy Moritz Ridenour</a> Chairman/President</li>

<li><a class="new" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=David_Almasi&action=edit&redlink=1" title="David Almasi (page does not exist)">David Almasi</a>, executive director</li>

<li>Samual Baugh, Assoc Director of Development</li>

<li>Laura Lopez, Director of Administration</li>

<li>Bonner Cohen, Senior Fellow</li>

<li>Dana Joel Gattuso, Senior Fellow</li>

<li>Eric Peters, Senior Fellow</li>

<li>Brian Seacholes, Senior Fellow</li>

<li>Ryan Balis, Policy Analyst</li>

<li>Nickie Kelley, Office Manager</li>

<li>Julianna Ustica, Administrative Assistant</li>

<li>Joe Roche, Adjunct Fellow (on military duty)</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Candace_C.Crandall" title="Candace C. Crandall">Candace C. Crandall</a>, Adjunct Fellow <a class="external autonumber" href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/PRCrandall200.html" title="http://www.nationalcenter.org/PRCrandall200.html" rel="nofollow">[2]</a> (wife of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=S.Fred_Singer" title="S. Fred Singer">S. Fred Singer</a>)</li>

<li>Commander Chip Beck (USNR-Ret.), Adjunct Fellow</li>

<li><a class="new" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Gerald_Marsh&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Gerald Marsh (page does not exist)">Gerald Marsh</a>, Science Advisor</li>

</ul>

<h2>Funders</h2>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lynde_and_Harry_Bradley_Foundation" title="Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation">Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation</a>, Inc.</li>

<li><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Carthage_Foundation" title="Carthage Foundation" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Carthage Foundation</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Castle_Rock_Foundation" title="Castle Rock Foundation" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Castle Rock Foundation</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Earhart_Foundation" title="Earhart Foundation" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Earhart Foundation</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_M._Olin_Foundation" title="John M. Olin Foundation">John M. Olin Foundation</a>, Inc.</li>

<li><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sarah_Scaife_Foundation" title="Sarah Scaife Foundation" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sarah Scaife Foundation</a></li>

</ul>

In 2002 <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ExxonMobil" title="ExxonMobil">ExxonMobil</a> donated $30,000 for "educational activities" and a further $15,000 for general support. <a class="external autonumber" href="http://www2.exxonmobil.com/files/corporate/public_policy1.pdf" title="http://www2.exxonmobil.com/files/corporate/public_policy1.pdf" rel="nofollow">[3]</a> In 2003 the company boosted its general operating support to $25,000 with another $30,000 for 'global <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Climate_change" title="Climate change">climate change</a>/EnviroTruth website".<a class="external autonumber" href="http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/files/corporate/giving_report.pdf" title="http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/files/corporate/giving_report.pdf" rel="nofollow">[4]</a>

According to the organization's 2002 IRS return, total revenue was $6.6 million, with $399,080 spent on fundraising consultancy fees to a Virginia direct mail company, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Response_Dynamics_Inc." title="Response Dynamics Inc.">Response Dynamics Inc.</a>.<a class="external autonumber" href="http://guidestar.org" title="http://guidestar.org" rel="nofollow">[5]</a>

While NCPPR is keen to scrutinize the fundraising and advocacy of organizations it disagrees with, it has come in for criticism itself. In 1998, the San Francisco Examiner reporter Diana Walsh reviewed the rise of direct mail campaigns using scare tactics to raise funds from senior citizens. Walsh reported that in one four month period, 86 year old senior citizen, Faye Shelby, received 685 letters from 78 organizations. 160 of the fundraising pitches were from NCPPR.

Amy Moritz Ridenour told the Examiner that anyone receiving more than a dozen solicitations in a month probably was on mailing lists the National Center "rented" from other organizations, which she said were outside her control. When lists are rented, a group pays to use the list but for proprietary reasons isn't allowed to look at individual names or cross reference for duplications on their own lists. Ridenour also said an emotional pitch was vital to raising funds. "People seem to respond better to emotion than they do with letters that have lots and lots of facts. You have to give something that is light enough that people will be willing to read it upon receipt. . . . If they don't read it right at that moment, all the studies show they never will."

<h2>Affiliated organizations</h2>

<ul>

<li>NCPPR's projects include <a class="new" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Project_21&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Project 21 (page does not exist)">Project 21</a>, a conservative African American organization that opposes <a class="new" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Affirmative_action&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Affirmative action (page does not exist)">affirmative action</a> and the <a class="new" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minimum_wage&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Minimum wage (page does not exist)">minimum wage</a> and has issued news releases in support of genetically modified foods. Project 21 has been funded by <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=R.J._Reynolds" title="R.J. Reynolds">R.J. Reynolds</a>, and it has lobbied in support of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tobacco_industry" title="Tobacco industry">tobacco industry</a> interests, opposing <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=FDA" title="FDA">FDA</a> regulation of the industry, excise taxes and other government policies to reduce tobacco use.</li>

<li>NCPPR's Ridenour sits on the board of directors of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Black_America%27s_PAC" title="Black America's PAC">Black America's PAC</a>.</li>

