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Fdn for Gov't Accountability CTT

 2013 donors trust

Foundabon for Government
Accountab1hty

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12 22 kpfa

17 (so gop) states pass laws to prot dark $

eg 1

in a state with a reputation for political scandal, Florida’s 2020 elections saw a particularly brazen scheme to swing three state Senate races.A “dark money” group sent out mailers promoting the campaigns of three “sham” candidates—in one case, diverting enough votes to a candidate with the**same last name**as former Democratic Sen. José Javier Rodríguez to defeat him. Rodríguez lost by just 32 votes, and Democratic candidates in the other two districts were defeated as well.

The Orlando Sentinel reported that the group behind the misleading mailers, which has renamed itself as Grow United, received a $1.15 million donation from an organization closely tied to the business trade association Associated Industries of Florida. A Dec. 2 Sentinel investigation detailed the group’s consultants’ close coordination withelectric monopoly Florida Power & Light, as well as the power utility’s ties to state Republican leaders, who control the chamber and can block bills like one that would empower solar electricity generators.

Florida organizations supporting Democrats also donated $700,000 to Grow United to obscure the funding source behind expenses like election mailers,a revelation that led to the resignation of a senior House adviser.

Last month, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs launched an investigation into one of Grow United’s donors. The “sham” candidate in Rodriguez’s race pled guilty last August and is cooperating in testimony against the consultant who allegedly put him up to it, former Republican state Sen. Frank Artiles. Artiles has pled not guilty in the case.

With dark money rampant in the state, especially in state Democratic primaries, a Florida Republican is seeking to make it a crime for public officials to request or release information about the sources of money behind election spending by groups that are not required to reveal their donors.

In January, Republican Florida Rep. Toby Overdorf introduced the Personal Information Protection Act (H.B. 1547), which would prohibit public agencies from requesting that any individual, corporation, or other entity release personal information besides what is already required by campaign finance and other laws, or when they have a lawful warrant to seek the information. The bill would also prohibit agencies from publishing such information they may have in their possession. Florida Senator Joe Gruters introduced a similar bill in the Senate (S.B. 1848) that would do the same thing, but only for personal information of donors and other individuals affiliated with 501(c)(3) organizations, though its sponsor says he’s willing to broaden it to cover other types of groups. Each bill would allow for the right of civil action and violators could face possible prison time of up to 90 days.

The House version would prevent campaign finance regulators from trying to force non-disclosing organizations like (c)(4) nonprofits to reveal their donors when they spend money to influence elections in the state.

The new Florida bill is modeled after a policy propagated by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a nonprofit that brings together corporate lobbyists with conservative lawmakers to advance legislation that favors business interests. Rep. Overdorf is one of about 31 Florida elected officials listed as ALEC members as of April 2021, according to a state public records request from the nonprofit Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). Gruters is the chair of the Florida Republican Party, re-elected to that position last month, and is a close ally of former President Trump, having co-chaired his 2016 state campaign.

In recent years, such bills criminalizing the disclosure of politically-active nonprofits’ donors have spread to a number of states, passing into law in 2021 in Arkansas, Iowa, South Dakota, and Tennessee.

“These types of bills are unnecessary—there are already constitutional protections for donors that would actually face threats, harassment, or reprisal from public identification—and their only true achievement may be to simply impede transparency for politically active nonprofits and make dark money darker,” said Aaron McKean, legal counsel for state and local reform at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, which works to increase transparency in democracy.

“Voters have a right to know which wealthy special interests are spending big money to influence their vote and rig the political system in their favor,” said McKean. “Florida’s legislators should be focused on ensuring voters know the true sources of money used to influence elections.”

A poll commissioned by the Campaign Legal Center previously found strong bipartisan support for “publicly disclosing contributions to organizations involved in elections” so that wealthy special interests cannot operate with impunity and politicians can be held accountable.

florida has led the nation in public corruption convictions for much of the past couple decades. From 1976 to 2018, Florida was among the top 10 states in federal corruption convictions per 10,000 residents, according to a report from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

A longtime state ethics watchdog tells Sludge that the practice of routing funds through dark money groups will proliferate in the state until the Legislature has the political will to stop it.

