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President Trump's nominee to lead a team of White House economists has financial ties to politically right-leaning groups, including some that oppose or downplay benefits of climate regulation, records show.

Trump nominated Kevin Hassett, an economist from the American Enterprise Institute, to chair the Council of Economic Advisers, an agency that assists the president. The Senate Banking Committee voted last week to move his nomination to the full chamber.

Hassett is a well-known tax expert and has supported carbon taxes— a view that places him at odds with Trump and several of the president's Cabinet secretaries, who say climate change is either a fraud or presents minimal risk.

Disclosure records show Hassett gave a speech March 3, 2016, to the National Mining Association, a trade group for the coal industry and a fierce opponent of climate regulation. He was paid $10,800. A spokesman for NMA said he couldn't recall the specifics of Hassett's speech, but didn't think it was about the coal industry.

The files submitted by Hassett also show he was paid $10,000 last year for work with the American Action Forum, a conservative advocacy group that ranadvertising against the Obama administration's climate change efforts. A spokeswoman for the group said he consulted about "policy research." She declined to elaborate.

The records also show that Hassett has been an adviser to the Randolph Foundation since 2013. The New York City nonprofit has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to political organizations that oppose government policies to cut emissions.

Groups to which the foundation has given money include Donors Trust Inc., the James Madison Institute, and the Property and Environment Research Center. Hassett and the Randolph Foundation did not respond to requests for comment....

Friday, December 4, 2020

Contact: David Armiak, david@prwatch.org

MADISON, WI – The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in federal court on Thursday, December 4, 2020, for illegally withholding tax documents for five right-wing funders.

CMD filed the complaint after exhausting every option to obtain grant lists from tax filings from the IRS, and argues that the agency’s actions have violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

In June 2020, CMD submitted a FOIA request seeking missing Part XV, “Grants and Contributions Paid During the Year or Approved for Future Payment,” from 23 tax returns from the nine right-wing funders. In October 2020, the IRS produced some of the attachments without explanation in a response to CMD, but not all. A few days later, CMD received another letter from the IRS stating that, “the Disclosure Specialist properly denied your requests.”

CMD is filing suit to obtain the Part XV section for the following:

CMD’s December 3 lawsuit follows an April 20 lawsuit against the IRS for failing to produce 2018 tax records for 18 right-wing groups that it claimed did not exist. In May, the IRS informed CMD’s counsel, Courtney T. DeThomas from Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, that it would not contest CMD’s request for records and provided all but one of the filings. “The IRS’s response to CMD’s FOIA requests points to a pattern of arbitrary and capricious procedural dodges that undermines the core principles of government transparency that are enshrined in the law,” said Ms. DeThomas.

==

Groups connected to the shadowy Koch network have generously donated to Lomborg’s think tank.Since its registration in the U.S. in 2008, the Copenhagen Consensus Center has received $170,000 from the conservative Randolph Foundation, whose director, Heather Higgins, has ties to multiple groups within the Koch network. Copenhagen Consensus Center also received $300,000 from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which is part of the Koch network’s attempt to influence state and federal judges. The group also received $200,000 from conservative Republican billionaire Paul Singer, who had previously given more than $1 million to the oil billionaire Koch brothers. The Koch network has donated lavishly to climate denial efforts.

==

==

Lomborg:

Conservative funders

The only income for the CCC in its first year in the US came in the form of a $120,000 grant from the New York-based Randolph Foundation [15].

The foundation, seeded by money from the Richardson family’s sale of the Vick Chemical Company [16] in 1985, gave CCC another $50,000 in 2012 [17].

The main trustee at Randolph is Heather Higgins [18], the president and CEO of Independent Women’s Voice and the chairman of its sister organisation Independent Women’s Forum [19]. Higgins is the daughter of R. Randolph Richardson, a member of the family that sold Vick Chemical Company to Procter & Gamble for $1.2 billion [20]. 

Staff writers of both organisations regularly express scepticism about the science of human-caused climate change and cite Lomborg’s views approvingly.

A recent article from IWF senior fellow Vicki Alger claimed [21] “a majority of scientists believe that global warming is largely nature-made” — ignoring several studies that show the vast majority of research from scientists studying climate change believe exactly the opposite.

