ROB STEIN
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.09px; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democracy Alliance</font></span></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="text-align: left;"><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"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.09px; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">P.O. Box 34607</span></font></font></font></font></div><span style="letter-spacing: -0.09px; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.09px;">Washington, DC 20043</span></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.09px; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center; letter-spacing: -0.09px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rstein@democracyalliance.org</font></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center; letter-spacing: -0.09px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: -0.09px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rob Stein is founder of the Democracy Alliance and co-founder of the Committee on States. An attorney by training, Rob has founded and run several non-profit organizations, was senior strategist to the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, was Chief of Staff of the Washington Office of the Clinton-Gore Transition, served as Chief of Staff of the United States Department of Commerce, and was a private equity investor working with dozens of early-stage companies. Rob’s original, comprehensive research about the funding, management and overall infrastructure of the conservative movement over the last three decades, and his recruitment of leading progressive strategists, activists and donors, resulted in the formation of the Democracy Alliance.</font></span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">sw</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Rob Stein</b> is the founder of <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Democracy_Alliance" title="Democracy Alliance" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Democracy Alliance</a>.</font></p><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.1%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%0A%3Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E%0A%3Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E%0A%3C/svg%3E%0A" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Advisory Board, <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/New_Democrat_Network" title="New Democrat Network" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">New Democrat Network</a></font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/AmericaVotes" class="mw-redirect" title="AmericaVotes" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">AmericaVotes</font></a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Forum_Institute&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Forum Institute (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Forum Institute</a> - founder</font></li></ul><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177);" linux="Linux" libertine="Libertine" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" serif="serif" line-height="line-height"><span class="mw-headline" id="External_links"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">External links</font></span></h2><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.1%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%0A%3Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E%0A%3Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229.5%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%2300528c%22/%3E%0A%3C/svg%3E%0A" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_Stauber" title="John Stauber" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">John Stauber</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/03/15/the-progressive-movement-is-a-pr-front-for-rich-democrats/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url("");" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.0%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22" standalone="%22no%22%3F%3E%3Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E%3Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22/%3E%3C/svg%3E" stroke="%22%2306c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" cpath="Cpath" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">The Progressive Movement is a PR Front for Rich Democrats</a>, March 15, 2013, CounterPunch.</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Don Hazen, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/21192/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url("");" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.0%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22" standalone="%22no%22%3F%3E%3Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E%3Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22/%3E%3C/svg%3E" stroke="%22%2306c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" cpath="Cpath" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">The Right-Wing Express: If you want to know how the conservative message machine was built and what progressives can do to respond, just ask Rob Stein</a>", <i>AlterNet</i>, February 7, 2005.</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Thomas B. Edsall, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/06/AR2005080600848.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url("");" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="%221.0%22" encoding="%22UTF-8%22" standalone="%22no%22%3F%3E%3Csvg" width="%2212%22" height="%2212%22%3E%3Cpath" fill="%22%23fff%22/%3E%3C/svg%3E" stroke="%22%2306c%22" d="%22M9.995" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" e="E" cpath="Cpath" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data">Rich Liberals Vow to Fund Think Tanks: Aim Is to Compete With Conservatives</a>", <i>Washington Post</i>, August 7, 2005.</font></li></ul></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><a href="https://democracyalliance.org/da-blog/rob-stein-koch-brothers/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://democracyalliance.org/da-blog/rob-stein-koch-brothers/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2016 huffpo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.09px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; line-height: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The lurid attraction of a Donald Trump-dominated presidential election spectacle is likely to obscure another clear and present political danger that will be hidden from most Americans. That danger is the purchase — there’s no other way to put it — of control of more than 60 percent of state governments and majorities in both Houses of Congress by extreme right-wing forces masterminded by the two wealthiest brothers in America and their donor allies.