“I don’t think there will be any reduction in dark money in elections, it’s just going to increase,” said Ben Wilcox, research director of the nonprofit Integrity Florida. “The campaign finance system in Florida is so dysfunctional, it makes this sort of activity so easy to do, and easy to hide the source of campaign donations. There are all sorts of loopholes.”

With the end of Florida’s legislative session coming next month and the bills not gathering co-sponsors, Wilcox thinks that the state’s investigation into the Grow United case has likely chilled their support this year. But Wilcox tells Sludge, “The fact that they filed the bills this year, to further protect the sources of dark money, it tells you whether or not the bills pass this year, they probably will come next year. The powers that be are intent on keeping dark money dark.”

Wilcox also pointed to a loophole in state campaign finance law that allows unlimited donations to state political committees controlled by politicians. “It’s a form of legal corruption,” he said.

“When you look at Florida Power & Light, they give the maximum to various candidates, and then all the big money goes into the political committees, donations of $100,000 and more.” State campaign finance records show that in recent years, the committee Friends of Ron DeSantis has received donations of over $10 million total from Citadel hedge fund manager and GOP megadonor Ken Griffin, $850,000 from investment company Spring Bay Capital, $200,000 from Kane Financial Services, and nearly $125,000 from the Florida Home Builders Association, among many others. 

Last May, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law S.B. 1890, a bill sponsored by Republican State Sen. Ray Rodrigues, that would have set a $3,000 cap on contributions to political committees supporting or opposing constitutional amendments until the measure obtains enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. Florida lawmakers left untouched the ability for donors to make unlimited donations to candidates’ political committees. The law was blocked in federal court on July 1, the day it was slated to take effect, and in August Florida’s Attorney General did not appeal, leaving the injunction in place.

The Tampa Bay Times reported last month that lobbyist Jorge Chamizo provided the bill language to staff of Senate sponsor Gruters, working on behalf of two groups: People United for Privacy and Opportunity Solutions Project.According to CMD, which tracks dark money groups, People United for Privacy was formed by the State Policy Network, an umbrella organization of right-wing causes. Opportunity Solutions Project is the advocacy arm of theFlorida-based Foundation for Government Accountability,a State Policy Network member.

This year, Jorge Chamizo is registered to lobby for a long list of business clients, including Associated Industries of Florida and Duke Energy, which was an ALEC member as recently as 2020. Other clients of Chamizo this year include Peoples Gas System, Tampa Electric Company, health insurer Anthem, health care provider Centene, and Uber.

hayes recs

 Constellation of Anti-Voting Groups Threaten Democracy

By Marc Elias

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  August 18, 2022

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https://www.democracydocket.com/news/a-constellation-of-anti-voting-groups-threaten-democracy/

republican leaders of the anti-voting movement recently held a “gourmet dinner” at an “undisclosed location” to discuss my voting rights litigation. The event was billed as the inaugural leadership dinner for a group called the Honest Elections Project. I was not invited to attend.

There is a constellation of well-funded, right-wing groups that use the legal and political system to make voting more difficult and free and fair elections less likely. They range from mere vote suppressors to full-on election deniers. Most oppose expanding voting rights and support strict voting laws. Many seek to gut the Voting Rights Act entirely; others want it interpreted so narrowly as to be ineffective. None of these organizations supported Congress’ efforts to enact new pro-voter legislation.

These right-wing groups work closely with the RNC and with state legislatures to advance anti-voting legislation.

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The American Constitutional Rights Union, Foundation for Government Accountability, Judicial Watch, Lawyers Democracy Fund, Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) and Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections are just a few of the groups fighting against voting rights in court. America First Legal Foundation, Election Integrity Network, Heritage Foundation and True the Vote also support anti-democracy legal efforts. The conservative American Legislative Exchange Council advances model anti-voting legislation for state legislatures.

