Grebe

<h2>=</h2><div>KINGMAKER: </div><div>
</div><div>https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/08/us/politics/behind-scott-walker-a-longstanding-conservative-alliance-against-unions.html
POLITICS
Behind Scott Walker, a Longstanding Conservative Alliance Against UnionsBy PATRICK HEALY and MONICA DAVEYJUNE 8, 2015
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin greeted his cabinet in June 2012 after winning a recall election. Credit Narayan Mahon for The New York TimesMADISON, Wis. — Less than a week after he was elected governor of Wisconsin in 2010, Scott Walker went to Milwaukee at the invitation of his political patron, Michael W. Grebe.
Mr. Grebe was Mr. Walker’s campaign chairman. He was also president of the Bradley Foundation, a leading source of ideas and financing for American conservatives. And the bankers, industrialists and public intellectuals on the foundation’s board wanted to honor the state’s next governor over dinner at Bacchus, a favorite restaurant of the city’s elite.
While the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation could not endorse candidates outright, it provided more than $2 million in grants to think tanks that implicitly championed Mr. Walker’s small-government platform, and $520,000 to Americans for Prosperity Foundation, which is part of a conservative network of groups (including the better-known Americans for Prosperity) that has supported Mr. Walker’s agenda.
Addressing the assembled conservatives who had laid the groundwork for his transformation from county executive to governor, Mr. Walker did not disappoint, pledging to “go big and go bold” in office. In the months that followed, he would deliver on that promise, breaking Wisconsin’s public employee unions in a bitter battle, surviving a recall effort led by angry Democrats and making his fight the centerpiece of an as-yet-unannounced presidential campaign.
More than any of his potential rivals for the White House, Mr. Walker, 47, is a product of a loose network of conservative donors, think tanks and talk radio hosts who have spent years preparing the road for a politician who could successfully present their arguments for small government to a broader constituency.
Mr. Walker has embraced those goals in Wisconsin, and the promise of his fledgling presidential campaign is to do the same in Washington. The little-known governor-elect honored in Milwaukee has become something of a conservative hero, backed by wealthy donors like Charles G. and David H. Koch and revered as a leader brave enough to face down unions and their liberal supporters.
At his side during his rapid rise was Mr. Grebe, who provided crucial validation for Mr. Walker among Wisconsin Republicans skeptical that a college dropout turned career politician would become a successful and consequential governor.
“At the risk of being immodest, I probably lent some credibility to his campaign early on,” Mr. Grebe, 74, said in a recent interview.
VideoScott Walker’s PathHighlights of the political career of Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. By Brent McDonald and Quynhanh Do on Publish Date March 20, 2015. Photo by Jabin Botsford/The New York Times. Watch in Times Video »
Many Democrats and union leaders would call that an understatement.
“Scott Walker didn’t have the stature, influence or money to become governor on his own or to end collective bargaining on his own,” said Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin A.F.L.-C.I.O. “All of that flowed from Mike Grebe, the Bradley Foundation and a network of influential conservatives, including the Kochs.”
Mr. Neuenfeldt added: “He wouldn’t be running for president without these people. He would be their guy in Washington.”
But the reasons for Mr. Walker’s success are more complex. In the Wisconsin Legislature and as Milwaukee County executive, he always liked going to extremes and basking in his own brand of boldness. What he needed, as he climbed the political ladder, was the money and endorsements that Mr. Grebe and his conservative allies brought. As for the fight against the unions, it went far better than Mr. Walker, Mr. Grebe or anyone else could have expected, as weeks of huge protests drew a national news spotlight that let Mr. Walker shine.
“It made Scott Walker a national candidate,” said Tommy G. Thompson, a Republican who was governor of Wisconsin from 1987 to 2001. “It showed that he could stand up to pressure. And he didn’t back down. And people want that in a leader.”
Mr. Walker declined to comment on his conservative supporters, but Rick Wiley, executive director of Our American Revival, the governor’s political committee, cited his record of changing the state government in Wisconsin as an example of his leadership. “Tough times called for big, bold solutions, and Scott Walker thought outside the box,” Mr. Wiley said. “His reforms transformed Wisconsin for future generations, because that’s what leaders do.”
An Ally of Unions’ Foes
Unions were the bane of Wisconsin conservatives long before Mr. Walker first entered office in 1993 as a state assemblyman. After Wisconsin took the landmark step in 1959 of allowing collective bargaining for public employees, state spending grew steadily to help cover negotiated salaries and generous benefits, and so did the criticism from retailers, manufacturers and bankers.
“Businesspeople talked about trying to end collective bargaining for years, but it always seemed so uphill a battle,” said James Buchen, who oversaw government affairs for a powerful industry group, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, when Mr. Walker became governor.
Conservatives focused instead on pushing for a welfare overhaul and private school vouchers, with particular help coming from the Bradley Foundation, which spent millions of dollars on think tank reports and advocacy groups championing both policies. The foundation — named after brothers, Lynde and Harry Bradley, who were well-known Wisconsin industrialists — has more than $800 million in assets. It supports arts, education and health organizations in Wisconsin as well as, increasingly, the goals of American conservatism.
Protesters filled the Capitol in Madison, Wis., as legislators in the House passed a bill in February 2011 to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public workers. Credit Max Whittaker for The New York TimesThat focus has intensified under Mr. Grebe, a West Point graduate and Vietnam veteran who led the law firm Foley & Lardner before taking over the foundation in 2002. Mr. Grebe was always drawn to the national stage: He was general counsel of the Republican National Committee and a Wisconsin power broker for presidential candidates, including as state chairman for Ronald Reagan’s re-election campaign in 1984.
Mr. Grebe spotted Scott Walker when Mr. Walker, who considers Reagan his political role model, was a Marquette University student volunteering at events for Reagan or the Republican Party of Wisconsin. Mr. Grebe recalled no particular impressions of Mr. Walker from those encounters, but Mr. Walker got his attention years later as a candidate for Milwaukee County executive.
Mr. Grebe, who donated $1,000 to Mr. Walker’s executive campaign and became a member of his transition team, said he had come to believe that Mr. Walker was determined to bring change to the county in spite of “a highly charged partisan relationship with the Democratic-led county board.”
“If all he was was a bulwark to an entrenched Democratic majority, I don’t think he would be interested in any job,” Mr. Grebe said. “He’s really interested in change, in doing bold things.”
So were others. Americans for Prosperity, the group financed by the Kochs, started a Wisconsin chapter led by a veteran Republican operative there, Mark Block, who tapped into voters’ anger at Gov. James E. Doyle, a Democrat, and his tax and spending increases. From 2006 to 2010, the chapter grew to 100,000 members from 250 and drew huge crowds for meetings that eventually evolved into Tea Party events.
Mr. Block and his group’s national president, Tim Phillips, got to know Mr. Walker when he was county executive; he joined them during one of their “Ending Earmarks Express” bus tours, and they kept a close eye on him.
“We thought here’s this young, newer, local leader who is not nibbling around the edges but really getting serious about issues, especially trying to take on the unions on spending and pension issues,” Mr. Phillips said.
The Bradley Foundation gave to Americans for Prosperity but was more integral to financing two think tanks that railed against Mr. Doyle and generated policy ideas and talking points that were picked up by Wisconsin’s powerful bench of right-wing talk radio hosts. In 2009, the foundation gave a $1 million grant to one of the think tanks, the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, to recommend policy ideas for the next governor. It also backed the MacIver Institute, providing one-third of its budget.
 Who Is Running for President?Both think tanks proposed dozens of small-government policies, and at the top of their lists was curbing the power of the public employee unions.
