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External LinksBusinessWeek Online: A Columnist Backed by Monsanto BusinessWeek Online: Op-Eds for Sale SourceWatch: Fumento's Genetically Engineered Columns Cursor.orgMediaTransparency.org sponsor More stories by Bill Berkowitz PERC receives Templeton Freedom Award for promoting 'enviropreneurs' Media Transparency writersAndrew J. Weaver FundometerEvaluate any page on the World Wide Web against our databases of people, recipients, and funders of the conservative movement. |
ORIGINAL RESEARCHBill Berkowitz Hudson Institute: Home of the indicted and the exposedAfter hiring Scooter Libby, "Senior Fellow" Michael Fumento admits taking Monsanto money and not disclosing it, and is fired by Scripps Howard News ServiceLewis "Scooter" Libby, the indicted former Chief of Staff of Vice President Dick Cheney, has found a new home at the Hudson Institute (grants, profile). Meanwhile, Hudson's Michael Fumento, a longtime Institute Senior Fellow, recently became the latest right wing 'scholar' exposed for writing columns without disclosing they were underwritten by corporations. The good news for Michael Fumento -- a now former columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service (SHNS) and a senior fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute -- stemming from BusinessWeek Online's recent revelation that he had been relieved of his duties by SHNS for not disclosing he had taken payments in 1999 from agribusiness giant Monsanto, is that it is unlikely he will lose his Hudson Institute post. In fact, if the Indiana-based Hudson Institute's hiring of Lewis "Scooter" Libby -- the former Chief of Staff and Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs who was indicted in October 2005 over the Valerie Plame Affair -- is indicative of its sense of integrity, Fumento may be in for a promotion and a raise. In a statement released Friday, January 14, 2006, SHNS Editor and General Manager Peter Copeland said that Fumento "did not tell SHNS editors, and therefore we did not tell our readers, that in 1999 Hudson received a $60,000 grant from Monsanto" Copeland added: "Our policy is that he should have disclosed that information. We apologize to our readers." An advisory sent to SHNS subscribers read: "The Jan. 5 column by Michael Fumento about new biotechnology products from Monsanto should have included more information. We believe the column should have disclosed a $60,000 grant from Monsanto that Fumento received in 1999 for a book about biotechnology. Fumento's column will no longer be distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, but is available from Michael Fumento... When BusinessWeek Online's Eamon Javers asked Fumento about the payments, he said that he is "extremely pro-biotech." According to Javers, Fumento "said that he solicited several agribusiness companies to finance his book, which was published by Encounter Books (grants,profile - Encounter is essentially a project of the Bradley Foundation). 'I went after everybody, I've got to be honest,' Fumento says of his fund-raising effort. 'I told them that if I tell the truth in this book, the biotech industry is going to look really good, and you should contribute.'" Fumento also allowed that the grant from Monsanto went from the company to the Hudson Institute and was aimed at supporting his work. While part of it went to the Institute's overhead, "most of it" was earmarked for his salary. At the Institute, Fumento "has carved out a specialty debunking critics of the agribusiness and biotechnology industries," Javers reported. 'Scooter' scoots to the Hudson InstituteLewis "Scooter" Libby was indicted on five counts including obstruction of justice for his involvement in the Valerie Plame affair. According to a Hudson Institute news release, he "will focus on issues relating to the War on Terror and the future of Asia. He also will offer research guidance and will advise the institute in strategic planning," the think tank's new release stated. "Scooter Libby brings decades of experience to Hudson Institute that will strengthen our robust research efforts. We look forward to drawing on his expertise," said Hudson Institute Chairman Walter P. Stern. In what must have been an oversight, the 300-plus word news release, which touted Libby's long career in public service, his academic qualifications and copious achievements, made no mention of the events that drove Libby from being a top player in the Bush Administration to becoming a think tanker. If Libby manages to cop a plea -- or goes to trial and is convicted -- and is sentenced to hard time, it is not inconceivable that he either could continue with Hudson and shift his focus from issues related to the War on Terror to the benefits of prison privatization, or like Charles Colson before him, he could find a spiritual awakening and set up his own version of a prison ministry. A disturbing history of corporate supportBetween 1987 and 2003 the Hudson Institute received nearly $15 million from a passel of right wing foundations which includes the Carthage Foundation, Sarah Scaife Foundation, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, and