IWF funders include the Charles R. Lambe Foundation [22], controlled by Charles Koch, and Donors Trust [23], a fund for conservative philanthropists that has pushed millions into organisations promoting climate science denial and fighting laws to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Higgins is also board member at the Philanthropy Roundtable [24], another route for conservative philanthropy which shares two members of personnel with Donors Trust or its partner organisation Donors Capital Fund [25].

Also on the board of trustees at Randolph is Polly Freiss, the daughter-in-law of conservative Christian businessman Foster Freiss.

Foster Freiss put more than $2 million into Republican Senator Rick Santorum’s 2012 run for his party’s nomination for the presidency. Freiss also bankrolled conservative news outlet The Daily Caller [26], which regularly publishes articles supporting the views of climate science denialists.

On his personal web page, Freiss promotes climate science denial sources [27] including Climate Depot and The Heartland Institute [28]. Friess’s website has also promoted Lomborg’s views.

Foster Freiss and his daughter Polly attended the Koch brother’s secretive 2010 strategy meeting in Aspen [29], along with Heather Higgins and a host of other conservative activists.

The tax records of the Kansas-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation indicate it has given the CCC two $150,000 grants — one in 2011 [30] and another in 2012 [31].

The foundation is the legacy of pharmaceutical entrepreneur Ewing Kauffman and currently holds $1.89 billion in assets.

The only other known funder of Lomborg’s think tank is the Sevenbar Foundation — a group that gave Copenhagen Consensus Center $50,000 in 2009 [32] but otherwise supports micro-finance initiatives to empower women using money raised from lingerie shows.

http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2007/11/28/we-berate-you-deride-a-look-at-steven-j-milloys-current-affiliates-and-backers/

As I mentioned above, the Randolph Foundation is another significant investor in Mr. Milloy’s FEAFund. Randolph Foundation trustee James Q. Wilson is also Chairman of the AEI’s Council of Academic Advisers. The Randolph Foundation is a relatively new conservative foundation, so there’s not a lot of information on them available, but the 2005 Form 990 shows that the Foundation is a significant donor to the AEI ($50,000) and the CEI ($18,000) and, as mentioned above, a minor donor to the Phillips Foundation.

And while we’re on the topic of the AEI, we should probably point out that another major conservative fund, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, gave the AEI $575,000 in 2006, along with $60,000 for the Cato Institute, $350,000 for the CEI, $125,000 for the National Center for Policy Analysis (where Mr. Milloy’s associate and AEI “briber” Ken Green is an environment expert), and another $125,000 to the Reason Foundation.

http://www.mediatransparency.org/funderprofile.php?funderID=21  404

The Randolph Foundation is a New York City-based conservative foundation. According to a report done by the Cincinatti chapter of the American Association of University Professors, "Prior to May 8, 2003, the H. Smith Richardson Charitable Trust was known as The Randolph Foundation. On that date, the former Randolph Foundation transferred all of its assets (with a fair market value of $49 million) to the new Randolph Foundation which is treated as a successor organization for tax purposes. After the transfer, the original Randolph Foundation was renamed the H. Smith Richardson Charitable Trust and received an initial grant of $48.5 million from the Smith Richardson Foundation."

The foundation sponsored a questionable study on professor political affiliations often cited by advocates of the campaign for academic freedom and intellectual diversity.

According to the Media Transparency's profile, recipients of Randolph grant money have included:

Some 2007 recipients and amounts include

Contents[hide]

Randolph Foundation

255 East 49TH Street #23D

New York, NY 10017

Phone: (212) 752-7148

[1]

Articles and resources

Related SourceWatch articles

References

  1. ↑ 2007 Form 990, EIN 47-0892971, Guidestar.org

External resources

Wikipedia also has an article on Randolph Foundation. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the GFDL.

External articles

Categories: United States | Foundations | Philanthropy

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Randolph_Foundation

The Randolph Foundation (TRF) is a New York-based charitable foundation that first operated in 1972 as the H. Smith Richardson Charitable Trust. It transitioned to independence from the Smith Richardson Foundation, assuming the name of The Randolph Foundation from 1991–1993, and was reconstituted as a NY non-profit corporation in 2002. The foundation provides funding primarily for public policy related projects. Heather Higgins (née Richardson) is its President.[2]

Contents

Creation and mission

The Randolph Foundation was established as a charitable trust under the will of H. Smith Richardson in 1972. H. Smith Richardson was an heir of Lunsford Richardson, founder of the Vicks chemical company.