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.09px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; line-height: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Whoever is elected in 2016 to lead our nation, the composition of Congress and the political make-up of state governments in key states in 2017 will greatly influence how the newly elected President will govern. And while there are many factors that ultimately will determine the outcome of congressional, state legislative and gubernatorial races this year, one variable will impact the results far more than others.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.09px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; line-height: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 30 states, the critical variable will be the success of the most formidable political machinery ever assembled in our democracy to influence the outcomes of both state and federal elections and policies. I call this machinery the “Koch political trust”</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> to compare it to the great industrial trusts — oil, steel, banking, railroads, etc. — of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These domineering concentrations of economic power were “busted” by a crusading President and vigilant Supreme Court because they restrained trade, restricted free markets, controlled prices and threatened economic freedom. Likewise, the Koch brothers’ political trust is lessening competition in the marketplace of ideas, restraining the functioning of representative government, threatening the integrity of democratic institutions and processes, and further enriching the trust owners and their allies.</span></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.09px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; line-height: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The operating components of the Koch trust are a strategic engine called <b>Americans for Prosperity (“AFP”) and a political “financing arm” called Freedom Partners (“FP”)</b> and its affiliated pools of capital. Together, these two enterprises channel hundreds of millions of dollars through AFP and to its aligned network of collaborating data management, communications, organizing and mobilizing organizations. AFP and FP are both governed by the Koch brothers’ corporate employees and their closest political allies. This privately financed, secretive and unaccountable trust is rapidly replacing the state party as the central organizing force in Republican state politics. Its core mission is to win elections and influence policy by forging highly productive strategic political alignment among party, candidate campaign organizations, political action committees and right-wing non-profit organizations.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.09px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; line-height: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Koch political trust is the most formidable multi-state grassroots political operation in America. It now spends at least several hundred million dollars per election cycle on data-driven, targeted TV, radio and digital ads, direct mail, opposition research, grassroots organizing, and get-out-the-vote efforts in select states.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.09px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; line-height: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It operates in most of the 24 Southern, Midwestern and Western states that Mitt Romney won in 2012, plus Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. In these 30 states, the Koch trust has contributed significantly to the election of Republican majorities in 100% of the state legislatures, 80% of the governors, 75% of US Senators and 74% of US House members.<span style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></p><div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; padding: 10px 20px; margin: 65px -95px; border: none; position: relative; text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; line-height: 40px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The Koch political trust is lessening competition in the marketplace of ideas, restraining the functioning of representative government, threatening the integrity of democratic institutions and processes, and further enriching the trust owners and their allies.”</font></p></blockquote></div></div><div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.09px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; line-height: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The consequences have been dramatic — majorities in both houses of Congress, weakened campaign finance laws in more than 20 states, restrictive voting laws under serious consideration or passed in 17 states, and mandatory restrictions on public employee collective bargaining passed in 14 states.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.09px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; line-height: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Over the past three election cycles, the trust has punished its Republican and Democratic adversaries and compromised the integrity of representative government. In the process, it is fracturing the Republican Party by disempowering and eliminating the party’s moderate and centrist voices. It is demanding right-wing ideological purity among its elected officials. It is politically marginalizing progressives. It is rendering Congress dysfunctional and destroying respect for it among the American public. And, it is producing economic benefits in the form of favorable state and federal government actions for those who finance the trust.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.09px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; line-height: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the founder of Democracy Alliance, a network of high net worth individuals and institutions who contribute to activist progressive organizations, I support the right of wealthy individuals to contribute to political activism of their choice. But the Koch trust is not simply a network of donors committed to promoting their political views by contributing to independent activist organizations.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.09px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; line-height: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rather, it is a new, unaccountable and dangerous innovation in American politics.