harison CAF

=ctr am opprt guidestar 990
--HARISON, AARON M MR ARLINGTON,VA 22201

<h2 style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">The Washington Free Beacon's "Aerial Hunting Operation"</h2>

<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">WFB's Matthew Continetti (who previously was an opinion editor at the right-wing Weekly Standard, where he remains a contributing editor) <a href="http://freebeacon.com/combat-journalism" title="reference on outlined" target="_blank">outlined</a> the WFB's strategy as part of its recent launch:

"What would happen if the media wolf pack suddenly had to worry about an aerial hunting operation? You are about to find out. The Washington Free Beacon is here to enter the arena of combat journalism. [...] At the Beacon, we follow only one commandment: Do unto them."

And this is the team ALEC is using to attempt to discredit CMD as an "attack-dog"?

This is not the first such piece to come out of WFB. In the past few months, Ciaramella has written three pieces personally attacking reporters and activists working to expose ALEC. In addition to the piece on Beau, he published a similar attack on Color of Change staffer Gabriel Rey-Goodlatte, as well as The Nation reporter Lee Fang.Fang has also written for Think Progress (blog of the Center for American Progress) and Republic Report, and who has reported critically on ALEC over the past year. Color of Change has been instrumental in the call for ALEC corporate members to sever ties with the organization.

The latest piece also takes a shot at George Soros by attempting to link Beau to the philanthropist through PRWatch. But CMD openly discloses on its website that the past grant it received from the Open Society Institute was focused on homeland security, not ALEC. Notably, neither the WFB nor CAF disclose to the public which corporations, organizations, or individuals bankroll their operations or smear campaigns.

<h2 style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">The People Behind the "Center for American Freedom"</h2>

<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">WFB is a creature of the Center for American Freedom (CAF), which was incorporated in Washington, D.C., on August 18, 2011, as a not-for-profit corporation.<a href="http://dbapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DCRA-CAF.pdf" title="reference on According to" target="_blank">According to</a> District of Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) records, CAF has two active trade names: "Free Bacon" [sic] and "Washington Free Beacon," both of which were formally effected in March 2012.

DCRA records list the names of two founding CAF "governors," <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Michael_Goldfarb" title="reference on Michael Goldfarb" target="_self">Michael Goldfarb</a> and Aaron Harison. CHENEY

Harison, currently CAF's president, <a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/harison_aaron" title="reference on previously served" target="blank">previously served</a> as director of communications for the Republican National Committee (RNC). Harison is joined at CAF by <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71099_Page3.html" title="reference on former RNC acting director of communications" target="blank">former RNC acting director of communications</a>, and current CAF research director, Tim Killeen.

Harison is also the <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28212.html#ixzz0Tqj4UEV7" title="reference on former executive director" target="blank">former executive director</a> of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Keep_America_Safe" title="reference on Keep America Safe" target="self">Keep America Safe</a>, an operation co-founded in 2009 by Dick Cheney's daughter, Liz Cheney. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_Kristol" title="reference on William Kristol" target="self">William Kristol</a>, the founder and editor of the neoconservative Weekly Standard, is a <a href="http://www.keepamericasafe.com/?page_id=215" title="reference on founding board member" target="blank">founding board member</a> of Keep America Safe. Kristol is currently listed as a <a href="http://americanfreedom.com/staff/" title="reference on board member" target="blank">board member</a> of CAF, and is the former executive director of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Project_for_the_New_American_Century" title="reference on Project for the New American Century" target="self">Project for the New American Century</a> (PNAC), a neocon "think tank" that had strong ties to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Enterprise_Institute" title="reference on American Enterprise Institute" target="_self">American Enterprise Institute</a>.

==

<div>

</div>

<div>

Aaron Harison is the president of the <a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/center_for_american_freedom" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Center for American Freedom</a> and a former executive director of <a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/keep_america_safe" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Keep America Safe</a>. Both groups, which are closely associated with the neoconservative advocacy community, emerged during the Barack Obama presidency and were intended to wage ideological warfare with liberal organizations and promote militaristic U.S. foreign policies. Prior to his work with Keep America Safe, Harison was a research director at the Republican National Committee and later a staffer for <a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/mccain_john" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">John McCain</a>’s 2008 presidential campaign.<a id="ednref1" href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/harison_aaron#edn1" name="_ednref1" title="" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[1]</a>

Although not as well known as colleagues like <a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Kristol_William" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">William Kristol</a> and <a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_elizabeth" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Liz Cheney</a>, both principals of Keep America Safe, Harison has received some media attention for his efforts to promote controversial right-wing agendas. In 2009 and 2010, for example, Harison played a role in promoting conspiratorial rationales for opposing the Obama administration’s efforts to close the detention facility at Guantanamo and try terror suspects on U.S. soil.

