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</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://capitalresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/FW1211.pdf">http://capitalresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/FW1211.pdf</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stopping Juvenile Detention:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CONTENTS</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">December 2011</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Netroots Nation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Page 1</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Philanthropy Notes Page 8</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Kevin Mooney</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Internet entrepreneur Andrew</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Breitbart crashed this year’s Netroots</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nation conference in Minneapolis,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the sixth annual gathering of hard-core</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">leftists and progressives who blog, twitter and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">operate websites across America. Although</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">he was denied press credentials, Breitbart,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">a pugnacious conservative blogger, made a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">splash as he walked through the Hilton Hotel</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">with his camera crew in tow. Left-wing</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Netroots activists were not pleased to see the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">national news media turning its attention to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Breitbart instead of focusing on their own</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">panel discussions on “community organizing,”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">get-out-the-vote drives, anti-corporate</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">campaigns, “environmental justice,” and the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">demands of organized labor.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reporters who surrounded Breitbart asked</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">him to comment on Democratic Rep. Anthony</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Weiner, the New York exhibitionist</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">who was forced from offi ce thanks in no</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">small part to Breitbart’s websites, which</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">drew the media’s attention to lewd photos</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">that Weiner had posted of himself online.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Weiner falsely claimed Breitbart had set</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">him up. “Shouting could be heard from the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Summary: Netroots Nation is the annual</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">labor-backed gathering of left-wing bloggers,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and it has come a long way since its</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">fi rst confab in 2006 to protest the policies of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">George W. Bush. The group still operates</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">on a shoestring budget, and an observer</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">might conclude that it speaks only for radical</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">fringe elements in left-wing politics.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But its organizational skill, passion and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mastery of online strategy has made Netroots</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nation a key force in liberal Democratic</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">politics. The big nonprofi t Washington,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">D.C. special interest groups and labor</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">unions still dictate the Democrats’ policy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ideas and political strategies. But they pay</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">close attention to the left-wing blogosphere</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">which each year makes its physical presence</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">felt at Netroots Nation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Netroots Nation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Left Organizes the Blogosphere</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Radical left-wing blogger Markos Moulitsas is a driving force behind Netroots Nation,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an infl uential annual gathering of bloggers and activists.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2 December 2011</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FoundationWatch</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Editor: Matthew Vadum</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Publisher: Terrence Scanlon</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Foundation Watch</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">is published by Capital Research</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Center, a non-partisan education and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">research organization, classifi ed by</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Address:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1513 16th Street, N.W.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Washington, DC 20036-1480</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Phone: (202) 483-6900</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Long-Distance: (800) 459-3950</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">E-mail Address:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mvadum@capitalresearch.org</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Web Site:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.capitalresearch.org</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Organization Trends welcomes letters</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to the editor.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reprints are available for $2.50 prepaid</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to Capital Research Center.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">meeting rooms, with attendees rolling their</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">eyes over the fact that Breitbart was taking</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">attention away from progressive issues,” the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Huffi ngton Post reported.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Unidentifi ed leftists accosted Breitbart and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">screamed accusatory questions aimed at him.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Did an employee of yours get arrested last</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">night for harassing young Muslim women</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in the streets of Minneapolis?” one man</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">shrieked. Breitbart’s accuser demanded to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">know if he had ever used cocaine or slept</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">with a prostitute of either sex.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Breitbart was in Minneapolis to attend</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RightOnline, a competing event organized</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by web-savvy conservative activists. Since</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2008 it has shadowed the Netroots Nation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">conference around the country. Breitbart is a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">key player in the RightOnline conference. He</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">runs the very popular conservative news and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">commentary website BigGovernment.com</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and several affi liated sites (Big Hollywood.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">com, Big Journalism.com, Big Peace.com)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">that seek out and expose leftist activism and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">hypocrisy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Netroots organizers are focused on this</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">goal. And they are determined to freeze out</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">any RightOnline interlopers like Breitbart.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Netroots has signed “non-compete” clauses</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">with the two hotels it will use, the Westin</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Providence and the Providence Biltmore, in</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an attempt to keep RightOnline as far away</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">as possible.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nolan Treadway, the Netroots logistics director,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">told the Talking Points Memo (TPM)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">website that the Minneapolis convention</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“was more tense than it had to be”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“People were on edge and there was a lot of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mistrust among the sides. It wasn’t the way</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">we like to do things going forward.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RightOnline founder Erik Telford has not</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ruled out meeting in Providence but says</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the conservative bloggers conference has</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">grown big and successful enough so that</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">it’s not necessary to compete with Netroots</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in the same venue.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Early on the Left versus Right dichotomy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">played a key factor in helping us get started,”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Telford explained. “I don’t think RightOnline</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ever would have come about without</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">that mission of taking on the Left. It would</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">not have grown without this opportunity.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But now it’s not as much of a rallying point</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">because there is more energy on our side and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">more enthusiasm, and it’s not as necessary</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to squash the other side.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Telford suggested two possibilities for Right</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Online in 2012: Meet in nearby Boston, to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">draw media attention away from the Netroots</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">conference in Providence, or Charlotte, N.C.,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">where the Democratic National Committee</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">holds its convention to re-nominate Barack</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Obama as its presidential candidate.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Shortly after his altercation with the Netroots</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">crowd Breitbart appeared on Fox News with</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sean Hannity to deny the allegations hurled</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">at him by angry bloggers.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The incident of alleged anti-Muslim racism</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“was a mythological event that happened, or</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an event that occurred that had nothing to do</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">with me, that followed me for two days as</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I had a New York Times reporter who’s doing</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">a profi le on me,” said Breitbart. Times</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">reporter Jeremy Peters confi rmed Breitbart’s</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">account, yet online media outlets like Salon.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">com, Daily Kos, and the Huffi ngton Post</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">continued to publicize the “story” in the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">absence of any evidence whatsoever.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I know how the hard Left works,” Breitbart</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">explained. “It’s Saul Alinsky, it’s the politics</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of personal destruction. And if I’m going to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">make myself a public fi gure, one that aggressively</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">exposes the hard Left, I know that I’m</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">going to be the object of their tactics.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Election Year Battlelines</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Next year the Netroots Nation Conference</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">is scheduled to meet in Providence, R.I. in</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">June. There is no question that the conference</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">intends to exercise an infl uence over</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">how the Democratic Party presents itself to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">voters in the 2012 elections.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">December 2011 3</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FoundationWatch</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“RightOnline has achieved parity with the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Netroots,” Telford said. “We don’t need to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">take them on directly.