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Take the Money and Run: Trump Tax Cuts Boost Earnings of ALEC Corporations Which Promptly Layoff Workers
Nine major publicly-traded corporations that are funders of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), just reported earnings from the first quarter of 2018. Trump's recent massive corporate tax cuts were sold as a job creation mechanism, but rather than creating jobs, all nine companies reported layoffs that have recently taken place or are planned for 2018. ALEC, global corporations, and state politicians vote behind closed doors to rewrite state laws that govern your rights.
The Billionaires Behind the Supreme Court Case Poised to Dismantle Public Sector Unions
The Billionaires Behind the Supreme Court Case Poised to Dismantle Public Sector Unions The Roman god Janus was known for having two faces. It is a fitting name for the US Supreme Court case which heard oral arguments February 26, Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31, that could deal a devastating blow to public-sector unions and workers nationwide.
Arizona ''Ground Zero'' for Koch Attack on Public Education
The annual Koch donors summit took place at the five-star Indian Wells Resort and Spa in the California desert at the end of January. The millionaires and billionaires called to the posh resort from all parts of America by the Koch brothers pledged $100,000 or more for a $400 million effort to keep the US House and Senate in Republican hands in 2018.
Retribution and Revenge in the Wisconsin John Doe
If billionaires are now allowed to give secret campaign contributions to get lawsuits against them thrown out of court, perhaps Attorney General Brad Schimel should issue a price list? (Image: Jared Rodriguez / Truthout) The long running criminal investigation into whether or not Scott Walker and deep-pocketed dark money groups illegally coordinated the expenditure of some $30 million to win the 2012 recall elections should be old news by now.
ALEC Corporate Members Lay Off Over 12,000 Workers in 2017
More than one-third of the large corporate members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and half of all pharmaceutical company members had mass layoffs in 2017. Through the corporate-funded ALEC, global corporations and state politicians vote behind closed doors to try to rewrite state laws that protect workers, consumers, and the environment. ALEC companies may want to spend less time trying to dismantle regulations, and more time running their business.
ALEC's Corporate Sponsors Top Nation's Lawbreaker List
Exxon paid more than $1.7 million to the American Legislative Exchange Council to undermine climate change research. (Photo: Mike Mozart; Edited: LW / TO) The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has earned a reputation as a leading corporate influence group in recent years, with corporate lobbyists and legislators voting as equals in secret on scores of corporate bills to deregulate everything from the power and telecom industries to drug prices and health care. Well, it's no wonder.
Under Pressure, Whole Foods Agrees to Stop Selling Produce Grown in Sewage Sludge
(Photo: That Other Paper / Flickr)The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) broke the story that the $12.9 billion-a-year natural and organic foods retailer Whole Foods Market had a policy of "don't ask, don't tell" when it comes to "conventional" -- or non-organic -- produce being grown in fields spread with sewage sludge, euphemistically called "biosolids." Certified organic produce cannot be fertilized with sewage sludge, which is the industrial and hospital waste and human excrement...
Did ALEC Found SPN? 1991 Report Suggests So, Exposes SPN Agenda
(Image: Deal making via Shutterstock)The Madison Group, the predecessor to the State Policy Network (SPN) -- which was exposed recently in a Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) report, followed by the release of funding proposals detailing its coordination by The Guardian -- was "launched by the American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC . . .
Bayer and Syngenta Lobby Furiously Against EU Efforts to Limit Pesticides and Save Bees
Bee populations have been declining rapidly worldwide in recent years -- in the U.S., they have declined by almost 50 percent just since October 2012, according to The Ecologist. The problem is complex, with possible culprits including certain parasites (like Varroa mites), viruses, pesticides, and industrial agriculture.
Waste Management Reaps Treasure From Your Trash and Taxes
The for-profit company Waste Management (WM) has recently been embroiled in a trashy dispute with the city of Mobile, Alabama.
Are Organic Standards in Jeopardy? Watchdogs Say Yes
Truthout is accountable to our readers, not big business or billionaire sponsors. You can sustain our work by clicking here to make a tax-deductible donation! Organic pioneers and watchdog groups like the Organic Consumers Association and the Cornucopia Institute allege that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is capitulating to corporate interests.
Science or Media? The Science Media Centre Spins Pro-GMO Line
A new report commissioned by Prime Minister David Cameron suggests that GMOs have now been shown to be safe and that the United Kingdom may need to grow them in order to rely less on imports. Since consumer campaigning got GMOs labeled and crop restricting implemented in the United Kingdom, Cameron will likely have a hard time convincing UK consumers that all is well.
