Independence Institute

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Learn more about how the State Policy Network aids ALEC and spins disinformation in the states.

The Independence Institute is a free-market, libertarian think tank based in Golden, Colorado. Its president is Jon Caldara. Health policy director is Linda Gorman.

The Independence Institute's "Center for the American Dream" opposes zoning in cities, and argues against Colorado's rail public transit initiative called "Fastracks," saying that "rail transit reduces the livability of every urban area in which it is found."

Ties to the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity

The Independence Institute hosts writers from the ALEC-connected Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, which screens potential reporters on their “free market” views as part of the job application process. The Franklin Center funds reporters in over 40 states. Despite their non-partisan description, many of the websites funded by the Franklin Center have received criticism for their conservative bias. On its website, the Franklin Center claims it "provides 10 percent of all daily reporting from state capitals nationwide."

Franklin Center Funding

Franklin Center Director of Communications Michael Moroney told the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) in 2013 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). Mother Jones called DonorsTrust "the dark-money ATM of the conservative movement" in a February 2013 article. Franklin received DonorTrust's second-largest donation in 2011.

The Franklin Center also receives funding from the Wisconsin-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, a conservative grant-making organization.

The Franklin Center was launched by the Chicago-based Sam Adams Alliance (SAM), a 501(c)(3) devoted to pushing free-market ideals. SAM gets funding from the State Policy Network, which is partially funded by The Claude R. Lambe Foundation. Charles Koch, one of the billionaire brothers who co-own Koch Industries, sits on the board of this foundation. SAM also receives funding from the Rodney Fund.

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

The Independence Institute has ties to ALEC through membership in "task forces." Barry Poulson, a senior fellow at the institute's Fiscal Policy Center, is an advisor to ALEC's Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force. Mr. Poulson participates in the Public Pension Reform Working Group. He gave a report on their behalf to the task force at the 2011 Annual Meeting.

Another senior fellow, Rob Natelson, is member of the International Relations Task Force. He is listed as an "advisor" to the Federal Relations Working Group on the agenda from the ALEC Nation and State Policy Summit in 2010, where he spoke about convening an Article 5 convention . At ALEC's 38th Annual Meeting in 2011, Natelson gave another presentation to the Federal Relations Working Group titled "Where’s the Line? How States Protect the Constitution," along with Representative Ken Ivory (UT).

Ben DeGrow, a public policy analyst at the Independence Institute, represents the think tank on on ALEC's Education Task Force. He sponsored amendments to ALEC’s “Open Enrollment Act” and gave a presentation entitled “Collective Bargaining Transparency” at the 2010 States and Nation Policy Summit.

The institute also has ties to ALEC through its membership with the State Policy Network which itself is a member of ALEC.

Please see SPN Ties to ALEC for more.

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.

Personnel

Board of Trustees

• Jon Caldara, President
• Jeffrey Coors
• Joseph Ignat, Treasurer
• Mike McCarty
• Catherine Shopneck, Chairman
• Joseph Smith
• Katherine Whitcomb, Secretary
• James MacDougald, Honorary Life Trustee

Staff

• Jay Ambrose, Contributing Columnist
• Pam Benigno, Education Policy Center Director
• Christina "CJ" James Buchanan, Development
• Jon Caldara, President
• Ben DeGrow, Policy analyst, Education Policy Center
• Marya DeGrow, Research Associate, Education Policy Center
• Joanne D. Eisen, Senior Fellow, Criminal Justice
• Susan Evans, Director of Major Gifts
• Barry Fagin, Senior Fellow, Technology
• Paul Gallant, Senior Fellow, Criminal Justice
• Raaki Garcia-Ulam, Hispanic outreach coordinator, School Choice for Kids
• Linda Gorman, Health Care Policy Center Director
• J. Craig Green, Senior Fellow, Water Policy
• Mark Hillman, Senior Fellow, Fiscal Policy Center
• Fred Holden, Senior Fellow, Fiscal Policy Center
• Krista Kafer, Senior Fellow, Education Policy Center
• Dave Kopel, Research Director & Second Amendment Project Director
• Mike Krause, Vice President of Operations & Justice Policy Center Director
• Kait Lochner, Assistant to the Vice President of Operations
• Justin Longo, Web Master
• Mary MacFarlane, Development Associate
• Julie Mallon, Vice President of Development
• [[Rob Natelson}}, Senior Fellow, Constitutional Jurisprudence
• Amy Oliver, Energy Policy Center Director
• Randal O'Toole, Center for the American Dream Director
• Penn Pfiffner, Fiscal Policy Center Director
• Dennis Polhill, Senior Fellow, Public Infrastructure
• Barry Poulson, Senior Fellow, Fiscal Policy Center
• Paul Prentice, Senior Fellow, Fiscal Policy Center
• Cherish Shaffer, Intern Coordinator
• Brian Schwartz, Research Associate, Health Care Policy Center
• Todd Shepherd, Investigative Reporter
• Tracy Smith, Graphic Designer
• William Yeatman, Policy Anaylst, Energy Policy Center
• Karen Zuppa, Accountant