</ul>

<h2>Contact information</h2>

National Center for Public Policy Research

777 N. Capitol St. NE #803

Washington, D.C. 20002

Phone: (202) 371-1400 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (202) 371-1400      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Fax: (202) 408-7773

Email: info@nationalcenter.org

<a class="external free" href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/" title="http://www.nationalcenter.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.nationalcenter.org/</a>

<h2>Articles and resources</h2>

<h3>Related SourceWatch articles</h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Amy_Moritz_Ridenour" title="Amy Moritz Ridenour">Amy Moritz Ridenour</a></li>

</ul>

<h3>References</h3>

<h3>External resources</h3>

<ul>

<li>"<a class="external text" href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientprofile.php?recipientID=682" title="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientprofile.php?recipientID=682" rel="nofollow">National Center for Public Policy Research, Inc.</a>", Media Transparency, accessed May 2005.</li>

</ul>

<h3>External articles</h3>

<ul>

<li>"<a class="external text" href="http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/examiner/a/1998/02/08/NEWS3642.dtl" title="http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/examiner/a/1998/02/08/NEWS3642.dtl" rel="nofollow">Diana Walsh, "The Fear Merchants," San Francisco Examiner, February 8, 1998, p. A1.</a></li>

<li>Bill Berkowitz, "<a class="external text" href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=61" title="http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=61" rel="nofollow">The National Center for Public Policy Research: Tom DeLay's Right Arm</a>", Media Transparency, May 2, 2005.</li>

<li>James V. Grimaldi and Susan Schmidt, <a class="external text" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101200889.html" title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101200889.html" rel="nofollow">"Senate Report: Five Nonprofit Groups Sold Clout to Abramoff,"</a> Washington Post, October 12, 2006.</li>

<li>Press release, "<a class="external text" href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/P21PR-Krugman_Race_080709.html" title="http://www.nationalcenter.org/P21PR-Krugman_Race_080709.html" rel="nofollow">Black Activists Call on Obama to Condemn Race-Baiting Tactics in Health Care Debate</a>," National Center for Public Policy Research / Project 21, August 7, 2009.</li>

</ul>

</div>

----

<h1 class="title">Abramoff's Favorite Think Tank Schools Tea Partiers on Health Care</h1>

</div>

— By <a class="active" href="http://motherjones.com/authors/stephanie-mencimer">Stephanie Mencimer</a>

</div>

— Flickr/<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewaliferis/3917886390/">andrewaliferis</a> (<a href="http://www.creativecommons.org">Creative Commons</a>).

</div>

On Tuesday, tea partiers and other activists who came to Capitol Hill to protest the health care bill were armed with the usual array of signs demanding that Congress "Kill the Bill," comparing Obamacare to socialism and the usual rhetoric. But many of them were also toting a slick, hefty tome called, "<a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/ShatteredLives.html">Shattered Lives: 100 Victims of Government Health Care"</a> that was being distributed at the rallies by the National Center for Public Policy Research. The report features an introduction by talk show host Mark Levin, the author of Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto, and is essentially a compilation of media health care horror stories--everywhere but in the U.S., which, of course, could provide tomes worth of material about the failures of the private health care system.

The "Shattered Lives" stories come from Great Britain, Japan, Russia and South Africa, and read together, they do offer up some pretty horrible details about national health care. There's the British six-year-old whose brain tumor went undiagnosed for years because the National Health Service insisted in giving him painkillers for his headaches but not a brain scan. There's one about the guy who ended up pulling his own tooth with a rusty pair of plyers because he couldn't find a dentist.

It's a gripping read, and the production values suggest that someone put up a big chunk of money to produce and distribute it to tea party activists far and wide. (Rally participants on Tuesday got free bound copies that cost $14.95 on Amazon.) There's reason to be suspicious. After all, NCPPR isn't just any public policy group. You might recall that not only has it done stealth research for tobacco companies, but it was also one of the nonprofit groups <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101200889.html">accused of helping the disgraced uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff</a> pimp his clients in exchange for big donations. The report doesn't say who paid for the work, but it has all the hallmarks of the usual corporate suspects.

</div>

===BS

Amy Moritz Ridenour is President and Chairman of The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research" title="National Center for Public Policy Research">National Center for Public Policy Research</a> (NCPPR). This lobbying operation is essentially a two-person think-tank run by herself and her partner David. Before her marriage to David A Ridenour (now Vice President of the NCPPR), she was a prominent conservative activist under her maiden name Amy Moritz. For most of her adult life she has been closely involved with the neo-con group of the Republican party, and more recently with organising and enlisting black movements to support these interests.

Most of her lobbying activities have been directed at Congress and the mainstream media. She has been a syndicated newspaper columnist working through the Tribune News Service <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/bkb08d00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/bkb08d00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[1]</a>, and in 1993-1994 she was co-host of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Scoop&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Scoop (page does not exist)">Scoop</a>, a public affairs show seen weekly on the public affairs television network <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Empowerment_Television" title="National Empowerment Television">National Empowerment Television</a>.

