Mercatus Institute Funding
According to a September article in Harper's magazine, Tentacles of Rage, the top conservative donors to the Republican noise machine are as follows:
2 BILLION ASSETS CONSERVATIVE FOUNDATIONS (200I ASSETS) (in $ Millions) The Bradley Foundation 584 Smith Richardson Foundation 494 Scaife Family (Four Foundations) 478.4 Earhart Foundation 84 John M. Olin Foundation 71 Koch Family (Three Foundations) 68 Castle Rock (Coors) Foundation 50 JM Foundation 25 Philip M. McKenna Foundation 17.4
I am writing this so that there can be no mistake about the Mercatus Institute. It is not partially funded by right-wing donations, it is entirely funded by all of the most active conservative donors. The Mercatus Institute is part of the Republican Noise Machine. Why this is a problem and what I plan to do about it is in the extended entry.
Last week Tim Romer wrote the following email to Democratic congressional chiefs of staff (emphasis mine):
I would like to encourage you to join me in Philadelphia on February 4th and 5th, 2005 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel for the 2005 Chief of Staff Retreat. This Retreat is probably the best opportunity of the year for gathering with other senior-level congressional staff both from our party but also with our colleagues across the aisle.
The Retreat is hosted by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. I have been affiliated with this organization for the past two years in an effort to promote sound economic thinking that leads to a more prosperous and fiscally responsible America. The Mercatus Center is a non-profit and non-partisan group that seeks to educate congressional staff about markets, global prosperity for the poor and economics as they relate to the issues you are working on in your congressional or committee office.
This year's program is highly relevant to the issues facing the 109th Congress. We will discuss topics ranging from drug reimportation to Social Security, tax and pension reform, to understanding learning disparities between black and white children.
Yesterday I participated in a conference call with Howard Dean about his newly declared candidacy for chair of the DNC. The majority of Dean's discussion was about how he planned to bring the grassroots into the party. This forms quite a contrast with Roemer, who is not only working on behalf of the ultra-rich, but of the most active, radically conservative ultra-rich.
I would like to hold a protest against the Mercatus Institute retreat for Democrats. We need to tell those who attend this retreat that they should not be talking to the Republican Noise Machine, but they should be talking to the grassroots. We need to tell those Democrats who work on behalf of the Republican Noise Machien that they should be working with us instead. We are never going to change this country if we do not create a counter to the Republican Noise Machine, but actively working on behalf of the Machine will only serve to hasten the damage conservatives are doing to this country. I have already talked with the head of the steering committee for Philadelphia DFA about this, and she is on board. I am sending this article to every member of the steering committee. If either you or an affiliated organization you are involved with are interested in participating in this protest, please email me at chris@mydd.com. Together, we can take back our party.
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