Wrote Harison in December 2009: “The Obama administration’s ill-considered plan to close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility coupled with Attorney General Eric Holder’s unilateral decision to try the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks Khalid Sheikh Mohammed along with four other 9/11 co-conspirators in a civilian court in New York City makes our responsibility to ensure justice is served very difficult, if not impossible. A slap in the face to those soldiers who risked their lives in the war on terror, these decisions have in fact played right into the hands of the detainees and given them exactly what they want.”<a id="ednref2" href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/harison_aaron#edn2" name="_ednref2" title="" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">[2]</a>

Although he provided no evidence for how the Obama proposals “played into the hands of detainees,” Harison and Keep America Safe doubled down on these claims several months later, leveling the wild accusation that some Justice Department officials who had defended terrorist suspects were not patriotic. Reported Main Justice in March 2010:

“Keep America Safe spokesman Aaron Harison said there was a distinction between Judge Advocate General (JAG) military lawyers who were doing their job and private lawyers working on a pro bono basis, who[m] he called ‘ideologues’ looking to ‘get these guys off the hook.’ … Harison said that private attorneys advocating for detainees raised a lot of questions because ‘sometimes you can’t make the distinction’ between representation and being ‘soft on terror.’ Harison also said the organization was more concerned that the DOJ lawyers are soft on terror than that they hold sympathetic views about al Qaeda. In contrast, JAG lawyers were assigned to cases, Harison said, unlike the pro bono lawyers who wanted Guantanamo cases to write a book or get media attention. Harison neglected to mention that some military officers did volunteer to take on the cases of Guantanamo detainees, including retired Air Force Col. Morris Davis, who served as the former chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo Bay military commissions and has since argued that they should be abandoned.”<a id="ednref3" href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/harison_aaron#edn3" name="_ednref3" title="" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">[3]</a>

Harison’s comments followed Keep America Safe’s release in February 2010 of a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIxg7LmlEQg&feature=player_embedded" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">video</a> provocatively titled “Who Are the Al Qaeda Seven?” which questioned the loyalty of Justice Department lawyers who had defended terrorism suspects. Defending the video, <a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/goldfarb_michael" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Michael Goldfarb</a>, an adviser to the group, claimed that the lawyers targeted in the ad “propagandized on behalf of our enemies, engaging in a worldwide smear campaign against the CIA, the U.S. military and the United States itself while we are at war.”<a id="ednref4" href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/harison_aaron#edn4" name="_ednref4" title="" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">[4]</a>

The video was roundly criticized by conservatives and liberals alike. A group of conservative lawyers issued a letter stating that such attacks were undermining the judicial system. “Whether one believes in trial by military commission or in federal court, detainees will have access to counsel. … To delegitimize the role detainee counsel play is to demand adjudications and policymaking stripped of a full record. Whatever systems America develops to handle difficult detention questions will rely, at least some of the time, on an aggressive defense bar; those who take up that function do a service to the system.”<a id="ednref5" href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/harison_aaron#edn5" name="_ednref5" title="" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">[5]</a>

Please note: IPS Right Web neither represents nor endorses any of the individuals or groups profiled on this site.

Aaron Harison Résumé

Affiliations

<ul>

<li>Center for American Freedom: President</li>

<li>Keep America Safe: Former executive director</li>

<li>John McCain Campaign: Former staffer</li>

<li>Republican National Committee: Former researcher</li>

</ul>

</div>

<div class="mmfeedtitle">Aaron Harison News Feed</div>

<div class="mmfeed"><a target="blank" href="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGX7W3gyyiqHnV_1cJy0rlkXxxxKQ&url=http://newstimes.augusta.com/odds-ends/2013-04-21/property-transfers-april-21-2013" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Property Transfers, April 21, 2013 - Columbia County News Times</a><a target="blank" href="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEL6HoNdcMLp0CK8emJlTeHSP5RtA&url=http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-04-08/news/os-daily-deathlist-040913-20130408_1_baldwin-fairchild-funeral-home-cremation-service-orlando" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">4/9: Deaths in Central Florida - Orlando Sentinel</a>

Right Web is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

</div>

<h5>The Right Web Mission</h5>

Right Web tracks militarists’ efforts to influence U.S. foreign policy.

