WI - S Is For Shill

8/14/2019 WI - S Is For Shill

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S IS FOR SHILLINSIDE THE BRADLEY FOUNDATION'SATTACK ON PUBLIC EDUCATION

ONE WISCONSIN NOW | BRADLEYWATCH.ORG

November 2013


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TABLE OF CONTENTSEXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3

IT ALL BEGINS WITH BRADLEY 4

Creating the Science for Vouchers 5

Bradley Funding to WPRI and MacIver 6

WISCONSIN POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE: REPUBLICAN RESEARCH ARM 9

Right-Wing Funding 10

WPRI Connections to the National Right-Wing Network 10

Political Giving by the WPRI Board 11

MacIver Institute: Republican Communications Arm 12

Right-Wing Funding 12

Political Giving by the MacIver Board 13

Connected to the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Koch Brothers, and the National Right-Wing Network 13

OTHER MACIVER FUNDERS SUPPORT EDUCATION PRIVATIZATION 15

Walton Family Foundation 15

The Randolph Foundation 15

The Franklin Center 16

MACIVER, WPRI, AND & ALEC: A COORDINATED RIGHT-WING AGENDA IN WISCONSIN 17

CONCLUSION 19


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

For the last two decades, there has been an assault on public education in the state of Wisconsin. Thefuel for the shift of tax dollars from public education and into unaccountable private education entitieshas come from a relentless propaganda campaign to discredit public schools and promote privatizationschemes as the solution.

These attacks on public education are part of a national network of funding and right wing non-profitorganizations that includes Wisconsin-based groups, most notably the Bradley Foundation, theWisconsin Policy Research Institute and the MacIver Institute. Both WPRI and MacIver are members ofthe State Policy Network (SPN), a vast collection of conservative think tanks in states across thecountry. The State Policy Network is also closely aligned with the American Legislative Exchange Council(ALEC) and its well-documented anti-middle class economic agenda.

The following report sheds light on the network of Wisconsin-based and outside organizations workingto steer even more dollars from the states public school children in favor of privatized school operations.The research shows:

1. MacIver and the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute benefit financially from the nations pre-eminent anti-public education funding sources.

2. On the boards of directors of both organizations are long-time established Republican donorsand political operatives.

3. While the Bradley Foundation provides substantial support to both groups, they are part of acoordinated, nationwide effort by the State Policy Network and the American LegislativeExchange Council to advance anti-public education propaganda and promote privatization.

With the financial backing of Milwaukees Bradley Foundation, two Wisconsin-based conservative thinktanks," the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute and the MacIver Institute, have led the charge, as part ofthe SPN web, to expand private school vouchers and charters, while insulating these schools from theaccountability measures required of the states public schools.

The result has been a 2013-14 state budget that expands taxpayer-supported private schools statewide,despite objective evidence showing that taxpayer-supporter private schools perform no better and, insome cases, worse than public schools. In the meantime, these private operations are able to pick andchoose the students they enroll without fear of reprisal for refusing students based on their economics,race, sexual orientation or disability.

With the state of Wisconsin having endured the largest cuts to public education in its history as a resultof the 2011-12 state budget of Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled legislature,public education dollars have become even more scarce, leaving the ability of public school students toenjoy a quality education that can help lift them out of poverty and ensure a middle class lifestyle at risk.

The public school children of Wisconsin face a propaganda campaign of unprecedented resources and

relentlessness with the single-minded purpose of shifting as much of the states shared tax dollars aspossible from public schools to private operations and providing air and comfort to the elected officialswilling to aid and abet this historic attack on public education.

This report focuses on the major players and organizations at the heart of this campaign, most notablythe Bradley Foundation, the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, and the MacIver Institute.


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IT ALL BEGINS WITH BRADLEY

With more than $600 million in assets, the Bradley Foundation provides acornerstone for the U.S. conservative movement. It has been the financialbacker behind public-policy experiments that started in Wisconsin andspread across the nation -- including a welfare overhaul, public vouchers

for private schools and, this year, cutbacks in public-employee benefits andcollective bargaining.

(THE SEATTLE TIMES, 11/28/11)

Michael Grebe is the Chief Executive Officer of the Bradley Foundation, a Milwaukee-based 501(c)(3)organization with assets of over $550 million. Since 2000, the Bradley Foundation has handed out over$500 million,1 making it one of the largest pipelines for conservative money in the nation, surpassingeven the foundation giving of David and Charles Koch. In building this right-wing empire, Grebe has alsobeen instrumental in the rise to power of Wisconsins most prominent national Republican players --Scott Walker, Paul Ryan, and Reince Priebus -- and helping build the strength of the states conservativeinfrastructure.2

With hundreds of millions of dollars available to them, Grebe and the Bradley Foundation advance anagenda of less corporate accountability, lower taxes for the wealthy and corporations, and privatizationof public schools. These unmatched funds finance right-wing junk science across the country to makethe case for their radical solutions. In turn, it also finances studies on the backend, which prove thesepolicies, where enacted, are somehow working.3

This report examines the campaign to discredit Wisconsin and Milwaukee public schools by two Bradley-funded right-wing groups, the MacIver Institute and the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.


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Creating the Science for Vouchers

the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute is the polling arm of the right-wing Bradley Foundation,inventors of Milwaukees private school voucher program. (The Capital Times, 09/02/03)

The Bradley Foundations infrastructure has been engaged in a systematic and relentless campaign toturn public opinion against the public school system in Wisconsin and its ability to educate our states

children.

