NEW: CMD & today submitted a complaint to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics calling for an investigation into Sen. Ron Johnson’s abuse of his official position as chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
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The Center for Media and Democracy (PRWatch, ALECexposed, SourceWatch) is a national watchdog group that investigates corruption and corporate front groups.
Exposed by CMD’s posts
BREAKING: DonorsTrust, a popular funding vehicle for wealthy conservatives, gave a huge donation to a notorious white nationalist organization, American Renaissance, in 2020, according to tax records we obtained.
NEW: CMD has launched Insurrection Exposed, a new resource that provides more than 250 profiles of the politicians, leaders, and dark money groups that orchestrated the Jan. 6 insurrection and are laying the groundwork to subvert future elections.
CMD is filing a lawsuit today in OK, seeking release of Scott Pruitt's emails with energy corps. reuters.com/article/us-usa #scottpruitt
NEW: The right-wing Convention of States says it's close to achieving enough supermajority control over state legislatures to make sweeping changes to the U.S. Constitution, even though its views aren't popular.
Pruitt has released just 411 of 3,000+ emails with coal, oil and gas corps. What is he hiding? youtu.be/Tx_HaiDzwJY #PollutingPruitt
NEW: The Center for Media and Democracy has learned that Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Oz’s political fortunes have been boosted in part by Charles Koch’s big investment last year in a company Oz co-founded, Sharecare, a digital health platform.
Replying to
The full complaint is published below:
"This is what democracy looks like!" thousands chant outside U.S. Capitol. #DemocracyAwakening #DemocracySpring
0:19
PRESS RELEASE: CMD releases “Convention of State Politicians,” a new report documenting how a constitutional convention would give hand-picked GOP delegates supermajority control over any proposed amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
MSNBC's covers CMD lawsuit, says #ScottPruitt has been illegally withholding thousands of pages of emails for years. #climatefacts
"A current member of the Conservative Action Project told me that Ginni Thomas is part of the group not because of her qualifications but 'because she’s married to Clarence.' The member asked to have his name withheld because, he said, Ginni is 'volatile'"
newyorker.com/magazine/2022/
NEW: In 2021, a fleet of 27 organizations controlled by Charles Koch and other Koch Industries executives spent a combined net total of $656.8 million on political and charitable causes.
#KochExposed
How Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's wife Ginni Thomas and the Christian Right Council for National Policy Advanced the Election Disinformation Campaign via
rightwingwatch.org/post/how-ginni
NEW: The terrorist who killed 10 Black people in Buffalo got his extreme ideas from orgs such as VDARE and American Renaissance—two white nationalist hate groups that are funded by rightwing dark money vehicle DonorsTrust.
. tried to steal #Wisconsin special elections by not scheduling them. But after sounded the alarm and sued, Democrat won a WI Senate district Trump won by 18 #WIpolitics
ICYMI: ALEC claims that it "doesn't work on voting issues," but its CEO Lisa Nelson told a very different story to her audience at a secretive Christian Right meeting in May. CMD obtained and published video of her remarks.
#ALECExposed
NEW: GOP megadonors are bankrolling the campaigns of the most extreme politicians in the country, including several who are affiliated with white nationalists and promote the "Great Replacement" theory.
BREAKING: Previously withheld #Pruitt polluter emails released under court order in CMD lawsuit now up online here.
NEW: At least 224 state lawmakers affiliated with the American Legislative Exchange Council are enrolled in one or more far-right Facebook group, the Center for Media and Democracy has found.
#ALECExposed
"Financial records detailed by reporter Alex Kotch for the Center for Media and Democracy and published in The Guardian show that Manchin makes roughly half a million dollars a year in dividends from millions of dollars of coal company stock he owns."
thenation.com/article/enviro
. Fundraised With Health Insurance Lobbying Firm Just Before His PowerPoint exposedbycmd.org/2017/03/10/pau … #PaulRyan #ACA #Obamacare
Right-wing PragerU "has aggressively fundraised for PragerU Resources for Educators and Parents (PREP), a new education program targeted directly at school-age children....PragerU now has videos aimed at children as young as kindergarten age."
