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Special Reports We suspected it all along, but now we have the goods that prove that Charles Koch was a member of the John Birch Society at the height of their attacks on the civil rights movement and civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King. In the early 1960s Charles moved back to Wichita and followed in the footsteps of his dad Fred Koch who helped found the John Birch Society in 1958. We broke the story on DemocracyNow!, provided detailed excerpts of the anti-civil rights agenda, and launched a new wiki resource called Koch Exposed (of course). You can see our full special report in the new "Robber Barons" edition of The Progressive magazine which is hitting the stands this week! Special Reports Reporters' Guide to Rex Sinquefield and the Show-Me Institute The Center for Media and Democracy and Progress Missouri released a new report on April 29 entitled, "Reporters' Guide to Rex Sinquefield and the Show-Me Institute," that should be an eye-opener for Missouri residents and national press. "Sinquefield is one of the top right-wing political funders in the country, and the single top political spender in Missouri, where he has spent at least $31.5 million since 2006 seeking to reshape Missouri laws, legislators, and policies according to his own ideological mold," said co-author Brendan Fischer of the Center for Media and Democracy/The Progressive.  Read the full report here.  Or the shorter cover story for The Progressive magazine here: Show Me the Money: Meet the Multimillionaire Squeezing Missouri's Schools New Report Exposes ALEC's Influence in Missouri and Kansas Progress Missouri, the Center for Media and Democracy, Common Cause, and Missouri Jobs With Justice Voter Action released new research April 29 highlighting the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) ongoing influence in the Kansas and Missouri State Capitols. The report shows that ALEC has lavished hundreds of thousands of dollars on Kansas and Missouri politicians and those trips have resulted in dozens of bills being introduced on behalf of ALEC’s corporate members. Read the full report here.

ALEC Open Records Lawsuit After Unprecedented Claim of Legislative Immunity, Vukmir Releases ALEC Records, Pays Damages After nearly a year of litigation, the Center for Media and Democracy has settled its open records lawsuit against American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) National Board member and Wisconsin State Senator Leah Vukmir. Senator Vukmir, who had previously insisted that she had no records in her possession and made an unprecedented claim of legislative immunity, is anticipated to release numerous emails from her private email account, and pay $2,500 in damages. This may be the first time a Wisconsin legislator has had to pay damages under Wisconsin's open records law. Read the full article here.