Milwaukee Public Schools were the first target, and the Bradley-funded Wisconsin Policy ResearchInstitute was the launch pad. In order to justify the need for the private voucher schools in Milwaukee,the existing public school system was purposely and consistently attacked.

According to an April 2008 guest column by Greg Anrig in The Washington Monthly, One of thestrategies that the Bradley Foundation initially used to lay the groundwork for vouchers in Milwaukeewas to create a think tank called the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, which churned out studiestrashing public schools.

While purporting to be measuring public

opinion on education in Milwaukee,Bradley-funded voucher advocates werein fact stacking the deck. This was mostdramatically revealed in 2010 when itwas uncovered that the Wisconsin PolicyResearch Institute pressured theUniversity of Wisconsin professor theyhad retained to downplay resultsshowing opposition to the voucherprogram from a survey he conducted forthem, and instead feature only favorableresults.4

The election of Gov. Walker, againwhose campaign is co-chaired byBradley chief Michael Grebe, resulted inan uptick in anti-public school rhetoricand the implementation of a schoolreport card system now being utilizedby the pro-voucher campaign as theyoffer their solution to a largelymanufactured problem.

For example, Gov. Walker, despite strong evidence to the contrary, declared Wisconsin public schoolsare failing and even claimed that up to one-third of Wisconsin fourth graders were unable to read at abasic level.5

After having aggressively promoted the public schools, especially those in Milwaukee, are failingmeme, the next step in the Bradley campaign was to identify the enemy.

One of the strategies thatthe Bradley Foundationinitially used to lay the

groundwork for vouchers inMilwaukee was to create a

think tank called theWisconsin Policy Research

Institute, which churned outstudies trashing public

schools.THE WASHINGTON MONTHLY


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Instead of working to directly address what is widely regardedas the single largest variable in students academicachievement, poverty, the Bradley machine targeted publicschool teachers, unions, and education bureaucrats.

At their disposal were Bradley funded research and

communication vehicles like longstanding partner WisconsinPolicy Research Institute, and more recently, the more radicalanti-teacher, anti-organized labor MacIver Institute, MediaTrackers and Education Action Group.

From the MacIver Institute touting a study alleging Wisconsinhas overspent in excess of $300 million on schooladministrative staff,6to the Education Action Groups referenceto teachers as union thugs,7there has been a concertedeffort by the Bradley machine to denigrate the people who runour schools and teach our children.

The demonization of education stakeholders like teachers,along with legal changes to cripple their unions, appeared tobe a strategic effort to neutralize, if not eliminate, the mostlikely sources of organized resistance to privatization.

The Bradley Foundation efforts are by no means isolated topublic policy propaganda. A joint investigation by OneWisconsin Now and theGrio.com proved that racist, voterintimidation billboards, which were placed in and aroundMilwaukee in 2010 in advance of the November election, werepaid for by the Bradley Foundation. Those billboardsresurfaced in the 2012 elections in both Milwaukee and Ohio.Community pressure caused Clear Channel, owners of thebillboards, to remove them.8

Bradley Funding to WPRI and MacIver

The Wisconsin Policy Research Institutes central funder fromthe start has been the Bradley Foundation. (Milwaukee

Journal Sentinel, 02/02/09)

The Bradley Foundation is by far WPRIs largest known donor,giving over $16.5 million since 1987. In comparison, WPRIssecond largest known donor, the Olin Foundation, has giventhem just $292,500.9

Bradley is also a significant donor to the American LegislativeExchange Council, giving $290,000 between 2001 and 2012,according to a review of the Bradley Foundations own reports,IRS forms 990 and from a database of Bradley giving createdby the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

ALEC has worked hand-in-hand with WPRI and Bradley fromthe very beginning of the Milwaukee voucher program, helpingtransform the image of voucher programs from a desultoryprivatization scheme to a progressive policy that givesstudents from low-income families a chance to get a bettereducation, according to The Wisconsinite.10

Shared Board Members andLeadership

Since the start of WPRI and MacIver, there hasbeen a revolving door between theirleadership and board members with theBradley Foundation.

Michael W. Grebe. Grebe currently serves asthe President and CEO of the Lynde and HarryBradley Foundation, a position he took over in

2002.

Grebe, according to a November 2001National Review article, was a director of theWisconsin Policy Research Institute and hadserved on the Bradley board for five yearswhen the Bradley Institute announced hewould become the next president of theFoundation.

The December 2011 One Wisconsin Institutereport D Is for Dismantle notes that MichaelGrebe, CEO of the Bradley Foundation,headed Walkers campaign and his transitioninto the Office of Governor. In addition major

conservative advocacy groups, the MacIverInstitute, Americans for Prosperity and theWisconsin Policy Institute receive hundreds ofthousands of dollars in support from theBradley Foundation.

Allen Taylor. Taylor, as of November 26,2001, was described by National Review asthe Bradley Foundation chairman and waslisted as an Emeritus Director for WPRI in a2005 IRS tax document.

Michael Joyce. The late Michael Joyce, whohelped launch WPRI, came to Milwaukee inthe mid-1980s to lead the Bradley Foundation.When he and others decided to start theinstitute as a way to push changes theywanted to see, Joyce played an important rolein recruiting [James] Miller, tells a February2009 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.

James Miller.Miller was the president of theWisconsin Policy Research Institute since itwas founded in 1987 until he retired inJanuary 2009. A January 2009 MilwaukeeJournal Sentinel article reported underMillers leadership, the conservative thinktank has played an important role in shapingstate policies in areas including welfare

reform, the rise of the private school voucherprogram in Milwaukee, other educationreforms and economic development.

