The Wonk Room

Americans For Prosperity Are Polluters For Astroturf»

Americans for Prosperity (AFP), a nationwide front group founded and funded by the right-wing polluter Koch Industries, is notorious for its fake grassroots efforts, funneling millions of dollars of oil and coal industry cash across the nation to spread their message of global warming denial. Just in the past month, it engaged in a typical act of astroturfing, using its state-level network to plant carbon-copy opinion pieces in local newspapers. Near-identical op-eds appeared in the Athens Banner Herald (Georgia) and the Arizona Republic from the respective AFP state directors defending carbon dioxide — “the life-giving gas that makes trees grow tall.”

Over the weekend, Americans For Prosperity held its national summit, “Defending the American Dream,” in Washington, D.C., where they blamed Washington for the global financial crisis — holding Wall Street utterly blameless. At a rally before the Capitol steps, Tim Phillips, AFP’s president, vowed “that his organization would not allow the growing financial crisis to be blamed on the greatest economic system in the world.” Dallas Woodhouse, AFP’s North Carolina director, claimed:

Free markets work. They work all the time and they work every time.

Under right-wing rule, a radical agenda of deregulation has given us the twin catastrophes of planetary and financial meltdown. It’s time for America to wake up.

Extending the Nightmare: Americans For Prosperity Holds Extremist ‘Defending The Dream’ Summit»

Americans For Prosperity (AFP), a nationwide front group founded and funded by the right-wing polluter Koch Industries, is holding its national summit, “Defending the Dream,” this weekend in Washington, D.C. On display from Friday through Sunday will be the extremist free-market, anti-science, right-wing ideology responsible for the dramatic decline in our nation’s economic and environmental health during the Bush era.

Americans for Prosperity is notorious for its fake grassroots efforts, funneling millions of dollars of oil and coal industry cash across the nation to spread their message of global warming denial. Just in the past month, near-identical op-eds appeared in Georgia and Arizona papers from the respective AFP state directors defending carbon dioxide — “the life-giving gas that makes trees grow tall and flowers bloom.”

The featured speakers at the “Tribute to Ronald Reagan Dinner” and Saturday’s general session include the following rogues’ gallery of conservative ideologues:

George Will and Fred Barnes, who this July called Americans suffering in the Bush economy “the crybabies of the Western world” and “whining all the way through it.”

Dinesh D’Souza, who said in 2007 that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was “indirectly” responsible for the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), who this Tuesday declared, “I think I was right” about his statement in 2003 that global warming is “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.”

Edwin Meese III, who as Reagan’s Attorney General mentored John Roberts and Samuel Alito in his agenda of “striking down abortion rights, access to justice, and voluntary school desegregation.”

Grover Norquist, the anti-tax zealot who palled around with Jack Abramoff and claimed this March that “more people will die” because Bush raised fuel economy standards.

John Stossel, who claimed this July, during record gas prices and big oil profits, “I think these oil companies are heroes.”

David Koch, the Koch Industries billionaire who is the “richest man in New York State” and was the 1980 Libertarian Party vice presidential candidate, sits on the board of directors of AFP, Cato Institute, and the Reason Foundation. In July he gave the Lincoln Center $100 million to rename the New York State Theater after himself.

The dream these radical extremists from the American Petroleum Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Business and Media Institute, the Wall Street Journal, and other members of the Exxon-Bush machine are defending has been a nightmare for the United States. It’s time to wake up.

On Energy, Exxon Advises Palin, Palin Advises McCain»

On behalf of the oil and natural gas industry, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) has opposed federal protections for the polar bear, whose existence is threatened by drilling operations and their global warming pollution. A new report from the Guardian reveals that the “science” Palin relies upon to claim all is hunky dory in Alaska comes from notoriously right-wing flaks funded by Big Oil. It has been previously revealed that Palin suppressed the work of her state’s staff scientists. The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington explains Palin’s use of climate change skeptics:

In official submissions to the US government’s consultation on the status of the polar bear, Palin and her team referred to at least six scientists who have questioned either the existence of warming as a largely man-made phenomenon or its severity. One paper was partly funded by the US oil company Exxon Mobil.