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; line-height: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is an increasingly powerful party-like enterprise that is replacing the legitimate functions of the Republican state parties. It facilitates unknown levels of collaboration among Party, candidate, political action committees and non-profit activist entities. It does not disclose its organizational relationships, its operations or its donors. And because infinitely more is not known about what the Koch trust is actually doing than is attainable from public records, it is undermining the integrity of representative government.</font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; padding: 10px 20px; margin: 65px -95px; border: none; position: relative; text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: left; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; line-height: 40px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“As the founder of Democracy Alliance… I support the right of wealthy individuals to contribute to political activism of their choice. But the Koch Trust is a new, unaccountable and dangerous innovation in American politics.”</font></p></blockquote></div><div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.09px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; line-height: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Political trusts deny power to the many by concentrating power in the hands of the few. It is imperative that concerned Republicans, Independents and Democrats begin to demand more disclosure of the Koch trusts’ donors, more transparency about its operations, and greater clarity about the nature and scope of its involvement with both party committees and non-party activist organizations.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component mt-paragraph text" style="box-sizing: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.09px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; line-height: 30px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trusts have never been easy to bust. After the public outrage over the abuses of the Standard Oil Trust at the turn of the twentieth century, it took a bully pulpit-pounding president and a deeply concerned US Supreme Court nearly seven years to dismantle the industrial trusts. Dismantling the Koch brothers’ apparatus also will likely take years. In the meantime, we could jump-start the trust-busting process if this years’ presidential candidates would channel Teddy Roosevelt and demand accountability and actions to curb the unaccountable power of America’s first political trust.</font></p></div></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">https://www.alternet.org/story/21192/the_right-wing_express</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2005 AN</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">C<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">onsider that the conservative political movement, which now has a hammerlock on every aspect of federal government, has a media message machine fed by more than 80 large non-profit organizations – let's call them the Big 80 – funded by a gaggle of right-wing family foundations and wealthy individuals to the tune of $400 million a year.</span></font></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">And the Big 80 groups are just the "non-partisan" 501(c)(3) groups. These do not include groups like the NRA, the anti-gay and anti-abortion groups, nor do they include the political action committees (PACs) or the "527" groups (so named for the section of the tax code they fall under), like the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which so effectively slammed John Kerry's campaign in 2004.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">To get their message out, the conservatives have a powerful media empire, which churns out and amplifies the message of the day - or the week - through a wide network of outlets and individuals, including Fox News, talk radio, Rush Limbaugh, Oliver North, Ann Coulter, as well as religious broadcasters like Pat Robertson and his 700 Club. On the web, it starts with TownHall.com</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Fueling the conservative message machine with a steady flow of cash is a large group of wealthy individuals, including many who serve on the boards of the Big 80.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Rob Stein has brilliantly documented all of the above in "The Conservative Message Machine Money Matrix," a PowerPoint presentation</b> he has taken on the road across the country, preaching to progressives about the lessons that can be learned and the challenges that need to be overcome.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In the face of all the conservatives have assembled, Stein is nevertheless still optimistic, in part based on what he saw as promising, unprecedented levels of collaboration among progressives leading up to the 2004 election. But he emphasizes, there is much to do. "We, of course, continue to have far more challenges than answers or enduring capacities," Stein says. "Indeed, everything that happened in 2003-2004 can best be described as a 'stirring,' not a solution. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">We have miles to go before we have built a strategic, coordinated, disciplined and well-financed community of local, regional and national organizations, which collectively can mobilize a majority progressive constituency."</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>However, "progressives should not emulate what conservatives have done,</b>" says Stein, a former activist and chief of staff under Ron Brown at the Commerce Department in the Clinton administration. "Conservatives have built remarkably successful institutions and strategic alliances in the 20th century that presumably are consistent with their values and, we know, are effective in promoting their beliefs.<br style="" /><br style="" />"Progressives have different values, this is the 21st century, the conservative infrastructure is in place and will continue to grow, and so we have to do it all differently,"</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Stein adds. "</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">We must build from both the ground up and from the top down. We must be technologically sophisticated and new media, narrowcast-savvy. We must build institutions capable of great flexibility to deal with the rapid pace of change in the world. We need a new generation of leaders able to integrate the local/global complexity of the world to manage our institutions in 2010, 2020 and beyond."</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Since he left the Commerce Department, Stein worked at the Democratic National Committee, and has been a <b>venture capitalist, specializing in women-owned businesses.