National legal and Policy Ctr NLPC

note color below

trump roger stone fight v mueller probe!<div></div><div>http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2018/aug/11/in-mueller-case-contempt-ruling-2018081/</div><div>
</div><div>- A federal judge has found a witness in contempt for refusing to testify before the grand jury that's hearing evidence in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.U.S. District Chief Judge Beryl Howell made the ruling Friday after a sealed hearing to discuss Andrew Miller's refusal to appear before the grand jury. Miller is a former aide to Roger Stone, President Donald Trump's longtime confidant.<div class="signup-form-btm" style="padding: 15px 0px; margin: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><hr style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: 2px; background: rgb(204, 204, 204); border: none;" /></div>Miller's lawyer Paul Kamenar said after the hearing that Miller was "held in contempt, which we asked him to be in order for us to appeal the judge's decision to the court of appeals."Howell stayed her order while Miller's legal team appeals the judge's decision.Miller lost a court battle earlier this month to quash a subpoena, after Howell issued a 93-page opinion saying Miller must testify before the grand jury.Kamenar said he believes Miller's challenge could ultimately go to the Supreme Court."None of these questions are easy," the lawyer said, adding that the appeal was designed to challenge the constitutionality of Mueller's appointment, not slow or obstruct the investigation.Separately, another Stone associate, Randy Credico, said Friday that he had received a subpoena to testify before the grand jury Sept. 7 and did not plan to fight it. Stone has claimed that in 2016 Credico was a conduit to Julian Assange, founder of the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.A hearing transcript from June 18 shows Miller was subpoenaed for information about Stone as well as key figures in the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee, and the public release of Democrats' emails during the campaign. According to that transcript, the subpoena seeks information from Miller about WikiLeaks and Assange. WikiLeaks published large volumes of hacked Democrats' emails during the campaign.The subpoena also seeks information about Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks. Investigators say both were online fronts invented by Russian intelligence operatives to spread the hacked documents. DCLeaks was a website that posted hacked emails of current and former U.S. officials and political aides, while Guccifer 2.0 claimed to be a Romanian hacker.Stone, through his attorney, has acknowledged having a "24-word exchange with someone on Twitter claiming to be Guccifer 2.0." The statement from lawyer Grant Smith said the exchange "provides no evidence of collaboration or collusion with Guccifer 2.0 or anyone else in the alleged hacking of the DNC emails."Miller had asked for "some grant of immunity" regarding financial transactions involving political action committees for which he assisted Stone, according to Alicia Dearn, an attorney for Miller.On that issue, Miller "would be asserting" his Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer questions, Dearn said.As for the hacking and WikiLeaks questions, Dearn said at the hearing, "we don't believe he has any information" about those topics.Court filings unsealed Friday show Miller was first subpoenaed in June to testify at the end of that month, setting off months of legal jousting.At the June 18 hearing, Dearn said that while she believes Miller is "innocent of any wrongdoing, I don't want my client to step into something that might be happening." She said she was concerned he could lose or waive his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination by answering investigators' questions.Prosecutors called it contradictory for Miller's lawyers to claim, on the one hand, that he knew nothing of value and participated in no illegal activity, and simultaneously claim an unspecified Fifth Amendment concern.Aaron Zelinsky, one of Mueller's prosecutors, said at the hearing that Miller sat for a brief FBI interview without raising such concerns, and had planned to meet with prosecutors for an informal interview without any proffer for immunity -- as would normally be the process -- before Dearn's appearance in the case.At the time, Miller was complying with a subpoena for records, according to the transcript. Dearn said Miller found thousands of documents, many of which were emails received to Stone's website, which Miller had forwarded to him to respond to booking requests. Dearn said Miller worked with Stone very little in 2015 and 2016, but continued to receive forwarded emails now subject to prosecutors' subpoena."There may be responsive documents, but it's not that he is still working for Mr. Stone," Dearn said.Peter Flaherty, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative nonprofit that is funding Miller's legal fight, said Miller is in Missouri.Earlier in the day, Kamenar and Flaherty were seen entering Howell's courtroom before she sealed it, and declined to comment on the proceeding.Kamenar spoke afterward, confirming that it was a hearing held after prosecutors filed a motion to find the witness in contempt.When a subpoenaed witness refuses to testify before a grand jury, that person can be held in contempt. In some cases, such a contempt finding can lead to a witness being sent to jail until the person agrees to testify.Kamenar argued after the proceedings that Mueller's appointment is unconstitutional. He asserted that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein did not have the authority to appoint Mueller to lead the investigation into Trump campaign contacts with Russia.Previous challenges to Mueller's legitimacy have failed....</div>=

why GM jihad? Fannie

ATI?! not seeing

===2013 kos<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;" open="Open" sans="Sans" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" line-height="line-height" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">I was looking at information about photovoltaic solar energy, wind energy, electric cars, plug-in hybrids and such last night. Through a chain of links and searches I can't quite remember, I found an <a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2013/02/11/interior-nominee-would-likely-continue-obama-bad-stewardship-policies" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">article</a> published by the <a href="http://nlpc.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">National Legal and Policy Center</a> about Sally Jewell, the Obama administrations's new nominee for Secretary of the Interior. I found it immediately apparent that this was a fossil-fuel industry hit piece that bore essentially no relationship to real public policy.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;" open="Open" sans="Sans" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" line-height="line-height" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">I found out from <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Sourcewatch</a> what the NLPC's real motivating force is: "NLPC’s predominate sources of funding are the Scaife Foundations. Richard Mellon Scaife is heir to the Mellon banking, oil and aluminum fortune. He is the premier financier for right wing political and policy organizations in the United States. The Mellon family owns Gulf Oil."According to their <a href="http://nlpc.org/about" 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;">About Us</a> page, "NLPC promotes ethics in public life through research, investigation, education and legal action." They provide a page where anyone can report "...information about fraudulent or questionable activities in or by the government, large corporations, or government contractors..." Well, since their own article struck me as a fraudulent and questionable activity by a large corporation, I felt compelled to respond to the call.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;" open="Open" sans="Sans" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" line-height="line-height" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Armed with more of a sense of dramatic irony than any real expectation of accomplishment, I submitted the following report to their own <a href="http://nlpc.org/report-corruption" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Report Corruption</a> page. <blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px 60px; margin: 20px 0px; border: none; width: 660px; line-height: 24px; z-index: -1;" open="Open" sans="Sans" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">I want to report a possible example of collusion between government, industry and a purported "public interest" group.<a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2013/02/11/interior-nominee-would-likely-continue-obama-bad-stewardship-policies" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">http://nlpc.org/...</a>This supposedly public interest article uses questionable sources: industry lobbying groups and elected officials in the pockets of these same industry lobbying groups to smear a potential civil service nominee by making false claims about resource extraction: mining doesn't harm the public and the environment? Ever heard of Mountaintop Removal? Fossil fuels are good for the economy? Wind and solar are now cheaper than coal and gas in some markets and solar is already generating huge savings by reducing peak daytime loads.There is clearly a conflict of interest between NLPC's industry ties through its funding by the Scaife foundations and its claims of unbiased anti-corruption activism. Please investigate these issues and act on them with all possible speed.Thank you.</blockquote>I included my contact information. If they respond, I'll provide updates as warranted.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;" open="Open" sans="Sans" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" line-height="line-height" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Edited to provide context, as suggested. Thanks for the feedback!

<div class="views-row views-row-1 views-row-odd views-row-first" style="margin-top: 14px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(142, 142, 142); margin-bottom: 14px; line-height: 18.0161px;"><div class="views-field-title" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/case-study-right-wing-myth-making" style="text-decoration: none; margin-bottom: 3px; width: 776px; display: block;">A Case Study in Right-Wing Myth Making</a><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/case-study-right-wing-myth-making" style="text-decoration: none; margin-bottom: 3px; width: 776px; display: block;">
</a></div><div class="views-field-path" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 2px;">SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Thursday 09/03/2009</div><div class="views-field-path" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 2px;">
</div><div class="views-field-view-node" style="width: 776px; margin-top: 4px; margin-bottom: 17px;">I feel like I've been writing a lot about WorldNetDaily recently, but since the website seems to always be at the nexus of emerging right-wing conspiracy theories, allow me to point out that it is happening again. Earlier today I wrote about this claim being made by the National Legal and Policy Center that the "Obama White House Has Secret Plan To Harvest Personal Data From Social Networking Websites": NLPC has uncovered a plan by the White House New Media operation to hire a technology vendor to conduct a massive, secret effort to harvest personal information on millions of... <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/case-study-right-wing-myth-making" style="text-decoration: none;">MORE ></a></div><div class="views-field-view-node" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 776px; margin-top: 4px; margin-bottom: 17px;">
</div><div class="views-field-view-node" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 776px; margin-top: 4px; margin-bottom: 17px;">...feel like I've been writing a lot about WorldNetDaily recently, but since the website seems to always be at the nexus of emerging right-wing conspiracy theories, allow me to point out that it is happening again.Earlier today I wrote about this claim being made by the National Legal and Policy Center that the "<a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2009/08/31/obama-white-house-has-secret-plan-harvest-personal-data-social-networking-website" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Obama White House Has Secret Plan To Harvest Personal Data From Social Networking Websites</a>":<blockquote style="margin: 13px 35px 13px 8px; border-left: 7px solid rgb(140, 151, 171); padding-left: 20px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height">NLPC has uncovered a plan by the White House New Media operation to hire a technology vendor to conduct a massive, secret effort to harvest personal information on millions of Americans from social networking websites.</blockquote>Ed Morrissey of <a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2009/09/02/does-obama-plan-to-spy-on-social-networking-sites/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Hot Air quickly debunked</a> NLPC's claims,  but it didn't matter because "news" of the plan was already spreading around to, and being further <a href="http://www.thecloakroomblog.com/2009/09/newscall20090902/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">spread around by</a>, right-wing groups like the Family Research Council.And now, of course, WND has picked up the NLPC's "scoop" and <a href="http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=108696" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">is reporting it as fact</a>:<blockquote style="margin: 13px 35px 13px 8px; border-left: 7px solid rgb(140, 151, 171); padding-left: 20px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height">On Facebook, MySpace? Obama's got your e-mail
White House spammer-in-chief wants contractor to track critics
Posted: September 02, 2009By Chelsea Schilling
WorldNetDailyThe White House is hiring a contractor to harvest information about Americans from its pages on social networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.The National Legal and Policy Center, or NLPC, revealed the White House New Media team is seeking to hire a technology vendor to collect data such as comments, tag lines, e-mail, audio and video from any place where the White House "maintains a presence" – for a period of up to eight years.</blockquote>Now that this "story" has shown up in the "news," we can expect it to get picked up by more groups and media outlets as it slowly begins to work its way into the overall right-wing narrative and perhps eventually into mainstream media coverage ... despite the fact that even the conservative blog Hot Air declared immediately that the NLPC's analysis is "faulty" and "overblown."</div></div><div class="views-row views-row-2 views-row-even views-row-last" style="border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(202, 201, 200); margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 18.0161px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/how-not-spread-rumors-internet" style="text-decoration: none; margin-bottom: 3px; width: 776px; display: block;">How Not To Spread Rumors On The Internet</a><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/how-not-spread-rumors-internet" style="text-decoration: none; margin-bottom: 3px; width: 776px; display: block;">
</a></div><div class="views-field-path" style="margin-bottom: 2px;">SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Mantyla, Thursday 09/03/2009</div><div class="views-field-path" style="margin-bottom: 2px;">
</div><div class="views-field-view-node" style="width: 776px; margin-top: 4px; margin-bottom: 17px;">In yesterday's "Newscall" post on the Family Research Council's "Cloakroom" blog, Krystle Weeks, FRC's web editor, included this item: HotAir.com asks a good question: Does Obama plan to spy on social networking sites? After all, CNet, there is a bill proposed in the Senate that would give the President emergency control of the internet. I have a question of my own:  did Weeks even bother to read the Hot Air article?  Because if she had, she would have known that Hot Air was not "asking" this question, but was rather debunking this... <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/how-not-spread-rumors-internet" style="text-decoration: none;">MORE ></a></div></div>==SW

