Eye in Monitor-for-SW-banner.jpg

The U.S. counter terrorism apparatus was used to monitor the Occupy Movement nationwide.

Click here to read CMD's special report, based on a year-long investigation.

Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation

From SourceWatch
Jump to: navigation, search
Michael Grebe "Money Badger" (Source: One Wisconsin Now)

Formerly known as Allen-Bradley Foundation, The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation (LHBF), was established in 1942. According to The Foundation's 1998 Annual Report and a 2011 report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation gives away more than $30 million per year.[1]

Harry was one of the original charter members of the far right-wing John Birch Society, along with another Birch Society board member, Fred Koch, the father of Koch Industries billionaire brothers and owners, Charles and David Koch.[2]

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel “from 2001 to 2009, it [Bradley] doled out nearly as much money as the seven Koch and Scaife foundations combined.” [3]

According to the Media Transparency web site, the Foundation's "resources, its clear political agenda, and its extensive national network of contacts and collaborators in political, academic and media circles has allowed it to exert an important influence on key issues of public policy. While its targets range from affirmative action to social security, it has seen its greatest successes in the areas of welfare 'reform' and attempts to privatize public education through the promotion of school vouchers...

"The overall objective of the Bradley Foundation, however, is to return the U.S. -- and the world -- to the days before governments began to regulate Big Business, before corporations were forced to make concessions to an organized labor force. In other words, laissez-faire capitalism: capitalism with the gloves off.

"To further this objective, Bradley supports the organizations and individuals that promote the deregulation of business, the rollback of virtually all social welfare programs, and the privatization of government services. As a result, the list of Bradley grant recipients reads like a Who's Who of the U.S. Right ... Heritage Foundation ... Madison Center for Educational Affairs ... American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, literary home for such racist authors as Charles Murray (The Bell Curve) and Dinesh D'Souza (The End of Racism), former conservative officeholders Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, Jack Kemp and William J. Bennett, and arch-conservative jurists Robert H. Bork and Antonin Scalia...[4]

"Other Bradley grantees include ... Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace; and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation" ... Potomac Foundation, the MacIver Institute and Encounter Books. [5][6]

Contents


School Choice Expansion

Graphic by One Wisconsin Now Tracing Bradley School Choice Funding

A report released by non-profit activist group One Wisconsin Now in April, 2013 details the Bradley Foundation's massive efforts to funnel money into school privatization programs nationwide. According to the report, since 2001 the Bradley Foundation has spent over $31 million "supporting organizations promoting education privatization, academics providing favorable pro-privatization pseudo-science, media personalities promoting the privatization agenda and lobbying organizations advocating for privatization legislation."[7] CEO of the Bradley Foundation, Michael Grebe, has also served as campaign co-chair for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker who has worked to expand voucher school funding in Wisconsin by 32%. The report estimates that between 2014-2015, $1.8 billion in taxpayer dollars will go toward private voucher schools in Wisconsin.

Funding of Voter Suppression Billboards

In 2010 and 2012 billboards went up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a few cities in Ohio that displayed the message "Voter Fraud is a Felony!" The original billboards in 2010 had a picture of a black man behind bars, but the billboards were changed after public outcry. Shortly before the 2012 election, public pressure mounted in Milwaukee demanding that the funders of the billboards be disclosed, and that the billboards come down. Clear Channel Outdoor, the advertising company who owned the billboard space finally agreed to take the billboards down. One Wisconsin Now, a progressive advocacy organization, revealed that the Einhorn Family Foundation was behind the billboards, and a few days later Michael Grebe, the president and CEO of the Bradley Foundation confirmed to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that they had provided $10,000 to the Einhorn Family Foundation in 2010 that had in fact been used for billboards.[8]

An ALEC Ally in Wisconsin

The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation is a Milwaukee-based private grant-making organization that gives approximately $30 million in grants to various right-wing causes each year.

Foundation president and chief executive Michael Grebe served as the chair of Governor Scott Walker's 2010 Gubernatorial campaign. He led transition efforts and chaired Walker's campaign committee for the 2012 recall election.

Within days of Walker’s 2010 election, he met the board and senior staff of the Bradley Foundation at Milwaukee’s elite Bacchus Restaurant. Two weeks later, the Bradley-funded MacIver Institute published an editorial calling for Walker and the legislature to end collective bargaining for public employees and attack private unions by making Wisconsin a “Right to Work” state.

The MacIver Institute received $360,000 from Bradley in its first three years of existence, and is currently running the “It’s Working!” ads with Americans for Prosperity (AFP), which has also been funded by Bradley.

Among other things, Bradley has focused its funding efforts on programs to divert tax dollars from public schools to private entities via “voucher” programs that undermine public education. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bradley poured $20 million into the effort to bring so-called “school choice” vouchers to Milwaukee, and has spent countless sums supporting groups that aim to expand the program across Wisconsin. These anti-public education initiatives are also advanced by ALEC.