“Some people in the Walker campaign were scratching their heads about how to deal with union health and pension costs, and we supplied the ideas,” said James R. Klauser, who was chairman of the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute at the time. “Mike Grebe wanted to see union reform, but I don’t think he got into the details. But the issue was a good match with Walker himself: He’s very conservative, and he takes pride in trying big things.”
A Long-Shot Fight
By the time Mr. Walker ran for governor in 2010, he was clashing regularly with unions, calling for cost savings through shorter hours, layoffs, privatization, even an imagined disassembling of the very government he ran.
“Never did we ever have a civil moment with that man,” said David Eisner, a local official for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a big public workers union.
The approach played well in the state’s interwoven universe of conservative talk radio, where Mr. Walker became a favorite guest of hosts like Charlie Sykes of WTMJ in Milwaukee. Mr. Sykes, whose wife is director of community programs at the Bradley Foundation, has a daily radio show and a television program and edits Wisconsin Interest, a magazine from the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.
During the governor’s race, Mr. Walker sometimes spoke of “haves and have-nots,” referring to public-sector workers and those in private business. He did not announce specific plans to cut bargaining rights, and some, like Mr. Grebe, said they had never heard him explicitly address ending collective bargaining. Yet the two men had similar views about unions, Mr. Grebe said, and Mr. Walker was determined to get union members to pay more for their pension and health care benefits.
If Mr. Walker had not been on the Kochs’ radar before, he was now. The political action committee for their energy conglomerate, Koch Industries, donated $43,000 to Mr.Walker’s 2010 bid, while Americans for Prosperity focused on organizing for legislative races.
The result was that for the first time in about a decade, Wisconsin found itself with a Republican governor and a Republican-led Assembly and Senate.
Clockwise from top left, Michael W. Grebe, who gave Mr. Walker crucial validation in his first elections; Mr. Walker; and Charles and David Koch, who have donated to Mr. Walker’s campaigns.]Three weeks later, the MacIver Institute posted an opinion column that made the first public case for repealing collective bargaining to take back control of pay and benefits for public employees. MacIver’s leaders said they had not coordinated the idea with Mr. Walker or the Bradley Foundation — it just seemed obvious that everyone was moving toward a “big and bold” solution, as Mr. Walker kept putting it.
Still, MacIver’s leaders were not sure it would go anywhere.
“I didn’t think there would be the votes” in the Legislature, said Brett Healy, president of MacIver. “I think it’s safe to say Capitol insiders would have initially bet the house that Governor Walker would’ve had no shot at passing collective bargaining reform.”
But Mr. Walker announced a drive to do just that in February 2011, six weeks into his governorship, proposing a bill that became known as Act 10. He portrayed it as a simple antidote to a looming fiscal hole for the state, saying, “I’m just trying to balance my budget.”
Within days, the State Capitol in Madison was crammed with enraged union members and supporters. When the issue reached the Senate, the Democratic minority secretly fled the state, a gambit aimed at denying Republicans the quorum needed to call a vote on any bill involving the appropriation of funds.
As the chaos mounted, at least a few Republicans quietly urged Mr. Walker to tone down his proposal. “There were prominent people who said, ‘You need to get out of this,’ ” Mr. Sykes, the WTMJ host, recalled.
Yet an entirely different dynamic was emerging, too. With cable news satellite trucks broadcasting a constant loop of reports from Madison, the standoff captured the attention of conservatives outside Wisconsin who had never heard of Mr. Walker. The images, of Democrats who had fled town and screaming protesters camped out all over the elegant Capitol, galvanized Republicans.
On talk radio, hosts spoke of threats to Republican leaders and their families, including Mr. Walker, who could hear chants from his desk even when his office door was shut: “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
Americans for Prosperity put up television ads supporting Act 10 and organized a “Stand With Walker” bus tour of Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Club for Growth, another conservative group, took to the airwaves with ads and raised money from Wisconsin and beyond.
Electoral Vindication
For Mr. Walker’s conservative patrons, the war against the unions showed he was willing to take huge political risks for a goal other Republicans might have regarded as too extreme.[// brownback?]
“I knew Act 10 was going to be quite divisive and controversial, but it was a very good idea, a good set of policy moves,” Mr. Grebe said.
He said all the credit should go to the man in office. “There’s this attempt to portray me as some kind of Svengali in my relationship” with Mr. Walker, he said, “and that’s simply not the case.”
After Act 10 passed, Mr. Walker’s opponents used a provision in the State Constitution to schedule a recall election. No governor in the United States had ever won a recall election, but by that point, Mr. Walker had a national network of conservative donors and groups behind him. Almost 300,000 people donated to his recall campaign, whichraised about $37 million, two-thirds of it from outside Wisconsin.
But some of his support came from familiar sources: Mr. Grebe was again the chairman of his campaign. Diane Hendricks, a Wisconsin businesswoman who is on the board of the Bradley Foundation, contributed $500,000 alone. And Americans for Prosperity spent $3.7 million on ads and mailings supporting Mr. Walker’s policies.
Mr. Walker won the recall with 53 percent of the vote. In 2014, he was elected again: his third win in four years in a state that has not voted Republican in a presidential election since 1984.
Soon, Mr. Walker began talking with Mr. Grebe and other advisers about the White House. As he started making visits over the winter to national conservative conferences, as well as early nominating states like Iowa and New Hampshire, he made Act 10 a centerpiece of his stump speech.
David Koch offered an opinion at a recent private gathering that Mr. Walker was the favorite for the Republican nomination. And Mr. Walker’s old allies are hungry once more for a leader who will go to extremes, this time as president.
Last week, Mr. Grebe and the board of the Bradley Foundation gathered again, this time at the Kennedy Center in Washington. George F. Will, the conservative columnist and a foundation board member, served as M.C., warming up the crowd by joking that, just as Republicans promised “a chicken for every pot” during Herbert Hoover’s 1928 presidential bid, Hillary Rodham Clinton would deliver a private email server to every home.
“Strong American leadership will return,” said Jack Keane, a retired general and a recipient that night of a $250,000 Bradley Prize for innovative achievement. “We are one leader away.”
General Keane did not put a name to that leader. But Mr. Grebe surely had his friend in mind; he had said by phone earlier that Mr. Walker would make “a very good president” and had a “decent chance to get the nomination.”
But in his speech, Mr. Grebe did not mention Mr. Walker, just the conservative forces that wanted big, bold change. “In recent years at the Bradley Foundation, we’ve placed even greater emphasis on collaboration with other like-minded foundations and donors,” Mr. Grebe said in a video presentation as symphonic music soared in a crescendo. “We believe that through that collaboration, together we can help change the world.”
Correction: June 17, 2015 An article on June 8 about ties between Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and conservative groups misidentified the recipient of two grants from the Bradley Foundation, whose president is close to Mr. Walker. The Bradley Foundation gave a total of $520,000 during the 2010 governor’s race to Americans for Prosperity Foundation, not to Americans for Prosperity.Follow the New York Times Politics and Washington on Facebook andTwitter, and sign up for the First Draft politics newsletter.