National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) is a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Front_group" title="Front group" class="mw-redirect">front group</a> and industry funded <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Conservative&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Conservative (page does not exist)">conservative</a> political and policy <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lobbying" title="Lobbying">lobbying</a> organization. NLPC was founded in 1991 by Peter Flaherty and Ken Boehm, who previously worked for "Citizens for Reagan". <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-0" title="">[1]</a> NLPC is a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=501%28c%29%283%29" title="501(c)(3)" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">501(c)(3)</a> tax exempt foundation.

<h2>Contents</h2>

[<a class="internal" id="togglelink">hide</a>]</div>

<ul>

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

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#Conservative_watch_dog">2 Conservative watch dog</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#Watching_out_for_corporate_profits">3 Watching out for corporate profits</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#NLPC_.26_McDonalds">3.1 NLPC & McDonalds</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#Walmart.E2.80.99s_environmental_incentives_vs_stock_holder_advocacy">3.2 Walmart’s environmental incentives vs stock holder advocacy</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#Labor_unions_.26_gold_plated_benefits">3.3 Labor unions & gold plated benefits</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#Executive_compensation_vs.labor_wages.26_benefits">3.4 Executive compensation vs. labor wages & benefits</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

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

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#The_man_behind_the_curtain">5.1 The man behind the curtain</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

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

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

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#Articles_.26_sources">8 Articles & sources</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#Sourcewatch_articles">8.1 Sourcewatch articles</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#References">8.2 References</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

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

<h2>
Overview</h2>

According to its website, NLPC "promotes ethics in public life through research, investigation, education and legal action." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-1" title="">[2]</a> However, NLPC is selective. For example, though they track and critique government bailouts of companies like AIG and Citigroup, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-2" title="">[3]</a> they are complicit with other forms of corporate corruption. Although NPLC targets the occasional republican, such as former Senator Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young of Alaska, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-3" title="">[4]</a> it is issues they are silent on which are conspicuous. This includes the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Iraq_war" title="Iraq war" class="mw-redirect">Iraq war</a>, corporate crime, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Human_rights" title="Human rights">human rights</a> abuses, executive compensation, animal welfare, environmental issues and government policies which favor and subsidize industry. NLPC targets labor unions, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Health_care" title="Health care" class="mw-redirect">health care</a> reform, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Environmentalism" title="Environmentalism">environmentalism</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Animal_rights" title="Animal rights" class="mw-redirect">animal rights</a>, activists, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Liberal" title="Liberal" class="mw-redirect">liberal</a> and reform oriented politicians.

<h2>Conservative watch dog</h2>

NLPC describes itself as a "conservative watch dog organization". Targets have included Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Charles Rangel and other liberal politicians. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-4" title="">[5]</a> In February of 2009, NLPC focused on a rented Dominican villa which Rangel failed to disclose on his taxes, a sponsored trip to St. Martin and a "potentially illegal homestead" tax break. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-5" title="">[6]</a>, According to Sen. Rangel:

<dl>

<dd>"This is helpful because there was no questions in anybody’s minds why I had been the target of so [many] allegations. I have not wanted to use the word conspiracy — I guess it’s because I am chairman of the Ways and Means Committee that this group would want to do this."</dd>

</dl>

In 2006 NPLC fueled rumors concerning the personal finances of Rep. Alan Mollohan, a democrat from West Virginia. Subsequent to an FBI investigation, he was never charged with any wrong doing. However, stories that he had benefited financially from steering money to a non-profit group, prompted his resignation from the Ethics Committee. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-6" title="">[7]</a>

<h2>Watching out for corporate profits</h2>

<h3>NLPC & McDonalds</h3>

In a May of 2006, NLPC attempted to discredit a Florida business man’s lawsuit against <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=McDonalds" title="McDonalds" class="mw-redirect">McDonalds</a>' for hiring sex offenders. According to NLPC:

<dl>

<dd>"Jody Gorran, who recently called for a boycott of McDonald's, is no stranger to liberal activism. In 2004, he brought about a lawsuit against the Atkins Diet, aided by an affiliate of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-7" title="">[8]</a></dd>

</dl>

The previous year, in March of 2005; lawyers for Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. admitted in court that they were willing to "assume the diet was dangerous". <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-8" title="">[9]</a> The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Physicians_Committee_for_Responsible_Medicine" title="Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine">Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine</a> (PCRM) has partnered with <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=People_for_the_Ethical_Treatment_of_Animals" title="People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals">People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals</a> (PETA) on some issues, including a campaign to reduce animal use in toxicity testing. See also <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Animal_testing" title="Animal testing">animal testing</a>, section 3 on product (toxicity) testing.

According to NLPC:

<dl>

<dd>"Gorran's beef with McDonald's is clearly part of radical anti-meat agenda". <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-9" title="">[10]</a></dd>

</dl>

PETA has long campaigned against McDonald's lack of animal welfare standards, which violate even minimal government standards. After two years of frustrating discussions, PETA launched its international "McCruelty to go" campaign. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-10" title="">[11]</a>

<dl>

<dd>"Federal standards require that 100 percent of cows be fully stunned before they are skinned, but (according to) a McDonald’s training video ...it’s acceptable if five cows in every 100 are conscious while skinned and dismembered." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-11" title="">[12]</a> See also <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=McDonalds" title="McDonalds" class="mw-redirect">McDonalds</a>, section 9.</dd>

</dl>

Much of NLPC's "documentation", comes from notable restaurant, alcohol, tobacco, and general industry <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Front_groups" title="Front groups">front group</a>, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_Consumer_Freedom" title="Center for Consumer Freedom">Center for Consumer Freedom</a> (CCF). See also <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=A_Visit_to_the_ActivistCash.Com_Web_Site" title="A Visit to the ActivistCash.Com Web Site" class="mw-redirect">A Visit to the ActivistCash.Com Web Site</a>.

<h3>Walmart’s environmental incentives vs stock holder advocacy</h3>

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Walmart" title="Walmart" class="mw-redirect">Walmart</a>'s treatment of workers includes substandard wages and benefits as well as child labor and immigration violations and shady anti-union activities. From 2000 to 2005, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Labor_Relations_Board" title="National Labor Relations Board">National Labor Relations Board</a> found Wal-Mart guilty of 15 cases of illegal conduct. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-12" title="">[13]</a> See also <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Walmart" title="Walmart" class="mw-redirect">Walmart</a>, section 2. However, according to NPLC, their "environmental incentives" are the real problem and shareholders are the victims. In a public letter to WalMart CEO H. Lee Scott, NLPC president Peter Flaherty criticizes Walmart’s "failed environmental incentives" and "scientifically unproven global warming":

<dl>

<dd>"These disappointing numbers raise serious concerns about your assertions to shareholders that Wal-Mart’s sustainability campaign is good for the company by improving its reputation and marketing more environmentally-friendly products. The sustainability campaign, now more than two years old, has clearly not achieved these objectives. Wal-Mart is still plagued by lackluster sales growth and disappointing stock performance. Yet, the company’s competitors continue to outperform it. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Target" title="Target">Target</a> Corp. and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Costco" title="Costco">Costco</a> Wholesale Corp. reported same-store sales gains of 4.1 and 9 percent respectively. Rather than reassess the merits of your ill-advised effort to reach out to environmental activists, you persist in pushing their agenda. On November 1, Wal-Mart announced it was partnering with the Climate Change Initiative to combat the scientifically unproven threat of man-made global warming. As a shareholder, it is disturbing enough that Wal-Mart is wasting $500 million annually to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to address a threat that many scientists say is non-existent." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-13" title="">[14]</a></dd>

</dl>

<h3>Labor unions & gold plated benefits</h3>

According to NLPC, it is not overcompensated and inept CEO's, but labor unions whose "demands were responsible for so much of the losses" by <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=General_Motors" title="General Motors" class="mw-redirect">General Motors</a> and Chrysler auto companies. House Speaker <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Newt_Gingrich" title="Newt Gingrich">Newt Gingrich</a> "lays out the case against unions" and its association with the democratic party. According to NLPC:

<dl>

<dd>"The United Auto Workers Union (UAW), like most unions, operates as an adjunct to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Democratic_Party" title="Democratic Party" class="mw-redirect">Democratic Party</a>. During 2000-08, the union gave more than $23.6 million to the party and its candidates. That compares to the $193,540 it gave to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Republicans" title="Republicans" class="mw-redirect">Republicans</a>."</dd>

</dl>

The obvious question being why there are any donations at all to a party which has dedicated so many resources to marginalizing and discrediting unions. The NLPC concedes that "UAW did make wage and benefit concessions." However, "those concessions have to be put in context". For example, a paid Easter Monday holiday and overtime pay for less than 40 hours a week. "Though the union traded away certain health benefits, its package is still more generous than what most households get." Considering that almost 47 million Americans lack any health care coverage <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-14" title="">[15]</a> and millions more have partial and inadequate coverage, this is probably an accurate statement. According to NLPC the UAW will be unable to "resist the temptation to reshape the company in ways friendly to its interests" (as in the unthinkable idea of workers having some input into their companies.) According to a quote from Newt Gingrich:

<dl>

<dd>"Does anyone seriously believe that (<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=President_Obama" title="President Obama" class="mw-redirect">President Obama</a>) would accept an arrangement in which GM becomes profitable at the expense of the union and its gold-plated benefits?" <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-15" title="">[16]</a></dd>

</dl>

<h3>Executive compensation vs. labor wages & benefits</h3>

According to figures from the United Auto Workers Union for 2007, CEOs of Chrysler Group, Ford and General Motors earned a combined total of $24.5 million in salaries, bonuses and other compensation in 2006. The next four highest paid executives received average salary and other compensation of $1.3 million at Ford and $1.4 million at General Motors. Substantial salaries do not even include stock holdings and options in their executive compensation packages.

In addition to regular hourly pay, the labor cost figures cited by the companies include over time, shift premiums, holidays, vacations, health care, pensions, education and training programs. They also figure in costs which employers are legally responsible for; such as <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Social_Security" title="Social Security" class="mw-redirect">Social Security</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Medicare" title="Medicare">Medicare</a>, state workers' compensation and unemployment insurance. Also often cited in the highest figures are benefits to retirees no longer on company payrolls. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-16" title="">[17]</a>

NLPC president Peter Flaherty is a frequent guest on <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fox_News" title="Fox News">Fox News</a>. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-17" title="">[18]</a>

<h2>Funding</h2>

NLPC’s predominate sources of funding are the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Scaife_Foundations" title="Scaife Foundations">Scaife Foundations</a>. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-18" title="">[19]</a>

<h3>The man behind the curtain</h3>

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Richard_Mellon_Scaife" title="Richard Mellon Scaife">Richard Mellon Scaife</a> is heir to the Mellon banking, oil and aluminum fortune. He is the premier financier for <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Right_wing" title="Right wing" class="mw-redirect">right wing</a> political and policy organizations in the United States. The Mellon family owns <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Gulf_Oil" title="Gulf Oil">Gulf Oil</a>. See also <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Scaife_Foundations" title="Scaife Foundations">Scaife Foundations</a>.

Although Mr. Scaife is the owner of Pittsburgh's second largest newspaper, the Tribune-Review; he made his mark financing Republican politics and organizations. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan">Ronald Reagan</a> appointed many veterans of Scaife funded <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Think_tanks" title="Think tanks">think tanks</a> to his administration. According to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Newt_Gingrich" title="Newt Gingrich">Newt Gingrich</a>, Scaife's money laid the basis for modern conservatism. Critics have referred to Scaife as "spoiled, vindictive and narrow minded." Former employee Pat Minarcin edited a magazine for Scaife in Pittsburgh, but resigned after he presented the magazine with a list of people he wanted to attack. Scaife operates in extreme secrecy from the 39th floor of his Pittsburgh office tower and does not grant interviews or allow cameras. According to a former White House counsel:

<dl>

<dd>"I think it's the mystery, the man behind the scenes pulling the strings and that's the scene we all remember at the end of the Wizard of Oz. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-19" title="">[20]</a></dd>

</dl>

<h2>Personnel</h2>

<ul>

<li>Ken Boehm, Chairman</li>

<li>Peter Flaherty, President</li>

<li>Dr. Carl Horowitz, Director Organized Labor Accountability Project, editor of Union Corruption Update <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_note-20" title="">[21]</a></li>

<li>John Carlisle, Director of Policy, editor of Legal Services Monitor</li>

</ul>

<h2>Contact</h2>

National Legal and Policy Center

107 Park Washington Court

Falls Church, Virginia 22046

Tel: (703) 237-1970

Fax: (703) 237-2090

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

<h2>Articles & sources</h2>

<h3>Sourcewatch articles</h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Astroturf" title="Astroturf">Astroturf</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Climate_change_skeptics" title="Climate change skeptics" class="mw-redirect">Climate change skeptics</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Conservatives_target_the_People_for_the_Ethical_Treatment_of_Animals" title="Conservatives target the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals">Conservatives target the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Criminalising_civil_disobedience" title="Criminalising civil disobedience">Criminalising civil disobedience</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Intimidating_democracy" title="Intimidating democracy">Intimidating democracy</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Intimidating_public_interest_groups" title="Intimidating public interest groups">Intimidating public interest groups</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Richard_Mellon_Scaife" title="Richard Mellon Scaife">Richard Mellon Scaife</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Scaife_Foundations" title="Scaife Foundations">Scaife Foundations</a></li>

</ul>

<h3>References</h3>

<li id="cite_note-0"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-0" title="">↑</a> Susan Crabtree <a href="http://www.charlierangel.org/node/35" class="external text" title="http://www.charlierangel.org/node/35" rel="nofollow">Conservative Watch Dog Group Targeted Rangel</a>, Charlierangel.org, The Hill, February 2009</li>

<li id="cite_note-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-1" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.nlpc.org/about" class="external text" title="http://www.nlpc.org/about" rel="nofollow">About NLPC</a>, National Legal & Policy Center accessed June 2009</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-2" title="">↑</a> National Legal & Policy Center <a href="http://www.nlpc.org/" class="external text" title="http://www.nlpc.org/" rel="nofollow">What’s Hot</a>, accessed March 2009</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-3" title="">↑</a> Susan Crabtree <a href="http://www.charlierangel.org/node/35" class="external text" title="http://www.charlierangel.org/node/35" rel="nofollow">Conservative Watch Dog Group Targeted Rangel</a>, The Hill, February 2009</li>

<li id="cite_note-4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-4" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.nlpc.org/nlpc-accomplishments" class="external text" title="http://www.nlpc.org/nlpc-accomplishments" rel="nofollow">NLPC Accomplishments</a>, NLPC, accessed March 2009</li>

<li id="cite_note-5"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-5" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.nlpc.org/category/people/charles-rangel" class="external text" title="http://www.nlpc.org/category/people/charles-rangel" rel="nofollow">Charles Rangel and the Harlem Tax Revolt of '09</a>, NLPC, March 2009</li>

<li id="cite_note-6"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-6" title="">↑</a> Susan Crabtree <a href="http://www.charlierangel.org/node/35" class="external text" title="http://www.charlierangel.org/node/35" rel="nofollow">Conservative Watch Dog Group Targeted Rangel</a>, Charlierangel.org, The Hill, February 2009</li>

<li id="cite_note-7"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-7" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-04-2006/0004354912&EDATE" class="external text" title="http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-04-2006/0004354912&EDATE" rel="nofollow">Watchdog Group NLPC Says Radical, Anti-Meat Groups Behind Florida Businessman's Calls for McDonald's Boycott</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=PR_Newswire" title="PR Newswire">PR Newswire</a>, May 2006</li>

<li id="cite_note-8"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-8" title="">↑</a> Jeanne S. McVey <a href="http://www.pcrm.org/news/release050321.html" class="external text" title="http://www.pcrm.org/news/release050321.html" rel="nofollow">Lawyers for Diet Giant Concede in Court that Diet May Be Dangerous; Attorneys Attempt to Quash Release of Potentially Damaging Documents, Studies on Atkins Diet Safety</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Physicians_Committee_for_Responsible_Medicine" title="Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine">Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine</a>, News & Media Center, March 2005</li>

<li id="cite_note-9"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-9" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-04-2006/0004354912&EDATE" class="external text" title="http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-04-2006/0004354912&EDATE" rel="nofollow">Watchdog Group NLPC Says Radical, Anti-Meat Groups Behind Florida Businessman's Calls for McDonald's Boycott</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=PR_Newswire" title="PR Newswire">PR Newswire</a>, May 2006</li>

<li id="cite_note-10"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-10" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.mccruelty.com/" class="external text" title="http://www.mccruelty.com/" rel="nofollow">I'm Hatin It</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=People_for_the_Ethical_Treatment_of_Animals" title="People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals">People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals</a>, accessed March 2009</li>

<li id="cite_note-11"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-11" title="">↑</a> cited in John Robbins, <a href="http://www.celsias.com/article/old-mcdonald-had-a-factory/" class="external text" title="http://www.celsias.com/article/old-mcdonald-had-a-factory/" rel="nofollow">Old McDonald Had a Factory: Did Somebody Say McLibel?</a>, Celsias.com (Blog), October 2007</li>

<li id="cite_note-12"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-12" title="">↑</a> Human Rights Watch <a href="http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/05/01/usdom15797.htm" class="external text" title="http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/05/01/usdom15797.htm" rel="nofollow">Wal-Mart Denies Workers Basic Rights: Weak Labor Laws Perpetuate Abuses</a>, April 2007</li>

<li id="cite_note-13"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-13" title="">↑</a> Peter Flaherty <a href="http://www.nlpc.org/content/nlpc-rips-wal-mart-ceo-h-lee-scott-wake-slumping-sales-calls-scott-revoke-support-co2-emissi" class="external text" title="http://www.nlpc.org/content/nlpc-rips-wal-mart-ceo-h-lee-scott-wake-slumping-sales-calls-scott-revoke-support-co2-emissi" rel="nofollow">NLPC Rips Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott in Wake of Slumping Sales; Calls on Scott to Revoke Support for CO2 Emission Regulation</a>, NLPC, accessed July 2009</li>