The NCPPR also produces and distributes "National Policy Analysis" documents. It also has a Californian subsidiary known as "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Project_21&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Project 21 (page does not exist)">Project 21</a>" <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/lul53a00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/lul53a00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[2]</a> which is "an African American Leadership network." This organization has its own chairman (Edmund Peterson), but it appears to act independently under the control of a member, Kevin Martin/ Martin provided writing services for the corporate tort-reform movement. ( <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=CALA" title="CALA" class="mw-redirect">CALA</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ATRA" title="ATRA" class="mw-redirect">ATRA</a>) <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/qca74d00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/qca74d00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[3]</a>, and the organization also expanded later into general political lobbying. <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/orq77d00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/orq77d00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[4]</a><a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/hbl95c00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/hbl95c00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[5]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2>

[<a href="javascript:toggleToc()" class="internal" id="togglelink">hide</a>]</div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Amy_Moritz_Ridenour#Sources_of_Funding_and_Support">1 Sources of Funding and Support</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Amy_Moritz_Ridenour#Affiliations_and_Associations">2 Affiliations and Associations</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Amy_Moritz_Ridenour#Tobacco_Industry_links">2.1 Tobacco Industry links</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Amy_Moritz_Ridenour#Climate_denial">3 Climate denial</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Amy_Moritz_Ridenour#Associates">4 Associates</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Amy_Moritz_Ridenour#Formal_Affiliations">5 Formal Affiliations</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Amy_Moritz_Ridenour#Subsidiaries_and_Operations">5.1 Subsidiaries and Operations</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Amy_Moritz_Ridenour#Publications_and_On-line">5.2 Publications and On-line</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Amy_Moritz_Ridenour#Related_articles">6 Related articles</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Amy_Moritz_Ridenour#Sources">7 Sources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Amy_Moritz_Ridenour#External_links">8 External links</a></li>

</ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<h3>Sources of Funding and Support</h3>

Amy Ridenour is obviously a superb fund-raiser who has managed to turn what was essentially a two-person, privately controlled, think-tank into a major organization of social and political influence. The NCPPR appears to act as both as a money-laundry and as a funding channel for payments being funnelled to subsidiaries, and to some loosely affiliated individuals and groups who do most of the actual work. The NCPPR's income vastly outweighs the possible expenses (it has very few permanent staff other than the two principles) and conservatives like Richard Mellon Scaife appears to use the organisation as a funding channel for their neo-con projects. <a href="http://www.urlfan.com/local/deconstructing_the_scaife_foundation_part_2_of_4/31884897.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.urlfan.com/local/deconstructing_the_scaife_foundation_part_2_of_4/31884897.html" rel="nofollow">[6]</a>

Scaife's Carthage and Sarah Scaife Foundations have given the National Center for Public Policy Research between $30,000 and $100,000 every year since 1985, as have the Olin Foundation, Bradley Foundation and other ultra-conservative support foundations. <a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=682" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=682" rel="nofollow">[7]</a>. These foundation-grants to the NCPPR were later matched by commercial organisations such as Philip Morris <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/qqw87d00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/qqw87d00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[8]</a>, Exxon, and other corporations and industry groups, many of which contribute generously for specific projects. See Sourcewatch <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research" title="National Center for Public Policy Research">National Center for Public Policy Research</a>

<h3>Affiliations and Associations</h3>

According to her biographical notes, Amy Moritz Ridenour has served as:

<ul>

<li>Vice-Chairman of the International Youth Year Commission of the U.S. (1985);</li>

<li>Deputy Director of the College Republican National Committee; (1981 on)</li>

<li>Regional Coordinator for the Reagan/Bush 1980 campaign;</li>

<li>Chairman of the Maryland Federation of College Republicans</li>

<li>Maryland Republican State Central Committee member.</li>

</ul>

Amy Ridenour is also runs or is associated with the: <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/Staffbios.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.nationalcenter.org/Staffbios.html" rel="nofollow">[9]</a>

<ul>

<li>Board of Directors of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Black_America%27s_PAC" title="Black America's PAC">Black America's PAC</a>, a political action committee that works to help elect more African-Americans to Congress and other elected offices.</li>

<li>Chairman of several of the conservative movement's strategy meetings,

<ul>

<li>including the Stanton meeting (foreign affairs and defense issues), and the</li>

<li>Family Forum meeting (social policy issues)".</li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

<h4>Tobacco Industry links</h4>

For the tobacco industry, her speciality has been in countering the regulatory activities of agencies like the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Environmental_Protection_Agency" title="Environmental Protection Agency" class="mw-redirect">Environmental Protection Agency</a> (EPA) and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Occupational_Safety_and_Health_Administration" title="Occupational Safety and Health Administration">Occupational Safety and Health Administration</a> (OSHA). She has excellent agency and Congressional contacts through the Republican party, and has provided information on the regulatory agencies on a regular basis to Philip Morris. <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/foe95c00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/foe95c00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[10]</a> The "Buffy" in this memo is PM Corporate Affairs executive Kathleen Linehan.

