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</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">https://maplight.org/story/trump-judicial-adviser-linked-to-1-million-anonymous-inaugural-donation/</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">This story was produced by MapLight in partnership with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">Fast Company</a>.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />A conservative lawyer who advises President Donald Trump on judicial nominations appears to be linked to an anonymous limited liability company that donated $1 million to the Trump inaugural committee, according to campaign finance records.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">In December 2016, the Trump committee&nbsp;</span><a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/286/201704180300150286/201704180300150286.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">received</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;a seven-figure check from BH Group, LLC. Journalists&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/03/secret-contributions-to-trump-inauguration/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">have tried</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;for the past year to locate anyone who works for the company. The limited liability company only lists a paralegal at&nbsp;<b>Holtzman Vogel,</b>&nbsp;a conservative law firm, as its organizer in Virginia incorporation records.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">A recent New Jersey congressional campaign filing may have helped unravel the mystery. The&nbsp;</span><a href="http://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?201804159108152599" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">report</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;lists Leonard Leo, an executive vice president at the Federalist Society, the conservative lawyers network, as an attorney for BH Group. Leo&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/11/us/politics/trump-judiciary-appeals-courts-conservatives.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">has served</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;as an adviser to Trump on judicial nominations, and he&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/us/politics/neil-gorsuch-supreme-court-conservatives.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">helped lead</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch through his Senate confirmation process last year.</span></font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Leo and the White House did not respond to questions from MapLight about his role with BH Group. Holtzman Vogel did not respond to MapLight’s request for comment.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;">The campaign report, filed by Jay Webber’s congressional campaign, was first&nbsp;</span><a href="https://twitter.com/WendySiegelman/status/995059651745140736" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">highlighted</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;by journalist Wendy Siegelman.<b>&nbsp;Leo has been&nbsp;</b></span><b><a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/zoetillman/after-eight-years-on-the-sidelines-this-conservative-group?utm_term=.ek33KbX9m#.paQ0pN86b" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">identified</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;as the president of the BH Fund, a nonprofit that was&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="http://www.unkochmycampus.org/charles-koch-foundation-george-mason-mercatus-donor-influence-exposed/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">given influence</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;over hiring and admissions at George Mason University's law school as part of an anonymous $20 million donation.</span></span></b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><b>The only previous public reference to BH Group was in a tax return filed last year by the Wellspring Committee,</b>&nbsp;a secretive conservative nonprofit. The dark money organization&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/11/web-of-secret-money-hides-one-mega-donor-funding-conservative-court/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=twitter-webof-secret-money-hides-%20mega-donor-funding%20-conservative-court112117" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4255468-Wellspring-Committee-2016.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">paying</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;$750,000 to BH Group in 2016 for public relations.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Wellspring&nbsp;</span><a href="https://maplight.org/story/tax-returns-identify-dark-money-organization-as-source-of-gop-supreme-court-attacks/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">served as the primary financier</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;of the Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), another dark money organization. The network spent $7 million on advertisements to persuade Republicans to block President Barack Obama’s 2016 Supreme Court pick, Merrick Garland. JCN then spent $10 million to support Gorsuch’s confirmation last year. The network is currently&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/zoetillman/republicans-have-a-plan-to-push-through-trumps-judicial?utm_term=.tnaGK1DlN#.gvk0m6qe1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">pushing</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;the Senate to confirm dozens of other Trump judicial nominees.</span></font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">According to the Daily Beast, Leo was&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/25/wellspring-gives-big-boost-to-judicial-crisis-network-with-6-6-million-grant" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">instrumental</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;in starting both JCN and Wellspring. The organizations&nbsp;</span><a href="https://maplight.org/story/tax-returns-identify-dark-money-organization-as-source-of-gop-supreme-court-attacks/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">provided</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;almost 80 percent of the money raised by the<b>&nbsp;Rule of Law Project,</b>&nbsp;a conservative nonprofit that Leo helped lead.