<li id="cite_note-14"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-14" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=628" class="external text" title="http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=628" rel="nofollow">The Number Of Uninsured Americans Is At An All-Time High</a>, Center on Policy and Budget Priorities, August 2008</li>

<li id="cite_note-15"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-15" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.nlpc.org/union-corruption-update" class="external text" title="http://www.nlpc.org/union-corruption-update" rel="nofollow">Union Corruption Update: Gingrich Skewers UAW Role in Federal Auto Industry Bailout</a>, NLPC, June 2009</li>

<li id="cite_note-16"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-16" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.uaw.org/barg/07fact/fact02.php" class="external text" title="http://www.uaw.org/barg/07fact/fact02.php" rel="nofollow">Wages and Labor Costs</a>, United Auto Workers Union, accessed June 2009</li>

<li id="cite_note-17"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-17" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=sbd.main&ArticleID=77026" class="external text" title="http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=sbd.main&ArticleID=77026" rel="nofollow">Over The O'Reilly Factor, Fox News, The Rainbow: NASCAR-Jackson Is Examined On Fox News</a>, Sports Business Daily, June 30, 2003</li>

<li id="cite_note-18"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-18" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=1127" class="external text" title="http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=1127" rel="nofollow">Financial supporters National Legal and Policy Center Profile</a>, Media Transparency, accessed February 2009</li>

<li id="cite_note-19"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-19" title="">↑</a> Brooks Jackson, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/04/27/scaife.profile/" class="external text" title="http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/04/27/scaife.profile/" rel="nofollow">Who Is Richard Mellon Scaife?: He's very rich and very partisan, but is he behind an anti-Clinton conspiracy?</a>, CNN, April 1998</li>

<li id="cite_note-20"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-20" title="">↑</a> NLPC <a href="http://www.nlpc.org/union-corruption-update" class="external text" title="http://www.nlpc.org/union-corruption-update" rel="nofollow">Union Corruption Update</a>, June 2009</li>

<li id="cite_note-21"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Legal_and_Policy_Center#cite_ref-21" title="">↑</a> <a href="http://www.nlpc.org/about" class="external text" title="http://www.nlpc.org/about" rel="nofollow">About NLPC</a>, NLPC, accessed June 2009</li>

</ol>

</div>

<div id="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories">Categories</a>: <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Front_groups_portal" title="Category:Front groups portal">Front groups portal</a> | <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Climate_change" title="Category:Climate change">Climate change</a> | <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Media" title="Category:Media">Media</a> | <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Lobbyists" title="Category:Lobbyists">Lobbyists</a> | <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Labor" title="Category:Labor">Labor</a> | <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Industry-funded_organizations" title="Category:Industry-funded organizations">Industry-funded organizations</a> | <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Politics_%28U.S.%29" title="Category:Politics (U.S.)">Politics (U.S.)</a> | <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Industry_lobby_groups" title="Category:Industry lobby groups">Industry lobby groups</a> | <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:United_States" title="Category:United States">United States</a> | <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Right_wing" title="Category:Right wing">Right wing</a></div>

</div>

</div>

<h1 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 20px 0px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; line-height: 0.8;"><a href="http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=1622" rel="bookmark" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">ALERT: Right-Wing Plots To Plant Propaganda In The Press</a></h1>

<a class="addthis_button_tweet at300b" addthis:url="http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=1622" addthis:title="ALERT: Right-Wing Plots To Plant Propaganda In The Press" style=" box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 2px; vertical-align: baseline; cursor: pointer; float: left;" xmlns:addthis="addthis">Posted by </a><a href="http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?author=1" title="Posts by Mark NC" rel="author" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">Mark NC</a> on April 16, 2010

</div>

</header>

To conscious observers, the assertion that right-wing propagandists have infiltrated the news business would not be regarded as much of a scoop. Fox News has built their empire on it. But there is a new wrinkle that is gaining momentum and it must not be allowed to establish a foothold on the journalistic landscape.

The Associated Press (of all people) published a story on <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100413/ap_on_re_us/us_think_tank_journalism" target="_blank" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">a troubling trend</a> wherein overtly partisan operatives “are bankrolling startup news organizations around the country.” It is an apparent attempt to exploit the ailing news business by “fill[ing] a void created by the downsizing of traditional” media. These efforts are almost exclusively run by conservatives and are popping up nationally in places like Michigan, Texas, Florida, Montana, and more.

The pseudo-news enterprises are deliberately trying to pass themselves off as traditional news sites on the Internet. But their origins are somewhat mysterious, as is their financing. The reporting jobs at these outfits often pay better than conventional news gigs, sort of like PR. In applications for local press credentials these groups refuse to identify their financial backers. If nothing else, that absence of transparency is sufficient cause to be suspicious.

This initiative to inject rightist propaganda into local reporting did not spring up out of nowhere. Two years ago I wrote an article about <a href="http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=736" target="_blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">plans just like these</a> that were just being formulated. They were hatched by the National Legal and Policy Center, a right-wing think tank that argued that…

“The long-term decline in newspaper circulation presents the conservative movement with an excellent opportunity to increase its influence with the media. Falling readership and tighter budgets are forcing newspapers to dedicate fewer staff to investigative reporting. As a result, they are increasingly relying upon nonprofit organizations to fill the gap.” [...and...] “[B]y aggressively getting involved in investigative journalism conservative nonprofit organizations stand to enormously change the terms of the media debate, perhaps in much the same way that Fox News and Talk Radio revolutionized media coverage.”

</blockquote>

<p style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The National Legal and Policy Center has received about <a href="http://mediamattersaction.org/transparency/organization/National_Legal_and_Policy_Center/funders" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">73% of their funding</a> since 1995 from the ultra-right <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Scaife_Foundations" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">Scaife Family Foundations</a> who are famous for financing wild conspiracy theories and extremists in the media. The plan, then as now, is for conservative think tanks to produce stories that they could feed to newspapers and television who, due to their desperation for content, would gladly publish it. This is not unlike the Bush administration’s <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1001-01.htm" target="_blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">illegal distribution of propaganda</a> through the use of video press releases and payoffs to pundits and celebrities. It is just shifting it to the private sector where it could pick up steam from aggressive fundraising, marketing, and the absence of oversight.

This plan is now beginning to take shape. The AP’s reporting documents precisely the sort of journalistic charade that conservative strategists have been plotting for years. This makes it more critical than ever to be vigilant and to pay attention to where the “news” is coming from. And don’t be shy about exposing the masquerade and embarrassing any press outlet that engages in it.

[Correction] I received <a href="http://www.newscorpse.com/Pix/Misc/nlpc-cease.txt" target="_blank" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">an email</a> from Peter Flaherty, president of the NLPC, demanding that  I “cease and desist from making defamatory statements” about the organization. The statements Flaherty regards as defamatory are pretty funny:

<li style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">1) He objected to my reference to the “Scaife Family Foundations.” Flaherty argues that there is no such thing. However, there are several foundations associated with the Scaife family: The Scaife Family Foundation (not plural), the Sarah Scaife Foundation, and the Carthage Foundation. NLPC has received funding from all of them and that is what I was referring to. Apparently Flaherty’s objection is to my having capitalized the words“family” and “foundations.” Duly noted.</li>

</li><li style="font-style: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">2) He objected to my linking to donor figures at Media Matters. I consider them to be an authoritative and reliable source, and until I am shown otherwise (which Flaherty did not do), I will continue to cite them as a source. However, Flaherty may be correct with regard to my statement that “73% of their funding” came from the Scaife groups. It appears that 73% of their funding from foundations came from the Scaife groups. not their total funding. Duly noted, but that’s still a huge chunk of their foundational support and the distinction doesn’t diminish my argument one bit. The point is that the NLPC is a significant beneficiary of the largesse of the uber-conservative Scaife empire.</li>

</ul>

With this cease and desist notice Flaherty has gone out of his way to intimidate a blogger exercising free speech over what amounts to a typo and a misappropriation, but he doesn’t bother to counter allegations of unethical journalism. That’s a revealing illustration of conservative priorities.

</div>

<div id="mw-normal-catlinks">snark?</div>

<h2 style=" text-align: left;">National Legal and Policy Center</h2>

</center>

</center>

This legal policy institute appears to be just another component in the Republican web of American public-interest legal-center' networks. But, while it is Scaife-funded like most of the legal centers, it's original emphasis was on countering union and civil-rights activism, and it now purports to plays a [highly-slanted] 'watch-dog' role over Congress and Democrat party-donors.

  However it has been totally flexible in its counter-activism ... provided corporate money was available to fund its efforts. 

For instance, Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds became allied with the NCLC in a concerted attack on Commissioner Kessler of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and ExxonMobil supported it in its climate denial activities.

<hr />

<table><tbody><tr><td>DISAMBIGUATION:

  Don't confuse Ken Boehm, Republican lawyer-lobbyist and professional legal-institute operator who promoted smokeless tobacco — with John Boehner, Republican majority leader and Representative from Ohio who worked for the tobacco industry and handed out checks openly in Congress on behalf of industry lobbyists. They both worked for the same paymaster, but in different ways.

Also don't confuse Peter T. Flaherty with the Democratic Mayor of Pittsburgh who became President Carter's Deputy Attorney-General, or with the Peter Flaherty who was Milt Romney's Deputy Campaign Manager. It's a good old Irish Catholic name that many can lay claim to.</td></tr></tbody></table>

SUMMARY ONLY

The NLPC was founded in 1991 with a pump priming injection of $100,000 from Richard Mellon Scaife . The principles clearly have a sense of humour, since they claim that their organization is "non-partisan" and "anti-corruption" — and their logo carries the sub-title "Promoting Ethics in Public Life." Later they add the rider that "NLPC sponsors the<font-color dd2222="dd2222" />"Corporate Integrity Project"" .

Ken Boehm is a far-right-wing Republican lawyer from Colorado (the home of Joseph Coors) while Peter T Flaherty is a long-time Reagan Republican fund-raiser and think-tanker. In 1991 they co-founded the NLPC with Boehm becoming the full-time 'Chairman' and Flaherty the 'President'.

