 |
Right Wing Organizations |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For over 25 years, People
For the American Way
Foundation (PFAWF) has
countered the Right Wing’s
efforts to roll back, or
stop, social justice
progress and to reshape
government and society to
its liking. Our research
center monitors the power of
right-wing groups,
documenting their
connections, funding, and
reporting on their political
influence.
Right-wing organizations
come in all shapes and
sizes, from think tanks to
legal groups, local and
national lobbying
organizations, foundations
and media forums. At any
given moment, the Right is
at work in our public school
systems, courthouses, in
Congress and state
assemblies. At the same
time, right-wing groups are
reaching huge audiences
through media outlets they
own or influence—promoting
regressive policies that
seek to drive wedges between
and among Americans.
These often single-issue
groups have the ability to
create multi-issue networks
that can respond on a wide
range of issues. People For
the American Way
Foundation’s library has
files on over 800 groups and
almost 300 individuals
documenting their activities
and providing information
about their efforts to
reshape society. This
section presents a small
portion of that information. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4455 Connecticut Ave., NW,
Suite 330
Washington, DC 20008
www.academia.org
Founded: by Reed
Irvine in 1985
Executive Director:
Malcolm “Mal” Kline
Finances: $285, 643
(2002 budget)
Publications:
Campus Report, a monthly
newspaper
Affiliated with:
Accuracy in Media |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Main issues: combating Title IX, multicultural education, and
abortion, and fighting
“liberal” ideas that are
offensive to right-wing
students. Asserts that many
colleges and universities
are openly dedicated to
“indoctrinating” students
with liberal or communist
philosophy.
AIA seeks to expose “the
exploitation of the
classroom or university
resources to indoctrinate
students; discrimination
against students, faculty or
administrators based on
political or academic
beliefs; and campus
violations of free speech.”
|
Back to Top
|
AIA monitors and documents “[t]he use of classroom and/or university
resources to indoctrinate
students.” AIA’s monthly
publication Campus Report
focuses on “three issues:
the exploitation of the
classroom or university
resources to indoctrinate
students; discrimination
against students, faculty or
administrators based on
political or academic
beliefs; and campus
violations of free speech.”
Sponsors an annual
“Conservative University”
conference. Recent speakers
include: John Lott, author
of More Guns, Less Crime,
Joseph Farah of
WorldNetDaily, Rep. Tom
Tancredo (R-Colo.), Lori
Waters of Eagle Forum and
Conservative Caucus chairman
Howard Phillips.
Sells books such as Ann
Coulter’s Treason,Why
the Left Hates America
by Daniel Flynn and
Preachers of Hate: Islam and
the War on America by
Kenneth Timmerman.
AIA has characterized
the NAACP’s founder, W.E.B.
Du Bois, as the “Father of
Bad Multiculturalism.”
According to AIA, “W.E.B. Du
Bois is the father of the
multiculturalism that is
currently pervasive on
American campuses. This is a
multiculturalism that
is…preoccupied with the
negative aspects, both real
and imagined, of our own
culture.”
|
Back to Top
|
Founded by Reed Irvine
to monitor college and
university professors for
teaching “disinformation”
and “liberal” bias. The
group clamed that 10,000
known Marxists teach on
university campuses
nationwide.
Accuracy, Fairness and
Balance in Higher Education”
published in 1985. According
to AIA “youth are being
indoctrinated” on liberal
arts campuses.
AIA will investigate
reports from students of
seriously inaccurate
information being
imparted by classroom
instructors—either
through lectures or
required reading
material.
AIA will try to
discuss the matter with
the teacher to determine
whether or not the
complaint is valid and
to see if the teacher
would be willing to make
a correction.
In cases where the
professor declines this
opportunity, AIA will
employ other means to
call the error to the
attention of students
and others who may be
interested, including
AIA supporters
throughout the country.
In the eighties the
group’s monitoring campaign
caused widespread
controversy on higher
education campuses,
eliciting fear and anger
among academics and
students.
President Reagan’s
Secretary of Education,
William Bennett, called
Irvine’s academic watchdog
group “a bad idea.”
Malcolm Kline was named
AIA’s new executive director
in fall 2003. He worked at
the National Journalism
Center for twenty years.
Kline has written for:
Newsmax.com, National
Catholic Register, Catholic
News Service, and Washington
Times’s Insight
magazine.
AIA’s former Executive
Director was Daniel Flynn,
author of Why the Left
Hates America.
|
Back to Top
|
“Accuracy in Academia plays
an indispensable role in
fighting the political
distortions and biases that
pass for knowledge on
today’s college campuses. I
am looking forward to being
part of a campaign to
challenge students to think
more accurately and
broad-mindedly about the
fundamental issues that
affect their lives.” --
Dinesh D’Souza, author and
right-wing speaker
“Accuracy in Academia is
reaching the leaders of
tomorrow with the truth
about the sexual revolution
ignited in the 60s and
raging today all about them.
This awareness is critical
to properly equipping the
leaders of tomorrow.
Accuracy in Academia is a
lone voice carrying the
message of truth and hope to
a generation that seldom, if
ever, is able to access the
truth about America's
crucial and fragile social
constructs that have made us
free. I am proud to stand
with AIA as they
relentlessly seek to provide
to America's college student
America's measured and true
standard for a free
society's smallest building
block, marriage and family.”
-- Judith A. Reisman, a
right-wing speaker and
author, published
Crafting “Gay” Children: An
Inquiry into the Abuse of
Vulnerable Youth via
Government Schooling &
Mainstream Media in
2001.
“If sanity ever returns to
the academic world, part of
the credit will go to a
small newspaper called
Campus Report, which has
exposed innumerable
incidents of brainwashing
replacing education on
college campuses, storm
trooper tactics being
accepted and rewarded by
‘responsible’ college
administrators, and academic
and behavioral double
standards being applied to
the group to which one
belongs, rather than one’s
own behavior or
performance.” -- Thomas
Sowell, author and
syndicated columnist |
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The African-American Life
Alliance (AALA) is a small,
religious, anti-choice
organization whose mission
is to preach against
abortion, sexual promiscuity
and “illicit moral
activities.” Though AALA is
predominately a one-person
group, its founder and
director Paulette Roseboro
is frequently quoted in
right-wing and anti-choice
materials in an effort to
reach out to the African
American community.
The African-American Life
Alliance
One Staton Drive
Upper Marlboro, MD 20774
Mailing Address: P.O. Box
3722, Capitol Heights,
Maryland 20791
Website:
www.lifedrum.org
Founder/Executive
Director: Paulette
Roseboro [bio]
Founded: 1991
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The stated mission of the
African-American Life
Alliance (AALA) is “to
educate the Black Community
about how sexual promiscuity
and illicit moral activities
have invaded our communities
and are eroding our
families, organizations,
schools, and churches.” The
AALA focuses primarily on
abolishing abortion, and
preaches abstinence; it
promotes teaching
creationism in schools, and
advocates traditional gender
roles for men and women. As
described by its website,
the AALA argues that “The
Church must be on constant
vigil for Satan lurks in his
darkness like a voracious
lion awaiting attack. He
camouflages himself in
worldly reason and logic,
giving unsound rationale to
sinful acts.”
The AALA is a religious
organization that strictly
interprets the Bible and
condemns the practice of
abortion. The AALA equates
the 1973 Supreme Court
decision in Roe v. Wade
(which legalized abortion)
to the 1857 Dred Scott Case,
which legalized slavery.
Both Blacks and the “Unborn”
were ruled to be
“non-persons,” whose lives
were/are in the hands of the
slave-owner or the mother,
respectively.
The African-American Life
Alliance accepts nothing
less than abstinence until
marriage for sexual
activity; it claims that
“sexual purity is achieved
only through chastity and
abstinence for teens and
singles and marital fidelity
for marriedes [sic].” AALA
argues that “condoms provide
virtually no protection”
against sexually-transmitted
diseases. |
Back to Top
|
|
Anti-abortion articles by
Paulette Roseboro have
appeared on numerous
right-wing sites. Roseboro
also testified against human
cloning before the
National Bioethics Advisory
Commission in 1997. Her
testimony has also been
posted to the anti-cloning
site,
BlackGenocide.org.
Roseboro also assisted with
the 1999 Newark, New Jersey
to Washington, DC, “Say So
March” – organized by the
Life Education and Resource
Network (LEARN),
the largest,
African-American “pro-life”
ministry in the country.
|
Back to Top
|
The African-American Life
Alliance was founded in 1991
by Washington, D.C. native
Paulette Roseboro, who quit
her job in the federal
government to pursue
anti-abortion activism
full-time. Roseboro is on
the staffs of several
religious and right-wing
political organizations,
such as the
Greater Washington Christian
Education Association,
the
Maryland Constitution Party
– Prince George’s County
Chapter and serves on the
executive council of the
National Clergy Council
– “Dedicated to bringing
classical Christian moral
instruction into discourse
on public policy.”
Updated: April 2006 |
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
All Children Matter (ACM)
raises money through a
network of organizations to
help fund campaigns for
pro-voucher political
candidates.
229 S. Washington Street -
Suite 115
Alexandria VA 22314
Website:
www.allchildrenmatter.org
Executive Director:
Greg Brock
Founded: 2003
Directors: Betsy
DeVos, Richard Sharp, Greg
Brock
Key Staff: Lisa
Lisker, Keith Davis
Finances: $7.6
million
projected expenditures
in 2006
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dick and Betsy DeVos started
All Children Matter (ACM) in
the spring of 2003, to
recruit, train and fund
candidates who will promote
vouchers across the country.
Today, ACM Inc, a federal “527”
organization, is the lead
organization of a network of
affiliates classified as
state or federal Political
Action Committee’s (PACs),
which can donate money
directly to and campaign on
behalf of political
candidates. With its base of
wealthy funders and ability
to stealthily intervene in
local, state and federal
political races, the ACM
network is an effective tool
for the movement to
privatize public education. |
Back to Top
|
- All Children Matter
was started to fund
pro-voucher political
candidates
- Aside from donating
directly to campaigns,
ACM also funds slick
‘issue ads’ that heavily
favor pro-voucher
candidates.
|
Back to Top
|
- In 2004, ACM paid
for
fliers in support of
President Bush’s
re-election campaign in
Florida. The fliers do
not mention vouchers,
privatization or even
the Right’s favorite
euphemism “school
choice.” The flier
falsely claimed that
Senator John Kerry
“opposed equal
opportunity in
education” and stated
that President Bush
supported increased
education funding.
Campaign finance laws
require political groups
to clearly identify
themselves on their ads.
Though the phrase “no
matter what, All
Children Matter” appears
at the bottom of the
flier, ACM inc. does not
explicitly claim
responsibility for it.
- Also in 2004, ACM
paid for a last minute
radio ad blitz in
Missouri on behalf of
gubernatorial candidate
Matt Blunt. After his
election, Blunt
appointed
Ed Martin, ACM-MO’s
treasurer to be his
Chief of Staff and
personally pushed
pro-voucher legislation
backed by ACM.
- In the summer of
2004, the estate of
Wal-Mart heir
John Walton donated
more than $2 million to
All Children
Matter-Virginia, which,
according to the
Virginia Public Access
Project promptly
funneled money to an
affiliate group in
Florida. The Florida
group then
spent that money to
support pro-voucher
candidates in the state,
without having to
disclose the individuals
who donated it. Relevant
disclosure forms for
the Florida groups will
show only that money
came in from All
Children
Matter-Virginia, with no
disclosure of a
connection to the Walton
family. All Children
Matter-Virginia appears
to be the centerpiece of
this scheme. ACM-VA is
seeing an unprecedented
cash flow even though it
can only spend money in
Virginia on state races
and there are none in
2006. ACM-VA acts a
conduit to stealthfully
distribute money to
other states.
- According to
campaign finance records,
just before the 2006
primary elections in
Missouri, businessman
and financial analyst
Rex Sinquefield
donated $100,000 to an
All Children Matter
affiliate in that state,
which in turn spent the
entire sum in the eight
days leading up to the
election on behalf of
only five pro-voucher
candidates. All Children
Matter enabled
Sinquefield to donate
much more to each of
these candidates than
would have been legal
had he given money
directly to their
campaigns.