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Netroots’ Humble Origins, Modest</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Finances, Power Players</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Netroots Nation was formerly known as</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">YearlyKos, a name that pays homage to the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">liberal bloggers of Daily Kos who founded</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">it. The readers and writers connected with</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Daily Kos were largely responsible for organizing</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the fi rst conference in 2006. At that</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">time, Daily Kos was the principal place for</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">left-wing activists to express their thoughts</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">on the Internet. Today it is but one among</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">thousands of blogs in the left-o-sphere. The</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">founder of Daily Kos is Markos Moulitsas</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Zuniga, who subsequently attracted notice</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">for blaming Sarah Palin because a mentally</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">unstable man shot Congresswoman Gabrielle</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Giffords (D-Ariz.).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Today Netroots Nation is a project of San</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Francisco-based Bloggerpower.org, a group</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">whose trustees include Markos Moulitsas</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Zuniga. Bloggerpower.org operates on a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">very modest budget. In the tax year ending</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sept. 30, 2009, it ran a small defi cit, reporting</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">revenues of $834,532 and expenses of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$877,858. Because it is a 501c4 advocacy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and social action group, donations to Bloggerpower.org</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">are diffi cult to track. However,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">it is known that Netroots Arts and Education</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Initiative (NAEI), a California 501c3, is a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">major funder of Bloggerpower.org. NAEI is</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">also known as the Netroots Foundation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Netroots Nation/ Bloggerpower.org executive</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">director Raven Brooks was inspired to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">enter politics by Howard Dean’s 2004</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">presidential campaign. He played a major</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">role in organizing the initial Yearly Kos</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">conference in Las Vegas in 2006 and was a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">co-founder of BuyBlue.org, a now apparently</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">defunct website that encourages liberals</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">not to purchase products from companies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">that donate to conservative political causes.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brooks is a member of the advisory board</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of the San Francisco chapter of the New</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Leaders Council which trains aspiring leftwing</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">activists.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A look at the staff and board of Netroots</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nation/Bloggerpower.org and its funder, the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Netroots Foundation, confi rms its far left</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">reputation. For instance, Melissa Foley is the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">new media program director for the Netroots</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Foundation. She was previously on the communications</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">team handling public relations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">for Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karen Thomas Kolher is the Netroots Nation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">director of development. She used to work</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">with Planned Parenthood, EMILY’s List, the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">National Women’s Political Caucus, and the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sorenson Institute for Political Leadership</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">at the University of Virginia.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Netroots board of directors is replete</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">with political strategists for the Left.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">* John Aravosis is the editor of AMERICAblog.com.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He has worked in the U.S. Senate,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the World Bank and the Children’s Defense</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fund. Aravosis takes credit for publicly outing</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mary Cheney, daughter of former Vice</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Dick Cheney, as a lesbian.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">* Attorney Adam Bonin, of the fi rm Cozen</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">O’Connor in Philadelphia, is an expert in</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">election law and campaign fi nance and represents</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">leftwing bloggers.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">* Blogger Cheryl Contee advises Fortune</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">500 companies, trade associations and big</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">nonprofi ts on “blogger relations.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Netroots Foundation/NAEI reports</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">receiving a meager $197,945 in grants from</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2006 through 2009. However, it may be a sign</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of things to come that the PepsiCo Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">awarded it a $50,000 grant in 2011 “to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">teach under-represented communities to use</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">new media effectively.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Based in San Francisco, the Netroots Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">board of trustees is similarly loaded</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">with well-connected left-wing talent.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Netroots Foundation board member Mike Lux</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4 December 2011</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FoundationWatch</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For instance, board member Mike Lux is cofounder</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and CEO of Progressive Strategies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">LLC, a fi rm that conducts strategic political</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">consulting for non-profi ts, labor unions, political</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">action committees, and left-of-center</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">donors. Previously, Lux was a senior vice</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">president at People For the American Way</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(PFAW), and the PFAW Foundation, and he</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">handled “public liaison” (i.e. networking and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">hand-holding for special interests) during</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Clinton’s fi rst term.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lux is also a board member of the far-left</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Arca Foundation, a pro-Fidel Castro grant</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">maker that used to be run by Congresswoman</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donna Edwards (D-Md.). (Arca Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">was profi led by Matthew Vadum in the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">October issue of Foundation Watch.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Personal Is Political</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What’s the point of political blogging? With</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Netroots, which conservative bloggers often</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">call the “nutroots,” it’s always personal.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Netroots Nation uses highly aggressive,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">incendiary street tactics against its political</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">opponents. These blend in perfectly with the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">political practices of organized labor, which</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">maintains a strong presence at each Netroots</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">conference.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The AFL-CIO, AFSCME, the American</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Federation of Teachers (AFT), Communication</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Workers of America, Change to Win,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the National Education Association (NEA),</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the Service Employees International Union</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(SEIU) and the United Food and Commercial</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Workers (UFCW) were among the 2011</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">sponsors of Netroots Nation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Netroots has brought the New Left full</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">circle – it took over the labor movement and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">now uses union coffers to fund an increasingly</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">out-of-touch agenda,” observes Bret</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jacobson, a partner with Maverick Strategies,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">a business-oriented communications fi rm</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">based in Washington, D.C.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The Netroots tactics and tone refl ect the labor</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">movement’s focus on making campaigns</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">personal – it’s a central theme of the modern</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Left’s full investment in the organizing model</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of Saul Alinsky,” he continued.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Netroots and the labor movement know</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">that by creating shrill, personal attacks they</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">create an opportunity to avoid conversations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">involving basic economic facts. And when</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">you’re that far away from the mainstream and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">removed from reality, that’s important.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even as they remain fi ercely attached to a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wide range of progressive causes, the subject</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">areas that stir emotions and incite applause</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">above all others typically intersect with the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">demands of union bosses. During his appearance</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">at the 2011 Netroots convention</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in Minneapolis, admitted “communist” Van</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jones, the Obama administration’s former</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“green czar,” called on activists to stand by</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">their union brethren in Madison, Wisc., and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">other parts of the country, as elected offi cials</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">try to get a fi scal handle on out-of-control</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">government employee benefi ts.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The fi ght has begun,” Jones said. “The</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[traditional] media wants to ignore it; we</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">expect that. But the fi ght has already begun.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s not just Madison, as extraordinary as that</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">was, that’s not the great exception: That’s</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the great example. I guarantee you, people</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">across the country feel that the same way</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">that you do, in the tens of millions. We’re</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">not alone, we’re not the little marginal voices</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">that they want to pretend that we are.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jones was forced out of the Obama administration</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">after his extremist views were exposed</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in the media. When he was a Fox News talk</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">show host, Glenn Beck led the charge by</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">calling attention to Jones’s affi liation with</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marxist-Leninist causes in the recent past.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jones’s name also showed up on the 9/11</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Truth.org petition that blamed President</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bush for the terrorist attacks.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Jones has resurfaced as a senior fellow</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">with the Center for American Progress</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(CAP) and is the co-founder of new left-wing</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">groups including Color of Change, which</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">takes partial credit for forcing Beck off Fox</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">News. (Color of Change was profi led by</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kevin Mooney in the August 2011 issue of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Organization Trends. - Editor)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">December 2011 5</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FoundationWatch</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Tea Party: No Headquarters, No</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lobby, No Receptionist</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The conservative counterbalance emerging</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">within the news media—thanks to Fox News,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">talk radio and right-leaning blogs—has</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">panicked the Left. Conservative grassroots</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">activism has also fl ummoxed leftwing activists,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">which is why Van Jones attacked the Tea</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Party during his Netroots speech.