</span></font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Federalist Society, where Leo has worked since 1991, has members throughout the senior levels of the Trump administration. Its annual convention last year in Washington, D.C., featured speeches from Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, and White House Counsel Don McGahn.&nbsp;</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Federalist Society’s top&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3520072-ConservativeDonors-DocCloud.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">donors</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;have included billionaire libertarian brothers Charles and David Koch; Koch Industries, their energy and chemical conglomerate; the Mercer Family Foundation, funded by hedge fund magnate Robert Mercer; and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the powerful business lobby.</span></font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Leo appears to be especially close with Pruitt,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;who previously served as Oklahoma’s attorney general. Records from Pruitt’s Oklahoma office&nbsp;</span></span><a href="https://maplight.org/story/mirror-mirror-on-the-ags-wall-and-six-years-later-also-on-pruitts-expense-account/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">show</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;he frequently spoke at the Federalist Society events, and the organization paid for Pruitt to fly from Tulsa to Washington, D.C., for only a few hours to meet with Leo in 2016.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">An unnamed EPA official&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/us/pruitt-epa-trips-lobbyists.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">recently told</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;the New York Times that when Leo called his office “and asked for something, we did it, it doesn’t matter what it was." Agency records show Leo&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/climate/pruitt-cardinal-pell-dinner.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">helped arrange</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;Pruitt’s agenda during his trip to Rome last year. The&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/05/07/top-federalist-society-official-initially-paid-for-scott-pruitts-costly-dinner-in-rome-epa-officials-confirm/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8df9d44aa876" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">Washington Post</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;found that Leo originally paid for one of the administrator’s dinners before Pruitt reimbursed him.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></font></span></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">est 2014 Va (CREW) adam white exec dir; cousel and CBG 2011-5, campaign finance and tax exempt status; call susn happ today and tell her stend up for rule of law and ppl of WI (~ BO fedral overrach); Wickers did ad buy; noah bookbinder exec dir crew june 15 2016
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><h1 class="Title" style="margin: 0px; letter-spacing: 0.5px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 43px; padding: 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Too Crooked to Fail: Why Scott Pruitt Still Has His Job (for Now)</font></h1><h2 class="Dek" style="margin: 10px 0px 20px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lesser scandals have felled others</font></h2></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...ecause Pruitt is in bed—almost literally—with the very class of donors President Trump needs to keep on his good side. To be sure, there are others with Pruitt’s connections in the fossil fuel industry—but firing him will still be hard. Pruitt isn’t less corrupt than those who have departed; he’s more corrupt. He’s too crooked to fail.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">First, a brief review of the EPA administrator’s misdeeds.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He baldly lied to Congress during his confirmation process, saying he didn’t use his private email for public business, when conclusive evidence showed he did. Indeed, he used it to coordinate strategy with Big Oil, which is why he lied about it in his sworn statements. That’s a felony.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After the White House denied Pruitt’s request to give two close aides a raise, he did it anyway, exploiting a legal provision meant to hire hydrology experts to instead pay the aides. That’s a misuse of the Safe Drinking Water Act, and perhaps more important, a direct refusal to follow the White House’s instructions.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It turns out that one of those aides, Millan Hupp, coordinated Pruitt’s personal housing search in D.C. That’s a violation of government ethics rules.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RELATED IN POLITICS</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lobbyist Pitched Scott Pruitt a Meeting With NatGeo Exec</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, testifies during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill, May 16, 2018 in Washington, DC.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">House Dems Seek Criminal Investigation into Scott Pruitt</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scott Pruitt Made Staff Fetch His Snacks and Sweets</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While that search was underway, Pruitt took a below-market rent deal from a lobbyist whose firm was pushing for a controversial gas pipeline (which Pruitt approved). That constitutes an undisclosed gift from the lobbyist to Pruitt.