Chartered with a broad mandate, it was operated under the aegis of the Smith Richardson Foundation's public policy arm, making grants that were, for the most part, indistinguishable from the focus of the Smith Richardson Foundation per se.

In the spring of 1991, the Randolph Foundation began to operate as an organization—under new Executive Director Heather Higgins—and in 1993 became wholly separate from the Smith Richardson Foundation. As of 2005, the foundation held just under $70 million in assets.[1]

Notable projects

The Randolph Foundation sponsors numerous projects that examine current public policy and offer policy alternatives. Such projects include television programs, films, books, and academic studies.

Television and film

Through its funding of New River Media, the foundation serves as a major source of sponsorship for PBS's weekly Think Tank, which features commentator Ben J. Wattenberg.[3] Think Tank episodes have featured discussion on such issues as gun control[4] and controversies in modern feminism.[5]

Again working with New River Media and the team from Think Tank, the foundation provided funding for Heaven on Earth: the Rise and Fall of Socialism. The 2005 film was shown as a three-part mini-series on PBS and is a companion film to the 2002 book of the same name by Joshua Muravchik.[6] A PBS synopsis of the film portrayed its central ideas as follows:

A 2007 film sponsored in part

by the Randolph Foundation.

As an idea that changed the way people thought, socialism's success was spectacular. As a critique of capitalism that helped spawn modern social safety nets and welfare states, its success was appreciable. As a model for the development of post-colonial states, the socialist model proved disappointing, fostering economic stagnation among millions of the world's poorest people. And in its most violent forms, socialism was calamitous, claiming scores of millions of lives and helping to make the twentieth century the bloodiest ever.[7]

The Randolph Foundation was one source of funding for God and the Inner City, a one-hour 2003 documentary chiefly backed by the Pew Charitable Trusts which examined both faith-based and secular charities operating in inner-city environs.[8] The foundation also provided financial support to Free to Choose Media for The Power of Choice, a 2007 film biography of Chicago School economist Milton Friedman.[9]

Books

In 1993, the foundation began providing support to Marquette University political scientist Christopher Wolfe for a project that would eventually culminate in his 2006 book, Natural Law Liberalism.[10] In Natural Law Liberalism, Wolfe advances the position that American public policy should be based on classical natural law theory in the Thomist tradition, which he argues results in policies characteristic of political liberalism.[11]

TRF was also a source of funding for a book produced by the free-market environmentalist Property and Environment Research Center (PERC). Eco-nomics: What Everyone Should Know about Economics and the Environment was penned by agricultural economist Richard L. Stroup and published by the Cato Institute in 2003. The book, which won a 2004 award from the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, targets the "educated lay person," offering public policy recommendations in keeping with the private, market approach to conservation.[12]

Naomi Schaefer Riley received a grant from the foundation for her book, God on the Quad: How Religious Colleges and the Missionary Generation Are Changing America.[13] The 2004 St. Martin's Press offering was the result of research conducted by Riley at twenty higher education institutions affiliated with a religious group. The book examines classes and student life at institutions including Brigham Young University, Baylor University, and Bob Jones University and discusses the potential impact of these schools' growing attendance on those interested in "bringing faith into the professional world."[14][15][16]

Currently, TRF is funding a Council on Foreign Relations book project by CFR senior fellow Max Boot. The project, which has been in progress since 2003 and is also sponsored by several other organizations,

...examines four major technological revolutions of the past 500 years (Gunpowder, Industrial, Mechanization, and Computerization) and how they transformed warfare and the international balance-of-power.... In addition, Mr. Boot applies the lessons of history to current dilemmas, examining crucial questions such as how long America’s military advantage will last, and what the United States can do to preserve its hegemony.[17]

Research

Besides the research performed by Riley for God on the Quad, other studies funded by the Randolph Foundation examined higher education in the United States. A controversial 2004 study by TRF-supported scholars found that "72 percent of teachers at American colleges and universities identify themselves as liberal, compared with 15 percent who describe themselves as conservative, with the liberal tilt greatest at elite schools and in humanities and social sciences departments."[18] This study was cited by various columnists including Cal Thomas.[19] Its methodology and conclusions were criticized by the American Association of University Professors.[20]