Dennis Kuester. Kuester sat on the Board ofDirectors for the MacIver Institute from 2002until 2005 and has sat on the Board ofDirectors for the Lynde and Harry BradleyFoundation since June of 2006.

Sam Orr, Jr.Orr sat on the Board of Directorsfor the MacIver Institute from 2002 until 2005and has sat on the Board of Directors for theLynde and Harry Bradley Foundation sinceJune of 2006.


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MacIver and WPRI are also affiliates of the State Policy Network (SPN). SPN is a web of whatconservative commentator Michelle Malkin called do tanks11across the United States, founded in 1992by Thomas Roe (of the Roe Foundation and South Carolina Policy Council), according to the Center forMedia and Democracy (CMD).12In addition to its state think tank affiliates, many other national right-wingorganizations are associate members of SPN, including ALEC, Americans for Prosperity Foundation, theCato Institute, the Franklin Center, the Heritage Foundation, the Heartland Institute, and the National

Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, organizations that receive funding from Bradley.

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SPN hasplayed a major role in supporting ALEC, serving as a chairman level sponsor of the 2011 ALEC AnnualConference and participating in at least three of ALECs task forces, according to CMD, whichpublishes ALECexposed.org.14

Since its founding, SPN has been funded by conservative organizations including the BradleyFoundation, the Koch-funded DonorsTrust/Donors Capital Fund, the Roe Foundation, and the KochsClaude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation.15SPN has been the recipient of $150,000 from Bradley 2005-2012.16

In 2012, SPN awarded the MacIver Institute a Network Award for its excellent work in defense of freemarkets.17Between 2008 (previous to the organizations official founding in 2009) and 2012, Bradleyhas given $635,000 to MacIver.18


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Source: Bradley Foundation 2012 Funding Report; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"Inside the Bradley Foundation" database, 8/6/2011;Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation 2011 Grantees Report

Circled organizations are members of the State Policy Network


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WISCONSIN POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE: REPUBLICANRESEARCH ARM

To protect and promote the voucher program and tout the results of the analysis it funded, the BradleyFoundation built communications infrastructure. WPRI is deployed and a slew of Bradley Intellectualsare consistently engaged in promoting their internal, biased analysis of the voucher program andaggressively attacking independent analysis suggesting serious flaws in the voucher program.

Multi-platform Bradley Intellectual Charlie Sykes leads the pack. In addition to serving as editor of theprint publication of the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, Sykes hosts a three and a half hour radio talkshow Monday through Friday, a Sunday morning local issue television talk show and curates a web-based news service, underwritten by the Journal Broadcast Group (which owns the Milwaukee JournalSentinel). The Bradley Foundation even employs Sykes current wife as its communications director.

The influence of WPRI on the public policy debate and in the media is long-standing and extensive. Notonly does former WPRI senior staffer Christian Schneider have multiple weekly columns in the stateslargest newspaper, but the latest head of WPRI was also a long-time columnist in the same newspaper.At least five regularly featured contributors to the same newspaper have been contributors to WPRIpropaganda publications.

WPRI has also faced accusations that it has essentially servedas a campaign and research extension to Scott Walkersagenda.19In 2011, WPRI was accused of funding polls andtiming the release of the information in a way that woulddeliberately boost Governor Walkers position.20They havealso been accused of failing to publicize the results of thosepolls in a manner that would accurately reflect their trueresults.21In February 2011, Schneider wrote a pro-Walkerpiece in The New York Timespraising Walker's effort to strippublic employee collective bargaining rights as politicallybold.22

In 2010, through an open records request, One WisconsinNow showed that WPRIs then-President GeorgeLightbourn had urged Ken Goldstein, the University ofWisconsin professor hired to do the polling, to downplay thestatewide opposition to vouchers in his summary of theresults.23

Email records show Lightbourn lobbied and pressuredGoldstein to publicize data from a WPRI-funded study in amanner that was favorable to school voucher programs. Thestudy found that a majority of Wisconsin residents opposed

the use of government funding for school vouchers, but that amajority of residents in Milwaukee County supported them.The Universitys press release headline read: School choiceremains popular in Milwaukee.24

In addition, a later email from Lightbourn thanked Goldsteinfor cooperating in his correspondence with the board andother consumers of WPRI material.

In a 2012 report on conservative organizations starting their own news outlets, The Capital Timesreported that WPRI and its magazine, Wisconsin Interest, have strong connections to the Republican

WPRI Board Members Connectionsto School Privatization and Gov.Walker

James Klauser.According to WPRIs website,Klauser is the Chairman of the Board of theWisconsin Policy Research Institute. Klauseris also the Advisory Chairman of theHispanics for School Choice Advisory Board.

Klauser served as a longtime advisor andcampaign chairman to former Gov. Tommy

Thompson, who established the nations firstpublic education privatization program andwas an early supporter of the AmericanLegislative Exchange Council.

When Klauser endorsed Scott Walker forGovernor in 2010, his reasoning was in partbecause The Doyle-Barrett team is hostile toschool choice and charter schools.

Timothy Sheehy. Sheehy serves on theboard of the Milwaukee College PreparatorySchool (central city charter school) andSchool Choice Wisconsin. Sheehy serves asthe head of the Metropolitan Milwaukee

Association of Commerce, which hasdonated nearly $500,000 to the RepublicanGovernors Association to assist thecampaigns of Scott Walker.

Ave Bie. Bie currently serves as thePresident of the Board of Trustees ofEdgewood Campus School, a privateCatholic elementary school in Madison, WI.


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Party and the national conservative movement.25The report detailed WPRIs links to former GOPWisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson and U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), along with funding from theconservative Bradley Foundation. The Capital Times report also called WPRI board chairman JimKlauser a kingmaker in Wisconsin GOP races.