</div>

<h5 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sources</h5>

<a id="edn1" href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/harison_aaron#ednref1" name="_edn1" title="" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">[1]</a> Citizendium, “Aaron Harison,” accessed February 10, 2012, <a href="http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Aaron_Harison" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Aaron_Harison</a>.

<a id="edn2" href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/harison_aaron#ednref2" name="_edn2" title="" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">[2]</a> Aaron Harison, "Caving into 9/11 Terrorists," Voices of Tomorrow, December 2009, <a href="http://www.voicesoftomorrow.org/us/caving-in-to-911-terrorists/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">http://www.voicesoftomorrow.org/us/caving-in-to-911-terrorists/</a>.

<a id="edn3" href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/harison_aaron#ednref3" name="_edn3" title="" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">[3]</a> Ryan Reilly, "Spokesman: Ad Only Questioning Pro Bono Lawyers,” Main Justice, March 3, 2010, <a href="http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/03/03/spokesman-ad-only-questioning-pro-bono-lawyers/print/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/03/03/spokesman-ad-only-questioning-pro-bono-lawyers/print/</a>.

<a id="edn4" href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/harison_aaron#ednref4" name="_edn4" title="" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">[4]</a> Ben Smith, “Cheney group questions loyalty of Justice lawyers,” Politico, March 2, 1010.

