http://www.globalpolicy.org/finance/docs/buymvmnt.htm The following excerpt from a report by People for the American Way provides information about the funding sources of conservative organizations that have backed the anti-UN movement in the US Congress. Buying A Movement: Right Wing Foundations in American Politics A Report By People for the American Way Executive Summary Each year, conservative foundations pour millions of dollars into a broad range of conservative political organizations. These foundation gifts are remarkable for two principal reasons:first, their sheer size and concentration; second, the willingness of the foundations to promote a highly politicized agenda by funding a broad range of organizations. The following report examines the funding patterns of a number of significant conservative foundations and their grantees. The report demonstrates: * Right-wing foundations have developed a truly comprehensive funding strategy, providing grants to a broad range of groups, each promoting right-wing positions to their specific audiences. The grants have created and nurtured an enormous range of organizations all bent on promoting a far-right-wing agenda. Recipients of foundation largesse include the right-wing media; national "think tanks" and advocacy groups; a budding network of regional and state-based think tanks; conservative university programs; conservative college newspapers; conservative scholars and more. In many of these funding areas, progressive and mainstream foundation giving lags far behind. * Five foundations stand out from the rest:the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Koch Family foundations, the John M. Olin Foundation, the Scaife Family foundations and the Adolph Coors Foundation. Each has helped fund a range of far- right programs, including some of the most politically charged work of the last several years. For example, the American Spectatormagazine, which led the charge on President Bill Clinton's state trooper contretemps and launched a slash-and-burn strategy targeting Anita Hill, is a prime recipient of foundation support. * Public debate on a number of issues has been transformed by foundation largesse. For example, the Wisconsin-based Bradley Foundation has supported a range of pro- voucher efforts in its home state, sowing the seeds for that state's first-in-the-nation school vouchers program in Milwaukee. Other such case studies are presented in the report. * * * Part Two:The Givers While any number of foundations contribute to conservative political groups, five are worthy of particular examination:the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Koch Family foundations, the John M. Olin Foundation, the Scaife Family foundations and the Adolph Coors Foundation. Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation illustrates the power of a well-financed foundation with a clearly articulated political and ideological vision. With assets exceeding $420 million,123it is one of the nation's largest supporters of conservative thought and activity.124 Lynde Bradley and his brother Harry made their fortunes by founding the Allen- Bradley company, producing electronic and radio components. Harry Bradley was an active member of the John Birch Society and a contributor to the National Review. The Bradley company's foundation did not become a major donor until 1985, when Allen- Bradley was bought by Rockwell International Corporation, an aerospace and defense industry conglomerate. As a result of the sale, the foundation, as the sole recipient of a Bradley trust, increased its assets to $290 million.125 Bradley Foundation president Michael Joyce is a key figure in conservative giving circles and beyond. He is the former president of the Olin Foundation and is chairman of the Philanthropy Roundtable, established to help conservative foundations and corporations coordinate their activities and strategy. The Roundtable has been instrumental in the creation of a nationwide network of state-based "think tanks" 126more devoted to issue advocacy than policy analysis. No such network of state think tanks exists with a mainstream, liberal, or progressive orientation. The Bradley Foundation provides major funding to the sponsors of what has come to be one of the right's most powerful communications weapons:National Empowerment Television (NET).127Sponsored by Paul Weyrich's Free Congress Foundation, NET can be found in millions of cable homes, pumping an unrelenting and unapologetic stream of far-right and Religious Right dogma. NET has provided programming time for dozens of far-right organizations, including the Christian Coalition, Concerned Women for America, the National Rifle Association, Accuracy in Media, the Eagle Forum and the Family Research Council. Another national media source receiving Bradley support is the American Spectator Educational Foundation, publisher of the far- rightAmerican Spectator. The publication is best known for breaking the "trooper-gate story" venting Paula Jones's assertions against President Clinton, touching off a wave of mainstream media about the story. Bradley authorized $345,000 to the magazine's publisher from 1990 through 1992128and granted $185,000 in 1994.129 Michael Joyce believes that investment in academia is vital to the long-term success of the conservative movement, and has directed millions toward academic research and program development. According to Joyce, Bradley has helped pay for the work of