Republican Ron Johnsons U.S. Senate campaign gave sole access to Schneider to control thecampaigns message in 2010. The Capital Timesnoted that Schneiders then-employer (WPRI) had views

closely aligned with those of Johnson.

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Right-Wing Funding

While the vast majority of WPRIs known funding hascome from the Bradley foundation, it has alsoreceived contributions from a variety of other right-wing foundations and other organizations.

More recently, WPRI received $25,000 fromDonorsTrust, the Koch brothers-backed fund Mother

Jonesrecently called the dark money ATM of theconservative movement, as well as significantfunding from the John M. Olin Foundation and theState Policy Network.

WPRI Connections to the NationalRight-Wing Network

While WPRI claims to be Wisconsin-focused, theinstitute takes cues from national conservativeorganizations. Among the institute's right-wing

connections is the Heartland Institute, whose researchWPRI features on its website. The known donors toWPRI include right-wing organizations andfoundations such as the State Policy Network, the RoeFoundation, the Bradley Foundation, the OlinFoundation, and the JM Foundation.

American LegislativeExchange Council (ALEC)

The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute has ties to the AmericanLegislative Exchange Council (ALEC) through Wisconsin statesenator Leah Vukmir, who is an ALEC board member and was thePublic Chair of the ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force.27Vukmir is a Wisconsin state senator representing the 5th district since

2011. Prior to serving in the Wisconsin Senate, Sen. Vukmir was arepresentative in the Wisconsin Assembly for Wisconsin's 14thassembly district from 2002-2011. Sen. Vukmir has been a contributingauthor as well as an Institute Research Fellow at WPRI.

Charlie Sykes Conservative radio show host Charlie Sykesis an editor for WPRI.

Heartland Institute Heartland features WPRIs research on its website.

Donors Funding Years

Donors Trust $25,000 2007

Charlotte andWalter Kohler

Charitable Trust$277,267 2003 -2006

JM Foundation $25,000 2003

Jacqueline HumeFoundation

$49,475 1999

John M. OlinFoundation

$292,5001988-1995,1997 - 1999

Lynde and HarryBradley Foundation

$11,145,000 1987-2010

Roe Foundation $176,000 1998-2010

Ruth and LovettPeters Foundation

$25,000 2001

State Policy

Network$61,055 2007

(AMERICAN BRIDGE CONSERVATIVETRANSPARENCY)


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Beacon Hill Institute The Institute partnered with the Beacon Hill Institute (BHI) ona report critiquing the recommendations from a 2007 state cleanenergy task force, including the state's renewable portfoliostandards (RPS).30

Republican NationalCommittee & Republican

Governors Association

Board Chairman James R. Klauser was a consultant from 1992 to 1996for the Republican National Committee and Republican Governors

Association.

Former Governor TommyThompson

Board Chairman James R. Klauser served as Secretary of the WisconsinDepartment of Administration from 1986 1996 and as special counselto the Governor from 1994 1996.

School Choice Wisconsin Board Member Tim Sheehy, who is also the head of the U.S. Chamberof Commerces Milwaukee affiliate, is on the Board of School ChoiceWisconsin.

Tea Party A 2010 WPRI blog post declaresthat the Tea Party movement iswonderful and that they are on their way to being the most importantmovement for conservatism (or libertarianism, in some cases) in thepast twenty years.

In 2012, Wisconsin journalist Bruce Murphy wrote apiece for Urban Milwaukeeexposing the WisconsinPolicy Research Institute connections to the right-wingBradley Foundation and the think tanks politicalactivities. Included in Murphy's criticism of the group isWPRIs bankrolling of newspaper columnists. Both MikeNichols and Christian Schneider (a former Republicanoperative) have worked for WPRI and have beencolumnists with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, usingtheir columns to promote a conservative or libertarianmessage supported by WPRI. Nichols has nowsucceeded George Lightbourn as head of WPRI, and hasgiven up his newspaper column as part of his expandedrole at the right wing organization. Schneider, as notedpreviously, has left WPRI and become a regular, paidcolumnist for theJournal Sentinel.

While in the past, media would cite material from WPRIwithout accurately identifying its conservative ideology,this has changed over the past decade. Despite itsnonpartisan posturing, WPRI leadership is closely

connected to the Republican Party, both in Wisconsinand nationally. Board Chairman James R. Klauser.Klauser was a consultant for the Republican NationalCommittee and Republican Governors Association from1992 to 1996, and also served on George W. Bush'sWisconsin campaign committee in 2000 and 2004(chairman in 2004).

Political Giving by the WPRI Board

WPRI BoardMember

Total Right WingContributions

James Klauser $216,961

David Baumgarten $5,750

Catherine Dellin $31,300

David Lubar $18,600

Maureen Oster $5,625

Timothy Sheehy $17,950

Gerald Whitburn $42,415

Edward Zore $131,663

Ave Bie $4,535

Jon Hammes $92,275

Thomas Howatt $13,875

Michael Jones $63,930

Tim Sheehy $16,800

George Lightbourn $3,000

TOTAL $281,363

(WISCONSIN DEMOCRACY CAMPAIGN,WISCONSIN GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY

BOARD, FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION)


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Board Chairman James R. Klauser, along with the rest of the board, have donated nearly $300,000 toRepublican federal candidates and Republican and conservative Wisconsin state political candidates31

MacIver Institute: Republican Communications Arm

Bradley-funded MacIver Institute has been an aggressive re-packager and distributor of Bradley funded

research in response to concerns about the efficacy of the voucher program raised by educationprofessionals. Using many of the same tactics employed by WPRI, MacIver issues reports that manipulateor omit data for favorable outcomes, conduct pseudo-journalism, aggressively protect policy makerswho share their privatization agenda and attack public school advocates.