We recently got a preview of how these groups will operationalize their legal efforts in court in the future. Earlier this year, a Florida federal judge struck down most of the state’s “Big Lie” voter suppression law. In doing so, the court found that Florida Republicans had intentionally discriminated against Black voters and had violated the constitutional rights of Floridians seeking to participate in the democratic process. On appeal, six national anti-voting groups filed separate “friend of the court” briefs opposing the lower court’s decision — in addition to the briefs by the state defendants and the Republican Party.

For many years, the Republican National Committee (RNC) was legally barred from participating in election monitoring or voter suppression efforts as a consequence of the GOP’s ugly history of targeting minority voters in the 1980s. When that bar was lifted in 2017, the RNC picked up where it had left off and ran so-called “election integrity” programs with state parties.

These anti-voting legal groups offer a path for Republicans to wield majority political power without majority support.

Now, in the post-Trump era, the RNC directly partners with voter suppression groups and efforts that two years ago would have been unthinkable. The party’s dismal court results following the 2020 election coupled with MAGA supporters’ distrust of the party establishment has left the GOP operating in the penumbra of the current stars of the election denier and voter suppression movement.

It’s not just what these groups do, but who runs them.

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On PILF’s board of directors, for example, are Cleta Mitchell and John Eastman,both of whom served as lawyers for former President Donald Trump. Mitchell participated in the infamous telephone call during which Trump demanded that the Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) find 11,000 votes and declare Trump the winner. Eastman, who has been in the news recently for having a search warrant executed against him, helped craft the January 2021 insurrection plan.

The Honest Elections Project — the host of the secret dinner — was formed in February 2020 and is connected to Federalist Society founder Leonard Leo.

The newest of these groups, Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections, was co-founded by former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr (R) and Karl Rove, who served as former senior advisor and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush. Casino billionaire Steve Wynn provides the organization’s financial backing as its finance chair.

This group is notably more competent and well-resourced than the legal buffoonery who led Trump’s post-election antics. Though I am no fan of Barr, he is unlikely to hire lawyers who claim Hugo Chávez rigged elections from the grave or threaten to release the mythological Kraken. With Rove on its board as well, Barr is almost certainly not going to hold press conferences in a landscaping parking lot.

Notably, the infrastructure on the right is eclipsing the organizations on the left. 

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Historically, most organizations and resources dedicated to protecting the right to vote were connected to the left. Today there are still many important civil rights and voting rights organizations that bring litigation to protect the right to vote. Their work is invaluable. But most of those groups have broader portfolios that extend beyond voting rights and have insufficient resources to meet their growing needs.

What is notable about the right wing’s approach is the scope and interconnected nature of their legal efforts to undermine voting rights and free and fair elections.

Right-wing legal groups work in tandem with Republican legislatures dominated by election deniers. These organizations can help generate the most effective voter suppression policies that Republicans turn into laws. When those laws are challenged in court, the conservative legal groups then help defend them.

This brings me back to the “gourmet dinner” at an “undisclosed location” that I was not invited to attend. The right wing holds these events and funds these groups because they know that they cannot win fair elections. These anti-voting legal groups offer a path for Republicans to wield majority political power without majority support. They know that they lost in 2020. They are embarrassed that Trump was routed in post-election litigation. Some are upset that his coup failed on Jan. 6.

They set up new groups, hold secret dinners and create new voter suppression laws hoping that we will give up. I’m not sure what gave them that impression. After Trump was defeated in 2020, his team fought dozens of times in court — and lost. We didn’t give up then, and we certainly aren’t giving up now.

NEXT UP

Conservatives Have Been Packing the Courts for Years

We deserve a forward-thinking judiciary filled with movement lawyers who want to see progress for our nation.

With your support, the Center for Media and Democracy has gone head to head with our Republican Attorney General and prevailed in our open records lawsuit against ALEC's vice-chair, Wisconsin Senator Leah Vukmir.

For months, Sen. Vukmir insisted that she had no records in her possession and made an unprecedented claim of immunity from lawsuit -- but after a year of litigation, we finally received over 100 pages of emails pertaining to ALEC's Spring 2013 meeting. As part of the settlement, Sen. Vukmir was saddled with $2,500 in damages.

Even the conservative Wisconsin State Journal said that the docs show the "lobbying group pulling legislators strings."