A version of this article appears in print on June 8, 2015, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Conservatives and Their Cash Lined Up Early Behind Walker =</div><h2><div style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">=</div><div style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">Newly revealed documents from the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation show that the foundation gave significant grants to a diverse array of media institutions, including media sites that pursued a highly partisan agenda.The Bradley Foundation provided crucial funding to “Wisconsin Watchdog” as the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Franklin_Center_for_Government_and_Public_Integrity" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity</a>, a right-wing media organization focused on building news bureaus in state capitals across the nation, slowly sank.</div></h2><h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MYSTERY FUNDER</h2><h2><div style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;">The Franklin Center was founded in 2009 with help from the Sam Adams Alliance, a now-defunct new media group founded in 2006 by <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Eric_O%27Keefe" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Wisconsinite Eric O’Keefe</a>. O’Keefe had long-standing ties to billionaire dark money activist David Koch and late Terry Kohler, a secret donor to <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/11/12293/kohler-heir-walker-supporter-plunges-dark-money-depths" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">O’Keefe’s various dark money groups</a>. Franklin center staff were hired from both the Sam Adams Alliance and the Kochs’ Americans for Prosperity group.Franklin Center flourished with a huge influx of funds from <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/DonorsTrust" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Donors Trust</a> and Donors Capital, the preferred funding vehicles of the Koch Network of donors that masks the true identity of givers. The Franklin Center reported annual revenue between $7 and $12 million between 2011 and 2015.In 2011, CMD <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/10/10971/franklin-center-right-wing-funds-state-news-source" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a> that the Franklin Center claimed to have 43 state news websites with reporters in 40 state capitols. Some outlets, like Wisconsin Watchdog, had received official reporting credentials. In some states, the reporters and news sites were attached to State Policy Network “<a href="http://www.exposedbycmd.org/bradley-files/" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">think tanks</a>,” important institutions in the “infrastructure” Bradley was building nationwide.Newly obtained documents from the Bradley Foundation show that in recent years the Franklin Center has foundered. The number of state offices dwindled to five in 2016 and employees fled the sinking ship when a single, mystery funder withdrew support.It is a “text book case of imprudent funding,” wrote Bradley staff. “Unable to resist the offer of $10M annually from one source, the organization grew beyond its capacity to manage itself, and became too dependent on one funder, making it able to shrug off criticism from elsewhere (including Bradley). Last year, when that funder shifted priorities and the fecklessness of the administration became evident, the organization began to collapse” (Grant Proposal Record, August 16, 2016). The Bradley documents do not say who the mystery funder was, but they do indicate that the group was also funded by the right-wing Searle Foundation with smaller “matching grants” of $35,000.The decline of the Franklin Center is a blow to efforts by right-wing funders to develop state capitol media sites to compliment right-wing news sites covering politics in Washington, D.C., such as Breitbart News.</div></h2><h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A RELIABLE PARTISAN ATTACK DOG</h2><h2><div style="font-size: medium;">One of last remaining Franklin state news was Wisconsin Watchdog, a site that Bradley deemed “so effective, and such a valuable partner in the state’s conservative infrastructure, staff believes it is worthwhile to support the local office…” Between 2010 and 2015, Bradley gave $545,500 to the Franklin Center to support this “valuable partner” as Governor Scott Walker launched an extreme right-wing agenda (Grant Proposal Record, August 16, 2016). (An additional $250,000 went through the Franklin Center to fund a fellowship at the National Review.)At the time, the Bradley Foundation was run by Michael Grebe, the former general counsel to the Republican National Committee and the chair of Scott Walker’s campaign for governor 2010, 2012, and 2014 and for president in 2015.Wisconsin Watchdog’s “editor,” “bureau chief,” and reporter was Matt Kittle. Under Kittle, Watchdog was a reliable attack dog of Democratic candidates and campaigns and a reliable booster of right-wing policies and politicians. When Bradley staff were unsure if Franklin CEO Nicolle Niely was “up to the job,” they still funded Wisconsin Watchdog because it was “so effective and such a valuable partner in the state’s conservative infrastructure.”According to the Watchdog website, Kittle wrote over 385 articles on Wisconsin’s “John Doe” investigation into coordination between dark money groups like Eric O’Keefe’s <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/09/13142/gableman-wi-supreme-court" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Wisconsin Club for Growth and the Walker campaign</a> during 2011-2012 Wisconsin recall races. Kittle portrayed a investigation, launched by a bipartisan group of district attorney’s and run by a Republican Special Prosecutor, as an untethered partisan witch hunt.That spin pleased Bradley.“Wisconsin Watchdog became the state’s leading reporter of the John Doe investigation, bringing to light a story of political persecution that is still ongoing,” say the Bradley documents. Bradley especially appreciated the fact that Watchdog had “close ties” to “insiders in the Doe” (Grant Proposal Record, November 10, 2015, August 19, 2014).But for all the ink spilled by Kittle on the John Doe, those “close ties” were rarely discussed. Kittle neglected to discuss:<ul style="font-weight: normal; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">that a key source of information on the John Doe, Wisconsin Club for Growth’s <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Eric_O%27Keefe" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Eric O’Keefe</a>, was a founder and early funder of the Franklin Center</li></ul><ul style="font-weight: normal; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">that Watchdog’s “Director of Special Operations,” <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/12/12344/why-franklin-center-wisconsin-reporter-attacking-john-doe" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">John Connors,</a> was helping Wisconsin Club for Growth funnel money to sham organizations like Citizens for a Strong America and United Sportsmen, the very subject of the John Doe</li></ul>By financially supporting Wisconsin Watchdog, Scott Walker’s campaign chairman effectively secured a one-sided, 24-7 propaganda arm for the Walker campaign and the dark money groups under investigation. This agitprop was so successful, Kittle’s articles were cited as fact by the <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2015/07/12887/five-things-know-about-scott-walker-john-doe-ruling" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">right-wing majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court</a> when they shut down the investigation in July of 2015 after failing to develop any fact record in the case.This the type of “communications” infrastructure Bradley is interested in exporting to other states as CMD detailed in its report “<a href="http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/05/05/documents-detail-bradley-foundation-efforts-build-right-wing-infrastructure-nationwide/" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Weaponized Philanthropy</a>” on the Bradley Foundation’s infrastructure investments.Although Wisconsin Watchdog reporter James Wigderson tweeted on April 14, 2017 that “The Franklin Center is shutting down,” it appears that Franklin fans are keeping it on life support. In a <a href="http://franklincenterhq.org/15282/chris-krug-lead-franklin-center-watchdog-org/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">press release</a> on April 17, Franklin announced that Chris Krug, former editor and manager of the Illinois News Network will be the new President. The Illinois News Network is a project of the Bradley-funded Illinois Policy Institute, a State Policy Network “think tank.”Matt Kittle has landed at the Bradley-funded <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/MacIver_Institute" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">MacIver Institute</a>, another State Policy Network “think tank” and he is already hard at work writing <a href="http://www.maciverinstitute.com/2017/05/whatever-happened-to-the-probe-into-john-doe-leaks-to-the-guardian/" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">more articles</a> about the John Doe.In Bradley world, titles might be interchangeable, but the hard work of spinning disinformation on behalf of Republican politicians and policies must go on.<a href="http://www.exposedbycmd.org/bradley-files/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out; text-decoration-line: none;">Click here</a> for our full series on the Bradley Files.</div><div style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"></div></h2><h2>==</h2><h2>Same Group and Donors Behind Fisher and Shelby County Cases</h2>

