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External LinksAmy Ridenour's National Center Blog Competitive Enterprise Institute website Gadflyer's Joshua Holland's report on Project 21 Houston Chronicle story on Delay's trip funded by private Russian companies Los Angeles Times story on Delay investigation Media Matters for America website National Center for Public Policy Research website NCPPR's Earth Day Information Center website Paul Driessen's Eco-Imperialism website Science and Environmental Policy Project (Fred Singer) website Statement of support for Clarence Thomas by David Almasi, the director of Project 21, Washington Post story on Abramoff's lobbying activies 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 Tom DeLay's Right ArmThe National Center for Public Policy ResearchThe foundation that Tom DeLay calls 'The Center for Conservative communications' is involved in the Majority Leader's ethical troubles as well as a number of other right wing projects After weeks of haggling, it looks like the House Ethics Committee, loaded down with Republicans who have received significant support from Rep. Tom DeLay's organizations, will begin its investigation into the House Majority Leader's ethics problems. But don't expect much from the committee for between "six months to a year," the Los Angeles Times' Mary Curtius reported on April 29, 2005. According to Curtius, "Under the most likely scenario, Reps. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), the panel chairman, and Alan B. Mollohan of West Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the committee, will review the news reports and jointly notify DeLay that he is the subject of a preliminary investigation. At that point, Hastings and Mollohan may informally question DeLay and others." "If that informal inquiry raises enough questions, the full committee will be asked to vote to form an investigative subcommittee with the power to subpoena witnesses and documents." "In this case, the stakes are particularly high, both for DeLay, given his history of ethics lapses, and for this committee," Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis who specializes in legal and government ethics, told Curtius. The National Center for Public Policy Research & Tom DeLayCharges against Rep. DeLay, the former exterminator, have been scurrying across the front pages of America's daily newspapers faster than the varmints he used to wipe out back in Texas. In one recent week, both the New York Times and the Washington Post published articles raising more questions about the House Leader's judgment and ethics. While President Bush continues to fully embrace DeLay, other Republicans are beginning - make that, barely beginning - to tire of DeLay's act and the consequences it might have for their Party. On Sunday, April 10, both moderate Republican Congressman Chris Shays (R-Conn.) and Senator Rick Santorum, the right wing Pennsylvania Senator up for re-election in 2006, stated that DeLay needed to come clean about all of the details involved with the assorted junkets he's gone on over the past several years, and the questionable relationships he's developed with lobbyists. A number of press accounts about DeLay's 1997 National Center for Public Policy Research-sponsored (NCPPR, also National Center - website) trip to Moscow focused on accusations that the trips were funded in part by private Russian companies and not by the National Center, as DeLay's staff claimed. In a recent statement, the National Center bit the bullet and took responsibility for the trips' payment. Their statement read in part: "The National Center for Public Policy Research sponsored and paid for educational trips to Russia and to Great Britain in 1997 and 2000 that included, at our invitation, Congressman Tom DeLay, Mrs. DeLay and Congressional staff members. The National Center for Public Policy Research was careful to pay all the expenses associated with Congressman DeLay's trip. Reports to the contrary are incorrect." Jack Abramoff, the Washington lobbyist who was a member of NCPPR's Board of Directors, is a "central figure" in investigations "into alleged ethical improprieties by his close friend House Majority Leader Tom DeLay" and he is also "under federal investigation for his lobbying activities on behalf of Indian tribes," the Washington Post reported on May 1. The National Center for Public Policy Research is a tax exempt 501 (C)(3) Washington, DC-based operation which has never had the verve or cache of such Washington-DC-based right wing think tanks as the Heritage Foundation (website), the American Enterprise Institute (website) or the Cato Institute (website). In fact, the only reason we are hearing so much about the organization is because of reports linking it to DeLay and his myriad ethics problems. During the past few weeks, as news of the group's involvement with the beleaguered House Majority Leader surfaced, press accounts have consistently failed to accurately describe the NCPPR. Media Matters for America (website), a progressive media monitor, has identified several instances of reporting where the group's conservative roots appeared to escape acknowledgement:
