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ALEC News

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. 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 here.

Bradley Foundation Bankrolls Attacks on Unions

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.

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.

Bradley Foundation Bankrolls Front Groups of Discredited PR Spin Doctor Richard Berman

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 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 CMD helped reveal in 2014.

Read the rest of this item here.

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-<h3>[http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/03/27/constitution-interrupted/ Constitution Interrupted]</h3>
+<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:Red-ALEC-stamp-constitution270px.jpg|270 px|center]]'''By Rep. Chris Taylor (D-WI)'''
+[[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.
-After the 2010 tea party takeover of Wisconsin, it became clear that the real force behind policymaking in Wisconsin is not the voters, but the [http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed American Legislative Exchange Council] (ALEC), the most powerful right-wing policy-making machine in the country. A ménage a trois of powerful corporations, state legislators, and right-wing think tanks, ALEC pushes out model legislation that promotes corporate hegemony.
+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.
-I know because I am a Wisconsin legislator, and a member of ALEC.
+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].
-Read the rest of this item [http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/03/27/constitution-interrupted/ here].
 ----
-<h3>[http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/03/22/wisconsin-lawmaker-echoes-alec-call-constitutional-convention/ Wisconsin Lawmaker Echoes ALEC's Call for a Constitutional Convention]</h3>
+<h3>[http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/05/05/bradley-foundation-bankrolls-attacks-unions/ Bradley Foundation Bankrolls Attacks on Unions]</h3>
-[[Image:Trump-signing-constitution-270px.jpg|270 px|center]]Wisconsin State Senator Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) wants a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and he wants a new constitutional convention to ratify it.
+[[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.
-A constitutional convention makes for a snappy hashtag, #ConCon. But, as GOP leaders in Idaho recently discovered, it is a dangerous and impractical idea that could result in a "runaway" convention and substantial rewrites to the U.S. Constitution.
+Publicly, the Bradley Foundation spins this agenda as "employee rights." Behind the scenes, newly disclosed Bradley documents detail an aggressive political agenda.
-Under Article V of the U.S. Constitution, if 34 state legislatures "issue a call" for a constitutional convention, Congress must convene one. By some counts, the right-wing only needs six more states. Read the rest of this item [http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/03/22/wisconsin-lawmaker-echoes-alec-call-constitutional-convention/ here].
+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].
 ----
-<h3>[http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/03/07/pruitt-emails-reveal-communications-alec-kochs/ Pruitt Emails Reveal Communications with ALEC and Koch Groups]</h3>
+<h3>[http://www.exposedbycmd.org/2017/05/09/bradley-foundation-bankrolls-front-groups-richard-berman/  Bradley Foundation Bankrolls Front Groups of Discredited PR Spin Doctor Richard Berman]</h3>
-[[Image:Scott-Pruitt-CPAC-2017-CCBYSA2.0-Gage-Skidmore-270px.jpg|270 px|center|frame|<center>Scott Pruitt<br><small>Image: Gage Skidmore CC BY SA 2.0</small></center>]]Emails released to the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) reveal close ties between Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and the fossil fuel interests that fund ALEC, including the Kochs' Americans for Prosperity Group.
+[[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.
-The emails were obtained after the Center for Media and Democracy filed an open records lawsuit against Pruitt for his two-year-long failure to respond to our open records requests for his email correspondence with major fossil fuel corporations. The court ordered Pruitt to release thousands of emails which are now online and [http://www.exposedbycmd.org/Scott-Pruitt-Missing-Emails available for public inspection], but CMD is still in court seeking to obtain 1,600 pages withheld and responses to eight additional open records requests.
+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/2017/03/07/pruitt-emails-reveal-communications-alec-kochs/ here].
+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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