approximately 600 graduate students over the years. "That's like building a wine collection," he said.130Explaining the reason Bradley concentrates its money on programs at prestigious universities, Joyce stated:"Elite opinion is formed in America at the top of a pyramid...elite institutions [are] important in the shaping of public policy."131Two institutions known for their stable of conservative thinkers, the University of Chicago (authorized $3.7 million in 1990-1992),132and Virginia's George Mason University (receiving more than $280,000 in 1994)133both receive annual grants from the foundation. George Mason University has risen rapidly in conservative circles, significant in part because it is located within the Washington media market and is therefore a ready and convenient source of conservative scholarship for national news and commentary. The Bradley Foundation also contributes to conservative and often highly controversial scholarship, publications and "academic" research aimed at legitimizing far- right policy positions. In 1992, it contributed $11,850 to David Brock for the publication of his work The Real Anita Hill: The Untold Story, which attacked Hill's credibility. The book was commissioned following Brock's original article on Hill, which appeared in American Spectator(a recipient of both Olin and Bradley Foundation money) in which he described Hill as "a bit nutty and a bit slutty." 134Olin Foundation president William Simon was at that time the finance chairman ofthe Citizen's Committee to Confirm Clarence Thomas.135 Bradley has also helped Charles Murray, author of The Bell Curve, which argues that intelligence is predicated on race, and Losing Ground, whose thesis is that social programs should be abolished. Murray's work was so controversial and objectionable that the conservative Manhattan Institute, for which he worked, asked him to leave. However, the Bradley Foundation, which had funded him at the Manhattan Institute, stood by him because Murray, according to Joyce, "is one of the foremost social thinkers in the country."136Bradley extended Murray's $100,000 per year grant when he went to the American Enterprise Institute;137as of 1996, he is still a grant recipient.138 The Bell Curvewas published just as the affirmative action debate was reemerging on the national scene. Affirmative action programs are under attack from a variety of far-right leaders and organizations, some of whom, such as the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center and the Hudson Institute, enjoy Bradley funding. Koch Family Foundations David and Charles Koch own virtually all of Koch Industries, an oil, natural gas, and land management firm and the second largest privately owned company in America.139 The brothers have a strong interest in libertarian theory; the three family foundations operated by the Kochs (the Charles G. Koch, David H. Koch and Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundations) made possible the libertarian Cato Institute and Citizens for a Sound Economy ($6.5 million and $4.8 million contributed between 1986 and 1990, respectively).140Unlike the Bradley, Scaife and Olin Foundations, the Kochs focus exclusively on free-market philosophy. "My overall concept," said David Koch, "is to minimize the role of government and to maximize the role of private economy and to maximize personal freedoms."141 However, the Kochs do share with these foundations the conviction that the advancement of their philosophy is contingent upon investment in academia. In addition to their interest in influencing current public policy, they channel funds into fellowships, grants and scholarships to conservative university programs such as the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University to develop future proponents of their cause. Said John Blundell, former president of the institute (which received $2 million from Koch between 1986 and 1990, and is also supported by the Bradley and Olin foundations),142the Institute "looks for good young people who are going to become academics and journalists and writers and novelists and clergymen and other dealers in ideas, who have shown some interest in the ideas that interest us."143 The Koch family also donates substantial sums to other libertarian and free- market groups. When Clint Bolick, former director of the anti-affirmative action Landmark Center for Civil Rights, and William Mellor, former president of the conservative, pro-voucher, free-market advocacy Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, decided to form a public-interest law firm to defend property rights and school vouchers, they went to the Koch family. The Institute for Justice was then formed with hundreds of thousands from the various Koch foundations, along with a commitment for future support.144Also recipients of Koch largesse are the Reason Foundation (publisher of the libertarian Reasonmagazine), the Illinois-based libertarian think tank Heartland Institute and the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy.145 John M. Olin Foundation The John M. Olin Foundation grew out of a family manufacturing business, and has grown substantially in the past 20 years. While it contributes large amounts on a regular basis to conservative national think tanks, including the American Enterprise Institute (more than $443,800 in 1993 and more than $653,000 in 1994),146the Heritage Foundation ($262,500 in 1993 and $537,500in 1994),147the Manhattan Institute