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As first reported by The Daily Beast, that lobbyist, Steven Hart, has bankrolled Pruitt’s career for years and even held GOP fundraisers in the townhouse while Pruitt was staying there. Icing on the cake: Taxpayers had to pay Hart $50 a night for the rent deal.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And then there’s the money.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pruitt has racked up over $118,000 in first-class air travel in 2017, whining that our “toxic” political climate means that people aren’t nice to him in coach. (Ironically, some of the people being mean to Pruitt are affected by actual toxic chemicals that Pruitt’s EPA has chosen not to regulate.) He’s spent $58,000 of that taxpayer money flying back and forth from Oklahoma, where he is rumored to be mulling a Senate run.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pruitt even managed to insult House Republicans by failing to turn over his travel documents to them on time.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(2, 20, 31); font-family: Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">itt<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/first-class-travel-distinguishes-scott-pruitts-epa-tenure/2018/02/11/5bb89afc-0b7d-11e8-8b0d-891602206fb7_story.html?utm_term=.ef3b831baad4" style="transition: color 0.15s ease; background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;also blew</a>&nbsp;$36,000 on a military jet to New York in order to catch a $7,003 flight to Rome for a conference. He spent $40,000 to fly to Morocco to promote natural gas exports.</p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(2, 20, 31); font-family: Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">And $<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/03/14/scott-pruitts-25000-soundproof-phone-booth-it-actually-cost-more-like-43000/?utm_term=.1e8847a4db4d" style="transition: color 0.15s ease; background-color: transparent;">43,000 on a soundproof phone booth</a>&nbsp;in his office. And<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/scott-pruitt-spending-epa_us_59cc2a95e4b05063fe0ef9b3?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004" style="transition: color 0.15s ease; background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;$800,000</a>&nbsp;(and counting) for a ’round-the-clock security detail that even went with Pruitt’s family to Disney World....</p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(2, 20, 31); font-family: Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">He tried to</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> spend $120,000 of taxpayer money to hire a<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/climate/epa-definers-public-affairs-contract.html?mtrref=www.google.com" style="transition: color 0.15s ease;">&nbsp;shady PR firm</a>&nbsp;that has targeted journalists, until news of that idea broke and the contract was canceled.</span></p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(2, 20, 31); font-family: Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Just one of these offenses is enough for Trump to yell “You’re fired.” Former HHS secretary Tom Price, for example, was forced out after<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/09/29/trump-to-decide-friday-night-whether-to-fire-hhs-secretary-price/?utm_term=.013751d71e39" style="transition: color 0.15s ease; background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;spending $51,887</a>&nbsp;of taxpayer funds on charter planes—a fraction of Pruitt’s first-class bills.</p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(2, 20, 31); font-family: Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">So why is Trump<a class="TrackingLink LinkWrapper" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-tells-epa-chief-scott-pruitt-weve-got-your-back" style="transition: color 0.15s ease; background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;yelling</a>&nbsp;“We’ve got your back” instead? Why is Pruitt different?</p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(2, 20, 31); font-family: Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Easy: Follow the money.</p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(2, 20, 31); font-family: Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Pruitt’s not just faithfully executing Trump’s promises to roll back regulations. He’s the conduit between Trump and the fossil fuel industry.</p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(2, 20, 31); font-family: Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Remember, Pruitt, when he was attorney general of Oklahoma, cut and pasted a letter drafted for him by Devon Energy<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/us/politics/energy-firms-in-secretive-alliance-with-attorneys-general.html" style="transition: color 0.15s ease; background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;onto his own stationery</a>. As described in an in-depth&nbsp;<em>New York Times</em>&nbsp;report, Devon has since “partnered” with Pruitt to roll back a host of environmental rules, particularly governing methane and fracking, and in exchange, has poured money into the campaign chests of numerous Republicans.</p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(2, 20, 31); font-family: Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">So have Chevron, Shell, Koch Industries, and the American Petroleum Institute.</p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(2, 20, 31); font-family: Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Of course, Pruitt has already provided Big Oil with an outstanding return on investment. A 90 percent reduction in demands to power plants to conform to clean air rules. Seven hundred employees forced out of EPA, with no replacements named. Regulations nullified. The historic Clean Power Plan scrapped. Discussions of climate change banned.