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External LinksUpdate: Dudley gets nomination, Aug 1, 2006 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 Dudley Do-Wrong of George Mason UniversityWhite House appears set to name Susan Dudley of GMU's anti-regulatory Mercatus Center to a key post at the OMBWhen the George Mason University Patriots played their way into the final four of this year's NCAA men's national basketball championships, some called it the biggest NCAA Cinderella story of all time. While that feel good moment brought the university massive amounts of media attention, a lesser-known campus outfit has not so much been making headlines, as it has been making political waves. If appointed, Dudley would be the most anti-regulatory zealot within the Bush Administration, bar none George Mason University's Mercatus Center, which was recently described by the Washington Post's Al Kamen as "the staunchly anti-regulatory center," owes much of its existence to Koch Industries Inc., the oil and gas company run by the Koch (pronounced "Coke") brothers of Kansas. Kamen's July 12 column reported that the Bush Administration is poised to name Susan Dudley, the director of the regulatory studies program at the Mercatus Center, as head of the Office of Management and Budget's powerful regulatory office. "If appointed, Dudley would be the most anti-regulatory zealot within the Bush Administration, bar none," Scott Silver, the executive director of Wild Wilderness told Media Transparency in an e-mail exchange. "Her ideology is based upon a core belief that regulations are generally bad and there should be no regulation unless it can be proven to be cost effective and supported from within the market place." Worse than GrahamDudley, who has worked at the OMB as well as at the Environmental Protection Agency, would follow the controversial John D. Graham, "the cost-benefit champion who left in October," as head the OMB Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The relatively unknown office "approves all environmental, health and safety and other government regulations," Kamen reported. Graham, Kamen noted, "also served as an adviser to Mercatus." "She could be 10 times worse than Graham, who at least appeared to have his limits," Bob Shull, the Director of Regulatory Policy at OMB Watch, told Media Transparency in a telephone interview. In anticipation of her possible appointment -- which would require Senate approval -- OMB Watch, a longtime government watchdog group, had been researching Dudley's body of work. "The only consistency that you find in her writings -- written comments that she's filed about various regulations and the pieces that she's written for the Mercatus Center -- is hostility to regulatory protections of the public health, safety and environment." The OMB Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is "an obscure office that has lots of power, and unfortunately most people don't have a clue as to what the office does," Shull added. According to a post at Think Progress, a project of the Center for American Progress, Dudley, as the director of regulatory studies at Mercatus, has:
Frank O'Donnell of Clean Air Watch called Dudley "a true anti-regulatory zealot" who "makes John Graham look like Ralph Nader." Praises PERCIn December 2000, on the occasion of its twentieth anniversary, PERC Reports, a publication of the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC – formerly Political Economy Research Center), invited a handful of "friends and acquaintances" to "share their thoughts about free market environmentalism and about PERC, including their personal experiences." Dudley wrote: Recently I was appointed to a new Virginia Environmental Education Advisory Committee. I will head a working group tasked with examining the resources applied to environmental education and identifying new resources to improve environmental education in our schools. The first place I turned for ideas was PERC's Web site. Over the past twenty years I have come to value the refreshing and insightful ideas that PERC so eloquently espouses. At the Mercatus Center, we frequently turn to your publications for the research and principles needed to support our comments on federal regulations. On your Web site, I discovered that Michael Sanera and Jane Shaw have updated their very valuable book, Facts Not Fear, and that PERC offers student materials and teacher resources designed to promote critical economic thinking about key environmental issues. These materials present a balanced, thought-provoking review of such issues as curbside recycling (is it really good for the environment?) and endangered species (why are whales threatened while chickens are not?). The environmental mystery format is an ideal way to engage young students and encourage their critical thinking. I don't know how many times I have turned to PERC for thoughtful, principled discussions of environmental issues. I am never disappointed. The Mercatus CenterAccording to SourceWatch, a project of the Center for Media and Democracy, the Mercatus Center was founded as the Center for Market Processes by Rich Fink, executive vice president of Koch Industries and former president of the Koch Foundations, who went on to found Citizens for a Sound Economy (now FreedomWorks). In the early 1980s the center moved to GMU where it merged with the Center for the Study of Public Choice during 1998 to become the James M. Buchanan Center for Political Economy. The Mercatus Center brand was developed in 1999 from the JBC. In addition to receiving support from the Koch family, the Mercatus Center the Center "has received $80,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998," according to a profile posted at EXXONSecrets.org. The Mercatus Center, 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization, has a description of itself on its website that is clear about its mission: The Mercatus Center at George Mason University is a research center focused on improving our understanding of how societies transition to prosperity and remain prosperous over time. The findings of that research are then communicated to decision makers in a position to act on them. Through the application of market process analysis, a uniquely George Mason approach. Mercatus researchers and the students they work with seek to bridge theory and practice to better understand how market-oriented systems enable human well being. Mercatus research addresses the conditions that enable good governance and successful economies, specifically: the drivers of social, political, and economic change, international and domestic economic development, entrepreneurship and the institutions that enable it, the benefits and costs of regulatory policy, and government performance and transparency. Mercatus researchers work closely with colleagues at George Mason as well as a growing network of leading scholars world wide. The findings from Mercatus research are published and communicated to decision makers in a position to make use of them through a suite of targeted outreach programs and the media. Mercatus Center programs include:
The Center's Board of Directors includes: Frank Atkinson, Chairman, McGuireWoods Consulting, LLC; Tyler Cowen, General Director, Chairman of the Board, and professor of economics at George Mason University; Richard Fink, Executive Vice President and a member of the board of directors of Koch Industries, Inc., in Washington, D.C.; Manuel Johnson, Co-Chairman, Johnson Smick Group and a member of the Board of Visitors and the GMU Foundation Board of Trustees; Charles Koch, Chairman and CEO, Koch Industries, Inc., one of the largest privately held companies in America; Edwin Meese, III, Former U.S. Attorney General who is also the Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow in Public Policy and Chairman of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation, and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University; Dwight Schar, Chairman and CEO of NVR, Inc., a home building company that is one of the top five U.S. building companies; Menlo Smith, CEO, Sumark Capital; Vernon Smith, Nobel Prize winner in Economics and Professor of Economics and Law at GMU. GMU, which counts Karl Rove amongst its distinguished alumni, was founded in 1957 and named after George Mason, an American revolutionary, patriot and one of the founding fathers. More than 20,000 undergraduates, postgraduates and doctoral students attend GMU campuses in Arlington, Fairfax, and Prince William Counties, with another campus in Loudoun County set to open in 2009. (For more, see Wikipedia's GMU entry.) "What I find most frightening about Dudley is her advocacy for the creation of a 'Sunset Commission' which would operate under the authority of the President and would review federal programs deciding which would be terminated unless reauthorized by an Act of Congress," Wild Wilderness' Scott Silver pointed out. "Speaking at an economic conference shortly after the 2004 election, Dudley touted this idea suggesting that this 'would shift the burden of proof onto the regulations and require us to demonstrate that they are still needed.'" "In practice, if five of the nine commissioners did not like a particular regulation, or found fault with a federal program such as the Food and Drug Administration or the Environmental Protection Agency, the commission could effectively kill that regulation, program or agency. Silver maintained that "the harm of the President's long-standing abuse of signing statements would pale in comparison to what could be accomplished with this, entirely unconstitutional, anti-democratic commission." 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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Patron saints of right wing think tanks (Kochs) acquire Georgia Pacific Corp
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