Featured Work

Talent Market: The Libertarian Headhunting Firm Serving the Koch Network and the Bradley Foundation Looking for a job with the billionaire Koch Brothers? Want to help the Bradley Foundation build right-wing infrastructure" nationwide to turn red states blue? Look no further than "Talent Market" the nonprofit head hunting firm that claims to bring "talent and liberty together to make the world a better place." Talent Market's list of clients is a "who's who" of the far right, including the Koch's Americans for Prosperity Foundation, the American Legislative Exchange Council and the Ayn Rand Institute. Current job openings advertised on the website include openings at the Charles Koch Institute, the Charles Koch Foundation, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the State Policy Network, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). Read the rest of this item here. Bradley Foundation Bankrolls Chairman Art Pope's Extreme Agenda in North Carolina The Center for Media and Democracy has been pulling back the curtain on the Bradley Foundation's efforts to advance an extreme right-wing agenda in the states. Besides Wisconsin, one of the foundation's favorite states appears to be North Carolina, home to GOP mega-donor Art Pope, who is also the new chairman of the Bradley Foundation Board. Pope is the multimillionaire CEO and Chairman of Variety Wholesalers, a discount store in 15 Southern states. Pope is a founding board member and prominent funder of David and Charles Koch’s astroturf campaign operation, Americans for Prosperity, earning him the nickname Koch Jr. by critics. Read the rest of this item here. Where is the "Justice" in Sessions' DOJ? AG Jeff Sessions Image: Gage Skidmore CC BY-SA 2.0 Attorney General Jeff Sessions may be skipping House and Senate Appropriations Committee hearings today in order to explain his actions in the Russiagate scandal to the Senate Intelligence Committee, but that shouldn't stop members of Congress from demanding answers about what has become of the "Justice" in the Department of Justice. Let's face it, the department's legacy of protecting civil rights lies in shambles after only four months under Sessions' leadership. Read the rest of this item here. Scott Pruitt's Other Email Account EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt told the US Senate during his confirmation hearing that he only had one official email account while Attorney General of Oklahoma. Emails obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) through an Oklahoma public records request show he actually had a second undisclosed email account. The two accounts that he used were scott.pruitt@oag.ok.gov and esp@oag.ok.gov. ESP are Scott Pruitt's initials, his first name is Edward. Below are the emails that CMD obtained from that previously unknown "esp" account. Read the rest of this item here. WILL’s Faulty School Voucher Study Cheered by Other Bradley Funded Groups A recent foray into education "research" by the Bradley Foundation's Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) is a case study not only in politically motivated research, but also in how the Bradley-funded echo chamber operates to inflate questionable claims and stave off critics. The Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation is perhaps best known for its advocacy of private and religious school vouchers. Bradley was instrumental in creating the nation's first voucher "experiment" in Milwaukee in 1990. A new cache of internal Bradley documents has come to light, which pull back the curtain on the $835 million organization and its efforts to advance school privatization, attack teachers unions and construct right-wing "infrastructure" nationwide. Read the rest of this item here.

Recent Articles from PRWatch.org

Koch Convention to Rewrite Constitution Runs Into Roadblocks This year's legislative season saw a strong push in the states from right-wing groups, bankrolled by the Koch brothers and other ultra-conservative billionaires, hoping to convene a national constitutional convention in order to inject rigid fiscal constraints into our country's founding document. Advocates of a federal "balanced budget amendment" (BBA) picked up two more states, Wyoming and Arizona, in their drive to win the 34 resolutions needed to bypass Congress and convene a convention to propose changes to the U.S. Constitution. That momentum, however, was blunted by surprisingly successful campaigns to rescind convention calls in three states. Read the rest of this item here. Tucker Carlson, His "Charity," and the Trump Campaign Cash Tucker Carlson, FOX News' new primetime anchor, received a six-figure sum from the Donald Trump campaign for president through his Daily Caller operation--which rented out its email list to Trump--according to Center for Media and Democracy's newest investigation. CMD estimates the amount to be $150K in cash from the campaign to Daily Caller, which paid Carlson an untold sum. CMD's investigation also uncovered troubling information about how Carlson's non-profit charity, the Daily Caller News Foundation, benefits his private for-profit media site, The Daily Caller. Read the rest of this item here. The Men Who Sold the World: Kochs Call the Tune for Trump, GOP on Climate When he withdrew from the Paris Accords last week, Donald Trump gave a speech so filled with falsehoods that it triggered detailed rebuttals by publications ranging from Politifact to Scientific American. The Washington Post's "Fact Checker" column, which hands out "Pinocchios" for false or misleading statements, was forced to note that "we do not award Pinocchios in roundups of speeches." But by then Trump probably had more Pinocchios than the Disneyland gift shop. But Trump is not the only truth-denier in the Republican Party. Read the rest of this item here.