&nbsp;<a class="TrackingLink LinkWrapper" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/epa-director-scott-pruitt-cites-bible-for-industry-led-science-boards-and-gets-the-bible-exactly-wrong" style="transition: color 0.15s ease; background-color: transparent;">Scientists fired, replaced by industry yes-men</a>.</p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(2, 20, 31); font-family: Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">But these plums are just the short-term rewards. Long term, Pruitt is the key link between the Trump administration and Big Oil. As shown in another&nbsp;<em>New York Times</em>&nbsp;exposé, he<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/03/us/politics/epa-scott-pruitt-calendar-industries-coal-oil-environmentalists.html" style="transition: color 0.15s ease; background-color: transparent;">meets with industry representatives all the time</a>, more than with any other constituency, and often behind closed doors. Pruitt’s corruption isn’t about a single quid-pro-quo. It’s about long-term relationships that Trump himself needs.</p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(2, 20, 31); font-family: Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Pruitt also has his own funding connections.&nbsp;<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40428688/conservative-group-led-by-epa-chief-pruitt-received-dark-money-to-battle-environmental-regulations" style="transition: color 0.15s ease;">As revealed by the nonprofit MapLight</a>, Pruitt is the former chairman of the “Rule of Law Defense Fund,” which was bankrolled by more than $750,000 in conservative dark money, funneled through the<a class="TrackingLink LinkWrapper" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/dark-money-group-attacks-obamas-supreme-court-picks-before-theyre-even-nominated" style="transition: color 0.15s ease;">&nbsp;Judicial Crisis Network</a>&nbsp;(itself a creature of the dark money group Wellspring Corporation), the Rule of Law Project, and Koch brothers-affiliated Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce.</span></p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(2, 20, 31); font-family: Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">These players are not Robert Mercer. They’re not Trump diehards, with the possible exception of <b>JCN, originally the brainchild of Jay Sekulow</b>, now Trump’s attorney. Indeed, many of them—like the Koch brothers—were once opposed to Trump. They are fairweather fans, and right now Pruitt is their team’s franchise player.</p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(2, 20, 31); font-family: Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Now you can see why Pruitt has, thus far, has survived, even though men have been fired for far lighter offenses. Trump can’t afford to fire him. Pruitt is just too corrupt to fail.</p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(2, 20, 31); font-family: Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">But there may be a way out.</p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(2, 20, 31); font-family: Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Robert Murray, the CEO of Murray Energy, donated $300,000 to<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/climate/coal-murray-trump-memo.html?
r=0" style="transition: color 0.15s ease; background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;Trump’s inauguration</a>. Murray Energy just<a class="TrackingLink LinkWrapper" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/a-coal-giant-gave-dollar1-million-to-donald-trumps-super-pac-as-it-sought-a-federal-lifeline" style="transition: color 0.15s ease; background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;donated $1 million to Trump’s super PAC</a>. Last year, Murray wrote a<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/climate/coal-murray-trump-memo.html?r=0" style="transition: color 0.15s ease; background-color: transparent;">now-infamous memo</a>&nbsp;listing 16 specific regulations he wanted rolled back by various agencies. All 16 have been or are being rolled back.</p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(2, 20, 31); font-family: Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Murray’s leading lobbyist, Andrew Wheeler, is now<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://newrepublic.com/article/146971/next-head-trumps-epa-andrew-wheeler" style="transition: color 0.15s ease; background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;No. 2 at Pruitt’s EPA</a>. If Pruitt goes, Wheeler appears next in line. He’s also a long-term climate denialist, and, to boot, a<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://twitter.com/AndrewRWheeler/status/765399613612363776" style="transition: color 0.15s ease; background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;big fan</a>of Milo Yiannopoulos. And he’s got the same caliber of corporate connections as Pruitt.</p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px; font-size: 17px; color: rgb(2, 20, 31); font-family: Georgia, Cambria, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">So if Pruitt truly has to go, Wheeler can step into his shoes. In Trump’s world, no one is truly irreplaceable.</p></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></p><div><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The RLDF &nbsp; def fund Was Created As A 501(C)(4) In 2014&nbsp;</font></span></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">not same a project</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">RLDF is a so-called “501C4” organization, which means it is not required to publicly disclose any information about its sources of funding. It was created in 2014 by the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), with which it shares staff and office space and holds some joint events.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>