The newly-released records show a Florida State Policy Network "think tank"instructing legislators to introduce model policy -- undermining ALEC's claim that only legislators propose model bills.

The SPN group even drafted an entire script for multiple legislators to parrot when proposing the resolution suggesting that expanding health care to more American citizens would be disastrous (!).

Sen. Vukmir, a former nurse, agreed to work on behalf of this SPN group to sponsor a resolution rejecting Medicaid expansion, which would deprive health coverage to millions of Americans. (Read it here).

An ALEC spokesman says CMD is engaging in a “witch hunt” and “the notion that legislators are puppets is an indictment of the United States and our Constitution as a whole."

We think he has that backwards. It is ALEC legislators who should be considering their obligations under the Constitution to represent their constituents, rather than ALEC corporations and “stink tank” lobbyists.

fake ACA website: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20131112/whos-behind-websites-aiming-confound-alaska-enrollment-healthcaregov

Laurel Andrews [1]

November 12, 2013

Main Image:

palin-going-rogue-11-25-09 [2]

Main Image Caption:

The two sites use different tactics to arrive at the same piece of advice: Delay enrollment in Healthcare.gov.

Two anti-Obamacare websites with ties to national conservative groups are attempting to stop Alaskans from enrolling in health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

The two sites – Know the Facts Alaska [3] and Don’t Enroll Alaska [4] -- use different tactics to arrive at the same piece of advice: Delay enrollment in Healthcare.gov. While Don’t Enroll is obvious in its anti-Obamacare sentiment, Know the Facts operates under the guise of neutrality, meanwhile offering Alaskans misleading information on the law.

The website owners are not transparent. But both have ties to conservative groups working to derail the Affordable Care Act (ACA), President Obama’s signature health-care reform law.

The websites' creators are not listed on either site, and both were registered using domain name privacy services.

Yet there are hints that the two websites are connected:

•  They were created within minutes of each other, a fact first pointed out by Alaska Commons [5].

•  Their Facebook pages were created on the same day.

•  Television advertisements for both websites run within the same commercial break.

•  And the websites are nearly identical in their layout and font selections.

Neither website, nor their Facebook pages, offer a contact email. Sign-up forms on Know the Facts allow folks to register their emails for more information, and on Don’t Enroll people can “take the pledge” not to enroll in the insurance health exchange.

An administrator running each Facebook page has offered a contact email, following reader comments asking for one. However, multiple emails were not returned to Alaska Dispatch by either Know the Facts on Don’t Enroll.

So who is behind the websites?

Heidi Gay with the Alaska chapter of Americans for Prosperity [6] (AFP) spoke about the two sites on Monday. AFP is a conservative group backed by billionaires [7] David and Charles Koch, which seeks to influence elections and public policy across the country.

AFP has promoted [8] Know the Facts on its Facebook page. Know the Facts has likewise promoted a town-hall meeting on health care sponsored in part by AFP, held Tuesday evening. Tuesday's meeting featured two senior fellows from the Foundation for Government Accountability. The meeting was also partially funded by the Alaska Policy Forum [9], executive director David Boyle said.

Gay said that both websites were run by the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), a conservative think tank [10] based out of Naples, Fla., that may also have ties[11] to the Koch brothers. Gay later revised her statement to say that FGA was “directly involved” in the two sites.

On Tuesday, senior fellow with FGA Josh Archambault denied that the organization runs the sites.

They are “not our websites,” he said, but are run by a “broad coalition of folks.” He described the coalition as “organic,” and “not highly structured or organized.”

FGA’s role was to provide those website operators with relevant research, he said.

So who are the other folks involved in the coalition? “Honestly, I don’t know,” Archambault said, adding that he would “circle back” with some folks to see if he could get in touch with someone involved with the site who would be willing to speak with Alaska Dispatch.

He believes transparency regarding the website’s operators “almost doesn’t matter. I welcome all activities” surrounding health care outreach, he said.

Archambault said that Americans for Prosperity had “participated in some of the conversation” surrounding the sites. 

Gay denied that AFP was involved in either website.