Popular SourceWatch Articles

SourceWatch's home page is the top landing page in this website. Here are some of the other hot pages: our portal on Outsourcing America Exposed, our article on the Existing U.S. Coal Plants, our article on ALEC Corporations, our article on Koch Industries, our article on Monsanto, and our article on Fracking and water pollution. Get breaking news on these and other issues here, "Like" us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @PRwatch and @ALECexposed."

Exposed by CMD

Bradley Foundation Fueled "Independent Women's Forum" Campaign Against Paid Sick Leave Laws The Bradley Files provide new insights into who underwrote recent efforts to undermine popular public policies that help women and families, such as paid sick leave laws. The Bradley Foundation did, through funding the controversial Independent Women's Forum. The files indicate that Bradley gave the Independent Women's Forum more than one million dollars over the years. That includes nearly half a million dollars in the past three years in response to its proposals for a campaign against public support for requiring paid sick leave, providing better child care policies, addressing the wage gap, and ensuring Americans can access life-saving medical treatment through the Affordable Care Act. Read the rest of this item here. Reagan vs. Cities: The Battle Over South African Apartheid and Lessons for the Trump Era With the Trump administration threatening to withhold federal funds from cities and states offering protections to undocumented immigrants, a new report details similar tactics used by the Reagan administration to pressure cities and states to abandon anti-apartheid sanctions and divestment legislation. The report "Reagan vs. Cities: The 20th Century Battle Over South African Apartheid & Lessons For The Trump Era" provides historical examples of how cities and states can wield power in the face of threats of retaliation for local policies that defy a president's political agenda. Read the rest of this item here.

Featured SourceWatch Article

SourceWatch.org is an interactive wiki website that depends on readers like you to improve content. If you want to help us grow SourceWatch with well documented research and become a volunteer editor, click here for more information. Excerpts from longer SourceWatch article: Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation (LHBF), formerly known as the Allen-Bradley Foundation, was established in 1942, describing itself as "a private, independent grantmaking organization based in Milwaukee." According to the foundation's 1998 Annual Report and a 2011 report by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation gives away more than $30 million per year. In November 2013, One Wisconsin Now and the Center for Media and Democracy reported that the Bradley Foundation had given over $500 million to conservative "public-policy experiments" since 2000. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "from 2001 to 2009, it [Bradley] doled out nearly as much money as the seven Koch and Scaife foundations combined." Read the entire SourceWatch page on the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. References

Editors' Pick

Obstruction of Justice Evidence Mounts In the world of presidential scandals, "obstruction of justice" is kind of a big deal. Sure, President Nixon was responsible for overseeing the illegal break-in at the Democrat's Watergate Hotel headquarters and siccing the IRS on his political enemies. But the #1 Article of Impeachment against him? That Nixon, in violation of his oath of office to defend the Constitution and his duty to faithfully execute the laws of the United States, "prevented, obstructed, and impeded the administration of justice." By this standard, President Trump is in big trouble. Read the rest of this item here.