In November 2012, The Capital Timesreported that the MacIver Institute, which was described as anorganization run by former GOP operatives, was among a number of conservative organizations thathad created their own news outlets.32The report described MacIvers news stories as seeking tocelebrate Republican policy, discredit Democrats and in particular to sound an alarm about allegedvoter fraud.

During the recall of Gov. Scott Walker, MacIver spent an estimated $3.7 million on joint ads with

Americans for Prosperity Foundation touting Walkers policies with the Its working message. Theseads, paid for the 501(c)3 funding, were the first television ads in the Walker recall when they began airingin October 2011.33In March 2012, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign filed a complaint with the IRSagainst the MacIver Institute, along with Americans for Prosperity Foundation and the Heartland Institute,for violating their tax-exempt status by sponsoring advertising and other political activities to helpRepublican Governor Scott Walker in his recall election.34WDC director Mike McCabe said the groupswere gaming the tax code to play electoral politics while masquerading as charitable organizations andthat ordinary taxpayers end up subsidizing the political donations of the millionaires and billionaires whoare funding these operations.

In the lead up to the introduction of Governor Walkers proposed education privatization, media eventswere staged by the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in communities across the state that the

proposed education privatization would impact first. Staff of the MacIver Institute along with right-wingluminaries like Fox News analyst Juan Williams, talk show host Tony Katz and panelists Kristi LaCroix (ofWalker recall television ad fame), School Choice Wisconsin and the American Federation for Children conducted town halls in Beloit, Kenosha and Green Bay.35

In addition to their attempts to shore up Walkers policy agenda with the public, MacIver has promotedfalse information, saying that the Government Accountability Board (GAB) would accept fake signatureson recall petitionsnames like Hitler or Mickey Mouse to be valid. The Capital Timescharged thatMacIvers ultra-partisan behavior drastically contradicts the values of the Institutes namesake, JohnMacIver.36

Lastly, in 2009, the Wisconsin State Journalreported

accusations that a former television reporter newly-employed by MacIver had obtained an interview withliberal Congressman Dave Obey under falsepretenses because he failed to disclose that heworked for the MacIver Institute.37

Right-Wing Funding

IRS records show the MacIver Institute has receivedsignificant funding from the Koch-funded DonorsTrustand Donors Capital Fund. In 2009 alone, grants from

Donors Funding Years

Donors Trust $19,500 2009-2011

Donors Capital Fund $450,000 2009-2011

Lynde and HarryBradley Foundation

$550,000 2008-2012

State Policy Network $75,000 2008

(MEDIA MATTERS; PRWATCH;AMERICAN BRIDGE

CONSERVATIVE TRANSPARENCY)


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the two Donors organizations made up 79 percent of the total grants MacIver received in that year.The MacIver Institute has released several reports and studies advocating for policies that would directlybenefit the Koch brothers corporate interests, including calling for lower taxes for the wealthy andcorporations and opposing clean energy and renewable energy sources.

Among the most generous of donors to MacIver has been Milwaukees Bradley Foundation, which hasgiven $550,000. This early and sustained financial support has not only given MacIver the ability to

continue its operations, but also have the conservative seal of approval because of Bradleysreputation and the might it wields in the conservative infrastructure both inside and outside of Wisconsin.This is also seen in the regular cross-posting of MacIver materials by other organizations supportedfinancially by Bradley.

Political Giving by the MacIver Board

The board members of MacIver have given $292,709 to Republican federal candidates and Republicanand conservative Wisconsin state political candidates, led by Fred Luber, who gave $220,483; followedby Jim Troupis with $45,034, Gerardo Gonzalez with $25,002, Steve Fettig with $2,175, and LaurieMcCallum with $15.38

Connected to the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Koch Brothers,and the National Right-Wing Network

MacIver is closely associated with the Koch brothers Americans for Prosperity. MacIvers formerTreasurer, Mark Block, was the state director for Wisconsins chapter of Americans for Prosperity. Blockalso founded Prosperity USA and the Wisconsin Prosperity Network, two pro-Tea Party groups related tothe Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity. MacIver and AFP-Wisconsin also share two board members,David Fettig and Fred Luber, and teamed up to run ads in Wisconsin in 2012, prompting questions aboutthe groups IRS status.39

A June 2012 post on the MacIver Institutes website described the MacIver Institutes June 2012 trip toLas Vegas for the RightOnline conference sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, held just a few weeksafter the 2012 Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election.40The MacIver Institute and other representativesfrom Wisconsin were talked to like heroes for the work they did with AFP. At the conference,representatives from the MacIver Institute and Americans for Prosperity got to tell the story of how theywon the 2011 public policy debate that spurred the 2012 recall elections. Their presentation includedhow the two organizations jointly launched a paid media campaign through television ads andItsWorkingWisconsin.com to educate the public about Act 10. Their presentation also pointed out howit was the MacIver Institute that showed that it wasn't just the sweet little school librarians doing theprotesting and agitating in Madison. Instead, according to the MacIver presenter, it was idle students,the homeless, leftist radicals, anarchists, former hippies, would-be hippies and outside agitators fromgroups affiliated with Big Labor who provided the front lines in the infamous Wisconsin CapitolOccupation of 2011. Both AFP and MacIver claimed they did not use Governor Walker in their campaign

because they wanted to transcend politics.

