Talk:MacIver Institute

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The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy is a Wisconsin-based think tank and a member of the State Policy Network (SPN). According to its website, the MacIver Institute promotes free markets, individual freedom, personal responsibility, and limited government.[1][2] According to One Wisconsin Now, the MacIver Institute is

"a pro-corporate organization founded in 2009 to advance conservative ideas and values. . . Its top staff [are] long-time Republican campaign strategists and its board of directors includes leading Republicans, most notably Mark Block, the head of Americans for Prosperity-WI[;] Fred Lubar, deep-pocketed Republican donor[;] and Jim Troupis, lawyer to leading Republicans such as Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen and ethically-challenged Supreme Court Justices Mike Gableman and Annette Ziegler.[3]

MacIver operates the web site WisconsinOpenGov.org, which it says “provides you with one location for data on Wisconsin public employee salaries, benefits and labor contracts. We have worked hard to not just allow 'access' the way many government information sites do, but to give you all of the data in a format that allows you to select and sort the information as you see fit.”[4]

Koch Wiki

Charles Koch is the right-wing billionaire owner of Koch Industries. As one of the richest people in the world, he is a key funder of the right-wing infrastructure, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN). In SourceWatch, key articles on Charles Koch and his late brother David include: Koch Brothers, Americans for Prosperity, Stand Together Chamber of Commerce, Stand Together, Koch Family Foundations, Koch Universities, and I360.

Ties to the Koch Brothers

ThinkProgress reported that the MacIver Institute has numerous ties to the billionaire Koch Brothers, co-owners of Koch Industries, which has numerous business interests in Wisconsin. ThinkProgress writes that

"Mark Block, the Americans for Prosperity Wisconsin state director and a key figure in the alleged voter suppression plot, sits on MacIver’s board of directors. MacIver and AFP Wisconsin also share two other board members, David Fettig and Fred Luber. MacIver also works closely with AFP Wisconsin as part of the Wisconsin Prosperity Network, along with another group with ties to Koch funding, American Majority. The think tank also participates in the Koch-funded Institute for Humane Studies’ Koch Summer Fellows Program and is a member of the Koch-funded State Policy Network."[5]

The MacIver institute teamed up with the Koch network group Americans for Prosperity to purchase $700,000 worth of television ads in Wisconsin in 2011 and 2012.

MacIver: An ALEC Ally in Wisconsin

Pro-Walker Ad Campaigns Mislead on Job Growth

In 2011-2012, the MacIver Institute teamed up with American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) member Americans for Prosperity to produce a multi-million dollar TV "issue ad" campaign called "It's Working!" in support of Governor Scott Walker. The ad claimed that by eliminating collective bargaining, Walker had "put taxpayers back in control" and praised his record.[6] The MacIver/AFP ads told Wisconsinites that Walker brought thousands of jobs to Wisconsin, but omitted the facts that Wisconsin was ranked 50 out of 50 in the nation in job creation and that the state lost at least 23,900 jobs between March 2011 and March 2012.

Groups registered as 501(c)(3)s can do some lobbying for or against legislation (but not candidates), so long as this is “an insubstantial part” of their overall activities, a threshold the IRS has not clearly defined. Most groups that engage in issue advocacy opt for a different tax status, 501(c)(4), according to Wisconsin journalist Bill Lueders. Lueders characterized the ad campaign's legality as "close to the line."[7]

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In April 2013, MacIver again published misleading information regarding Wisconsin job growth under Walker, claiming greater job growth than even Walker himself had reported. The piece, titled "Gov. Scott Walker More than Halfway to 250,000 Jobs Goal", claimed that 137,372 jobs had been created since Walker took office.[8] The non-partisan fact-checking organization PolitiFact gives this claim "Pants on Fire" status, showing that their conclusions are severely flawed on several levels.[9] First, the MacIver report uses partial years in their calculation, a method which is known to be an extremely poor measure of trends because of seasonal job market fluctuation. Secondly, the MacIver report does not account for the existing jobs at the start of Walker's term, which consequently inflatedly the number by 65,401 jobs that should not have been included. Reports from the Capital Times and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel estimate that the true number of jobs created from January 2011 to February 2013 was closer to 64,500.[10]

MacIver Pushes for Right-to-Work

On November 24, 2010, just weeks after Walker was elected governor, the MacIver Institute published an editorial by Brian Fraley calling for the newly-elected governor and legislature to repeal public sector collective bargaining and make Wisconsin a “Right to Work” state. Walker never mentioned attacking collective bargaining rights during the campaign. The editorial was published two weeks before Walker first raised the subject publicly at a Milwaukee Press Club luncheon.