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“They talk rugged individualism, that’s their</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">whole schtick, right?” he said. “This is the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tea Party. If you had a problem, don’t look</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to the government. Just be more rugged, and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">more individual and your problem will be</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">solved. But they have the most collectivist</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">strategy for taking power in the history of the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republic. Because they use an open-source</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">meta brand that they all share, they wrote</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">their document as a wiki, and they’re based</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">on a principle and a value. And as a result,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">you now live in a world, 24 months after you</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">thought we had changed everything.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contrary to Jones, the Tea Party strategy is</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">not collectivism, but federalism, a concept</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">that conservatives naturally understand and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">appreciate. Instead of focusing unduly on</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Washington, D.C., Tea Party activists concentrate</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">on school boards, town council, and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">country boards of supervisors. They take on</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">green pressure groups, union bosses, race</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">hustlers, and their allies in government.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And, just like Netroots Nation, the Tea Party</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">believes in the importance of online communication</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and social media to convey its</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">message and mobilize its followers.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This approach is very much in keeping with</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the advice of Ned Ryun, executive director of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American Majority, a grassroots organization</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">headquartered in Virginia. He is encouraged</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to see Tea Party networks emerge that are</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">nimble, fl exible and divorced from Washington</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">politics.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A key battleground area is the state of Maine</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">where Paul R. LePage, the new Tea Partybacked</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republican governor, campaigned</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">aggressively against environmental regulations.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">LePage benefi ts from new Republican</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">majorities in both houses of the state</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">legislature. But as Ron Arnold, executive</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">director of the Center for the Defense of Free</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Enterprise, observes, he is up against a “green</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">iron triangle” that is deeply entrenched.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The Big Green disaster that’s destroying</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Maine has been gnawing away at every state</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">for years,” Arnold said. “The infl uence and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">reach of green pressure groups has gone</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">unchecked and unchallenged far too long,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">crushing private citizens and business owners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">nationwide. The Iron Triangle, as I describe</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">it in Maine, shows rank collusion between</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the Maine Audubon Society and the DEP</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[i.e. Dept. of Environmental Protection],</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">jointly concocting false ‘science’ to justify</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">catastrophic regulations. Gov.-elect LePage</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and incoming lawmakers need to show some</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">guts and throttle these cabals so they can</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">never hurt anyone again.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The collusion between green activists and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">government agents is not lost on local residents</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">like Eric Veyhl, a Maine landowner</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">who has found common cause with the Tea</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Party.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Maine is best described as an environmental</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">dictatorship,” Veyhl said. “It is diffi cult to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">overstate how intertwined the local level</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">green groups are with state and federal government</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">agencies.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Engaged and informed citizens like Veyhl</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">who infuse Tea Party activism at the local</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">level have unsettled Van Jones and the Netroots</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">faithful.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“There is no headquarters, there is no</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">lobby, there is no receptionist, and there</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">is no president of the Tea Party,” Jones</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">observed his speech. “There is an open</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">source brand…”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Blogging Battles: Left versus Right</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Tea Party also benefi ts from the right</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mix of alliances.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Americans for Prosperity (AFP) vice president</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Phil Kerpen sees to it that free market</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">activists orient themselves with an eye toward</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">history. He draws a comparison between</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jones’s communist past, his current pursuit</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">for green jobs, and other big government</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">initiatives shrouded in environmentalism.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I think it’s pretty instructive what his past</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">is,” Kerpen said. “It’s the same sort of philosophy,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the idea that government ought to be</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">reordering society in accordance with some</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">utopian vision that failed with communism</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and socialism, and will fail with this green</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">jobs idea.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kerpen is certainly not alone in making this</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">comparison.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Self-described “communist” Van Jones</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">at Netroots Nation 2011</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6 December 2011</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FoundationWatch</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus in a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">letter to members of the House Energy and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Commerce Committee warned, “climate</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">change and especially man-made climate</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">change has become one of the most dangerous</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">arguments aimed at distorting human efforts</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and public policies in the whole world.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He continued: “…we are not witnessing a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">clash of views about the environment but a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">clash of views about human freedom,” and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">that communism has been “replaced by the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">threat of ambitious environmentalism.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">History has placed the Netroots in an awkward</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">spot.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Going back to the 2009 convention, a panel</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">discussion entitled: “A Warming Web: The</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Blogosphere and Climate Change” has been</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">overtaken by recent events.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Global Warming blogging is red hot: The</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senate is debating climate change legislation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Obama Administration is pouring</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">billions of dollars into clean energy and green</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">jobs. Countries are maneuvering for position</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in this December’s crucial international</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">climate treaty conference. And nearly every</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">week scientists are revealing how global</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">warming is changing the conditions of life</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">on Earth – and how much worse conditions</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">may become if we don’t slash our greenhouse</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">gas pollution. At this panel, some of the top</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bloggers covering environmental politics and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">climate science will talk about what they do,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">how they do it, and why it’s more important</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">now than ever before.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Just a few weeks later, the “Climategate”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">scandal erupted in November 2009 when</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">emails originating in the Climate Research</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in Great Britain showed that politically motivated</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">researchers were doctoring and distorting</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">scientifi c data in an effort to exaggerate</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">warming trends. “The top bloggers covering</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">environmental politics and climate science”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">are now on the Right, not the Left, said Marc</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Morano, the editor of ClimateDepot.com. He</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">reports that over 1,000 scientists worldwide</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">now question the premise of anthropogenic</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(man-made) global warming.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reporters may also want to inquire about</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Solyndra, the California-based manufacturer</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of solar power rooftop components, which</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">received a $535 million loan guarantee from</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the Department of Energy in 2009. It has</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">now initiated Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How does its failure square with</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the Netroots enthusiasm for green jobs and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">green technology?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bloggers Yoked to Organized Labor</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2009 the Netroots convention featured</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Jersey Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Anna Burger, chairman of the SEIU-founded</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Change to Win labor federation. Their topic</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">was the nation’s economic climate and “how</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">it affects working Americans.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Later that year “working Americans” turned</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">on Corzine and booted him from offi ce. He</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">is not likely to be on invited back in 2012.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Once politically invincible in Democratic</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Jersey, Corzine is now the target of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">angry investors who have lost over $600</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">million with the collapse of MF Global, the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">brokerage company he subsequently headed</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(and from which he has now resigned).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But here is how the Netroots set the table</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">for Corzine’s 2009 talk.