the John M. Olin Foundation. As for its cozy relationship with corporations, IP Justice (website) -- "an international civil liberties organization that promotes balanced intellectual property law in a digital world -- published a report in May 2005, titled "Bush and Big Pharma Team Up to Discredit WHO and Generic Medicines: Drug Companies' Influence on Health Care Policy Worsens Global AIDS Crisis," which noted that according to the Institute's annual report "the pharmaceutical industry is one of its main financial supporters. Besides large cash donations, annual reports reveal that drug company executives have consistently sat on the Hudson Institute's Boards of Directors and Trustees and oversaw its policy development on health care issues." The IP report documented Hudson's decades-long role as a corporate water carrier whose "research" appears to have long been tainted by corporate underwriting: The Hudson Institute's stated mission is "to educate policymakers and opinion leaders." It advertises its services by claiming that "our scholars regularly contribute to major publications ... [and] our policy experts frequently appear on major television networks throughout the world ..." [It] ... is [the] same special interest advocacy group that was hired by the tobacco lobby decades ago to write and publish articles that would create confusion over the negative health care effects of cigarette smoking. Now, [it] ... employs the same strategy of public misinformation to discredit affordable generic medicines in order to increase the sale of patented drugs to the benefit the US pharmaceutical industry. Recent tobacco-related litigation has uncovered key insider documents detailing the interaction and close relationship between the tobacco industry and US policy research/advocacy organizations. As early as 1971, the Philip Morris Corporation hired the Hudson Institute to create and promote "junk science" in an attempt to "debunk" the negative health effects of tobacco. One recently discovered hand written document discussed strategies for fending off critics, including using "politicized science" designed to "create doubt in the eyes of the public -- in science; in politics; in risks," of cigarette smoking. A Hudson Institute report was one of two reports that were recommended for commissioning in the tobacco industry's secret document to promote it junk science. For decades, joint projects between Philip Morris and the Hudson Institute were often made-to-order. Characterized as "scientific lobbying", the Hudson Institute's strategic model of influencing public policy is intended to "communicate [with] scientists," to "work the 'walls' of [scientific] meetings," and to "influence protocols of new research." The special interest group is even known to have used this same strategy on behalf of the agri-chemical lobby (another major funder of the Institute) to discredit the safety of organic food... Since 2000, the Hudson Institute's Annual Reports show major funding from pharmaceutical corporations including Eli Lilly, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and the powerful lobby group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhARMA). Other large financial supporters ... have included major oil and agro-chemical corporations and ultra-right-wing family foundations. [Its] ... program areas and policy initiatives overlap with its corporate donors' financial interests. According to IRS forms, the Institute's Senior Fellows are paid between $100,000 - $200,000 to engage in "pseudo scientific" research and advocacy. Wife of advisor to ... President Reagan, Ken Adelman, Ms. Carol C. Adelman joined the Hudson Institute in March 2000 as a research fellow and promoted the pharmaceutical industry's cause in both Congress and public opinion. Ms. Adelman has since published a number of misleading articles condemning generic medicines and attacking the WHO prequalification program. The Wall Street Journal published one of her advocacy pieces on 9 December 2004 that accuses the WHO and MSF as having "endangered almost as many with their strategy of using unproven and outmoded drugs in developing nations to combat AIDS and malaria." The industry-funded lobbyist contends that these "outmoded knockoff AIDS drugs ... can kill in other ways." Like the articles planted by IPN [International Policy Network] and AEI [American Enterprise Institute], the Hudson Institute claims concern for the safety of AIDS patients taking generic medicines, while the policies it promotes means that AIDS drugs will never reach African patients. According to MSF [Médecins Sans Frontières], "like arsonists masquerading as firefighters, Ms. Adelman's Hudson Institute and other industry-funded groups pretend to have the best interests of the patients at heart while treating their needs with contempt and blatantly disregarding medical ethics and evidence-based science. People with AIDS need affordable and effective treatment, not massive disinformation." In her "research," Ms. Adelman has consistently denied that drug patents can create a health problem for developing countries, dismissing such concerns as "the