Palin’s complaint to the Department of Interior cited the pre-publication Exxon Mobil paper — “Polar bears of western Hudson Bay and climate change” — six times, and even attached a copy. “Polar bears” was eventually published by the obscure Journal of Ecological Complexity, with funding not only by Exxon Mobil, but also the American Petroleum Institute (Big Oil’s lobbying shop), and the Koch Industries money machine:

This paper was authored by Alaskan scientist Markus Dyck, Timothy Ball, Sallie Baliunas, Willie Soon, and David Legates. All but Dyck are notorious climate skeptics with extensive ties to the Exxon-Bush right wing machine. As polar bear biologist Andrew Derocher told the Alaska Daily News, “I would venture to guess that, beyond Markus Dyck, none of them had ever seen a polar bear.”

Americans For Prosperity? Nope, Americans For Doing Nothing»

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) at the Americans for Prosperity “Do Nothing” Rally

Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the Koch Industries front group formerly run by Koch lobbyist Nancy Pfotenhauer, spent all of August attacking “Speaker Pelosi’s decision to adjourn for a five-week recess without allowing a vote on whether to expand production of American oil, natural gas or shale.” Their conservative allies in Congress staged protests on the House floor attacking Pelosi as a “dictator” who wouldn’t allow a vote.

When Congress returned to session, Pelosi called the conservative bluff. She held votes on a Democratic package that expanded production of oil, natural gas, and oil shale and a Republican package that expanded production of oil, natural gas, and oil shale. The Democratic package passed.

If AFP were honest in the slightest about their call to action, they would now be calling on the U.S. Senate to pass the House bill with all speed. But of course they are not. The House package is a genuine “all of the above” bill that would lower energy costs and create jobs. It rolls back subsidies for oil companies to support renewable energy, establishes a framework for new oil leasing, and establishes a national renewable energy standard. All of these elements are anathema to the oil and gas industry that funds front groups like AFP and their conservative allies. So what is a polluter propagandist to do? Attack the do-something Congress:

Other liberal leaders are trying to raise taxes on oil companies (which will mean higher prices at the pump!)

Expanding domestic energy production by getting at untapped U.S. resources is the key to lowering prices at the pump — so use the box below to contact your lawmaker today and tell them to DO NOTHING. That’s right. Tell your lawmaker that doing nothing is the right thing to do for American energy consumers.

AFP, in flipping from attacking liberals for doing nothing to demanding that they do nothing, doesn’t seem to have a very strong irony radar. Last month, they had to cancel a global warming denial meeting in Florida because of Tropical Storm Fay.

For those of us who actually want a do-something Congress, join Green Jobs Now and call on Congress for a green recovery.

McCain: ‘I Do’ Support An End To Mountain-Top Removal, But Coal Companies Also ‘Doing A Much Better Job’»

UPDATE: Video via Progressive Accountability added.

In a townhall meeting yesterday in Orlando, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was asked if he supported an end to the economically and ecologically destructive practice of mountaintop removal coal mining. His reply:

I do.

Mountaintop removal is decimating Appalachia — 25 percent of Wise County’s historic mountain ranges have been destroyed forever.

McCain couldn’t let well enough alone. He then incoherently continued, “I’ve seen a dramatic improvement in the behavior of the coal companies. They are doing a much better job.”

Watch it:

McCain’s answer may have been influenced by the many coal lobbyists running his campaign, like Frank Donatelli (Dominion Resources), Jerry Kilgore (Alpha Natural Resources), and Nancy Pfotenhauer (Koch Industries). In the past eight years, the use of mountaintop removal — destructively blowing up mountain peaks to reach coal seams with as few workers as possible — has steadily risen. Coal companies are making record profits by exploiting workers and raping the land at an ever faster clip. Here are just a few of the crimes and misbehaviors of King Coal in recent years:

Massey Energy, The Largest Coal Company In Appalachia, Has A Horrendous Labor, Safety, and Environmental Record. Between 1997 and 2006 there were 12 fatalities at Massey mines. Less than 4% of Massey’s workforce is unionized. An EPA suit for $2.4 billion worth of fines for thousands of Clean Water Act violations, including a 300 million gallon coal slurry flood, was settled in January 2008 for $20 million. Former Massey executives hold top regulatory positions in the Bush Administration. [RAN; Gristmill, 12/19/07]

Massey’s Corrupt Judges Overturn $76 Million Verdict. Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship spent millions to install corrupt judges on the West Virginia Supreme Court, even sharing Monte Carlo vacations. In April, the Supreme Court overturned a $76 million verdict against Massey, with Brent Benjamin, on whose election Blankenship spent $3.5 million, casting the deciding vote. [Gristmill, 4/5/08]

