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Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity

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The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity is a national 501(c)(3) journalism organization based in Bismarck, North Dakota.[1] According to the organization's website, the group's mission involves "networking and training independent investigative reporters, as well as journalists from state based news organizations, public-policy institutions & watchdog groups."[2] The center funds state reporters in more than 40 states.[3] Despite their non-partisan description, many of these websites have received criticism for their conservative bias.[4][5]

Contents

Staff Ties to Conservative & GOP Organizations

The center was launched by the Chicago-based Sam Adams Alliance (SAM),[6] a 501(c)(3) devoted to pushing free-market ideals. The Franklin Center also receives funding from the Wisconsin-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation,[7] a conservative grant-making organization.[8]

The Franklin Center’s president, Jason Stverak, is the former Regional Field Director for SAM, served as North Dakota Executive Director for the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee and former Executive Director of the North Dakota Republican Party.[9] The Franklin Center’s president, Jason Stverak, is the former Regional Field Director for SAM, served as North Dakota Executive Director for the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee and former Executive Director of the North Dakota Republican Party.[10]

The Center's Director of Donor Relations Matt Hauck is a former Associate at the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. [11]

The Center's Chief of Staff Gwen Beattie is the former Director of Development and Operations at America's Future Foundation, an organization committed to "identify and develop the next generation of conservative and libertarian leaders."[12]

The Center's 2009 IRS 990 form lists Rudie Martinson as director and secretary, who formerly worked as the assistant state director for North Dakota's chapter of Koch's Americans for Prosperity.[13]

Accusations of Inaccuracy & 'Manufactured News'

In August 2010, the West Virginia Watchdog blog quoted an unnamed source claiming that Democratic Governor Joe Manchin's office had been subpoenaed as part of a federal grand jury investigation. The story said that the subpoenas asked for contracts and records for businesses that have done work at the governor’s mansion. "The target may be Manchin himself, according to a source who asked to remain anonymous," the original story said. The governor’s office responded saying that “Neither subpoena was directed to Governor Manchin or the Governor’s Office.... No individual in the Governor’s Office was served with a subpoena…. The State has not been informed that Governor Manchin or any other state employee is under investigation.” The West Virginia Watchdog updated its site with these statements then reported that their "source was ultimately wrong about the purpose of the subpoenas."[14]

In February, the Wisconsin Reporter sponsored a questionable poll asserting that 71% of Wisconsin residents thought the state's Governor Scott Walker's budget proposal to cut the collective bargaining rights of most of the state's public sector workers was "fair." Several local and national news outlets cited the poll without investigation, including MSNBC. The result seemed completely out of whack with other polling leading some to question the source. The same month, We Ask America, largely owned by the Illinois Manufacturing Association, a leading business organization in the region, polled 2,400 Wisconsin residents and found that 52 percent opposed Walker's bill. The Franklin Center's poll was conducted by Pulse Opinion Research. [15]

In 2009, The New Mexico Watchdog reported that based on data from Recovery.gov millions of dollars were spent in non-existent congressional districts in the state. The story picked up steam among reporters, even turned into a Colbert Report segment called "Know your Made-up District." The Franklin Center released a national report that said $6.4 billion in stimulus money had been spent in hundreds of “phantom” congressional districts. There was truth to the New Mexico Watchdog report, but it turned out, as reported by the Associated Press, that the culprit was an error-ridden government database. The funds were actually distributed to the right recipients but errors such as zip codes entered incorrectly accounted for the "phantom districts" rather than, as the report suggested, had been unaccounted for or misused.

Even with this new information on the shortfalls of the Recovery.gov site, the Franklin Center failed to set the record straight. In its 2010 Annual report, the center boasted it found that the "stimulus sent funds in the form of grants, loans and government contracts to support more than 200 projects in imaginary ZIP codes covering 38 states." It did not mention the errors in the database, but let the record stand as a story of government waste. [16][17]

Support for the American Legislative Exchange Council

The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity was a "Vice-Chairman" level sponsor of 2011 American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Annual Conference, which in 2010, equated to $25,000. The Franklin Center was one of about 60 companies and institutions represented in the conference exhibition hall.[18]

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.