global health babble." The Hudson Institute published a report in 2004 that claimed that generic AIDS drugs are more expensive than brand-name patented drugs. Since the report was funded by the US pharmaceutical industry and made claims that fail to pass the "giggle test", no one took the report seriously. But since the industry promoted it heavily in the media, MSF issued a response, "the Hudson Institute's report is not credible" and published a detailed statement that refuted the pharmaceutical lobbyist's claim. Regarding revelations about his and other conservative columnists involvement in the "pay to play" scandal, Michael Fumento blamed the whole situation on a press corps revved-up and intoxicated by the Abramoff Scandal. He claimed "We're in a witch-hunting frenzy now but, as after all witch hunts, people do return to their senses and regret the piles of ashes at their feet." Fumento added: "Often it happened fast enough the witch hunters found themselves tied to the stake. I do hope that happens here." And, in a stunning bit of uncertainty, BusinessWeek Online reported that "while Fumento doesn't think he should have disclosed the payments to his readers, Hudson's CEO Kenneth R. Weinstein is less sure. Asked if the scholar should have disclosed his financial relationship with Monsanto, Weinstein pauses and says, 'that's a good question, period.'" (For a heavy dose of Fumento, see "The Michael Fumento Interview" by John Hawkins @ RightWing News.) Bandow finds a new homeIn a separate, but not entirely unrelated development, Doug Bandow, the former Copley News Service columnist and former senior fellow at the Cato Institute, outed by BusinessWeek Online in an earlier article for having accepted as much as $2000 per column from indicted GOP uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff to write pieces in support of issues of interest to Abramoff's clients, has also landed on his feet. In late-December, Citizen Outreach, which describes itself as "a non-profit organization focused on limited-government public policies," announced that Bandow, "one of the nation's foremost libertarian thinkers," had been hired by the organization to be "its new Vice President of Policy." "I've been reading Doug's columns for many years now," said Citizen Outreach President Chuck Muth. "And even on the rare policy issue in which he and I might not agree 100 percent, I always know that Doug's reasoning is based on objective thought and not emotion. He's able to justify any public policy issue from a limited government standpoint in the best tradition of our Founding Fathers. I wish we had more public officials who think like Doug in elective office. Citizen Outreach couldn't be happier that he is joining our organization." According to the Citizen Outreach announcement -- which in more than 275 words neglected to mention the reason he needed to seek new employment in the first place -- Bandow "will be based in the Washington, D.C., area and will focus on extending Citizen Outreach's public policy efforts on state and federal issues, as well as Capitol Hill outreach and coalition-building with other grassroots organizations who share the limited-government philosophy." "I'm excited to be joining Chuck in his efforts to energize the grassroots," said Bandow. "Only by getting average citizens across the country involved in politics will we be able to return government to its original limited role of protecting our liberties. The work of Citizen Outreach is particularly important at a time when regulation." sign in, or register to email stories or comment on them.
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MORE ORIGINAL RESEARCHBill Berkowitz PERC receives Templeton Freedom Award for promoting 'enviropreneurs'Right Wing foundation-funded anti-environmental think tank grabbing a wider audience for 'free market environmentalism' On the 15th anniversary of Terry Anderson and Donald Leal's book "Free Market Environmentalism" -- the seminal book on the subject -- Anderson, the Executive Director of the Bozeman, Montana-based Property and Environment Research Center (PERC - formerly known as the Political Economy Research Center) spoke in late-January at an event sponsored by Squaw Valley Institute at the Resort at Squaw Creek in California. While it may have been just another opportunity to speak on "free market environmentalism" and not the kickoff of a "victory tour," nevertheless it comes at a time when PERC's ideas are taking root.
Bill Berkowitz Neil Bush of Saudi ArabiaDuring recent visit, President’s brother describes the country as a 'kind of tribal democracy' In late February, only a few days after Saudi Arabia beheaded four Sri Lankan robbers and then left their headless bodies on public display in the capital of Riyadh, Neil Bush, for the fourth time in the past six years, showed up for the country's Jeddah Economic Forum. The Guardian reported that Human Rights Watch "said the four men had no lawyers during their trial and sentencing, and were denied other basic legal rights." In an interview with Arab News, the Saudi English language paper, Bush described the country as "a kind of tribal democracy."