According to MacIver Institutes public taxdocuments, Mark Block served as the Treasurer forthe MacIver Institute in 2008 and 2009, while hewas the state director of AFP-Wisconsin. Andaccording to the AFP-Wisconsin website, inJanuary of 2010, Block sat on the State Board ofDirectors for the MacIver Institute.41

In 2001, Block pa d$15,000 and was banned

from running Wisconsinpolitical campaigns forthree years for his part

in the Supreme Courtrace collusion scandal.


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In 2001, Block paid $15,000 and was banned from running Wisconsin political campaigns for three yearsfor his part in the Supreme Court race collusion scandal.42

In 2011, Block managed the short-lived campaign of presidential candidate Herman Cain. Cain famouslycalled himself a Koch brother from another mother and proud of it, in a speech he was giving at the2011 Defending the American Dream AFP Foundation conference. His and Blocks close ties to theKochs were noted in a New York Timesstory: Mr. Cain was hired [by AFP] in 2005 to lead its Prosperity

Expansion Project to seed more state groups, using his gift for public speaking to advance goals likelowering taxes, slashing government regulations and curtailing unionsBecause the Cain campaignscore staff members are veterans of Americans for Prosperity Mr. Block, his deputy manager, the senioreconomic adviser some critics on the left suggest that despite Mr. Cains image as an outsider, hiscandidacy is in effect a mouthpiece for the corporate interests of the Koch brothers.43

MacIver received $469,500 from the Koch-funded groups DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fundbetween 2008 and 2011.44The MacIver Institute also participates in the Charles G. Koch SummerFellowship Program, through which it can receive funding for summer interns. Meanwhile, MacIver haspushed for policies in Wisconsin that would benefit the billionaire brothers, including lower taxes onmillionaires and corporations and barriers to development of green and clean energy.

MacIver is also connected to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) through former MacIverDirector of Communications Brian Fraley, who was previously the Senior VP for State Affairs at AmericasHealth Insurance Plans in D.C. and the Private Sector Chairman of ALECs Health and Human ServicesTask Force. He has since been hired to assist right-wing radio host and WPRI Interestmagazine editorCharlie Sykess RightWisconsin.com, a conservative propaganda website financially supported by theJournal Broadcast Group, owner of WTMJ-AM radio and WTMJ television in Milwaukee.

MacIver has been an affiliate of the Franklin Centerfor Government & Public Integrity, a conservativeinvestigative reporting organization that focuses onthe state legislature.45The Franklin Center hassimilar affiliates in most states across the country,46and many of the centers affiliates have beenaccused of faulty reporting and manufacturing newscoverage to benefit its conservative interests.47ThePew Research Center's Project for Excellence inJournalism, using a sliding scale of highly ideological,somewhat ideological and non-ideological, ranked the "Watchdog.org" franchise (the Franklin Centerswebsite in many states) "highly ideological." 48Since its founding, the Franklin Center has been fundedby conservative organizations including the Koch-funded DonorsTrust/Donors Capital Fund and theBradley Foundation.49

MacIver received$469,500 from the

Koch-funded Donors

groups between 2008and 2011.


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OTHER MACIVER FUNDERS SUPPORT EDUCATIONPRIVATIZATION

Walton Family Foundation

The Walton Family Foundation Gave At Least $101,800 To The MacIver Institute . An American BridgeFoundation review of Internal Revenue Service, Federal Election Commission filings, and state level

sources found that the Walton Family Foundation gave $101,800 to the MacIver Institute in 2010. Ascontributions can be distributed in a variety of ways, and through organizations with varying disclosurerequirements, publicly reporting of direct contributions may not represent the full scope of financialinvolvement between organizations and their donors.50

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Is A Walton Family Foundation K-12 Education Reform Investment Site.Milwaukee, Wis. In our Investment Sites, we hope to show that parental choice can inspire meaningfulimprovements in the education system and higher academic achievement for all students. Here is theMilwaukee Investment Site, by the numbers, as of the 2010-2011 school year:Public school district students: 78,480 [;] Public charter school students: 9,281 [;] Publicly fundedscholarship students: 20,189 [;] Total number of publicly funded students: 107,95051

The Walton Family Foundation Was Among The First Donors To StudentsFirst, An OrganizationFounded By Former D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee As A Counterweight To Teachers Unions.According to the Los Angeles Times, StudentsFirst, the advocacy group [former District of ColumbiaSchools Chancellor Michelle] Rhee founded in Californias capital, where she lives with her husband,Mayor Kevin Johnson, is positioning itself as the political counterweight to teachers unions. Funded byentrepreneurs and philanthropists, its pushing to elect candidates and rewrite policies on charterschools, teacher assessment and other charged issues in at least 17 states, including California. Teachersunions and other critics say the group, which spent $250,000 to boost three candidates for the LosAngeles Board of Education in the March 5 election, promotes unproven policy proposals with cash fromsources whose main goal is crushing organized labor. Among StudentsFirsts major donors is the WaltonFamily Foundation, funded by heirs to the fortune generated by Wal-Mart, which has vigorously opposedunions.52

The Randolph Foundation

The Randolph Foundation is a conservative foundation based in New York City, and contributes to IvyLeague universities, hospitals, medical foundations and conservative think tanks. Among those whohave received funding from Randolph are Americans for Prosperity, Alliance for School Choice,American Enterprise Institute, and DonorsTrust.53

The Randolph Foundation Gave At Least $15,000 To The MacIver Institute In 2011. An AmericanBridge Foundation review of Internal Revenue Service, Federal Election Commission filings, and statelevel sources found that The Randolph Foundation gave $15,000 to the MacIver Institute in 2011. As

contributions can be distributed in a variety of ways, and through organizations with varying disclosurerequirements, publicly reporting of direct contributions may not represent the full scope of financialinvolvement between organizations and their donors.54

