Here is what Politico is reporting:
A network of think tanks across the country is quietly pushing the agenda of right-wing groups with funding from Koch brothers-affiliated organizations, a new report alleges.
The study, by the liberal Center for Media and Democracy, is aimed at the State Policy Network, which describes itself as “dedicated solely to improving the practical effectiveness of independent, nonprofit, market-oriented, state-focused think tanks,” which are operating in all 50 states. The tax-exempt group seeks to “enable these organizations to better educate local citizens, policy makers and opinion leaders about market-oriented alternatives to state and local policy challenges.”
But that’s not the full story, according to the Center for Media and Democracy, which bills itself as a nonprofit watchdog group. CMD alleges that rather than a loose coalition of locally focused think tanks, SPN’s organizations are using “dark money” — a term for money donated for elections without disclosing its source — from conservative and corporate donors like the Koch brothers to push a cookie-cutter conservative agenda at the state level.
Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post (also via Politico) on the Koch brothers' influence on think tanks.
Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post on which think tanks billionaires favor, which lists many of the think tanks that the Koch brothers support.
Here is a new and timely Muckety Map with the groups mentioned in the article, including the State Policy Network (SPN) and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). If you click on the link, you will see many of Muckety's Koch-related stories/maps.
Another Kochtopus map can be found here.