Utah Coal Company Sues To Prevent Voter Oversight Of Power Plants. “Attorneys for a power company are suing to remove a ballot initiative in Sevier County that could stand in the way of a new coal-fired power plant. Proposition 1 would require voter approval before the county can issue a ‘conditional-use’ permit for facilities like a power plant. It would also revoke permits already approved for construction of a power plant.” [AP, 9/1/08]

‘Reckless Disregard For Safety’ Led To Deadly Crandall Canyon Disaster. The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration asked for a criminal investigation into the August 2007 Crandall Canyon coal mining disaster, which killed nine men. MSHA official Richard E. Stickler said, “Through its investigation of the tragic accidents last year at Crandall Canyon, MSHA determined that the operator and its engineering consultants demonstrated reckless disregard for safety.” [MSHA, 9/3/08; Mineweb, 9/4/08]

Peabody Coal Bankrolling ‘Drill Here, Drill Now’ Propaganda. Peabody Energy, the largest coal company in the world, is the largest corporate backer of American Solutions for Winning the Future, Newt Gingrich’s 527 corporation selling the false “Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less” campaign to block progressive energy solutions. [Wonk Room, 7/30/08]

So what is the “much better job” that McCain claims the coal companies are now doing? The only act King Coal has cleaned up is their propaganda campaign to sell “clean coal,” joining Big Oil to spend two million dollars a day promoting their agenda of continuing to dig America deeper into the pollution pit.

Digg it!

See extended video from Progressive Accountability.

Right-Wing Ideological Extremist Tim Phillips Calls Olbermann ‘Silly And Ideologically Driven’»

On August 19, Keith Olbermann reported that Americans for Prosperity was forced to cancel events in Florida due to Tropical Storm Fay, and noted the irony of “global warming deniers’ meetings postponed by tropical storms.” Obermann described AFP as “one of the many corporate-funded lobbying groups working hand-in-hand with Big Oil, and the administration, and other people who make more money the more there is doubt that there is global warming.”

Watch it:

In an article on the Business and Media Institute’s website written by Jeff Poor, AFP president Tim Phillips took umbrage at the segment, claiming the description of AFP as a “corporate-funded lobbying group” was “outrageous.” Phillips told Poor that “guys like him” who descibe the connection between global warming and extreme weather are “global warming extremists”:

It’s ironic that guys like him and global warming extremists will use any weather event – whether it’s a hot spell, whether it’s a hurricane or a tropical storm or a hailstorm or a snowstorm – anything, any weather event – they’ll try to tie it to their pet cause which is ideological extremism at its worst. . . It shows just how silly and ideologically driven they are. They don’t look at the science. They don’t look at any factors. It’s just an ideological extremism. It would be funny if it were not so serious for our nation.

As the Wonk Room has well documented, the link between global warming and extreme weather is recognized by the Bush administration itself, which warned in June that global warming has likely or very likely worsened intense rainfall, heat waves, winter storms, hurricanes, wildfires, insect outbreaks, and coral bleaching. The world’s largest environmental organization, Friends of the Earth, and America’s largest environmental organization, the National Wildlife Federation, have joined national scientific organizations representing hundreds of universities and thousands of climate scientists in calling for immediate action.

In fact, it is Tim Phillips and Jeff Poor who are “ideologically driven” extremists who “don’t look at the science” but instead work for polluter-funded right-wing front groups:

Tim Phillips Is A Top Right-Wing Operative. Before replacing Koch Industries lobbyist Nancy Pfotenhauer as president of Americans for Prosperity, Timothy R. Phillips had a long career as a conservative operative. In 1992, Phillips managed Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s (R-VA) first Congressional campaign and served as his chief of staff for four years. In 1997, Phillips co-founded public relations firm Century Strategies with Ralph Reed. There, Phillips oversaw “direct mail, telemarketing, coalition building and strategic services” for the 2000 and 2004 Bush for President campaigns, and specialized in “grasstops” operations to establish fake grassroots organizations. [Century Strategies (Internet Archive)]

Jeff Poor Is A Self-Described ‘Very Conservative’ ‘Professional Jerk.’ Jeff Poor describes himself on his Facebook page as a “professional jerk” with “very conservative” political views. Poor has previously written hit pieces for the Business and Media Institute attacking Al Gore and climate scientist Stephen Schneider for discussing the links between climate change and extreme weather.