According to the Bradley Foundation’s annual reports, it gave $145,000 to ALEC in 2009 and 2010 for initiatives including ALEC’s “Budget Reform Education Project,” the “Donor Freedom Project,” and the “Budget Reform and Transparency Project” (The Foundation’s 2011 Annual Report is not yet available.) ALEC also thanked the Bradley Foundation in its 2011 “State Budget Reform Toolkit” for funding the publication, which promotes a number of templates that have been embraced by ALEC members in Wisconsin. [9]

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Exposé

A 2011 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article outlines how the Bradley Foundation spent over $350 million over ten years, including $234 million on conservative causes and $79 million to universities around the United States. [10]

The report found that 32% of the $350 million total was spent in Milwaukee, with another 20% being spent in Milwaukee, 9% in Chicago and the rest spread between Washington and the rest of the country.

The top 30 grant recipients received a combined $155 million, including:

Ties to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker

Foundation president and chief executive Michael Grebe also served as the chair of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's 2010 Gubernatorial campaign. He also led transition efforts and served as chair again in Walker's 2011 recall election. Grebe conducted interviews personally at the cabinet level of the Walker administration and served as chair of “Friends of Scott Walker.” [11]

In 2010, the MacIver Institute, which is funded by the Bradley Foundation, posted an op-ed pushing for a repeal of collective bargaining rights. The article read: "Two simple but fundamental steps to kick start the Wisconsin economy and get our state budget mess resolved would be to repeal collective bargaining for public employees and to make Wisconsin a right to work state, giving private sector workers the choice of whether they want to pay union dues in their workplace." [12]

The MacIver Institute and Americans for Prosperity spent millions defending Walker in his 2011 recall election. Americans for Prosperity, a Koch brother funded political group, received $600,000 from the Bradley Foundation from 2004-2010.

The Center for Union Facts, an anti-union organization, received $1.55 million between 2007-2010 from the Foundation, and spent heavily to support Walker and smear teachers unions with an anti-union website during the fight over collective bargaining rights in 2011.

In February of 2013, Walker proposed his 2013-2015 budget which contains plans to massively expand Wisconsin's school voucher program. Congruent with the efforts of the Bradley Foundation and ALEC, this would provide state subsidies for students to leave public schools in exchange for private schools, effectively re-appropriating substantial government public education funding to the private sector.[13]

Funding for Charter Schools

The Bradley Foundation is a top funder for groups affiliated with charter schools nationwide. Its top recipient is the Charter School Growth Fund, a group that provides start up money for new charter school nationwide.

The second largest recipient for the group was Partners Advancing Values in Education, another charter school advocacy group. [14]

Funding Islamophobia in the United States

Research from the Center for American Progress (CAP) indicates that LHBF has funded various organizations and individuals contributing to an anti-Islamic hysteria in the United States. Between 2001 and 2009 LHBF has contributed $5,370,000 to various Islamophobic groups, including the Center for Security Policy, the Middle East Forum, and the David Horowitz Freedom Center.[15]

Public Endorsements

"The reason that I am so happy that my friend Mike Grebe is here and Mike Joyce and others from The Bradley Foundation is because "Foundation America" must be a part of the revitalization of our communities as well. And The Bradley Foundation has always been willing to see different solutions. They have been willing to challenge the status quo. They say where we find failure, something else must occur. And the Foundation not only has been kind and generous with its donations, the Foundation also has been willing to help people think anew, and I appreciate you all coming. I am honored you're here and thanks for your good work." – President George W. Bush,speaking at the Bradley Foundation-supported Holy Redeemer Institutional Church of God in Christ, Milwaukee, July 2002. [16]

Controversial Recipients of Bradley Foundation Grants

The following numbers are taken from the Contributions of the Bradley Foundation page, which is based off of and links to the foundation's 990 tax forms from 1998-2011.

In 2011 a total of $34,948,552 in grants were awarded.[17]

According to Right Wing Watch, the Bradley Foundation is given grants to highly controversial individuals: "Bradley has supported and in some cases, had to defend controversial right-wing recipients of their grants, particularly Charles Murray and Dinesh D'Souza. Charles Murray - Murray, author of "The Bell Curve," which argues that intelligence is predicated on race, and "Losing Ground," whose thesis is that social programs should be abolished. Murray's work was so controversial and objectionable that the right-wing Manhattan Institute, supported by Bradley and for which he worked, asked him to leave. However, the Bradley Foundation stood by him because Murray, according to former Bradley President Michael Joyce, "is one of the foremost social thinkers in the country." Bradley extended Murray's $100,000 per year grant when he went to the American Enterprise Institute. Dinesh D'Souza - D'Souza, in his book, "The End of Racism," attempts to absolve Whites from discrimination against Blacks during slavery, claiming that Blacks were too uncivilized to be a part of society anyway."[18]