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“As our leaders push to solve our country’s</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">fi nancial crisis, how can we maintain confi -</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">dence in the economy while protecting the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">interests of the middle class? What are some</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of the pivotal policy decisions that are being</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">made now, and what will a “21st century</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">economy” look like? And how can we as</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">progressives help for progressive change</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in areas such as health care and workers’</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rights?”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As they head into the 2012 elections, online</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">progressive activists face a paradox of their</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">own making. They claim to be forwardlooking</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and on the cutting edge. They</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">champion Internet technology applied to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">election campaigns. Yet their policies are</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">remarkably retrograde.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When well-funded New Jersey public employee</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">unions are bested by a blunt-talking,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">unpolished anti-elitist like Republican governor</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chris Christie, it’s a sure sign that the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">political winds have shifted—not only in</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Jersey but in other so-called blue states</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">under severe fi nancial pressure.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Beginning in 2009, more union members</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">are working for government than for the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">private sector; a fi rst in American history.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This shift has occurred even as overall union</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">membership is falling. Unions lost over</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">612,000 members in 2010, most of them in</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">private sector unions. In 2010, 7.6 million</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">government workers belonged to a union,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">while only 7.1 million private sector workers</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">belonged to a union. Only 11.9 percent</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of all wage and salary workers, public and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">private, are union members, and the percentage</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of union members in the private sector</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">is a mere 6.9 percent.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Christie, the former federal prosecutor who</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">unseated Corzine, is not alone in recognizing</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">that working Americans are not synonymous</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">with unionized employees. For the fi rst time</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">since President Ronald Reagan fi red the air</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">traffi c controllers in 1981, GOP chief executives</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">across the county are fi nding their spine</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in their battle against union bosses.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That’s a big problem for the online activists&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">December 2011 7</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FoundationWatch</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">going to next year’s Netroots Nation conference.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2012, increasing numbers of independents</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and Democrats, even in so-called</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">blue states, understand that that there are now</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">two classes of workers. One faces the full</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">brunt of the recession’s impact on business</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">enterprise, while the other is immunized</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">from economic downturns and insists that</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">taxpayers fund its perks and benefi ts.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When Republican governors prevail over</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">union bosses in Madison, Wisc., and Trenton,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">N.J., it is fair to say something important is</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">happening. But the news hasn’t reached Netroots</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nation. The early word on the planning</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">process for the 2012 Netroots convention in</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Providence, R.I., is that the annual progressive</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bloggers convention remains wedded</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to Big Labor’s agenda.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Indeed, Netroots threatened to pull out of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the Westin Providence Convention Center</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">because of a labor dispute between UNITE</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">HERE Local 217 and hotel management.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Local 217 claimed management imposed a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">20 percent wage cut and “unilaterally quadrupled”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">employee health insurance costs.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We won’t book a hotel in the midst of a labor</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">dispute,” the Netroots logistics director said</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in press interviews. “We really need to have</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">a labor agreement between the hotel and its</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">workers in place through summer 2011 in</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">order to book.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The dispute has since between resolved and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the Providence convention is back on.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Competition from the Online Right</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Netroots activists are feeling the thunder</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">from the Right, RightOnline founder Erik</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Telford observes.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Back in 2008, the talk was about how far</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ahead the Left was with online technology,”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">he noted. “But beginning in 2010 with the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tea Party this swung in the opposite direction</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and has continued. I think conservatives</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">especially have an edge with social</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">media tools like Twitter. But the Netroots</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">are still very tech savvy and willing to make</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">investments.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Online conservatives have traveled a long</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">way since 2008. At fi rst, there was only</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Andrew Breitbart. But now there are thousands</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of conservatives online, designing</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">websites and blogging and tweeting. They</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">are eager to engage the online Left. They</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">are willing to fi ght.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kevin Mooney is an investigative reporter</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">working for the Pelican Institute in New</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Orleans, La. Mooney also writes for Big</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Government, the Daily Caller and the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American Spectator.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Please consider contributing early in this calendar</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">year to the Capital Research Center.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We need your help in the current diffi cult</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">economic climate to continue our important</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">research.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Your contribution to advance our watchdog</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">work is deeply appreciated.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Many thanks.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Terrence Scanlon</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8 December 2011</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FoundationWatch</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PhilanthropyNotes</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although giving increased slightly in 2010, donations to social services dropped by 6.6 percent, the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New York Times reports. Many high-dollar donors are focusing their giving on public policy, political</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">campaigns, museums, and hospitals. Philanthropy has been “silent about the depths of the problems</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of homelessness, joblessness, foreclosure, hunger,” said Emmett D. Carson, CEO of the Silicon</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Valley Community Foundation. “People are starting to believe that philanthropy is irrelevant to the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">core needs of their communities.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">D.C. Central Kitchen president Robert Egger started a new 501c4 group that endorses political candidates</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">seeking to strengthen nonprofi ts in their communities. The group, called CForward, wants</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to turn people who volunteer or work at nonprofi ts into a “powerful political force.” “It will allow candidates</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to see there’s an army being activated,” Egger said. CForward plans to launch a political action</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">committee early in the new year.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) has sponsored legislation that</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">would keep postage rates low for charities. Charities currently pay 26 percent less than businesses</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">when they mail fund-raising letters and other documents en masse to their donors. Anthony Conway</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of the Alliance of Nonprofi t Mailers said the bill’s chances in an election year “are not great.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Endowments at colleges and universities gained 19.8 percent on average in 2011 but it will still take</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">them years to make up for the credit crisis of 2008, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. The fi gures</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">were in a report by the National Association of College and University Business Offi cers and the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Commonfund Institute. Endowments have been growing since 2009 when the average endowment</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">lost 18.7 percent. “We’re still nowhere near where we need to be to recoup the losses from the downturn,”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Commonfund Institute managing director William F. Jarvis said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Celebrities such as rap artist Kanye West and actor Ashton Kutcher aren’t much of a plus when it</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">comes to charitable fundraising, according to a new report released by PayPal and the consulting</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">fi rm Zoetica Media. But a celebrity willing to spend time interacting online with potential donors can</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">be effective in raising money, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. “Unlike a personal appearance,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">photo op, or scripted [public-service announcement], where just showing up will get it done, social</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">fund raising requires an active, authentic, and continued involvement [from the fund raiser] … even if</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">only for a short time,” the report said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Goldman Sachs disclosed in a regulatory fi ling that it may now be facing close to $16 billion in lawsuits</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">related to its handling of mortgage securities transactions, according to reports. Observers criticized</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Goldman for pushing the mortgage investments while at the same time promoting short-selling</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of mortgage securities. Just three months ago Goldman said it expected to be sued for just $485</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">million. Goldman expects to be ordered to pay plaintiffs in the lawsuit as much as $2.6 billion. The</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">total liability has risen because those investors who purchased mortgage-backed securities are now</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bumping up against statutes of limitations that are expiring. Plaintiff institutions that may sue include</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American International Group Inc. (AIG), Manulife Financial Corp’s John Hancock unit, HSH Nordbank,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Norges Bank Investment Management and IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG..</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></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"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stopping Juvenile Detention:

CONTENTS

December 2011

Netroots Nation

Page 1

Philanthropy Notes Page 8

By Kevin Mooney

The Internet entrepreneur Andrew

Breitbart crashed this year’s Netroots

Nation conference in Minneapolis,

the sixth annual gathering of hard-core

leftists and progressives who blog, twitter and

operate websites across America. Although

he was denied press credentials, Breitbart,

a pugnacious conservative blogger, made a

splash as he walked through the Hilton Hotel

with his camera crew in tow. Left-wing

Netroots activists were not pleased to see the

national news media turning its attention to

Breitbart instead of focusing on their own

panel discussions on “community organizing,”

get-out-the-vote drives, anti-corporate

campaigns, “environmental justice,” and the

demands of organized labor.

Reporters who surrounded Breitbart asked

him to comment on Democratic Rep. Anthony

Weiner, the New York exhibitionist

who was forced from offi ce thanks in no

small part to Breitbart’s websites, which

drew the media’s attention to lewd photos

that Weiner had posted of himself online.

Weiner falsely claimed Breitbart had set

him up. “Shouting could be heard from the

Summary: Netroots Nation is the annual

labor-backed gathering of left-wing bloggers,

and it has come a long way since its

fi rst confab in 2006 to protest the policies of

George W. Bush. The group still operates

on a shoestring budget, and an observer

might conclude that it speaks only for radical

fringe elements in left-wing politics.

But its organizational skill, passion and

mastery of online strategy has made Netroots

Nation a key force in liberal Democratic

politics. The big nonprofi t Washington,

D.C. special interest groups and labor

unions still dictate the Democrats’ policy

ideas and political strategies. But they pay

close attention to the left-wing blogosphere

which each year makes its physical presence

felt at Netroots Nation.

Netroots Nation

The Left Organizes the Blogosphere

Radical left-wing blogger Markos Moulitsas is a driving force behind Netroots Nation,

an infl uential annual gathering of bloggers and activists.

2 December 2011

FoundationWatch

Editor: Matthew Vadum

Publisher: Terrence Scanlon

Foundation Watch

is published by Capital Research

Center, a non-partisan education and

research organization, classifi ed by

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meeting rooms, with attendees rolling their

eyes over the fact that Breitbart was taking

attention away from progressive issues,” the

Huffi ngton Post reported.

Unidentifi ed leftists accosted Breitbart and

screamed accusatory questions aimed at him.

“Did an employee of yours get arrested last

night for harassing young Muslim women

in the streets of Minneapolis?” one man

shrieked. Breitbart’s accuser demanded to

know if he had ever used cocaine or slept

with a prostitute of either sex.

Breitbart was in Minneapolis to attend

RightOnline, a competing event organized

by web-savvy conservative activists. Since

2008 it has shadowed the Netroots Nation

conference around the country. Breitbart is a

key player in the RightOnline conference. He

runs the very popular conservative news and

commentary website BigGovernment.com

and several affi liated sites (Big Hollywood.

com, Big Journalism.com, Big Peace.com)

that seek out and expose leftist activism and

hypocrisy.

Netroots organizers are focused on this

goal. And they are determined to freeze out

any RightOnline interlopers like Breitbart.

Netroots has signed “non-compete” clauses

with the two hotels it will use, the Westin

Providence and the Providence Biltmore, in

an attempt to keep RightOnline as far away

as possible.

Nolan Treadway, the Netroots logistics director,

told the Talking Points Memo (TPM)

website that the Minneapolis convention

“was more tense than it had to be”

“People were on edge and there was a lot of

mistrust among the sides. It wasn’t the way

we like to do things going forward.”

RightOnline founder Erik Telford has not

ruled out meeting in Providence but says

the conservative bloggers conference has

grown big and successful enough so that

it’s not necessary to compete with Netroots

in the same venue.

“Early on the Left versus Right dichotomy

played a key factor in helping us get started,”

Telford explained. “I don’t think RightOnline

ever would have come about without

that mission of taking on the Left. It would

not have grown without this opportunity.

But now it’s not as much of a rallying point

because there is more energy on our side and

more enthusiasm, and it’s not as necessary

to squash the other side.”

Telford suggested two possibilities for Right

Online in 2012: Meet in nearby Boston, to

draw media attention away from the Netroots

conference in Providence, or Charlotte, N.C.,

where the Democratic National Committee

holds its convention to re-nominate Barack

Obama as its presidential candidate.

Shortly after his altercation with the Netroots

crowd Breitbart appeared on Fox News with

Sean Hannity to deny the allegations hurled

at him by angry bloggers.

The incident of alleged anti-Muslim racism

“was a mythological event that happened, or

an event that occurred that had nothing to do

with me, that followed me for two days as

I had a New York Times reporter who’s doing

a profi le on me,” said Breitbart. Times

reporter Jeremy Peters confi rmed Breitbart’s

account, yet online media outlets like Salon.

com, Daily Kos, and the Huffi ngton Post

continued to publicize the “story” in the

absence of any evidence whatsoever.

“I know how the hard Left works,” Breitbart

explained. “It’s Saul Alinsky, it’s the politics

of personal destruction. And if I’m going to

make myself a public fi gure, one that aggressively

exposes the hard Left, I know that I’m

going to be the object of their tactics.”

Election Year Battlelines

Next year the Netroots Nation Conference

is scheduled to meet in Providence, R.I. in

June. There is no question that the conference

intends to exercise an infl uence over

how the Democratic Party presents itself to

voters in the 2012 elections.

