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CMD and Common Cause Prevail in Open Records Lawsuit Against ALEC Legislators in Wisconsin

Lawmakers Acknowledge That They Cannot Evade the Open Records Law by Shifting Official Correspondence to a Personal E-Mail Account

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 30, 2012
CONTACT: Brendan Fischer, [email protected]; Nick Surgey, [email protected]

Five Wisconsin state legislators have agreed to turn over any correspondence and documents with or related to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and held on their personal email accounts; the action settles a lawsuit brought by the Center for Media and Democracy and Common Cause.

Maine Upside Down: GOP Money Backs Democrat Dill, While Godzilla Supports Independent, Angus King

Maine's U.S. Senate race is a battle between not two, but three candidates vying to replace retiring Senator Olympia Snowe: Republican Charlie Summers, Democrat Cynthia Dill, and former Governor Angus King, a left-leaning independent. Despite outside groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spending millions attacking King, he retains a sizable lead -- but the complex, multi-million dollar web of outside spending has made Maine's U.S. Senate race one of the most interesting in the country.

Einhorn Family Foundation Behind Voter Suppression Billboards

billboard in MilwaukeeOne Wisconsin Now and theGrio have uncovered that the Milwaukee-based Einhorn Family Foundation is the "private family foundation" that funded controversial billboards in Milwaukee which warned: "VOTER FRAUD IS A FELONY! 3 1/2 years and a $10,000 fine." The billboards were denounced as voter suppression by Mike Wilder, director of the African-American Round Table, and other community groups. The billboards were put up in largely African-American and Latino communities in Milwaukee, Cleveland and Columbus by media behemoth Clear Channel, but the client remained anonymous.

Meet the Network Hiding the Koch Money: "Donors Trust" and "Donors Capital Fund"

- Connor Gibson, Greenpeace

Earlier this year internal documents from the Heartland Institute, a major hub of climate change denial and right-wing extremism, were publicly leaked. The documents exposed the Heartland Institute's funders and strategies for attacking climate science, and led to a mass exodus of Heartland's corporate funders.

Koch Linked Group Launches Ad That Targets Tammy Baldwin on Paper Jobs

This week, the dark money group American Future Fund (AFF) launched a misleading ad attacking Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin for supporting legislation that would allegedly shut down eleven paper mills and lay off 7,500 paper workers in the state, ignoring Baldwin's negotiations to protect Wisconsin jobs that might be affected by the rule and her strong record on trade policy and manufacturing.

"Buying Influence," a Special Report Released; ALEC Corporate Slush Fund Pays for State Lawmakers' Junkets

Internal records show ALEC corporations have spent an estimated $4 million to send legislators to posh resorts since 2006

For Immediate Release: October 26, 2012

Contact: Sara Jerving, Center for Media and Democracy, (608) 260-9713; Mary Boyle, Common Cause, (202) 736-5770

Corporate backers of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) have funneled more than an estimated $4 million in gifts to state legislators for travel, hotel rooms, and meals at posh resorts since 2006, according to estimates based on internal ALEC records. The corporate lobby front group is already facing an Internal Revenue Service review of claims that it violated federal law by posing as a charity.

California GMO Labeling Supporters Confront $41 Million Opposition and 13-Point Poll Slide

California Proposition 37 to label foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is up for a vote on Tuesday, November 6. It enjoyed broad popular support as of September, with a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll showing support by 61 percent of registered voters. But in the two weeks following that poll, support dropped to 48 percent, according to a poll done by Pepperdine University School of Public Policy and the California Business Roundtable.

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