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ALEC News

Koch Convention to Rewrite Constitution Runs Into Roadblocks

This year's legislative season saw a strong push in the states from right-wing groups, bankrolled by the Koch brothers and other ultra-conservative billionaires, hoping to convene a national constitutional convention in order to inject rigid fiscal constraints into our country's founding document. Advocates of a federal "balanced budget amendment" (BBA) picked up two more states, Wyoming and Arizona, in their drive to win the 34 resolutions needed to bypass Congress and convene a convention to propose changes to the U.S. Constitution.

That momentum, however, was blunted by surprisingly successful campaigns to rescind convention calls in three states, New Mexico, Maryland, and Nevada. Two steps forward and three steps back. Read the rest of this item here.

Weaponized Philanthropy: Documents Detail Bradley Foundation's Right-Wing "Infrastructure"

Documents examined by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) expose a national effort funded by the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation to assess and expand right-wing "infrastructure" to influence policies and politicians in statehouses nationwide.

The documents were made public in October 2016 on two Twitter accounts that cyber security analysts have linked to one of the Russian hackers alleged to have breached the Democratic National Committee. The Bradley Foundation confirmed in a statement that the hack had taken place and was reported to the FBI.

The documents open a window to the behind-the-scenes workings of one of America's largest right-wing foundations. Read the rest of this item here.

Bradley Foundation Bankrolls Attacks on Unions

Documents examined by CMD expose a national effort by the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation to defund and dismantle unions, the most significant force for higher wages and better working conditions in America.

Publicly, the Bradley Foundation spins this agenda as "employee rights." Behind the scenes, newly disclosed Bradley documents detail an aggressive political agenda.

Why does Bradley want to annihilate unions? Because if you dismantle unions, you destroy a key funder of the Democratic Party and its "army on the ground," as Newt Gingrich once put it. Read the rest of this item here.

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+<h3>[http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/06/12/koch-convention-rewrite-constitution-roadblocks/ Koch Convention to Rewrite Constitution Runs Into Roadblocks]</h3>
+[[Image:We-the-Kochs-preamble-270px.jpg|270 px|center]]This year's legislative season saw a strong push in the states from right-wing groups, bankrolled by the Koch brothers and other ultra-conservative [http://www.prwatch.org/news/2017/03/13229/koch-brothers-bankroll-constitutional-convention billionaires], hoping to convene a national constitutional convention in order to inject rigid fiscal constraints into our country's founding document. Advocates of a federal "balanced budget amendment" (BBA) picked up two more states, Wyoming and Arizona, in their drive to win the 34 resolutions needed to bypass Congress and convene a convention to propose changes to the U.S. Constitution.
+That momentum, however, was blunted by surprisingly successful campaigns to rescind convention calls in three states, New Mexico, Maryland, and Nevada. Two steps forward and three steps back. Read the rest of this item [http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/06/12/koch-convention-rewrite-constitution-roadblocks/ here].
+----
 <h3>[http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/05/05/documents-detail-bradley-foundation-efforts-build-right-wing-infrastructure-nationwide/ Weaponized Philanthropy: Documents Detail Bradley Foundation's Right-Wing "Infrastructure"]</h3>
 [[Image:Bradley-files-270px.jpg|270 px|center]]Documents examined by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) expose a national effort funded by the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation to assess and expand right-wing "infrastructure" to influence policies and politicians in statehouses nationwide.
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 The documents were made public in October 2016 on two Twitter accounts that cyber security analysts have linked to one of the Russian hackers alleged to have breached the Democratic National Committee. The Bradley Foundation confirmed [http://www.bradleyfdn.org/On-Lion-Letter/ID/2342/Statement-of-Bradley-Foundation-president-Richard-W-Graber-on-cyber-intrusion in a statement] that the hack had taken place and was reported to the FBI.
-The documents open a window to the behind-the-scenes workings of one of America's largest right-wing foundations. With $835 million in assets as of June 2016, the Bradley Foundation is as large as the three Koch family foundations combined, yet receives much less attention as a significant funder of the right. Read the rest of this item [http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/05/05/documents-detail-bradley-foundation-efforts-build-right-wing-infrastructure-nationwide/ here].
+The documents open a window to the behind-the-scenes workings of one of America's largest right-wing foundations. Read the rest of this item [http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/05/05/documents-detail-bradley-foundation-efforts-build-right-wing-infrastructure-nationwide/ here].
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 <h3>[http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/05/05/bradley-foundation-bankrolls-attacks-unions/ Bradley Foundation Bankrolls Attacks on Unions]</h3>
-[[Image:Norquist-Bradley-files270px.jpg|270 px|center]]Documents examined by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) expose a national effort by the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation to defund and dismantle unions, the most significant force for higher wages and better working conditions in America.
+[[Image:Norquist-Bradley-files270px.jpg|270 px|center]]Documents examined by CMD expose a national effort by the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation to defund and dismantle unions, the most significant force for higher wages and better working conditions in America.
 Publicly, the Bradley Foundation spins this agenda as "employee rights." Behind the scenes, newly disclosed Bradley documents detail an aggressive political agenda.
 Why does Bradley want to annihilate unions? Because if you dismantle unions, you destroy a key funder of the Democratic Party and its "army on the ground," as Newt Gingrich [http://www.theinvestigativefund.org/investigations/politicsandgovernment/1506/how_workers_learned_to_fear_unions_in_wisconsin once put it.] Read the rest of this item [http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/05/05/bradley-foundation-bankrolls-attacks-unions/ here].
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-<h3>[http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/05/09/bradley-foundation-bankrolls-front-groups-richard-berman/ Bradley Foundation Bankrolls Front Groups of Richard Berman]</h3>
-[[Image:Top-secret-file-truncated-Berman-270px.jpg|270 px|center]]Documents examined by CMD pull back the curtain on the highly politicized funding of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and its relationship with Richard Berman, the public relations spin doctor dubbed a [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/meet-rick-berman-aka-dr-evil/ hired gun]" for corporate America by 60 Minutes.
-Bradley is bankrolling multiple Berman front groups along with groups across the nation that are working to "defund Big Labor" and to destroy unions, the most significant advocate for higher wages and better working conditions in America. Berman was caught on tape telling prospective funders: "I get up every morning and I try and figure out how to screw with the labor unions" and "marginalize the people on the other side," as [http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/10/12646/rick-berman-exposed-new-audio-detailing-tactics-against-environment CMD helped reveal] in 2014. Read the rest of this item [http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/05/09/bradley-foundation-bankrolls-front-groups-richard-berman/ here].
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