December 2011 3

FoundationWatch

“RightOnline has achieved parity with the

Netroots,” Telford said. “We don’t need to

take them on directly.”

Netroots’ Humble Origins, Modest

Finances, Power Players

Netroots Nation was formerly known as

YearlyKos, a name that pays homage to the

liberal bloggers of Daily Kos who founded

it. The readers and writers connected with

Daily Kos were largely responsible for organizing

the fi rst conference in 2006. At that

time, Daily Kos was the principal place for

left-wing activists to express their thoughts

on the Internet. Today it is but one among

thousands of blogs in the left-o-sphere. The

founder of Daily Kos is Markos Moulitsas

Zuniga, who subsequently attracted notice

for blaming Sarah Palin because a mentally

unstable man shot Congresswoman Gabrielle

Giffords (D-Ariz.).

Today Netroots Nation is a project of San

Francisco-based Bloggerpower.org, a group

whose trustees include Markos Moulitsas

Zuniga. Bloggerpower.org operates on a

very modest budget. In the tax year ending

Sept. 30, 2009, it ran a small defi cit, reporting

revenues of $834,532 and expenses of

$877,858. Because it is a 501c4 advocacy

and social action group, donations to Bloggerpower.org

are diffi cult to track. However,

it is known that Netroots Arts and Education

Initiative (NAEI), a California 501c3, is a

major funder of Bloggerpower.org. NAEI is

also known as the Netroots Foundation.

Netroots Nation/ Bloggerpower.org executive

director Raven Brooks was inspired to

enter politics by Howard Dean’s 2004

presidential campaign. He played a major

role in organizing the initial Yearly Kos

conference in Las Vegas in 2006 and was a

co-founder of BuyBlue.org, a now apparently

defunct website that encourages liberals

not to purchase products from companies

that donate to conservative political causes.

Brooks is a member of the advisory board

of the San Francisco chapter of the New

Leaders Council which trains aspiring leftwing

activists.

A look at the staff and board of Netroots

Nation/Bloggerpower.org and its funder, the

Netroots Foundation, confi rms its far left

reputation. For instance, Melissa Foley is the

new media program director for the Netroots

Foundation. She was previously on the communications

team handling public relations

for Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection.

Karen Thomas Kolher is the Netroots Nation

director of development. She used to work

with Planned Parenthood, EMILY’s List, the

National Women’s Political Caucus, and the

Sorenson Institute for Political Leadership

at the University of Virginia.

The Netroots board of directors is replete

with political strategists for the Left.

• John Aravosis is the editor of AMERICAblog.com.

He has worked in the U.S. Senate,

the World Bank and the Children’s Defense

Fund. Aravosis takes credit for publicly outing

Mary Cheney, daughter of former Vice

President Dick Cheney, as a lesbian.

• Attorney Adam Bonin, of the fi rm Cozen

O’Connor in Philadelphia, is an expert in

election law and campaign fi nance and represents

leftwing bloggers.

• Blogger Cheryl Contee advises Fortune

500 companies, trade associations and big

nonprofi ts on “blogger relations.”

The Netroots Foundation/NAEI reports

receiving a meager $197,945 in grants from

2006 through 2009. However, it may be a sign

of things to come that the PepsiCo Foundation

awarded it a $50,000 grant in 2011 “to

teach under-represented communities to use

new media effectively.”

Based in San Francisco, the Netroots Foundation

board of trustees is similarly loaded

with well-connected left-wing talent.

Netroots Foundation board member Mike Lux

4 December 2011

FoundationWatch

For instance, board member Mike Lux is cofounder

and CEO of Progressive Strategies

LLC, a fi rm that conducts strategic political

consulting for non-profi ts, labor unions, political

action committees, and left-of-center

donors. Previously, Lux was a senior vice

president at People For the American Way

(PFAW), and the PFAW Foundation, and he

handled “public liaison” (i.e. networking and

hand-holding for special interests) during

President Clinton’s fi rst term.

Lux is also a board member of the far-left

Arca Foundation, a pro-Fidel Castro grant

maker that used to be run by Congresswoman

Donna Edwards (D-Md.). (Arca Foundation

was profi led by Matthew Vadum in the

October issue of Foundation Watch.)

The Personal Is Political

What’s the point of political blogging? With

Netroots, which conservative bloggers often

call the “nutroots,” it’s always personal.

Netroots Nation uses highly aggressive,

incendiary street tactics against its political

opponents. These blend in perfectly with the

political practices of organized labor, which

maintains a strong presence at each Netroots

conference.

The AFL-CIO, AFSCME, the American

Federation of Teachers (AFT), Communication

Workers of America, Change to Win,

the National Education Association (NEA),

the Service Employees International Union

(SEIU) and the United Food and Commercial

Workers (UFCW) were among the 2011

sponsors of Netroots Nation.

“Netroots has brought the New Left full

circle – it took over the labor movement and

now uses union coffers to fund an increasingly

out-of-touch agenda,” observes Bret

Jacobson, a partner with Maverick Strategies,

a business-oriented communications fi rm

based in Washington, D.C.

“The Netroots tactics and tone refl ect the labor

movement’s focus on making campaigns

personal – it’s a central theme of the modern

Left’s full investment in the organizing model

of Saul Alinsky,” he continued.

“Netroots and the labor movement know

that by creating shrill, personal attacks they

create an opportunity to avoid conversations

involving basic economic facts. And when

you’re that far away from the mainstream and

removed from reality, that’s important.”

Even as they remain fi ercely attached to a

wide range of progressive causes, the subject

areas that stir emotions and incite applause

above all others typically intersect with the

demands of union bosses. During his appearance

at the 2011 Netroots convention

in Minneapolis, admitted “communist” Van

Jones, the Obama administration’s former

“green czar,” called on activists to stand by

their union brethren in Madison, Wisc., and

other parts of the country, as elected offi cials

try to get a fi scal handle on out-of-control

government employee benefi ts.

“The fi ght has begun,” Jones said. “The

[traditional] media wants to ignore it; we

expect that. But the fi ght has already begun.

It’s not just Madison, as extraordinary as that

was, that’s not the great exception: That’s

the great example. I guarantee you, people

across the country feel that the same way

that you do, in the tens of millions. We’re

not alone, we’re not the little marginal voices

that they want to pretend that we are.”

Jones was forced out of the Obama administration

after his extremist views were exposed

in the media. When he was a Fox News talk

show host, Glenn Beck led the charge by

calling attention to Jones’s affi liation with

Marxist-Leninist causes in the recent past.

Jones’s name also showed up on the 9/11

Truth.org petition that blamed President

Bush for the terrorist attacks.