TRF is funding a six-year University of Virginia study examining parental leave policies in United States universities and their possible effect on gender roles. According to a description on the university's website, the fundamental questions to be addressed by the study relate to the fact that,

There is an ongoing quarrel in the academic literature between evolutionary psychologists and most feminists. The evolutionary psychologists believe that there are deep-seated hormonal and other reasons why women have done and probably always will do the vast majority of baby care. Most feminists believe that society constructs for women the role of baby care and that, with effort, this can be changed.[21]

Organizations funded

In addition to sponsoring the projects noted above, TRF has also served as a source of funding for a number of other organizations,[1][22] including:

Policy and advocacy organizations

Educational institutions

Notes

  1. ^ a(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randolph_Foundation#cite_ref-IRS2006_0-0) b(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randolph_Foundation#cite_ref-IRS2006_0-1) c(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randolph_Foundation#cite_ref-IRS2006_0-2) d(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randolph_Foundation#cite_ref-IRS2006_0-3) "IRS Form 990PF: The Randolph Foundation." Hosted by the Foundation Center. August 2006. [1]
  2. ^ "Board of Directors." Philanthropy Roundtable. 2006
  3. ^ "About New River Media, Inc." PBS.org
  4. ^ Transcript: "Does Gun Control Work?" *Think Tank*. PBS. June 3, 1995
  5. ^ Transcript: "Has Feminism Gone Too Far?" Think Tank. PBS. November 4, 1994. [2]
  6. ^ "Heaven on Earth, the Film: Production Team." PBS.org
  7. ^ "Heaven on Earth, the Film: Synopsis." PBS.org
  8. ^ Event Transcript: "God and the Inner City: A One-Hour Documentary." Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. June 17, 2003. [3]
  9. ^ "Credits: *The Power of Choice*." Free to Choose Media. 2007
  10. ^ Wolfe, Christopher. "Acknowledgments." Natural Law Liberalism. Cambridge University Press. 2006. [4]
  11. ^ "Editorial Reviews: Book Description." "Natural Law Liberalism (Hardcover)." Amazon.com. [5]
  12. ^ "Anthony Fisher Award presented to Eco-nomics." PERC. April 28, 2004. [6]
  13. ^ "Naomi Schaefer Riley." Ethics and Public Policy Center. [7]
  14. ^ "Editorial Reviews: From Publishers Weekly." "God on the Quad: How Religious Colleges and the Missionary Generation Are Changing America (Hardcover)." Amazon.com. [8]
  15. ^ Lopez, Kathryn Jean. "Meet Gen M." National Review. January 11, 2005. [9]
  16. ^ Carlson, Julie Campbell. "Author To Discuss 'God On The Quad' At Lecture Feb. 10." Baylor University. February 9, 2005. [10]
  17. ^ "Study Group on the History of Military Revolutions." Council on Foreign Relations. [11]
  18. ^ Thomson, Susan C. "A Lefty Under Every Lectern." National CrossTalk. Summer 2006. [12]
  19. ^ Thomas, Cal. "Liberal bias in colleges bleeds into classroom." Townhall.com. March 30, 2005. [13]
  20. ^ Selden, Steven. "Who’s Paying for the Culture Wars?" Academe. American Association of University Professors. September–October 2005. [14]
  21. ^ "Project Description: Parental Leave & Gender in U.S. Universities." OSCAR. University of Virginia. [15]
  22. ^ "Randolph Foundation Grant Recipients." Media Transparency
  23. ^ "SoHo & Tribeca Partnership supporters." Association of Community Employment Programs for the Homeless. [16]
  24. ^ Jacobson, Jennifer. "What Makes David Run." Chronicle of Higher Education. May 6, 2005. [17]
  25. ^ "CED Supporters." Annual Report 2005. Committee for Economic Development. [18]
  26. ^ Weill-Greenburg, Elizabeth. "Conservative church group steps up anti-gay attacks." Washington Blade. May 19, 2006. [19]
  27. ^ "York repeated disputed claim that bin Laden warned U.S. states to vote against Bush." Media Matters for America. [20]

Mr. Milloy and Mr. Borelli (and Mrs. Borelli too, via her husband) have worked together and in parallel since at least 1993, manipulating science to serve their ideological and political ends. During that time they’ve been funded by Philip Morris, Exxon Mobile, and some of the largest conservative foundations in the United States.