Ridenour is described in a 1995 Philip Morris memo as "a willing ally". At this time they were developing coalitions and recruiting allies to fight against an Congressional inquiry into the possible FDA regulation of tobacco which was proposed as a way to reduce teenage smoking: <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/gai65e00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/gai65e00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[11]</a>. The PM executive says:

<blockquote>"I just got a call from Amy Moritz, President, National Center for Public Policy Research, offering to use any information we can provide re the current anti-tobacco onslaught, particularly the actions and antics of [Rep. Henry] Waxman. Tom Borelli and I have both been in touch with Amy on various issues and are awaiting proposals for use of an Internet Website as an accessible repository of PM-related information."</blockquote>

It points out that her think-tank, the NCPPR:

... publishes a weekly "Scoop" on regulatory issues that goes to think-tankers, Hill staff and like-minded persons around the country. It also sends out bulleted talking points on current issues to some 700 radio and TV talk show hosts around the country, presenting them, of course, from a free enterprise point of view.

Josh Slavitt and David Laufer and I [all PM executives] have been trying to connect, to discuss the devetopment of such talking points to enable the Center to put them out to users. In any case, Amy is a willing ally and can be reached at 202/543-1286 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              202/543-1286      end_of_the_skype_highlighting, or fax 543-4779, Let me know if we can help further.

</blockquote>

Shortly after this exchange she began to play an active role in the political campaign against the Clinton proposals to combat teenage smoking. <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/gai65e00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/gai65e00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[12]</a> She also published a pamplet questioning the administration's health-care priorities -- that of running an anti-smoking campaign when hard-drugs were still a major problem. <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/tgn97d00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/tgn97d00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[13]</a> This focus on questioning priorities (as if they were mutually exclusive) was a common tactic used by tobacco industry, and was proving effectively against the World Health Organisation at this time. Her newspaper columns also attempted to bolster the cigarette companies case. <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/kjn36c00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/kjn36c00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[14]</a> <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/vjb08d00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/vjb08d00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[15]</a>

By 1996 she was working actively as a Congressional lobbyist for Philip Morris and the Tobacco Institute <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/zjf94a00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/zjf94a00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[16]</a>, helping them develop both at the strategy and tactical levels on Capitol Hill. She was also assisting them in the formation of coalitions (with other industries) which would act seemingly independently of the tobacco companies while actually working on their behalf. <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/xjf94a00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/xjf94a00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[17]</a>

This work on behalf of the tobacco industry continued into the turn of the century, well past the signing of the Master Settlement Agreement. In 1999 she was on the industry list as a potential spokesperson during an (anti-) Department of Justice mobilisation campaign to block the Clinton White House from taking legal action against the industry. <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/lug62c00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/lug62c00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[18]</a> She clearly became deeply involved in this campaign <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/lib08d00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/lib08d00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[19]</a> which was known in the tobacco industry as "Project Firestorm." <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/vta80b00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/vta80b00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[20]</a> Iin January 1999 she was writing: <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/knd62c00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/knd62c00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[21]</a>

""President Clinton says the purpose of the lawsuit is to raise money, but the Constitution plainly states that "all bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives. By suing tobacco companies, President Clinton is clearly trying to raise revenue while bypassing the legislative branch, which is reluctant to raise taxes to the higher level President Clinton prefers."

"If President Clinton's lawsuit is successful, tobacco companies will be forced to raise prices. This is essentially a tax by another name. President Clinton claims to be motivated by health concerns, but if he truly was, he wouldn't want the federal government to keep money taken from tobacco companies. Instead, he'd use any money he gets from tobacco to fund tax cuts for low and lower-middle income Americans. This policy would achieve the President's goal of raising cigarette prices without hurting lower income Americans. But the President isn't interested in this option. He'd rather keep the money."

</blockquote>

She also wrote many letters to the editor of newspapers like the New York Times, and others to potentially-compliant Congressmen who might be persuaded to act on behalf of the industry. <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/gkq65c00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/gkq65c00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[22]</a>

<h3>Climate denial</h3>

With the progressive collapse of any credibility attached to support of the tobacco industry, Amy Ridenour has increasingly turned towards supporting the corporate climate deniers. Her organization ran a major "command" and "information center" at the Kyoto Earth Summit which broadcast environmental backlash message about the global negotiations to limit global warming.