Business & Media Institute Is Part Of Right-Wing Message Machine. BMI is a right-wing “free-enterprise” front group that is part of Brent Bozell’s conservative media machine, the Media Research Center. In 2005, the MRC honored Ann Coulter, T. Boone Pickens, Zell Miller, and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth at their conservative media gala.

Americans For Prosperity Is A Front Group For Corporate Polluter Koch Industries. Americans for Prosperity is the successor to the free-market front group Citizens for a Sound Economy, founded by conglomerate Koch Industries. David Koch, Executive Vice-President of Koch Industries, is a founder of AFP and “a financial supporter through the family-controlled and company-financed Claude R. Lambe Foundation.” Koch Industries is the largest privately owned company in the United States, whose multiple holdings make it a veritable global warming pollution factory. [NRDC, 7/25/08] [Forbes, 2007]

Transcript: More »

Report: King Coal And Big Oil Unite To Buy The Future, Spending More Than Two Million Dollars A Day»

As Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) sets foot on a drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana, his “drill everywhere” message is being amplified by political spending of more than two million dollars a day by the oil and coal industries. The Public Campaign Action Fund has released a major report finding that King Coal and Big Oil have united in an attempt to buy the future:

We estimate that the coal and oil industries spent an astounding $427.2 million over the first six months of 2008 to influence public opinion and public policy.

These industries are on track to spend about a billion dollars influencing energy policy this year, with their “clean coal” and “drill drill drill” messaging. They are supporting pollution-friendly candidates and spreading false doubt about the seriousness of global warming.

This total includes the $12.2 million dollars spent in six months by Newt Gingrich’s billionaire-and-coal-funded 527 corporation, American Solutions for Winning the Future (ASWF), on its “Drill Here, Drill Now” campaign, and the $40 million that coal industry front group Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (now part of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity) pledged to spend influencing the public. It also includes John McCain’s million-dollar haul from the oil and gas industry.

The Public Campaign Action Fund’s estimate of $427.2 million fails to include the expenditures of pollution-agenda front groups that are “organized under sections of the Internal Revenue Code that do not require the public disclosure of their spending.” These groups include the likes of:

• Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth
• American Council for Capital Formation
• American Energy Alliance
• American Enterprise Institute
• Americans for Prosperity
• American Future Fund
• Business & Media Institute
• Coalition for Affordable American Energy
• Competitive Enterprise Institute
• FreedomWorks
• Heartland Institute
• Institute for Energy Research
• National Association of Manufacturers
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Therefore the Public Campaign’s estimate is rather conservative.

Global Boiling: Tropical Storm Fay Crashes Denier Townhall»

Americans For Prosperity (AFP) has a brief message on its website today:

Ft. Myers and West Palm Beach Town Hall Meetings Rescheduled

The August 19th Ft. Myers town hall and August 21st West Palm Beach town hall will be rescheduled as a result of Tropical Storm Fay. We apologize for any inconvenience.

AFP is a front group for the right-wing pollution company Koch Industries, with an agenda of attacking “global warming alarmism” and promoting increased offshore drilling.

Somehow I doubt they planned to discuss how global warming intensifies tropical storms and threatens Florida’s coasts, nor how tropical storms and offshore drilling are a disastrous combination.

CNN’s Velshi Went On Arctic Refuge Tour With Right-Wing Representative Bachmann»

After a presentation on opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, CNN anchor Ali Velshi hosted a discussion between Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ). Velshi started the interview by making the startling admission that Bachmann joined him on his expedition to northern Alaska:

Congressman [sic] Bachmann, I want to talk to you first about this because those pictures we just showed, we took from an airplane. You were with us on that airplane. You went up there to get a sense for yourself about the impact of drilling in ANWR.

Watch it:

During the interview, Velshi asked Bachmann what lesson she learned from their joint trip. Her response:

Ali, I came away with the idea that this is the most perfect place on the planet to drill.