But while they may not have worked alongside each other for much of that period, they do now: Mr. Milloy and Mr. Borelli are not only co-directors of the FEEI, but they’re both advisers for their politically conservative mutual fund,the Free Enterprise Action Fund (**FEAFund**).

As advisers to the FEAFund, Mr. Milloy and Mr. Borelli split a 1.25% commission. According to the FEAFund’s annual report for 2006, the commission was just over $75,000. While this is a significant amount of money, it’s in addition to the $355,000 Mr. Milloy earned via FEEI and to the estimated $130,000 earned annually by the law and business consulting firm “Steven J. Milloy Inc.” (data available from Manta.com). When combined, Mr. Milloy’s approximately $500,000 income would be more than sufficient for him to “self-fund” both JunkScience.com,DemandDebate.com, and all his other web projects out of his own personal wealth. Whether he actually does so is an open question.

As mentioned above,Mr. Milloy earned a hefty “consulting fee” from CFIS that was largely paid by ExxonMobil. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to dig deeper into “Steven J. Milloy Inc.” to find out whom Mr. Milloy’s legal and consulting clients are. At least, not yet. But because it’s federal law that the identities of a mutual fund’s principle investors are public information, and because I hadn’t ever seen these investors detailed during my research, I chose totrack down the main sponsors of Mr. Milloy’s FEAFund. Their backing is what enables Mr. Milloy to earn an advisory commission on the FEAFund’s assets, and as such they qualify as indirect backers of Mr. Milloy’s efforts via JunkScience.com and DemandDebate.com.

As of April 1, 2007, SEC documents show that there were eight investors who held more than 5% of the Free Enterprise Action Fund, of which seven held 9% or greater. These seven are William Dunn (19%), Arthur Dantchik (10%), Thomas L. Phillips(10%), Robert A. Levy (10%), the Claws Foundation (9%), The Randolph Foundation (9%), andDonors Capitol Fund(9%). These seven investors control a combined total of 76% of the total assets of the fund.

The largest shareholder, William Dunn of Stuart, Florida, is the director of Dunn Capitol Management and the founder of Dunn’s Foundation for the Advancement of Right Thinking. William A. Dunn of Stuart, Florida is also a director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. In addition, he is a Director and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Reason Foundation and a Director of the :{Property and Environment Research Center:(style="background-color:#fff200;"):}:(PERC). If you’ll recall from yesterday’s post, Mr. Milloy’s associate Kenneth P. Green (currently of the American Enterprise Institute) used to work for the Reason Foundation and Mr. Milloy himself works with the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Dunn’s Foundation for the Advancement of Right Thinking gave away over $3 million in grants in 2004 alone, with much of that money going to organizations associated in some way with Mr. Milloy or people he knows: $445,000 to the CEI, $370,000 to the Institute for Justice (see Arthur Dantchik below), $370,000 to PERC, $308,000 to the Reason Foundation, $185,000 to the Cato Institute, and $25,000 to the AEI. Some of the other backers for both the CEI, PERC, and Reason Foundation have been the Charles G. Koch and the David H. Koch Charitable Foundations. The Charles G. Koch foundation funds the CEI and PERC to the tune of almost $60,000 and $15,000 respectively. The David H. Koch foundation granted $315,000 to the CEI between 1995 and 2001 and over $1.5 million to the Reason Foundation between 1986 and 2001.

The next largest shareholder in the FEAFund is Arthur Dantchik of Bela Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. Mr. Dantchik is one of the founders of the Susquehanna Investment Group and is a Director for the Institute for Justice. He works with fellow FEAFund shareholder and Cato Institute director/senior fellow Robert A. Levy (see below) at the aforementioned Institute for Justice. In addition, he is on the board of directors for another FEAFund shareholder, the Claws Foundation. According to Claws Foundation’s 2006 IRS Form 990-PF, one of Mr. Dantchik’s fellow Claws Foundation directors is a co-founder of the Susquehanna Investment Group and director of the Cato Institute, Jeffrey Yass. The other director of the Claws Foundation is Alan P. Dye, a director ofFreedom House and legal counsel to the Ron Paul for President campaign. The Claws Foundation itself is not a political organization – it exists largely to fund medical research.