- In a 2006 Colorado
primary, ACM began
pouring thousands of
dollars into one race in
the form of direct mail
and advertisements to
support a pro-voucher
state incumbent who was
far behind his opponent
in fundraising.
|
Back to Top
|
|
The All Children Matter
network receives large
amounts of funding from a
small group of ultra-wealthy
donors. These donors include
Dick DeVos and other
members of his
family, the estate of
Wall-Mart heir
John Walton, JC
Huizenga,
Ted Forstman, Dino
Cortopassi, John D. Bryan,
Joseph Robert, Jr., Peter
Flannigan,
Richard Gilder, Rick
Sharp, Roger Hertog,
Virginia Manheimer, and
Bruce Kovner. |
Back to Top
|
|
"I know a little something
about soft money, as my
family is the largest single
contributor of soft money to
the national Republican
Party. I have decided,
however, to stop taking
offense at the suggestion
that we are buying
influence. Now I simply
concede the point. They are
right. We do expect some
things in return.” -
Betsy DeVos (Roll Call,
1997) |
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Founded by a group of
high-profile Religious Right
leaders such as D. James
Kennedy and James Dobson,
the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF)
sees itself as a counter to
the ACLU. As a legal group,
it assists and augments the
efforts of other right-wing
groups to “keep the door
open for the spread of the
Gospel.” The ADF has been
active on issues including
pushing “marriage
protection,” exposing the
“homosexual agenda” and
fighting the supposed “war
on Christmas.”
Alliance Defense Fund
15333 N. Pima Road - Suite
165
Scottsdale AZ 85260
Website:
www.alliancedefensefund.org
Founders: Bill
Bright, founder of
Campus Crusade for Christ;
Larry Burkett, founder of
Christian Financial
Concepts; Rev. James Dobson,
founder of
Focus on the Family;
Rev. D. James Kennedy,
founder of
Coral Ridge Ministries;
Marlin Maddoux, President of
International Christian
Media; Don Wildmon, founder
of
American Family Association;
and 25+ other ministries.
Founded: 1994
President and General
Counsel: Alan Sears
Officers, Directors,
Trustees, and Key Employees:
Alan Sears, Wayne N.
Swindler, Marv McCarthy
Other Staff: 38
employees
Finances: $15,744,101
(2003 budget)
Major Donors: Bill
and Berniece Grewcock
Foundation, Richard and
Helen DeVos Foundation,
Bradley Foundation. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- The Alliance Defense
Fund (ADF) is a
Christian legal firm
established by more than
30 Christian ministries
to help defend “family
values” and work against
the ACLU (American Civil
Liberties Union).
- ADF defines itself
by its ability to
strategize and
coordinate with lawyers
all over the United
States. Lawyers who sign
up for their “Blackstone
Legal Institute” are
expected to donate 450
pro bono hours over a
three year period.
- ADF has coordinated
more than 750 lawyers
and 125 right-wing
organizations, and many
conservative ministries
on behalf of ADF-defined
Christian legal issues.
- ADF claims 25
“victories” before the
Supreme Court,
including: Boy Scouts
of America v. Dale
(2000), which allowed
the Boy Scouts to fire a
Scout Leader due solely
to his sexual
orientation; United
States v. American
Library Association
(2003), in which the
Court voted to allow the
federal government to
withhold federal funds
if libraries did not
comply with the
filtering called for by
the Children’s Internet
Protection Act of 2000;
and Zelman v.
Simmons-Harris
(2002), upheld Ohio’s
school voucher system,
which allows for parents
to send their children
to private or religious
schools with
taxpayer-funded
vouchers.
- ADF has linked more
than 125 groups to
create a combined effort
to fight for their
issues. They’ve brought
together attorneys and
allied legal groups to
help develop a national
strategy on
controversial social
issues, for example they
worked with others to
develop a national
strategy to “protect
marriage” across the
United States after
Vermont's decision to
legalize civil unions
for gays and lesbians.
- In addition to
organizing lawyers and
ministries, ADF also
trains and recruits and
provides grants to
support legal cases as
well as pro-bono
assistance.
- ADF also defends the
right of Christians to
“share the gospel” in
workplaces and public
schools, claiming that
any efforts to curb
proselytizing at work
and school are
anti-Christian.
- ADF has had success
in anti-gay cases all
over the US, from Alaska
to Massachusetts.
|
Back to Top
|
- Unique to the
Alliance Defense Fund
(ADF) is their
collective of high-power
founders, including
wealthy right-wing
organizations such as
Dobson’s Focus on the
Family and D. James
Kennedy’s Coral Ridge
Ministries.
- The ADF embodies the
beliefs of its founders,
harnessing the efforts
of a cadre of right-wing
groups with hundreds of
millions of dollars at
their disposal. All of
these groups are
influential members of
the Right; they are
pro-life and anti-gay,
and their ultimate goal
is to see the law and
U.S. government
enshrined with
conservative Christian
principles.
- The relationship
between ADF and it’s
founders is one of
mutual self-interest;
ADF has access to the
resources and networking
of large organizations,
who in turn are equipped
with an endless supply
of readily-available
lawyers.
- ADF’s strength goes
beyond their budget due
to their influence with
well-funded
religious-right groups.
- Two issues common to
each of ADF’s founders
are their work against
the right to abortion,
and against the civil
rights/liberties of gays
and lesbians. They are
particularly persistent
in attacking attempts by
homosexuals to have
families, establish
domestic partnerships or
civil unions, or to be
protected from
discrimination in
employment or housing.
|
Back to Top
|
|
Alan Sears was the Executive
Director of the Attorney
General’s Commission on
Pornography under President
Ronald Reagan. Sears was a
federal prosecutor for
former Secretary of Interior
Don Hodel (former Christian
Coalition President), and
has produced several
anti-gay works, such as
The Homosexual Agenda in
paperback, and Exposing
the Homosexual Agenda on
broadcast cassette. |
Back to Top
|
“The Alliance Defense Fund
is a servant organization
that provides the resources
that will keep the door open
for the spread of the Gospel
through the legal defense
and advocacy of religious
freedom, the sanctity of
human life, and traditional
family values.”
– The Alliance Defense Fund
website, February 2006
Updated: August
2006 |
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Founded by Pat Robertson,
the American Center for Law
and Justice (ACLJ) and its
Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow
quickly established
themselves as key players in
the right-wing movement,
litigating a variety of
cases at all levels,
including the Supreme Court.
The ACLJ has been
particularly active in
fighting marriage equality
and defending the Pledge of
Allegiance, while Sekulow
has maintained very close
ties to the Bush White House
and played a central role in
pushing for the confirmation
of Supreme Court Justices
Roberts and Alito.
American Center for Law and
Justice
PO Box 64429
1000 Regent University Drive
Virginia Beach, VA 23467
Website:
www.aclj.org
Founder: Pat
Robertson, founder of the
700 Club,
Christian Coalition,
Operation Blessing, Regent
University
Date established:
1990
Executive Director/Chief
Counsel: Jay Sekulow
Publications:
Newsletter, education
pamphlets, reports, and
Foundations of Freedom,
a free booklet on the
"nation's most important
documents."
Annual Budget:
$14,650,162 (2004)
Employees: 50
Media: Sekulow has
been a popular guest on
nationally televised news
programs on ABC, CBS, NBC,
CNN, FOX, MSNBC, CNBC, and
PBS. He is also frequently
quoted in articles published
in the mainstream press.
Media: “Jay
Sekulow Live!” is a
daily weekday radio show
that is aired on over 550
radio stations in the U.S.,
heard by 1.5 million
listeners; "ACLJ
This Week" broadcasts
throughout the week on
multiple cable TV channels. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- The American Center
for Law and Justice
(ACLJ) is a legal
advocacy group
“dedicated to defending
and advancing religious
liberty, the sanctity of
human life, and the
two-parent,
marriage-bound family.”
- ACLJ is a strong
supporter of the Federal
Marriage Amendment
intended to ban same-sex
marriage.
- ACLJ has been
involved with more than
30 cases before the
United States Supreme
Court and has been
successful in many of
its lawsuits.
- ACLJ is a strong
supporter of school
vouchers and filed a
friend-of-the-court
brief in the 2002
Cleveland voucher case
before the Supreme
Court.
- The ACLJ supports
the funding of
faith-based social
services, religious
proclamations in the
public domain, and often
equates religious
expression with
patriotism.
- ACLJ strongly
opposes the right to
legal, safe abortion and
provides legal help to
pro-life protesters who
harass women seeking
reproductive services.
- The ACLJ challenges
domestic partnership
benefits for city and
state employees,
anti-discrimination
ordinances that include
sexual orientation, and
generally fights against
the right of gays and
lesbians to be parents.
- The ACLJ's legal
services are free.
|
Back to Top
|
- In 2004-2005, the
American Center for Law
and Justice (ACLJ)
played a
key role in the
effort to eliminate the
minority party’s ability
to make use of a
senatorial filibuster
for judicial nominees.
- ACLJ gives free
legal advice and counsel
and maintains a national
Christian Affiliate
Attorney list for
referrals.
- Two of the Supreme
Court cases argued by
Sekulow have become
benchmark cases in the
area of religious
liberty litigation. In
Board of Education of
Westside Community
Schools v. Mergens
(496 US 226), Sekulow
argued the right of
public school students
to form Bible clubs and
religious organizations
on their school
campuses. In Lamb's
Chapel v. Center
Moriches School District,
Sekulow defended the
rights of religious
groups to use public
school property for
religious meetings after
hours.
- A few other examples
of ACLJ cases:
- ACLJ defended a
group of parents who
drove a transsexual
teacher out of her
job in Minnesota,
- Supported a
Kmart pharmacist who
refused to dispense
birth control pills,
and
- Pursued
litigation over
various claims that
children are being
told that they
cannot pray on
school grounds or
talk about their
religion.
|
Back to Top
|
- Jay Sekulow helped
draft the Defense of the
Marriage Act (DOMA),
which passed both houses
and was signed into law
by President Bill
Clinton in 1996. DOMA
allows states to reject
the legitimacy of
same-sex marriage
licenses awarded in
other states, although,
to this day no state
offers marriage licenses
to same-sex couples.
Sekulow helped draft
DOMA: “[and] at the
request of several
pro-family legislators,
[I] gave expert
testimony to both houses
of Congress on this
bill.” (Jay Sekulow,
1997)
- The National Law
Journal has twice
named Sekulow one of the
“100 Most Influential
Lawyers” in the United
States. (1994, 1997); he
is a leading
conservative lawyer, and
has argued numerous
cases before the Supreme
Court.
- In 2005, Sekulow was
named one of the "25
Most Influential
Evangelicals" in America
by TIME Magazine.
- Sekulow has also
worked closely with
the White House in
promoting and defending
the Bush
administration’s Supreme
Court nominees.
|
Back to Top
|
"This great American
institution [Boy Scouts of
America] has come under
attack from homosexual
activists—who may well set
their sights on your
church next."
– Jay Sekulow, direct mail,
March 2000
"Can you imagine, that in
public schools of America
today, students are being
taught that homosexual
conduct, which in many
states is still deemed
illegal, is not only a
viable alternative
lifestyle, but is actually
equal to heterosexual
relationships?"
– Jay Sekulow, January 2,
1997, Danbury News-Times
Updated: August
2006 |
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Founder Ward Connerly and
the American Civil Rights
Institute (ACRI) oppose
affirmative action and any
government/education
policies that grant priority
or preference to certain
racial groups over others.
ACRI has promoted
legislation and “reform” in
state policies and
individual university or
college criteria to end such
programs. Continuing his
state-by-state attack on
affirmative action policies,
Connerly co-founded the
so-called “Michigan
Civil Rights Initiative”
(MCRI), a 2006 ballot
initiative to ban
affirmative action in state
“hiring, contracting, and
admissions to public
schools.” On November 7,
2006, Michigan voters
approved the affirmative
action ban by 58-42 percent.
American Civil Rights
Institute
P.O. Box 188350
Sacramento CA 95818
Website:
www.acri.org
Founder/Chairman:
Ward Connerly
Vice Chairman: Thomas
L. Rhodes (2003)
Founded/Place: 1997,
California
Director: Edward J.
Blum
Finances: $2,203,864
(2004)
Publications: The
Egalitarian (newsletter)
Affiliate Groups:
American Civil Rights
Coalition;
Michigan Civil Rights
Initiative |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The American Civil Rights
Institute (ACRI) opposes
affirmative action and any
government/education
policies that take race into
consideration. It has
promoted legislation and
“reform” in state policies
and individual university or
college criteria to end such
programs. Founder Ward
Connerly and ACRI’s attacks
on affirmative action
policies have proved
successful in California,
Washington State and
Michigan, but their efforts
have failed in Florida.
|
Back to Top
|
|
In 1996, Ward Connerly led
the so-called “California
Civil Rights Initiative” –
the successful campaign for
a ballot referendum (Proposition
209) to end all
affirmative action programs
in California state
government. The American
Civil Rights Institute –
American Civil Rights
Coalition was formed by
Connerly in 1997 to take the
battle against affirmative
action nationwide. Critics
charge that Connerly used
his 12-year position as a
University of California
Regent (1993-2005) as a
“bully pulpit” to promote
his divisive agenda. |
Back to Top
|
- 1998: Washington
state voters approve “Initiative
200” which bans the
state from using race,
gender or sex to give
preferential treatment
in employment,
contracting or public
education admissions.