Spreading misinformation

Tyann Boling, chief operating officer at Enroll Alaska, said the websites were misleading. Enroll Alaska is a division of Northrim Bank, an insurance brokerage working to sign Alaskans up for health care under the new law. “Their whole purpose is to get people to focus on the not-positive side” of ACA, she said. 

Boling pointed to a five-question quiz on the Know the Facts site that says it will help users determine whether to enroll in the exchange or wait. The questions ask, among other things, whether you are a seasonal worker, or whether you "like having choices" in your health care providers.

Yet regardless of the answers plugged in to the quiz, no matter which way you try, the advice is always the same: Wait. There is no other answer. It's "very misleading," Boling said.

Another point of dispute for Boling is Know the Facts claim that “there is no trial period for the exchange plans.”

This statement is true – however, it’s always been true, and has nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act. People can change their insurance plans during open enrollment, generally a one-month period every year. The same holds true for employer-sponsored plans. Yet Know the Facts presents it as a consequence of the Affordable Care Act.

Their Facebook page also sends out skewed information. An Oct. 23 post says that “there are no trial periods with the new health insurance exchange plans, so if you switch, going back to private insurance may be difficult.”

All health care plans on Healthcare.gov are private insurance plans – there’s no leaving, or “going back" to private insurance.

“They are saying that people should wait and talk to other people who enroll in a health insurance policy,” Boling said, but “whether you’re purchasing it on the marketplace, off the marketplace, it doesn’t change the fact that all of those policies have the same requirements,” and all are private.

Another example is a Facebook post from on Nov. 8. Know the Facts shared Healthcare.gov’s photo, which states “nearly six in 10 of the uninsured will pay $100 or less per month for health insurance.”

Know the Facts asks: “Has anyone in Alaska purchased a plan for $100 a month or less? What is the deductible level? Is that for a single person? This seems misleading and we want to get the facts straight.”

Yet Healthcare.gov does not claim that plans will be less than $100 - it claims folks will pay less than $100. That includes the federal subsidy, which allows for greatly reduced health insurance rates for folks 400 percent or less of federal poverty level, an estimated 17 million Americans [12]. 

Know the Facts ignores the federal subsidy completely. It does not mention the tax credit on its website -- except for mentioning the IRS involvement. Know the Facts does, however, note when the next state of Alaska election, and federal elections take place. 

Consumers should be aware “this is a politically fueled, charged topic. There are people who are going to try and spew information out there in their political interest,” Boling said.

Sue Brogan, project manager with the United Way, said that “we’re aware of both of those sites, but it’s really not our role to determine their accuracy. We’re not seeing either one as a tool.” 

David D’Amato, senior director of health policy at the Alaska Primary Care Association wrote regarding the websites, "A great many people in organizations throughout Alaska are engaged in and committed to health care reform for Alaska, and websites like this do not advance the necessary and relevant debate concerning what health reform for Alaska should look like, rather, they seek only to defend the obviously unsustainable status quo."

Boling stressed that Alaskans can contact organizations working to educate Alaskans about nuances of the law. The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, United Way and Enroll Alaska are all available to help educate Alaskans.

Contact Laurel Andrews at laurel(at)alaskadispatch.com [13]. Follow her on Twitter @Laurel_Andrews [14]

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Foundation_for_Government_Accountability

Tarren Bragdon is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the conservative think tank the Foundation for Government Accountability located in Naples, Florida. He is the former Chief Executive Officer of a similar project, the Maine Heritage Policy Center. [1] From 1996 - 2000 Tarren served in the Maine House of Representatives. Elected at the age of 21, Tarren remains the youngest person ever elected to the Maine House.

Main Heritage Policy Center

In 2008, Tarren was named chief executive officer of The Maine Heritage Policy Center, a free market think tank based in Portland, Maine. [2]

The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) is a right-wing advocacy group based in Naples, Florida. It is run by former Maine legislator Tarren Bragdon. It is affiliated with the State Policy Network (SPN), a web of state pressure groups that denote themselves as "think tanks" and drive a right-wing agenda in statehouses nationwide.