The <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/04/us-usa-court-casemaker-idUSBRE8B30V220121204" target="_blank">group that brought both challenges</a> [9] is the Project on Fair Representation, a legal defense fund dedicated to reversing race-based legal protections and whose website says it devotes "all of its efforts to influencing jurisprudence, public policy, and public attitudes regarding race and ethnicity." The Project was founded and led by one person, Ed Blum, who coordinated the challenges in both the Fisher and Shelby County cases.

Blum has likened his role in high-profile litigation to "Yenta the matchmaker." "I find the plaintiff, I find the lawyer, and I put them together, and then I worry about it for four years," he <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/us/edward-blum-and-the-project-on-fair-representation-head-to-the-supreme-court-to-fight-race-based-laws.html?pagewanted=all&r=0" target="blank">said</a> [10].

Blum urged Shelby County, Alabama, to bring its Section 5 challenge after the Department of Justice blocked its effort to dilute the voting power of its growing African-American population. He also connected with Abigail Fisher, a white student who was denied admission to the University of Texas at Austin and claimed it was because of her race. Blum was also behind the last Voting Rights Act challenge to make it to the Supreme Court, Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder.

The Project on Fair Representation covered the legal fees in both the Shelby County and Fisher cases using funds filtered through the secretive Donors Trust, which has been <a href="http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/02/14/12181/donors-use-charity-push-free-market-policies-states" target="_blank">described as</a> [11] a "Dark Money ATM" since it stealthily funnels money from the Kochs, Bradley and other funders to organizations in the right-wing network.

Typically, the identity of Donors Trust funders remain secret, but <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/04/us-usa-court-casemaker-idUSBRE8B30V220121204" target="_blank">two of Blum's donors have been revealed</a> [9]: the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, which gave at least $100,000 to bankroll Blum's latest legal challenges, and the Searle Freedom Trust, which for years has funded the Project on Fair Representation.

Bradley, which is headed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's campaign chair Michael Grebe, hands out $30 million in grants each year, and its support of Blum's group is only one example of its long-term effort to roll-back both voting rights and affirmative action.