- 1999: Connerly
launches a petition
drive in support of a
2000 ballot initiative
to overturn affirmative
action policies in
Florida. While
proponents of the
“Florida Civil Rights
Initiative” gathered
enough signatures and
waited for the state
Supreme Court to approve
the ballot language,
momentum faltered and
organizing stopped. In
March 2000, a march on
the state capitol in
Tallahassee by thousands
of civil rights
supporters angered over
Gov. Jeb Bush’s own
anti-affirmative action
plan (“One
Florida”), along
with the concern of many
Republicans that a 2000
ballot measure would
increase
moderate/progressive
voter turnout and would
hurt GOP presidential
candidate George W.
Bush, may have doomed
the Florida Civil Rights
Initiative.
- 2002: ACRI’s “Racial
Privacy Initiative” – a
"proposed constitutional
amendment that would ban
state and local
governments from
collecting racial data"
– is certified for the
California ballot. On
October 7, 2003
California voters
defeated the Racial
Privacy Initiative (Prop
54) by a margin of 64%
to 36%. Connerly blames
“legal challenges filed
by the unholy
triumvirate of the
American Civil Liberties
Union, the Mexican
American Legal Defense
and Education Fund, and
the National Association
for the Advancement of
Colored People” against
ACRI and the American
Civil Rights Coalition
along with having the
measure moved to the
special election to
recall Gov. Gray Davis
as causes for its
failure to pass.
- January, 2003: The
Individual Rights
Foundation – the
legal arm of David
Horowitz’s
Center for the Study of
Popular Culture –
submits an
amicus brief [PDF
file] on behalf of Ward
Connerly to the U.S.
Supreme Court inGrutter
v. Bollinger & Gratz v.
Bollinger, attacking
the affirmative action
policies of the
University of Michigan.
- January 2003: The
American Civil Rights
Institute, along with
the
Center for Equal
Opportunity and the
Independent Women's
Forum, filed an
amicus brief [PDF
file] with the U.S.
Supreme Court supporting
the petitioners in
Grutter v. Bollinger &
Gratz v. Bollinger.
- October 2003: The
American Civil Rights
Institute, along with
the Center for Equal
Opportunity and the
Independent Women's
Forum, files a
friend-of-the-court
brief [PDF file]
with the U.S. Supreme
Court. The brief urges
the Court to grant
review in Grutter v.
Bollinger.
- Connerly is a
co-founder of the “Michigan
Civil Rights Initiative”
– which formed to place
an anti-affirmative
action ballot measure on
the 2006 ballot.
According to its
website, the Michigan
Civil Rights Initiative
(MCRI) would amend “the
Michigan Constitution to
prohibit discrimination
by state and local
governments against
anyone based on their
race, sex, color,
ethnicity or national
origin. The ban would
apply to hiring,
contracting, and
admissions to public
schools.” The MCRI was
endorsed by the
Mystic Knights of the Ku
Klux Klan. On November
7, 2006, Michigan voters
approved the affirmative
action ban (Proposal 2)
by 58-42 percent.
|
Back to Top
|
"Recent events in the
aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina have reaffirmed for
me, however, the complete
folly of any Republican
strategy to increase black
representation in the
Republican Party by appeals
based on race. Whatever the
name – 'African American
Outreach' or 'Black
Republicans for Bush' – any
effort to attract blacks or
any other ethnic group to
the Republican party, based
on explicit or implicit
appeals to race or ethnic
identity, are not only a
waste of time and resources,
but are also misguided and
potentially quite damaging
to the nation." – Ward
Connerly ["End
the Race Party,"
National Review,
September 30, 2005]
"Let it be said that when
given a chance to complete
the liberation of black
Americans, on June 23, 2003
five justices consigned them
to another generation — or,
perhaps, a term of
indefinite duration — of
virtual enslavement to the
past." – Ward Connerly,
responding to the U.S.
Supreme Court’s Michigan
rulings ["Murder
at the Supreme Court,"
National Review, July
26, 2003]
"The Grutter and Gratz
decisions, taken together,
represent a sad and tragic
chapter in American
history." – Ward Connerly,
responding to the U.S.
Supreme Court’s Michigan
rulings [National
Review, July 26,
2003]
"The court made a very
ambiguous ruling - and a
sickening one. It left the
nation in the position of
agony. . . . We will be
fighting this battle for
another 25 years or more." –
Ward Connerly, responding to
the U.S. Supreme Court’s
Michigan rulings [Washington
Times, July 24, 2003]
"Passionate ideological
opposition to race
preferences does not seem to
be part of the Bush DNA, and
President Bush has been no
exception to this rule . . .
It is not the legitimate
business of government in
America to promote
'diversity.'" – Ward
Connerly on the White House
briefs in the Supreme Court
Michigan cases,
Washington Times
[January 21, 2003]
Updated: November
2006 |
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Founded by William F.
Buckley in 1964, the
American Conservative Union
(ACU) is one of the nation’s
oldest lobbying groups on
the Right. It is best known
for its annual ratings of
Congress and its sponsorship
of the annual Conservative
Political Action Convention
(CPAC), a gathering of
Washington insiders,
right-wing pundits and
grassroots activists from
across the country.
American Conservative Union
1007 Cameron Street
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
Websites:
www.conservative.org or
www.cpac.org
Founders: William F.
Buckley, Jr.: L. Brent
Bozell: Frank S. Meyer; John
Chamberlain; Jameson
Campaigne, Sr.; John
Ashbrook; Katherine St.
George; and Robert E. Bauman
Chairman: David A.
Keene
Established: December
1964
Finances: American
Conservative Union [501(c)4]
- $3,810,745 (2004) and
American Conservative Union
Foundation [501(c)3] -
$1,068,592 (2005)
Board members include:
Senator Jesse Helms;
Grover Norquist,
Morton Blackwell, also
on the Conservative
Leadership PAC and
Free Congress Foundation
boards; and
Becky Norton Dunlop,
also serves on boards of the
Heritage Foundation, the
Family Foundation and
Century Communications
Frequent Donors: The
Lynde and Harry Bradley
Foundation; the Bill and
Berniece Grewcock
Foundation; and the William
E. Simon Foundation
Affiliated with:
American Conservative Union
Foundation, American
Conservative Union PAC,
Conservative Political
Action Conference (CPAC)
Publications:
Battle Line quarterly
newsletter, along with
reports and legislative
guides for Congress |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- The American
Conservative Union (ACU)
defines itself as the
nation's oldest
conservative lobbying
organization.
- ACU is a
multi-issue, umbrella
organization that
specializes in
grassroots organizing as
well as organizing and
supporting conservative
leadership.
- The organization’s
mission statement
describes its commitment
to “a market economy,
the doctrine of original
intent of the framers of
the Constitution,
traditional moral
values, and a strong
national defense.”
|
Back to Top
|
- Since 1971, the
American Conservative
Union (ACU) has
published Congressional
member ratings on a
scale of zero to 100,
according to their
conservative standards.
- Since 1974, ACU has
hosted the annual
Conservative Political
Action Conference
(CPAC). CPAC is the
largest conservative
conference in the United
States. CPAC speakers
have included: Ronald
Reagan, George W. Bush,
Dick Cheney, John
Ashcroft, Pat Robertson,
Pat Buchanan, Dick
Armey, Jesse Helms, Tom
DeLay, Trent Lott,
Senator Sam Brownback,
Bob Barr, Phyllis
Schlafly, Beverly
LaHaye, William Bennett,
Ralph Reed, columnist
George Will, Gary Bauer,
Alan Keyes, Grover
Norquist, Charlton
Heston of the NRA,
Condoleezza Rice, Ann
Coulter, David Horowitz,
Florida Secretary of
State Katherine Harris,
Dr. Laura Schlessinger,
Oliver North, Rev. Lou
Sheldon of Traditional
Values Coalition, and
many other conservative
pundits, writers, and
politicians.
- ACU claims its “most
significant efforts,”
include “fighting to
keep OSHA off the backs
of small businesses;
opposing the Panama
Canal giveaway;
challenging the SALT
treaties; supporting aid
to freedom fighters in
communist countries;
promoting the
confirmation of
conservative justices to
the Supreme Court;
advocating near-term
deployment of strategic
defenses; and battling
against higher taxes and
wasteful government
spending.”
- In 1992, the ACU
Board of Directors
endorsed Patrick
Buchanan's presidential
candidacy.
- During the Clinton
presidency, ACU remained
a strong, vocal critic
on issues such as health
care. ACU’s director
Donald Devine led a
country-wide bus tour,
called the “National
Health Care Truth Tour.”
Hillary Clinton herself
stated that ACU’s
activities were largely
responsible for the
defeat of the
administration’s health
plan proposal in 1993.
- ACU opposes the
Patriot Act and in March
2005, joined the
"Patriots to Restore
Checks and Balances,"
coalition which
includes groups ranging
from the Americans for
Tax Reform and the
American Civil Liberties
Union.
|
Back to Top
|
- In 1974, ACU
established and
sponsored the first
Conservative Political
Action Conference
(CPAC).
- Reagan was a
“long-time friend and
ally” of ACU. In 1975,
ACU asked Ronald Reagan
to run for president,
and has since assumed
credit for the success
of his ultimate election
in 1980.
- ACU and its state
affiliates established
one of the first
independent campaigns on
behalf of a presidential
candidate. ACU
orchestrated the
campaign to elect
Reagan, running hundreds
of radio and newspaper
ads comparing candidate
Reagan to President
Ford, labeling Reagan a
conservative visionary
and Ford a liberal.
- ACU launched
"Project One Million" in
1981, seeking at least
one million backers of a
"Petition of Support"
for Reagan's economic
plan.
|
Back to Top
|
“The ACU doesn't rate
presidents, but a president
can rate you. This is a fine
group of decent citizens,
principled citizens, and
tonight I am proud to stand
with the ACU.”
– President George W. Bush,
2004 (ACU website)
"ACU is the key to my plans
to change the direction of
government."
– President Ronald Reagan
(ACU website)
"Conservatives all across
America can be proud of what
ACU has accomplished over
the years. Moreover, its
future promises a vital role
in the struggle to return
our nation to the principles
upon which it was founded."
– Senator Jesse Helms (ACU
website) |
Back to Top
|
“A body turned up on Capitol
Hill this past week – beaten
to a pulp, almost
unrecognizable. Its name:
Comprehensive Immigration
Reform (CIR). That’s the
bill that would have granted
amnesty to 12 million
illegal aliens and invited
the world to come UNINVITED
to our house and bring the
kids. The death of CIR is a
victory for our side. But
sadly, like the Frankenstein
monster, CIR will probably
rise from the dead after the
fall elections.”
–
ACU Action Alert,
September 28, 2006
“We MUST demand -- NOW --
that a united Republican
delegation bring ALL
conservative nominees to the
floor for an up-or-down
vote! Some of the best
judges in the nation have
been left twisting in the
wind -- literally for years
-- while conservatives
bicker among themselves. The
time to break the back of
liberal judicial obstruction
once and for all is NOW!”
–
ACU Action Alert, August
29, 2006
Updated: December
2006
|
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The American Enterprise
Institute for Public Policy
Research (AEI) is one of the
oldest and most influential
of the pro-business
right-wing think tanks. It
promotes the advancement of
free enterprise capitalism,
and has been extremely
successful in placing its
people in influential
governmental positions,
particularly in the Bush
Administration. AEI has been
described as one of the
country's main bastions of
neoconservatism.
American Enterprise
Institute
1150 Seventeenth Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
Website:
www.aei.org
Established: 1943
President/Executive
Director: Christopher
DeMuth
Finances: $24,934,545
(2003 income)
Employees: more than
50 resident scholars and
fellows
Board of Trustees:
Chairman Bruce Kovner
(Caxton Associations, LLC);
Vice Chair Lee R. Raymond
(Exxon Mobil Corporation);
Treasurer Tully M. Friedman
(Friedman, Fleischer, & Lowe
LLC); Gordon M. Binder
(Coastview Capital, LLC);
Harlan Crow (Crow Holdings);
Christopher DeMuth (American
Enterprise Institute);
Morton H. Fleischer (Spirit
Finance Corp.); Christopher
B. Galvin (Motorola);
Raymond V. Gilmartin (Merck
& Co.); Harvey Golub
(American Express Co.);
Robert F. Greenhill
(Greenhill & Co., LLC) ;
Roger Hertog (Alliance
Capital Management
Corporation); Martin M.