Most of the actual research work at the NLPC is contracted out or done under the direction of Flaherty who is backed by a staff of ten or so, while Boehm is the public face of the organisation. Given the group's enthusiastic use of the lawcourts to harrass liberals, this is a full-time job for all dozen staffers involved.

These two are old friends. Flaherty ran the lobbying group Citizens for Reagan with Ken Boehm as Chairman (later it became Citizens for the Republic ) in the early-to-mid 1980s. This was closely associated with the Funds for a Conservative Majority (Jack Kemp, Paul Dietrich, Ken Boehm) which was a major fund-raiser for the Ronald Reagan for President campaign during the same period.

Both were Californian-based in the early years, then shifted to Washington after Reagan's successful Presidential campaign. Citizens for Reagan later became a major fund-raiser for Ollie North during the Iran Contra scandal.

The NCLP appears to be modelled both on the Citizens for Reagan and on the FCM, in terms of its use of litigation. It attempts to use law suit harrassment as a weapon against the Democrats by attacking their funding sources and annoying their supporters with frivolous charges. The NCLP carries on these grand old GOP traditions.

Like all good PR operation, it is not always glaringly obvious in its partisanship — and it makes some efforts to pretend it is balanced. On the positive side of its activities, it does attack earmarking in Congress (both Republican and Democrat), and it does have the resources (roughly $1m a year) to identify and expose corrupt activities in Democratic organisations and among certain 'liberal congressmen'.

It achieves a fascade of bipartisanship by occasionally slapping the wrist of a few Republican trough-hogs in public, but it doesn't take them to court. The Democrats are usually slapped with a law suit.

When it comes to its trade-mark 'public interest legal suits', the NLPC is almost completely blind to the activities of those on the right. In fact, it is almost as vigorous in defending malfeasance on the right as they are in attacking it on the center or left. There is also a substantial religious slant to the NLPC that makes them blind to any iniquity performed in God's name.

In recent years NLPC seem to have become less-obviously in their lobbying for large corporations (which is the source of at least half their funding). Once they were major supporters of the tobacco industry, but since they were publicly exposed as having taken cigarette dollars for many years, their support for public smoking has diminished. The cigarette industry no longer funds them, but they have developed a fascination for chewing tobacco.

<h3>Policies and Programs</h3>

Today they are for:

<ul>

<li style=" padding-top: 0.1cm;">Ronald McDonald flogging his fattening fries,

</li>

<li style=" padding-top: 0.1cm;">The Smokeless Tobacco industry,

</li>

<li style=" padding-top: 0.1cm;">The energy industry.

</li>

<li style=" padding-top: 0.1cm;">The Republican party and George W Bush.

</li>

<li style=" padding-top: 0.1cm;">God and his representatives on earth, provided they vote Republican

</li>

</ul>

They are/were against (in rough order of precedence):

<ul>

<li style=" padding-top: 0.1cm;">Liberals and the 'liberal media'

</li>

<li style=" padding-top: 0.1cm;">Hillary Clinton and health care reform

</li>

<li style=" padding-top: 0.1cm;">Federal Electoral Commision's perceived 'slackness'

</li>

<li style=" padding-top: 0.1cm;">Presidents Clinton and Obama, and their puppet-master Satan

</li>

<li style=" padding-top: 0.1cm;">Democrat Party leadership - especially Nancy Peolosi

</li>

<li style=" padding-top: 0.1cm;">George Soros and billionairres who don't vote Republican

</li>

<li style=" padding-top: 0.1cm;">Legal Services Corporation and legal aid to the poor

</li>

<li style=" padding-top: 0.1cm;">Climate 'doomsayers'

</li>

<li style=" padding-top: 0.1cm;">Google

</li>

<li style=" padding-top: 0.1cm;">people who think tobacco chewing is as bad as smoking

</li>

<li style=" padding-top: 0.1cm;">funding of Rev Al Sharpton's Democratic presidential campaign (justified)

</li>

<li style=" padding-top: 0.1cm;">Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae giving Jesse Jackson's fundraiser (probably justified)

</li>

<li style=" padding-top: 0.1cm;">regulations against tobacco smoking

</li>

</ul>

<h3>Legal Aid</h3>

During the Reagan Administration Boehm served as Counsel to the Board of Directors of theLegal Services Corporation (LSC) , the federal government program which ostensibly provides legal assistance to the poor. However, his activities were all aimed at gutting the program. (He failed.)

Boehm now appears regularly on the program Conservative Roundtable with Howard Phillips , another Republican apparatchik who also specialised in attacking the LSC. Boehm has also taken on the role of climate sceptic, attacking a 60 Minutes special "Dire Predictions on Global Warming" as "unilateral" and 'misleading" and questioning the show's motivations for allowing such a piece to air. He is clearly an expert on this form of media distoriton ... so his views deserve respect!

Peter Flaherty co-hosted a NET Capitol Watch program attacking tobacco regulation, and he shared both his media interest and financial base with Boehm who was also a radio talkback host and is a regular on PBS. The NCLC was well funded by the tobacco industry to promote their various causes. Now after the exposure of the dangers of smoking and the chicaneries of the cigarette industry, he now defends smokeless tobacco vigorously.

<h3>Hillary and the FEC</h3>

NLPC was a plaintiff in the successful 1993 lawsuit to open the meetings and records of Hillary Rodham Clinton's health care task force. Peter Flaherty then wrote a book in 1995 entitled The First Lady: A Comprehensive View of Hillary Rodham Clinton which is about as dispassionate and fair-minded as you would expect from an avid Republican moralist.

But despite the focus of their hatred on the Clintons and the liberals, the main activity of the NLPC is to file suit with the Federal Electoral Commission (FEC). There must be a whole division of the FEC fully devoted to examining the claims laid against Democrats and their supporters by the NLPC.

More recently, in October 2004, the organization accused billionaire George Soros of election law violation. Soros had undertaken a media and speaking tour in some swing states during which he called for the defeat of President Bush. His appearances coincided with two-page newspaper ads and mass mailings to voters with the same theme.

The NLPC alleged that Soros 'may have made illegal expenditures because he failed to fully disclose expenses related to his swing-state speaking tour.' Also named as respondents in the complaint were Fenton Communications (a liberal/environmentally-inclined PR organisation) which assisted Soros, and two nonprofit organizations that hosted Soros speeches.

[See the excellent <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Legal_and_Policy_Center">Wikipedia</a> entry. There is little point in us duplicating it.]

1984–88: Peter T Flaherty served as Chairman of the lobbying group Citizens for Reagan .<a href="http://www.nlpc.org/bios/peter-flaherty" target="_blank">http://www.nlpc.org/bios/peter-flaherty</a>

1991: Ken Boehm who was the Chairman of Citizens for Reagan, co-founded the National Legal and Policy Institute with Peter Flaherty. Boehm took the title of Chairman, while Flaherty became President. Richard Mellon Scaife gave the NLPC $100,000

1993: NLPC was a plaintiff in the successful 1993 lawsuit to open the meetings and records of Hillary Rodham Clinton's health-care task force which had been conductd in private (to avoid Republican attacks while the policy was being formulated).

1994 Oct: Flaherty became co-host of National Empowerment Television (NET)'s (Paul Weyrich's) Capitol Watch program which was funded by Philip Morris to attack tobacco regulations. <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/yed91f00" target="blank"><img src="/e26313af-8eab-5dc8-a481-4b8933ff70aa.jpg"/></a><a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/yed91f00/pdf" target="blank"><img src="/b401733b-171d-5471-acc5-5bf0f3e0dddb.jpg"/></a>

1995 Jan 17: Richardson Ziebart Consulting memo to RJR headed Ideas for Working with National Legal and Policy Center [FACA is the act that allows the Dept of Health to form advisory committees] The NLPC is being used as an attack-dog, trying to challenge the Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health by using the FACA.

The memo makes it clear that Peter Flaherty and Ken Boehm are trying to 'get' Kessler.

<blockquote class="Q" style="">"Peter and Ken believe that Kessler's action probably violated Federal guidelines relating to establishing policy with private groups and individuals without proper public debate.

Our next step is to get back together with them in the next week or so to plot out a specific strategy for further exploring the above issues and other pertinent areas. We believe there is a great opportunity here and will keep you apprised as we progress. Please let us know if you have any questions or comments."</blockquote>

1995: Fall: CATO Institute's Policy Review article by Kenneth F Boehm and Peter T Flaherty, "Legal Disservices Corp: There Are Better Ways to Provide Legal Aid to the Poor," <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/wzk57d00" target="blank"><img src="/060217cf-71ff-572e-9183-04e9a4ff2a6c.jpg"/></a><a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/wzk57d00/pdf" target="blank"><img src="/93fb5a06-1890-5e42-be5c-84a6ea0fdedf.jpg"/></a>

1996: publishing a book co-authored by NLPC President Peter Flaherty entitled The First Lady: A Comprehensive View of Hillary Rodham Clinton (Vital Issues Press). <a href="http://www.nlpc.org/view.asp?action=viewArticle&aid=60" target="_blank">http://www.nlpc.org/view.asp?action=viewArticle&aid=60</a>

1996 March: /E Further harrassent of the FDA over an insomnia drug Halcion - dutifully reported in the EPA Newsletter (secretly controlled by Philip Morris) <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/grh35c00" target="blank"><img src="/8d303b1a-338b-5ada-a722-2ea35b7cab67.jpg"/></a><a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/grh35c00/pdf" target="blank"><img src="/2af3f1e7-17b4-525d-82cd-62d5784ff062.jpg"/></a>

1996 March 29: Investors Business Daily (a tobacco- and big-business-friendly newspaper, reports on further FOIA harrasment of the FDA "Have FDA officals gone Rogue?" <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/txd72c00" target="blank"><img src="/620eae40-e3a1-58fd-a79b-f0bd7b10bc4b.jpg"/></a><a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/txd72c00/pdf" target="blank"><img src="/8eb6631b-2a17-56ba-afb7-92e2e84cbd5c.jpg"/></a>

1996 May 3: Ken Boehm is "chairman" and providing PM with background on FDA staffers and their anti-tobacco meetings. Real spy stuff <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/faf01d00" target="blank"><img src="/e1998e7a-04ef-5a00-af0d-74c4786ede9e.jpg"/></a><a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/faf01d00/pdf" target="blank"><img src="/fc7f3f45-8d48-58c0-a5e1-6e91e859377f.jpg"/></a>

1997 Nov 7: The weekly report of Philip Morris Federal Tobacco Team's Washington lobbyist, Beverly McKittrick, reports <font-color dd2222="dd2222" />" "Had lunch with J Carlisle of National Legal and Policy Center."" along with her other scam work on product liability, etc. <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/imq75c00" target="blank"><img src="/99f053a3-7554-5ced-800b-82c6dbf56d70.jpg"/></a><a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/imq75c00/pdf" target="blank"><img src="/e515ec39-6f56-5d83-9bde-8d7e7d0804ed.jpg"/></a>

[ Note: This is John K Carlisle , who also worked for the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) run by Amy Moritz Ridenour (described in tobacco documents as "a willing ally".) As with the NLPC, the NCPPR was formed in the 1980s to support the Reagan administration's military adventures in Central America, but by 1997 it was calling itself a "communications and research foundation dedicated to providing free market solutions to today's public policy problems." It ran the tobacco-supported Project 21 association, a conservative African American organization that has been funded by R.J. Reynolds.]