"In fact," reports Media Matters, NCPPR, which was founded in 1982 "to provide the conservative movement with a versatile and energetic organization capable of responding quickly and decisively to fast-breaking issues," refers to itself as "'A Conservative Think Tank' in the header of its website's home page." The National Center has a well-established funding stream from conservative foundations. Between 1985 and 2002 the organization received more than $2 million from such right wing heavy weights such as the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Castle Rock Foundation, the Randolph Foundation, the Roe Foundation, and an array of foundations controlled by Richard Mellon Scaife. In addition to foundation support, the Center claims a broad-based network of individual donors that sustain its $6.5 million budget (2003 figures). The Washington, DC-based NCPPR, which calls itself "a communications and research foundation," is much more, however, than Tom DeLay's personal tourist agent. It has a number of ongoing projects, several regular publications and has an agenda chock full of issues. In the words of DeLay -- prominently advertised on the National Center's Web site -- "The National Center is THE CENTER for conservative communications." Broadening its Playing Field"In the 1980s," the NCPPR "helped change public opinion through vocal national campaigns aimed at supporting Reagan administration initiatives concerning the USSR, arms control, Central America and human rights," its website claims. These days it is taking on a number of twenty-first century political issues including:
Citing its "proven success in today's competitive media environment," the National Center points to an enviable and growing media presence: "Over 2,622 media interviews and citations in 2003," which is nearly double what it had five years earlier; Nearly 2,000 opinion pieces by National Center staff were published by newspapers in 2002 and 2003. According to its website, "responding quickly" to emerging issues is the "hallmark" of its work. The Center claims that "the key to successful marketing on the internet lies in providing up-to-the-minute information in a simple, potent format," and it points out that during the past year, its website "averaged over a million hits (350,00 pageviews) from an average of over 150,000 visitors each month." Amy Ridenour, the former deputy director of the College Republican National Committee and former regional coordinator for Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign, is currently the president and chairman of the Center. She waxes regularly about the issues of the day at Amy Ridenour's National Center Blog. However amidst the usual clutter of Center publications -- What Conservatives Think - "help[ing] bridge the gap between rhetoric and reality" about what conservatives think; Ten Second Response - "Fast Facts on the Environment"; Legal Briefs - "Fighting Lawsuit Abuse & Exposing Frivolous Lawsuits"; In The News - a collection of NCRRP-generated newspaper clippings, and various other websites, including the "Center for the Future of Russia" and EnviroTruth.org, "promoting truth in environmental activism" one particular project stands out for its sheer audacity. NCPPR's Earth Day Information CenterA week before the 35th anniversary of Earth Day (April 22), NCPPR turned its attention to environmental issues, setting up a one-stop information outlet for Earth Day called the Earth Day Information Center. Scott Silver, the executive director of Wild Wilderness, an Oregon-based grassroots environmental organization, who has been tracking the activities of the anti-environmental movement for more than 10 years, recently sent an email about an announcement he had received from an outfit calling itself the Earth Day Information Center (EDIC - website). It was advertising an "Earth Day Interview Locator Service" and offering "to provide journalists and broadcasters with scientists and policy experts who are able to discuss Earth Day-related issues." While at first Silver couldn't figure out exactly what the EDIC was up to, it soon became apparent after he checked out its list of "experts." Most of the advertised speakers were long-time well-known anti-environmentalists who are involved in a number of anti-environmental organizations, think tanks and public policy outfits including:
"This isn't your typical green-washing effort," Silver concluded. "This is hard-core anti-environmental ideologues presenting themselves as spokespersons for Earth Day 2005." In addition to the so-called experts, the Earth Day Information Center is providing an online information clearinghouse, complete with a history of Earth Day, "as well as information and commentary on issues such as global warming, energy policy, urban sprawl, mileage standards and property rights." Project 21: A Mouthpiece for Conservative African AmericansProject 21 is described by the Center as "An initiative...to promote the views of African-Americans whose entrepreneurial spirit, dedication to family and commitment to individual responsibility has not traditionally been echoed by the nation's civil rights establishment." In many ways, it was a forerunner to Team Bush's current emphasis on attracting African Americans to the Republican Party and conservative causes. In recent years Project 21's conservative spokespersons -- with their willingness to be provocative and lob verbal bombs at the so-called civil rights establishment -- have become darlings of the political right. Project spokespersons have appeared on the Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" and "Hannity and Colmes," "CNN Morning News," Black Entertainment Television's "Lead Story," "America's Black Forum," "the McLaughlin Group," C-SPAN's "Morning Journal" and the Rush Limbaugh, Michael Reagan, Sean Hannity, G. Gordon Liddy and Larry King programs. They've argued, among other things, that African Americans will benefit from President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security; suggested that the NAACP, the nation's oldest civil rights organization, should pursue "a more centrist course than the one it has been on for the past 40 years"; maintained that Black civil rights leaders have turned Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream into a "nightmare"; and claimed that the notion of "environmental justice" hurts black communities. Recently, David Almasi, the director of Project 21, issued a statement pointing out that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is well qualified to become the Court's next chief justice. Almasi's statement in support of Thomas came after Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid had called Thomas "an embarrassment to the Supreme Court" during an interview on NBC's Meet the Press. Almasi, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, the author of the Daily Kos blog points out, is not an African American; Moulitsas discovered that fact after "trek[ing] over to NCPPR to get...[his] photo". According to Moulitsas, "The sole purpose of Project 21 is to provide token talking head media whores to represent the right wing when they need a splash of color." In July 2004, The Gadflyer's Joshua Holland reported on an Almasi appearance on C-SPAN: C-SPAN's Robb Harlston -- himself Black -- turned to...Almasi, and said, "Um...Project 21... a program for conservative African Americans...you're not African American." It was a remarkable moment. A flat tire had led to a nationally-televised peek into what lies behind a murky network of interconnected Black conservative organizations that seek ostensibly to bring more African-Americans into the conservative movement. But they're not just reaching out to the community. They also speak out publicly for conservative positions that might evoke charges of racism if advocated by whites. And while that's not to say that there aren't some Blacks who embrace conservative values, the groups that claim to represent them are heavily financed by business interests and often run by white Republicans. Almasi replied defensively, "I wanted to make clear right at the beginning that I'm an employee, I'm an employee of Project 21, my bosses are the members of Project 21, the volunteers...I take my marching orders from them, not from anybody else." Almasi later told Holland that he was the group's only paid staff member and that he worked part-time. According to Holland, Almasi said that there was a core of conservative Blacks "willing to do interviews, be quoted for press releases and be available to write for Project 21 publications," and that his role was simply to serve as "a syndicator, an editor and a scheduler." "In the 1990s," Holland pointed out, "NCPPR got into the business of denying that climate change warnings were based on sound science. If the connection between Black conservative outreach work and environmental skepticism doesn't seem clear, that's because it's not. But it's logical considering that ExxonMobil donated $30,000 to NCPPR for 'educational activities' and $15,000 for general support in 2002, and last year [2003] they hiked their operating support to $25,000 and kicked in another $30,000 for NCPPR's 'EnviroTruth' website, according to company financial records." The Project "also received funding from R.J. Reynolds and 'has lobbied in support of tobacco industry interests, opposing FDA regulation of the industry, excise taxes and other government policies to reduce tobacco use,' the Center for Media and Democracy reported. Almasi denied that Project 21 received tobacco industry money, but said he was not sufficiently aware of the details of NCPPR's fundraising to say whether the parent organization had. According to Holland, "NCPPR's directors are also all white" and one of them was Jack Abramoff, the man that is figuring prominently in the current DeLay scandal. Abramoff, a GOP lobbyist and Bush "Pioneer" -- a donor of huge amounts of money to the Bush campaign -- "is under federal investigation for payments he received from various American Indian casinos," the Washington Times recently reported. 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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