The FGA describes its own agenda as developing free market public policies that “achieve limited, constitutional government and a robust economy that will be an engine for job creation across [Florida].” The FGA “believes personal liberty and private enterprise are key to our economic future,” the website states.

Bragdon launched the website FloridaOpenGov.org as part of the Foundation for Government Accountability.

"Nonpartisan Think Tank" or Right-Wing Lobbying Machine?

A 2013 report by Progress Florida and the Center for Media and Democracy notes:[1]

"FGA frequently brags about its influence in state politics and clearly has well-established ties with state legislators. In 2012, for example, FGA bragged that it had 'engaged early on' House and Senate sponsors of HB 1003, a proposal to create a new exemption from tangible personal property (TPP) taxes for businesses with less than $50,000 in business equipment, to successfully influence the legislation. According to FGA’s own post on its website, the organization had 'regular discussions and meetings' with the sponsors of the bill and the Governor’s office. However, FGA did not have a registered lobbyist in Florida in 2012. While a 501(c)(3) non-profit can engage in a limited amount of lobbying, it appears that FGA's outreach to Florida legislators about changing Florida's laws is not so limited. However, its federal tax filings for 2012 have not yet been made publicly available."

In April 2013, FGA registered a lobbyist at the Florida statehouse, its government relations director Chris Hudson. While FGA's website does not disclose this, Hudson is also Florida Public Affairs Director for Strategic Advocacy, a public affairs consulting firm based in Maine and registered as a foreign corporation in Florida. Hudson registered as a lobbyist to represent FGA April 16, 2013, but at around the same time in March and April 2013 he also registered to lobby on behalf of Apalachee Center, Inc., Capitol Insight, LifeStream Behavioral Center, MediSKY LLC, and Mental Health Care, Inc., and in November 2013 he also registered to lobby on behalf of Florida Onsite Wastewater Association.[2] aka ^septic ^tanks

LifeStream, Apalachee, and Mental Health Care, Inc. are all Medicaid providers in Florida. According to Progress Florida's 2013 report, "Meanwhile, FGA has actively pushed for the expansion of a Florida Medicaid privatization pilot program[3] that has boosted the profits of providers of Medicaid services at the expense of expanded enrollment and patient care, according to critics.[4] FGA’s activity on behalf of the privatization scheme has included presenting the plan to ALEC,[5] [which] endorsed the program’s expansion.[6]Hudson’s representation of firms that rely on government spending comes despite FGA’s and Bragdon’s advocacy for reductions in government spending."[1]

Florida Welfare Drug Testing Controversy

A study funded and written by the organization contributed to Florida Governor Rick Scott's defense of his controversial welfare drug-testing law, requiring benefit recipients to take a drug test as a qualification for benefits. The law came under fire from the ACLU and other groups, and a Bush-appointed federal judge threw out the Foundation's study as evidence, claiming it was "not competent expert opinion" and that "even a cursory review of certain assumptions in the pamphlet undermines its conclusions."[7] [trms ^says ^found 1/4th ^rate ^of ^drug ^use ^as ^among gen'l pop.]

FGA’s FloridaOpenGov.org

In January 2012 FGA Chief Executive Officer, Tarren Bragdon, created and launched the website FloridaOpenGov.org. The website is an online database of the salaries of Florida’s public employees and is almost an exact replica of a project by Bragdon at his last place of employment, the Maine Heritage Policy Center.[8]

The website is a compilation of “about 35 million public records detailing nearly $1.4 trillion in spending and payroll by state, county, municipality and school,” according to the FGA.[9]

According to a FGA Press Release,[9] data include:

Florida State Representatives Matt Hudson (R-Naples), Rachel Burgin (R-Tampa Bay), Joseph Abruzzo (D-Wellington), and City of Longwood Mayor Joe Durso endorsed the website.[8]

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

The FGA has close ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). In 2011, CEO Tarren Bragdon presented to ALEC's Health and Human Safety Task Force at the 2011 States and Nation Policy Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona.[10] Bragdon touted the state's controversial Medicaid reform plans and Florida’s welfare drug testing law during the event.[11]

The former director of ALEC's Health and Human Services Task Force, Christie Herrera, went on to become FGA's vice president of policy.[12].