for Public Policy Research (more than $315,000 in 1994), and the Hoover Institution of War, Revolution and Peace, which funds conservative research on domestic and international affairs (more than $800,000 in recent years),148much of its focus is on university program funding. James Piereson, executive director of the Olin Foundation, echoes the philosophy of Bradley president Joyce with respect to Olin's mission: "We invested at the top of society, in Washington think tanks and the best universities, and the idea is this would have a much larger impact because they were influential places."149Olin fellowships are an academic haven for academics who support Reaganite economic and social policies. According to the Nation, the foundation's 1988 annual report shows that $55 million in grants were distributed, primarily to underwrite university programs "intended to strengthen the economic, political and cultural institutions upon which...private enterprise is based."150Explaining his efforts to convince corporations to halt grants to university programs deemed "liberal," Olin president William Simon argues that many businesses are "financing their own destruction." "Why should businessmen," Simon asks, "be financing left-wing intellectuals and institutions which espouse the exact opposite of what they believe in?"151 The Olin Foundation, along with a number of other conservative foundations, links universities to Republican legislators, right-wing think tanks, as well as conservative publications, such as Commentaryand The Public Interest(publications also funded by Olin).152Research done in Olin programs provides an academic basis for right-wing policy. Articles written by Olin-backed scholars are published in such mainstream publications as the New York Times, Washington Post and Timemagazine.153One Chronicle of Higher Educationwriter notes that critics charge Olin with spending "millions of dollars to support activities that directly challenge the spread of diversity and multiculturalism on campus. Far from promoting objective, dispassionate scholarship, as it claims, the Olin Foundation has an explicit political agenda, with ties to officials in the Republican party."154 One of Olin's chief program areas is "Law and Economics," an interest of the foundation for almost 30 years. Under this program, the foundation first established a seat at the University of Chicago in the 1960s for the purpose of teaching "free market economics" as it applies to law.155According to an Alliance for Justice report, the Chicago School emphasizes "'economic efficiency' and 'wealth maximization' as the conceptual cornerstones" for judicial opinions.156The report finds a significant and long- standing movement to reshape the American legal system on the part of "a powerful coalition of business groups and ideologically compatible foundations [who are] engaged in a multi-faceted, comprehensive and integrated campaign to elevate corporate profits and private wealth over social justice and individual rights."Further, "[c]onservative foundations, particularly Olin, Sarah Scaife, Lynde and Harry Bradley, and Smith Richardson, are the effort's philosophical leaders."157In 1992-3, Chicago's law and economics program received $731,000; in 1994-5, $740,000. Olin's contributions to the university as a whole total more than $3.7 million between 1992 and 1995.158 Subsequently, the foundation has funded a number of conservative "Law and Economics" programs at a number of otherwise mainstream institutions of distinction, as well as conservative history, business, and political science programs. Yale University is one of the biggest recipients, with professor George L. Priest receiving $1.5 million in 1990159and the law and economics program receiving more than $2 million from 1992- 1996. (Total contributions to Yale since 1992 surpass $4.2 million.)160Harvard University received a three-year, $2.4 million grant in 1995 for the John M. Olin Center for Law, Economics and Business,161$1.39 million to establish the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies in 1989162with an additional $1.5 million for the years 1995-97.163 Olin grants and obligations to Harvard since 1993 total more than $6.2 million.164George Mason University received almost $200,000 in both 1994 and 1995 to host a law and economics teaching institute for federal judges (criticized by some as an attempt by corporate interests to influence the legal system);165the Scaife and Bradley foundations also contributed to the institutes.166The Universityof Virginia, Johns Hopkins, New York University, Georgetown, Princeton, Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology167are also recipients of substantial Olin grants.168 Although it is uncommon for a university to turn down such substantial funding, the University of California in Los Angeles rejected an Olin Program in Law and Economics in 1985 after one year. The program granted John M. Olin Fellowships to students, who were taught by faculty also receiving money from the foundation; students were required to attend symposia with right-wing speakers such as Robert Bork and Antonin Scalia. The University Law school's principal objection to the program, according to its law school curriculum committee, was that Olin was "taking advantage of students' financial need to indoctrinate them with a particular ideology."169 The foundation also funds the work of selected conservative scholars. Allan Bloom received $3.6 million