</b> His PowerPoint message is particularly aimed at educating people with power, influence and money - the high net worth individuals who can provide the backing to build a progressive infrastructure. After two stunning electoral defeats and the virtual Republican dominance in Washington these days, Stein's message has acquired a new urgency.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Stein says he woke up the day after Election Day in 2002 and realized "we have a one-party state in this country.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">" He decided to figure out how it all happened - how conservatives, despite a healthy majority of Americans opposed to their platform and positions, managed to build an infrastructure and a message machine that is so effective and pervasive.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It Didn't Happen Overnight</b><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The story of the conservative rise that Stein portrays begins back in the early 1970s, when there was panic among conservatives, especially in corporate boardrooms, that capitalism was under serious attack, and something drastic had to be done about it. The National Chamber of Commerce asked Lewis Powell, a former head of the American Bar Association and member of 11 corporate boards, to write a blueprint of what had to be done. The result, says Stein, is one the most prescient documents of our time. The memo lays out the framework, the goals and the ingredients for the conservative revolution that has gained momentum and power ever since. Two months after penning the memo, then-President Richard M. Nixon appointed Powell, a Democrat, to the U.S. Supreme Court.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Powell told the conservatives that they needed to confront liberalism everywhere and needed a "scale of financing only available through a joint effort" focused on an array of principles including less government, lower taxes, deregulation and challenging the left agenda everywhere. The conservative right, starting with seed money from the Coors Brewing family and Richard Mellon Scaife's publishing enterprise, moved forward to implement virtually every element of the Powell memo. It is a story of how the conservatives – in spite of political differences, ego, and competing priorities – were able to cooperate and develop a methodology that drives their issues and values relentlessly.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Starting with just a handful or groups, including the Heritage Foundation, in the early '70s, the conservatives built a new generation of organizations – think tanks, media monitors, legal groups, networking organizations, all driven by the same over-arching values of free enterprise, individual freedoms and limited government.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Stein describes how the message machine works. If Rush Limbaugh wants something on vouchers – it's immediately in his hands; if Fox News' Bill O'Reilly needs a guest to talk about the "death tax," he's got him from one of the think tanks.<b> Stein estimates that 36,000 conservatives have been trained </b>on values, issues, leadership, use of media and agenda development. These are not the elected officials, but rather the cadre of the conservative network. Stein figures that the <b>core leaders of the Big 80 groups he studied are about 2,000 people who make between $75,000 and $200,000 and have all been trained in the Leadership Institute.</b></span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The wealthy conservative families that have been the early bread and butter of the movement and continue their support are relatively well known at this point, including Scaife from Pittsburgh, Lynde and Harry Bradley from Milwaukee, Joseph Coors from Colorado; and Smith Richardson from North Carolina. Important networking goes on at the Philanthropy Roundtable, where groups are showcased.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But the key today to keeping the message machine fed is what Stein calls the </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"investment banking matrix," which includes key conservatives like Grover Norquist, Paul Weyerich, and Irving Kristol, who raise, direct, and motivate. Stein estimates there are about 200 key people who invest an average of $250,000 a year and about 135 of them also serve on the boards of the Big 80 groups</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"Each of these groups are 'mission critical,' and they are strategic, coordinated, motivated and disciplined," says Stein, adding that the investment bankers monitor them closely.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>And contrary to popular belief among progressives, the conservatives who are part of that machine are of various stripes – far right, neo-conservative, libertarian, evangelical, etc. – but what makes them so successful is they form strategic alliances around common issues they support.</b></span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Then there is the conservative media machine, which operated at full power to get George W. Bush re-elected in 2004. Conservatives and their allies were able to magnify their message through a network of right-leaning TV and radio channels, including Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel, which provided Bush and Co. with a 24/7 campaign infomercial - for free. Here was a news network with more viewers than CNN and MSNBC combined, constantly repeating, often verbatim, the messages out of the White house and the Bush campaign.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">More help for Bush came from the far-less known religious broadcasters. "Under the radar screen, the Christian Church community has created a formidable electronic media infrastructure and now plays a major role influencing public opinion," says Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. The religious media are producing and distributing "news," commentary and cultural guides, and their reach and influence are undeniable.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As veteran investigative reporter Robert Parry argues, <b>Bush's electoral victory proved that the conservatives have achieved dominance over the flow of information<i> </i></b>to the American people - so much so that even a well-run Democratic campaign stands virtually no chance for national success without major changes in the media system. "The outcome of Election 2004 highlights perhaps the greatest failure of the Democratic/liberal side in American politics: a refusal to invest in the development of a comparable system for distributing information that can counter the Right's potent media infrastructure," according to Parry. "Democrats and liberals have refused to learn from the lessons of the Republican/conservative success."