Funding for the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute

The Bradley Foundation gave the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute a $2.8 million start-up grant in 1987, and by 2010 it had given the institute a total of $16.5 million. The Bradley Foundation’s Michael Joyce launched his attack on progressivism in the Winter 1994 issue of Wisconsin Interest, the publication of the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. [19]

Funding the MacIver Institute

From 2008- 2011 the MacIver Institute, a relatively new and increasingly influential think tank, received $445,000 from the Bradley Foundation.[20]

Funding the American Legislative Exchange Council

According to the foundation's 990 tax forms, between 2009 - 2011 the Bradley Foundation gave $270,000 in contributions to the American Legislative Exchange Council. [21]

About ALEC
ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our PRWatch.org site.


Affiliated Organizations

Infiltration of Academic Institutions

According to Right Wing Watch: "Bradley has made right-wing inroads in academia by establishing chairmanship positions, undergraduate and graduate programs, fellowships, and whole departments at many prestigious universities including: Boston College, Boston University, Bowling Green State University, Carnegie Mellon University, Catholic University, Columbia University, Georgetown University, George Mason University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Kenyon College, Marquette University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Michigan State University, New York University, Princeton University, Stanford University, University of California- Berkeley, University of California- Los Angeles, University of California- San Diego, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, University of Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, University of Wisconsin, and Washington University- St. Louis." [18]

Prize Recipients

As described on the Bradley Foundation website, "Bradley Prizes formally recognize individuals of extraordinary talent and dedication who have made contributions of excellence in areas consistent with The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation’s mission. Up to four Prizes of $250,000 each are awarded annually to innovative thinkers and practitioners whose achievements strengthen the legacy of the Bradley brothers and the ideas to which they were committed." [23]

2012

  • Nicholas Eberstadt, chair in political economy at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C., senior advisor to The National Bureau of Asian Research in Seattle, commissioner on the U.S. Key National Indicators Council, and member of the Global Agenda Council for the World Economic Forum.
  • Edwin J. Feulner, president of The Heritage Foundation, chairman of the Board of Visitors at Pepperdine University's School of Public Policy.
  • Edwin Meese III, holds the Ronald Reagan Chair in Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., and chairman of Heritage's Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.
  • William H. Mellor, co-founder, president and general counsel of the Institute for Justice in Arlington, Va.

2011

  • Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida; founder, charman, and president of the Foundation for Excellence in Education.
  • Richard A. Epstein, professor at New York University School of Law, fellow at the Hoover Institution, professor emeritus at The University of Chicago Law School.
  • Harvey C. Mansfield, professor of government at Harvard University, and fellow at the Hoover Institution.
  • Allan H. Meltzer, professor of political economy and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business.

2010

  • Michael Barone, political analyst for The Washington Examiner, fellow at the American Enterprise Institute for Policy Research in Washington, D.C., and a syndicated columnist and commentator for the Fox News Channel.
  • John B. Taylor, professor at Stanford University, fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, and fellow at Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
  • Bradley A. Smith, professor at Capital University Law School, chairman of the Center for Competitive Politics, and fellow at the Goldwater Institute.
  • Paul Gigot, vice president and editorial-page editor of The Wall Street Journal.

2009

  • William Kristol, founder and editor of The Weekly Standard, The Washington Post columnist, and FOX News analyst.
  • Arnold C. Harberger, professor at the University of California-Los Angeles and professor emeritus at The University of Chicago, former president of the American Economic Association, the Western Economic Association, and the Society for Cost-Benefit Analysis.
  • Martin Gilbert, historian, prolific author.
  • Founders and Leaders of The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, "an organization of law students, lawyers, and others interested in the law dedicated to advancing an understanding of the principles underlying American law and furthering their application."

2008

  • Gary S. Becker, fellow at Stanford University, professor at University of Chicago.
  • Victor Davis Hanson, fellow at Stanford University and Hillsdale College, professor at California State University, Fresno.
  • Alan Charles Kors, professor at the University of Pennsylvania, co-founder and chairman emeritus of the Foundation for Individual Rights.
  • Robert L. Woodson, Sr., president of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise in Washington, D.C.

2007

  • Abigail & Stephan Thernstrom, co-authors on a number of works, Abigail is the vice-chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Stephan is a history professor at Harvard University.
  • John Bolton, senior fellow of the American Enterprise Institute for Policy Research in Washington, D.C., former ambassador and author.
  • Martin Feldstein, Professor of Economics at Harvard University, president of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
  • James Q. Wilson, professor at Harvard University, the University of California-Los Angeles,and most recently at Pepperdine University.