Bachmann’s bizarre response — she also called the ecologically unique refuge the “most convenient, quickest place” to drill, despite also saying it is “permanently frozen in darkness three months of the year” — comes as no surprise, as she is one of the biggest boosters of Big Oil propaganda in Congress. Just in the past two months, she’s claimed that caribou love pipelines, falsely blamed Democrats for blocking renewable energy incentives, and repeated the lie about China drilling for oil off the Florida coast. In this segment, Bachmann introduces a new lie, claiming “this area was specifically set aside for drilling by President Jimmy Carter for drilling.”

This is simply false. As Carter explained in a 2000 New York Times column calling for expanded protections of Alaskan lands from drilling:

Then, even more than today, much attention was focused on high energy prices; oil companies — playing on Americans’ fears — sought the right to drill in protected areas. While the House held firm, the Senate forced a compromise, without ever putting the fate of the refuge to a vote. Thus, the law I signed 20 years ago did not permanently protect this Arctic wilderness. It did, however, block any oil company drilling until Congress votes otherwise. . . The simple fact is, drilling is inherently incompatible with wilderness.

Velshi did not question Bachmann about any of these false statements. Velshi also failed to mention global warming even once, despite the extreme warming taking place in northern Alaska, driving wildlife toward extinction and threatening a global climate meltdown.

Freshman representative Bachmann is a hard-line conservative funded primarily by right-wing organizations like the Club for Growth ($92,630), TCF Financial ($38,400), and Koch Industries ($17,500), the right-wing corporate polluter. She has also received $20,250 from right-wing billionaire Stanley Hubbard, one of the the top funders of Newt Gingrich’s “Drill Here, Drill Now” organization, American Solutions for Winning the Future (ASWF).

CNN’s campaign coverage continues to be funded by the coal industry front group American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE).

UPDATE: Velshi’s Arctic Refuge piece first aired July 24, but he did not disclose that the trip was with a delegation of 11 conservative representatives led by Rep. John Boehner (R-OH). However, prior to the trip, he did say in a July 15 interview with Rep. Bachmann:

I should tell you, I’m hoping to join you on that trip this weekend. We’re still trying to work that out.

Evidently, his wish was granted.

Americans For The Prosperity Of Koch Industries»

Our guest blogger is Peter Altman, Climate Campaign Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

One of the ways to gauge how seriously Congress is talking about environmental issues is by watching how many industry front-groups pop up like weeds to try to choke off efforts to clean up the world around us. The weeds grow in various sizes and shapes, but they tend to share a common root system: funding from industry backers who would rather keep underground, away from the light of public discourse.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) — which is trying to persuade Americans that global warming is a hoax - is such a weed. The group isn’t just funded by an industry CEO, it was planted by one. David Koch, Executive Vice-President of family-founded multi-national conglomerate Koch Industries, is a founder of AFP and a financial supporter through the family-controlled and company-financed Claude R. Lambe Foundation. Koch Industries, Inc. and its sister company, Koch Holdings, LLC, own a group of companies invested in refineries, chemicals, minerals and so on.

The Koch companies have an atrocious record of sloppy operations. According to the EPA, Koch Industries is responsible for over 300 oil spills in the US and has leaked three million gallons of crude oil into fisheries and drinking waters.  They were fined a record $35 million dollars and an additional $8 million in Minnesota for discharging into streams. In Texas –a state not usually known for rigid enforcement of environmental laws — the company was held liable for allowing large amounts of carcinogenic benzene to leak from a Texas refinery.

Koch’s slack attitude has led to tragic losses of life. In 1996, a rusty pipeline began to leak butane near a Texas residential neighborhood. Warned by the smell of gas, two teenagers drove their truck toward the nearest payphone to call for help, but they never made it. Sparks from their truck ignited the gas and the two burned alive.

It’s easy to see why the Koch family would plant and nurture sockpuppet groups like AFP. Koch can’t just come out and say we should ignore global warming, because their self-interest is too obvious. AFP is currently on a nationwide tour touting its new framing language regarding global warming, calling environmental proponents “alarmists” and pro business anti-environmentalists “realists.” Ironically enough, their image of choice is a hot air balloon (Note to front-groups: avoid using props that unintentionally reinforce your BS). But when over a million dollars of your funding in 2005 comes directly from donors like the Koch Industries “charitable foundation,” maybe hot air is all you’ve got to work with.

This post originally appeared at NRDC’s Switchboard .

UPDATE: Read more in the Wonk Room about Nancy Pfotenhauer, Koch Industries’ top lobbyist from 1996 to 2001 and president of Americans for Prosperity from 2003 to 2007.