The Randolph Foundation Gave $50,000 To The Kennesaw State College Foundation To Fund ARenewing American Civilization Course Developed By Then- Congressman Newt Gingrich.According to the Washington Post, House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) used a politicalorganization he heads to help plan, solicit donations for, and market to Republican groups a collegecourse he will teach this fall. The relationship has faculty at Kennesaw State College questioningwhether the course is political science or pure politics. Documents show that officials from GOPAC, aRepublican political action committee, told the dean of the business school at the college in Marietta, Ga.,


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how to raise tax-deductible donations for the course -- which will be beamed by satellite to 133 sitesaround the country -- from foundations and Gingrich supporters. Gingrich, in an interview yesterday,defended the course he calls Renewing American Civilization. The course, to be held 10 consecutiveSaturday mornings starting later this month, is designed to find ways to replace the welfare state inAmerica, Gingrich said. The several hundred documents [Stephen F.] Bruning obtained from thecollege show planning for the course began early this year. The first large donation was $ 50,000 fromthe Randolph Foundation, a contributor to conservative think tanks.55

Congressman Newt Gingrich Told GOPAC Donors That The Renewing American Civilization CourseWas Part Of A Structure To Help Build A Republican Majority In The U.S. House.According to theWashington Post, Mid-1993: GOPAC sends letters signed by Gingrich stating that the Kennesaw StateCollege course on Renewing American Civilization will provide the structure to build an offense so thatRepublicans can break through dramatically in 1996. Another letter states that if we can reachAmericans through my course, independent expenditures, GOPAC and other strategies, we just mightunseat the Democratic majority in the House in 1994 and make government accountable again.56

The Franklin Center

The Franklin Center is a right-wing media outlet started in 2009 with state affiliates across the country.The Franklin Center currently lists two Wisconsin affiliates: the MacIver Institute and the Wisconsin

Reporter.57

(However, an organizational document obtained in May 2013 by the Center for Media andDemocracy does not list MacIver.)58

Supports Education Privatization in its News Coverage:Like the MacIver Institute, the WisconsinReporter has published several articles specifically covering and supporting education privatization inWisconsin. In 2013 alone, the Wisconsin Reporter has published at least seven articles giving favorablecoverage, or in some cases out-right support, to education privatization.

Funded By The Bradley Foundation: Given the Franklin Centers track record of supporting educationprivatization in Wisconsin and around the country through their media coverage, it should be no surprisethat the Franklin Center has received significant funding from the Bradley Foundation. In 2010 and 2011,the Bradley Foundation has contributed at least $242,500 to the Franklin Center, according todocuments filed with the IRS by the Bradley Foundation.59


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MACIVER, WPRI, AND & ALEC: A COORDINATED RIGHT-WING AGENDA IN WISCONSIN

ALEC drafts legislation, WPRI and MacIver manufacture reports to validate the need for the legislation,ALEC works through its legislative members to get the bills introduced in state legislatures and WPRI andMacIver support those legislators efforts through additional reports and newspaper columns. In addition,their board members pour contributions into those legislators campaign coffers. Bradley funds eachorganization, along with additional right-wing media efforts in Wisconsin, and there is a rotating doorbetween these organizations staff and board members and Bradley.

Issue MacIver InstituteWisconsin Policy

Research Institute(WPRI)

American LegislativeExchange Council

(ALEC)

Americans ForProsperity (AFP)

PrivatizingPublicEducation

The MacIver Institute hassupported educationprivatization measures,including the expansion ofschool vouchers and charterschools, in several reports,articles, and studies,

including in their recentreport, Debunking FiveCommon Myths AboutSchool Choice (May 2013).

WPRI, a longtime supporterof education privatization,promotes educationprivatization measuressuch as school voucherand charter schoolexpansion in its May 2013

report, UnderstandingSchool Finance inWisconsin: A Primer,

Education privatization isalso a key component inALECs extreme agenda.ALECs school vouchermodels include theSpecial Needs ScholarshipProgram Act, and the

School Choice DirectoryAct. ALECs charter schoolmodels include the CharterSchools Actand the NextGeneration CharterSchools Act.

In May 2013, AFP-Wisconsinlaunched acampaign to supportGovernor Scott Walkersplan to further privatizepublic education inWisconsin, asking citizens

to call the legislators tosupport Walkers plan.

AttackingRenewableEnergy

The MacIver Institute hasreleased several reports andarticlesattacking clean andrenewable energy, and hasspecifically opposedWisconsins renewableenergy portfolio.

WPRIs March 2013 report,Law Mandating Use ofRenewable Energy CostingWisconsinites Hundreds ofMillions, attacksWisconsins renewableenergy portfolio.

ALECs ElectricityFreedom Act repealsrenewable energystandards and is an attackon states with plansrequiring companies to geta certain percentage oftheir electricity fromrenewable sources.

ALECs new Market PowerRenewables Act andRenewable Energy CreditAct is another tactic toattack renewable energystandards and providehollow replacements.

AFP is well known for itssupport of the fossil fuelindustry and denying thescience behind climatechange. Like ALEC and theSPN think tanks inWisconsin, it has been anaggressive opponent ofrenewable portfoliostandards.

Supermajorityfor TaxIncreases

The MacIver Institute hassupported a supermajorityamendment for tax increasesin the past, including in itsJanuary 2011 report, UseEvery Measure to LimitState's Ability to HikeTaxes.

