James Madison Institute

Learn more about corporations VOTING to rewrite our laws.

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

James Madison Institute is a Florida-based think tank that describes its mission as "to keep the citizens of Florida informed about their government and to shape our state's future through the advancement of practical free-market ideas on public policy issues."

The think tank was founded in 1987. It is a member of the State Policy Network.

Ties to the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity

The James Madison 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 JMI has ties to ALEC through a member of its Research Advisory Council, James M. Taylor, also of the Heartland Institute. Mr. Taylor is involved with the ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force as a frequent guest speaker.

JMI is also a new member of ALEC's Education Task Force.

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.

Funding

In its 2006 annual report the Cato Institute states that it gave a grant of $100,000 to the James Madison Institute.

Personnel

Board of Directors

• Allan G. Bense, Chairman (Former Florida House Speaker)
• J. Stanley Marshall, Vice-Chairman (Founding Chairman of JMI)
• J. Robert McClure III, Ex-Officio (President and CEO of JMI)

• Glen Blauch
• J.F. Bryan
• Charles E. Cobb
• Stan Connally (President and CEO, Gulf Power)
• Rebecca Walter Dunn
• George W. Gibbs III (Chairman and CEO, Atlantic Marine Holding Company)
• Robert H. Gidel Sr.
• L. Charles Hilton Jr., Chairman Emeritus
• John Hrabusa (Senior VP, Human Resources, Publix Super Markets)
• John F. Kirtley (Co-founder, FCP Investors)
• Fred Leonhardt
• Thomas K. Sittema
• Jeffrey V. Swain (Owner, Performance Video)

Research Advisory Council

• Dr. Susan Aud, Research Associate, Milton and Rose Friedman Foundation
• Dr. Michael Bond, Senior Lecturer, Department of Finance, University of Arizona
• Dr. Marshall DeRosa, Professor of Political Science, Florida Atlantic University
• Dr. Thomas DiBacco, Professor Emeritus of History, [[American University
• Dr. Dino Falaschetti, Executive Director, Property & Environment Research Center]]
• Dr. James Gwartney, Professor of Economics, Florida State University
• Dr. Bradley K. Hobbs, Professor of Free Enterprise, Florida Gulf Coast University
• Dr. Randall Holcombe, Professor of Economics, Florida State University
• Dr. Barry Poulson, Professor of Economics, University of Colorado
• J.B. Ruhl, J.D., Professor of Law, Florida State University College of Law
• Peter Schweizer, Author and Speaker
• James M. Taylor, J.D., Senior Fellow of Environmental Policy, Heartland Institute

Core Financials

2010:

• Total Revenue: $1,785,368
• Total Expenses: $1,107,183
• Net Assets: $1,089,392

2009:

• Total Revenue: $909,458
• Total Expenses: $874,987
• Net Assets: $411,208

Contact Details

P.O Box 37460,
Tallahassee, Florida 32315
Phone: (850) 386-3131
Toll-free (866) 340-3131
Fax: (850) 386-1807
Email: jmi AT jamesmadison.org
Website: http://www.jamesmadison.org

Articles and Resources

Related SourceWatch Articles

• 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

Related PRWatch Articles

• Rebekah Wilce, A Reporters’ Guide to the "State Policy Network": the Right-Wing Think Tanks Spinning Disinformation and Pushing the ALEC Agenda in the States, PRWatch.org, April 4, 2013.
• Sara Jerving, ALEC and Heartland Aim to Crush Renewable Energy Standards in the States, PRWatch.org, November 27, 2012.
• Connor Gibson, Meet the Network Hiding the Koch Money: "Donors Trust" and "Donors Capital Fund", PRWatch.org, October 29, 2012.
• Brendan Fischer, Koch-Funded Mackinac Center Brings Wisconsin Act 10 Provisions to ALEC, PRWatch.org, May 2, 2012.
• Sara Jerving, Franklin Center: Right-Wing Funds State News Source, PRWatch.org, October 31, 2011.

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.

References

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