Fraley was MacIver’s Director of Communications and the former private sector co-chair of ALEC’s Health and Human Services Task Force.

The MacIver Institute is a member of the State Policy Network (SPN), which is actively involved in ALEC.[11] 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 ExposedbyCMD.org site.

Ties to the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity

The MacIver Institute has hosted 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.[12] The Franklin Center funds reporters in over 40 states.[13] Despite their non-partisan description, many of the websites funded by the Franklin Center have received criticism for their conservative bias.[14][15] On its website, the Franklin Center claims it "provides 10 percent of all daily reporting from state capitals nationwide."[16]

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).[17] Mother Jones called DonorsTrust "the dark-money ATM of the conservative movement" in a February 2013 article.[18] Franklin received DonorTrust's second-largest donation in 2011.[17]

The Franklin Center also receives funding from the Wisconsin-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation,[19] a conservative grant-making organization.[20]

The Franklin Center was launched by the Chicago-based Sam Adams Alliance (SAM),[21] a 501(c)(3) devoted to pushing free-market ideals. SAM gets funding from the State Policy Network,[22] which is partially funded by The Claude R. Lambe Foundation.[23] Charles Koch, one of the billionaire brothers who co-own Koch Industries, sits on the board of this foundation.[24] SAM also receives funding from the Rodney Fund.

MacIver Reporter Fails to Reveal his Identity to Interviewees

Former television reporter Bill Osmulski works for the MacIver Institute. In 2009, he was charged with obtaining interviews with two elected Wisconsin officials under false pretenses by failing to disclose his affiliation with MacIver. Osmulski led the two officials he spoke with to believe he was conducting the interview for a local television station. When asked about the incident, Osmulski claimed he did not reveal his affiliation because the officials did not ask him for it, but Stephen Ward, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Journalism Ethics, said reporters have a duty to disclose their affiliation and the purpose of their interview prior to conducting the interview. "You should be open about all your affiliations in advance," Ward said.[25]

Method of Operation and Reporting Irregularities

The MacIver Institute claims to be a news service, but it actually gathers -- and in some cases seems to create -- "news" footage designed to advance a conservative, anti-worker agenda.[26]

Irregularities in the MacIver Institute "Doctor's Note" Video

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The MacIver Institute created a video in which the organization claimed to have caught doctors in white coats in February, 2011 directing Madison, Wisconsin protesters to places where they could obtain absentee excuses for the time they were out of work marching in protest of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's "budget repair" bill.[27] However, irregularities were found in the report. The absentee letters listed the doctor as "Kathy Orton," but no Kathy Orton was found to be listed as a Wisconsin doctor. Also, the contact listed on the doctors notes was "Badgerdoctors@gmail.com," but there was no listing for "Badgerdoctors," which one would presume would be the name of the medical group or association that the "doctors" were from. Usually in protest situations, the final negotiation with employers forgives the days missed for protests, but this information was not mentioned in MacIver's "report." It was also revealed that the videographer who shot the "doctor's note" footage was Christian Hartstock, a friend of the late Andrew Breitbart, who is known for putting misleading videos on his web site, BigGovernment.com.[28][29]

Brett Healy reported on Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com web site on May 4, 2011 that the video "won an award for their reporting of the labor unrest at the State Capitol. MacIver beat out international competition to win the Grand Prize in the ‘Lights Camera, Liberty’ contest, which was presented at The Atlas Experience conference in Dallas, Texas last week. 'We congratulate the leadership and staff of the MacIver Institute for their tremendous achievements in reaching large audiences through video communications and for the critical role they continue to play educating citizens of Wisconsin and the nation,' said Brad Lips, Chief Executive Officer of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation. The award winning video. . . was narrated and produced for the MacIver News Service by investigative reporter Bill Osmulski."[30]

MacIver Suggests GAB Would Include Invalid Recall Signatures

‘The Capital Times’ reported that the MacIver Institute suggested that the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) would deem recall signatures from “Mickey Mouse” or “Hitler” to be valid when counting signatures signed to recall Wis. Gov Scott Walker. The GAB made it clear that it would review petitions with an eye toward disqualifying false or inappropriate signatures. Additionally, a judge defined parameters for the review process.[31]