<div></div><div>Project on Fair Representation is a legal defense fund founded and led by Ed Blum with an agenda "dedicated to reversing race-based legal protections".<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Project_on_Fair_Representation#cite_note-BrendansArt-1" style="text-decoration: none; background: none; white-space: nowrap;">[1]</a> The Project is financially supported by <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Donors_Trust" title="Donors Trust" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Donors Trust</a>. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Project_on_Fair_Representation#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration: none; background: none; white-space: nowrap;">[2]</a>The Project on Fair Representation funded the challenges in Supreme Court cases Shelby County v. Holder and Fisher v. University of Texas with funds from the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Lynde_and_Harry_Bradley_Foundation" title="Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation</a> funneled through <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Donors_Trust" title="Donors Trust" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Donors Trust</a>. Both challenges were organized by Ed Blum. In Shelby County v. Holder the Court's ruling severely limited the Voting Rights Act and Fisher v. University of Texas, which attacked university affirmative admissions programs, was differed to a lower court.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Project_on_Fair_Representation#cite_note-BrendansArt-1" style="text-decoration: none; background: none; white-space: nowrap;">[1]</a>
<div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1;"><div id="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><h2 style="background: none; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; display: inline; line-height: 1.3;">Contents</h2>  [<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Project_on_Fair_Representation#" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">hide</a>] </div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Project_on_Fair_Representation#Resources" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1 Resources</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Project_on_Fair_Representation#Related_Sourcewatch_pages" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1.1 Related Sourcewatch pages</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Project_on_Fair_Representation#External_Articles" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1.2 External Articles</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Project_on_Fair_Representation#References" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1.3 References</a></li></ul></li></ul></div><h2 linux="Linux" libertine="Libertine" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170);">Resources</h2><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: none; line-height: 1.6;">Related Sourcewatch pages</h3><ul data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Donors_Trust" title="Donors Trust" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Donors Trust</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Lynde_and_Harry_Bradley_Foundation" title="Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation</a></li></ul><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: none; line-height: 1.6;">External Articles</h3><ul data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Brendan Fischer, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/06/12142/bradley-foundation-challenging-affirmative-action-voting-rights-part-long-term-cr" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" background-position="background-position" right="right" center="center" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" repeat="repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">For Bradley Foundation, Challenging Affirmative Action & Voting Rights Is Part of Long-Term Crusade</a>, PR Watch, June 27, 2013.</li></ul><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: none; line-height: 1.6;">References</h3><ol class="references" style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li id="cite_note-BrendansArt-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Project_on_Fair_Representation#cite_ref-BrendansArt_1-0" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up to:1.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Project_on_Fair_Representation#cite_ref-BrendansArt_1-1" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1.1</a> Brendan Fischer, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/06/12142/bradley-foundation-challenging-affirmative-action-voting-rights-part-long-term-cr" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" style="text-decoration: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">For Bradley Foundation, Challenging Affirmative Action & Voting Rights Is Part of Long-Term Crusade</a>, PR Watch, June 27, 2013.</li><li id="cite_note-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Project_on_Fair_Representation#cite_ref-2" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Project on Fair Representation, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.projectonfairrepresentation.org/" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" style="text-decoration: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">About Us</a>, Fund website, accessed August 22, 2013.</li></ol></div><div></div><div>http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/06/12142/bradley-foundation-challenging-affirmative-action-voting-rights-part-long-term-cr</div><div>
</div><div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation is one-for-two in legal challenges to civil rights and racial equality this term, with the U.S. Supreme Court striking down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in one case bankrolled by Bradley, and in another, remanding an affirmative action case to a lower court, turning back the Bradley-backed challenge. The cases represent the latest in the Bradley Foundation's long-term effort to dismantle the gains of the civil rights era.In the 5-4 decision in Shelby County v. Holder, the Court effectively struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act, which had required states with a history of legalized racial discrimination to get pre-approval from the federal government before making changes to either voting laws or procedures. One day earlier, in Fisher v. University of Texas, the Court punted on a challenge to affirmative action, sending the case back to a lower court rather than outright prohibiting the consideration of race in college admissions.The challenges to both the Voting Rights Act and university affirmative action programs were organized by the same activist, who has acknowledged that he receives funding from the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bradley_Foundation" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Bradley Foundation</a> -- a Milwaukee-based funder of right-wing causes that has long targeted racial equity.<h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Same Group and Donors Behind Fisher and Shelby County Cases</h2>The <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/04/us-usa-court-casemaker-idUSBRE8B30V220121204" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">group that brought both challenges</a> is the Project on Fair Representation, a legal defense fund dedicated to reversing race-based legal protections and whose website says it devotes "all of its efforts to influencing jurisprudence, public policy, and public attitudes regarding race and ethnicity." The Project was founded and led by one person, Ed Blum, who coordinated the challenges in both the Fisher and Shelby County cases.Blum has likened his role in high-profile litigation to "Yenta the matchmaker." "I find the plaintiff, I find the lawyer, and I put them together, and then I worry about it for four years," he <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/us/edward-blum-and-the-project-on-fair-representation-head-to-the-supreme-court-to-fight-race-based-laws.html?pagewanted=all&r=0" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">said</a>.Blum urged Shelby County, Alabama, to bring its Section 5 challenge after the Department of Justice blocked its effort to dilute the voting power of its growing African-American population. He also connected with Abigail Fisher, a white student who was denied admission to the University of Texas at Austin and claimed it was because of her race. Blum was also behind the last Voting Rights Act challenge to make it to the Supreme Court, Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder.The Project on Fair Representation covered the legal fees in both the Shelby County and Fisher cases using funds filtered through the secretive Donors Trust, which has been <a href="http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/02/14/12181/donors-use-charity-push-free-market-policies-states" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">described as</a> a "Dark Money ATM" since it stealthily funnels money from the Kochs, Bradley and other funders to organizations in the right-wing network.Typically, the identity of Donors Trust funders remain secret, but <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/04/us-usa-court-casemaker-idUSBRE8B30V220121204" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">two of Blum's donors have been revealed</a>: the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, which gave at least $100,000 to bankroll Blum's latest legal challenges, and the Searle Freedom Trust, which for years has funded the Project on Fair Representation.Bradley, which is headed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's campaign chair Michael Grebe, hands out $30 million in grants each year, and its support of Blum's group is only one example of its long-term effort to roll-back both voting rights and affirmative action.<h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;">With Bradley-Funded Challenge, Court Eviscerates Voting Rights Act</h2>"Our country has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions," Roberts wrote in the Shelby County case, joined by four other conservative justices. "African- American voter turnout has come to exceed white voter turnout in five of the six States originally covered by §5 [of the Act], with a gap in the sixth State of less than one half of one percent."But Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the four dissenting justices, said: "In the Court's view, the very success of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act demands its dormancy." Invoking the words of Martin Luther King, Jr, she wrote: "'The arc of the moral universe is long,' he said, but 'it bends toward justice,' if there is a steadfast commitment to see the task through to completion. That commitment has been disserved by today's decision.""Hubris is a fit word for today's demolition of the VRA."Bradley's role in attacking voting rights is not limited to its support for Blum and his Project on Fair Representation.In advance of the 2012 elections, Bradley <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/11/11834/bradley-foundation-bankrolls-controversial-billboards-treading-controversial-new-" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">was revealed as the secret funder</a> that had bankrolled giant billboard ads, exclusively in neighborhoods of color, stating "Voter Fraud is a Felony" during a period when voter ID was on hold in Wisconsin and many were confused as to its status. It <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43105_Page3.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">funded groups</a> that employed James O'Keefe, whose heavily-edited undercover videos hyped voter fraud allegations and helped take down ACORN, which had helped millions of low-income people register to vote. It also funded the legal advocacy group that represented O'Keefe.Both Bradley and Searle have funded the American Legislative Exchange Council, which promoted voter ID laws in states across the country. And in the wake of Shelby County, ALEC-inspired voter ID bills and other restrictions will likely take effect across the South. <a href="http://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/voter-id" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">As many as eleven percent</a> of registered voters don't have government-issued photo ID and would be unable to vote under the laws, with those percentages even higher among communities of color and students.Bradley also backs state-based conservative think tanks like Wisconsin's MacIver Institute, which have advanced unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud to drum-up support for restrictive laws like voter ID. And it has given millions to groups like the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society, which have long hyped voter fraud and called for more restrictive voting measures.<h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Shelby County Means ALEC-Inspired Voter ID Law Will Be Implemented in Multiple States</h2><div class="clearfix" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As J. Christian Adams <a href="http://www.fed-soc.org/doclib/20130606_VoterIDWP6513.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">writes</a> in a publication from the Bradley-funded Federalist Society: "those states that fall under Section 5 will be able to enact voter identification laws without seeking clearance from the federal government."Indeed, just hours after Shelby County was published, Texas' Attorney General <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/06/25/2212281/two-hours-after-the-supreme-court-gutted-the-voting-rights-act-texas-ag-suppresses-minority-voters/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">announced</a> the state's ALEC-inspired voter ID law, which could disenfranchise up to 800,000 registered voters but was blocked by a federal court under Section 5 last year, would immediately take effect; <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/06/26/2216721/thanks-to-the-supreme-court-wendy-davis-will-probably-lose-her-senate-seat/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">so will the state's problematic redistricting map</a>, which had been blocked by a federal court due to its discriminatory impact.Mississippi voters will also be subjected to a voter ID requirement, since state officials need not wait for federal pre-clearance to implement a 2011 constitutional amendment. South Carolina's voter ID law, which was initially stalled by the DOJ, will also take effect. A <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/21/1622471/virginia-lawmakers-approve-strict-measure-requiring-voters-to-show-photo-id/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">strict voter ID law passed in Virginia this year</a> -- which likely would not have been pre-cleared under Section 5 -- can also be implemented without federal approval.True the Vote, whose poll watchers have been accused of voter suppression and which was awarded a $35,000 grant from Bradley in 2011 (later rescinded because the group hadn't received its 501(c)(3) status), <a href="http://www.truethevote.org/news/true-the-vote-statement-regarding-the-u-s-supreme-court-s-voting-rights-act-decision" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">stated</a>:"This is without doubt a step in the right direction for our Republic."<h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Hiccup for Bradley's Long Fight Against Affirmative Action</h2>The Bradley-funded effort to end affirmative action in the Fisher case was less successful than the attack on Section 5. The challenge to the University of Texas' admissions program was kicked back to a lower court for further proceedings, albeit with instructions that the court more strictly scrutinize the university policy. Affirmative action supporters didn't celebrate the decision, but breathed a sigh of relief that the Court didn't entirely ban consideration of race in college admissions.The case was only one front in the Bradley-funded war on affirmative action.It has been a top funder of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Individual_Rights" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Center for Individual Rights</a>, a right-wing legal organization that has <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/affirmative-racism#axzz2XMdZK9xJ" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">challenged affirmative action laws</a> across the country (and where Ann Coulter worked as a litigator in the 1990s). CIR litigated two of the most significant affirmative action cases in recent decades, Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger, both decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003. It had a major victory in the 1996 Hopwood v. Texas case in the 5th Circuit that radically reshaped diversity programs at the University of Texas -- potentially even banning recruitment of people of color -- until the decision was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. The group represented the sponsors of Proposition 209, the 2001 California referendum that eliminates affirmative action in state programs, among other efforts. Bradley has given at least $2 million to CIR since 1989.The Bradley Foundation has also given millions to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ward_Connerly" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Ward Connerley</a>'s anti-affirmative action "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Civil_Rights_Coalition" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">American Civil Rights Institute</a>," including $700,000 in 2001 to support the Proposition 209 ballot initiative, and in 2005 awarding Connerley a $250,000 "Bradley Prize." And it has consistently funded the National Association of Scholars, giving millions to the group whose mission is fighting affirmative action by building scholar networks and organizing conferences and panels on college campuses across the country.Bradley has also given over one million dollars to the "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Equal_Opportunity" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Center for Equal Opportunity</a>," whose activities include <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/09/11019/group-alleges-university-wisconsins-diversity-policies-are-discriminatory-protest" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">traveling the country</a> urging <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/10/11085/wisconsin-legislature-holds-hearings-affirmative-action-students-criticize-priori" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Republican legislators to crack down</a> on affirmative action programs, which it claims constitute "reverse discrimination."In 2011, a Center for Equal Opportunity representative <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/09/11019/group-alleges-university-wisconsins-diversity-policies-are-discriminatory-protest" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">claimed</a> the University of Wisconsin was guilty of "severe racial discrimination" -- a questionable assertion given that just 2.6 percent of the university's 42,180 students are African-American and 3.8 percent are Hispanic -- prompting protests from students already energized in opposition to the agenda of Governor Scott Walker, whose campaign chair and transition team leader was Bradley CEO and President Michael Grebe.<h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 2em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Bradley Foundation Is Not Going Away, and Neither Are These Fights</h2>The Bradley Foundation is one of the largest "philanthropic" organizations in the country and has funded an array of organizations advancing right-wing causes, ranging from school privatization (as documented by One Wisconsin Now at BradleyWatch.org) to <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/08/pdf/islamophobia.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Islamophobia</a>, union-busting, "tort reform" and other issues. Between 2001 and 2010 it gave <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/from-local-roots-bradley-foundation-builds-conservative-empire-k7337pb-134187368.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">over $350 million to hundreds of institutions</a>, which is nearly as much as the seven Koch and Scaife family foundations combined.(See a full list of Bradley Foundation contributions <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Contributions_of_the_Bradley_Foundation" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none;">here</a>).Which means the Bradley Foundation is not going anywhere anytime soon -- and battles over racial equity, voting rights, affirmative action and a range of other issues will continue to be funded and fought for years to come.</div></div></div></div>==