2006

  • Fouad Ajami, senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and co-chair of its Working Group on Islamism and the International Order.
  • Hernando de Soto, founder of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD) in Lima, Peru.
  • Clint Bolick, Director of the Center for Constitutional Litigation at The Goldwater Institute in Phoenix.
  • Shelby Steele, is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution who specializes in the study of race relations, multiculturalism, and affirmative action.

2005

2004

  • Leon Kass, bioethicist at the University of Chicago, selected by President George W. Bush to chair the 18-member President's Council on Bioethics.
  • Charles Krauthamer, author, former member of The President’s Council on Bioethics.
  • Thomas Sowell, economist and author.
  • Mary Ann Glendon, former president of the International Association of Legal Science, and currently serves as President of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

Board of Directors and Personnel

Board of Directors

Officers

Former staff

Contact

The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
P.O. Box 510860
Milwaukee, WI 53203-0153
Phone: 414 291-9915
Fax: 414 291-9991
Web: http://www.bradleyfdn.org

Other SourceWatch Sources

External links

  • Bruce Murphy, Neoconservative clout seen in U.S. Iraq policy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel On-line, April 5, 2003. Article connects link between Bradley-funded think tanks and U.S. pre-emptive policies in the Middle East.
  • Salim Muwakkil, Neocon Convergences, In These Times, June 3, 2003. "Foundation has forged a link between a neo-imperialist foreign policy and a neoracist domestic policy."

References

  1. ↑ Media Transparency The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc. - Funder profile, accessed March 15, 2011
  2. ↑ Lee Fang How John Birch Society Extremism Never Dies: The Fortune Behind Scott Walker’s Union-Busting Campaign, ThinkProgress, February 21, 2011
  3. ↑ Barbara Miner, Wisconsin's Progressive Tradition at Stake in the Recall Election, JS Online, May 14, 2012
  4. ↑ Media Transparency The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc. - Funder profile, accessed March 15, 2011
  5. ↑ Media Transparency The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc. - Funder profile, accessed March 15, 2011
  6. ↑ Lee Fang How John Birch Society Extremism Never Dies: The Fortune Behind Scott Walker’s Union-Busting Campaign, ThinkProgress, February 21, 2011
  7. ↑ P is for Payoff: Inside the Bradley Foundation's Campaign to Privatize Education in Wisconsin, One Wisconsin Now, April, 2012.
  8. ↑ Daniel Bice, Bradley Foundation helped pay for 2010 voter fraud signs, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, October 31, 2012.
  9. ↑ ALEC Exposed in Wisconsin: The Hijacking of a State, ALEC Exposed, May 2012
  10. ↑ Daniel Bice, Bill Glauber, Ben Poston. From local roots, Bradley Foundation builds conservative empire, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel November 19, 2011.
  11. ↑ Barbara Miner, Wisconsin's Progressive Tradition at Stake in the Recall Election, JS Online, May 14, 2012
  12. ↑ Brian Fraley. The MacIver Institute. November 24, 2010.
  13. ↑ Jason Stein, Patrick Marley and Erin Richards. Scott Walker Proposes Expanding Voucher School Program, Raising Taxpayer Support. February 18, 2013.
  14. ↑ Daniel Bice, Bill Glauber, Ben Poston. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. November 28, 2011.
  15. ↑ Wajahat Ali, Eli Clifton, Matthew Duss, Lee Fang, Scott Keyes, and Faiz Shakir, Fear Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America, CAB, August 2011.
  16. ↑ Lynde ad Harry Bradley, Right Wing Watch, accessed November 30, 2011
  17. ↑ Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation:form 990, 2011
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, accessed November 15, 2011
  19. ↑ Barbara Miner, Wisconsin's Progressive Tradition at Stake in the Recall Election, JS Online, May 14, 2012
  20. ↑ Contributions of the Bradley Foundation SourceWatch, Accessed April 12, 2013
  21. ↑ Contributions of the Bradley Foundation SourceWatch, Accessed April 12, 2013
  22. ↑ Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Right Wing Watch, accessed November 30, 2011
  23. ↑ Bradley Prizes, Organization Website, Accessed April 5, 2013
  24. ↑ Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Right Wing Watch, November 20, 2011
  25. ↑ Jason Stein Scott Walker names key figures to his transition team: Bradley Foundation's Michael W. Grebe and real estate exec John Hiller get posts, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Journal-Sentinel November 5, 2010
  26. ↑ Board of Directors, Organization Website, Accessed January 3, 2013
  27. ↑ Officers, Organization Website, Accessed January 3, 2013
Retrieved from "http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lynde_and_Harry_Bradley_Foundation&oldid=615661"
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
How To
Other Info
Other Policies
Google AdSense
Toolbox