GOP's Rigid Wisconsin's Voter ID Law Tilted the 2016 Election Enough for Trump to Win
GOP's Rigid Wisconsin's Voter ID Law Tilted the 2016 Election Enough for Trump to Win A new study by Wisconsin academics finds 44,000 voters were kept away. Trump won by 23,000 votes.
ALEC's Corporate Board Leads in Federal Violations
Koch Industries Executive Vice President David H. Koch listens to Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney during the Defending the American Dream Summit at the Washington Convention Center November 4, 2011, in Washington, DC.
Bradley Foundation Funnels Millions to State Policy Network Group
Earlier this summer, CMD exposed the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, a $800 million tax-exempt "charitable" organization pursuing a highly partisan game plan: funding an "infrastructure" on the right that benefits the Republican Party, while at the same time attempting to defund labor unions, "a principal funding pillar of the left" and a key supporter of the Democratic Party.
The ALEC Swampland
NOTE: From July 19-21, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) met in Denver with its corporate funders and Republican state legislators. Though ALEC has an uneasy relationship with President Trump, they haven't hesitated in adopting his "drain the swamp" rhetoric when extolling their plans to amend the federal constitution, repeal workers' rights or gut social safety net programs.
New Study Undercuts Trump FCC Chair's Justification for Rolling Back Net Neutrality
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, during the Inaugural Agriculture and Rural Prosperity Task Force Meeting in Washington, DC, on June 15, 2017.
It Looks Like the Kochs' Dream of a Right-Wing Constitutional Convention Has Been Roadblocked
It Looks Like the Kochs' Dream of a Right-Wing Constitutional Convention Has Been Roadblocked Two steps forward and three steps back� from the brink of a political experiment untried since 1787. 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.
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.
Bradley Foundation Bankrolls Front Groups of Discredited PR Spin Doctor Richard Berman
Also see: Bradley Foundation Bankrolls Attacks on Unions Also see: Document Trove Details Bradley Foundation's Efforts to Build Right-Wing "Infrastructure" Nationwide Documents examined by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) pull back the curtain on the highly politicized funding of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and its relationship with Richard Berman, the public relations spin doctor dubbed a "hired gun" for corporate America by 60 Minutes.
Document Trove Details Bradley Foundation's Efforts to Build Right-Wing "Infrastructure" Nationwide
Documents examined by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) expose a national effort funded by the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation to assess and expand right-wing "infrastructure" to influence policies and politicians in statehouses nationwide. The documents were made public in October 2016 on two Twitter accounts that cyber security analysts have linked to one of the Russian hackers alleged to have breached the Democratic National Committee.
Pruitt Emails Reveal Communications With ALEC and Koch Groups
Protesters rally outside of Senate before a confirmation hearing for Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency. (Photo: 350.org / Flickr) Emails released to the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) reveal close ties between Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and the fossil fuel interests that fund ALEC, including the Kochs' Americans for Prosperity Group.
Trump and DeVos Push ALEC Privatization Scheme as Studies Document Voucher Failures
President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos during a parent-teacher education meeting, at the White House in Washington, February 14, 2017.
Americans for Prosperity
Americans for Prosperity is a right-wing political advocacy group founded by billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, the owners of Koch Industries.[1] AFP serves as the Kochs' "grassroots" operation, also known as astroturf. AFP spends millions on TV ads in election cycles.
Republicans Are Fundraising Off the US's Health Care Misery
To the outside observer, it may look as if the Republican Party can't decide what to do about repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). After voting to repeal the ACA more than 60 times in the House of Representatives, Republicans now hold both houses of Congress as well the presidency. Repeal is in their grasp, and yet they seem paralyzed. But that's only true if you believe that a political party's mission is to govern.
Charles Koch Ramps Up Higher Ed Funding to Fuel "Talent Pipeline"
Billionaire Koch Industries CEO and Republican mega-donor Charles Koch has, since the 1970s, funded higher education, typically giving large donations to free-market economics programs at hundreds of US colleges and universities. Recently released tax documents (accessible as attachments below) reveal that these donations are ramping up.
ALEC "Pay to Play" on Display in Washington, DC
I first attended an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) winter policy meeting in 2014. There I learned that many so-called "model bills" in the ALEC library had become law in my state of Wisconsin. These include the "cable competition" (deregulation) bill, the "castle doctrine" allowing home owners to shoot intruders, and parts of a bill to make it harder for young, old, and poor people to vote.