Wisconsin now 40th in the nation in job growth thanks to Scott Walker host.madison.com/wsj/business/w #ItsNotWorking
NEW: At a Council for National Policy conference in May, top legislative members of took credit for advancing bills to severely restrict abortion access and target trans students in their states.
Ronald Cameron, the CEO of Mountaire, donated $1 million to the political arm of Koch’s astroturf group Americans for Prosperity Action (AFP Action) in 2021, and has given the group $8.5 million since 2017.
NEW: ALEC forum sponsored by the $934.4 million Bradley Foundation promotes manufactured controversy over the factual teaching of racism in K-12 schools, including model bills for lawmakers to take home.
#ALECinCA #ALECExposed
BREAKING: The Maine Ethics Commission voted today to authorize an investigation into whether the ALEC violated state campaign finance laws by providing valuable voter management software to its legislative members for free as a “membership benefit.”
. #SCOTUS vacancy "I'm amused when strict interpreters of the Constitution read new provisions into it"
BREAKING: "Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Wednesday sued Exxon Mobil Corp., Koch Industries and the American Petroleum Institute, saying they have long deceived consumers over the effects of climate change."
#KochExposed #ClimateEmergency
startribune.com/minnesota-file
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The same actors that promoted Trump’s Big Lie of a stolen election & orchestrated multiple attempts to overturn the 2020 election results are still hard at work spreading disinformation about our elections and chipping away at the firewalls that prevented disaster in 2020.
Catching up on the assault on Democracy planned for Wisconsin lame duck session? Read this thread from twitter.com/benwikler/stat #wiunion #wipolitics
Quote
BREAKING—as in breaking democracy: a truly shocking & naked power grab underway in Wisconsin. Dems won every statewide race this Nov. Now, the GOP unveiled sweeping bills to straightjacket the Gov & AG, stomp on early voting, & lock in power on state Sup Court. Votes THIS TUE. 1/
ICYMI: Charles Koch’s Americans for Prosperity announced a multi-million dollar grassroots campaign to drum up nationwide opposition to President Biden’s infrastructure plan, even as its final details remain unannounced.
#KochExposed
Fed. court ruling in #WI partisan gerrymandering case has huge national implications prwatch.org/news/2016/11/1 #climate #1u #vote #wipolitics
ICYMI: GOP megadonor Dick Uihlein's PAC spent $5 mil in the 1st quarter, including $500K on a television ad buy attacking Biden and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) for rising gas prices.
"The leaked video reveals the extent to which Heritage is leading a massive campaign to draft and pass model legislation restricting voting access, which has been swiftly adopted this year in the battleground states"
motherjones.com/politics/2021/
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Insurrection Exposed will help readers, researchers, & writers keep track of who’s behind these assaults on democracy &, importantly, how they are related. CMD will continue to add info & profiles to the site as events unfold. Plus, relationship mapping & state pages coming soon!
Replying to
DonorsTrust also gave $75,000 to prominent white nationalist hate group VDARE last year as well.
That's after 2019, when DonorsTrust gave a record $1.5 million to VDARE.
DonorsTrust is by far the biggest known funder of white nationalist hate.
CMD obtained the list of high-powered lawyers, pastors, and corporate leaders that funded the Christian Right Council for National Policy's 40th Anniversary celebration and published it.
.'s austerity policies dropped WI from 31st to 40th in job growth host.madison.com/wsj/business/w @pfaw
NEW: A myriad of right-wing groups with millions in funding from the Bradley Foundation and Charles Koch is pushing for the elimination of the income tax in Wisconsin.
#KochExposed #BradleyFiles #wipolitics
NEW: Major companies and law firms, including General Motors, Google, Facebook, and Holland & Knight, signed statements supporting voting rights while funding the Republican State Leadership Committee, which aggressively backs voter restrictions.
Sentiment expressed by many at mass rally for #immigrant rights in Madison #WisconsinIsNotArizona #wipolitics #1u
BREAKING: The Center for Media and Democracy joins over 300 orgs in demanding companies pull funding from the American Legislative Exchange Council for its role in crafting new voting restrictions proposed throughout the United States.
#ALECExposed
"Gov. Stitt signed a bill allowing companies to self-audit their compliance with environmental regulations and seal the records...29 other states also have them." The bill is based on ALEC model legislation.
kgou.org/post/oklahoma-
#ALECExposed
New research reveals that both House Republicans & the witnesses they’ve called to kick off “ESG month”—a series of GOP-led hearings intent on preventing companies from responding to the climate crisis—have deep financial ties to the fossil fuel industry.