Koffel (URS Corporation);
John A. Luke, Jr.
(MeadWestvaco Corp.); L. Ben
Lytle (Anthem, Inc.); Alex
Mandl (Gemplus
International); Robert A.
Pritzker (Colson Associates,
Inc.); J. Joe Ricketts
(Ameritrade Holding
Corporation); Kevin B.
Rollins (Dell, Inc.); John
W. Rowe (Exelon Corp.);
Edward B. Rust, Jr. (State
Farm Insurance Co.); William
S. Stavropoulos (Dow
Chemical Co.); Wilson H.
Taylor (CIGNA Corp.);
Marilyn Ware (American
Water); James Q. Wilson
(Pepperdine University)
Publications: Monthly
newsletter, dozens of books
and hundreds of articles and
reports each year, and a
glossy policy magazine,
The American Enterprise. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- American Enterprise
Institute (AEI) is a
think tank for
conservatives,
neoconservatives, and
conservative
libertarians.
- Areas of interest
include: America’s
“culture war,” domestic
policy and federal
spending, education
reform, neoconservatism,
affirmative action, and
welfare reform.
- President George W.
Bush has appointed over
a dozen people from AEI
to senior positions in
his administration. AEI
claims that this is more
than any other research
institution.
|
| |
- AEI sponsors and
participates in debates
and lectures on many
issues.
- AEI scholars have
testified before
Congress on a variety of
issues.
- Several AEI scholars
have written articles in
favor of government
censorship of the arts.
- Scholar Michael
Novak has argued that
prayer belongs in public
schools and that it
doesn’t violate the
establishment clause.
- AEI scholars have
advocated
federally-funded school
voucher programs.
|
| |
- Most of AEI’s Board
of Directors are CEOs of
major companies,
including ExxonMobil,
Motorola, American
Express, State Farm
Insurance, and Dow
Chemicals.
- Big donors include
the top conservative
foundations, including
Smith-Richardson
Foundation, the Olin
Foundation, the Scaife
Foundation, and the
Lynde and Harry Bradley
Foundation.
- Corporate supporters
have included: General
Electric Foundation,
Amoco, Kraft Foundation,
Ford Motor Company Fund,
General Motors
Foundation, Eastman
Kodak Foundation,
Metropolitan Life
Foundation, Proctor &
Gamble Fund, Shell
Companies Foundation,
Chrysler Corporation,
Charles Stewart Mott
Foundation, General
Mills Foundation,
Pillsbury Company
Foundation, Prudential
Foundation, American
Express Foundation, AT&T
Foundation, Corning
Glass Works Foundation,
Morgan Guarantee Trust,
Smith-Richardson
Foundation, Alcoa
Foundation, and PPG
Industries.
- Kenneth Lay, CEO of
Enron, was until
recently on the board of
trustees of American
Enterprise Institute.
Other famous former
trustees include Vice
President Dick Cheney.
|
| |
- Lynne Cheney, wife
of Vice President Dick
Cheney and former chair
of the National
Endowment for the
Humanities.
- Newt Gingrich,
former Speaker of the
House.
- David Frum, a
presidential
speechwriter for
President Bush,
contributing editor to
the right-wing magazine
Weekly Standard.
- Christina Hoff
Sommers, anti-feminist
crusader, author of
Who Stole Feminism? How
Women Betrayed Women.
- Charles Murray,
author of The Bell
Curve, a book that
asserted inherent
intelligence differences
between the races.
- Ben J. Wattenberg,
host of PBS weekly show
“Think Tank.”
Updated: August
2006 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The American Family
Association (AFA) has been a
long-time promoter of
"traditional moral values"
in the media, particularly
television. AFA built its
reputation on organizing
boycotts against sponsors of
TV shows with
"anti-Christian" messages
and ideas, or against
companies it claims support
the so-called "homosexual
agenda" or marriage
equality.
American Family Association
P.O. Box 2440
Tupelo, Mississippi 38803
Website:
www.afa.net
Chairman/Founder: The
Rev. Donald Wildmon
Vice President: Tim
Wildmon (son of Donald
Wildmon)
Founded: 1977
Formerly known as:
National Federation for
Decency (Changed in 1988)
Membership: AFA
claims over 500,000 members
Finances: $14,186,203
(2004)
Staff: About 100
employees and five full-time
lawyers
Board of Directors:
Donald Wildmon, Timothy
Wildmon, Forrest Daniels,
Rev. Curtis Petrey, Rev.
Jack Williams, Rev. Burt
Harper, Rev. Bobby Hankins,
Dr. Gayle Alexander, Forest
Sheffield, Rev. Tim Fortner
(2004)
State chapters: State
Directors in
12 states
Funding: From 1998 to
2003, the AFA received
$90,000 from 6 grants
contributed by the Bill and
Berniece Grewcock Foundation
Publications:
AFA Journal,
published monthly, with a
circulation of 180,000
Radio: AFA has its
own 200-station network of
radio stations across the
United States
Media: AFA has
produced videos entitled,
“Excess Access,” “It’s Not
Gay,” and “Suffer the
Children”
Affiliate groups: AFA
Foundation,
Center for Law & Policy,
American Family Radio,
American Family News
Network‘s
OneNewsNow.com (formerly
Agape Press), and
AFA Action - the
legislative action arm of
the American Family
Association
Affiliated Websites:
ValuesVoters.com – a
voter registration and
education site; Center for
Law & Policy
Case Note (blog);
OneMillionDads.com;
OneMillionMoms.com;
AFA Internet Filtering;
NoGayMarriage.com; and
BoycottFord.com among
others |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- The American Family
Association (AFA)
targets the media and
entertainment industry’s
"attack" on "traditional
family values."
- Two of the main
duties that AFA assigns
to itself are "promoting
the centrality of God in
American life" and
"promoting the Christian
ethic of decency."
- "Indecent”
influences in American
culture include:
television, the
separation of church and
state, pornography, "the
homosexual agenda,"
premarital sex, legal
abortion, the National
Endowment for the Arts,
gambling, unfiltered
internet access in
libraries, and the
removal of
school-sponsored
religious worship from
public schools.
|
Back to Top
|
- The American Family
Association (AFA)
produces a radio show,
“AFA Report,” a
30-minute feature
available on about 1,200
local radio stations
nationwide. AFA launched
their broadcast ministry
American Family Radio
(AFR) in 1987. AFR has
approximately 200 radio
stations in 27 states
across the country.
According to American
Family Radio, “AFR has
built more stations in a
shorter time than any
other broadcaster in the
history of
broadcasting.” The AFA
built their small radio
empire by applying for
“noncommercial
educational licenses.”
When the FCC refused to
certain licenses, the
AFA sued the FCC in
federal court arguing
that to deny religious
groups noncommercial
broadcasting licenses
violates their First
Amendment and Equal
Protection rights.
-
AFA Action – the
legislative action arm
of the American Family
Association –
co-sponsored the 2006
Values Voter Summit with
FRC Action,
Focus on the Family
Action, and Gary
Bauer’s
Americans United to
Preserve Marriage.
- For over twenty
years, one of AFA’s
primary activities has
been the organization of
boycotts against
sponsors of TV shows
with “anti-Christian”
messages and ideas. A
few of the hundreds of
boycott targets on AFA’s
list have included
“Saturday Night Live,”
“Roseanne,” “Nightline,”
“NYPD Blue,” “Ellen,”
and “Desperate
Housewives.”
- A major target of
AFA’s had been Disney
and its subsidiaries;
“Disney’s attack on
America’s families has
become so blatant, so
intentional, so obvious,
that American Family
Association has called
for a boycott of all
Disney products until
such time as this
activity ceases.” AFA
ended its boycott of
Disney in 2005, citing
the departure of Disney
CEO Michael Eisner and
its divestiture of
Miramax films as
rationale, but openly
stating “AFA had moved
on to other important
issues, such as an
increasingly activist
judiciary and the push
for same-sex marriage.”
- AFA has created two
websites -
OneMillionMoms.com
and
OneMillionDads.com
to “help parents do
something about the
trash on TV.” Both
websites organize weekly
on-line boycotts of
offensive advertising or
television shows.
- The American Family
Association (AFA) is
alerting its members to
companies who are
supportive of GLBT
employees and is asking
“Christian consumers…to
think twice before they
patronize companies that
support the homosexual
agenda.” AFA lists major
corporations that have
non-discrimination
policies that include
sexual orientation or
that offer
domestic-partner
benefits for same-sex
couples, including
Eastman Kodak,
Citigroup, PepsiCo.,
American Airlines,
Allstate Insurance, and
the Coca-Cola Company.
“One company losing five
to ten percent of its
sales will send a clear
message to every company
in America,” offers Don
Wildmon. AFA attacked
Kraft Foods (owner of
brand names Post, Oscar
Meyer, and Maxwell
House, among others) for
the company’s support of
the 2006 Gay Games in
Chicago.
- Wal-Mart and its
affiliate Sam’s Club
became an AFA
boycott target
because of the
retailer’s support for
the National Gay and
Lesbian Chamber of
Commerce.
- The American Family
Association has called
for a national
boycott of the Ford
Motor Company over the
manufacturer’s
sponsorship of gay pride
events and continued
advertising in gay
publications. AFA claims
its boycott has played a
major part in Ford’s
drop in sales.
- Donald Wildmon has
called for the shutdown
of PBS and as a result
of the AFA's campaign,
many state legislatures
reduced funding for
public broadcasting. The
AFA spearheaded the
attack on the National
Endowment for the Arts
(NEA) in the 1980’s,
using direct mail and
extensive print
advertising to distort
the NEA's record of
sponsorship of the arts.
- The AFA participates
in Pornography Awareness
Week.
|
Back to Top
|
- In 1990, the
American Family
Association established
the AFA Center for Law &
Policy as a litigation
and public policy arm of
the organization.
- The Center for Law &
Policy (CLP) is staffed
by six full-time
attorneys with a network
of more than 400
affiliate lawyers. The
CLP states that they
provide representation
to Christians in courts
throughout the country,
and advise state and
federal legislators on
constitutional,
political, and legal
issues.
- The CLP has been
involved in several
cases where they push
for religious worship
and symbols in public
schools as well as the
removal of curriculum
that doesn’t reflect
“traditional family
values.”
- AFA has spearheaded
a campaign to have their
“In God We Trust”
posters posted in every
classroom, in every
school in the United
States. In 2001, the
Mississippi state
legislature passed a law
requiring that each
public school classroom,
auditorium and cafeteria
display a “In God We
Trust” poster. However,
when the Mississippi
state legislature did
not provide any funding
for the bill, AFA/CLP
volunteered to be the
coordinator for the
project. AFA/CLP is
responsible for
organizing and
distributing 32,000 free
“In God We Trust”
posters in public
schools in the state of
Mississippi.
- AFA/CLP has
encouraged other states
to follow Mississippi’s
example, promising that
anyone who may be afraid
of a lawsuit would be
defended by the AFA
Center for Law & Policy
for free. In 2001, AFA
distributed 250,000 “In
God We Trust” posters
nationwide.
CLP represented the
anti-gay group “Take
Back Maryland” when they
were accused of
falsifying signatures
for a petition to
reverse an
anti-discrimination bill
that protected gays and
lesbians from bias
discrimination in
employment and housing.
- AFA filed lawsuits
attempting to ban the
curriculum,
“Impressions,” from
public school classrooms
on the grounds that it
“promotes the religion
of witchcraft.”
- AFA sponsored a
rally in support of
Judge Roy Moore of
Alabama who refused to
remove the Ten
Commandments from his
courtroom.
- AFA Center for Law &
Policy (CLP) won a
lawsuit on behalf of
pro-life protesters in
Elkhorn, Wisconsin, over
protest signs
confiscated and held by
city officials.
|
Back to Top
|
- Many of AFA’s state
chapters are very active
on a state and local
level. Gary Glenn of
AFA Michigan has
become a lightening rod
in the state for
controversy over civil
rights protections for
gays and lesbians. Glenn
has opposed the
anti-discrimination
policies of several
Michigan cities by
asserting that if
passed, public bathrooms
and showers would become
co-ed. After the
legislation passed in
several towns, Glenn
organized petitions to
overturn the
legislation, asserting
that gays and lesbians
pose a “public health
hazard.” Glenn also has
targeted a 4th grade
environmental education
course, alleging that
the program is
“anti-human” and
promotes paganism.