<a id="edn5" href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/harison_aaron#ednref5" name="edn5" title="" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">[5]</a> Cited in “Conservative Lawyers Hit Keep America Safe,” The American Prospect Blog, March 8, 2010, <a href="http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?base_name=conservatives_ask_cheney_have&month=03&year=2010" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?base_name=conservatives_ask_cheney_have&month=03&year=2010</a>.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom<div id="mw-content-text" lang="en" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr" style="direction: ltr; line-height: 22.4px;">The Center for American Freedom (CAF) is a Washington based self proclaimed "conservative advocacy group" that publishes through the online news outlet, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/The_Washington_Free_Beacon" title="The Washington Free Beacon" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">The </a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/The_Washington_Free_Beacon" title="The Washington Free Beacon" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Washington Free Beacon</a>. Its stated mission is to "transform conservative ideas into policy because we believe that it is America’s freedom which [sic] creates boundless opportunity for her people."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[1]</a>
<div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; display: inline; line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Contents</h2>  [<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom#" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">hide</a>] </div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom#History" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1 History</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom#CAF_Models_Itself_After_Liberal_Counterpart" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1.1 CAF Models Itself After Liberal Counterpart</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom#Funding" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">2 Funding</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom#Personnel" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3 Personnel</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom#Chairman" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3.1 Chairman</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom#Board_Members" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3.2 Board Members</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom#Staff" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3.3 Staff</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom#Contact" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">4 Contact</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom#References" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">5 References</a></li></ul></div><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">History</h2><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: none; line-height: 1.6; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">CAF Models Itself After Liberal Counterpart</h3>Matthhew Continetti, editor of the Washington Free Beacon <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=31ADA019-4DAA-4765-9C2F-C7F74FD02CB2" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">indicated to Politico</a> that the Center for American Freedom was inspired by its liberal counterpart, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Progress" title="Center for American Progress" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Center for American Progress</a> (CAP) and its blog. “Our models are the Center for American Progress/Think Progress, [Talking Points Memo], and Huffington Post politics. These outlets have been at the cutting edge of ideological journalism for years, and it is time for the right to emulate their success.” Added Goldfarb: “It’s very impressive what they’ve done. Obviously, I think they’re misguided and they have some horrible policy views and they’ve done some things I wouldn’t do, but the premise of it is extremely impressive," said Continetti. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[2]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Funding</h2>The group is a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/501(c)(4)" title="501(c)(4)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">501(c)(4)</a> organization and subsequently not required to disclose its donors.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[3]</a> According to its chairman <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_Goldfarb" title="Michael Goldfarb" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Michael Goldfarb</a>, CAF has an annual budget of "several million dollars."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[4]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Personnel</h2><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: none; line-height: 1.6; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Chairman</h3><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_Goldfarb" title="Michael Goldfarb" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Michael Goldfarb</a></li></ul><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: none; line-height: 1.6; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Board Members</h3><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Jaime Sneider</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Mary Katharine Ham</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/William_Kristol" title="William Kristol" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">William Kristol</a></li></ul><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: none; line-height: 1.6; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Staff</h3><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Aaron Harison, President
</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Tim Killeen, Research Director</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Drew Florio, Chief Media Analyst</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Nichole Wilson, Senior Research Analyst</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Adam Kennedy, Research Analyst</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Stephanie Isaacson, Research Analyst</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Brent Scher, Research Analyst</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Robert Charette, Media Analyst</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Ellen Corman, Media Analyst</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Carter Eltzroth, Media Analyst</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Jordan Steinmann, Office Manager</li></ul><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Contact</h2>Center for American Freedom
1600 K Street, NW
Suite 200
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: (202) 465-8605