Critics Claim that John MacIver Would Not Approve

'The Capitol Times' reported that the institute that is named for John MacIver "appears to be taking its lead from hyper-partisan out-of-state interests that have little interest in Wisconsin’s civic -- and civil -- traditions. That’s not the way John MacIver, an old-school Wisconsin Republican whose memory we well regard, operated." MacIver was a Milwaukee lawyer and political campaigner who played an important role in electing moderate leaders such as former Governor Warren Knowles. He was a classic mainstream Republican, with close ties to Tommy Thompson and George H.W. Bush. MacIver was a UW-Madison graduate who was always active in civic and state affairs; he frequently served on boards and commissions. And he is well recalled for his work with Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, to create Wisconsin’s Commission on Judicial Elections and Ethics. "[MacIver] would be shocked by what is being done in his name," said the Capitol Times.[31]

Background

According to the Eye on Wisconsin blog, the domain name maciverinstitute.com was privately registered in December, 2008, "with no one willing to lay public claim to the new org[anization]."[32]

Personnel

As of June 2014:[33]

Board

Former Board Members

  • Carl Kuehne of Green Bay (Secretary of the Green Bay Packers and a member of its Executive Committee)[34]

Other Staff

As of June 2014:[35]

News and Controversies Related to MacIver Staff

Scott Jensen

Eye on Wisconsin discovered that former Republican Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen had written press releases for the MacIver Institute, even though his name was not on the releases and the Institute denied that Jensen is formally involved with the organization. Jensen's authorship of the releases can be discovered by accessing one of the organization's press releases, right-clicking on it and observing the document properties (e.g. "Author:Scott Jensen"). Jensen also authored a PowerPoint presentation on the Institute's web site.

Jensen was the subject of an eight-year criminal case for misconduct while he was in office in Wisconsin. The case concluded in December, 2010 after Jensen agreed to pay a $5,000 civil forfeiture fine and reimburse the state of Wisconsin $67,174 in legal fees initially borne by taxpayers, according to a plea deal. Waukesha County Circuit Judge Patrick L. Snyder found Jensen guilty of an ethics code violation related to his using his government position for illegal gain. Felony charges against Jensen were dropped under the deal.

Jensen also has a 2006 misdemeanor conviction in Dane County for violating the public trust. In 2002, Jensen (along with other GOP leaders in the State Assembly) was charged with using taxpayer dollars to run a secret, illegal campaign machine out of the Capitol.[38][39]

Brett Healy

Brett Healy, the president of MacIver, worked for Scott Jensen for 12 years and was Jensen's Chief of Staff during the time Jensen was brought up on criminal charges.[40][41] During Jensen's trial, Healy contradicted testimony offered by two staffers he supervised, Leigh (Himebauch) Searl and Carrie (Hoeper) Richard -- that Jensen was fully aware of the campaign work they and others did on behalf of Taxpayers for Jensen while at the office. In testimony given prior Healy's in the trial, Leigh (Himebauch) Searl said that for four months in 2000, she worked on Jensen's campaign while drawing a state salary and occupying an office at the Republican Party of Wisconsin. Healy testified that he was unaware of that arrangement. Healy went on to become a lobbyist for School Choice Wisconsin in Milwaukee. [42]

Nick Novak

Nick Novak, MacIver's Director of Communications, was previously a regional field manager for the Republican National Committee, director of operations for Eric Hovde's 2012 U.S. Senate campaign, external relations coordinator for Governor Scott Walker.[43] Former Directors of Communications have included Sean Lansing, Press Secretary for Governor Bobby Jindal (R-Louisiana) as of February 2012, and Brian Fraley, who served as the Senior Vice President for State Affairs at America's Health Insurance Plans in Washington, D.C. Fraley was also the national Health and Human Services Task Force Private Sector Chairman for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).[44]

Mark Block

The Institute's former treasurer, Mark Block, was State Director of the Wisconsin chapter of Americans for Prosperity. Block was banned from politics and fined $15,000 for participating in an illegal scheme in the campaign of Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Jon Wilcox. Block served as Wilcox's campaign manager. Block illegally coordinated $200,000 worth of campaign activity with a group that pretended to be operating independently. The person who ran that "independent" group was fined $35,000 and was also banned from Wisconsin state politics for five years. Justice Wilcox also paid a $10,000 fine. The fines were the largest ever assessed against a campaign in Wisconsin's history[45][46][47]