- The former
California director for
AFA was Scott Lively of
Abiding Truth Ministries
and the
Pro-Family Law Center.
Lively is a long-time
anti-gay activist who
has written such books
as The Pink Swastika
which claims that
“homosexuals [are] the
true inventors of Nazism
and the guiding force
behind many Nazi
atrocities.” [From the
The Pink Swastika
preface.] Lively has
also written 7 Steps
to Recruit-Proof Your
Child and The
Poisoned Stream: “Gay”
Influence in Human
History. Under his
leadership, AFA
California launched the
“California Campaign to
Take Back the Schools”
to stop the
“homosexualization of
American public
schools.”
|
Back to Top
|
“Now the Bush Administration
is opening its arms to
homosexual activists who
have been working diligently
to overthrow the traditional
views of Western
Civilization regarding human
sexuality, marriage and
family… AFA would never
support the policies of a
political party which
embraced the homosexual
movement. Period.” – Don
Wildmon, AFA Press Release,
April 16, 2001
“We believe the national
motto incorporates the
foundational belief of our
culture, and its words ‘In
God we trust’ are a message
our children need to see in
school.” – Don Wildmon,
AFA Journal cover story,
July 2001
“But the National PTA
continued right along,
increasingly becoming a tool
to promote a left-wing
philosophy instead of
helping the children with
their educational needs. The
latest project for the
National PTA is the
promotion of the homosexual
agenda…Stop the PTA from
using your children to
promote their left-wing
political agenda.” – Don
Wildmon, AFA Journal,
February 2001
“Over the years, AFA has
consistently addressed the
homosexual movement's
obsession with infiltrating
the public school system.
Its eye-opening video ‘It's
Not Gay’, which presents a
heartbreaking look at the
physical and emotional
consequences of the
homosexual lifestyle, has
been the most popular video
ever produced by AFA.”
(“Homosexuals push for
control of schools,” May
2001)
“Nothing disappointed the
[American Family
Association] more than
Disney's enthusiastic
embrace of [the homosexual]
movement that rejects
everything that is sacred to
Christians about human
sexuality, marriage and
family.” (“Why the Disney
Boycott Shouldn't Go Away,”
April 2001)
On Christians in the public
square: “Christians must be
equally willing to take the
heat, and to shrug off the
rabid attacks of the media
babblers who see Christians
as the enemy.” – News Editor
Ed Vitagliano, AFA
Journal, July 2005
“The church and this nation
cry out for a revival of
masculine Christianity,
which is to say that we
church leaders need to stop
being such, for lack of a
better word, sissies when it
comes to social and
political issues. We need to
spend as much time
confronting perpetrators as
we do comforting victims. We
need to do less fretting,
and more fighting for
righteousness. For every
motherly, feminine ministry
of the church such as a
Crisis Pregnancy Center or
ex-gay support group, we
need a battle-hardened,
take-it-to-the-enemy
masculine ministry like
Operation Rescue (questions
of civil disobedience
aside). For every God-hating
radical in government,
academia and media we need a
bold, no-nonsense,
truth-telling Christian
counterpart: trained,
equipped and endorsed by the
local church.” – Scott
Lively, author of
The Pink Swastika
and former Director of AFA
California (source)
“Under homosexual activists'
political agenda, our
children would face a future
in which traditional
marriage and families have
been legally devalued, while
state government – despite
the severe threat it poses
to personal and public
health – not only legally
endorses but uses our tax
dollars to subsidize deadly
homosexual behavior.” – Gary
Glenn, Director of AFA
Michigan (Press Release,
February 17, 2001)
Updated: November
2006 |
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Founded in the early 1970s
to promote right-wing
policies at the state level,
the American Legislative
Exchange Council’s focus has
shifted to favor the
promotion of state
legislation and regulation
that benefits its corporate
sponsors. A fact that should
come as no surprise given
its funding by right-wing
foundations and corporate
membership fees ranging from
$5000 to $50,000. The
council boasts a large
clearinghouse of research,
model bills, and legislative
strategies to promote its
agenda.
American Legislative
Exchange Council (ALEC)
1129 20th Street NW - Suite
500
Washington, DC 20036
Website:
www.alec.org
Founders: Paul
Weyrich, Henry Hyde, Lou
Barnett, and others
Executive Director:
Duane Parde
Established: 1973
Financials:
$5,640,684 (2003 budget)
Employees: 29
Board Members:
Georgia Representative Earl
Ehrhart; Kansas Senator
Susan Wagle; Iowa
Representative Delores
Mertz; Arkansas Senator
Steve Faris; Nebraska
Senator L. Patrick Engel;
Mississippi Senator William
G. Hewes III
Private Enterprise Board:
Kurt L. Malmgren, PhRMA;
Jerry Watson, American Bail
Coalition; Scott Fisher,
Altria Corporate Services;
Pete Poynter, BellSouth;
Michael K. Morgan, Koch
Industries; Allan E. Auger,
Coors Brewing Co.; Ronald F.
Scheberle, Verizon
Communications, Inc.
Membership: claims
2,400 state legislators as
members
Publications: ALEC
Policy Forum: A Journal for
State and National
Policymakers, policy papers,
Task Force reports (9),
Leadership Briefing
(newsletter), Inside ALEC
(monthly publication)
For more information see "Corporate
America’s Trojan Horse in
the States" from
Defenders of Wildlife and
National Resources Defense
Council. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- The American
Legislative Exchange
Council (ALEC) is a
right-wing public policy
organization with strong
ties to major
corporations, trade
associations and
right-wing politicians.
- ALEC’s agenda
includes rolling back
civil rights,
challenging government
restrictions on
corporate pollution,
limiting government
regulations of commerce,
privatizing public
services, and
representing the
interests of the
corporations that make
up its supporters.
- ALEC’s mission: “To
promote the principles
of federalism by
developing and promoting
policies…To enlist state
legislators from all
parties and members of
the private sector who
share ALEC’s mission…To
conduct a policy-making
program that unites
members of the public
and private sector in a
dynamic partnership to
support research, policy
development, and
dissemination
activities.”
- ALEC claims that it
is “the nation’s largest
bipartisan, individual
membership association
of state
legislators”—all of
ALEC’s officers who are
state legislator members
are Republican.
- ALEC is supported by
many right-wing
foundations and
organizations,
including, but not
limited to: National
Rifle Association,
Family Research Council,
Heritage Foundation,
Sarah Scaife Foundation,
Milliken Foundation,
DeVos Foundation,
Bradley Foundation, and
the Olin Foundation.
- ALEC has over three
hundred corporate
sponsors. Several
well-known and
closely-tied
organizations include:
Enron, American Nuclear
Energy Council, American
Petroleum Institute,
Amoco, Chevron, Coors
Brewing Company, Shell,
Texaco, Union Pacific
Railroad, Pharmaceutical
Research & Manufacturers
of America, Phillip
Morris, and R.J.
Reynolds Tobacco.
- ALEC has proposed
that many public
services, such as
schools, prisons, public
transportation, and
social and welfare
services, be taken over
by for-profit private
businesses.
- One of ALEC’s
central concerns is
government regulations
of businesses,
especially ones that
protect the environment
and/or public health.
|
Back to Top
|
- ALEC develops and
creates “model”
legislation and through
its national political
network lobbies to get
it passed in state
legislatures. According
to ALEC: “During the
1999-2000 legislative
cycle, ALEC legislators
introduced more than
3100 pieces of
legislation based on our
models, and more than
450 of these were
enacted…In the
legislative sessions of
2000, there were more
than 2150 introductions
promoting ALEC policy.”
- ALEC has 9 “Task
Forces” - Commerce &
Economic Development
Task Force; Criminal
Justice Task Force;
Energy, Environment,
Natural Resources &
Agriculture Task Force;
Tax & Fiscal Policy Task
Force; Trade &
Transportation Task
Force; Health & Human
Services Task Force;
Education Task Force;
Telecommunications &
Information Technology
Task Force; and the
Federalism Task Force.
- ALEC works closely
with the State Policy
Network, a national
network of right-wing
groups and foundations
that push their agenda
on the local and state
level.
- ALEC has been a
strong supporter of
deregulation of various
industries. For example,
in the 1990’s ALEC
championed deregulation
of the electricity
industry by arguing that
states had a monopoly
over the “utility
markets.” During this
time Kenneth Lay of
Enron was an active,
outspoken member who
strongly supported
deregulation.
- ALEC has had some
success in attempts to
privatize education. It
created the first
private school voucher
legislation that
proposed giving public
education funds to
private schools, and is
currently celebrating
the 2005 passage of a
school choice bill in
Utah. ALEC strongly
supports Bush’s No Child
Left Behind Act, and
argues that market
competition will force
public schools to
improve or be put out of
business.
ALEC applauds the
decision to not sign the
“economy-busting Kyoto
Protocol,” which it
accurately describes as
the “international
treaty to regulate
emissions of greenhouse
gases like carbon
dioxide.”
|
Back to Top
|
- Between 1985-2002,
ALEC received 53 grants
totaling $2.836 million
from a short list of
conservative
foundations. These
included the Allegheny
Foundation, Castle Rock
Foundation, the Claude
R. Lambe Charitable
Foundation, and the
Koch, Bradley, and Olin
Foundations, among
others.
- Corporate membership
fees range between
$5,000 and $50,000 with
additional annual fees
to participate in
certain task forces.
- In 2002, Exxon
contributed $193,200 to
ALEC, jumping to
$290,000 the following
year.
|
Back to Top
|
- ALEC’s early years
conformed to Paul
Weyrich’s vision,
focusing on standard
right-wing causes such
as opposing abortion and
women’s rights and
supporting school
prayer.
- In the 1980s ALEC’s
focus changed due to
increased corporate
interest and donations.
- ALEC was one of
President Reagan’s
strongest supporters
throughout the 1980s,
for which it gained
significant notoriety.
Many of ALEC’s key
employees were offered
jobs in the Reagan
administration.
- In the mid-1980s
ALEC began its own
political action
committee, ALEC-PAC,
which targeted key races
to influence partisan
control of state
legislatures.
|
Back to Top
|
- “Our members join
for the purpose of
having a seat at the
table. That’s just what
we do, that’s the
service we offer. The
organization is
supported by money from
the corporate sector,
and, by paying to be
members, corporations
are allowed the
opportunity to sit down
at the table and discuss
the issues that they
have an interest in.”
-Dennis Bartlett, ALEC,
1997
Updated: April 2006 |
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Founded by Judie and Paul
Brown with help from
right-wing strategist Paul
Weyrich, the American Life
League (ALL) is a spin-off
from the National Right to
Life Committee with a more
grassroots orientation. ALL
is closely aligned with the
Catholic Church and opposes
birth control, stem cell
research and euthanasia. ALL
was an enthusiastic backer
of the extreme anti-abortion
tactics promoted by
Operation Rescue.
American Life League
P.O. Box 1350, Stafford, VA
22555
Website:
www.all.org
Established: 1979
President/Founder:
Judie Brown
Finances:: $7,365,884
(2003)
Membership: claims
300,000 members
Formerly known as:
American Life Lobby
Board Members: Judie
Brown; Scarlett Clark;
Mildred F. Jefferson, M.D.;
Robert Sassone, Esq.; and
Phillippe Schepens, M.D. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- To end all forms of
abortion without any
exceptions made for the
health and life of the
mother, rape or incest.
- ALL's work includes
campaigns against the
use of all
contraceptives, lobbying
for “abstinence-only
education” and the
elimination of sex
education in public
schools.
- ALL also fights
against euthanasia,
fetal tissue and embryo
research, and questions
the use of vaccines,
such as rubella, that
are created from human
tissue cells.
- Brown has strongly
criticized President
George W. Bush for not
supporting the Human
Life Amendment and has
chastised other
conservative groups for
giving him any support.
- According to Judie
Brown, “Abortion is
never necessary to save
a mother's life.”
|
Back to Top
|
- Organizes grassroots
activists.
- Lobbies on behalf of
its issues.
- Produces educational
materials and publishes
a weekly newsletter.
- Participates in
legal action.
- ALL has its own
voting mobilization
project.
- Sells anti-abortion
clothing, jewelry,
stickers, and brochures.
- In 2004, ALL
published a full-page
advertisement in USA
Today urging
Catholic priests and
bishops to deny
Communion to Catholic
legislators who support
abortion rights.
|
Back to Top
|
- ALL’s early
networking created the
foundation for the
outspoken anti-abortion
movement in the 1980s
and the established
movement as it exists
now.