to head the University of Chicago's John M. Olin Center for Inquiry into the Theory and Practice of Democracy.170Bloom is best known as the author of The Closing of the American Mind, a right-wing critique of the "decline" of American academia and the "pervasive social leveling effects" of the 1960s. Irving Kristol, considered to be one of the foremost neoconservative thinkers in the country (and Bradley president Joyce's mentor)171received $376,000 as distinguished professor at New York University's graduate school of business administration, and then as an Olin Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute172(more than $380,000 between 1992 and 1994).173 In 1994, Robert Bork received $162,812 for an AEI Olin chair in Legal Studies; Bork has received like sums from Olin on an annual basis for the past several years.174 Robert Leiken, a leading defender of the Nicaraguan Contrasin the 1980s, was granted a $75,000 Olin Research Fellowship at Harvard University.175William J. Bennett received a $100,000 Olin Fellowship in 1993 while at the Hudson Institute.176Also receiving more than $100,000 in 1993 as AEI Olin Research Fellow is far-right author Dinesh D'Souza,177 recently in the public spotlight for his book, The End of Racism, described by its critics as seeking to legitimize racism. Other recipients of Olin money include the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy ($120,000 in 1992),178a right-wing legal group; Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum ($10,000 in 1993 and $10,000 in 1994) for conferences to discuss women and capitalism and free-market philosophies;179Paul Weyrich's Free Congress Foundation (authorized $50,000 in 1994)180and the arch-conservative think tank the Hoover Institution (more than $800,000 authorized in the past few years).181 Scaife Family Foundations According to a recent Wall Street Journalarticle, Richard Mellon Scaife, a member of the Mellon banking and oil family, is "nothing less than the financial archangel for the [conservative] movement's intellectual underpinnings."182His contributions over the years total more than $200 million. His three nonprofit foundations, the Sarah Scaife, Carthage, and Allegheny foundations, have together given away approximately $400,000 a week in recent years, much of this going to "New Right" causes and conservative think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, the American Enterprise Institute, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The Scaife Family Foundation, another Mellon family foundation, has similar giving patterns.183Over the years, Richard Scaife has provided financial backing to such political figures as Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, William Bennett and Paul Weyrich. According to University of Massachusetts political science professor Thomas Ferguson, Richard Scaife "had as much to do with the Gingrich revolution as Gingrich himself."184 Indeed, House Speaker Newt Gingrich himself describes Scaife as one of the people who "really created modern conservatism."185He was instrumental in the proliferation of conservative think tanks during the Reagan administration, sowing the seeds for the current conservative "revolution."186In recent years, Scaife has contributed enormous sums to a variety of organizations, including $515,000 to the American Enterprise Institute; $1.012 million to the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation; $1.625 million to the Heritage Foundation; $800,000 to the conservative Washington Legal Foundation; and $450,000 to the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, at Stanford University. Scaife's foundations have also contributed well more than $100,000 to both the American Legislative Exchange Council (which plays a key role in spreading conservative legislation from state to state), and the conservative Landmark Legal Foundation.187His various foundations backed the American Spectator's work while it was pursuing and publishing stories about President Clinton's alleged sexual and financial improprieties.188 Adolph Coors Foundation The Coors family, beneficiaries of the Adolph Coors brewery company and family fortune, have been instrumental in funding conservative causes through individual, foundation and corporate donations. The brewery was established in 1873 by Adolph Coors, Sr. in Colorado and has been a family operation since 1880.189It gained nationwide notoriety for its anti-union, anti-gay, anti-minority and anti-woman stance during a ten-year national boycott initiated by the AFL-CIO in 1977190in support of a Brewery, Bottling, Can and Allied Industrial Union local then negotiating with the company.191Coors ultimately broke the union by hiring hundreds of non-union workers who, along with employees who did not join the strike, voted to decertify the union in 1978.192A loose coalition of feminist, gay rights, minority rights, environmental, and student groups have also condemned Coors for its support of the Heritage Foundation, Free Congress Foundation, Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum and STOP ERA campaign, the John Birch Society, the Nicaraguan Contrasand other right-wing groups.193 Coors's image was further tarnished as a result of a 1984 William Coors speech to a Denver, Colorado minority business group, in which he reportedly told a largely African American audience that "one of the best things they [slave traders] did for you is to drag your ancestors over here