PUBLISHED with
Congresswoman Deb Haaland has faced hostile questioning from senators during her confirmation for interior secretary. Some of them are personally invested in fossil fuels.
NEW: Mark Meckler, an ally of the Mercer family who co-founded the Tea Party Patriots and runs Convention of States Action, is one of two people currently in charge of the far-right social media app Parler.
NEW: CMD has identified six state lawmakers affiliated with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) who were recently active members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
#ALECExposed
Court Rules Newly Confirmed #EPA Head Must Release Thousands of Emails buff.ly/2lemG1x #ScottPruitt #pollutingPruitt
LIVE SENATE: wonders if #Pruitt emails may contain evidence of prosecutable corruption cs.pn/2lQ6STQ #scottpruitt
BREAKING: Right-wing corporate lobbying group ALEC just launched a national attack on banks that divest from fossil fuels.
NEW: Pfizer Gave Money to Arizona Legislators Speaking at Anti-Vaxxer QAnon Conference
“We’re seeing in Arizona that the Koch network is getting savvier. They’re hiring people who look like the community and are paying them to knock on doors" says #AZleg buff.ly/2EQIHvj
Help us read the #Pruittemails and tweet your discoveries to exposedbycmd.org/Scott-Pruitt-M … #pollutingPruitt #ClimateAction
BREAKING: State complaints by CMD, Cause, and allege that ALEC illegally gave sophisticated voter management campaign software linked to the RNC worth $6 million in the 2020 elections to its legislative members.
#ALECExposed
"FGA doesn’t disclose its donors. But IRS data tracked by the Center for Media and Democracy, which investigates the influence of money in politics, show some of the largest checks came from foundations tied to conservative causes."
NEW: Today, the Center for Media and Democracy is launching a new website, SFOFExposed.org, to expose a weaponized group of GOP state treasurers, auditors, and financial officers’ role in legitimizing the latest front in the Right’s culture wars.
NEW: A number of prominent members of the right-wing Council for National Policy published a letter demanding that state lawmakers throw out 26 million votes in swing states that Joe Biden won.
#2020Election
exposedbycmd.org/2020/12/11/con
NEW: Republican state lawmakers and corporate lobbyists in the American Legislative Exchange Council will consider model legislation this week that creates new barriers to union organizing efforts across the country.
#ALECExposed
NEW from : IRS filings from Charles Koch's Americans for Prosperity Foundation confirm that the group paid $10 mil to the law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, which litigated AFPF v. Bonta from 2015 through 2021.
“They are teeing up the attorneys to bring the litigation before the same judges that they handpicked,” Lisa Graves, executive director of the progressive watchdog group and a former senior Justice Department official.
NEW: Documents obtained by CMD show that the TEA PARTY PATRIOTS FOUNDATION was the fiscal sponsor of the organization behind AMERICA'S FRONTLINE DOCTORS, which spread lies about Covid-19 and is scamming customers looking for vaccine alternatives.
ICYMI: Convention of States, a right-wing group led by Mark Meckler, says it's close to achieving enough supermajority control over state legislatures to make sweeping changes to the U.S. Constitution, even though its views aren't popular.
#Badgers! Time to thank ! They are headed to court with former U.S. AG to battle #wipowergrab and early voting restrictions passed during lame duck session.
PUBLISHED: Who Funds the Federalist? Finally, We Know.
exposedbycmd.org/2020/12/09/who
The White House has refused to release a photo of President Donald #Trump signing a law making it easier for some people with mental illness to buy guns bbc.com/news/world-us- via #DouglasHS
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In May, released a report that analyzes far-right FB groups & includes a database of 875 state legislators who are members. CMD cross-referenced this data with its own list of ALEC-affiliated legislators to identify which ones are members of extremist Facebook groups.
NEW for in partnership with : Joe Manchin may block the federal budget because of its climate provisions. It just so happens that he's got millions invested in his family coal business. A tale of astonishing corruption.