1999 May 4: A Philip Morris contact report is enthusiastic about using the NLPC because the

<blockquote class="Q" style="">"NLPC also ran a program called, "FDA Watch." This program monitored David Kessler in the last two years of his term. They round many irregularities at FDA through the heavy use of the Freedom of Information Act.

This is an effective organization. They sent a letter to Senator Robb opposing the Federal Lawsuit."</blockquote>

[ie about the Clinton Administration suing the tobacco industry]. <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/zeu84a00" target="blank"><img src="/ea554a88-c6c2-5671-abd3-e65eae99d41a.jpg"/></a><a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/zeu84a00/pdf" target="blank"><img src="/8558f8e8-ffd7-5449-916c-bb482aea2204.jpg"/></a>

1999 May 27: Phillip Morris meeting report says:

<blockquote class="Q" style="">The anti-tax group, Citizens Against Unfair Taxation, was represented by Dan Rene. They have been very effective in the past by mailing letters in opposition to the 55-cent hike proposed by President Clinton.

Peter Flaherty, representing Citizens for Reform was also present. CFR is an organization that opposes the growth of government and the like. Like CAUT, Mr. Flaherty has sent letters [for the tobacco industry to congressmen] in the past and has a particular interest in the Federal Lawsuit.

Ken Boehm from the National Legal & Policy Center was also present . He has a keen interest in the FDA as NLPC ran "FDA WATCH" for the last two years of Mr . Kessler's tenure at the FDA . NLPC is also the organization that successfully sued the Health Care Task Force of Mrs. Clinton's.

</blockquote>

1999: Aug Article about a law suit in Kentucky for [<a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/action/search/basic?fd=0&q=$194,032.72&df=er&c=at&c=ba&c=bw&c=ct&c=da&c=ll&c=lm&c=mg&c=mm&c=pm&c=rj&c=ti&c=ub&c=us" target="_blank">$194,032.72</a>] in reputed unpaid wages and damages to Mexican workers, NLCP complains that:

<blockquote class="Q" style="">" Legal Services Corp., a non-profit group that receives the majority of its funding from the Federal government to provide free and subsidized legal help to the poor, is overstepping its boundaries by aiding Mexican nationals. Ken Boehm of the watchdog group the National Legal and Policy Center points out that the Corp. is violating a provision that requires the organization to represent only those clients who are living in the United States. Boehm said,"They're asking for the world, and they are litigating in a way. . .that's just unethical."</blockquote>

2001 June 19: The NLPC is still being contacted by the tobacco

Field Action Team representatives over a "FDA Education" program <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/cox21c00" target="blank"><img src="/a4b16bda-0547-511b-9b55-25ad29cc9a7b.jpg"/></a><a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/cox21c00/pdf" target="blank"><img src="/39b6f701-ef7f-56e1-89dc-1c7ab8e29505.jpg"/></a>

2002 Apr 15: An article by Joseph A D'Agostino:

"The NLPC, a watchdog group, has long trained its fire on another middy-grounded entity, the government-funded Legal Services Corp. (LSC) . The LSC, which is supposed to provide legal assistance to poor people, perennially attracts criticism from conservatives for pursuing left-wing causes and wacky class-action lawsuits paid for with taxpayer money.

  "The history of the Legal Services Corp. is a history of failed attempts at reform," NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm testified before a House subcommittee chaired by Rep. Bob Barr (R.-Ga.) on February 28. "Much of the debate in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1973 over pending legislation to establish the Legal Services Corp. dealt with restrictions to prevent a repeat of the political and ideological activities associated with the legal services program which existed under the Office of Economic Opportunity. 

  "The controversies that have plagued the federal legal services program remain the same. The central criticism has been that activist lawyers have used the program to advance a political and ideological agenda."

  Boehm went on to detail how the LSC has circumvented restrictions imposed upon it by Congress in 1996. Among other measures, Congress forbid LSC grantees to take on class-action suits, encourage political activities, or resent aliens not in the country. All 11 members of the LSC's board are up for nomination by the President and confirmation by the Senate, said Boehm. "The real issue with Legal Services is, will it be a Bush board or a Daschle board?" he said. "We would like to see the 1996 reforms enforced, and that means that the President must appoint a board that will enforce them." During the first Bush Administration, "Sen. Kennedy never held a hearing on any of Bush's nominees," he said. "The President kept recess-appointing them."

  The NLPC is also a clearinghouse for information on union corruption and sends out periodic reports with comprehensive summaries about the never-ending series of union corruption scandals. A new, potentially huge, scandal is now developing, said Boehm and NLPC President Peter Flaherty. A federal grand jury and the AFL-CIO are investigating transactions by the members of the board of insurance company Ullico, which may have allowed the board members to profit at the expense of the company. At least 12 current or former building trade union presidents are members of the board, and so is AFL-CO President John Sweeney. The potential scandal includes an investment in now-bankrupt Global Crossing.

  Part of the problem behind incessant union corruption, said Flaherty, is that unions' disclosure forms are "vague." And, said Boehm, "Unions don't have to use `generally accepted accounting practices,'" as corporations must.

Any criticism of unions by conservatives must include a mention of Communications Workers of America v. Beck, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled that Workers cannot be forced to fund unions' political activities. But many union members do not know that, because Beck has never been enforced. "The best way is for Congress to pass a statute, but that isn't going to happen," said Flaherty. Essentially, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) must enforce the decision — something that only the President could trigger with good appointments.

Right now, NLPC is helping the get — Jesse-Jackson campaign. "Jackson's approach is akin to yakuza and other classic protection rackets: You hand over money, or we'll carry out our threat," Flaherty wrote in a September 2001 article. "His method of retaliation? Playing the race card." <font-color dd2222="dd2222" />"We've heard talk of a RICO suit,"" said Boehm. "We could see how it might qualify. We even know of a black minister who says he was sold out by Jackson." <a href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_200204/ai_n9031913" target="_blank">http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_20 (etc.)</a>

2002–03: The NLPC was obviously now 'friendly' with the Smokeleass Tobacco Council,

2003 Sep 22: After years of taking Philip Morris's silver, the NLPC has had a change of heart about regulation — but it is caught up in a quandry: Flaherty now has to play Mr Clean — the anti-Big Tobacco activist.

<blockquote class="Q" style="">Republicans and tobacco-state lawmakers, who in the past beat back plans to regulate tobacco products, are joining forces with the biggest cigarette manufacturer in supporting new strict oversight of the industry. "This is clearly a very different kind of momentum than what we've had before," said Wendy Selig, a lobbyist for the American Cancer Society.

A Senate committee on Thursday is expected to consider a tobacco regulation bill that would give the Food and Drug Administration new authority to regulate tobacco. Tobacco-state lawmakers are backing such a measure in exchange for financial help for cash-strapped tobacco farmers. Republicans now see that Philip Morris USA, a top party contributor and maker of Marlboro cigarettes, has reversed course and favors regulation.

"Peter Flaherty, President of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) , today criticized an emerging deal on Capitol Hill that would provide tobacco growers a one-time payout between $13 billion and $16 billion, while at the same time bringing tobacco products under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

  Pursuant to the deal orchestrated by Philip Morris lobbyists, tobacco state legislators would drop their longstanding opposition to FDA oversight of tobacco, if anti-tobacco legislators would support the bailout.

Flaherty said. "Let me explain this unholy alliance. After years of fighting FDA oversight, Philip Morris, the dominant tobacco manufacturer, now sees the proposed FDA advertising and marketing rules as a useful tool to punish its competitors and increase its market share. This is a classic case of a big company manipulating government regulation to squeeze its competitors.

</blockquote>

The NLPC is now the farmers friend - promoting a government buyout of tobacco quotas. (Chewing tobacco doesn't use much)

<blockquote class="Q" style="">"Money from a quota buyout would enable older farmers to retire. Younger farmers, many of whom lease quotas, could use the buyout to pay off debts and switch crops, if they can find profitable alternatives. Both outcomes would serve public purposes well."</blockquote>

2004 Dec 24: A Denver Business Journal article is healined: "Questions HHS Stance On Banning All Tobacco Use."

<blockquote class="Q" style="font-style: italic;">Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, questioned the rationale of the US Department of Health and Human Services' ban on the use of all tobacco products on its campuses starting January 1, because the measure implies that smokeless products pose the same health risks as cigarettes, and ignores a growing body of scientific research about smokeless tobacco.</blockquote>

2004 Mar: Ken Boehm of the National Legal & Policy Center (NLPC) filed a request under the Data Quality Act (DQA) for correction of a document from the National Institute of Aging (NIA) that contained what they said was misinformation regarding the relative risks of Smokeless Tobacco versus cigarettes.