Web: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://americanfreedom.com/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" background-color="background-color" initial="initial" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">http://americanfreedom.com/</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">References</h2><ol class="references" style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li id="cite_note-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom#cite_ref-1" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up↑</a> Ben Smith, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71099.html#ixzz1ibfY9BY7" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">How to fight liberals: Imitate them</a>, Politico, January 5, 2012</li><li id="cite_note-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom#cite_ref-2" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/center_for_american_freedom/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">Center for American Freedom</a>, Right Web, February 10, 2012</li><li id="cite_note-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom#cite_ref-3" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://americanfreedom.com/about/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">American Freedom, About</a>, American Freedom, accessed July 30, 2012</li><li id="cite_note-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_American_Freedom#cite_ref-4" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up↑</a> Ben Smith, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71099.html#ixzz1ibfY9BY7" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">How to fight liberals: Imitate them</a>, Politico, January 5, 2012</li></ol><table style="margin: 0.5em 0.57em 0.5em 0.7em; border-collapse: collapse; border: 1px solid rgb(218, 210, 109); background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 250, 205); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><tbody><tr><td width="100%" style="padding: 0.25em;">This article is a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SourceWatch:Find_or_fix_a_stub" title="SourceWatch:Find or fix a stub" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">stub</a>. You can <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SourceWatch:Find_or_fix_a_stub" title="SourceWatch:Find or fix a stub" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">help</a> by <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_American_Freedom&action=edit" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">expanding it</a>.</td><td>
</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 5px; margin-top: 1em; clear: both; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Categories</a>: <ul style="list-style: none none; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left: none; padding: 0px 0.5em 0px 0.25em; zoom: 1;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Think_tanks" title="Category:Think tanks" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Think tanks</a></li><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0px 0.5em; zoom: 1;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Stubs" title="Category:Stubs" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Stubs</a></li></ul></div></div>
rww Center for American Freedom is a rightist advocacy group founded by neoconservative pundit <a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Goldfarb_Michael" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Michael Goldfarb</a> to serve as a counterweight to the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress. Its sole activity appears to be publishing the <a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/washington_free_beacon" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Washington Free Beacon</a>, a news and commentary site fashioned as a conservative answer to progressive blogs like Think Progressand Talking Points Memo.<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/center_for_american_freedom/#edn1" name="ednref1" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">[1]</a>CAF’s website states: “The Center For American Freedom is a conservative not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through education, ideas, and action. We are creating a long-term, conservative vision for America—a vision that policy makers, thought-leaders, and activists can use to shape the national debate and pass laws that make a difference. Our mission is to transform conservative ideas into policy through rapid response communications, legislative action, organizing and advocacy, and partnerships with other conservative leaders throughout the country and the world.”<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/center_for_american_freedom/#edn2" name="ednref2" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">[2]</a>Hinting at its neoconservative bent, the website claims that “a conservative is someone who understands America has been the greatest force for good the world has ever known, and that in order to remain as such, we must guard against threats to liberty and freedom both at home and abroad.”<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/center_for_american_freedom/#edn3" name="ednref3" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">[3]</a>The Washington Free BeaconReflecting on the purported novelty of a conservative news site, editor in chief Matthew Continetti describes the Washington Free Beacon as an attempt to present “the other half of the story, the half that the elite media have taken such pains to ignore: the inside deals, cronyism cloaked in the public interest, and far-out nostrums of contemporary progressivism and the Democratic Party. At the Beacon, all friends of freedom will find an alternative to the hackneyed spin, routine misstatements, paranoid hyperbole, and insipid folderol of Democratic officials and the liberal gasbags on MSNBC and talk radio. At the Beacon, we follow only one commandment: Do unto them.” Continetti summed up the journal’s work as “combat journalism.”<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/center_for_american_freedom/#edn4" name="ednref4" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">[4]</a>The Beacon's reporting has lived up to its combative mission. In late 2012 and early 2013, for example, the outlet ran a series of stories dedicated to bolstering the neoconservative-driven claim that then-Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel held anti-Israel or even anti-Semitic views, a campaign that was widely panned outside right-wing media. The Beacon's coverage of the Hagel nomination prompted Antiwar.com's Justin Raimondo to lambast the publication as "a tabloid-style 'news' site specializing in smear jobs against neocon hate-objects." Raimondo added, "Half Breitbart.com, half college humor magazine, the Free Beacon is a down-market version of the Weekly Standard."<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/center_for_american_freedom/#edn5" name="ednref5" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[5]</a>The Beacon also contributed to the conservative mythmaking over the Obama administration's handling of the 2012 attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Cairo, Egypt, and Benghazi, Libya. The publication was the source of a rumor that the State Department had banned U.S. Marines at the Cairo embassy from carrying live ammunition. Although the Marine Corps immediately discredited the claim, it nonetheless circulated widely in conservative media.<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/center_for_american_freedom/#edn6" name="ednref6" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[6]</a>The publication has stoked controversy by passing off sensationalistic "jokes" as journalism. In February 2013, the site ran a story under the headline "Hughes Drops Jews" that suggested that the president of the New Republic magazine was "signal[ing] the publication’s continued drift away from a staunchly pro-Israel standpoint" by dropping "at least five prominent Jewish writers from its masthead." Critics pointed out that the publication's editor was Jewish and that half of the writers dropped were not. Goldfarb told the New York Times that story was meant to be a joke. "We're true believers, but we're also troublemakers," he said, "We get up every day and say, how do we cause trouble?"<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/center_for_american_freedom/#edn7" name="ednref7" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[7]</a>A Daily Beast blogger called Goldfarb's remark "a stunning admission." Recalling the Beacon's repeated insinuations that Chuck Hagel held anti-Semitic views, the blogger mused: "Goldfarb concedes here that his group's accusations of anti-Semitism are just for laughs." Quipping that Goldfarb "represents Bill Kristol's worst instincts," the Daily Beast writer concluded, "This is what neoconservatism has become; even a critic can lament."