But Jones has resurfaced as a senior fellow

with the Center for American Progress

(CAP) and is the co-founder of new left-wing

groups including Color of Change, which

takes partial credit for forcing Beck off Fox

News. (Color of Change was profi led by

Kevin Mooney in the August 2011 issue of

Organization Trends. - Editor)

December 2011 5

FoundationWatch

The Tea Party: No Headquarters, No

Lobby, No Receptionist

The conservative counterbalance emerging

within the news media—thanks to Fox News,

talk radio and right-leaning blogs—has

panicked the Left. Conservative grassroots

activism has also fl ummoxed leftwing activists,

which is why Van Jones attacked the Tea

Party during his Netroots speech.

“They talk rugged individualism, that’s their

whole schtick, right?” he said. “This is the

Tea Party. If you had a problem, don’t look

to the government. Just be more rugged, and

more individual and your problem will be

solved. But they have the most collectivist

strategy for taking power in the history of the

Republic. Because they use an open-source

meta brand that they all share, they wrote

their document as a wiki, and they’re based

on a principle and a value. And as a result,

you now live in a world, 24 months after you

thought we had changed everything.”

Contrary to Jones, the Tea Party strategy is

not collectivism, but federalism, a concept

that conservatives naturally understand and

appreciate. Instead of focusing unduly on

Washington, D.C., Tea Party activists concentrate

on school boards, town council, and

country boards of supervisors. They take on

green pressure groups, union bosses, race

hustlers, and their allies in government.

And, just like Netroots Nation, the Tea Party

believes in the importance of online communication

and social media to convey its

message and mobilize its followers.

This approach is very much in keeping with

the advice of Ned Ryun, executive director of

American Majority, a grassroots organization

headquartered in Virginia. He is encouraged

to see Tea Party networks emerge that are

nimble, fl exible and divorced from Washington

politics.

A key battleground area is the state of Maine

where Paul R. LePage, the new Tea Partybacked

Republican governor, campaigned

aggressively against environmental regulations.

LePage benefi ts from new Republican

majorities in both houses of the state

legislature. But as Ron Arnold, executive

director of the Center for the Defense of Free

Enterprise, observes, he is up against a “green

iron triangle” that is deeply entrenched.

“The Big Green disaster that’s destroying

Maine has been gnawing away at every state

for years,” Arnold said. “The infl uence and

reach of green pressure groups has gone

unchecked and unchallenged far too long,

crushing private citizens and business owners

nationwide. The Iron Triangle, as I describe

it in Maine, shows rank collusion between

the Maine Audubon Society and the DEP

[i.e. Dept. of Environmental Protection],

jointly concocting false ‘science’ to justify

catastrophic regulations. Gov.-elect LePage

and incoming lawmakers need to show some

guts and throttle these cabals so they can

never hurt anyone again.”

The collusion between green activists and

government agents is not lost on local residents

like Eric Veyhl, a Maine landowner

who has found common cause with the Tea

Party.

“Maine is best described as an environmental

dictatorship,” Veyhl said. “It is diffi cult to

overstate how intertwined the local level

green groups are with state and federal government

agencies.”

Engaged and informed citizens like Veyhl

who infuse Tea Party activism at the local

level have unsettled Van Jones and the Netroots

faithful.

“There is no headquarters, there is no

lobby, there is no receptionist, and there

is no president of the Tea Party,” Jones

observed his speech. “There is an open

source brand…”

Blogging Battles: Left versus Right

The Tea Party also benefi ts from the right

mix of alliances.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) vice president

Phil Kerpen sees to it that free market

activists orient themselves with an eye toward

history. He draws a comparison between

Jones’s communist past, his current pursuit

for green jobs, and other big government

initiatives shrouded in environmentalism.

“I think it’s pretty instructive what his past

is,” Kerpen said. “It’s the same sort of philosophy,

the idea that government ought to be

reordering society in accordance with some

utopian vision that failed with communism

and socialism, and will fail with this green

jobs idea.”

Kerpen is certainly not alone in making this

comparison.

Self-described “communist” Van Jones

at Netroots Nation 2011

6 December 2011

FoundationWatch

Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus in a

letter to members of the House Energy and

Commerce Committee warned, “climate

change and especially man-made climate

change has become one of the most dangerous

arguments aimed at distorting human efforts

and public policies in the whole world.”

He continued: “…we are not witnessing a

clash of views about the environment but a

clash of views about human freedom,” and

that communism has been “replaced by the

threat of ambitious environmentalism.”

History has placed the Netroots in an awkward

spot.

Going back to the 2009 convention, a panel

discussion entitled: “A Warming Web: The

Blogosphere and Climate Change” has been

overtaken by recent events.

“Global Warming blogging is red hot: The

Senate is debating climate change legislation.

The Obama Administration is pouring

billions of dollars into clean energy and green

jobs. Countries are maneuvering for position

in this December’s crucial international

climate treaty conference. And nearly every

week scientists are revealing how global

warming is changing the conditions of life

on Earth – and how much worse conditions

may become if we don’t slash our greenhouse

gas pollution. At this panel, some of the top

bloggers covering environmental politics and

climate science will talk about what they do,

how they do it, and why it’s more important

now than ever before.”

Just a few weeks later, the “Climategate”

scandal erupted in November 2009 when

emails originating in the Climate Research

Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia

in Great Britain showed that politically motivated

researchers were doctoring and distorting

scientifi c data in an effort to exaggerate

warming trends. “The top bloggers covering

environmental politics and climate science”

are now on the Right, not the Left, said Marc

Morano, the editor of ClimateDepot.com. He

reports that over 1,000 scientists worldwide

now question the premise of anthropogenic

(man-made) global warming.

Reporters may also want to inquire about

Solyndra, the California-based manufacturer

of solar power rooftop components, which

received a $535 million loan guarantee from

the Department of Energy in 2009. It has

now initiated Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

How does its failure square with

the Netroots enthusiasm for green jobs and

green technology?

Bloggers Yoked to Organized Labor

In 2009 the Netroots convention featured

New Jersey Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine and

Anna Burger, chairman of the SEIU-founded

Change to Win labor federation. Their topic

was the nation’s economic climate and “how

it affects working Americans.”

Later that year “working Americans” turned

on Corzine and booted him from offi ce. He

is not likely to be on invited back in 2012.

Once politically invincible in Democratic

New Jersey, Corzine is now the target of

angry investors who have lost over $600

million with the collapse of MF Global, the

brokerage company he subsequently headed

(and from which he has now resigned).

But here is how the Netroots set the table

for Corzine’s 2009 talk.

