A review of hundreds of tax filings by the Center for Media and Democracy has uncovered 39%—or $16.4 million—of the $41.7 million ALEC received in contributions between 2017 and 2021.
ALEC’s Funding Revealed
By David Armiak | at
Featured Investigations
ALEC Considers Blacklisting Companies That Voluntarily Recognize Unions
By Don Wiener | at
Republican state lawmakers and corporate lobbyists in the American Legislative Exchange Council will consider model legislation this week that creates new barriers to union organizing efforts across the country.
Leading Anti-ESG Lobbyists Represent Firearms and Fossil Fuel Industries
By Juliana Broad | at
Representatives from the firearms industry and free-market think tanks are criss-crossing the country advocating for legislation that severely curtails—and often outright prohibits—state governments from considering environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors when making decisions about investments and contracts.
House Republicans Grease Dark Money Wheels in “Election Integrity” Bill
By Juliana Broad | at
Buried in the 200-plus page bill known as the ACE Act are provisions that would gut donor disclosure requirements and allow nonprofits to circumvent certain campaign finance regulations, paving the way for an even larger deluge of dark money in politics under the aegis of protecting the political speech of conservative donors and corporations from government overreach.
House GOP Joins the War on ESG, Brought to You by Big Oil
By Juliana Broad | at
New research reveals that both House Republicans and the witnesses they’ve called to kick off “ESG month”—a series of GOP-led hearings in July intent on preventing companies from responding to the climate crisis—have deep financial ties to the fossil fuel industry.
ALEC State Lawmakers Lead Campaign to Conceal Conservative Donors
By Juliana Broad | at
Seventeen states have enacted broad anti-disclosure laws since 2018 that will further conceal the influence of dark money in politics based on model language first developed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
Walmart Heirs, Freedom Foundation Behind Latest Attack on Arkansas Teachers
By Juliana Broad | at
With very little fanfare, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a host of new legislation in April—including SB 473, a bill that prohibits union dues from being automatically deducted from public school teachers’ salaries.
Watchdog Group Files Emergency Motion with Ohio Supreme Court to Stop AG’s Further Destruction of Documents Sought in Open Records Case
By ExposedByCMD Editors | at
The Center for Media and Democracy filed an emergency motion with the Ohio Supreme Court yesterday asking the Court to stop Attorney General Dave Yost’s office from further destroying its controversial communications with the Republican Attorneys General Association and the Rule of Law Defense Fund.
Leonard Leo Bankrolls Former Lieutenant to Challenge GOP Incumbent in Missouri’s 2024 Race for AG
By David Armiak | at
Trump’s “judge whisperer” Leonard Leo, the Christian conservative largely responsible for moving the federal court system to the far right in the past decade, is deploying his powerful network to get a friend and former employee elected as Missouri’s next attorney general.
Koch Network Unleashes Early Attacks Against Trump
By Don Wiener | at
Even before the Justice Department announced the federal indictment of former President Trump last week, the super PAC for Charles Koch’s political operation, Americans for Prosperity Action (AFP Action), had spent $347,022 in May to discredit his presidential bid in 2024.