in chains."194Later in the speech, he asserted that weakness in the Zimbabwe economy was due to black Africans' "[l]ack of intellectual capacity -- that has got to be there."195Coors claims his remarks were taken out of context and threatened to sue the conservative newspaper that reported them, The Rocky Mountain News.196 To counter the resulting negative publicity and boycott by African American and Hispanic groups, the corporation pledged hundreds of millions of dollars197to African American and Hispanic organizations.198 This strategy masked an ongoing funding pattern by the Coors family and foundation directly hostile to minorities, women, and labor. The engine of that anti-minority effort is the free flow of cash to the establishment and maintenance of the Heritage Foundation, the Free Congress Foundation, the Council for National Policy, and a variety of other Religious Right and far-right organizations. Of late, the foundation says it has cut back its funding initiatives outside of Colorado.199But that has not prevented large grants to the Colorado-based, right-wing Independence Institute, a Heritage-style research center backed by oil and coal interests to advance "market incentives" for environmental protection and to advocate the privatization of federal environmental projects.200According to its former president, Independence examines "topics as diverse as Pacific trade, Sandinistatotalitarianism and the fallacy of U.S.-Soviet moral equivalence" as well.201 However, Coors's most enduring contribution to the conservative cause was the establishment of the Heritage Foundation, begun with a $250,000 grant from Coors in 1973. (The next year, Coors collaborated with the conservative guru Paul Weyrich to form Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress, out of which evolved the Free Congress Foundation.)202While Heritage is often described as a "conservative think tank," its true mission is one of advocacy and public relations. Author Russ Bellant writes that Heritage "creates justifications for preconceived positions and then professionally packages the results in a format palatable to politicians and the press."203 Author Alan Crawford, in his study of right-wing organizations Thunder on the Right, finds that Heritage studies "invariably confirm the notions to which its conservative colleagues and trustees...are already committed."204 Heritage is best known for authoring Mandate for Leadership, considered the blueprint for the Reagan administration; Bellant asserts that Reagan's early reputation as a decisive leader was "primarily due to the fact that his script had already been written for him by the Heritage Foundation before he won the election."205Mandateadvocated greater freedom for the Pentagon and intelligence agencies, coupled with reductions in spending for education, welfare, health services, and other social programs. Approximately two-thirds of these recommendations were adopted within Reagan's first year in office.206Mandate for Leadership II, written when Reagan won reelection in 1984, furthered the conservative agenda by recommending cutbacks in food stamps, Medicare, child nutrition, farm assistance, legal services for the poor, and the expansion of 'low intensity' warfare in several developing countries.207 The Coors Foundation has also provided major funding to Reed Irvine's Accuracy in Media, formed to combat supposed liberal bias in the media. The group maintains, for example, that PBS airs "blatantly pro-Communist propaganda."208 Unlike some other foundations that shy away from explicit identification with Religious Right causes, Coors family heirs have a long-standing relationship with many prominent Religious Right leaders. Coors grantee Paul Weyrich, together with Robert Billings, then director of the Coors-founded Free Congress Foundation, engineered the formation of the Moral Majority with Jerry Falwell at its head. Phyllis Schlafly has received money from Joseph Coors for her STOP-ERA organization;209Coors supported Bob Simonds' National Association of Christian Educators/Citizens for Excellence in Education (CEE) which has sought to "reclaim our Christian heritage in our public schools."210 Other recipients include Pat Robertson's Regent University, Morality in Media and the Rutherford Institute.211 Interestingly, corporate policy recently diverged from foundation and individual funding patterns when the Coors company became one of the first major corporations to extend full domestic partner benefits to gay and lesbian employees.212In light of the Coors family and foundation's continuing support for right-wing, anti-gay, anti-labor and anti-civil rights organizations, it is likely that the domestic-partner policy is more reflective of an effort to appeal to a particular segment of the beer-drinking market than of a change of heart on gay rights issues. Other Major Foundations In addition to the Coors, Bradley, Olin, Scaife and Koch family foundations, a number of conservative foundations have developed both funding strategies and endowments similar to those described above. Among these is the Smith Richardson Foundation, often referred to as one of the "four sisters" of conservative foundations for its tendency to fund in concert with the Olin, Sarah Scaife and Bradley foundations.213 Like the other three, it grants hundreds of thousands of dollars to academic groups such as the Madison Center for Educational Affairs and the National Association of Scholars, and