ICYMI: The secretive Council for National Policy, a powerful behind-the-scenes player, has been hosting weekly calls with conservative figures to promote anti-lockdown protests and coordinate policy responses to the #coronavirus pandemic.
NEW: A CMD investigation reveals the identities of the donors behind a large portion of ' revenue as the group continues its attempts to hide its backers and its agenda from the public.
Why I Chose to Get Arrested in Defense of Our Democracy. prwatch.org/news/2016/04/1 #DemocracyAwakens #DemocracySpring
ICYMI: The Center for Media and Democracy has identified six state lawmakers affiliated with the American Legislative Exchange Council who were recently active members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
#ALECExposed
exposedbycmd.org/2021/07/08/ale
NEW: In the 2020 election cycle, 28 orgs controlled by Charles Koch, his family, and Koch Industries executives spent a combined $1.1 billion, primarily to influence public policy and politics in the U.S., and had net revenues of $2.7 billion.
#KochExposed
NEW w/ : Right-wing business lobby ALEC is defending hate groups and working to prevent companies from diversifying their staffs and taking liberal stances on social issues.
ALEC has long claimed it stays out of social and election issues, but CMD has repeatedly found that it is still involved in these issues.
One ALEC lawmaker created an "ALEC with a biblical view" to cover issues ALEC claims not to work on.
Fossil fuels’ BFF: Scott #Pruittemails show why Republicans rushed through his #EPA confirmation buff.ly/2lQa1Tt
Senators worry Koch brothers have too much influence in Trump administration
mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-
#KochBrothers #DrainingTheSwamp #POTUS
NEW: The National Victory Action Fund, a super PAC that has received most of its current election cycle contributions from a dark money group, has disclosed spending $100,000 for digital ads in support of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)'s reelection bid.
BREAKING: Insurrectionist Mark Meadows Flies to Atlanta to Help House Insurrectionists Launch State Insurrection Caucuses
BREAKING: The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices voted 3-2 today to subpoena the American Legislative Exchange Council for information about its provision of sophisticated campaign software to its legislative members.
NEW: The American Legislative Exchange Council has quietly uploaded a sweeping model bill to its website that would require states to blacklist companies that consider anything other than maximizing profits when making business decisions.
#ALECExposed
ALEC politician AZ state Rep. John Kavanagh claims that voting restrictions are needed because "everybody shouldn't be voting."
#ALECExposed
GOP megadonor Dick Uihlein donates another $13.9 million to defeat IL Gov. J.B. Pritzker and $1 million to effort to defeat an IL union rights amendment.
A Radical Right-Wing Dream To Rewrite The Constitution Is Close To Coming True
huffpost.com/entry/mark-mec
The West Virginia senator owns up to $5 million in coal stock and is opposing climate change measures in his party's budget package.
NEW with : As Omicron surges, a shadowy institute filled with fringe doctors appears to be part of big business’ two-year strategy to legitimize attacks on pandemic interventions.
#KochExposed
exposedbycmd.org/2021/12/22/how
CMD submitted a statement to Senate on Tillerson $1m cash for ALEC climate denial while at Exxon exposedbycmd.org/2017/01/11/let #ExxonKnew
. "has abandoned his duty to defend the authority of the House in order to serve as an agent of the president" via #NunesMemo buff.ly/2FLHuot
NEW w/ :
To get America back to work and boost profits, the Koch network and other right-wing money groups have long pushed to return to pre-pandemic schooling.
Today CMD sued #Trump #EPA nominee #ScottPruitt for failure to respond to a 2-yr. old #openrecords request exposedbycmd.org/2017/02/07/law #climate
"Citizens United...has unleashed corporate titans and heirs of corporate treasuries—and Charles Koch is both—to use their massive wealth to reshape American politics and policies to suit their personal desires."
If you're having trouble accessing #Pruitt polluter emails, keep trying. Document Cloud servers have been crashing.
Long long lines at Madison City County Building after state computers shut down today days before #WIprimary #vote
NEW: CMD found that right-wing funders gave nearly $222 million to 69 organizations that filed amici supporting AFPF in its #SCOTUS case in yet another example of what has coined “flotillas of amicus briefs.”
#KochExposed
Decades of contributions aimed at influencing the judiciary bought the fossil fuel billionaire Charles Koch the ruling he’s always wanted.
#KochExposed