Since 1999, Mr. Dantchik has given over $263,000 to conservative causes, including approximately $22,000 to 2004 congressional candidates outside of his own state of Pennsylvania. Mr. Dantchik’s Institute for Justice has received a total of $265,000 in donations from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation from 1986 through 2005, another $1.35 million from the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation between 1995 and 2001, and over $1.1 million from the Sarah Scaife Foundation between 1992 and 2005. The Institute for Justice also received over $2 million from The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation between 1992 and 2005, a massive conservative foundation that has also given extensively to the AIE (over $17 million between 1987 and 2005), the National Center for Policy Analysis (nearly $1.5 million), the Reason Foundation (nearly $1 million), the Cato Institute (about $860,000), the CEI (about $770,000), PERC (about $600,000), and the Thomas L. Phillips’ Philips Foundation (about $560,000), all between the mid 1980s and 2005.

Thomas L. Phillips, creator of the Thomas L. Phillips Revocable Trust of McLean, Virginia, is another principle investor. Mr. Phillips has donated some money to local McLean, VA political races and is the CEO of Phillips International, the parent company to the Phillips Foundation, Eagle Publishing, and Healthy Directions LLC(formerly Phillips Health). The Phillips Foundation is a non-profit foundation that offers journalism fellowships for journalists “who share the Foundation’s mission to advance constitutional principles, a democratic society and a vibrant free enterprise system,” with special fellowships for writing on the environment from a free-market perspective. Most of the Phillips Foundation trustees are associated with Phillips International in some way. Thomas Phillips is obvious, but the president of conservative uber-publisher Regnery Publishing, Alfred S Regnery, is another trustee, as is Eagle Publishing director Thomas A. Fuentes. Eagle Publishing is the parent company for Regnery Publishing, the publisher of the “Politically Incorrect Guides” and books like Unfit for Command and Men in Black. Eagle Publishing also publishes the Evans-Novak Political Report, conservative “news” source Human Events (which counts Ann Coulter as the legal affairs editor and Ms. Coulter, Newt Gingrich, Pat Buchanan, Robert Novak, Sen. James Imhoffe, Rush Limbaugh, Phyllis Schlafly, Michelle Malkin, Bill O’Reilly, and other conservative luminaries as commentators), and runs the Conservative Book Club. In addition, Mr. Phillips has given significant support to the National Conservative Campaign Fund (NCCF), a group whose directors and advisory board are composed of Phillips and most of the rest of the leaders of the Phillips Foundation. Mr. Phillips’ connections at the NCCF are good enough to have had Vice PresidentDick Cheney to come over for an NCCF reception at the Phillips’ home.

Mr. Phillips has donated over $124,000 in support of conservative causes and elections since 1996, and his National Conservative Campaign Fund has given approximately $532,000 to Republican candidates since the 2000 election cycle (Source: Opensecrets.org). In 2006, the Phillips Foundation raised $68,000 from Phillips International, $10,000 from Foundation trustee Robert Novak, and $5,000 from the Randolph Foundation, another significant investor in the Mr. Milloy’s FEAFund, and it has also received over $107,000 from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation from 2002 to 2005.

http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2007/11/28/we-berate-you-deride-a-look-at-steven-j-milloys-current-affiliates-and-backers/

As I mentioned above, the Randolph Foundation is another significant investor in Mr. Milloy’s FEAFund.Randolph Foundation trustee James Q. Wilson is also Chairman of the AEI’s Council of Academic Advisers. The Randolph Foundation is a relatively new conservative foundation, so there’s not a lot of information on them available, but the 2005 Form 990 shows that the Foundation is a significant donor to the AEI ($50,000) and the CEI ($18,000) and, as mentioned above, a minor donor to the Phillips Foundation.

And while we’re on the topic of the AEI, we should probably point out that another major conservative fund, theSarah Scaife Foundation, gave the AEI $575,000 in 2006, along with $60,000 for the Cato Institute, $350,000 for the CEI, $125,000 for the National Center for Policy Analysis (where Mr. Milloy’s associate and AEI “briber”Ken Green is an environment expert), and another $125,000 to the Reason Foundation.