such conservative think tanks as the American Enterprise Institute, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Hoover Institution, Manhattan Institute, the Reason Foundation and the Hudson Institute.214Also among the top conservative foundations are the Amoco and Alcoa foundations, the J.M. Foundation, the Rockwell International Corporation Trust and Ford Motor Company Fund.215 Individual Donors Foundations alone are not the sole supporters of conservative causes. A number of individuals also make enormous financial contributions to Religious Right and ultra- conservative causes in their private capacities. A handful of the more prominent donors are profiled below. A subsequent report from People For the American Way will examine in greater detail the impact of individual right-wing donors' efforts. The movement has generous friends in two California multimillionaires, Howard Ahmanson, Jr. and California state Senator Robert Hurtt, members of the secretive Council for National Policy.216 Unlike some libertarian and neoconservative donors who either shy away from cultural and religious issues, or at the very least are not explicit in their support, Howard Ahmanson Jr. is very open about his mission to save America: "My purpose is total integration of biblical law into our lives."217Ahmanson's money, inherited from his father's Home Savings of America, goes chiefly to anti-abortion, anti- gay rights and pro-business state Assembly candidates in California, many of whom beat out moderate Republicans in the June 1992 Republican primary.218 Robert Hurtt is owner of the Container Supply Company and now a California state senator. He, Ahmanson, and two other California businessmen contributed a total of $1 million directly to hard-right candidates, and have funneled much more through their contributions to seven right-wing political action committees. For example, Ahmanson, Hurtt and their two colleagues were the sole contributors to the Allied Business PAC (approximately $800,000 by September of 1992); about 70 percent of this was used to fund right-wing candidates.219In 1994, the PAC spent almost $2.8 million on state legislative races;220of the 32 candidates receiving PAC money, 29 won primaries, and 24 went on to win seats in the Legislature, primarily in the state Assembly.221 When in 1993 Robert Hurtt ran a successful campaign for state senator, he began to distance himself publicly from the Allied Business PAC. Allied has since changed its name to the California Independent Business PAC both to reflect Hurtt's departure and its new "farm team" strategy, which consists of recruiting local businessmen with experience in school board and city council races for future congressional races.222 Robert Hurtt himself is a substantial contributor to right wing and Religious Right causes. In the 1980s, he became an avid fan of James Dobson's Focus on the Family, donating $250,000 between 1987 and 1989. He says he was inspired to become politically active while traveling with Dobson and other donors to meet with Reagan administration officials, including then-aide Lt. Col. Oliver North.223 While Hurtt bristles at suggestions that he represents the Religious Right and bills himself simply as a pro-business conservative, Religious Right leaders are not nearly so reticent.224In 1992, Hurtt was one of 53 activists recommended by televangelist Pat Robertson to be a delegate to the Republican National Convention from California.225The Reverend Lou Sheldon, director of the Religious Right group Traditional Values Coalition, calls Hurtt "our Daddy Warbucks," and Gary Bauer, president of the Family Research Council, speaks of "Rob" admiringly.226Hurtt's support for Religious Right causes goes beyond financing, however. While in the state Senate, Hurtt has been a chief advocate for so-called parental rights legislation, an initiative being pushed in nearly 30 states and in Congress by the Religious Right. In California, the bill would weaken the ability of local child protection agencies to act in cases of suspected child abuse and allow individual parents to change the curriculum for entire schools if they object to coverage of such issues as sexuality education, condom availability programs, tolerance for homosexuality, and more. Hurtt was the sponsor of a parental rights proposal in 1995 but the bill was not pursued at that time.227A similar version, drafted by the Rutherford Institute, a Religious Right law group, was also introduced in the state assembly.228In addition, Hurtt, along with Ahmanson, co-founded the Capitol Resource Institute (CRI), a Religious Right lobbying group affiliated with Focus on the Family; his contribution totals $1 million. Hurtt's chief of staff and spokesman both come from CRI.229 Hurtt's chief focus as senator has been to fund Republican candidates for the 1996 and 1998 elections to achieve a right-wing Republican state Senate.230In that event, Hurtt is believed to harbor ambitions about becoming president pro tem. Meanwhile, his advocacy group, Capitol Resource Institute, actively lobbies against the interests of public education and gay rights, and pushes for welfare limits and parental rights.231This frees Hurtt to pursue his more purely business-driven agenda:lifting governmental restrictions on business in such areas as affirmative action, environmental protection, tax law, and minimum wage requirements.232 Across the country, Religious Right-aligned business leaders contribute substantially