The request resulted in a change of wording from the original text:

<blockquote class="Q" style="font-style: italic;">"Some people think ST (chewing tobacco and snuff), pipes, and cigars are safer than cigarettes. They are not."</blockquote>

The revised wording from NIA was:

<blockquote class="Q" style="font-style: italic;">"Some people think ST (chewing tobacco and snuff), pipes, and cigars are safe. They are not."</blockquote>

The claim that Smokelss Tpbacco products are not "safe" is a tactic that can be traced back to the 1986 Comprehensive Smokeless Tobacco Education Act, which required as one-of-three warnings on all Smokeless Tobacco products: "This product is not a safe alternative to cigarettes." <a href="http://toquesnuff.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://toquesnuff.blogspot.com/</a>

2005 Sep 22: They seem to be attacking the National Institute for Aging again.

<blockquote class="Q" style="">In response to a formal complaint lodged by the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) of Virginia on March 16th, the National Institute of Aging (NIA) in Wisconsin sent a letter on June 29th to the NLPC stating that the institute has agreed to revise its Age Page website as well as printed literature entitled Smoking : Its never too late to stop. The NLPC had accused the NIA of disseminating inaccurate information regarding the relative risks of smokeless tobacco products and violating the Data Quality Act.</blockquote>

2009 Feb 3: Report: "The center's nonprofit status allows it to keep its funding private. Flaherty wouldn't disclose his donor list but acknowledged that the biggest source of funds comes from foundations associated with Richard Mellon Scaife , the billionaire heir to the Mellon fortune and well-known supporter of conservative public policy organizations.

Scaife's donations make up less than 10 percent of the center's $1.4 million annual budget, with the lion's share of the rest coming from individuals and averaging $200, Flaherty said.

[He also claims to feed information into the media via a special channel to journalists at Murdoch's New York Post] <a href="http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/37027" target="_blank">http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/37027</a>

<hr />

[Some of these hot-links should work]

• <a href="http://sciencecorruption.com/ATN166/00025.html" class="side" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Kenneth Boehm</a>

• <a href="http://sciencecorruption.com/ATN170/00442.html" class="side" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Peter Flaherty</a>

• <a href="http://sciencecorruption.com/ATN178/00413.html" class="side" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Michael J Nelson</a>

• <a href="http://sciencecorruption.com/ATN167/00244.html" class="side" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">John K Carlisle</a>

• <a href="http://sciencecorruption.com/ATN178/00440.html" class="side" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">National Empowerment Television</a>

• <a href="http://sciencecorruption.com/ATN178/00419.html" class="side" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">National Center for Public Policy Research</a>

• <a href="http://sciencecorruption.com/ATN167/01506.html" class="side" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Citizens for Reagan</a>

• <a href="http://sciencecorruption.com/ATN170/00292.html" class="side" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Fund for a Conservative Majority</a>

• <a href="http://sciencecorruption.com/ATN167/01095.html" class="side" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Council for National Policy</a>

• <a href="http://sciencecorruption.com/ATN182/00446.html" class="side" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 2px;">Richadson Ziebart Consulting</a> 
</div></div>

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<a href="http://nlpc.org/government-integrity-project" style="text-decoration: none;">Government Integrity Project</a>

NLPC "blows the whistle" on government officials and interest groups engaged in questionable activities. NLPC has filed formal Complaints with a variety of authorities and regulators, including the Federal Election Commission, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Congressional Ethics Committees.

NLPC supports government integrity in two additional ways: by promoting the First Amendment as the basis for campaign finance reform, and by promoting use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

<a href="http://nlpc.org/corporate-integrity-project" style="text-decoration: none;">Corporate Integrity Project</a>

NLPC seeks to promote integrity in corporate governance, including honesty and fair play in relationships with shareholders, employees, business partners and customers. In doing so, NLPC places special emphasis on:

<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Asserting that the social responsibility of the corporation is to defend and advance the interests of the people who own the company, the shareholders. True responsibility is fidelity to one's own mission, not someone else's, or someone else's political agenda.</li>

<li style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Exposing the seeking of influence on public officials by corporations, which is the inevitable result of high levels of government spending and intervention in the marketplace.</li>

<li style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Combating practices that undermine the free enterprise system, including philanthropic giving to groups hostile to a free economy.</li>

</li></ul>

<p style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21.84px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><a href="http://nlpc.org/union-corruption-update" style="text-decoration: none;">Organized Labor Accountability Project</a>

NLPC makes the case for the end of the use of compulsory union dues for political purposes by exposing abuses by Organized Labor in its political and organizing activities. Since 1997, NLPC has become a high-profile and credible source for information on union corruption. Every two weeks, NLPC distributes a newsletter entitled Union Corruption Update by fax and email. The newsletter has been referenced in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and National Journal.

<a href="http://nlpc.org/legal-services-monitor" style="text-decoration: none;">Legal Services Accountability Project</a>

NLPC makes the case for an end to taxpayer funding for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). We also make the case for the provision of legal aid to the poor through private voluntary efforts. NLPC is regarded as the nation's leading LSC critic. NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm, former Counsel to the LSC board, is considered the leading expert on LSC outside LSC itself. NLPC exposes and publicizes instances of abuse and lawbreaking by LSC officials and grantees on a regular basis.

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National Legal and Policy Center was founded in late 1991 following the release of the Senate Ethics Committee report whitewashing the Keating Five. The report made reference to the Code of Ethics for Government, but not by name, presumably for fear of giving it greater standing. NLPC was founded to promote ethics, and to give the Code the visibility it deserves.

The author of the Code is Sen. Paul Douglas (D-IL) who served from 1948 to 1964. A "Sense of Congress" resolution that passed on July 11, 1958 urged adherence to the Code by all government officials.

NLPC promotes ethics in public life through research, investigation, education and legal action.

We recognize that the bigger the government, the more opportunities for corruption; and the more intervention in the economy, the more reason for special interests to seek influence. We believe that the best way to promote ethics is to reduce the size of government.

We do not believe that ethics are advanced through more laws or "better guidelines," even as existing ones are ignored. We don't believe the problem is with too few laws, or with too much freedom, but with men and women. We believe the missing ingredients are character, morality and common sense.

A 501(c)(3) foundation, NLPC is headed by president Peter Flaherty and chairman Ken Boehm. Donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations are welcome in any amount.

<a href="http://www.nlpc.org/support.asp" style="text-decoration: none;">Contributions</a> are tax deductible.

Board of Directors

<li style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ken Boehm, Chairman</li>

<li style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Peter Flaherty, President</li>

<li style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Kurt Christensen</li>

<li style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Michael Falcone</li>

<li style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">David Wilkinson</li>

</li></ul>

<li style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dr. Carl Horowitz, Director Organized Labor Accountability Project, editor of Union Corruption Update</li>

<li style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Paul Chesser, Associate Fellow</li>

<li style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Mark Modica, Associate Fellow</li>

<li style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Fred N. Sauer, Associate Fellow</li>

</ul>

<p style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21.84px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">For our annual tax return, <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/204604690/NLPC-990-2012" style="text-decoration: none;">click here</a>.  2012 no donors <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/204604690/NLPC-990-2012">http://www.scribd.com/doc/204604690/NLPC-990-2012</a>

For our audited financial statement, <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/204607553/NLPC-2012-Financials" style="text-decoration: none;">click here</a>. no donors cut and paste led to garbage http://www.scribd.com/doc/204607553/NLPC-2012-Financials

For our privacy policy, <a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/02/05/website-privacy-policy" style="text-decoration: none;">click here</a>.

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Shakedowns

New Book Exposes Attorney General Holder's Abuses of Power

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 07/14/2014 - 12:24

Should perpetuating racial grievance be the defining mission of a U.S. Attorney General? Eric Holder, who has held the office for the past five and a half years, really believes it is - and acts accordingly. A new book, Obama's Enforcer: Eric Holder's Justice Department (Broadside), presents a strong case for removing Holder from office as a corrective to his many abuses of power related to racial and other issues. In 256 pages, authors John Fund and Hans von Spakovsky pull no punches in revealing how Holder and other department officials routinely have subordinated rule of law to radical politics, all the while stonewalling Congress and punishing internal dissenters. They also, properly, point a finger at Holder's boss, President Obama.

affirmative action Barack Obama Eric Holder George Zimmerman Gibson Guitar Government Integrity Project Hans von Spakovsky Janet Reno John Fund New Black Panther Party Operation Fast and Furious Pigford II Shakedowns U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Carl Horowitz's blog Read more

Al Sharpton Revealed as FBI Mob Sting Informant

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Tue, 04/08/2014 - 20:31

Obama and SharptonThe Reverend Al Sharpton, anchorman, preacher, politician and shakedown artist extraordinaire, has led what can be viewed as a charmed life. A lengthy expose published yesterday on The Smoking Gun website (see pdf) provides some insight as to why. Starting in 1983, the New York-based civil rights activist, who 20 years later would run for president, allegedly worked for several years as an FBI informant to avoid prosecution. In return for helping the feds root out organized crime from the entertainment industry, Sharpton since then has operated with near immunity. "The Rev" denies he worked as an informant, adding that the report simply rehashes "old news." REAGAN?

Al Sharpton Barack Obama Daniel Pagano Don King FBI Government Integrity Project Joseph Pagano mafia National Action Network (NAN) Robert Curington Shakedowns Carl Horowitz's blog Read more

Labor Secretary Nominee Perez Flouts Labor, Immigration Laws

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Mon, 03/18/2013 - 18:52

Thomas Perez and Barack Obama Thomas Perez embodies ethnic identity radicalism. Whether the U.S. Senate has the courage to challenge him is yet unknown. President Obama today nominated Perez for Secretary of Labor. As the Department of Justice's assistant attorney general for civil rights since October 2009, Perez has promoted a hard-charging egalitarianism that goes even beyond that of first-term Obama Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, who resigned in January. His "Third World First, America Last" worldview comes with hefty baggage. He's persuaded the Justice Department to dismiss its case against Black Panther members accused of menacing white voters and poll watchers in Philadelphia on Election Day 2008.