Michael W. Grebe

Born: c. <a href="http://www.nndb.com/lists/940/000105625/" class="proflink">1941</a>

Birthplace: <a href="http://www.nndb.com/geo/730/000147289/" class="proflink">Farmington, IL</a>

Gender: Male

Race or Ethnicity: White

Sexual orientation: Straight

Occupation: <a href="http://www.nndb.com/lists/206/000068999/" class="proflink">Attorney</a>

Party Affiliation: Republican <a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/235/000177701/#FN1">[1]</a>

Nationality: United States

Executive summary: President of the Bradley Foundation

Military service: US Army (Vietnam, seven years)

<a id="FN1" name="FN1">[1] Chairman, Republican Party of Washington. </a>

<a id="FN1" name="FN1">Wife: Peggy (d.)

Wife: Patricia Perry

Son: Michael M. Grebe (attorney)

</a>

<a id="FN1" name="FN1">    University: </a><a href="http://www.nndb.com/edu/725/000068521/">BA, US Military Academy, West Point (1962)</a>

Law School: <a href="http://www.nndb.com/edu/512/000068308/">JD, University of Michigan (1970)</a>

Administrator: <a href="http://www.nndb.com/edu/523/000068319/">Regent, University of Wisconsin System (as President)</a>

    Administrator: Past President, University School of Milwaukee

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/353/000058179/">Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation</a> President and CEO (2002-)

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/company/243/000124868/">Foley & Lardner</a> Chairman and CEO (1994-2002)

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/company/243/000124868/">Foley & Lardner</a> Partner (1977-2002)

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/company/243/000124868/">Foley & Lardner</a> (1970-77)

Member of the Board of DPL Inc. (2004-)

Member of the Board of <a href="http://www.nndb.com/company/732/000124360/">Oshkosh Truck</a> (1990-)

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/323/000172804/">Bush-Quayle '92</a> State Co-Chairman, Wisconsin

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/210/000213568/">Campaign America Inc.</a>

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/894/000051741/">Club for Growth</a>

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/493/000049346/">Hoover Institution</a> Board of Directors

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/683/000051530/">International Republican Institute</a> Board of Directors

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/519/000168015/">John McCain 2008</a>

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/803/000041680/">Order of the Coif</a>

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/735/000207114/">Philanthropy Roundtable</a> Board of Directors

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/209/000213567/">Reagan-Bush '84</a> State Chairman, Wisconsin

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/919/000055754/">Republican National Committee</a> General Counsel (1996-2000)

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/106/000355038/">Ryan for Congress</a>

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/023/000354955/">Romney Victory Inc.</a>

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/230/000168723/">Santorum 2006</a>

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/org/789/000118435/">State Bar of Wisconsin</a> 1970

Wisconsin Policy Research Institute Board of Directors

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/honors/280/000043151/">Bronze Star</a> two

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/honors/018/000111682/">Combat Infantryman Badge</a>

SPORTS FRANCHISE HISTORY

<a href="http://www.nndb.com/sports/625/000085370/">Milwaukee Brewers</a> Board of Directors

===

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_W.Grebe">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_W.Grebe</a>

Michael W. Grebe is president and CEO of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Lynde_and_Harry_Bradley_Foundation" title="Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation">Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation</a> in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Grebe served on the Bradley board of directors for six years prior to being named as president. Before joining the foundation, Mr. Grebe was the chairman and CEO of the law firm Foley & Lardner, where he was also a partner for more than 25 years. He is a Vietnam veteran and former <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_National_Committee" title="Republican National Committee">Republican National Committee</a> representative for Wisconsin. Grebe has served a stint at the United States Military Academy, on the Wisconsin Board of Veterans Affairs, the University of Wisconsin’s Board of Regents, Stanford’s Hoover Institution, the Oshkosh Truck Company, and the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club. In 2011, he served on the board of The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Philanthropy_Roundtable" title="Philanthropy Roundtable">Philanthropy Roundtable</a>.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_W._Grebe#cite_note-0">[1]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2>

[<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_W._Grebe#" class="internal" id="togglelink">hide</a>] </div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_W._Grebe#Sourcewatch_resources">1 Sourcewatch resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_W._Grebe#External_resources">2 External resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_W._Grebe#Contact">3 Contact</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_W._Grebe#References">4 References</a></li>

</ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2>Sourcewatch resources</h2>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Lynde_and_Harry_Bradley_Foundation" title="Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation">Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_National_Committee" title="Republican National Committee">Republican National Committee</a></li>

</ul>

<h2>External resources</h2>

<h2>Contact</h2>

<h2>References</h2>

<li id="cite_note-0"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_W._Grebe#cite_ref-0">↑</a> Philanthropy Roundtable <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/content.asp?contentid=572">Biographies A-L</a>, Philanthropy Roundtable organizational web site, "Past Meetings" (biographies), accessed April 20, 2011</li>