- ALL helped to
establish the “rescue”
movement, which made the
use of aggressive
tactics to disrupt
reproductive health
services commonplace.
- These tactics,
adopted and popularized
by ALL, include
“sidewalk counseling,”
clinic blockades, and
the systematic harassing
and intimidation of
patients, clinics and
doctors.
- According to Brown
these activities are
“free speech” and in
1994 ALL filed charges
over the Freedom of
Access to Clinics Act
(FACE) in American Life
League v. Reno. ALL lost
in the 4th Circuit Court
of Appeals and the
Supreme Court refused to
hear the case.
|
Back to Top
|
- ALL defends
anti-choice activists
who have been arrested
for blocking clinics and
has applauded the
controversial work of
Operation Rescue and
Randall Terry.
- In 1996 when Bill
Bennett and Ralph Reed
questioned the GOP’s
absolutist anti-abortion
plank, Judie Brown
gathered together 11
pro-life leaders
including Family
Research Council’s Gary
Bauer and Focus on the
Family’s James Dobson to
express their strong
support of the Human
Life Amendment and
collective rejection of
any exceptions for
abortion.
- Judie Brown is
allegedly a member of
the clandestine
right-wing organization
Council for National
Policy.
|
Back to Top
|
- In 1979, Judie Brown
broke from the National
Right To Life Committee
to form ALL.
- Within less than a
year of its founding,
ALL had 68,000 members.
ALL received virtually
free publicity from
religious-right leader
Paul Weyrich with the
help of right-wing
direct mail specialist
Richard Viguerie’s
massive membership
lists.
Updated: April 2006 |
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This right-wing Catholic
group is one of many
Tradition, Family, Property
groups (TFPs) worldwide,
inspired by the work of the
Brazilian Catholic
intellectual, Plinio Corręa
de Oliveira. They are
frequent sponsors of
protests of books and movies
they consider
“anti-Catholic” and focus on
organizing young people
against “leftist bias” on
campus.
American Society for
Tradition, Family, and
Property
1358 Jefferson Road
Spring Grove, Pennsylvania
17362
Website:
www.tfp.org
President: Raymond E.
Drake
Founded: 1973
Secretary-Treasurer:
Benjamin A. Hiegert
Board of Directors:
Luiz A. Fragelli; Raymond E.
Drake; Robert E. Ritchie;
John W. Horvat II; Charles
P. Noell III; and Gary J.
Isbell
Staff: 60 paid staff
members and 75 full-time
volunteers
Finances: $2,660,546
(2004 net assets) $4,953,327
(2004 total revenue)
Publications:
Rejecting the Da Vinci Code;
Defending a Higher Law:
Why We Must Resist Same-Sex
"Marriage" and the
Homosexual Movement;
Revolution and
Counter-Revolution;
anti-abortion papers;
Crusade magazine; and
LulaWatch, the
electronic bi-weekly
publication of the TFP
Washington Bureau
Affiliate Groups:
America Needs Fatima
(120,000 members); Student
Action |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In words of the American
Society for Tradition,
Family, and Property they
are “a civic organization of
Catholic inspiration that
seeks to defend in a legal
and peaceful way, the basic
values of Christian
Civilization, namely
tradition, family and
property.” The American TFP
bases its ideas on the
principles outlined in the
handbook Revolution and
Counter-Revolution by
Prof. Plinio Corręa de
Oliveira. [source] |
Back to Top
|
- The American TFP
holds public meetings,
lectures, youth and
adult seminars, and a
youth summer program.
They also conducts
protests, boycotts,
petitions, ad campaigns
and letter-writing
campaigns, and publishes
books and articles. TFP
staffs
St. Louis be Montefort
Academy, an all-boys
Catholic boarding
school, in Herndon,
Pennsylvania.
- TFP Student Action’s
website sponsors
seminars bringing
college students
together from across the
nation to analyze,
discuss pressing issues
of the day. [source]
- Sponsored the
“Reject the DaVinci
Code” campaign to
promote protests against
the 2006 film and
offered an organizers’
handbook with
downloadable posters,
brochures, newspaper ads
and more. They claim to
have inspired more than
2000 protests in front
of movie theaters across
the country. [source]
|
Back to Top
|
|
The TFP is financed by a
network of individual donors
nationwide. |
Back to Top
|
|
The organization was started
in Brazil in 1960 by Prof.
Plinio Corręa de Oliveira,
and now claims
over twenty TFPs or
TFP-inspired groups
worldwide.
Updated: January
2007
|
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As an organization,
Americans for Tax Reform
(ATR) is best known for its
“Taxpayer Protection
Pledge,” which asks
candidates for federal and
state office to commit
themselves in writing to
oppose all tax increases.
The group is led by Grover
Norquist, described by the
Wall Street Journal
as the “the V.I. Lenin of
the anti-tax movement.” He
is renowned in right-wing
and Republican circles for
his ability to unite the
various right-wing interests
into coalitions to achieve a
common goal.
Americans for Tax Reform
1920 L Street NW - Suite 200
Washington DC 20036
Website:
www.atr.org
Established:
Americans for Tax Reform was
founded in the mid-80s
inside the Reagan White
House. Norquist was tapped
to head the group as an
in-house operation to build
support for the 1986 tax
reform bill.
President/Executive
Director: Grover
Norquist
Finances: $3,912,958
(2004); ATR is a 501(c)(4)
organization.
Employees: 14
High-profile staffers
include: Peter Ferrara,
ATR’s former general counsel
and chief economist, is
currently founder and
President of the Virginia
Chapter for the Club for
Growth.
Membership: 60,000
Affiliations:
Americans for Tax Reform
Foundation is the education
and research arm of ATR. ATR
is a member of the State
Policy Network and of
townhall.com, a right-wing
Internet portal founded by
the Heritage Foundation.
Publication: The
Tax Reformer |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- From Americans for
Tax Reform's mission
statement: “ATR opposes
all tax increases as a
matter of principle. We
believe in a system in
which taxes are simpler,
fairer, flatter, more
visible, and lower than
they are today. The
government’s power to
control one’s life
derives from its power
to tax. We believe that
power should be
minimized… ATR serves as
a national clearinghouse
for the grassroots
taxpayers’ movement by
working with
approximately 800 state
and county level
groups.”
- ATR serves as the
operational base for
President Grover
Norquist’s vast
political operation.
- ATR Foundation has
received a number of
grants from right wing
foundations, including
Olin, Scaife, Bradley,
etc.
- ATR is heavily
funded by a number of
corporate backers, with
the tobacco, gambling
and alcohol industries
figuring most
prominently in 1999.
Other recent ATR funders
have included Microsoft,
Pfitzer, AOL Time Warner
and UPS.
|
Back to Top
|
- Americans for Tax
Reform provides support
to right-wing policies
and candidates. In 1999,
it spent $4.2 million on
a television ad campaign
touting the GOP tax
plan.
- ATR has also taken a
lead in other causes
dear to the GOP’s right
wing, such as opposing
campaign finance reform
and attacking the 2000
presidential bid of
Senator John McCain.
- During the 1996
elections ATR flooded
150 congressional
districts with mail and
phone calls which was
supported by a $4.6
million donation from
the Republican National
Committee.
- In 2001 ATR formed
the “State Legislature
Advisory Project,”
described as a “national
effort to involve state
legislators and Indian
nations in federal
policy…[which] provides
a backdrop of the state
delegation’s opinion
when the issue becomes
one of national
importance.” This
Project calls annually
for extensions and
permanence of
conservative, costly tax
cuts. In 2001 it
encouraged states to
pass the Economic Growth
Tax Relief
Reconciliation Act, and
in subsequent years
pushed for permanently
ending the “Death Tax,”
abolishing the
Alternative Minimum Tax,
privatizing Social
Security, and
drastically increasing
defense spending. This
project works closely
with the President and
Majority Members in the
House and Senate.
- ATR supported John
G. Roberts’ nomination
to the Supreme Court,
and criticized opponents
for “subjecting
[Roberts] to litmus
tests on a laundry list
of the extreme Left’s
pet issues.”
- ATR president Grover
Norquist conducts an
invitation-only,
off-the-record Wednesday
meetings that includes
representatives of the
National Rifle
Association, the
Christian Coalition, the
Heritage Foundation,
reporters and editors
from conservative media
outlets, and a variety
of corporate lobbyists.
Since the arrival of
President Bush, the
meetings also include
representatives of the
White House, the
Republican National
Committee and the House
and Senate leadership.
|
Back to Top
|
- Americans for Tax
Reform was originally
founded inside the
Reagan White House and
later became officially
independent.
- Norquist was a key
grassroots proponent of
the Contract With
America and was
Gingrich’s top
unofficial advisor.
- ATR, in 1999,
received major donations
from Phillip Morris, the
Mississippi Band of
Choctaw Indians (a group
represented by the
controversial lobbyist
Jack Abramoff),
Microsoft, Time Warner,
and Pfizer. Phillip
Morris contributed
$685,000, and the
Choctaw Indians,
$360,000.
|
Back to Top
|
- Grover Norquist is
also on the boards of
the National Rifle
Association of America
and the
American Conservative
Union.
- Norquist forged an
early alliance with
President Bush,
traveling to Austin,
Texas to meet with
then-Governor Bush and
his political advisor
Karl Rove right after
Bush's 1998 reelection.
Norquist threw the full
force of his influence
behind the Bush
campaign, playing a key
role in defeating Sen.
John McCain in the South
Carolina primaries.
- Norquist was a
campaign staffer on the
1988, 1992, 1996
Republican Platform
Committees and executive
director of both the
National Taxpayers'
Union and the College
Republicans.
- Norquist writes the
monthly politics column
for the
American Enterprise
Institute magazine
and used to write a
monthly column for the
American Spectator.
|
Back to Top
|
- Nina Shokraii Rees,
who now leads the Office
of Innovation and
Improvement (OII) at the
U.S. Department of
Education, was formerly
a policy analyst for
ATR. She then served as
a chief education
analyst at the
Heritage Foundation.
She is a proponent of
private school vouchers,
and helped draft the "No
Child Left Behind Act"
education blueprint for
the Bush-Cheney
transition team.
|
Back to Top
|
On Pat Robertson's 700 Club,
Norquist said the following
about the Bush
Administration, “We is them,
and they is us. When I walk
through the White House, I
recognize as many people as
when I would walk through
the Heritage Foundation.”
“My goal is to cut
government in half in
twenty-five years, to get it
down to the size where we
can drown it in the
bathtub.” – The Nation,
10/12/2004
”In point of fact, it's a
myth that the religious
right wishes to impose
values on others.” –
Frontline interview,
10/12/2004
“I want to reduce the size
of government in half as a
percentage of GNP [gross
national product] over the
next 25 years. We want to
reduce the number of people
depending on government so
there is more autonomy and
more free citizens.” –
Washington Post,
03/11/2001
“I've been a 'winger' from
way back. I was an
anti-Communist first, and
then I became an economic
conservative. I think I've
gotten more radical as I've
gotten older." –
The Nation,
05/14/2001 |
Back to Top
|
Grover Norquist is “the
person who I regard as the
most innovative, creative,
courageous and
entrepreneurial leader of
the anti-tax efforts and of
conservative grassroots
activism in America . . . He
has truly made a difference
and truly changed American
history.”
– Former Speaker
Newt Gingrich (R-GA)
“Americans for Tax Reform is
a wonderful-sounding name.
As far as I’m concerned,
it’s a front organization
for Grover Norquist’s
lobbying activities.”
– Former Sen. Warren Rudman
(R-NH)
Norquist is “the V.I. Lenin
of the anti-tax movement.”
– Columnist Paul Gigot,
Wall Street Journal,
04/14/1994
“Americans for Tax Reform is
a front for the Republican
Party. Republicans are
hiding money in this group,
and that is fundamentally
dishonest.”
– Charles Lewis, executive
director of the Center for
Public Integrity
“You can wear too many hats
and [Norquist] does. He’s a
whole hat store. And that’s
the conflict of interest:
He’s head of a non-profit.
He’s a corporate lobbyist.
He’s a foreign lobbyist.
This gives nonprofits, which
are supposed to be doing
research, a bad name.”
– Charles Lewis, executive
director of the Center for
Public Integrity. New
York Times, 06/08/1997
Updated: September
2006 |
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Arlington Group (AG) is
the newest coalition of the
leaders of Religious Right
groups brought together by
right-wing strategist Paul
Weyrich and Don Wildmon,
head of the American Family
Association, to coordinate
activities. The group is
widely credited with being
the driving force behind the
effort to put marriage
protection amendments on the
ballot in 11 states in the
2004 election.