James Troupis

Board member James Troupis is a Republican lawyer-for-hire who has been tied up with the gerrymandering scandal. He has worked for Wisconsin State Supreme Court’s David Prosser, Michael Gableman, and Anette Ziegler. Troupis was also the legal mastermind behind Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s decision to issue arrest warrants to the 14 Democrat senators who left the state of Wisconsin to in opposition to Walker’s "Collective Bargaining Bill."[48]

Bill Klauser and Michael Grebe

Other prominent Wisconsin Republican operatives connected to the organization include Bill Klauser, a top administrator for Governor Tommy Thompson, and Michael Grebe, head of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.[49]

Funding

The MacIver Institute receives funding from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and has reportedly received $300,000 from them from 2008-2010 to support general operations.[50][51]

Core Financials

2012[52]
For the period July 1, 2012-June 30, 2013

  • Total Revenue: $509,474
  • Total Expenses: $528,194
  • Net Assets: $387,684

2011[53]
For the period July 1, 2011-June 30, 2012

  • Total Revenue: $632,359
  • Total Expenses: $504,410
  • Net Assets: $406,404

2010[54]:
For the period July 1, 2010-June 30, 2011

  • Total Revenue: $404,334.00
  • Total Expenses: $496,830.00
  • Net Assets: $278,455.00

2009[55]:

  • Total Revenue: $584,944.00
  • Total Expenses: $384,756.00
  • Net Assets: $370,951.00

Contact

Brett Healy, President
44 East Mifflin Street, Suite 201
Madison, WI 53703
Phone: (608) 588-6477

