Stink Tanks exposed as front groups for Koch brothers

A national network of <a href="http://stinktanks.org/national/" rel="nofollow"><strike>stink</strike></a> think tanks is quietly pushing the agenda of anti-worker groups with funding from Koch brothers-affiliated organizations, according to a report released today.<br /><br />Today our friends at the <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/" rel="nofollow">Center for Media and Democracy</a> exposed the State Policy Network, which claims to fund 'independent' think tanks in all 50 states. The State Policy Network, disturbingly, is tax-exempt and so are the stink tanks it funds. <br /><br />SPN's stink tanks use 'dark money' from the <strike style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.890625px;"><a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2011/10/bombshell-kochs-sold-oil-equipment-to.html" style="color: #336699;">Benedict Arnold</a></strike> Koch brothers and their ilk to push an anti-worker, anti-consumer corporate-empowerment agenda in the states -- while pretending to be nonpartisan. <br /><br />If this is sounding a lot like the corporate dating service for state lawmakers known as <a href="http://alecexposed.org/" rel="nofollow">ALEC</a>, it is. Lisa Graves, executive director of the CMD, told Politico the SPN, like ALEC, is part of the <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/koch-brothers-think-tank-report-99791.html" rel="nofollow">Kochtopus</a>.<br /><br />According to CMD:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">SPN has played a major role in supporting ALEC, serving as a "chairman" level sponsor of the 2013 and 2011 ALEC Annual Conferences and acting as a voting member of several task forces. SPN affiliates push parts of ALEC's agenda in their respective states, and ALEC is also an associate member of SPN. SPN and its affiliates have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to ALEC. </blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div>Politico quoted Graves today:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">“These aren’t just little think tanks that are doing nonpartisan research based on what’s happening in the state and really reflective of the culture of those states,” said Lisa Graves....“These are a lot of groups that put together pretty cooked books on the issues they are peddling and have been criticized in state after state for how shoddy their research has been.” </blockquote>In a <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/11/12302/reports-expose-extreme-pressure-groups-masquerading-think-tanks" rel="nofollow">press statement</a>, Graves said,<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">The 'experts' of State Policy Network groups get quoted on TV, in the papers, or in the legislature as if they were nonpartisan, objective scholars on issues of public policy. 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.</blockquote><br />Teamsters have tangled with these groups before. In Wisconsin, the <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2011/04/meet-think-tanks-paid-to-wage-war-on.html" rel="nofollow">MacIver Institute</a> promoted<a href="http://cognidissidence.blogspot.com/2013/03/scott-walkers-austerity-agenda-is-real.html" rel="nofollow"> <strike>job-killer</strike></a><strike style="text-decoration: underline;"> </strike> Gov. Scott Walker's union-busting Act 10 as good for the economy. <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/business/wisconsin-added-24305-private-sector-jobs-in-12-months-ended-in-march-b99106575z1-225348792.html" rel="nofollow">It wasn't</a>.<br /><br />In Michigan, the <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/01/koch-linked-mich-think-tank-accused-of.html" rel="nofollow">Mackinac Center for Public Policy</a> pushed job-killer <a href="http://www.snyderfails.org/" rel="nofollow">Gov. Rick Snyder</a>'s right to work for less law with the same arguments and the same results. In Missouri, it's the <a href="http://stinktanks.org/missouri/" rel="nofollow">Show-Me Institute</a>. In Ohio, the <a href="http://stinktanks.org/ohio/" rel="nofollow">Buckeye Institute</a>. And so on.<br /><br />If you're getting a whiff of foul odors from your state capital, check out the CMD's new website, <a href="http://www.stinktanks.org/">www.stinktanks.org</a>. If you think it's a stink tank, it probably is.

Kochs Michigan Rick Snyder scott walker stink tank wisconsin Stink Tanks exposed as front groups for Koch brothers

A national network of stink think tanks is quietly pushing the agenda of anti-worker groups with funding from Koch brothers-affiliated orga...

Read more »

New online guide to Michigan governor's failures

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFWSHDYCasm4IorS-TCrBVSuZG7vsXAho2nLzr1BWhUWFYw0SPzZEOdfjpdlrAl6gsL793ER0GmDS-fRjjq61zNtQb1OzaPlzFEgd_8jmebQHdrYboB2T-K4bo3wQv4et2aOUTsPK3tUUk/s1600/snyderfails_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFWSHDYCasm4IorS-TCrBVSuZG7vsXAho2nLzr1BWhUWFYw0SPzZEOdfjpdlrAl6gsL793ER0GmDS-fRjjq61zNtQb1OzaPlzFEgd_8jmebQHdrYboB2T-K4bo3wQv4et2aOUTsPK3tUUk/s1600/snyderfails_logo.png" /></a></div>Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who famously railroaded a <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2012/12/class-war-breaks-out-in-mich-as-snyder.html" rel="nofollow">right to work (for less)</a> bill through the Legislature last year, has a new on-line critic. <a href="http://www.progressmichigan.org/" rel="nofollow">Progress Michigan</a> launched a new website today called Snyder fails. You can find it at <a href="http://www.snyderfails.org/">www.SnyderFails.org</a>.<br /><br />In a statement today, Progress Michigan said:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Progress Michigan will expose Snyder’s real record on the issues that matter to Michigan’s middle-class and working families... </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Snyder Fails will take the governor to task over his supposed love of metrics and numbers. Featured on the site will be a “<a href="http://www.snyderfails.org/by-the-numbers/" rel="nofollow">By the Numbers</a>” section, which will track in simple math just how bad Snyder’s policies have been for Michiganders.</blockquote>Here's how bad:<br /><ul><li>Michigan cut $100 million in funding to local communities</li><li>Slashed billions of dollars from school districts</li><li>Given away billions in corporate tax breaks.</li></ul>The result has been devastating to Michigan's working families. The state ranked second in job growth when he became governor. Now Michigan ranks 36th, with the fourth worst unemployment rate in the country. <br /><br />Remember when right to work (for less) was supposed to <i>help</i> Michigan's economy? No, we don't either.<br /><br /><div><br /></div>

MI Rick Snyder right to work for less New online guide to Michigan governor's failures

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who famously railroaded a right to work (for less) bill through the Legislature last year, has a new on-line cri...

Read more »