“As our leaders push to solve our country’s

fi nancial crisis, how can we maintain confi -

dence in the economy while protecting the

interests of the middle class? What are some

of the pivotal policy decisions that are being

made now, and what will a “21st century

economy” look like? And how can we as

progressives help for progressive change

in areas such as health care and workers’

rights?”

As they head into the 2012 elections, online

progressive activists face a paradox of their

own making. They claim to be forwardlooking

and on the cutting edge. They

champion Internet technology applied to

election campaigns. Yet their policies are

remarkably retrograde.

When well-funded New Jersey public employee

unions are bested by a blunt-talking,

unpolished anti-elitist like Republican governor

Chris Christie, it’s a sure sign that the

political winds have shifted—not only in

New Jersey but in other so-called blue states

under severe fi nancial pressure.

Beginning in 2009, more union members

are working for government than for the

private sector; a fi rst in American history.

This shift has occurred even as overall union

membership is falling. Unions lost over

612,000 members in 2010, most of them in

private sector unions. In 2010, 7.6 million

government workers belonged to a union,

while only 7.1 million private sector workers

belonged to a union. Only 11.9 percent

of all wage and salary workers, public and

private, are union members, and the percentage

of union members in the private sector

is a mere 6.9 percent.

Christie, the former federal prosecutor who

unseated Corzine, is not alone in recognizing

that working Americans are not synonymous

with unionized employees. For the fi rst time

since President Ronald Reagan fi red the air

traffi c controllers in 1981, GOP chief executives

across the county are fi nding their spine

in their battle against union bosses.

That’s a big problem for the online activists

December 2011 7

FoundationWatch

going to next year’s Netroots Nation conference.

In 2012, increasing numbers of independents

and Democrats, even in so-called

blue states, understand that that there are now

two classes of workers. One faces the full

brunt of the recession’s impact on business

enterprise, while the other is immunized

from economic downturns and insists that

taxpayers fund its perks and benefi ts.

When Republican governors prevail over

union bosses in Madison, Wisc., and Trenton,

N.J., it is fair to say something important is

happening. But the news hasn’t reached Netroots

Nation. The early word on the planning

process for the 2012 Netroots convention in

Providence, R.I., is that the annual progressive

bloggers convention remains wedded

to Big Labor’s agenda.

Indeed, Netroots threatened to pull out of

the Westin Providence Convention Center

because of a labor dispute between UNITE

HERE Local 217 and hotel management.

Local 217 claimed management imposed a

20 percent wage cut and “unilaterally quadrupled”

employee health insurance costs.

“We won’t book a hotel in the midst of a labor

dispute,” the Netroots logistics director said

in press interviews. “We really need to have

a labor agreement between the hotel and its

workers in place through summer 2011 in

order to book.”

The dispute has since between resolved and

the Providence convention is back on.

Competition from the Online Right

Netroots activists are feeling the thunder

from the Right, RightOnline founder Erik

Telford observes.

“Back in 2008, the talk was about how far

ahead the Left was with online technology,”

he noted. “But beginning in 2010 with the

Tea Party this swung in the opposite direction

and has continued. I think conservatives

especially have an edge with social

media tools like Twitter. But the Netroots

are still very tech savvy and willing to make

investments.”

Online conservatives have traveled a long

way since 2008. At fi rst, there was only

Andrew Breitbart. But now there are thousands

of conservatives online, designing

websites and blogging and tweeting. They

are eager to engage the online Left. They

are willing to fi ght.

Kevin Mooney is an investigative reporter

working for the Pelican Institute in New

Orleans, La. Mooney also writes for Big

Government, the Daily Caller and the

American Spectator.

Please consider contributing early in this calendar

year to the Capital Research Center.

We need your help in the current diffi cult

economic climate to continue our important

research.

Your contribution to advance our watchdog

work is deeply appreciated.

Many thanks.

Terrence Scanlon

President

8 December 2011

FoundationWatch

PhilanthropyNotes

Although giving increased slightly in 2010, donations to social services dropped by 6.6 percent, the

New York Times reports. Many high-dollar donors are focusing their giving on public policy, political

campaigns, museums, and hospitals. Philanthropy has been “silent about the depths of the problems

of homelessness, joblessness, foreclosure, hunger,” said Emmett D. Carson, CEO of the Silicon

Valley Community Foundation. “People are starting to believe that philanthropy is irrelevant to the

core needs of their communities.”

D.C. Central Kitchen president Robert Egger started a new 501c4 group that endorses political candidates

seeking to strengthen nonprofi ts in their communities. The group, called CForward, wants

to turn people who volunteer or work at nonprofi ts into a “powerful political force.” “It will allow candidates

to see there’s an army being activated,” Egger said. CForward plans to launch a political action

committee early in the new year.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) has sponsored legislation that

would keep postage rates low for charities. Charities currently pay 26 percent less than businesses

when they mail fund-raising letters and other documents en masse to their donors. Anthony Conway

of the Alliance of Nonprofi t Mailers said the bill’s chances in an election year “are not great.”

Endowments at colleges and universities gained 19.8 percent on average in 2011 but it will still take

them years to make up for the credit crisis of 2008, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. The fi gures

were in a report by the National Association of College and University Business Offi cers and the

Commonfund Institute. Endowments have been growing since 2009 when the average endowment

lost 18.7 percent. “We’re still nowhere near where we need to be to recoup the losses from the downturn,”

Commonfund Institute managing director William F. Jarvis said.

Celebrities such as rap artist Kanye West and actor Ashton Kutcher aren’t much of a plus when it

comes to charitable fundraising, according to a new report released by PayPal and the consulting

fi rm Zoetica Media. But a celebrity willing to spend time interacting online with potential donors can

be effective in raising money, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. “Unlike a personal appearance,

photo op, or scripted [public-service announcement], where just showing up will get it done, social

fund raising requires an active, authentic, and continued involvement [from the fund raiser] … even if

only for a short time,” the report said.

Goldman Sachs disclosed in a regulatory fi ling that it may now be facing close to $16 billion in lawsuits

related to its handling of mortgage securities transactions, according to reports. Observers criticized

Goldman for pushing the mortgage investments while at the same time promoting short-selling

of mortgage securities. Just three months ago Goldman said it expected to be sued for just $485

million. Goldman expects to be ordered to pay plaintiffs in the lawsuit as much as $2.6 billion. The

total liability has risen because those investors who purchased mortgage-backed securities are now

bumping up against statutes of limitations that are expiring. Plaintiff institutions that may sue include

American International Group Inc. (AIG), Manulife Financial Corp’s John Hancock unit, HSH Nordbank,

Norges Bank Investment Management and IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></div>