State Policy Network (SPN), an $83 million web of groups masquerading as nonpartisan and independent think tanks, are major drivers of ALEC-backed corporate agenda in state houses nationwide with deep ties to the Koch bros. and a right-wing network of funders. Some appear to be skirting tax laws while orchestrating extensive lobbying and political operations to peddle their legislative agenda to state legislators, all while reporting little or no lobbying activities. These experts get quoted on TV, in the papers, or in the legislature as if they were nonpartisan, objective scholars on issues of public policy, said Lisa Graves, Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). But in reality, SPN is a front for corporate interests with an extreme national policy agenda tied to some of the most retrograde special interests in the country, including the billionaire Koch brothers, the Waltons, the Bradley Foundation, the Roe Foundation, and the Coors family. According to Denise Cardinal, executive director of Progress Now, The bottom line is these organizations of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich are representing themselves as groups that are looking out for the best interests of everyday, working class Americans and its just a blatant lie. What were doing is trying to bring some transparency to the damaging work theyre doing on a daily basis. From policies that promote polluting the air and water to the destruction of our public education system and a tax system that benefits their rich donors, what these organizations are doing is shameful and its time that someone brought this to light.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 16:52:13 +0000
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