Following the May call, the civil justice task force convened an emergency meeting to finalize the suggested legislation, according to David Armiak, research director for the Center for Media and Democracy. “The fact that they met in an emergency meeting and passed it shows that this was a very, very important issue to them,” Armiak […]
Research Cited
FirstEnergy scandal is latest example of utility corruption, deceit
In 2016, Florida voters were close to being tricked by the state’s monopoly utilities into voting for an amendment on the state ballot that would have fortified the utilities’ monopolies and locked out rooftop solar companies. Days before the election, Mary Ellen Klas of the Miami Herald/Tampa Times reported on audio obtained by EPI and […]
Does a Nonprofit Organization Have to Have a Moral Compass?
According to David Armiak, research director for the Center for Media and Democracy, writing in Common Dreams, the real agenda of the Coalition was to attack government interventions and push for rapid reopening despite the enactment of stay-at-home orders by many states after coronavirus cases skyrocketed. Neither public health and safety was their priority.
Hate groups cashed in on pandemic relief before millions of Americans protested for social change
The Center for Media and Democracy was the first to report on the loans, which went to six nonprofits for a total of somewhere between $2,350,000 and $5,700,000. (The SBA has only disclosed loan amounts in ranges — not exact sums.) The groups will not need to repay the government if they put the money towards payroll and other operational expenses.
Millions in aid from small business relief fund went to “hate groups”
A report from the Center for Media and Democracy, a corruption watchdog, on Tuesday identified six of the nonprofits that have been labeled hate groups. Imraan Siddiqi, executive director of the Arizona branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the Center for Media and Democracy that many of the groups that “traffic in hate” are well […]
Keeping seed sovereignty local
Seed preemption bills have been passed in at least 29 states, with most of those bills drawing from language crafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) — a group that describes itself as “America’s largest nonpartisan, voluntary membership organization of state legislators dedicated to the principles of limited government, free markets, and federalism.” But […]
Dark Money and U.S. Courts: The Problem and Solutions
The Center for Media and Democracy noted the brief and followed up with a more robust analysis—indeed a stunning analysis—finding that “sixteen right-wing foundations gave nearly $69 million to groups urging the Supreme Court to abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since 2014” and that the same sixteen foundations had given over $33 million to […]
A Virtual Charter School Company Says Covid-19 Is the ‘Tailwind’ It’s Been Waiting For
A 2013 study by the Center for Media and Democracy found that 139 bills or state budget provisions resembling ALEC’s education policy were introduced in 43 states, with 31 becoming law. Versions of ALEC’s virtual schools bill have been introduced in state legislatures in Alabama, Illinois, Maine, Mississippi and Missouri, and versions of the bill have […]
Exclusive: Tucker Carlson-founded Daily Caller violated tax law, IRS complaint alleges
The DCNF says it licenses content to any media outlet for free, so it is not an exclusive private content producer for The Daily Caller. But other outlets rarely pick up DCNF content. The Daily Caller, however, leans heavily on that content. The IRS complaint points to snapshots of the outlet’s website, which suggest that […]
States Have Put 54 New Restrictions On Peaceful Protests Since Ferguson
Of the 22 anti-protest laws passed over the last four years, 12 designated fossil fuel sites as “critical infrastructure” and ramped up penalties for trespassing or tampering with the equipment there. The statutes, promoted in state legislatures by the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council following the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protests, typically elevated low-level misdemeanor […]