Featured Video
Days After Pruitt Becomes EPA Head, Newly Released Emails Show His Ties to Koch Bros. & Energy Firms
Days After Pruitt Becomes EPA Head, Newly Released Emails Show His Ties to Koch Bros. & Energy Firms February 23, 2017 - Democracy Now! Thousands of pages of newly released emails reveal how EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt closely collaborated with oil, coal and gas companies backed by the Koch brothers to roll back environmental regulations during his time as Oklahoma attorney general. The documents were released just days after Pruitt was sworn in as the new head of the EPA, the agency tasked with curtailing pollution and safeguarding public health. Last week, Senate Democrats unsuccessfully attempted to postpone Pruitt’s final confirmation until the emails were released, but Republicans pressed forward and confirmed him in a 52-46 vote, largely along party lines. As Oklahoma attorney general, Pruitt sued the EPA 14 times. The trove of new documents shows how energy companies drafted language for Pruitt’s Attorney General’s Office to use to sue the EPA over environmental regulations. We speak to Lisa Graves, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, which successfully sued for the emails to be released.

Koch Exposed

Follow the Money! The Center for Media and Democracy, publisher of ALEC Exposed, brings you this unique wiki resource on the billionaire industrialists and the power and influence of the Koch cadre and Koch cash. Read about Koch Funding Vehicles: Koch Family Foundations Koch Network Freedom Partners Knowledge and Progress Fund American Encore DonorsTrust Donors Capital TC4 Trust Visit Koch Exposed for more.

We Track Corporations and PR Spin

The Center for Media and Democracy publishes SourceWatch to track corporations. We provide well-documented information about corporate public relations (PR) campaigns, including corporate front groups, people who "front" corporate campaigns, and PR operations. Dating back to when tobacco companies deployed doctors to try to prevent labeling of cancer-causing cigarettes, many corporations use the "tobacco playbook" to hide behind neutral-looking "experts" as well as think tanks or non-profits in their efforts to influence or distort public policy to protect their bottom line or agenda--often a narrow agenda at odds with the broader public interest. This specialized encyclopedia watches those sources and provides detailed information about corporations and special interests, using the collaborative "wiki" platform, like Wikipedia. CMD relies on concerned citizens like you to keep this research online. You can contribute here. Please visit SourceWatch's sister websites EXPOSEDbyCMD, to find our investigations and original documents we release, PRWatch, to read our original reporting, and ALECexposed, to see our award-winning investigation of a corporate front group where corporate lobbyists actually vote as equals with elected legislators on "model" legislation to change our rights. Also, please check out the in-depth research from around the world by our partner projects within SourceWatch: CoalSwarm and FrackSwarm. You can also use the sign up box below to get breaking news about our breakthrough investigations. — Lisa Graves, Executive Director

Praise for SourceWatch!

"As a journalist frequently on the receiving end of various PR campaigns, some of them based on disinformation, others front groups for undisclosed interests, [CMD's SourceWatch] is an invaluable resource." —Michael Pollan, author of The Botany of Desire "Thanks for all your help. There's no way I could have done my piece on big PR and global warming without CMD [the Center for Media and Democracy] and your fabulous websites." —Zoe Cormier, journalist, Canada "The troublemakers at the Center for Media and Democracy, for example, point to dozens of examples of "greenwashing," which they defined as the "unjustified appropriation of environmental virtue by a company, an industry, a government or even a non-government organization to sell a product, a policy" or rehabilitate an image. In the center's view, many enterprises labeled green don't deserve the name. —Jack Shafer, "Green Is the New Yellow: On the excesses of 'green' journalism," Slate. "The dearth of information on the [U.S.] government [lobbying] disclosure forms about the other business-backed coalitions comes in stark contrast to the data about them culled from media reports, websites, press releases and Internal Revenue Service documents and posted by SourceWatch, a website that tracks advocacy groups." —Jeanne Cummings, 'New disclosure reports lack clarity," Politico. "The folks at the Center for Media and Democracy have done incredible work documenting fake grassroots ("astroturf") groups. Here, they're helping protect the rights of all Americans to exercise their right to vote. They are completely non-partisan. These guys are the real deal." —Craig Newmark, Craig's List

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