<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/center_for_american_freedom/#edn8" name="ednref8" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">[8]</a>Commenting on the Beacon's sensationalistic and often lowbrow journalism, Think Progresseditor Judd Legum rejected any comparison between his own publication and the Washington Free Beacon. “They are not an imitation of ThinkProgress," he told the New York Times. "They are a parody.”<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/center_for_american_freedom/#edn9" name="ednref9" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">[9]</a>Leadership and FundingCAF’s founding chairman is <a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Goldfarb_Michael" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Michael Goldfarb</a>, a lobbyist and activist associated with several neoconservative groups, including the <a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/emergency_committee_for_israel" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Emergency Committee for Israel</a>, the <a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/cheney_liz" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Liz Cheney</a>-led<a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/keep_america_safe" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Keep America Safe</a>, and the now-defunct <a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/project_for_the_new_american_century" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Project for the New American Century</a>. The editor of the Washington Free Beacon is Matthew Continetti, a contributor to the neocon <a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Weekly_Standard" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Weekly Standard</a>. Aaron Harison, the former executive director of Keep America Safe, is the group’s president.<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/center_for_american_freedom/#edn10" name="ednref10" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[10]</a>Board members include the ubiquitous <a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/kristol_william" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">William Kristol</a>, editor of the Weekly Standard and a supporter of a passel of neoconservative pressure groups, as well as Weekly Standardcontributors Jaime Sneider and Mary Katharine Ham, who is also conservative radio host and Fox News commentator.<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/center_for_american_freedom/#edn11" name="ednref11" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">[11]</a>Although he has declined to reveal the group’s donors, Goldfarb told reporter Ben Smith in early 2012 that CAF would have an annual budget of “several million dollars.” Reported Smith: “The group is currently structured as a 501(c)(4) advocacy group, Goldfarb said, mimicking CAP’s more combative media and research arm, the Center for American Progress Action Fund; it may add a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit, like CAP, for less overtly partisan work, he said. Goldfarb said he’s borrowing another position from the liberal think tank, which was founded in 2003 to buttress the Democratic opposition to a Republican president. Like CAP, his group won’t disclose its donors. CAP has justified that stance by saying that, unlike the anonymously financed campaign groups it criticizes for secrecy, it doesn’t run TV ads.”<a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/center_for_american_freedom/#edn12" name="_ednref12" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[12]</a>CAF’s Form 990 from 2011, when the organization was still being set up, reported total revenues of $700,000. It also indicated that CAF had paid $40,000 to Orion Strategies, a consulting firm where Goldfarb has served as vice presiden2x? ish?http://www.commondreams.org/views/2012/08/29/alec-goes-after-center-media-and-democracy
ALEC Goes After the Center for Media and DemocracybyLisa Graves
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) sent a message to hundreds of legislators across the country attacking the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), the creator of ALECexposed.org. Among other things ALEC claimed, "CMD is an attack-dog, not a watch-dog."
The error-filled missive, which was intended to buck up the ALEC faithful as more and more corporations flee the organization, has us here at CMD pondering the old adage, "First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they want to attack you and then you win."
ALEC Attempts to Spin Legislators about Corporate Exodus
ALEC ExposedALEC's August 13 message claimed that CMD "continue[s] to spread half-truths and lies" about ALEC in order to "weaken [ALEC's] resolve" and "create the false impression that companies are departing from ALEC."
As CMD has reported, 38 corporations, four non-profit organizations, and 70 state legislators have distanced themselves from ALEC by either dropping their funding or their membership or both. These major corporations include General Motors, Walgreens, Best Buy, Hewlett-Packard, MillerCoors, John Deere, Dell, Johnson & Johnson, Wal-Mart, Amazon.com, Procter & Gamble, Mars, Wendy's, McDonald's, Kraft Foods, PepsiCo, and Coca-Cola.
We reported on six new departures, including Sprint and GE, just days ago. In every instance, CMD relied on a formal communication from the firm, a statement, letter, email, or conversation with staff.
Yet ALEC is attempting to make hay over whether some of the corporations that have said they are no longer funding ALEC are funders through paying membership dues and pay-to-play fees or whether they were funders of ALEC through sponsoring its meetings. Such distinctions among funders that have stopped funding ALEC are, to quote Shakespeare, "much ado about nothing."
Amgen: ALEC claims in its note to legislators that "Amgen is not severing ties with ALEC . . . . Amgen has informed us that it is letting its membership with us expire after this year." CMD reported on August 8th that Amgen had "dropped" is membership with ALEC. CMD's article attached the letter Amgen's assistant secretary and associate general counsel, Andrea A. Robinson, sent to Timothy Smith of Walden Asset Management which said, "After careful consideration, we have determined not to renew our membership in ALEC when our current membership expires this year." So Amgen is on the record dropping its membership after sustained pressure by community groups and shareholders.
As for ALEC's attempt to spin Amgen's public statement in August, the company's letter of departure speaks for itself.
Louis Dreyfus: ALEC claims, "Louis Dreyfus never had a membership in ALEC to drop. . . . ALEC has partnered with Louis Dreyfus in past programs and has counted Louis Dreyfus as a sponsor of past annual meetings." After a conversation with a spokesperson at the company, CMD originally mentioned, in a July 30th article about the 46 firms that had disappeared from ALEC's annual meeting brochure, that it looked as though Louis Dreyfus was no longer a member of ALEC. Later, in announcing the departure of the firm from ALEC's circle of sponsors, we clarified, "Louis Dreyfus confirmed to CMD that it had decided not to fund ALEC this year." CMD's website lists Louis Dreyfus as a "Vice Chairman" level sponsor of the 2011 ALEC Annual Conference (in 2010, this level of sponsorship equated to $25,000).
The bottom-line is that Louis Dreyfus chose not to fund ALEC's annual meeting this year after sponsoring "past annual meetings."
And, despite ALEC's spin, neither Amgen nor Louis Dreyfus ever contacted CMD to request a correction about their decisions not to fund ALEC. However, some corporations have contacted CMD: firms anxious to distance themselves from ALEC and asking CMD to remove documented references to their past funding of ALEC, requests which were declined.
ALEC Uses Edelman PR and Media Attack Dogs to Try to Discredit ALEC Critics
 