WPRI calls for asupermajority requirementto raise any taxes in itsJanuary 2011 report, WhyWisconsin Should RequireA Supermajority To RaiseTaxes.

ALECs Super-MajorityAct would amend the stateconstitution to require alltax and license feeincreases or impositions beapproved by two-thirds ofall member s of each houseof the legislature, expectwhen there is insufficientrevenue to pay interest onthe states debt.

AFP has supportedsupermajority acts in atleast Michigan, NewHampshire, Kansas, andWashington.

VoterSuppression

Several of MacIver News

Services article promote andsupport voter suppressionmeasures, including GABDirective Could UndermineVoter ID Protections(August 2011), RacineIrregularities Renew Calls forVoter ID (July 2012), andVoter ID Law Upheld byCourt of Appeals (May2013).

WPRI Mike Nichols

supported Voter ID andvoter suppression in theJanuary 2011 WPRI postVoter ID? How AboutCandidate ID?

ALECs Voter ID Act

makes it more difficult forAmerican citizens to vote. Itwould change ID rules sothat citizens who havebeen registered to vote fordecades must show certainkinds of ID in order to vote.This bill disenfranchisesmany low-income, minority,college students andelderly Americans who donot have drivers licensesbut have typically usedother forms of ID.

AFP has taken part in its

own version of votersuppression. During the2011 recall elections, AFP-Wisconsin sentmanyDemocratic voters amailing that gave anincorrect deadline forabsentee ballots. AFP isalso knownfor hostingevents featuring CatherineEnglebrecht, a votersuppression activist. InNorth Carolina, AFP busedsuppression activists to thestate capitol to sit in onhearings on voter ID bills.


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OpposingHealthcareReform &MedicaidExpansion

The MacIver Institute hasreleased several reportsagainst the Affordable CareAct and Medicaid expansion,including Rejection ofMedicaid Expansion WillSave Federal TaxpayersMoney (June 2013), Chartof the Day - Wisconsin'sMedicaid Options (June2013), and More Voters

Support Scott Walker'sRejection of ObamacareMedicaid Expansion (May2013).

WPRI speaks out againstMedicaid expansion in theAffordable Care Act in aJuly 2012 post: MedicaidExpansion: A Tough Sell forGovernors of Both Parties

ALEC has issued severalmodel bills against the2010 Affordable Care Act,including the Freedom ofChoice in Health Care Actand the ResolutionOpposing Employer-PaidHealth Care Mandates.ALECs Guide to RepealObamacareis a guide forstate legislators to repeal

the Affordable Care Act,and urges them to rejectMedicaid expansion andfederal grants for Medicaid.

AFP, both nationally and inWisconsin, is well knownfor its efforts opposing theAffordable Care Act,including spending at least$1.7 million on TV adsaround the countrydenouncing the reform.

SupportingScott WalkersAttacks onWorkers Rights

The MacIver Institute is wellknown for supporting Gov.Walker in his 2012 recall,spurred by Walker strippingcollective bargaining rights,by spending $3.7 million withAmericans for Prosperitytopromote Walkers policies.MacIver was an initialsupporterof Act 10, the billthat stripped collectivebargaining rights, and hasreleased several reportssupporting the measuresince it became law. In April2011, Mother JonesreportedMacIver even cut a videothat dismissed the pro-laborprotesters at the Wisconsincapital as radicalizedcommunists and socialists.

WPRI is an outspokenopponent of collectivebargaining rights, noting inone Wisconsin InterestMagazinearticle thatunions are the barrier toinnovation.

ALECs Right to Work Actis an attack on workingfamilies across the state asthis bill takes awayworkers ability to negotiatefair contracts.

ALECs Employee RightsReform Act limits revenuestreams for publicemployee unions andimposes new reportingburdens on union activities.

ALECs PaycheckProtection Act is an attackon workers and attempts tomake it difficult for unionsto raise funds.

AFPwas one of the mostactive organizationssupporting Walkers repealof collective bargainingrights in Wisconsinthroughout 2011 and 2012,and continues to supportthe legislation Act 10 today.


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CONCLUSION

As S is for Shill documents, the right wing assault on public education is coordinated, calculated andcontinuous.

The breadth of junk science to make the right wing case for school privatization solutions is asexpansive as it is suspect, and would not be possible without the deep pockets of the Bradley

Foundation and other conservative donors. Nor would it be possible if the propaganda campaign wasnot relentless and sustained never veering from the premise that only privatization can save ourpublic schools.

With privatization champion Scott Walker in the Governors Office and a Republican-controlledleadership that believes in privatization and has seen its members benefit at campaign time from bothdonors and outside spending by the privatization cartel, Wisconsins public school students will remain atrisk for seeing public schools and public school teachers attacked by this propaganda network.

Already, the state legislature has upped its investment in privatization. The 2013-14 state budget expandsprivatization statewide, albeit with caps. It also provides an unconscionable $30 million tax credit forparents already sending their students to private schools. It includes no income limit, meaning

millionaires sending their children to private schools will get a break on their taxes paid for by the rest ofWisconsin.

The Department of Public Instruction reported that 75 percent of the students who have applied forenrollment in the expanded statewide privatization program were already not attending public schools.Not only does this show that Gov. Walkers insistence that this expansion would help many new studentsaccess the program was a falsehood, but it also shows strong support for public schools in Wisconsin bythe parents of public school students.

The forces of privatization continue to use their limitless resources and powerful elected allies toadvance an agenda that, if fully implemented, will break the social contract that Americas studentsdeserve the best public schools.

And Wisconsin is left to ask: Will public education remain a public good that is supported by our publicofficials?


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