</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Road Ahead</b><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Now, for the audience hearing Stein's presentation – in the face of such devastating information, and the power of the conservative juggernaut – one might expect that paralysis and depression would set in among the listeners. But in fact the opposite has been happening. The problem is being named. It is visible, concrete, it makes people angry and then determined to act.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">And, says Stein, there are "very important lessons" to be learned from the conservative experience over the past 40 years. For starters, progressives must learn to find common ground and set aside some differences they may have. "A movement is built upon 'marriages of convenience' among disparate, but inter-related, strains of a broad coalition which is able to agree upon some core values," Stein believes. "It is okay for there to be disagreement within the family; not everyone will be equally interested in the same set of issues."</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Citing the example of the<b> Apollo Alliance,</b> Stein says progressive groups "must develop well-managed, highly effective, issue-focused strategic alliances which transcend their institutional egos and their competitive instincts."</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Stein sees reason for hope, citing the progressive momentum and energy evident during the 2004 presidential campaign in groups like the Center for American Progress, AmericaVotes, America Coming Together (ACT) and the Campaign for America's Future.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"However one evaluates the actual performance of these initiatives – and obviously they all have strengths and weaknesses – they represent a new breed of collaborative enterprise," says Stein.<b> "AirAmerica, Democracy Radio, and Media Matters</b> are also important new beginnings. And this is all happening because a highly energized, more strategic community of high net worth individuals made significant new financial commitments to all of these enterprises. This is exceedingly hopeful."</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But Stein is a realist as well and believes change will not happen overnight.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"Our major obstacles are atomization, balkanization and minimalization of our grassroots and national groups, our donors and our political operations," Stein adds. "We have very few effective strategic alliances among existing organizations (more this time electorally than ever before); very few organizations with the scale necessary to make a major impact; too few passionately progressive, politically motivated individual donors who know one another and work together; lack of long-term strategic thinking; lack of appropriate and necessary coordination and discipline; to name a few."</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Nevertheless, the progressive community has a major asset base, in part developed during the 2004 election – with a good number of donors – at least 50 of whom have given in the $1-10 million level, and a small gaggle of billionaires. The devastating impact of Stein's PowerPoint, in an ironic way, is a good sign, because it gives people, especially donors, a handle on what is needed to move forward.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"A movement must have a diversified funding base of small, medium and large donors," Stein says. "The large donors must have the following attributes: be passionately progressive, intellectually curious, want to be operationally involved in the organizations they fund, willing to work and learn together as a community of donors, be willing to write very large checks every year to the groups they fund, and encourage their family and friends to also invest."</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">There are a lot of eyes on Stein as he moves forward to build a deeper, more dependable funding base for progressive infrastructure. Stein's effort is called the Democracy Alliance. He describes it as a network of high net worth individuals committed to promoting progressive ideals by investing in strategic, long-term local, regional and national capacity building.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">One donor who sits on the board of a progressive foundation and has heard the Stein rap is worried that the "top down" nature of things so painfully obvious in the 2004 election could be perpetuated by Stein and other funding efforts like those of <b>billionaires like George Soros and Peter Lewis.</b> "It is so important to get resources down to the grass roots," says the donor, who wished to remain anonymous. "One of the major failings of these big donors meeting with each other and deciding where all the money should go is they reinforce each other. Where is the fresh thinking? They think one big idea should get all the money or one or two leaders should be the gatekeepers. That is not going to work. Putting all that money in the ACT basket certainly didn't do the trick in the past election, nor will giving it all to Podesta and Center for American Progress help build progressive infrastructure at the local level where it is needed, particularly outside of the Democratic party."</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">To his credit, Stein says quite clearly that "top down" and "bottom up" together are essential for future progressive success. Only time will tell whether he and his donors are prepared to let go of some of the controls, really get the money out of Washington, and let some roots grow at the local level.</span><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This article is a version of material that will appear in the forthcoming book by AlterNet, "Start Making Sense: Turning the Lessons of Election 2004 into Winning Progressive Politics," edited by </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Don Hazen</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> and Lakshmi Chaudhry. It will be available in April, published by </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.chelseagreen.com/2005/items/startmakingsense" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Chelsea Green Publishing</a>.