In May 2012, PRWeek reported that ALEC had hired the notorious global PR firm Edelman. Edelman is the firm of choice for big tobacco, big oil, and big pharma, all key sponsors of ALEC. ALEC also held a special meeting asking right-wing bloggers, such as the Breitbart operation,for help in "a very aggressive campaign to really spread the word about what we actually do," as CMD has reported.
An "aggressive campaign" is clearly underway.
ALEC's note to legislators claims that CMD's "top investigative reporter" has a "lengthy criminal background." It links to a attack-piece published by a newly created entity called The Washington Free Beacon (WFB), the online publication of the self-proclaimed "conservative advocacy group" the Center for American Freedom.
In that piece, recent college grad CJ Ciaramella focuses on Beau Hodai, a freelance reporter who has written for the Center for Media and Democracy, In These Times, Prison Legal News, Extra! (a publication of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), and the investigative news publication he founded, DBA Press.
Beau has been researching and reporting on ALEC since late 2009. His reporting has detailed the relationship between ALEC and private prison contractors in the dissemination of bills based on Arizona's SB 1070, and has identified ALEC as one of the key forces behind attempts to destroy public employee unions and privatize public services.
Notably, the WFB attack job does not find any material errors in any of Beau's extensively documented reports on ALEC, but focuses on misdemeanor court records. It dwells on the fact that his legal first name is Mohamad. Beau has been nicknamed "Beau" since birth. (It is worth noting that "CJ" is not Ciaramella's legal first name but the nickname he uses instead of "Carl.")
Beau recently stirred the pot with a special report detailing corruption in the Ohio General Assembly based on public records that raise questions as to whether the state's elected officials in ALEC are complying with Ohio's ethics laws regarding gifts.
Interestingly enough, Beau learned that exactly one week following the publication of the Ohio ALEC corruption story, a private investigation firm requested court records concerning a past arrest. Allegations from those same court records emerged as the centerpiece of the WFB attack article.
The Washington Free Beacon's "Aerial Hunting Operation"
WFB's Matthew Continetti (who previously was an opinion editor at the right-wing Weekly Standard, where he remains a contributing editor) outlined the WFB's strategy as part of its recent launch:
"What would happen if the media wolf pack suddenly had to worry about an aerial hunting operation? You are about to find out. The Washington Free Beacon is here to enter the arena of combat journalism. [...] At the Beacon, we follow only one commandment: Do unto them."
And this is the team ALEC is using to attempt to discredit CMD as an "attack-dog"?
This is not the first such piece to come out of WFB. In the past few months, Ciaramella has written three pieces personally attacking reporters and activists working to expose ALEC. In addition to the piece on Beau, he published a similar attack on Color of Change staffer Gabriel Rey-Goodlatte, as well as The Nation reporter Lee Fang. Fang has also written for Think Progress (blog of the Center for American Progress) and Republic Report, and who has reported critically on ALEC over the past year. Color of Change has been instrumental in the call for ALEC corporate members to sever ties with the organization.
The latest piece also takes a shot at George Soros by attempting to link Beau to the philanthropist through PRWatch. But CMD openly discloses on its website that the past grant it received from the Open Society Institute was focused on homeland security, not ALEC. Notably, neither the WFB nor CAF disclose to the public which corporations, organizations, or individuals bankroll their operations or smear campaigns.
The People Behind the "Center for American Freedom"
WFB is a creature of the Center for American Freedom (CAF), which was incorporated in Washington, D.C., on August 18, 2011, as a not-for-profit corporation. According to District of Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) records, CAF has two active trade names: "Free Bacon" [sic] and "Washington Free Beacon," both of which were formally effected in March 2012.
DCRA records list the names of two founding CAF "governors," Michael Goldfarb and Aaron Harison.
Harison, currently CAF's president, previously served as director of communications for the Republican National Committee (RNC). Harison is joined at CAF by former RNC acting director of communications, and current CAF research director, Tim Killeen.