Notable Former Associates

• Gale Norton - Secretary of the Interior. Former Senior Fellow and Board Member of the Independence Institute.
• Donald Hodel - Secretary of the Interior, 1985-1989. Former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Independence Institute.
• Tom Tancredo - Sixth Congressional District of Colorado. Former President of the Independence Institute.
• John Andrews - Colorado State Senate Minority Leader and founder of the Independence Institute.
• Rob Fairbank - Colorado House Republican Caucus Chair Third-ranking Republican in the Colorado House. Former Office Director.
• Shawn Mitchell - Colorado State Representative - Chair, House Information and Technology Committee. Former Senior Fellow.
• Ted Harvey - Colorado State Representative - Former Office Director.
• Rick Grice - Director Governor's Office of Energy Management and Conservation. Former Senior Fellow
• Jack McCroskey - Regional Transportation District Director. Former Senior Fellow.
• Paul Danish - Boulder County Commissioner. Former Senior Fellow.
• Bruce Benson - Republican nominee for Governor of Colorado, 1994. Former Board member.
• Mike Rosen - News Radio 850 KOA talk show host and newspaper columnist. Former Board Member.
• Greg Bledsoe - Colorado Counties. Legislative Liaison for agricultural, wildlife and rural affairs issues
• Wendell Cox

Core Financials

2011:

• Total Revenue: $1,965,509
• Total Expenses: $1,963,635
• Net Assets: $2,417,013

2010:

• Total Revenue: $1,965,509
• Total Expenses: $1,963,635
• Net Assets: $2,417,013

2009:

• Total Revenue: $1,469,690
• Total Expenses: $1,527,047
• Net Assets: $2,403,353

Contact

Web site: http://www.i2i.org

Independence Institute
13952 Denver West Parkway, Suite 400
Golden, CO 80401
Phone: (303) 279-6536

Articles and Resources

Sourcewatch resources

• State Policy Network:
  • SPN Funding
  • SPN Agenda
  • SPN Founders, History, and Staff
  • SPN Members
  • SPN Ties to ALEC
  • Thomas A. Roe
  • Tracie Sharp
  • Byron S. Lamm
  • Roe Foundation
• American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)
  • ALEC Non-Profits
• DonorsTrust
• Donors Capital Fund
• Koch Family Foundations
• Koch Industries
• Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity
• Heritage Foundation
• Think tanks
• Whitney Ball
• Adam Meyerson
• Bridgett Wagner

External resources

• Center for Media and Democracy and Arizona Working Families, A Reporter’s Guide to the Goldwater Institute: What Citizens, Policymakers, and Reporters Should Know, organizational report, March 14, 2013.
• Paul Abowd, Center for Public Integrity, Donors use charity to push free-market policies in states, Consider the Source, February 14, 2013.
• John R. Mashey, Fake science, fakexperts, funny finances, free of tax 2, DeSmog Blog report, updated October 23, 2012, p. 74.
• Andy Kroll, The Right-Wing Network Behind the War on Unions, Mother Jones, April 25, 2011.
• Guidestar, State Policy Network, IRS filings and other organizational information about SPN.
• Center for Policy Alternatives, ALEC and the Extreme Right-Wing Agenda, organizational brochure about ALEC and SPN.
• John J. Miller, Fifty Flowers Bloom: Conservative think tanks — mini–Heritage Foundations — at the state level, National Review, November 19, 2007.
• Bridge Project, State Policy Network, online resource listing grants to SPN and SPN's connections to other groups.
• People for the American Way, State Policy Network, RightWingWatch.org, organizational resource.
• Greenpeace, Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Group: State Policy Network (SPN), organizational resource.