The Arlington Group
801 G Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
Website:
www.arlingtongroup.org
Founded/Place: 2002
in Arlington, Virginia
Executive Director:
Shannon Royce
Membership: Members
include the heads of 75 (as
of September 2006) Religious
Right groups such as Paul
Weyrich, Don Wildmon, James
Dobson, and Gary Bauer. The
complete list of members and
their affiliations is
located
here. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Arlington Group
describes itself as a
“powerful coalition of
leaders from the pro-family
community, [that] develops
and executes national and
grassroots strategies to:
protect the traditional
institution of marriage,
increase respect for every
human life, limit judicial
activism, and act on other
moral issues of concern.”
|
Back to Top
|
- The group is
credited with much of
the effort to put
marriage protection
amendments on the ballot
in 11 states in the 2004
election. According to
member Paul Weyrich, the
resources to go
“full-tilt” in Ohio were
raised by group members.
Arlington Group members
contributed $1,989,545
million in 2004 to pass
ballot measures
nationwide. In Ohio
their contributions
totaled $1.18 million,
98% of the total
expenditures for the
Ohio ballot.
- AG works to organize
support in the
African-American
community for a federal
marriage amendment. In
2004, the
Rev. William Owens,
head of the Coalition of
African-American Pastors
in Memphis organized a
meeting of his
organization with the
executive board of the
Arlington Group. Owens
is now a member of the
AG Executive Committee.
- In 2005, the Group
threatened to withhold
support for the
President's proposed
Social Security reforms
if Bush did not actively
work to pass a federal
marriage amendment
banning same-sex
marriage. A
letter sent to White
House political adviser
Karl Rove said, “We
couldn’t help but notice
the contrast between how
the president is
approaching the
difficult issue of
Social Security
privatization, where the
public is deeply
divided, and the
marriage issue, where
public opinion is
overwhelmingly on his
side.”
- When Justice Sandra
Day O’Connor first
resigned from the
Supreme Court, The
Arlington Group quickly
announced plans to run a
multimillion-dollar
campaign to pressure the
administration to select
a right-wing successor.
The group planned to
target 20,000 pastors
and congregations and
use Christian talk radio
and television, direct
mail, and grassroots
organizing.
- The group offers
voting
recommendations on
2006 ballot initiatives
across the country.
|
Back to Top
|
"People who voted for (Bush)
voted for him to put in
conservative judges," Tim
Wildmon said. "We'll have to
see what he does. We've been
disappointed before by
presidents who said they
were going to do that ...
and then appointed judges
who voted to uphold Roe vs.
Wade and have been liberal
on other social issues.
"I feel this time, with the
strength of our groups,
hopefully President Bush
will do the right thing. If
he wavers, we're here to let
people know."
–Tim Wildmon of the American
Family Association
describing the Arlington
Group’s influence
"For the first time,
virtually all of the social
issues groups are singing
off the same sheet of music,
this has never happened
before. From the beginning
of the pro-life movement
through the development of
the pro-family movement,
everybody did their own
thing. But working together
we have helped to reelect
the President and added a
number of conservative
senators."
–Religious Right strategist
Paul Weyrich
speaking about the
Arlington Group
Updated: September
2006 |
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Black America's Political
Action Committee (BAMPAC) –
founded and chaired by
Alan Keyes – is
the nation’s largest
minority political action
committee and among the top
25 well-funded PAC’s in the
country. Although
self-described as
non-partisan, BAMPAC has
historically benefited only
Republican candidates who
strictly adhere to its
right-wing policies, such as
supporting anti-abortion
legislation, public school
vouchers, the privatization
of Social Security, and tax
cuts.
Black America's Political
Action Committee
2029 P Street NW Suite 202
Washington, DC 20036
Website:
www.bampac.org
President & CEO:
Alvin Williams
Founder and Chairman of
the Board: Ambassador
Alan Keyes
Board Members: Jackie
Cissell (The Quandt Group),
William C. Cleveland (former
City Councilmember and Vice
Mayor, Alexandria VA), Dr.
Mario Lewis (Senior Fellow,
Competitive Enterprise
Institute), Amy Moritz
Ridenour (President,
National Center for Public
Policy Research), Alvin
Williams (President and CEO;
co-founder, BAMPAC)
Finances: $1,617,000
(2004 total revenues)
Publications: BAMPAC
Bulletin
Media: President
Alvin Williams is often
featured as a BAMPAC
spokesperson in The New
York Times, and The
Atlanta Journal Constitution,
and has appeared on ABC’s
Nightline, MSNBC’s Equal
Time, and BET’s News with Ed
Gordon.
Incorporated: 1994 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BAMPAC was created to
specifically mobilize and
garner “support for
African-American candidates
generally who advocate a
common sense approach in
resolving the important
issues facing America in the
21st century.” BAMPAC is
instrumental in garnering
financial support for
candidates via grants or
direct and assisted
contributions. It is one of
the nation’s largest
political action committees,
and is the largest minority
PAC in the country. |
Back to Top
|
|
BAMPAC provides funding and
resources to conservative
candidates running for
political offices at all
levels of government.
According to
SourceWatch.org, [BAMPAC’s]
name misleadingly suggests
that it represents the point
of view of
African-Americans, but in
fact, opinion polls and
voting patterns show that
the vast majority of
African-Americans disagree
with BAMPAC’s political
positions. BAMPAC claims to
be nonpartisan, but its IRS
tax statement explicitly
states that its mission is
to elect “Republicans.”
Black America's PAC -
SourceWatch |
Back to Top
|
- BAMPAC’s former
Political Director,
Robert L. Trayham, II,
moved on from his
position at BAMPAC to
work for Pennsylvania
U.S. Senator Rick
Santorum, and is
currently the Deputy
Chief of Staff and
Director of
Communications for the
Senate Republican
Conference.
- In 2004, BAMPAC
Chairman Alan Keyes was
defeated by Illinois
state Senator Barak
Obama for the open U.S.
Senate seat in Illinois.
In 2005, Keyes
recommended the
nomination of Judge Roy
Moore to the United
States Supreme Court, on
the basis that he is a
strong believer in God
and a strict
constitutionalist.
(Judge Moore resigned
his position at the
Alabama Supreme Court
because he refused to
comply with a U.S.
Supreme Court demand
that he take down a
replica of the Ten
Commandments.) Alan
Keyes is also a regular
speaker at right-wing
anti-gay rallies
throughout the country.
|
Back to Top
|
- Supports school
choice in the form of
vouchers, charter
schools, public-private
alliances, and
home-schooling.
- Advocates tax cuts
and other financial
incentives for
entrepreneurs and
businesses to increase
development in neglected
and rural areas.
- BAMPAC is ‘pro-life’
and condemns
government-subsidized
abortions; the PAC is in
absolute opposition to
partial-birth abortions.
- BAMPAC advocates the
privatization of Social
Security, a program
which it claims has a
“disproportionately
detrimental affect on
African-American
families, especially
males.”
|
Back to Top
|
|
BAMPAC’s donor base has
grown to over 137,000
donors, generating more than
$1,000,000 in direct and
assisted contributions to
candidates. |
Back to Top
|
|
BAMPAC is the largest
minority PAC and ranks among
the top 25 PACS among 45,000
PACs in the United States.
|
Back to Top
|
Alan Keyes on on the
Republican Party
In 1992, according to the
Washington Post, as
Republican nominee in
Maryland’s U.S. Senate
contest that year, Keyes
denounced the national
leadership of his party as
racist, saying senior GOP
officials had ignored or
disparaged his campaign
because he is black. GOP
leaders “basically are
sending the message that
beyond a certain level
blacks need not apply,”
Keyes said. “If I can work
out in the fields, I think I
ought to be allowed to come
into the house for dinner.”
–Washington Post,
“GOP Hopeful Says Party Is
Racist,” August 14, 1992
Keyes on Moderate
Republicans
“On all the matters that
touch upon the critical
moral issues, Arnold
Schwarzenegger is on the
evil side. This is a fact. A
mere list of the positions
he supports is enough to
make this plain: abortion as
a ‘right,’ cloning of human
beings, governmental
classification of citizens
by race, public benefits for
sexual partners outside of
marriage, disrespect for
property rights against
environmental extremism,
repudiation of the right to
bear arms - no more need be
said to show that this
candidate is wrong where
human decency, human rights
and human responsibility
bear directly on political
issues.”
–WorldNetDaily,
“Arnold’s corruption of
Republican Party,” October
6, 2003
Keyes on Black Leaders
“ I think part of it is that
the Black leadership, the
vocal ones that the media
concentrates on, are all
bought-and-sold,
step-and-fetch-its of
depravity for the Democratic
party.”
–People For the American Way
Foundation, “Eyewitness
Report from the C-PAC
Conference,” February 21,
1999
“I think it would be a
terrible shame to abandon
the fate of America or the
black community to the likes
of people who are speaking
as Julian Bond has spoken,
but more importantly, the
likes of people who have
supported policies that have
destroyed the black family,
that support abortion, which
is committing genocide
against black people in this
country with devastating
demographic results that we
have already seen in the
course of the last census.”
–Hannity and Colmes,
“Interview with Alan Keyes,”
July 12, 2004
Keyes on Reproductive
Choice
“The violation on [sic]
innocent human life is the
same whether you commit
terrorism or commit
abortion.”
–People For the American Way
Foundation, “The Vocabulary
of Terror: Anti-abortion
politics since 9/11,” April
10, 2002
“I will never again cast a
vote for an individual I in
conscience believe to be
pro-choice, pro-abortion,
not pro-life. Based on the
confession of his heart in
New Hampshire, when John
McCain told us clearly that
he would tell his daughter
it was her choice -- and
every woman is somebody’s
daughter, so if you tell the
daughters of America it’s
their choice, you’re
pro-choice. He is pro-
choice, he is not pro-life.
I will not support a
pro-choice, pro- abortion
candidate.”
–Republican Presidential
Debate, March 2, 2002
Keyes on Homosexuality
“Hitler and his supporters
were Satanists and
homosexuals. That’s just a
true statement.” He added
that, “The notion that is
involved in homosexuality,
the unbridled sort of
satisfaction of human
passions” leads to
“‘totalitarianism,’
‘Nazism,’ and ‘communism.’”
–People For the American Way
Foundation, “Hostile Climate
1997,” p.26
Keyes on Equal Rights for
Gay Americans
“It’s about time we all
faced up to the truth. If we
accept the radical
homosexual agenda, be it in
the military or in marriage
or in other areas of our
lives, we are utterly
destroying the concept of
family. We must oppose it in
the military. We must oppose
it in marriage. We must
oppose it if the fundamental
institution of our
civilization is to survive.
Those unwilling to face that
fact and playing games with
this issue are doing so
irresponsibly at the price
of America’s moral
foundations.”
–Republican Presidential
Debate, January 6, 2000
Keyes on Hate Crimes
Legislation
“The whole push with respect
to hate crimes legislation
is an effort to create a
body of law that allows the
government to coerce
opinions, and to punish
people because of their
opinions. In this particular
case, the opinion that is
going to be punished is the
opinion that homosexuality
is immoral and against the
laws of God. That opinion is
now going to become a crime.
And this whole push with
respect to hate crimes is an
effort to establish that
agenda.”
–WorldNetDaily, “The
Trouble with ‘Hate Crimes’,”
October 16, 1998
Keyes on the Courts and
Prayer in Public Schools
“If they tell us that we
cannot pray in the
classroom, we should pray.
If they tell us that we
cannot pray in the hallways,
we should pray. If they tell
us that we cannot pray at
graduation ceremonies, we
should pray. Because what
they are doing fundamentally
violates probably the most
important of our God-given
rights, which is the right
to appeal for aid to our
Almighty God.”
–Renew America, “Alan
Keyes on the Issues”
Keyes on Taxes
“The income tax is a
twentieth-century socialist
experiment that has failed.
Before the income tax was
imposed on us just 80 years
ago, government had no claim
to our income. Only sales,
excise, and tariff taxes
were allowed. ... Only
abolition of the income tax
will restore the basic
American principle that our
income is both our own money
and our own private business
not the government’s.”
–Renew America, “Alan
Keyes on the Issues”
Keyes on the Democratic
Party
“Democrats are going to have
to go on record standing
against the marriage-based
family, standing for the
continued annihilation of
new generations of young
black babies through the
promotion of abortion in the
black community. This is
devastating, the truth is
going to be told.”