Harison is also the former executive director of Keep America Safe, an operation co-founded in 2009 by Dick Cheney's daughter, Liz Cheney. William Kristol, the founder and editor of the neoconservative Weekly Standard, is a founding board member of Keep America Safe. Kristol is currently listed as a board member of CAF, and is the former executive director of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a neocon "think tank" that had strong ties to the American Enterprise Institute.
Michael Goldfarb, CAF's chairman, has reportedly worked as an advisor to Keep America Safe and the militaristic Emergency Committee for Israel. (Kristol is also a board member for the Emergency Committee for Israel). Goldfarb is also listed as a contributing editor to Weekly Standard.
In addition, Goldfarb is a partner in the lobby/PR firm, Orion Strategies LLC. Not surprisingly, given Goldfarb and Kristol's warmongering predilections, Orion has lobbied on issues of arms sales and foreign relations for very special interests like defense contractors and foreign governments.
While these ties may explain some of the content on the WFB, what does any of this have to do with its efforts to defend ALEC by attacking its critics?
According to Politico, right-wing financiers Charles and David Koch also employ the services of Orion Strategies and, as CMD has documented, Koch Industries and/or the Koch family fortune have helped fund ALEC and numerous ALEC private sector members that help operationalize the brothers' ideological and financial agenda. There is no indication that the Kochs asked WFB to jump to the defense of ALEC. However, the right wing has been howling that the press and progressive groups have been too persuasive in exposing ALEC and in making the case about how ALEC helps make the corporate wish list into law through its members and operations.
CMD Wins Awards for ALEC Exposed and Investigative Breakthroughs
In the letter to its members, ALEC also attempted to impugn CMD as a "highly partisan, fringe organization." The charge brings to mind pots and kettles. When CMD surveyed ALEC's political leadership in July 2011, it documented that 103 of the 104 legislators serving on ALEC's Board of Directors or holding the post of co-chair on its task forces or of a state were Republicans. It's difficult to imagine a more lopsided partisan make-up of a body of elected officials than that, other than in groups that are expressly described by their party label, such as the Republican Governors Association.
CMD is a non-partisan watchdog group that has taken heat for being highly critical of President Obama's financial policies and the Democrat's campaign financing practices. We have filed briefs challenging the Obama administration, including its detention powers under the recent National Defense Authorization Act, and have been critical of Democrats and Republicans who push the agenda of their corporate benefactors in dozens of areas.
CMD has been honored to receive several journalism awards for its work to expose ALEC: the "Sidney Award" for Investigative Journalism, along with The Nation magazine, in September 2011; the "Izzy Award" for outstanding achievement in independent media, along with Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who covered the uprising in Egypt from the ground; and most recently, the "Professional Freedom and Responsibility award" from the Cultural and Critical Studies Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication -- an honor that has previously been awarded to Bill Moyers, Molly Ivins, I.F. "Izzy" Stone, Noam Chomsky, Studs Terkel, and Bob McChesney. Earlier this year, CMD also recieved one of the Milwaukee Press Club's 2011 "Excellence in Journalism" awards for its investigative work.
ALEC Ups the Ante But the Odds Are on More Defections and Inquiries
While ALEC is fighting CMD with misleading missives to its members and media smears, it is still shedding corporate board members, funders, and sponsors. And it is still getting hammered in the press for its extreme agenda and its corrupting influence, for the fact that corporate lobbyists vote as equals with elected officials on templates to change the law, and its repeated claims it does not lobby despite proof to the contrary. ALEC has also received continued scrutiny for its corporate-funded scholarships. CMD has learned at least one state has had trouble maintaining corporate donors to cover the usual trips for legislators to attend ALEC events.
As calls for investigation of ALEC's lobbying activities and financing practices mount (with three complaints now filed before the IRS and other ethics investigations at the state level), it will take more than Edelman PR and "combat journalism" to rescue ALEC from the trouble it is in.

</div>