This center was billed as a technological hub for information on climate change and provided many contect, information and communications services to journalists covering the conference. During the Kyoto negotiations, NCPPR began broadcasting a series of reports, including a daily e-mail description of conference events. These were run in association with <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bonner_Cohen" title="Bonner Cohen">Bonner Cohen</a> of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=EPA_Watch" title="EPA Watch">EPA Watch</a> -- a former project of Philip Morris, which had been funded and conducted through the far-right American Policy Center under the ultimate control of [APCO & Associates]. This was all in association with <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Steve_Milloy" title="Steve Milloy" class="mw-redirect">Steve Milloy</a>, who was working against Kyoto through The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition (<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=TASSC" title="TASSC" class="mw-redirect">TASSC</a>).[Cohen was later TASSC's nominal 'President']

Ridenour also established Envirotruth which was "dedicated to injecting badly needed truth into the debate about our environment. For too long, some environmental groups have seized the world stage and the public's attention by distorting facts, bending the truth and even committing acts of terrorism against innocent citizens" it said. <a href="http://www.envirotruth.org/" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.envirotruth.org/" rel="nofollow">[23]</a>

<h2>Associates</h2>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jack_Abramoff" title="Jack Abramoff">Jack Abramoff</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ralph_Reed" title="Ralph Reed" class="mw-redirect">Ralph Reed</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Grover_Norquist" title="Grover Norquist">Grover Norquist</a> - in the formation and control of the College Republican National Committee in 1981. There was a brief falling out in the early 1980s, but Norquist is still a close friend, and Abramoff later become a director of the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR). Moritz married her fellow College Republican David A. Ridenour, who helped in the establishment of the NCPPR.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Doug_Bandow" title="Doug Bandow">Doug Bandow</a> - a journalist with the Washington Times, who was also a syndicated newspaper columnist, and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. Bandow had been a Special Assistant to President Reagan and acted as a Senior Policy Analyst for the Reagan campaign, and then for the Office of the President-Elect during the transition period.</li>

</ul>

<dl>

<dd>According to Business Week (in 2005), Bandow worked for Jack Abramoff, and was "typically paid $2,000 per column to address specific topics of interest to Abramoff’s clients. [He] wrote favorably about Abramoff’s Indian tribal clients — as well as another Abramoff client, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands — as far back as 1997." Bandow never disclosed the Abramoff payments in his op-eds or to the Cato Institute. .<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/abramoff#abramoff" class="external autonumber" title="http://thinkprogress.org/abramoff#abramoff" rel="nofollow">[24]</a></dd>

</dl>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Faye_Anderson&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Faye Anderson (page does not exist)">Faye Anderson</a>, the President of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Douglass_Policy_Institute&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Douglass Policy Institute (page does not exist)">Douglass Policy Institute</a> who was also listed by Philip Morris as a potential spokesperson for tobacco in the 1999 DOJ suit.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Steve_Milloy" title="Steve Milloy" class="mw-redirect">Steve Milloy</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bonner_Cohen" title="Bonner Cohen">Bonner Cohen</a> of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=APCO_%26_Associates" title="APCO & Associates" class="mw-redirect">APCO & Associates</a>, and The Advancement for Sound Science Coalition )<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=TASSC" title="TASSC" class="mw-redirect">TASSC</a>)</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Philip Morris International, Corporate Affairs staff (the dirty-tricks division).</li>

</ul>

<h2>Formal Affiliations</h2>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research" title="National Center for Public Policy Research">National Center for Public Policy Research</a> - Website at <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.nationalcenter.org/" rel="nofollow">[25]</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Black_America%27s_PAC" title="Black America's PAC">Black America's PAC</a></li>

<li>The NCPPR is also one of the 1988 founders of the Wise-Use coalition. <a href="http://radicalreference.info/filestore2/download/669/anti_enviros.doc" class="external autonumber" title="http://radicalreference.info/filestore2/download/669/anti_enviros.doc" rel="nofollow">[26]</a></li>

</ul>

<h4>Subsidiaries and Operations</h4>

<ul>

<li>John P. McGovern M.D. Center for Environmental and Regulatory Affairs <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/eptf.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.nationalcenter.org/eptf.html" rel="nofollow">[27]</a></li>

</ul>

<dl>

<dd>This is also known simply as the Environmental and Regulatory Affairs which was originally named the Environmental Policy Task Force "to counter misinformation being spread to the public and policymakers by the environmental left".</dd>

</dl>

<ul>

<li>

<ul>

<li>Global Warming Information Center is a project of the John P. McGovern M.D. Center <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/Kyoto.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.nationalcenter.org/Kyoto.html" rel="nofollow">[28]</a></li>

<li>Earth Day Information Center. <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/EarthDay98.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.nationalcenter.org/EarthDay98.html" rel="nofollow">[29]</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li>Project 21 - which is effectively a subsidiary of the NCPPR "...working with the African-American leadership group [Project 21] looks for and publicizes examples in which environmental and regulatory policies have a disproportionate negative impact upon minorities and lower-income Americans.</li>

<li>Center for Environmental Justice - <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/CEJ.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.nationalcenter.org/CEJ.html" rel="nofollow">[30]</a></li>

<li>Envirotruth <a href="http://www.envirotruth.org/" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.envirotruth.org/" rel="nofollow">[31]</a></li>

</ul>

<h4>Publications and On-line</h4>

<ul>

<li>SCOOP® Newsletter <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/ScoopLtr.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.nationalcenter.org/ScoopLtr.html" rel="nofollow">[32]</a></li>

<li>The Relief Report <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/ReliefRprt.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.nationalcenter.org/ReliefRprt.html" rel="nofollow">[33]</a></li>