</b></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/storage.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/20022845/Rule%20of%20Law%20Project%20IRS%20complaint%206-15-16.pdf">https://s3.amazonaws.com/storage.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/20022845/Rule%20of%20Law%20Project%20IRS%20complaint%206-15-16.pdf</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">koskinen IRS commissioner</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">june 2016 crew complaint spent 200K schimel ads, claimed none, adam white</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/rule_of_law_project_2014_990.pdf">http://www.prwatch.org/files/rule_of_law_project_2014_990.pdf</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wickers gp PR sf 180K?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">grants 190K$?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wm LEO kristol an officer?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">policy res 24K</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">consulting 55k total rev half million</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">COI</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>adam white 1627 &nbsp;I st DC</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ein ....9296</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ein ...0903</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><strong style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The RLDF Was Created As A 501(C)(4) In 2014&nbsp;</font></strong></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">heath rolp and raga?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-heath-68037829">https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-heath-68037829</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/06/13118/schimel-rule-of-law-project-complaint">http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/06/13118/schimel-rule-of-law-project-complaint</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Back in October 2014, Republican Wisconsin attorney general candidate Brad Schimel was neck in neck with Susan Happ when a mysterious&nbsp;dark money group, with the phony name "Rule of Law Project," dropped into the race with a huge ad buy backing Schimel.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Now it appears the Rule of Law Project (ROLP)</b>&nbsp;may have broken a few laws in its eagerness to elect an attorney general of its choosing. Yesterday, the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI and the IRS urging an investigation and alleging that the dark money group made false representations to the IRS.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The complaint also sheds some light on who might be bankrolling the phony issue-ad group.</font></p><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watchdog Group Files Complaint with FBI and U.S. Department of Justice</font></h2><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Center for Media and Democracy&nbsp;<a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/10/12649/dirty-energy-barons-go-bat-wi-ag-candidate-schimel" target="
blank" style="text-decoration: none;">was the first to link the group</a>&nbsp;to the Washington D.C. law firm of Boyden Gray and Associates</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. A founder of the Federalist Society and former White House Counsel, Gray is the chief architect of the 40-year attack on regulations protecting public health and the environment. Gray's firm has been representing a big business and dirty power companies&nbsp;in the fight against President Obama's Clean Power Plan, which if implemented, would reduce greenhouse gases by up to 32 percent in 2030.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ROLP&nbsp;ads applauded Schimel for saying he would join other Republican attorneys general in suing the EPA to stop the Clean Power Plan.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CREW alleges that ROLP violated the law when it spent nearly $200,000 on political ads in backing Schimel, but later told the IRS that it did not engage in any political activity in 2014. CREW asserts that "501(c)(4) social welfare non-profits are allowed to make political expenditures as long as they disclose all political spending to the IRS, but ROLP failed to meet this simple standard."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The disastrous Citizens United decision opened up the floodgates for dark money groups to spend on politics," CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said. "But there are still some limits to the amount of spending and secrecy these groups are permitted—and too many brazenly ignore these modest limits." The CREW complaint&nbsp;<a href="http://crew.3cdn.net/2f6f24d3585dfe1a09_8hm6yxlst.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">can be found here</a>.&nbsp;</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.prwatch.org/files/rule_of_law_project_2014_990.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;">organization's 2014 tax filings</a>&nbsp;obtained by CREW&nbsp;and a fact sheet accompanying the complaint shed&nbsp;more light on the mystery&nbsp;group.&nbsp;<a href="http://crew.3cdn.net/b46ec03578511fa55e_q3m6b9pts.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">From the fact sheet</a>:</font></p><ul style="margin: 1.5em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px;"><li style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Adam White is the executive director of ROLP. Mr. White is a research fellow at the </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Hoover Institution</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> and until recently worked as Counsel at Boyden Gray & Associates.</span></b></font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Leonard Leo is a director of ROLP. Mr. Leo appears to be the executive vice president of the Federalist Society.</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>William Kristol is a director of ROLP.</b>&nbsp;Mr. Kristol appears to be the editor of&nbsp;<em>The Weekly Standard</em>&nbsp;and a prominent political pundit.</font></li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Star Eiting is the treasurer of ROLP. Eiting appears to be the treasurer of the&nbsp;<b>DCI Group’s political action committee</b>&nbsp;and used to be the custodian of records for the Center to Protect Patient Rights, a non-profit with past ties to the Koch brothers’ political network that moved millions of dollars to other non-profit groups.