Election Losses Don't Stop Corporate Efforts to Block Voter-Approved Minimum Wage Hikes
More than 1,000 people march for labor unions demanding a rise in minimum wage to $15 an hour in New York, April 15, 2016. (Robert Stolarik / The New York Times) Voters spoke very clearly on November 8 when they elected to raise the minimum wage in Arizona and Maine, along with Colorado and Washington State.
ALEC's Little Brother, ACCE, Has Big Plans for 2017
I recently returned from the American Legislative Exchange Council's 2016 States and Nation Policy Summit, in Washington, DC. As a Mayor, I was most interested in the corresponding meeting of the American City County Exchange (ACCE), an offshoot spawned by ALEC in 2014 to spread ALEC's ideas about "limited government, free markets, and federalism" down to the most local levels of government.
Rex Tillerson and Exxon Spent Big on Climate Change Denial While Misleading Public, Evidence Shows
Rex Tillerson, Donald Trump's likely choice to be America's top diplomat as Secretary of State, has spent years funding climate change denial and underwriting efforts to block measures to address climate change while misleading the public, according to evidence compiled by the Center for Media and Democracy.
New Memo Reveals the Trump Administration's Energy Plan
The future Donald Trump administration's energy agenda is revealed in a memo prepared by Trump's energy transition head Thomas Pyle, titled "What to Expect from the Trump Administration." The document, obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), was sent by Pyle on November 15th, just days before the Trump campaign announced Pyle's appointment as head of his Department of Energy transition team.
Koch Cash Instrumental in Key Senate Races and May Have Buoyed Trump
After indicating they would spend $889 million to secure the White House and Congress in January, by July the Kochs were singing a different tune. They publicly refused to back Donald Trump and pledged to "focus on the Senate." The bet paid off for the billionaire industrialists. They backed 19 US Senate candidates, and only two lost. And, in the process, their efforts to get voters out for GOP Senate candidates in swing states helped Trump in those states.
Hypocrisy and Trumpism on the Agenda as ALEC Meets in Washington, DC
Betsy DeVos, an anti-education activist and former chair of the Michigan Republican Party, with President-elect Donald Trump after they met at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on November 19, 2016. (Photo: Hilary Swift / The New York Times) The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and its offshoot the American City and County Exchange (ACCE) are meeting in Washington, DC, this week to strategize on how to advance a far-right agenda under a Trump presidency.
Fossil Fuel Industry Has Known Since 1967 That Injection Wells Cause Earthquakes, Despite Denials
The Associated Press wrote that it was "the severest earthquake ever recorded" in the city's history. Building foundations cracked, windows broke, bricks flew off of downtown rooftops. A year later in the prominent academic journal "Science," geophysicist J.H. Healy and his associates proposed that humans, not nature, were responsible for the quake.
Will Workplace Safety Survive a Trump Presidency?
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump repeatedly promised to bring back U.S. factory jobs. The message resonated with blue-collar workers and Trump's success is credited, in large part, to voters who have seen their jobs disappear and livelihoods diminish as U.S. manufacturing companies moved toward automation or just plain moved -- to places with lower labor costs, like Mexico.
Reince Priebus Promotion Another Big Win for the Koch Caucus
In his first major signal of how he will govern post-election, Donald Trump chose Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus as his Chief of Staff. The flame throwing Breitbart exec Steve Bannon will hold an unspecified position as "chief strategist and senior counselor." The move came to name Priebus to the top spot as a bit of a shock to Trump's base, some of whom referred to Priebus as #Ryansboy, but it is another big win for the Koch wing of the Republican Party.
Kochs Battle Dark Money Disclosure in South Dakota
The Koch network has mobilized in South Dakota to defeat the "South Dakota Accountability and Anti-Corruption Act," a state-wide initiative on the ballot November 8. The anti-corruption measure, Initiated Measure 22 or IM-22, was launched by a bipartisan group called the South Dakotans for Integrity and put on the ballot with signatures from over 20,000 state residents.
Is FBI Director James Comey's Disruption Working?
If the conspiracy theories are true and FBI Director James Comey was trying to disrupt Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign -- or at least keep the election close enough for Republicans to keep the Senate -- it looks like he may have succeeded.
Trump and Clinton Camps Are Engaging in Super PAC Coordination, Says Watchdog Group
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump laugh after speaking at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York, on October 20, 2016. (Photo: Damon Winter/The New York Times) Truthout refuses corporate funding and all the strings that come attached. Instead, reader support powers us.
Can California Finally Ditch Single-Use Plastic Bags?