Funding

Known funders of the Franklin Foundation include:

    • 2010: $125,000
    • 2011: $87,500
    • 2010: $190,500
    • 2011: $50,000
    • 2011: $50,000

DonorsTrust:

    • 2011: $6.3 million[19]

Majority of Funding Comes from "the Dark-Money ATM of the Conservative Movement," Donors Trust

Franklin Center Director of Communications Michael Moroney told the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) that the source of the Franklin Center's funding "is 100 percent anonymous." But 95 percent of its 2011 funding came from DonorsTrust, a spin-off of the Philanthropy Roundtable that functions as a large "donor-advised fund," cloaking the identity of donors to right-wing causes across the country (CPI did a review of Franklin's Internal Revenue Service records).[20] Mother Jones called DonorsTrust "the dark-money ATM of the conservative movement" in a February 2013 article.[21] Franklin received DonorsTrust's second-largest donation in 2011.[20]

Franklin Center in Wisconsin

One of the Franklin Center's sites, the Wisconsin Reporter, was launched in January, and it's articles have been featured in weekly newspapers across the state. In February, the outlet supported a poll that claimed 71% of Wisconsin residents thought Governor Scott Walker's budget proposal to cut the collective bargaining rights of most of the state's public sector workers was 'fair.'[22] The suspiciously high percentage caused some to question the source of the poll.[23] But a lot of local and national news outlets cited the poll without investigation, including MSNBC.[24] Data from the poll of 500 likely voters was managed by Pulse Opinion Research, owned by Scott Rasmussen, a trustee of Property and Environment Research Center, which has ties to the Koch Brothers and Exxon Mobile. [25] The Rasmussen Poll also released a poll that “showed 48% of American voters supported Walker, while just 38% supported the unions,” said Evan McMorris-Santoro writing for TPMuckracking. “That poll was criticized for asking leading questions that seemed to point respondents toward opposing the unions.” [26]

Criticism from Media Watchdog Organizations

The journalistic integrity of these sites has been called into question by media watchdog groups. Laura McGann, assistant editor at the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University, wrote that the Franklin Center is backing news organizations who engage in distorted reporting across the country. "As often as not, their reporting is thin and missing important context, which occasionally leads to gross distortions," wrote McGann, who pointed to several instances where the Watchdog websites wrote stories that turned out to be misleading or untrue. [27]

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism on a sliding scale of highly ideological, somewhat ideological and non-ideological, ranked the “Watchdog.org” franchise "highly ideological." [28]

Franklin Center-Funded and Affiliated Sites

Statehouse "News Bureaus"[29]

"Investigative Reporters" [30]

Personnel

Board of Directors

  • Jason Stverak, Chairman and President)
  • Rudie Martinson, Director and Secretary
  • Doug Loen, Director[31]

Advisory Board

Staff

Leadership

  • Jason Stverak, President)
  • Gwen Beattie, Director of development)
  • John Connors, Director of Special Projects
  • Steven Greenhut, Vice President of Journalism
  • Erik Telford, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives & Outreach[34]

Development and Outreach

  • Alicia Barrett, Manager of Investor Relations
  • Shana Davidson, Direct Marketing Manager
  • Matt Hauck, Director of Development
  • Christina Pajak, Manager of Investor Relations
  • Megan Ritter, Grants Manager and Development Writer
  • John Courts, Development Coordinator
  • Kathy McDonald, Senior Director of External Affairs[34]

Special Projects and Marketing

  • Earl Glynn, Special Projects Coordinator/Research
  • Jennifer Ridgley, Director of Digital Marketing
  • Kristen Hawley, New Media and Marketing Coordinator
  • Scott Kocen, Technology Advisor[34]

Communications and Citizen Engagement

  • Mary Ellen Beatty, Director of Citizen Outreach
  • Chris McCoy, Training Coordinator
  • Jackie Moreau, Content and Outreach Coordinator
  • Tabitha Hale, Director of Online Outreach
  • Michael Moroney, Director of Communications
  • Kevin Palmer, Staff Writer, WatchdogWire[34]

Operations

  • Nicole Stverak, Administrative Assistant and Special Events Coordinator
  • Becky Wessels, Operations Coordinator
  • Lynette Wilhelm, Operations Assistant[34]

Journalism Support

  • Kelly Carson, Senior Content Editor
  • Will Swaim, Managing Editor, Watchdog.org
  • John Trump, Content Editor
  • Ben Yount, Multimedia Editor/Coach[34]
  • Kevin Mooney (investigative reporter with free market think tanks associated with the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity)[35]

Former Staff

  • Frank Keegan (National Watchdog Editor)
  • Scott Reeder (National Statehouse Editor)
  • James Skyles (General Counsel and Director of Operations)
  • Meghan Tisinger (Director of Communications)
  • Mary Massingale (writing coach and content editor)
  • Elizabeth Hillgrove (staff writer and special projects)
  • Jonathan Miltimore (national reporter, fiscal issues)
  • Bill McMorris (staff writer)
  • Drew Thomason (Reporter, Illinois Statehouse News)
  • Earl Glynn (contributor, Kansas Watchdog)
  • Stephan Burklin (editor, Maine Watchdog)
  • Brian R. Hook (editor, Missouri Watchdog)
  • Joe Jordan (editor, Nebraska Watchdog)
  • Andrew Griffin (reporter, Oklahoma Watchdog)
  • Paige Winfield Cunningham (editor, Old Dominion Watchdog)
  • Amanda Iacone (Bureau Chief, Virginia Statehouse News)
  • Stephen Groves (reporter, Virginia Statehouse News)
  • Kirsten Adshead (investigative reporter and special projects,