</ol>

<div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories">Categories</a>:

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Stubs" title="Category:Stubs">Stubs</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Foundations" title="Category:Foundations">Foundations</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading" lang="en">Michael W. Grebe</h1>

<div id="siteSub">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div>

<div id="jump-to-nav" class="mw-jump">Jump to: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#mw-navigation">navigation</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#p-search">search</a></div>

Michael W. Grebe is an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States">American</a> lawyer, businessman and conservative activist.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-forbes-1">[1]</a> He served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the law firm <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foley%26_Lardner" title="Foley & Lardner">Foley & Lardner</a> from 1994 to 2002.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-business-2">[2]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-forbes-1">[1]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-oshkosh-3">[3]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-scottwalker-4">[4]</a> Since 2002, he has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Foundation" title="Bradley Foundation">Bradley Foundation</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-bradley-5">[5]</a> He is also Chairman of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philanthropy_Roundtable" title="Philanthropy Roundtable">Philanthropy Roundtable</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-philanthropy-6">[6]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W._Grebe#cite_note-scottwalker-4">[4]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2>

</div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W._Grebe#Biography">1 Biography</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W._Grebe#Early_life">1.1 Early life</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W._Grebe#Career">1.2 Career</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W._Grebe#Personal_life">1.3 Personal life</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W._Grebe#References">2 References</a></li>

</ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2>Biography</h2>

<h3>Early life</h3>

Grebe grew up in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois" title="Illinois">Illinois</a> and played quarterback on his high school football team.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-sentinel-7">[7]</a> He graduated from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Military_Academy" title="United States Military Academy">United States Military Academy</a> and received a J.D. from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Michigan_Law_School" title="University of Michigan Law School">University of Michigan Law School</a>, magna cum laude.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-business-2">[2]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-philanthropy-6">[6]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-sentinel-7">[7]</a> He served in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army" title="United States Army">United States Army</a> during the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War" title="Vietnam War">Vietnam War</a> and was later awarded the Combat Infantryman’s Badge and two Bronze Stars.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-philanthropy-6">[6]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-sentinel-7">[7]</a>

<h3>Career</h3>

He joined the law firm Foley & Lardner in 1970, and became a partner in 1977, focusing on corporate and financial law.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-business-2">[2]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-philanthropy-6">[6]</a> He served as Chairman and CEO from 1994, until he retired in 2002, when he became Chairman and CEO of the Bradley Foundation.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-business-2">[2]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-oshkosh-3">[3]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-philanthropy-6">[6]</a> He also serves as Chairman of the Philanthropy Roundtable.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-business-2">[2]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-oshkosh-3">[3]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-philanthropy-6">[6]</a>

He has served on the Board of Directors of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshkosh_Corporation" title="Oshkosh Corporation">Oshkosh Corporation</a> since 1990.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-oshkosh-3">[3]</a> He also sits on the Board of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Church_Mutual_Insurance_Company&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Church Mutual Insurance Company (page does not exist)">Church Mutual Insurance Company</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-business-2">[2]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-oshkosh-3">[3]</a> He is a former member and President of the Board of Regents for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Wisconsin" title="University of Wisconsin" class="mw-redirect">University of Wisconsin</a> System and past member and chairman of the Board of Visitors of his alma mater, the United States Military Academy.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-philanthropy-6">[6]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-scottwalker-4">[4]</a> He has also sat on the Board of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Institution" title="Hoover Institution">Hoover Institution</a> at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_University" title="Stanford University">Stanford University</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee_Brewers" title="Milwaukee Brewers">Milwaukee Brewers</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball" title="Baseball">baseball</a> club.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-scottwalker-4">[4]</a> He sits on the Board of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charter_School_Growth_Fund&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Charter School Growth Fund (page does not exist)">Charter School Growth Fund</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-philanthropy-6">[6]</a> He sits on the publication committee of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Affairs" title="National Affairs">National Affairs</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-8">[8]</a>

He is a former general counsel to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_National_Committee" title="Republican National Committee">Republican National Committee</a> and was the Republican National Committeeman for Wisconsin from 1984 to 2002.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-philanthropy-6">[6]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-scottwalker-4">[4]</a> He was a delegate to Republican National Conventions from 1984 to 2000.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-philanthropy-6">[6]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-scottwalker-4">[4]</a> In 2010, he chaired <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Walker%28politician%29" title="Scott Walker (politician)">Scott Walker</a>'s campaign for governorship of Wisconsin.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-scottwalker-4">[4]</a>

<h3>Personal life</h3>

Grebe's first wife, Peggy, died in 2003.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-sentinel-7">[7]</a> He got remarried to Patricia Perry and they have one son and one daughter.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-philanthropy-6">[6]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_note-sentinel-7">[7]</a> They live in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee,Wisconsin" title="Milwaukee, Wisconsin" class="mw-redirect">Milwaukee, Wisconsin</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W._Grebe#cite_note-philanthropy-6">[6]</a>

<h2>References</h2>

<li id="cite_note-forbes-1">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-forbes_1-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-forbes_1-1">b</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/michael-grebe-1/">Forbes profile</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-business-2">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-business_2-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-business_2-1">b</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-business_2-2">c</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-business_2-3">d</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-business_2-4">e</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-business_2-5">f</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=613622&privcapId=4916222&previousCapId=294167&previousTitle=OSHKOSH%20CORP">Bloomberg BusinessWeek</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-oshkosh-3">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-oshkosh_3-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-oshkosh_3-1">b</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-oshkosh_3-2">c</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-oshkosh_3-3">d</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W._Grebe#cite_ref-oshkosh_3-4">e</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.oshkoshcorporation.com/about/corporategovernance%7Edirectorsofficers.cfm">Oshkosh Corporation Board of Directors</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-scottwalker-4">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-scottwalker_4-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-scottwalker_4-1">b</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-scottwalker_4-2">c</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-scottwalker_4-3">d</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-scottwalker_4-4">e</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-scottwalker_4-5">f</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W._Grebe#cite_ref-scottwalker_4-6">g</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.scottwalker.org/news/2009/06/walker-campaign-announces-michael-grebe-will-chair-campaign">Walker Campaign: Announces Michael Grebe will chair campaign</a>, ScottWalker.org, June 29, 2009</li>

<li id="cite_note-bradley-5"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W._Grebe#cite_ref-bradley_5-0">^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.bradleyfdn.org/board_of_directors.asp">The Bradley Foundation Board of Directors</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-philanthropy-6">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-philanthropy_6-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-philanthropy_6-1">b</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-philanthropy_6-2">c</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-philanthropy_6-3">d</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-philanthropy_6-4">e</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-philanthropy_6-5">f</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-philanthropy_6-6">g</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-philanthropy_6-7">h</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-philanthropy_6-8">i</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-philanthropy_6-9">j</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-philanthropy_6-10">k</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-philanthropy_6-11">l</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/who_we_are/board/michael_w_grebe">Philanthropy Roundtable Board of Directors</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-sentinel-7">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-sentinel_7-0">a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-sentinel_7-1">b</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-sentinel_7-2">c</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W.Grebe#cite_ref-sentinel_7-3">d</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W._Grebe#cite_ref-sentinel_7-4">e</a> Daniel Bice, Bill Glauber, Ben Poston, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/from-local-roots-bradley-foundation-builds-conservative-empire-k7337pb-134187368.html">From local roots, Bradley Foundation builds conservative empire</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee_Journal_Sentinel" title="Milwaukee Journal Sentinel">Milwaukee Journal Sentinel</a>, November 19, 2011</li>

<li id="cite_note-8"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_W._Grebe#cite_ref-8">^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nationalaffairs.com/about_us/">National Affairs Publication Committee</a></li>

</ol>

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===

early TP hist/koch:

<h2 style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">State and Local Involvement</h2>

Information is surprisingly scant for an organization with so many high-profile members and funders. As of March 2011, there is no Web site (it looks as if it was taken down) and the only contact information found is the email address: info@wisconsinprosperity network.com.