The second to last of the major investors is Robert A. Levy LLC, a business founded of Silver Spring Maryland. Robert A. Levy, formerly of Silver Spring and presently residing in Florida, is the Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies and a member of the Board of Directors at the Cato Institute. Mr. Levy gaveCongressional testimony regarding the :{global tobacco settlement:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:, specifically suggesting that the settlement was “a shameful document, extorted by public officials who have perverted the rule of law to tap the deep pockets of a feckless and friendless industry.” Given that Mr. Levy still works for the Cato Institute with Dr. Michael Gough, and Dr. Gough is associated with Mr. Milloy through CFIS, it’s not unreasonable that Mr. Levy would be in a position to become a major shareholder in the FEAFund.

The last major investor is Donors Capital Fund (DCFund), a large fund associated with Donors Trust, a group that professes to be “the sole donor-advised plan dedicated to promoting a free society and serving donors who serve that purpose.” Several of the directors of DCFund have connections to groups that are related to Mr. Milloy directly or through other avenues. For example, two of the directors are associated with the American Enterprise Institute, namely AEI’s President, Christopher DeMuth, and Steven F. Hayward, the F.K Weyerhaeuser Fellow in Law and Economics. DCFund co-founder and Executive Director Whitney L. Ball once served as the Director of Development for the Cato Institute, is presently associated with The Philanthropy Roundtable and, via that association is also connected to Philanthropy Roundtable Vice-Chairman and Randolph Foundation director Heather R. Higgins. Director Walter H. Mellor is the co-founder and President of the Institute for Justice, the same organization that fellow FEAFund principle investor Arthur Dantchik is a director of. The President of Donors Trust, Kimberly O. Dennis, is also the Executive Director of the Searle Freedom Trust, is Secretary for the Philanthropy Roundtable, and is a Director of PERC alongside fellow FEAFund principle investor William Dunn.

In addition to all the personal connections between the various investors and the DCFund, the DCFund has also granted a total of $23,000 to the AEI, $44,000 to the Cato Institute, $36,000 to the Reason Foundation, and $12,000 each to the CEI and Institute for Justice in 2006 alone (from the 2006 Form 990).

These connections are what I could find via the various foundations’ websites and public FEC, SEC, and IRS documents. However, over the years there have been many more connections between Mr. Milloy and various corporations, conservative individuals, and conservative foundations. Given Mr. Milloy’s history of working for businesses who want to discredit profit-suppressing scientific data and his connections throughout the entire conservative money machine, it’s probably reasonable to guess that his financial backers for any particular project are the groups or individuals with the most to lose – ExxonMobil and Shell Oil vs. global heating, Philip Morris vs. second-hand tobacco smoke, Monsanto et al vs. Horizon Organic, etc.

Mr. Milloy’s connections to the tobacco lawsuits in the 1990s as an official supplier of deceit and “junk science” casts a long shadow over his credibility, but he could have escaped that shadow by now if he had ever chosen to do so. Instead, Mr. Milloy continues to associate with purveyors of scientific propaganda and disinformation such as Kenneth Green of the AEI, Thomas and Deneen Borelli of the National Center for Public Policy Research, Michael Gough of the Cato Institute, and both the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Fox News in toto. In addition, via what little we’ve been able to glean about who funds Mr. Milloy’s various websites and institutes, it’s obvious that he’s continued a pattern of working for corporations (and their direct representatives) who have a vested interest in manipulating and distorting science to their particular ends. As such, even ifDemandDebate.com’s survey of the IPCC “scientific consensus” were scientific, Mr. Milloy’s history and associations make him a dubious source for anything resembling real science, his publication of the ironically-titled JunkScience.com notwithstanding.

It’s important to understand that Mr. Milloy’s connections with the AEI, CEI, Cato Institute, Reason Foundation, and through them to the Randolph Foundation, Philanthropy Roundtable, Donors Capital Fund and Trust, the Phillips Foundation, PERC, et al doesn’t mean that Mr. Milloy is the guiding force behind these connections. He is a single thread, albeit an important one, in an intricate tapestry of denial and misrepresentation of science in the service of conservative ideology. Through the deep pockets of his various corporate and conservative supporters over the years, he’s become a very effective conservative soldier in the war for the minds, and votes, of the people.

Mr. Milloy’s connections and access to money fostered over years make him a very effective conservative soldier in the culture wars. And he’s not alone – the very same people who back Mr. Milloy also back Ken Green, Tom and Deneen Borelli, Michael Gough, John Yoo, C. Boyden Gray,to name just a few. Backed by money from corporations and wealthy conservative foundations, Mr. Milloy and his ilk attempt to use propaganda to further their own ideological ends, in this case by fostering a false sense of scientific uncertainty over global heating when in fact there is a great deal of certainty about the science of global heating. And they won’t go away just because President Bush leaves office in January 2009 – they have too much to lose, ideologically and financially, to just roll over and go away when their favorite President has finished his second term.