Two years ago, the Golden State took a strong stance against plastic pollution when Jerry Brown signed SB 270, which made California the first state in the country to ban single-use plastic shopping bags. While environmental groups celebrated the victory, a group of American plastic bag manufacturers quickly organized, gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures to put the ban on hold and place the issue before voters on the 2016 ballot.
New Grants Announced: Education Department Continues to Pour Millions Into Charter School Black Hole
Last week, the US Department of Education announced that it had approved $245 million in grants to eight states under the federal Charter School Program. The states, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, will receive $177 million in grant money. In addition, 15 charter management organizations, including IDEA Public Schools in Texas and KIPP's public charter school network in California, will receive $68 million in taxpayer dollars.
Bayer and Monsanto: A Merger of Two Evils
It's been about a week since Monsanto and Bayer confirmed their intention to say "I do" -- ample time for media, lawmakers, consumer and farmer advocacy groups, and of course the happy couple themselves, to weigh in on the pros and cons. Reactions poured in from all the usual suspects. Groups like the Farmers Union, Food & Water Watch, Friends of the Earth and others didn't mince words when it came to condemning the deal.
Walmart, Nike and Others Decline to Back $40 Monthly Wage Hike in Cambodia's Garment Industry
Major Western retailers sourcing clothing from Cambodia -- a country marked by authoritarian rule and regularly ranked as one of the world's worst countries for workers -- are declining to endorse a proposed hike in the garment industry's minimum wage that amounts to roughly $40 a month. Like many of its neighbors in Southeast Asia, Cambodia is a popular spot for American and European brands to subcontract production of textiles and shoes. It offers easy market access and, above all, cheap labor.
GOP Attorneys General Held Private Meetings With Fossil Fuel Lobbyists on Exxon Investigation
Republican attorneys general held private, undisclosed meetings with fossil fuel industry lobbyists in July to coordinate on shielding ExxonMobil from scrutiny as the company faces an ongoing investigation over allegations that it intentionally misled the public and its own shareholders about evidence of climate change, according to an audio recording of the session obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy.
How to Respect Your Elders: Supporting an Aging Migrant Generation
Fidencio Sanchez, 89, pushes his popsicle pushcart through Chicago's Little Village neighborhood. He recently attempted to retire but had to return to work to make ends meet after the death of his daughter. (Photo: Joel Cervantes Macias / GoFundMe) The popsicles that Fidencio the Paleta Man sells on a hot summer day in Chicago go for about $1.50 a pop.
Supreme Cover-Up: How the Wisconsin Justice System Failed in the Walker John Doe
Recent elections have turned the Wisconsin Supreme Court from "one of the nation's most respected state tribunals into a disgraceful mess," wrote noted author on the courts Lincoln Caplan in 2015. The dysfunction is on full display in the documents revealed by the Guardian this week in its expose on the "John Doe" investigation into potentially illegal coordination between Scott Walker and dark money groups that were supposed to operate independently of his campaign.
Global Warming and the Future of Humanity: An Interview With Noam Chomsky and Graciela Chichilnisky
The Earth's climate is being radically modified by human action, creating a very different planet, one that may not be able to sustain organized human life in anything like a form we would want to tolerate. (Photo: Asia Development Bank / Flickr) Truthout exists to sift fact from fiction and rhetoric from reality. Can you help us continue this critical work? Click here to make a tax-deductible donation. How serious of an issue is climate change? Does global warming really threaten human civilization?
Scott Walker John Doe: Corporate Checks Fueled Coordinated Campaign
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin speaking at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. (Photo: Gage Skidmore / Flickr) Documents released by the Guardian indicate that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker may have solicited and received corporate checks for the 2011 Senate recall fight and his own 2012 recall election.
Black to School: The Rising Struggle to Make Black Education Matter
Tonya Ray, center, a math teacher at the Academy of Public Leadership, talking with students in Detroit, May 11, 2016. (Joshua Lott / The New York Times) The struggle for equitable education went to summer school, and the new school year is getting underway with leading Black organizations bolstering the movement against the central components of the corporate education reform agenda.
Fossil Fuel Industry Paid for Meetings With GOP Attorneys General to Plan Attack on Clean Power Plan
Fossil fuel giants Murray Energy and Southern Company paid for meetings with Republican attorneys general to discuss their opposition to the Clean Power Plan less than two weeks before the same GOP officials petitioned federal courts to block the Obama administration's signature climate proposal, according to private emails (see below) from state attorneys general obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy.
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