Mark Pitsch, a reporter at the Wisconsin State Journal, wrote an in-depth article in May 2009 about the then newly-formed Wisconsin Prosperity Network. In the article, Pitsch describes the group as, "dubbed the Wisconsin Prosperity Network, the effort calls for an annual budget of $6.4 million and the creation of 14 new organizations, according to a draft outline of the network obtained by the State Journal."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#cite_note-91" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[91]</a> The draft shows that these groups, existing outside of the Republican National or State Parties, recruits local and state candidates, mobilizes voters, uses lawsuits to advance conservative issues in court, researches public policy issues and fights perceived media bias towards the left.

</div>

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/First_Freedoms_Foundation" title="First Freedoms Foundation" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">First Freedoms Foundation</a> is another group on the AFP-Wisconsin Web site that has a similar Board Member as reported by the Wisconsin State Journal article, "New Wisconsin Prosperity Network group would push GOP causes."

AFP has also worked to take over schools boards in North Carolina, Colorado, and Wisconsin.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#cite_note-93" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[93]</a>

<h3 style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Local and State Leaders</h3>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">James Klauster - Klauster is a GOP power broker and top aide to former Gov. Tommy Thompson. He is also a Chairman on the The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute Inc. board and Senior Vice President at Wisconsin Energy Corp. He was a consultant from 1992 to 1996 for the Republican National Committee and Republican Governors Association, a General Chairman of the Thompson for Governor Committee, Co-Chairman of the Bush for President-Wisconsin committee in 2000 and as Chairman in 2004.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#cite_note-95" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[95]</a> Klauser and his wife Shirley have given $96,683.45 to Wisconsin politicians since 1992.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#cite_note-96" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[96]</a></li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_Grebe" title="Michael Grebe" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">Michael Grebe</a> - Grebe is the Bradley Foundation President and Chairman of the Republican Party of Washington.He also served on the Commission on Judicial Elections and Ethics board in 1997. Grebe is also the former boss of Barack Obama at <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.foley.com/" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); outline: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC) 100% 50% no-repeat;">Foley & Lardner LLP</a>. He also chaired Scott Walker's electoral campaigns. Grebe and his wife Margaret have given $120,850 to Wisconsin politicians since 1992.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#cite_note-97" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[97]</a></li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Fred Luber – Luber is a businessman and the founder and chairman of Super Steel Corp. He also is a MacIver Institute Chair, was a Scott Walker Campaign Finance Co-Chair and founder of the Anne And Fred Luber Foundation. He also served on the Commission on Judicial Elections and Ethics board in 1997. Luber and his wife Anne has given $114,973 to Wisconsin politicians since 1992.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#cite_note-98" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[98]</a></li>

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<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mark_Block" title="Mark Block" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Mark Block</a> – Former President of Americans for Prosperity Wisconsin chapter, Main organizer of Wisconsin Prosperity Network, on the Board of Directors of the MacIver Institute and the First Freedoms Foundation. In 2008, Block was appointed a member of the Wisconsin Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He was also a consultant and fundraiser in the past with Mark Block and Associates, and did fundraising and consulting for Presidential candidates like George W. Bush and Governors like Tommy Thompson and Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices Janine Geske and Jon Wilcox. The Wilcox campaign that Block managed holds the record for the highest paid election law penalties in Wisconsin history. Block settled the case brought against him in 2001 by the State Elections Board for illegal campaign activity - illegally raising $200,000 with a front group pretending to operate independently from a political party. Block paid $15,000 in fines and had to stay away from Wisconsin political campaigns for three years; The leader of the front group paid $35,000 and was banned from Wisconsin politics for five years; And Jon Wilcox paid $10,000 in fines.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#cite_note-99" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[99]</a> Block was also involved in a "voter caging" controversy in Wisconsin during the 2010 elections.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#cite_note-100" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[100]</a> The Center for Media and Democracy filed a letter with the Internal Revenue Service, requesting that it investigate Block's Prosperity USA, a nonprofit organization that spent money on Herman Cain's presidential campaign.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#cite_note-101" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[101]</a> Block has given $5,643.19 to Wisconsin politicians since 1992.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#cite_note-102" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[102]</a></li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Scott Jensen – Jensen is the former Chief of Staff for Tommy Tompson between 1990 to 1992. He was voted into the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1991 - 2006. Jensen was the former Assembly Speaker from 1995 - 2002. He is also an advisor on the American Federation for Children Government Team.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#cite_note-103" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[103]</a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#cite_note-104" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[104]</a> Jensen was convicted of three felonies and a misdemeanor in 2002, facing prison time for "misconduct in public office on accusations of using state resources and state workers to campaign for Assembly Republicans in 1998 and 2000 elections."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#cite_note-105" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[105]</a> In 2010, Jensen reached a plea deal after his original sentence was overturned for a technicality.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#cite_note-106" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[106]</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/112195794.html" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); outline: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs+9AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC) 100% 50% no-repeat;">The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel</a> reported that "Jensen resolved the criminal case against him involving misconduct in office charges by agreeing Monday to pay a $5,000 civil forfeiture and reimbursing the state $67,174 in legal fees initially borne by taxpayers, according to a plea deal."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#cite_note-107" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[107]</a> Jensen has given $3,090 to Wisconsin politicians since 1992.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#cite_note-108" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[108]</a></li>

</ul>

<h3 style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Complaints About AFP's Activities</h3>

<p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On February 23, 2012, Wisconsin Democrats filed a complaint with the Government Accountability Board and the Internal Revenue Service about AFP's activities in the state. The complaint was issued in response to comments made by David Koch in an interview with the the Palm Beach Post. Koch acknowledged his efforts to aid Scott Walker's campaign to win the likely recall election he will be facing this spring, stating that "We've spent a lot of money in Wisconsin. We're going to spend a lot more." As a 501(c)(3), AFP is not allowed to engage in "activities which constitute participation or intervention in a political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to a candidate," so Koch's comments suggest that AFP's activities may be unlawful.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#cite_note-109" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[109]</a> Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate also called on television stations airing AFP ads to immediately remove the ads from their broadcasts. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#cite_note-110" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[110]</a>

<h2 style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#Americans_for_Prosperity_and_the_Tea_Party" style=" text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity#Americans_for_Prosperity_and_the_Tea_Party</a></h2>

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Grebe

Attachments