Bill Berkowitz Newt Gingrich's back door to the White HouseAmerican Enterprise Institute "Scholar" and former House Speaker blames media for poll showing 64 percent of the American people wouldn't vote for him under any circumstances Whatever it is that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has come to represent in American politics, the guy is nothing less than fascinating. One day he's espousing populist rhetoric about the need to cut the costs of college tuition and the next day he's talking World War III. One day he's claiming that the "war on terror" may force the abridgement of fundamental first amendment rights and the next he's advancing a twenty-first century version of his Contract with America. At the same time he's publicly proclaiming how "stupid" it is that the race for the presidency has already started you know that he's trying to figure out how to out finesse Rudy, McCain and Romney for the nomination. And last week, when Fox News' Chris Wallace cited a poll showing that 64 percent of the public would never vote for him, he was quick to blame those results on how unfairly he was treated by the mainstream media back in the day.
Bill Berkowitz American Enterprise Institute takes lead in agitating against IranDespite wrongheaded predictions about the war on Iraq, neocons are on the frontlines advocating military conflict with Iran After doing such a bang up job with their advice and predictions about the outcome of the war on Iraq, would it surprise you to learn that America's neoconservatives are still in business? While at this time we are not yet seeing the same intense neocon invasion of our living rooms -- via cable television's news networks -- that we saw during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, nevertheless, a host of policy analysts at conservative think tanks -- most notably the American Enterprise Institute -- are being heeded on Iran by those who count - folks inside the Bush Administration.
Bill Berkowitz After six years, opposition gaining on George W. Bush's Faith Based InitiativeUnmentioned in the president's State of the Union speech, the program nevertheless continues to recruit religious participants and hand out taxpayer money to religious groups With several domestic policy proposals unceremoniously folded into President Bush's recent State of the Union address, two pretty significant items failed to make the cut. Despite the president's egregiously tardy response to the event itself, it was nevertheless surprising that he didn't even mention Hurricane Katrina: He didn't offer up a progress report, words of hope to the victims, or come up with a proposal for moving the sluggish rebuilding effort forward. There were no "armies of compassion" ready to be unleashed, although it should be said that many in the religious community responded to the disaster much quicker than the Bush Administration. In the State of the Union address, however, there was no "compassionate conservatism" for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Bill Berkowitz Frank Luntz calls Republican leadership in Washington 'One giant whining windbag'On the outs with the GOP, legendary degrader of discourse is moving to California He doesn't make great art; nothing he does elevates the human spirit; he doesn't illuminate, he bamboozles. He has become expert in subterfuge, hidden meanings, word play and manipulation. Frank Luntz has been so good at what he does that those paying close attention gave it its own name: "Luntzspeak."
Bill Berkowitz Spooked by MoveOn.org, conservative movement seeks to emulate liberal powerhouseFueled with Silicon Valley money, TheVanguard.org will have Richard Poe, former editor of David Horowitz's FrontPage magazine as its editorial and creative director As Paul Weyrich, a founding father of the modern conservative movement and still a prominent actor in it, likes to say, he learned a great deal about movement building by closely observing what liberals were up to in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Bill Berkowitz Ward Connerly's anti-affirmative action jihadFounder and Chair of the American Civil Rights Institute scouting five to nine states for new anti-affirmative action initiatives Fresh from his most recent victory -- in Michigan this past November -- Ward Connerly, the Black California-based maven of anti-affirmative action initiatives, appears to be preparing to take his jihad on the road. According to a mid-December report in the San Francisco Chronicle, Connerly said that he was "exploring moves into nine other states."
Bill Berkowitz Tom Tancredo's missionThe Republican congressman from Colorado will try to woo GOP voters with anti-immigration rhetoric and a boatload of Christian right politics These days, probably the most recognizable name in anti-immigration politics is Colorado Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo. Over the past year, Tancredo has gone from a little known congressman to a highly visible anti-immigration spokesperson. "Tancredo has thoroughly enmeshed himself in the anti-immigration movement and with the help of CNN talk show host Lou Dobbs, he has been given a national megaphone," Devin Burghart, the program director of the Building Democracy Initiative at the Center for New Community, a Chicago-based civil rights group, told Media Transparency.
Bill Berkowitz Institute on Religion and Democracy slams 'Leftist' National Council of ChurchesNew report from conservative foundation-funded IRD charges the NCC with being a political surrogate for MoveOn.org, People for the American Way and other liberal organizations If you prefer your religious battles sprinkled with demagoguery, sanctimoniousness, and simplistic attacks, the Institute on Religion and Democracy's (IRD) latest broadside against the National Council of Churches (NCC) certainly fits the bill.
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At 60, UN still taking fire (from Hudson Institute)
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