Investigating Power
Over 200 workers across seven Twin Cities venues owned by First Avenue Form a Union with UNITE HERE Local 17 and the Support of the Restaurant Opportunities Center.
The State Financial Officers Foundation, a membership group of 37 Republican state treasurers, auditors, and financial executives weaponized to fight “woke” capitalism, more than doubled its revenue in 2022 — to over $2 million — according to its latest IRS filing obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy.
In 2022, Stand Together Trust and Stand Together Chamber of Commerce contributed over $176 million to groups in Charles Koch’s “Stand Together” constellation of nonprofits as well as to higher education and right-wing policy, advocacy, litigation and media groups, the Center for Media and Democracy has found.
The Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and its “aligned” donor advised fund funneled a total of $86.4 million to right-wing litigation outlets, national and state policy groups, media outlets, youth groups, and higher education in 2022, according to an analysis of its most recent IRS filings obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy.
State lawmakers, corporate lobbyists, and right-wing operatives got together in Scottsdale, Arizona last week for the 2023 States and Nation Policy Summit hosted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The summit — one of the largest annual gatherings of the ALEC faithful, along with the summer meeting — caps off ALEC’s 50th anniversary year.
Charles Koch contributed $52.6 million in grants to colleges and universities through his Charles Koch Foundation in 2022, an analysis of the personal foundation’s latest IRS filing obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy found.
On October 11, St. James Parish in Louisiana approved giving Koch Industries an 80% property tax break on a $150-million expansion of its local methanol plant, which will save the company $5.9 million over the next decade.
To hide their identities from public scrutiny, megadonors used the Koch political network’s favorite conduit, DonorsTrust, to funnel $134 million to groups promoting the Right’s culture wars and spreading climate misinformation, Trump’s big lie, and hate, as indicated in IRS filings obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy.
On September 13, 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) fined Georgia-Pacific, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, $1.2 million for abandoning a natural gas pipeline without notifying federal regulators and lying about work already completed once it did notify them.
The fast food giant Yum! Brands has reversed its 2012 decision to stop funding the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and started paying annual dues to an association of right-wing attorneys general, according to its most recent voluntary financial disclosure.