Next time you read about something from JunkScience.com, DemandDebate.com, StopLabelingLies.com, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, or watch Steve Milloy on Fox News, remember who the source is.

Monday: DemandDebate.com’s survey on the scientific consensus surrounding global heating

Yesterday: A closer look at the background of Steven J. Milloy, executive director of DemandDebate.com

Many of the sources below were created specifically to enable citizens and patriots like all of us to track the influence of money on politics at all levels. They are relatively simple to use and enable anyone who is concerned about the corrupting influence of money on politics to hold their various political representatives’ feet to the proverbial fire. I used each of them repeatedly and regularly in the process of researching this series.

Related posts (automated):

  1. *DemandDebate.com*">We Berate, You Deride – A closer look at the background of Steven J. Milloy, executive director of *DemandDebate.com*
  2. *DemandDebate.com’s* survey on the scientific consensus surrounding global heating">We Berate, You Deride – *DemandDebate.com’s* survey on the scientific consensus surrounding global heating
  3. An open letter to Steven Milloy
  4. VIP Clinton backers want a white VP, apparently
  5. Steve Milloy is still a fact fighter for hire

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The Free Enterprise Action Fund is a mutual fund set up by Steven Milloy and Thomas J. Borelli.[1] Milloy is a climate skeptic and has been a Fox News commentator and a paid advocate for Phillip Morris, ExxonMobiland other corporations. He is the founder of JunkScience.com. Borelli was formerly a tobacco scientist at Phillip Morrisand is a senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research. The Free Enterprise Action Fund aims to counter the trend by corporations to embrace corporate social responsibility and campaigns by activist groups seeking to shift corporate social and environmental policy.

On its website it states that the group aimed "to keep businesses focused on business rather than activist-defined CSR, the Fund aims to promote more generally our system of free enterprise. The Fund will direct advocacy and education efforts at corporate managements, institutional shareholders, the media and the public."

In the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change organized by the Heartland Institute, Milloy stated that the Fund aims to "be a problem for managements and shareholders", and that he and Borelli "primarily work through shareholder proposals" to "get the shareholders and CEOs to think about what they're doing". He also stated, "We have filed numerous shareholder proposals with companies in the US Climate Action Partnership".[2]

During 2005, the Fund underperformed the S&P 500 index by more than 50%, while rewarding its managers with above-average management fees of 2%.

Contents [hide]

Finances

According to a January 26, 2006 report in the Chicago Tribune, "The fund's advocacy stance boils down to opposing many of the things supported by traditional 'social investment funds,' because issues like global warming or corporate governance distract business from its real role of operating in the best interests of shareholders." However, its performance as an investment has been less than stellar.

The Tribune called it the "Stupid Investment of the Week ... Strip away the rhetoric, and you're getting a very expensive, underperforming index fund, while Milloy and partner Thomas Borelli get a platform for raising their pet issues. ... An expense ratio capped at 2 percent--ridiculously high for a portfolio of corporate giants--makes stock market returns unrealistic. From inception on March 1 of last year through Dec. 31, Free Enterprise Action returned 2.32 percent; the S&P 500 returned 4.72 percent. That's ugly."[3]

In 2006, the Independent noted that: "The fund has about $6m (£4m) under management at the moment but claims to be growing fast" and "is supported by a network of right-wing think-tanks including the Heritage Foundationand the Cato Institute."[4]

Personnel

Contact details

Free Enterprise Action Fund

P.O. Box 182490

Columbus, OH 43218-2490

Phone: 301-258-2852

Email: media AT freeenterpriseactionfund.com

Web: http://www.freeenterpriseactionfund.com

Other SourceWatch resources

Sources

  1. ↑ Kate Sheppard, "Thank You for Global Warming," Mother Jones, November 22, 2010
  2. ↑ "How to Stop Climate Change Legislation in the US", Steven Milloy, March 2008.
  3. ↑ http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0601260062jan26,1,7543219.story
  4. ↑ http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article356920.ece

External links

Published: 10 April 2006

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