</span></font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">LI scrape 4/19</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">viewed</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>John Koza</div><div>John Koza</div><div>Chris Beckler</div><div>Chris Beckler</div><div>VP of Operations</div><div>Julie Kohler</div><div>Julie Kohler</div><div>Senior Vice President, Strategy & Planning, Democracy Alliance</div><div>Jillian Murphy</div><div>Jillian Murphy</div><div>Strategy and Planning Manager at The Democracy Alliance</div><div><b>Annie Leonard</b></div><div>Annie Leonard</div><div>Executive Director at Greenpeace USA</div><div>Caroline Soberanis</div><div>Caroline Soberanis</div><div>Program Manager at Impactual LLC</div><div>barry fadem</div><div>barry fadem</div><div>Owner, Fadem & Associates</div><div>Kim Anderson</div><div>Kim Anderson</div><div>Executive Vice President of the Democracy Alliance</div><div>Kelly Craighead</div><div>Kelly Craighead</div><div>Manging Director at The Democracy Alliance</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">disc the net bs</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><section class="jsx-2660288888 jsx-2789811960 profile-body--key-points" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 2rem; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; padding-left: 24px; margin-bottom: 16px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Served as a senior strategic advisor to then-Democratic National Committee chairman Ron Brown from 1989-92</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; padding-left: 24px; margin-bottom: 16px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Was chief of staff at the U.S. Commerce Department during the first term of the Bill Clinton administration</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; padding-left: 24px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Founded Democracy Alliance</font></li></ul></div><hr class="jsx-2660288888 jsx-2789811960" style="box-sizing: content-box; height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-top: none; border-right: none; border-left: none; border-image: initial; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--off-white); margin: 2.25rem 0px;" /></section><section class="jsx-2660288888 jsx-2789811960 profile-body--section" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 class="jsx-2660288888 jsx-2789811960 sr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: -1px; line-height: 1.25; position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; width: 1px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;" /><div class="jsx-2660288888 jsx-2789811960 section-body f-6 lh-200" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 2;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Born in <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=iGLOWjRBLJAC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">1944</a>, Rob Stein was a practicing attorney from 1968 until 1978, at which time he left the legal profession to spend the <a href="http://www.democracyalliance.org/leadership" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">ensuing</a> decade <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=iGLOWjRBLJAC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">working</a> for an array of nonprofit <a href="http://keywiki.org/Robert_Stein" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">organizations</a>, including the group Clergy and Laity Concerned. Thereafter, Stein <a href="http://www.democracyalliance.org/leadership" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">served</a> as a senior strategic advisor to <a href="https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6214" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Democratic</a> National Committee chairman Ron Brown from 1989-92; chief of staff at the <a href="https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=644" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Clinton</a>–<a href="https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2140" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Gore</a> Transition Team’s Washington office in 1992-93; and chief of staff at the U.S. Commerce Department from 1993-95. Next came a six-year stint (1996-2002) as a private equity investor.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At that point, Stein’s political passions took him in a wholly different direction. One morning shortly after the <b>2002 mid-term elections, </b>Stein recalls, he awakened to the <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=iGLOWjRBLJAC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">realization</a> that he was now “living in a one-party country”—a reference to the fact that Republicans were in control of the White House and both Houses of Congress. Deeply frustrated by that state of affairs, he resolved to<b> study the history and tactics of the conservative movement in order to determine why it was winning the political battle.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After a year of analysis, Stein laid out his findings in a comprehensive PowerPoint <a href="http://agendaproject.org/History_of_the_Conservative_Movement.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">presentation</a> titled “The Conservative Message Machine Money Matrix.” <a href="http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=29545" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Using</a> graphs, charts, diagrams, and bullet points, he <a href="http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?print=yes&id=8738" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">mapped out</a>, in painstaking <a href="http://sweetness-light.com/archive/foundation-watch-soros%E2%80%99s-democracy-alliance-1" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">detail</a>, how conservatives had pieced together a well-organized infrastructure of legal, political, and scholarly <a href="http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/08/22/alliance/print.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">organizations</a> dedicated to shaping public opinion on a variety of important social and political issues. Moreover, Stein claimed that a few well-connected, wealthy clans—including the Scaife, Bradley, Olin, and Coors families—had provided funding for those groups on a scale that had no equal on the political Left.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stein’s objective was to lay out a roadmap by which the progressive movement could duplicate the conservatives’ path to success—i.e., <a href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/225060/big-labor-taking-over-soros-piggybank-matthew-vadum" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">create</a> a permanent political infrastructure of nonprofits, think tanks, media outlets, leadership schools, and activist groups dedicated to battling conservatives. The key to this plan, as Stein envisioned it, would be the formation of a coalition of wealthy leftists and liberals willing to invest their money in such a cause.