FGA is also on ALEC's Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force. At the 2012 States and Nation Policy Summit, FGA staff member, Joyce Errecart, presented "Tangible Personal Property Business Taxes."[13]

Please see SPN Ties to ALEC for more.

About ALEC
ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our PRWatch.org site.

Ties to the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity

The Foundation for Government Accountability has hosted writers from the ALEC-connected Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, which screens potential reporters on their “free market” views as part of the job application process.[14] The Franklin Center funds reporters in over 40 states.[15] Despite their non-partisan description, many of the websites funded by the Franklin Center have received criticism for their conservative bias.[16][17] On its website, the Franklin Center claims it "provides 10 percent of all daily reporting from state capitals nationwide."[18]

Franklin Center Funding

Franklin Center Director of Communications Michael Moroney told the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) in 2013 that the source of the Franklin Center's funding "is 100 percent anonymous." But 95 percent of its 2011 funding came from DonorsTrust, a spin-off of the Philanthropy Roundtable that functions as a large "donor-advised fund," cloaking the identity of donors to right-wing causes across the country (CPI did a review of Franklin's Internal Revenue Service records).[19] Mother Jones called DonorsTrust "the dark-money ATM of the conservative movement" in a February 2013 article.[20] Franklin received DonorTrust's second-largest donation in 2011.[19]

The Franklin Center also receives funding from the Wisconsin-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation,[21] a conservative grant-making organization.[22]

The Franklin Center was launched by the Chicago-based Sam Adams Alliance (SAM),[23] a 501(c)(3) devoted to pushing free-market ideals. SAM gets funding from the State Policy Network,[24] which is partially funded by The Claude R. Lambe Foundation.[25] Charles Koch, one of the billionaire brothers who co-own Koch Industries, sits on the board of this foundation.[26] SAM also receives funding from the Rodney Fund.

Connections to other Right-wing Think Tanks and Groups

Maine Heritage Policy Center

The Foundation's CEO and Director, Tarren Bragdon, is the former head of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, a Koch-funded and affiliated right-wing think tank described as very influential within the Maine GOP establishment.[27]

The Lewiston-Auburn Sun Journal of Maine, in a profile of Bragdon, noted that his Maine group faced "allegations that its increased involvement in this year's gubernatorial election pushes, if not violates, the political lobbying limits allowed by its tax-exempt status."[28]

Cato Institute

Robert Levy of the Cato Institute is on FGA's board. He has long been active with the Cato Institute, which was founded in 1977 by Charles Koch.[7]

State Policy Network

The Foundation is a state affiliate of the State Policy Network, a web of state pressure groups that denote themselves as "think tanks" and drive a right-wing agenda in statehouses nationwide. Mother Jones writes of the State Policy Network: "Its mission is simple: to back a constellation of state-level think tanks loosely modeled after Heritage that promote free-market principles and rail against unions, regulation, and tax increases. By blasting out policy recommendations and shaping lawmakers’ positions through briefings and private meetings, these think tanks cultivate cozy relationships with GOP politicians. And there’s a long tradition of revolving door relationships between SPN staffers and state governments. While they bill themselves as independent think tanks, SPN’s members frequently gather to swap ideas."[29]

Funding

The FGA is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization and does not disclose the source of its funding. Bragdon has previously said that ”initial donors who were interested in having [him] here” in Florida were responsible for his move to the state.[8]

Core Finances

2011:[30]

Personnel

Board of Directors

As of November 2013:[31]

Staff

As of November 2013:[32]

Former Staff

As of April 2013:

Contact

Foundation for Government Accountability

Suite 201-279

15275 Collier Blvd

Naples, FL 34119

PHONE: 239.244.8808

FAX: 239.217.4397

E-MAIL: info@floridafga.org

Articles and Resources

Related SourceWatch Articles

Related PRWatch Articles

External Resources

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Progress Florida and Center for Media and Democracy, The James Madison Institute and the Foundation for Government Accountability: Lawmaking under the Influence of Very Special Interests, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Florida Legislature, 2013 REGISTRATIONS BY LOBBYIST NAME, state governmental website, accessed November 11, 2013, pp. 167-168.
  3. ↑ Chris Cinquemani, Foundation for Government Accountability, ADVISORY: Congressional Committee to Hear Testimony from FGA President Tarren Bragdon on Pro-Patient, Pro-Taxpayer Medicaid Reform, organizational press advisory, July 8, 2013.
  4. ↑ John Dorschner, Can Florida’s Medicaid reform plan be the model for the nation?, Miami Herald, September 29, 2012.
  5. ↑ Chris Cinquemani, Foundation for Government Accountability, RELEASE – Think Tank Featured at ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force, organizational press release, December 5, 2011.
  6. ↑ Tarren Bragdon, Foundation for Government Accountability, ALEC Supports Florida’s Statewide Medicaid Reform, organizational publication, October 18 2011.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Ashley Lopez, New 'free market' think tank sets its sights on 2012 legislative session Florida Independent, November 2, 2011.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Ashley Lopez, Right-Wing Think Tank leaks salaries of public employees via new website, Washington Independent, January 9, 2012.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Chris Cinquemani, Foundation for Government Accountability, Release: Nearly $1.4 Trillion in Government Spending Data Now Just a Few Clicks Away, organizational press release, January 9, 2012.
  10. ↑ Foundation for Government Accountability, "Release: Think Tank Featured at ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force", organizational website, accessed December 2012.
  11. ↑ Ashley Lopez, New right-wing think tank touts Medicaid reform and welfare drug testing at ALEC event, Florida Independent, January 6, 2012.
  12. ↑ Foundation for Government Accountability, Staff, organizational website, accessed December 2012.
  13. ↑ American Legislative Exchange Council, Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force meeting agenda and materials, organizational document, November 29, 2012, obtained and released by the Center for Media and Democracy and Common Cause.
  14. ↑ Franklin Center, Franklin Affiliates in Your State, organizational website, accessed October 2012.
  15. ↑ The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, Think tank Journalism: The Future of Investigative Journalism, organizational website, accessed August 19, 2011.
  16. ↑ Rebekah Metzler, "Watchdog" website puts a new spin on politics, The Portland Press Herald, October 2, 2010.
  17. ↑ Allison Kilkenny, The Koch Spider Web, Truthout, accessed August 19, 2011.
  18. ↑ Sara Jerving, Franklin Center: Right-Wing Funds State News Source, PRWatch.org, October 27, 2011.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Paul Abowd, Center for Public Integrity, Donors use charity to push free-market policies in states, organizational report, February 14, 2013.
  20. ↑ Andy Kroll, Exposed: The Dark-Money ATM of the Conservative Movement, Mother Jones, February 5, 2013.
  21. ↑ Daniel Bice, Franklin Center boss wants apology from Democratic staffer, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 8, 2011.
  22. ↑ The Bradley Foundation. The Bradley Foundation. Organizational website. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  23. ↑ Sam Adams Alliance. Sam Adams Alliance Media Kit. Organizational PDF. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  24. ↑ Media Matters Action Network. Sam Adams Alliance. Conservative Transparency. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  25. ↑ Media Matters Action Network. State Policy Network. Conservative Transparency. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  26. ↑ Media Matters Action Network. Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation. Conservative Transparency. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  27. ↑ Ben Wolford, Maine man: Young political upstart from New England starts Naples-based think tank, Naples Daily News, October 17 2011.
  28. ↑ Steve Mistler, Playing to win: Conservative think tank Maine Heritage Policy Center rankles left with activism, anonymous donors, Lewiston-Auburn Sun Journal, September 7, 2010.
  29. ↑ Andy Kroll, The Right-Wing Network Behind the War on Unions, Mother Jones, April 24, 2011.
  30. ↑ Foundation for Government Accountability, 2011 Form 990, annual organizational IRS filing, October 15, 2012.
  31. ↑ Foundation for Government Accountability, Leadership, organizational website, accessed November 2013.
  32. ↑ Foundation for Government Accountability, Staff, organizational website, accessed November 2013.
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