<li>Budget Watch - Providing a truth dectector in the ongoing battle over federal spending. <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/Watch.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.nationalcenter.org/Watch.html" rel="nofollow">[34]</a></li>

<li>Legal Briefs - The newsletter that monitors the legal system that rules our lives. <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/LegalBriefs.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.nationalcenter.org/LegalBriefs.html" rel="nofollow">[35]</a></li>

</ul>

<h1>Related articles</h1>

Tobacco support <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/knd62c00/pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/knd62c00/pdf" rel="nofollow">[36]</a> National Policy Analysis (NPA) papers by Ridenour include:

<ul>

<li>NPA #201, "80% of the Public Isn't Wrong: Big Law is Overpaid,"</li>

<li>NPA #198. "Ironies of the Tobacco Wars,"</li>

<li>NPA #195, "Lawyers' Fees in Tobacco Case Should be Capped."</li>

<li>NPA #186, "Maryland's Stack the Deck; Legal Approach is Not in Taxpayers' Best Interest,"</li>

<li>NPA #175 "Government Use of Contingency Fee Lawyers Works Against Public Interest,"</li>

<li>NPA #171, "Without Reform, Trial Lawyers, Not States or Individuals. Will be Biggest Winners from Tobacco</li>

</ul>

Settlement."

Other National Center papers on the tobacco issue include:

<ul>

<li>NPA #220 "A Taxing Proposition: Should the Working Poor Finance New Government Spending" bv Faye Anderson.</li>

<li>NPA #149 "Demon Tobacco" by Doug Bandow,</li>

<li>NPA #147, "Food and Drug Administration Takes on the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments." bv Nate Stewart.</li>

</ul>

<h1>Sources</h1>

<ul>

<li>Conservatives Without Conscience, by John Dean, Viking Press (See p141)</li>

</ul>

<h1>External links</h1>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.bampac.org/" class="external text" title="http://www.bampac.org/" rel="nofollow">Black America's PAC</a> - Official website</li>

<li><a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/Staffbios.html" class="external text" title="http://www.nationalcenter.org/Staffbios.html" rel="nofollow">Amy Moritz Ridenour</a>, undated, accessed June 2004.</li>

<li>Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber,<a href="http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/2000Q3/usual.html" class="external text" title="http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/2000Q3/usual.html" rel="nofollow">The Usual Suspects:Industry Hacks Turn Fear on its Head</a>, PR Watch, Volume 7, No. 3, 3rd quarter 2000.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.indian.senate.gov/2005hrgs/062205hrg/ridenour.pdf" class="external text" title="http://www.indian.senate.gov/2005hrgs/062205hrg/ridenour.pdf" rel="nofollow">Ridenour Statement before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on Lobbying practices Involving Indian Tribes</a>, June 22, 2005 (pdf file)</li>

<li>Timothy Noah, "<a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2138082/entry/2137077/" class="external text" title="http://www.slate.com/id/2138082/entry/2137077/" rel="nofollow">Amy Ridenour, Abramoff Fellow</a>, Slate, March 28, 2006</li>

</ul>

=

http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/04/11466/right-wing-operatives-take-alecs-voter-suppression-agenda

Just as the <a href="http://www.ALECexposed.org" title="reference on American Legislative Exchange Council" target="blank">American Legislative Exchange Council</a> (ALEC) <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/04/11456/grassroots-campaign-makes-alec-try-stanch-bleeding-corporate-donors-alec-companie" title="reference on tried to distance" target="blank">tried to distance</a> itself from its role pushing parts of the NRA's gun agenda and making it more difficult for American citizens to vote, a controversial right-wing operation has announced that it will step in to help carry forward the "voter ID" agenda. The “<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research" title="reference on National Center for Public Policy Research" target="self">National Center for Public Policy Research</a>” (NCPPR) <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/PR-VoterID_041812.html" title="reference on announced Wednesday" target="blank">announced Wednesday</a> that it will form a "Voter Identification Task Force.”

This comes in response to ALEC’s announcement Tuesday that it will dismantle its "<a href="http://alecexposed.org/wiki/Guns,Prisons,Crime,and_Immigration" title="reference on Public Safety and Elections Task Force" target="blank">Public Safety and Elections Task Force</a>” through which corporate lobbyists and elected officials voted behind closed doors to approve “model” legislation that creates obstacles to American citizens voting through restrictive voter ID bills, as well as other damaging legislation, such as reckless gun laws that have been cited to protect violent vigilantes from being held accountable.

NCPPR’s press release scolds the 11 corporations, as of yesterday, that have recently announced they had dropped out of ALEC, which has come under intense scrutiny as a result of the Center for Media and Democracy’s <a href="http://www.ALECexposed.org" title="reference on ALEC Exposed" target="_blank">ALEC Exposed</a> investigation and the efforts CMD, Color of Change, Common Cause, People of the American Way, Progress Now!, and other groups as well as Daily Kos bloggers.  A growing number of concerned citizens are speaking up about ALEC across the country.