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Thus, over the next few months Stein showed his PowerPoint presentation to hundreds of potential financiers in one-to-one and small-group settings, hoping that some of them might recognize the potential of the plan and agree to open their wallets. <a href="http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=29545" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Among</a> those who by January 2005 had pledged to <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=iGLOWjRBLJAC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">support</a> Stein’s venture were<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> <a href="https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=954" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Sidney Blumenthal</a>, </span><a href="https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2039" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;"><b>David Brock</b></a>, <a href="https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2083" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Jon Corzine</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gail_Furman" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Gail Furman</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Holbrooke" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Richard Holbrooke</a>, <a href="https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2003" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Peter Lewis</a>, <a href="http://jonathanclewis.me/biography/" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Jonathan Lewis</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_McCurry_(press_secretary" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Mike McCurry</a>), <a href="http://greycroft.com/people/alan-patricof/" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Alan Patricoff</a>, <a href="http://agendaproject.org/about.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Erica Payne</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, <a href="https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1626" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">John Podesta</a>, <a href="https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1615" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Rob Reiner</a>, <a href="https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2389" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Simon Rosenberg</a>, <a href="https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">George Soros</a>, and <a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/people/jonathan-soros" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Jonathan Soros</a>.</span> The new coalition formally took shape that same month, under the name <a href="https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7151" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Democracy Alliance</a> (DA), when Stein <a href="http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=29545" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">filed</a> the corporate registration in Washington, DC. He subsequently continued to show his PowerPoint to additional potential donors, and by August 2005 more than 700 key people had seen it.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stein served as DA’s first managing director until <a href="http://sweetness-light.com/archive/foundation-watch-soros%E2%80%99s-democracy-alliance-1" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">early in 2006</a>, when the Alliance’s board offered that position to Robert Dunn, a former president of <a href="http://www.bsr.org/about/index.cfm" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Business for Social Responsibility</a>. When Dunn declined, the board appointed Judy Wade, a management consultant at <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">McKinsey & Company</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2006 Stein <a href="http://www.democracyalliance.org/leadership" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">co-founded</a> the Committee on States, a <a href="http://www.democracyalliance.org/leadership" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">collection</a> of wealthy donors, political operatives, labor unions, and progressive organizations that have spent scores of millions of dollars promoting the election of Democratic politicians and the passage of progressive policies at the state level.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2008 Stein donated <a href="http://keywiki.org/Robert_Stein" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">$1,000</a> to the <a href="https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7487" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Secretary of State Project</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2010 Stein <a href="http://keywiki.org/Robert_Stein" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">sat</a> on the national advisory board of the <b>Roosevelt Institute,</b> a think tank that <a href="http://www.rooseveltinstitute.org/about" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">aims</a> to “carr[y] forward the legacy and values of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt” by “developing progressive ideas” such as a “more equitable distribution of wealth.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stein was a strong <a href="http://freebeacon.com/democracy-alliance/rob-stein-the-brain/" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">supporter</a> of <a href="https://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1511" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">Barack <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Obama</span></a>‘s presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012. During Obama’s first term in office, Stein visited the White House on three separate occasions.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stein views projects like the Democracy Alliance and the Committee on States, first and foremost, as vehicles for the accretion of political power, as he candidly <a href="http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/10/a-lefty-explains-what-the-election-is-all-about.php" style="box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;">explained</a> on one occasion: “The reason it is so important to control government is because government is the source of enormous power. One president in this country, when he or she takes office, appoints … 5,000 people to run a bureaucracy, nonmilitary nonpostal service of 2 million people, who hire 10 million outside outsource contractors—a workforce of 12 million people—that spends $3 trillion a year. That number is larger than the gross domestic product of all but four countries on the face of the earth…. So the reason we’re doing what we’re doing … and the way we get progressive change, is to control government. That’s what this is about"</font></p></div></section></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div>