Wisconsin Reporter)

  • Kevin Lee (Statehouse reporter, Wisconsin Reporter)

Sourcewatch resources

External resources

Contact

Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity

DC Office
127 S. Peyton Street, Suite 200
Alexandria, VA, 22314
Office Phone: 571-384-2090

North Dakota Office
547 S. 7th St. #176
Bismarck, ND 58504
Office Phone: 701-214-5612

Email: info@FranklinCenterHQ.org

For media inquiries please contact Meghan Tisinger at Meghan.Tisinger@FranklinCenterHQ.org

References

  1. ↑ The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. About. Organizational website. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  2. ↑ The Franklin Center For Government & Public Integrity. Mission. Organizational website. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  3. ↑ The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. Think tank Journalism: The Future of Investigative Journalism. Organizational website. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  4. ↑ The Portland Press Herald. 'Watchdog' website puts a new spin on politics'. News website. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  5. ↑ Truthout. The Koch Spider Web. News website. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  6. ↑ Sam Adams Alliance. Sam Adams Alliance Media Kit. Organizational PDF. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  7. ↑ The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Franklin Center boss wants apology from Democratic staffer. News website. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  8. ↑ The Bradley Foundation. The Bradley Foundation. Organizational website. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  9. ↑ The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. Staff. Organizational website. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  10. ↑ The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. Staff. Organizational website. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  11. ↑ Matt Hauck LinkedIn [[1]] Accessed 5 October 2011
  12. ↑ Gwen Beattie LinkedIn [[2]] Accessed 5 October 2011
  13. ↑ AFP Announces Free Market Essay Contest [[3]] Accessed 5 October 2011
  14. ↑ West Virginia Watchdog, Gov. Joe Manchin’s Dept. of Administration, Division of Highways Subpoenaed in Federal Probe [4] Accessed October 5, 2011
  15. ↑ Wisconsin Reporter, "Poll Shows 71%..." [5] Accessed October 5 2011
  16. ↑ New Mexico Watchdog, "$6.4 Billion Stimulus Goes to Phantom Districts" [6] Accessed October 5 2011
  17. ↑ Associated Press, "Stimulus accuracy comes under fire" [7]
  18. ↑ [American Legislative Exchange Council, 2011 Conference Sponsors, conference brochure on file with CMD, August 11, 2011]
  19. ↑ Joe Strupp,Franklin Center Top Donor Is Right-Wing's "Dark Money" ATM, Media Matters, Feb. 22, 2013.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Paul Abowd, Center for Public Integrity, Donors use charity to push free-market policies in states, organizational report, February 14, 2013.
  21. ↑ Andy Kroll, Exposed: The Dark-Money ATM of the Conservative Movement, Mother Jones, February 5, 2013.
  22. ↑ The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. BREAKING: Poll Shows 71% of Wiscosnites Think Walker's Budget Changes are "Fair" Organizational website. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  23. ↑ Talking Points Memo. The Conservative Group Behind The Poll of Walker's Budget Plan. News website. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  24. ↑ YouTube. MSNBC Pushes Right-Wing Wisconsin Poll. YouTube. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  25. ↑ Media Matters Property and Environment Research Center Conservative Transparency, accessed April 14, 2011
  26. ↑ Evan McMorris-Santoro Mysterious Conservative Poll of Walker’s Budget Plan Hits Wisconsin TPM, February 24, 2011
  27. ↑ The Portland Press Herald. 'Watchdog' website puts a new spin on politics'. News website. Accessed October 5 2011.
  28. ↑ The Pew Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism [8]. News website. Accessed October 5 2011.
  29. ↑ Statehouse News Bureaus, Source Watch, accessed March 23, 2012
  30. ↑ Investigative Journalists, Sourcewatch, accessed March 23, 2012
  31. ↑ Guidestar, FRANKLIN CENTER FOR GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC INTEGRITY: People, non-profit organization profile, accessed February 2013.
  32. ↑ Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Joseph G. Lehman, organizational biography, accessed February 2013.
  33. ↑ World Journalism Institute, Mark Tapscott, institutional biography, accessed February 2013.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 34.4 34.5 Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, About: Staff, organizational website, accessed February 2013.
  35. ↑ Kevin Mooney, Death Panel Rattle, BeliefNet Blog, October 6, 2012.
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