to local, state and national political causes. For example, the DeVos family, cofounders of the home product distribution network Amway, which sells more than $5 billion of merchandise annually, contributed $2.5 million to the national Republican party in 1994 for the construction of a television studio in order to produce a weekly Republican program.233DeVos sits or has sat on the boards of directors of a number of far-right and Religious Right groups, including the Free Congress Foundation, Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, National Legal Center, and Council for National Policy,234and he served on the Chairman's Council of the Conservative Caucus.235 In Michigan, Tom Monaghan, founder and CEO of Domino's Pizza, has channeled large sums into anti-abortion groups such as Operation Rescue and the Committee to End State-Funded Abortions in Michigan. In 1987 he set up the Domino's Foundation to fund far-right Catholic organizations and educational institutions,236and is also the founder of Legatus, a group of Catholic CEOs whose companies earn more than $4 million annually. Legatus aims to represent the Pope's religious activism and anti- communism in the workplace.237Monaghan recently presented the Domino's Humanitarian Award to James Dobson, leader of Focus on the Family, which has waged effective anti-gay, anti-abortion and anti-sex education campaigns in recent years.238 In Washington, D.C., Robert Krieble, characterized by one journalist as "a longtime sugar daddy of the Right," is spending $800,000 of his own money to sponsor a year-long program of training sessions for conservative candidates and activists. The monthly seminars are broadcast nationwide via satellite; speakers include Paul Weyrich, president of the Free Congress Foundation; Tanya Metaksa, the top lobbyist for the National Rifle Association; and R. Marc Nuttle, vice president for political affairs at the National Federation of Independent Business, Inc., and former campaign manager for Pat Robertson's presidential bid in 1988.239 Krieble finances and runs the Krieble Institute, a project of the Free Congress Foundation, which has in the past staged grassroots seminars in former Communist countries. The Institute has recently switched its focus to domestic politics in the U.S., because Krieble, who puts up 75 percent of the Institute's budget, believes that "it will be easier to fend off socialism" at home. At the Heritage Foundation, Krieble has earned the title of "founder" in recognition of his contribution of about $100,000 per year for almost a decade; says Heritage's executive vice president: "[Krieble's] hit up by everybody in the conservative movement."240 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Endnotes 123James Barnes, "Banker with a Cause," National Journal, 3/6/93 124Miner, "The Power and the Money," Rethinking Schools,Spring 94, Vol. 8, #3 125Barnes, "Banker with a Cause," National Journal, 3/6/93, pp 564-5 126Miner, "The Power and the Money," Rethinking Schools,Spring 94, Vol. 8, #3 127Ibid. 128Miner, "The Power and the Money," Rethinking Schools,Spring 94, Vol. 8, #3 129The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation 1994 Annual Report 130Barnes, "Banker with a Cause," National Journal, 3/6/93, pp 564-5 131Miner, "The Power and the Money," Rethinking Schools,Spring 94, Vol. 8, #3 132Ibid. 133The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation 1994 Annual Report 134Miner, "The Power and the Money," Rethinking Schools,Spring 94, Vol. 8, #3 135Ibid. 136Ibid., p. 4 137Miner, "The Power and the Money," Rethinking Schools,Spring 94, Vol. 8, #3 138Welfare Reform: Rhetoric and Reality, Woodstock Theological Center--Forum Announcement, Georgetown University, March 12, 1996 139W. John Moore, "Wichita Pipeline," National Journal, 5/16/92, p. 1171 140Ibid., p. 1169. 141Ibid. 142Ibid., p. 1169 143Ibid., p. 1174 144Ibid., p. 1168 145Ibid., p. 1168 146John M. Olin Foundation 1993 and 1994 Annual Reports 147John M. Olin Foundation 1993 and 1994 Annual Reports 148John M. Olin Foundation, Inc. 1993 Annual Report. 149James Barnes, "Banker with a Cause," National Journal,3/6/93, P. 564. 150John Wiener, "Olin Money Tree: Dollars for Neocon Scholars,"The Nation, January 1, 1990 151"Simon: preaching the word for Olin," New York Times, (no date) 152"Special Report: Conservative Think Tanks and Foundations," Group Research Report, Vol. 30, No. 1 Spring 1991, p. 3 153Weiner, "Dollars for Neocon Scholars,"The Nation,1/1/90, p. 12. 154Josh Daniel, "Uncivil Wars," Independent, Aug./Sept. (no year) 155Weiner, "Dollars for Neocon Scholars,"The Nation,1/1/90, p. 12. 156"Justice for Sale:Shortchanging the Public Interest for Private Gain," A Report by the Alliance For Justice, 1993, p. 27. 157"Justice for Sale:Shortchanging the Public Interest for Private Gain," A Report by the Alliance For Justice, 1993, p. 1. 158John M. Olin Foundation, Inc. 1994 Annual Report 159Weiner, "Dollars for Neocon Scholars,"The Nation,1/1/90, p. 12. 160John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.1994 Annual Report 161John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.1994 Annual Report 162"JM Olin Foundation Gains $100 M in Assets," Foundation Giving WatchVol XIII, Issue 11 April 1994 163John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.1994 Annual Report 164John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.1994 Annual Report 165John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.1994 Annual Report 166Jay Mathews, "Business tries to Shape Legal System, Report Says," Washington Post,5/19/93 167Weiner, "Dollars for Neocon Scholars,"The Nation, 1/1/90, p. 12. 