NCPPR even set up an email for corporations to reach out to if they “regret” their decision to cut ties with ALEC under the theme “we are not yellow.” NCPPR asserts that corporations have succumbed to the “left-wing” which is supposedly using a “trotskyite strategy of making relentless demand-after-demand.”

NCPPR is not well known but has hosted other attacks on good government and watchdog groups through a site called ”GroupSnoop,” which posts highly inaccurate “profiles” of organizations like the Center for Media and Democracy.

With NCPPR taking the mantle of fighting voter fraud, NCPPR's historical role in troubling operations is worth a closer look.

<h2>Distributing Millions in Charitable Donations as Directed by Jack Abramoff</h2>

Jack AbramoffAs documented by CMD’s SourceWatch, NCCPR was involved in part of the scandal that brought down RNC buddy and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.  According to a U.S. Senate investigation of the financial dealings and influence peddling of Abramoff, NCPPR's founder and president, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Amy_Moritz_Ridenour" title="reference on Amy Moritz Ridenour" target="_self">Amy Moritz Ridenour</a>, directed money received by NCPPR at Abramoff's direction, to other "charities," again at his direction. Specifically, Ridenour admitted that in 2002 she received a one million dollar gift to NCPPR from the Mississippi Band of Choctaws. That tribe had been paying Abramoff to help secure its casino business. NCPPR also received $1.5 million from Abramoff's then-law firm, Greenberg Traurig.

She told the Senate that, at Abramoff's direction, she gave $700,000 of the money NCPPR received to one of his "charities," called the "Capitol Athletic Foundation" (CAF). CAF, which was publicly touting that it was established to help inner city kids get more involved in athetics, reportedly used donations to fund luxury golf trips for (then) Members of Congress, like Ohio Representative Bob Ney. Ney served 17 months in prison for his role in the scandal. CAF also bought sniper scopes and camouflage for West Bank settlers in Israel, among other things.

She also testified that she directed $1.275 million received by NCPPR to another Abramoff entity called "Kaygold, LLC," whose address was listed as that of her then-board member, Abramoff. Ridenour testified that she thought Kaygold was controlled by Michael "Sean" Scanlon, Congressman <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tom_DeLay" title="reference on Tom DeLay" target="_self">Tom DeLay</a>'s former communications director, who later pleaded guilty to the criminal charge of conspiracy to bribe public officials. Scanlon was publicly known to be working closely with Abramoff.

In addition, NCPPR’s Ridenour told congressional investigators that she also gave $500,000 to Scanlon's "Capital Campaign Strategies."

<h2>NCPPR Has a History of Sending “Fright Mail” to Senior Citizens </h2>

Also, as noted in CMD’s SourceWatch, about a decade ago, NCPPR came under intense scrutiny for its fundraising tactics. NCPPR had been accused of bombarding senior citizens with "fright mail." According to an article by Diane Walsh of the San Francisco Examiner, NCPPR had contracted out its mailing of <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002075044_repubs28m.html" title="reference on repetitive and frightening letters" target="_blank">repetitive and frightening letters</a> to the direct mail mill, Response Dynamics, which helps right-wing politicians and groups raise money.

NCPPR's leader Ridenour told the press that "her organization sent donors up to a dozen major pitches a month. The appeals are sent on four different letterheads. She said anyone receiving more than a dozen solicitations in a month probably was on mailing lists the National Center has ‘rented’ from other organizations, which she said were outside her control.”

Another commentor in 2010 urged fellow citizens to "Be VERY careful before giving money to this organization. You will be swamped by mail and they do not honor requests to be removed from mailing lists.” Yet another commentor stated "the National Center for Public Policy Research has several 'projects' such as The National Retirement Security Task Force, etc. These projects simply acquire the names of older people and mail them requests for donations. These requests are sent with letters intended to scare the recipient into donating. Often these requests are sent via Certified Mail in the hope that the recipient will think the contents more important." NCPPR was cited by three other anonymous commentors for praise who said the group shed light on government corruption.

<h2>Who Else Has Funded NCPPR, Aside from Friends of Jack Abramoff?</h2>

Over the years, NCPPR <a href="http://mediamattersaction.org/transparency/organization/National_Center_for_Public_Policy_Research/funders" title="reference on has received funding" target="blank">has received funding</a> from numerous charitable foundations created by billionaires and millionaires who are funding an array of right-wing ventures to dramatically change American public policy, these include the foundation of the Coors family, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Castle_Rock_Foundation" title="reference on Castle Rock Foundation" target="self">Castle Rock Foundation</a>, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_M.Olin_Foundation" title="reference on John M. Olin Foundation" target="self">John M. Olin Foundation</a>, the Milwaukee-based <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lynde_and_Harry_Bradley_Foundation" title="reference on Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation" target="self">Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation</a>, and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sarah_Scaife_Foundation" title="reference on Sarah Scaife Foundation" target="self">Sarah Scaife Foundation</a>. Other NCPPR funders have included the Armstrong Foundation, Brady Education Foundation, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Carthage_Foundation" title="reference on Carthage Foundation" target="self">Carthage Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Earhart_Foundation" title="reference on Earhart Foundation" target="self">Earhart Foundation</a>, Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Leadership_Institute" title="reference on Leadership Institute" target="self">Leadership Institute</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Randolph_Foundation" title="reference on Randolph Foundation" target="self">Randolph Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Roe_Foundation" title="reference on Roe Foundation" target="self">Roe Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Shelby_Cullom_Davis_Foundation" title="reference on Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation" target="self">Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation</a>, and the William H. Donner Foundation.

