Friday, December 6, 2013

The Guardian Investigates Far-Right State Policy Network | janresseger

The Guardian Investigates Far-Right State Policy Network | janresseger:

The Guardian Investigates Far-Right State Policy Network
Yesterday The Guardian published an in-depth investigation of the workings and funding of a network of far-right state think-tanks that make up the State Policy Network (SPN), State Conservative Groups Plan US-Wide Assault on Education, Health and Tax.  “In partnership with the Texas Observer and the Portland Press Herald in Maine, the Guardian is publishing SPN’s summary of all the proposals to give readers and news outlets full and fair access to state-by-state conservative plans that could have significant impact throughout the US, and to allow the public to reach its own conclusions about whether these activities comply with the spirit of non-profit tax-exempt charities.”
(In mid-November, here, I wrote about the Center for Media and Democracy’s recently launched campaign to expose SPN, stinktanks.org.)
The Guardian describes the State Policy Network as a sister organization to the American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC.  “SPN’s president, Tracie Sharp, told the Guardian that ‘as a pro-freedom network of thinktanks, we focus on issues like workplace freedom, education