168John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.1994 Annual Report 169Weiner, "Dollars for Neocon Scholars,"The Nation, 1/1/90, p. 12-13. 170Weiner, "Dollars for Neocon Scholars,"The Nation, 1/1/90, p. 12 171Miner, "The Power and the Money," Rethinking Schools,Spring 94, Vol. 8, #3 172Weiner, "Dollars for Neocon Scholars,"The Nation, 1/1/90, p. 12. 173John M. Olin Foundation, Inc. 1993 and 1994 Annual Reports 174John M. Olin Foundation 1993 and 1994 Annual Reports 175Weiner, "Dollars for Neocon Scholars,"The Nation, 1/1/90, p. 13 176John M. Olin Foundation, Inc. 1993 Annual Report 177John M. Olin Foundation, Inc. 1993 Annual Report 1781995 FGI, p. 1262 179John M. Olin Foundation 1993 and 1994 Annual Reports 180John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.1994 Annual Report 181John M. Olin Foundation, Inc. 1994 Annual Report 182Phil Kuntz, "Citizen Scaife," Wall Street Journal,10/12/95 183See Scaife Family Foundation 1994 Annual Report. 184Phil Kuntz, "Citizen Scaife," Wall Street Journal,10/12/95 185Ibid. 186Ibid. 187Ibid., p. 2 188Phil Kuntz, "Citizen Scaife," Wall Street Journal, 10/12/95 189Russ Bellant, The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism, Political Research Associates, p. 29 190Bella Stumbo, "Coors Clan: Doing it their Way," Los Angeles Times, 9/18/88. 191 Thomas Knudson, "Labor Truce Welcomed at Coors Base," New York Times, 9/7/87 192Russ Bellant, The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism, Politics 193Victoria Cross, "Coors Brings Beer and Controversy to Detroit," Detroit Metro Times, 1/22/86 194Victoria Cross, "Coors Brings Beer and Controversy to Detroit," Detroit Metro Times, 1/22/86 195Russ Bellant, The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism, Political Research Associates, p. 62 196Jonathan P. Hicks, "Coors Mends Minority Fences," New York Times, 7/25/85; "Coors Drops Libel Suit Against Paper," Washington Post, 8/26/87. 197Bella Stumbo, "Coors Clan: Doing it their Way," Los Angeles Times, 9/18/88. 198 Jonathan P. Hicks, "Coors Mends Minority Fences," New York Times, 7/25/85 199 Phone interview with Coors Foundation office, Colorado. 200Hatfield and Waugh, "The Right's Smart Bombs," San Francisco Examiner, 5/24/92; 1995 Foundation Grants Index, p. 1231. 201"Special Report:Burgeoning Conservative Think Tanks," Responsive Philanthropy, National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, Spring 1991 p. 13. 202Bellant, The Coors Connection, Political Research Associates, 1990, p. 21 203Ibid., p. 11 204Ibid., Bellant quoting Alan Crawford. 205Ibid., p. 19, 16. 206Ibid., pp. 16-17 207Ibid., pp. 17-18 208"Private Foundations Boost Conservative Programs, Oppose Public Funding," St. Louis Journalism Review, 6/92. 209Victoria Cross, "Coors Brings Beer and Controversy to Detroit," Detroit Metro Times, 1/22/86 210Bellant, The Coors Connection, Political Research Associates, 1990, p. 25 211"Who Funds the Radical Right?" National Campaign for Freedom of Expression, Autumn 1995 212Michael Booth, Coors Adds Partners to Benefits," Denver Post, 7/7/95 213Leon Howell, "The Role of the Four Sisters: Funding the War of Ideas," Christian Century, July 19- 26 1995, p. 701. 2141995 FGI p. 425; 1232-3; 602; Smith Richardson 1994 Annual Report. 215"Foundations are Four Times More Liberal than Conservative: Capital Research Center Reports to Nation," Responsive Philanthropy, National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, Fall 1991, pp. 1, 12. 216The Council for National Policy, Without Justice for All,p. 61, (no date). 217Ralph Frammolino, "Ahmanson Heir Bankrolls RR's Agenda," Los Angeles Times,'92, (incomplete date) 218Ibid. 219Ibid. 220John Borland, "Dollars from the Right: Conservative Group is finding that even Ideology has a Bottom Line," California Journal, Sept. 1995, p. 16 221Eric Bailey, "Affluent Conservative Political Group to Focus on Local Issues," LA Times, 7/5/95 222Ibid. 223Dan Morain and Carl Ingram, "Hurtt's Spending Equals his Bold Conservative Agenda," Los Angeles Times, 11/24/95 224Barber, "Rob Hurtt:New Power on the Right," California Journal, February 1994, pp. 8-9. 225Letter from Ralph Reed to Charles Black, April 3, 1992. 226Morain and Ingram, "Hurtt's Spending," Los Angeles Times,11/24/95 227California State Senate Legislative Counsel's Digest Bill Analysis. 228Mary Lynne Vellinga, "'Parental Rights' Movement Grows," Sacramento Bee, 5/27/96 229Morain and Ingram, "Hurtt's Spending," Los Angeles Times,11/24/95 230Ibid., p. 1 231Ibid., p. 2 232Ibid., p. 3 233"The Christian Capitalists," US News & World Report, 3/13/95, pp. 59-60 234Bellant, The Coors Connection, Political Research Associates, 1990, p. 30. 235Ibid. 236"Who Funds the Radical Right?" National Campaign for Freedom of Expression, Autumn 1995 237Lynda Edwards, "The Pizza Empire Strikes Back" Washington Post,3/18/90 238"Who Funds the Radical Right?" National Campaign for Freedom of Expression, Autumn 1995 239Peter H Stone, "His pockets run DEEP," National Journal, 12/9/95, pp 3042-3 240Ibid. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Documents from a Conservative Viewpoint ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you appreciate the information we provide, please support our work. Make a donation or become a member of Global Policy Forum.