Barack Obama Black Panthers Casa de Maryland Charles Grassley Christopher Coates Eric Holder Hilda Solis J. Christian Adams Jeff Sessions Joe Arpaio Martin O'Malley sanctuary cities Shakedowns Thomas Perez U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Union Corruption Update Carl Horowitz's blog Read more

Jesse Jackson Jr. Pleads Guilty to $750K in Campaign Fund Thefts

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Fri, 02/22/2013 - 13:08

Jesse Jackson Jr.  The elder Jesse Jackson has grown wealthy these past couple decades mainly by shaking down corporations. One of his sons, former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill. (see photo), has preferred a different path to wealth: his campaign till. That path is now leading to federal prison. On Wednesday, February 20, the younger Jackson, who served nine terms in Congress before resigning last November 21, pleaded guilty in District of Columbia federal court to diverting about $750,000 in re-election funds to personal use. Jackson, who since last June has been hospitalized twice at the Mayo Clinic for bipolar disorder and other problems, told U.S. District Judge Robert L. Wilkins that in pleading guilty to wire and mail fraud, he had "no interest in wasting the taxpayers' time or money." His wife, Sandi, until recently a Chicago city alderwoman, hours later pled guilty to a related tax fraud charge.

Barack Obama corruption Government Integrity Project Jesse Jackson Jesse Jackson Jr. Rod Blagojevich Sandi Jackson Shakedowns Carl Horowitz's blog Read more

Obama Set to Unleash Lawsuits to Mandate Racial Preferences

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Thu, 11/29/2012 - 11:59

Oama and Holder  The transformation of the American economy and polity into a racial spoils system has been a defining goal of President Obama's first term in office. It is set to become more defining in his second term, especially in light of a federal appeals court ruling two weeks ago. Obama, by various accounts, wants to be more aggressive about suing banks, employers, schools and other institutions whose practices, however unintentionally, adversely affect "disadvantaged" (read: nonwhite) populations. This is the doctrine of "disparate impact."

affirmative action Barack Obama Eric Holder Government Integrity Project R. Guy Cole Richard Cordray Shakedowns Thomas Perez U.S. Department of Education U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Carl Horowitz's blog Read more

USDA Submits to Shakedown by Hispanic and Women Farmers

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Fri, 09/28/2012 - 12:28

USDA logo  Whether as heads of corporations or government agencies, white executives can be counted upon to grovel if they or their organizations stand accused of discrimination. Such especially is the case with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, whose capacity for fecklessness in the face of his accusers is almost limitless. And not for the first time, his timidity will cost taxpayers. On Monday, September 24, Vilsack announced that Hispanic and women farmers who believe they were unjustly denied grants or credit by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) can file claims over a six-month period, effective immediately, for cash awards and/or tax relief totaling at least $1.33 billion, plus up to $160 million in debt relief.

Alexander Pires Dan Glickman Government Integrity Project Lupe Garcia Phil Fraas Pigford II Rosemary Love Shakedowns Timothy Pigford Tom Vilsack U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Carl Horowitz's blog Read more

Rush Echoes NLPC Criticism of Coca-Cola's Polar Bear Campaign

Submitted by NLPC Staff on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 10:58

Rush Coca-Cola graphicYesterday, Rush Limbaugh criticized Coca-Cola's polar bear campaign as "idiotic," based on a posting on this website by NLPC Associate Fellow Paul Chesser. Rush's commentary appears below. The sections in bold below were read verbatim from the posting.

Coca-Cola Coke Corporate Integrity Project global warming polar bears Rush Limbaugh Shakedowns NLPC Staff's blog Read more

Duke - Progress Merger Provides Shakedown Opportunity for Activists

Submitted by Paul Chesser on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 15:49

It seemed the merger of Duke Energy and Progress Energy into the nation’s largest (by several measures) utility would sail through by the end of this year, but several activists in North Carolina have intervened at the last minute. The moves by environmental groups to extract funds for their pet projects out of the deal would make shakedown artists proud. Among the organizations – who have myriad methods of wringing dollars from taxpayers through lawsuits and corporate campaign-type pressure tactics – are Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, and Southern Environmental Law Center.

Corporate Integrity Project Duke Energy Environmental Defense Fund James Rogers North Carolina President Obama Progress Energy renewable energy Shakedowns Sierra Club Southern Environmental Law Center Paul Chesser's blog Read more

Blagojevich Conviction Only Partly Reveals Culture of Corruption

Submitted by Carl Horowitz on Thu, 07/07/2011 - 12:11

Blagojevich photo  Last August, things looked sunny for former Illinois Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich. He and his lawyers had just obtained a hung jury on 23 of 24 corruption charges. But Justice Department prosecutors, confident they had their man, continued to pursue the case - and this time with different results. Last Monday, June 27, a Chicago federal jury, after nine days of deliberation, found the man known as "Blago" guilty on 17 of 20 charges, nearly a dozen of them related to his attempts during the fall of 2008 to fill the pending Senate vacancy left by President-Elect Barack Obama in return for campaign cash.

Barack Obama FBI Government Integrity Project Jesse Jackson Jr. John Harris Justice Department Lon Monk Patrick Fitzgerald Rod Blagojevich Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Shakedowns Stuart Levine The Habitat Co. Tom Balanoff Tony Rezko Valerie Jarrett Carl Horowitz's blog Read more

Lawyers Cash In on California's Proposition 65

Submitted by Ken Boehm on Mon, 04/25/2011 - 09:32

Prop 65 warning image  Hindsight is always 20/20. It's easy to look back after a mistake and pinpoint what went wrong. But there's something to be said for heeding warning signs ahead of time too - to avoid the blunder all together. And often times, when we look back, we realize those warning signs were everywhere. We simply ignored them.

More than two decades ago voters in California were fooled when Proposition 65 - "The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986" - was passed into law. Prop 65 was advertised as a means to protect California's drinking water and exposure to chemicals in consumer products from dangerous toxic substances that cause cancer and birth defects. Sometimes all the law required were warning labels in advance of those exposures. And who would argue with that?

Government Integrity Project Proposition 65 Shakedowns The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 Ken Boehm's blog Read more

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<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/08/25/6-month-gm-recall-tally-%E2%80%93-34-fixed-34-billion-expenses" style="text-decoration: none;">6 Month GM Recall Tally – 34% Fixed, $3.4 Billion in Expenses</a></div>

</li>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/08/21/gm-admits-original-corroding-brake-lines-were-lower-quality-replacements" style="text-decoration: none;">GM Admits Original Corroding Brake Lines were Lower Quality than Replacements</a></div>

</li>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/08/20/documents-reveal-government-saw-gold-fannie-maefreddie-mac-profit-sweep" style="text-decoration: none;">Documents Reveal Government Saw Gold in Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Profit 'Sweep'</a></div>

</li>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/08/18/meeks-crony-baldeo-convicted-obstruction-justice" style="text-decoration: none;">Meeks Crony Baldeo Convicted of Obstruction of Justice</a></div>

</li>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/08/15/sharpton-creates-tension-wake-st-louis-area-rioting" style="text-decoration: none;">Sharpton Creates Tension in Wake of St. Louis-Area Rioting</a></div>

</li>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/08/11/another-gm-unresolved-recall-problem-%E2%80%93-trucks-abs-defect" style="text-decoration: none;">Another GM Unresolved Recall Problem – Trucks with ABS Defect</a></div>

</li>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/08/07/chevy-volt-resale-values-plunge-lease-returns-hit-market" style="text-decoration: none;">Chevy Volt Resale Values Plunge as Lease Returns Hit Market</a></div>

</li>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/08/06/consumer-reports-removes-recommendation-after-nissan-leaf-fails-crash-test" style="text-decoration: none;">Consumer Reports Removes Recommendation After Nissan Leaf Fails Crash Test</a></div>

</li>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/08/01/risky-business-alarmist-agenda-cloaked-scholarly-non-partisan-research" style="text-decoration: none;">Risky Business: The Best Global Warming Alarmism Money Can Buy</a></div>

</li>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/08/03/meeks-pushed-iran-sanction-exemption-after-azerbaijan-junket" style="text-decoration: none;">Meeks Pushed for Iran Sanction Exemption After Azerbaijan Junket</a></div>

</li>

</ul>

</div>

<h2 class="title" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px -5px; line-height: 15.68px;">Union Corruption Update</h2>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/08/22/locomotive-engineers-secretary-kansas-indicted-theft" style="text-decoration: none;">Locomotive Engineers Secretary in Kansas Indicted for Theft</a></div>

</li>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/08/22/security-professionals-treasurer-charged-embezzlement" style="text-decoration: none;">D.C. Security Professionals Treasurer Charged with Embezzlement</a></div>

</li>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/08/15/new-report-highlights-costs-mandatory-collective-bargaining" style="text-decoration: none;">New Report Highlights Costs of Mandatory Collective Bargaining</a></div>

</li>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/08/19/sheet-metal-workers-business-manager-oklahoma-sentenced" style="text-decoration: none;">Sheet Metal Workers Business Manager in Oklahoma Sentenced</a></div>

</li>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/08/05/wisconsin-supreme-court-upholds-public-employee-union-restrictions" style="text-decoration: none;">Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Public-Employee Union Restrictions</a></div>

</li>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/05/07/federal-appeals-court-again-upholds-wisconsin-curbs-public-sector-unions" style="text-decoration: none;">Federal Appeals Court Again Upholds Wisconsin Curbs on Public-Sector Unions</a></div>

</li>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/08/15/railroad-signalmen-chairman-new-mexico-sentenced" style="text-decoration: none;">Railroad Signalmen Chairman in New Mexico Sentenced</a></div>

</li>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/08/12/ibew-benefits-contractor-maryland-charged-fraud" style="text-decoration: none;">IBEW Contractor in Maryland Charged with Benefits Fraud</a></div>

</li>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2014/08/11/locomotive-engineers-secretary-treasurer-illinois-sentenced" style="text-decoration: none;">Locomotive Engineers Secretary-Treasurer in Illinois Sentenced</a></div>

</li>

<div class="views-field-title"><a href="http://nlpc.org/stories/2010/09/13/nyc-sandhogs-embezzler-faces-sky-high-legal-bills" style="text-decoration: none;">NYC Sandhogs Embezzler Faces Sky-High Legal Bills</a></div></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div></div>

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