</font></li></ul><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">CREW did not nail down the ultimate source of the funds used for the ads, but followed the fingerprints on various IRS tax filings to the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Judicial_Crisis_Network" style="text-decoration: none;">Judicial Crisis Network</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wellspring_Committee" style="text-decoration: none;">Wellspring Committee</a>.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Federalist Society's Leonard Leo is a founder of the&nbsp;Judicial Crisis Network, a dark money issue-ad group&nbsp;tied to the Wellspring Committee.&nbsp;According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Wellspring is "little more than [a] UPS mailbox," and was created to hide the identity of donors who may be individuals or special interests and discredited&nbsp;industries who want to cloak their agenda in anonymity.&nbsp;</span></font></p><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">If dark money groups have a dark arts leader it is Sean Noble of the Center to Protect Patient Rights (CPPR).</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Noble&nbsp;</b>was implicated in a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/11/11845/california-elections-board-peels-back-layer-dark-money-onion-finds-more-onion" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">multi-million dollar campaign money laundering operation</a>&nbsp;in California in 2012 designed to hide the out-of-state money flooding into a California referendum campaign. The state of California demanded to know who donated $11 million to a group called the Small Business Action Committee (SBAC), which received the money from a non-profit called Americans for Responsible Leadership (ARL). It took a court order to get ARL to reveal that almost all of its money came from CPPR. As part of a legal settlement, ARL and CPPR&nbsp;<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/dark-money-groups-pay-1-million-dollars-in-fines-in-california-case" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">were fined $1 million</a>&nbsp;and ordered to disgorge the $15 million that was spent in the state. It was only later revealed&nbsp;that CPPR was largely bankrolled&nbsp;by the Kochs'&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Freedom_Partners" style="text-decoration: none;">Freedom Partners</a>&nbsp;operation.</font></p><div class="clearfix" style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>CPPR also gave money to Wisconsin Club for Growth during the time period that Wisconsin prosecutors allege that the Club was&nbsp;involved in a high-dollar coordinated campaign to aid Wisconsin Senators and Governor<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;Scott Walker as they faced recall elections</span>&nbsp;in 2011-2012.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As CMD&nbsp;<a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/04/13092/dci-group-subpoenaed-expanding-exxon-climate-denial-investigation" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">previously reported</a>, DCI Group is a DC-based public relations and lobbying firm, with a client base that has included big tobacco, the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity, and several foreign governments with appalling human rights records. DCI works with the coal industry trade association, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), and was recently subpoenaed by the state attorneys general investigating Exxon Mobile’s long-term funding of climate change denial.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The bizarre addition of William Kristol to the board of a dark money group, might be a tactic to provide the organization with some cover to yell "free speech" if the propriety or legality of their activities are challenged.</b></font></p><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schimel Goes to Bat for Polluters</font></h2><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If federal officials investigate and work through a web of dark money transfers to determine the ultimate source of the funds, Wisconsin citizens might finally learn&nbsp;who exactly gambled big bucks on the Wisconsin attorney general.&nbsp;</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Whoever placed the bet it seems to have paid off.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schimel&nbsp;<a href="https://www.doj.state.wi.us/news-releases/ag-schimel-announces-lawsuit-against-devastating-epa-rule" style="text-decoration: none;">has gone to bat</a>&nbsp;for polluters joining lawsuits launched by coal country attorneys general and the fossil fuel industry to challenge to the Clean Power Plan. "Wisconsin has much to lose if the Obama administration succeeds in its plan to destroy the viability of clean-coal electric generation," says Schimel trotting out the&nbsp;debunked advertising slogan.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Schimel has also brought a compatriot of C. Boyden Gray straight out of coal country to work here in Wisconsin. In December 2015, he announced that&nbsp;<a href="http://www.fed-soc.org/experts/detail/misha-tseytlin" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Misha Tseytlin</a>&nbsp;would&nbsp;serve as Wisconsin's first "Solicitor General" with a $1 million dollar budget. Tseytlin is a leader in the national game plan to derail the Clean Power Plan. He was the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ago.wv.gov/pressroom/2015/Documents/File-stamped%20petition%2015-1363%20%28M0108546xCECC6%29-c1.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">General Counsel</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;the West Virginia Attorney General&nbsp;who lead the charge against the&nbsp;Clean Power Plan. Tseytlin is also a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.watchblog.com/thirdparty/archives/002505.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">"proud member"</a>&nbsp;of the Koch-funded Federalist Society.