–Hannity and Colmes,
“Interview with Alan Keyes,”
July 12, 2004
Keyes on Affirmative
Action
“Moreover, preferential
affirmative action
patronizes American blacks,
women, and others by
presuming that they cannot
succeed on their own.
Preferential affirmative
action does not advance
civil rights in this
country. It is merely
another government patronage
program that secures money
and jobs for the few people
who benefit from it, and
breeds resentment in the
many who do not. It divides
us as a people, and draws
attention away from the
moral and family breakdown
that is the chief cause of
the despair and misery in
which too many of our fellow
citizens struggle to live
decently.”
–Renew America, “Alan
Keyes on the Issues”
Keyes on Jews and
Anti-Semitism
“The tragic and violent
clashes between blacks and
Jews are unhappily not the
product of a unique and
isolated set of
circumstances. I believe
that, unwittingly, Jewish
supporters of the
government-dominated welfare
state approach to the
economic and social problems
of the black community
helped to create the
mentality that now produces
anger and anti-Semitism in
black neighborhoods.”
–Alan Keyes, “Our Character,
Our Future,” May 2, 1996, p.
48-50
Keyes on the First
Amendment and Separation of
Church and State
“[The Founding Fathers] put
an amendment in the
Constitution with … wording
intended to tell the
Congress and thereby the
national government that the
whole business of religious
belief, that whole business
of any regime, any attitude
to be imparted through law,
that it was none of the
federal government’s
business.
“Now, that still gives rise
to the possibility. Some
folks don’t want to see it.
There might be states in
which they require a
religious test or oath of
office. There might be
states in which they have
established churches, where
subventions are given to
schools and so forth to
teach the Bible. There might
be places where you and I
might disagree with the
religion some folks wanted
to put in place over their
communities. But guess what
the Founders believed? They
believed that people in
their states and localities
had the right to live under
institutions they would put
together to govern
themselves according to
their faith.”
–Roy Moore Rally,
Montgomery, Alabama, August
16, 2003
Updated: July 2006 |
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
One of the country's largest
and most influential
right-wing foundations, the
Bradley Foundation is known
for its clearly articulated
political and ideological
vision. In addition to
providing funding for a host
of right-wing organizations,
Bradley contributes to
conservative and often
highly controversial
scholarship, publications
and "academic" research
aimed at legitimizing
far-right policy positions.
Lynde and Harry Bradley
Foundation
PO Box 510860
Milwaukee, WI 53203-0153
Website:
www.bradleyfdn.org
Established: 1942
President/CEO:
Michael W. Grebe
Board of Directors:
Thomas L. Rhodes (Chairman),
Reed Coleman
(Vice-Chairman), Michael
Grebe, William L. Armstrong,
and more.
Finances:
$665,329,753 (2004) assets
Grants awarded, annually:
$33,332,537 (2004) grants
awarded
Employees: 20
Publications: The
Lion Letter, annual reports
outlining contributions and
donations
Formerly known as:
Allen-Bradley Foundation
Prize Recipients 2005:
George F. Will (syndicated
columnist), Ward Connerly
(anti-affirmative action,
founder of American Civil
Rights Institute), Heather
McDonald (Olin fellow at the
Manhattan Institute), and
Robert P. George (professor,
former presidential
appointee to the U.S.
Commission on Civil Rights). |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- The Bradley
Foundation is one of the
largest philanthropic
foundations responsible
for the financial
backing of the
right-wing agenda for
nearly twenty years.
- Bradley’s
philanthropy supports
right-wing
organizations,
privatized educational
programs, as well as
many non-partisan social
programs and civic
organizations.
- Issues Bradley
supports include:
private school vouchers,
faith-based social
services, and welfare
reform.
- According to
Bradley, the projects
sponsored by the
foundation “encourage
improved government, a
more vital sense of
citizenship, and a
strong belief in
personal
responsibility.”
- Bradley has been
accused of
underreporting the grant
amounts that it gives to
many of the right-wing
organizations that it
supports.
|
Back to Top
|
- Bradley has made
right-wing inroads in
academia by establishing
chairmanship positions,
undergraduate and
graduate programs,
fellowships, and whole
departments at many
prestigious universities
including: Boston
College, Boston
University, Bowling
Green State University,
Carnegie Mellon
University, Catholic
University, Columbia
University, Georgetown
University, George Mason
University, Harvard
University, Johns
Hopkins University,
Kenyon College,
Marquette University,
Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, Michigan
State University, New
York University,
Princeton University,
Stanford University,
University of
California- Berkeley,
University of
California- Los Angeles,
University of
California- San Diego,
University of Chicago,
University of Michigan,
University of Notre
Dame, University of
Pennsylvania, University
of Virginia, University
of Wisconsin, and
Washington University-
St. Louis.
- Bradley has
supported and in some
cases, had to defend
controversial right-wing
recipients of their
grants, particularly
Charles Murray and
Dinesh D’Souza.
Charles Murray -
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
right-wing Manhattan
Institute, supported by
Bradley and for which he
worked, asked him to
leave. However, the
Bradley Foundation stood
by him because Murray,
according to former
Bradley President
Michael Joyce, “is one
of the foremost social
thinkers in the
country.” Bradley
extended Murray’s
$100,000 per year grant
when he went to the
American Enterprise
Institute.
Dinesh D’Souza -
D’Souza, in his book,
“The End of Racism,”
attempts to absolve
Whites from
discrimination against
Blacks during slavery,
claiming that Blacks
were too uncivilized to
be a part of society
anyway.
|
Back to Top
|
“The reason that I am so
happy that my friend Mike
Grebe is here and Mike Joyce
and others from The Bradley
Foundation is because
"Foundation America" must be
a part of the revitalization
of our communities as well.
And The Bradley Foundation
has always been willing to
see different solutions.
They have been willing to
challenge the status quo.
They say where we find
failure, something else must
occur. And the Foundation
not only has been kind and
generous with its donations,
the Foundation also has been
willing to help people think
anew, and I appreciate you
all coming. I am honored
you're here and thanks for
your good work.”
– President George W. Bush,speaking
at the Bradley
Foundation-supported Holy
Redeemer Institutional
Church of God in Christ,
Milwaukee, July 2002.
Updated: September
2006
|
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Campaign for Working
Families (CWF) is a
political action committee
founded by Religious Right
activist Gary Bauer to
support like-minded
candidates. Like the Club
for Growth, CWF is known for
supporting “pro-family”
candidates over more
mainstream Republican
candidates in GOP primaries.
In 1998, it was the fifth
largest national PAC.
Campaign for Working
Families
2800 Shirlington Road -
Suite 605
Arlington, VA 22206
Websites:
www.cwfpac or
www.campaignforfamilies.org
Established: 1996 by
Gary Bauer, former Family
Research Council president
and United States
presidential candidate
President/Chairman:
Gary Bauer
Finances: Spent
$1,060,284 during the
2003-2004 campaign cycle |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- CWF’s motto:
“Unapologetically
pro-family, pro-life,
and pro-growth.” CWF
says that it “takes the
guesswork out of
identifying the true
conservatives from the
pretenders.”
- CWF often supports
right-wing Republican
candidates over moderate
Republicans and CWF has
waged many aggressive
campaigns against those
candidates.
- CWF supports state
ballot measures that
reject gay and lesbian
civil rights or those
that increase
restrictions on access
to abortion.
- CWF endorses and
financially supports
anti-choice, anti-gay
candidates for political
office, such as Alan
Keyes.
- In 2004, CWF’s most
recent endorsements
included:
CWF Congressional
Endorsements
U.S. Senate:
13
Jim Holt (AR), Mel
Martinez (FL), Alan
Keyes (IL), Sam
Brownback (KS), Jim
Bunning (KY), David
Vitter (LA), Richard
Burr (NC), Mike Liffrig
(ND), Richard Ziser
(NV), Tom Coburn (OK),
Jim DeMint (SC), John
Thune (SD), and George
Nethercutt (WA).
U.S. House of
Representatives:
49
Marvin Parks (AR-2),
Rick Renzi (AZ-1), Trent
Franks (AZ-2), Roy
Ashburn (CA-20), Marilyn
Musgrave (CO-4), Tom
Tancredo (CO-6), Bob
Beauprez (CO-7), Bev
Kilmer (FL-2), Dave
Weldon (FL-15), Tom
Feeney (FL-24), Calder
Clay (GA-3), Cathrine
Davis (GA-4), Tom Price
(GA-6), Lynn
Westmoreland (GA-8), Max
Burns (GA-12), Mike
Gabbard (HI-2), Phil
Crane (IL-8), Chris
Chocola (IN-2), Dan
Burton (IN-5), Mike
Pence (IN-6), Steve King
(IA-5), Kris Kobach
(KS-3), Geoff Davis
(KY-4), Bobby Jindal
(LA-1), Ron Crews
(MA-3), John Kline
(MN-2), Mark Kennedy
(MN-6), Todd Akin
(MO-2), Bill Federer
(MO-3), Virginia Foxx
(NC-5), Robin Hayes
(NC-8), Patrick McHenry
(NC-10), Charles Taylor
(NC-11), Jeff
Fortenberry (NE-1),
Scott Garrett (NJ-5),
Steve Pearce (NM-2), Joe
Pitts (PA-16), Larry
Diedrich (SD), Louie
Gohmert (TX-1), Ted Poe
(TX-2), Arlene
Woflgenmuth (TX-17),
Randy Neugebauer
(TX-19), Tom DeLay
(TX-22), Pete Sessions
(TX-32), John Swallow
(UT-2), Thelma Drake
(VA-2), Frank Wolf
(VA-3), and Cathy
McMorris (WA-5).
|
Back to Top
|
- During the 2004
election cycle, the
Campaign for Working
Families spent
$244,000.00 endorsing
Republican candidates,
such as the candidates
listed above. Tom
Tancredo in Colorado
received $2,500, Mel
Martinez of Florida
$8,000, Alan Keyes in
Illinois $5,000, Tom
Coburn in Oklahoma
$8,000, and Tom DeLay in
Texas, $5,000. [PoliticalMoneyLine]
- During the 2002
election cycle CWF
contributed $200,988 in
campaign donations,
endorsing Scott Garett
for New Jersey with
$7,000, Lindsey Graham
of South Carolina with
$7,000, John Thune of
South Dakota with
$10,000, and James
Talent of Missouri with
$10,000. [PoliticalMoneyLine]
- In 2002 CWF was
ranked number 21 out of
the Top 50
‘Nonconnected’ PAC’s by
Receipts, having totaled
$953,881 in
contributions. [source]
- In 2000 election
cycle CWF endorsed 121
candidates and 83% of
which were elected. In
2000, over 50% of
incoming freshmen
Republican members of
the 107th Congress were
endorsed by CWF.
- In the 2000 election
cycle, CWF spent tens of
thousands of dollars on
a 12-state
“Get-Out-The-Vote”
effort on behalf of
Republican candidates.
- In 2000, CWF
endorsed such right-wing
stalwarts such as: John
Ashcroft, Trent Lott,
Tom DeLay, Dick Armey,
Rick Santorum, Bob Barr,
Tom Tancredo, Ernest
Istook, and Judge Roy
Moore. Of their 113
nominees for the U.S.
House and Senate, 3 are
Democrats and 1
Independent.
- In 1998 election
cycle, CWF supported
over 200 candidates and
64% of CWF’s endorsees
were elected.
- CWF keeps profiles
on legislation and
politicians and provides
information for
campaigns.
- CWF has supported
successful “Defense of
Marriage” state ballot
initiatives in Alaska,
California, Nebraska,
Nevada, and Hawaii.
|
Back to Top
|
- In 1996 and 1997
Bauer put CWF on the map
by taking big risks and
rejecting Republican
leadership pressure. In
1998 in California there
was a special election
due to the death of Rep.
Walter Capps (CA-D). The
GOP leadership had
tapped a moderate
Republican candidate,
Rep. Brooks Firestone,
and CWF supported a more
conservative candidate,
Tom Bordonaro. CWF led
an expensive,
controversial
advertising attack
campaign against
Firestone and was
credited with helping
Bordonaro win the
runoff. Bordonaro
ultimately lost the seat
to Capps’ widow.
- By 1998 CWF became
the 5th largest PAC in
the country, raising
over $7 million in just
two years.
- Early in CWF’s
history right-wing
heavyweight James Dobson
lent his support to the
group, sending out mass
mailings to 350,000
members of his
organization Focus on
the Family.
Updated: September
2006 |
|
Back to Top | | | | |