According to Greenpeace’s research, NCPPR has also <a href="http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=59" title="reference on received" target="blank">received</a> several hundreds of thousands of dollars from the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Exxon_Mobil_Corporation" title="reference on Exxon Mobil Corporation" target="self">Exxon Mobil Corporation</a>. Exxon is also a member of ALEC’s corporate board and funder of ALEC. So, perhaps it should surprise no one that NCPPR is part of the so-called “Cooler Heads Coalition,” an effort of the “Competitive Enterprise Institute,” which is focused on part of the oil industry’s climate change denial machinery. ALEC has also helped advance this agenda, as noted by PRWatch, opposing regional agreements to address climate change and even hosting a workshop for ALEC politicians last year about “Warming Up to Climate Change,” about how increased carbon dioxide is supposedly good for you and leads to longer lifespans.

<h2>Now NCPPR Takes on Voter Fraud, along with a Threat?</h2>

In the wake of ALEC’s termination of its task force that had advanced “Voter ID” legislation that may thwart and chill citizen voting in this year's elections, NCPPR has jumped into the fray, claiming to take up ALEC’s mantle on voter fraud, despite the fact that numerous studies have documented that <a href="http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/policy_brief_on_the_truth_about_voter_fraud/" title="reference on voter fraud in the U.S. is exceedingly rare" target="_blank">voter fraud in the U.S. is exceedingly rare</a>.

In NCPPR’s press release on its new role as a watchdog against fraud in voting, the group repeatedly references the Center for American Progress’ “War Room” for its coverage of the recent ALEC membership drop. NCPPR’s press release ends with the following threat, an unusual choice in the wake of the controversy over the shooting of unarmed high school student Trayvon Martin, which helped shine the spotlight on ALEC’s pushing the NRA’s extreme gun agenda: “Unlike the Center for American Progress, the National Center for Public Policy Research eschews the use of violent references such as 'War Room.' We are, however, inspired by a particular passage in the 1987 movie The Untouchables: 'They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way.' Indeed.

<div class="blockquote">Social Security "fright mail" targeting seniors helped fund GOP leader's trips to UK, Asia

RAW STORY EXCLUSIVE

By John Byrne and Larisa Alexandrovna

A think tank which raised money by targeting elderly Americans with Social Security scare letters paid for more than $130,000 in travel expenses for the House Republican leader, his wife and his staff, RAW STORY has learned.

The National Center for Public Policy Research, a highly controversial and little-known conservative think tank which has been sending Social Security 'fright mail' for <a href="http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/a/1998/02/08/NEWS3642.dtl">years</a>, paid for two posh trips for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) in 1996 and 2000, each at the cost of at least $64,000.

NCPPR also gave $1,000 to DeLay's legal defense fund in 2004. [...]

The group's letters target seniors of both parties, aiming to convince them their Social Security benefits are in jeopardy and thereby induce them to donate money. The mailings also encourage seniors to keep the mailing secret from others, perhaps even from family members. [...]

NCPPR also picked up a hefty $70,000 tab for trip for DeLay and his aides made in mid-2000 to Europe. DeLay and his staff took a junket where he met with former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and took a round of golf with conservative leaders in Scotland.

The ten-day "educational" trip was no small affair: NCPPR paid $28,106 for DeLay and his wife alone, splurging on transportation ($20,266.00), cushy lodging ($3,840.00) and meals ($4,000.00).

DeLay's office did not return RAW STORY calls seeking comment today.

On Saturday, the National Journal reported that DeLay may have violated House ethics rules when a top lobbyist shelled out an additional $13,000 for DeLay's stay at the London Four Seasons hotel during that same trip. House rules stipulate that members or members' employees cannot accept payment from a registered lobbyist to cover travel costs.

The lobbyist in question? Jack Abramoff, an NCPPR director. Abramoff is also on the <a href="http://www.citizen.org/congress/campaign/special_interest/articles.cfm?ID=7999">board</a> of USA Next, a pro-privatization Social Security group that formed as an offshoot of the Swift Boat Vets and recently ran an ad claiming AARP supported gay marriage.

</div>

Go read the whole thing; RAW STORY did an excellent job on this one. They're also looking for tips on any additional "fright mail" letters sent by NCPPR.

So now we have the DeLay corruption scandals sharing space with conservative "think tanks" using Social Security scare tactics to bilk money from seniors, including a direct connection to USA Next. It's a Republican corruption trifecta.

</div>

<h4>Originally posted to <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/blog/main/">Daily Kos</a> on Mon Feb 28, 2005 at 12:52 PM PST.</h4>

</div>

</div>

Nat'l Ctr for Public Pol Res 1 Rid

Attachments