Articles and Resources

Related Sourcewatch Resources

Related PRWatch Articles

External Resources

References

  1. MacIver Institute About, organizational web page, accessed March 11, 2011.
  2. MacIver Institute, State Budget, organizational "news service" web site, accessed March 10, 2011.
  3. Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now, Progressive Alert: MacIver Institute's Phony 'Reporting', organizational blog, January 8, 2010.
  4. Beverly Betula, Bev Betula: Wisconsin Open Government, Wisconsin Law Journal (blog), March 8, 2011.
  5. Josh Dorner Koch-Backed Groups Helped Kill Law Designed To Prevent Voter Suppression Plot Hatched By Koch-Backed Groups ThinkProgress.org, September 22, 2010
  6. Eric Kleefeld, "Koch-Backed Americans For Prosperity Puts $700,000 Into Wisconsin," Talking Points Memo, February 22, 2012.
  7. Bill Lueders, "Ad Campaign comes close to the line", Inside Milwaukee blog, December 2011.
  8. Gov. Scott Walker More than Halfway to 250,000 Jobs Goal, Brett Healy, MacIver Institute, April 9, 2013.
  9. MacIver Institute Says Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is More Than Halfway to Goal of Creating 250,000 Private Sector Jobs, James B. Nelson, Politifact, April 17, 2013.
  10. MacIver Institute Ideologues Manage to Turn Lemonade Into Lemons, Mary Bottari, PRWatch, April 18, 2013.
  11. Center for Media and Democracy, ALEC Exposed in Wisconsin: The Hijacking of a State, organizational report, May 2012.
  12. Franklin Center, Franklin Affiliates in Your State, organizational website, accessed October 2012.
  13. The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, Think tank Journalism: The Future of Investigative Journalism, organizational website, accessed August 19, 2011.
  14. Rebekah Metzler, "Watchdog" website puts a new spin on politics, The Portland Press Herald, October 2, 2010.
  15. Allison Kilkenny, The Koch Spider Web, Truthout, accessed August 19, 2011.
  16. Sara Jerving, Franklin Center: Right-Wing Funds State News Source, PRWatch.org, October 27, 2011.
  17. 17.0 17.1 Paul Abowd, Center for Public Integrity, Donors use charity to push free-market policies in states, organizational report, February 14, 2013.
  18. Andy Kroll, Exposed: The Dark-Money ATM of the Conservative Movement, Mother Jones, February 5, 2013.
  19. Daniel Bice, Franklin Center boss wants apology from Democratic staffer, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 8, 2011.
  20. The Bradley Foundation. The Bradley Foundation. Organizational website. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  21. Sam Adams Alliance. Sam Adams Alliance Media Kit. Organizational PDF. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  22. Media Matters Action Network. Sam Adams Alliance. Conservative Transparency. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  23. Media Matters Action Network. State Policy Network. Conservative Transparency. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  24. Media Matters Action Network. Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation. Conservative Transparency. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  25. Jason Stein Claims of misrepresentation in reporter's first MacIver story, Wisconsin State Journal, September 5, 2009.
  26. Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now, Progressive Alert: MacIver Institute's Phony 'Reporting', organizational blog, January 8, 2010.
  27. Tom Held, Doctor's excuses for protesting teachers in Madison draws scrutiny, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, February 21, 2011.
  28. Karoli Wisconsin Protesters Breitbarted Over Bogus Teachers' Excuses, Crooks and Liars, February 19, 2011
  29. Priscilla Fox News Gets Punked By Breitbart Pal?, NewsHounds, February 20, 2011
  30. Brett Healy, MacIver’s Fake Doctors’ Notes Video Report Garners Atlas Award, Andrew Breitbart presents Big Government (blog), May 4, 2011.
  31. 31.0 31.1 John Maciver Would not Approve of the Distortions being Made in His Name, Capital Times editorial, January 21, 2012.
  32. Cory Liebmann, Introducing the Scott Jensen Chain Gang, Eye on Wisconsin (blog), March 4, 2009.
  33. MacIver Institute, About, organizational website, accessed June 19, 2014.
  34. MacIver Institute About Board Members, organizational web page, accessed March 15, 2011
  35. MacIver Institute, Contact Us, organizational website, accessed June 19, 2014.
  36. Greg Forster, Christian D'Andrea, Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, Empirical Issues in the State: An Empirical Evaluation of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, organizational report, August 2009.
  37. The Foundation for Educational Choice, Milton Friedman bio, organizational website, accessed March 15, 2011.
  38. Mike Johnson and Jason Stein, Jensen settles misconduct case; felonies dropped; He is likely barred from running for office, must pay fine, court costs, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 20, 2010.
  39. Democratic Party of Wisconsin, EXPOSED: Indicted Felon Scott Jensen Crafting Message for MacIver Institute: MacIver Institute Caught Lying to Public About Jensen’s Role, Documents Show, political party website, March 16, 2009.
  40. Cary Liebmann What MacIver Forgot to Mention Today, Eye on Wisconsin (blog) March 13, 2009
  41. Greg Bump Healy Next on the Stand, WisPolitics.com, WisCourtWatch (blog), March 6, 2006
  42. Dee J. Hall Jensen Didn't Know, 3 suggest Aides Testify as Defense Starts its Presentation, Madison.com, March 7, 2006
  43. Nick Novak, Nick Novak, LinkedIn.com career profile, accessed March 2013.
  44. Brian Fraley, MacIver Institute Hires Fraley to Lead Communications Efforts, Press release, April 22, 2009
  45. xoff, Block, Nixon are not convicted crooks, Uppity Wisconsin (blog), June 14, 2010.
  46. The XOff Files, Being a married heterosexual means never having to say your partner's guilty, blog, July 12, 2006.
  47. Xoff, New anti-tax group features familiar face, blog, February 17, 2006.
  48. MacIver Institute, Anything but a News Service, Cognidissidence blog, accessed February 27, 2012.
  49. Cory Liebmann Introducing the Scott Jensen Chain Gang, Eye on Wisconsin blog, February 28, 2012.
  50. Lee Fang, How John Birch Society Extremism Never Dies: The Fortune Behind Scott Walker’s Union-Busting Campaign, ThinkProgress, February 21, 2011.
  51. Media Matters Action Network, Conservative Foundations/Funders/The_Lynde_and_Harry_Bradley_Foundation List of Fund Recipients, accessed March 15, 2011.
  52. MacIver Institute, [1] IRS Form 990], organizational tax filing, December 12, 2013. Accessed June 19, 2014
  53. MacIver Institute, IRS Form 990, organizational tax filing, January 7, 2013.
  54. MacIver Institute, IRS form 990, 2010. GuideStar.
  55. MacIver Institute, IRS form 990, 2009. GuideStar.