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In February 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the implementation&nbsp;of the plan and sent the case to the&nbsp;U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for review. The case will be heard in September.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2016 is on track to&nbsp;be the hottest year ever recorded and the devastating and costly impacts of climate change are being felt across the nation and around the globe.&nbsp;No one knows that better than California Attorney General Kamala Harris whose state is leading the nation in curbing greenhouse gas emissions and pioneering clean and renewable energy. &nbsp;"The President’s clean power plan, combined with California’s green innovation, create a path for the nation to protect our environment for current and future generations,” says Harris who has worked with 17 other AGs to defend the Obama plan.&nbsp;</font></p><p style="margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Schimel's actions set Wisconsin back. Commenting on the Supreme Court's action David Doniger of the Natural Resources Defense Council said: "The electricity sector has embarked on an unstoppable shift from its high-pollution, dirty-fueled past to a safer, cleaner-powered future, and the stay cannot reverse that trend."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-13 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" prw="prw" images="images" tag_blue.png="tag_blue.png" left="left" no-repeat="no-repeat" scroll="scroll" rgb="rgb" line-height="line-height" em="em" margin="margin" px="px" padding="padding" style="background-image: url(" background-position="background-position" initial="initial" background-size="background-size" background-repeat="background-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip"><div class="field-items"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div class="field-item even" style="display: inline-block; 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ga=1.130281996.2093036525.1476740035,%20the">http://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/202/202303252/202303252_201506_990O.pdf?_ga=1.130281996.2093036525.1476740035,%20the</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Republican Attorneys </b>1747 Pennsylvania Ave-NW #800

General Association Washington DC 20006 46- 4501717 950, 000 0</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;(2) <b>Republican State Leadership</b> 1201 -F- St NW #675


Committee Washington DC 20004 05-0532524 150, 000 0&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(3) Michigan State Republican 520 Seymour Ave----------------------

Party Lansin g MI 48933 38- 1221182 700,000 0</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;(4) PO Box 24215


Michi gan Advocacy Trust Lansing MI 48909 27 - 2447380 200,000 0</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;(5) PO

-

Box 150384


Tennessee Forum Nashville TN 37215 62-1823138 25,000</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">unrelated?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><span style="" open="Open" sans="Sans" arial="arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Center for Teaching the the Rule of Law has its administrative offices in Augusta Hall on the campus of Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia.&nbsp;</font></span></div><div><span style="" open="Open" sans="Sans" arial="arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.thecenterforruleoflaw.org/rule-of-law-project.html">http://www.thecenterforruleoflaw.org/rule-of-law-project.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Virginia Law Foundation & Virginia Bar Association Rule of Law Project</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>“One child, one teacher, one book, one pen, can change the world.</div><div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;-Malala Yousafzai</div><div>
</div><div>Funded and supported by The Virginia Law Foundation and the Virginia Bar Association, the Rule of Law Project seeks to change fundamentally the way the rule of law is taught in America’s schools. The Project is based on the underlying principle that, under the rule of law, the people make the laws, which are to be fairly and equally applied to everyone, and that the people agree to obey those laws. There can be no legitimate government without the consent of the governed. The rule of law is the tie that binds citizens together as a nation of diverse people. It sustains a constitutional representative form of democracy, an equitable and accessible legal system, a free-market economy, and civil society. None of this is possible without an independent judiciary that provides the critical check and balance against governmental overreaching and unjust laws. Teaching our children these lessons will make the rule of law relevant to them. If we do not, we will forget from where we came as a nation, and the rule of law as we know it will fade away, diminishing America’s role as a model for other nations to follow.</div><div>?</div><div>This unique educational program pairs members of local bar associations with middle school civics teachers to educate students about the origin, meaning and applicability of the rule of law as the basis of democratic ideals and institutions. This collaboration among teachers, lawyers and judges empowers students at a formative age to become active and engaged citizens as adults, and serves as a model program easily adaptable to social studies classes at any grade level.</div><div>
</div><div>Number of Localities in Virginia to Host Rule of Law Project Events Since 2008: Over 75</div><div>Number of Students Participating in a Rule of Law Project Since 2008: Over 100,000</div><div>
</div><div>Number of Localities Hosting Rule of Law Projects so far in School Year 2017-2018: 17</div><div>Number of Students Participating in a Rule of Law Project so far in School Year 2017-2018: 3,974</div><div>
</div><div>Implementation Toolkit</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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