Republican Attorneys General Dark Money Group Organized Protest Preceding Capitol Mob Attack

This report has been updated on January 11, 2021 to include a new statement issued to reporters by RAGA and new information about RAGA appearing on MarchtoSaveAmerica.com.

The Rule of Law Defense Fund (RLDF), a 501(c)(4) arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), helped organize the protest preceding the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol that took place on January 6, 2021. 

As a 501(c)(4), RLDF is not required to reveal its donors. RLDF has received at least $175,000 from the Koch-backed Freedom Partners. Other RLDF donors include Judicial Crisis Network, the Rule of Law Project, and the Edison Electric Institute.

RAGA is a 527 political organization that helps elect Republican attorneys general and can accept unlimited contributions from wealthy individuals and corporations. As previously reported by Documented, RAGA received significant funding from numerous corporations in 2020, including Koch Industries ($375k), Comcast Corporation ($200k), Walmart ($140k), Home Depot ($125k), Amazon ($100k), TikTok ($75k), 1-800 Contacts ($51k), Chevron ($50k), The National Rifle Association ($50k), Monsanto ($50k), Facebook ($50k), Fox Corporation ($50k), Uber ($50k), Coca Cola ($50k), Exxon ($50k), and Google ($25k). 

RLDF appeared in a list of groups “Participating in the March to Save America” on the March to Save America website alongside entities including Stop the Steal, Turning Point Action, Tea Party Patriots and others. (MarchtoSaveAmerica.com has been taken down but an archived version of the website can be accessed through the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.)

RLDF also sent out a robocall detailing where and when the protest would take place. 

“I’m calling for the Rule of Law Defense Fund with an important message,” the robocall stated. “The march to save America is tomorrow in Washington D.C. at the Ellipse in President’s Park between E St. and Constitution Avenue on the south side of the White House, with doors opening at 7:00 a.m. At 1:00 p.m., we will march to the Capitol building and call on congress to stop the steal. We are hoping patriots like you will join us to continue to fight to protect the integrity of our elections. For more information, visit MarchtoSaveAmerica.com. This call is paid for and authorized by the Rule of Law Defense Fund, 202-796-5838.” 

RLDF’s role in organizing the protests, which turned into a violent mob attack inside the Capitol, is ironic given its 2020 election campaign warning of “lawless liberal mobs” burning down buildings and committing violence. The campaign, dubbed “Lawless Liberals”, came in the aftermath of the largely peaceful protests following the murder of George Floyd by police and the shooting of Jacob Blake. 

“The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA)’s five-month Lawless Liberals video campaign repeatedly warned Americans about the dangerous reality of lawless liberals run amok in cities across the country,” RAGA said in a statement. 

Republican attorneys general have been heavily involved in efforts to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election. Shortly after Joe Biden was declared the winner, Republican attorneys general filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court that sought to reject some mailed ballots in the state of Pennsylvania. Republican attorney general Ken Paxton–who has been embroiled in bribery, abuse of office and other criminal allegations–filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Supreme Court regarding four battleground states and alleging unconstitutional changes to their voting laws before the 2020 election. Prior to the protests, Paxton appeared on Fox News and said he hoped to be at both rallies. 

RAGA and Republican attorneys general issued statements denouncing the violence. “The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) and the Republican attorneys general (AGs) stand together to condemn the violence, destruction, and rampant lawlessness occurring at the U.S. Capitol today. These actions are an affront to the rule of law, our Constitution, and our American political discourse.”

After Documented published the robocall, RAGA issued a statement to reporters: “Republican Attorneys General Association and Rule of Law Defense Fund had no involvement in the planning, sponsoring, or the organization of Wednesday’s event.”

The Democratic Attorneys General Association revealed in a tweet RAGA originally appeared on the March to Save America website under “Coalition Partners”. The website later took out RAGA and put in the Rule of Law Defense Fund under “Participating in the March to Save America”.

Weapons, Tobacco Makers, Koch Group Are Among Newest ALEC members

A weapons manufacturer (Raytheon), a tobacco and e-cigarette maker (ITG Brands), a soft drinks bottling company (CocaCola Consolidated), and the new arm of the Koch political network (Stand Together), are among a set of newly revealed members of the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The names are included in a list distributed to attendees of ALEC’s States and Nation Policy Summit (SNPS), taking place virtually this week from December 2-4 , and obtained by Documented.

The list included conference registration types, which noted whether each attendee is a member of ALEC. A searchable list is below.

ALEC claims to have “more than 2,000” legislative members. Out of a total of 7,383 in the entire country that is a sizable number. But it refuses to reveal their names – *spoiler alert* they are overwhelmingly Republican.

ALEC also boasts of having “nearly 300 corporate and private foundation members.” There is no way of accurately verifying this number, because again ALEC refuses to name names. The group has faced waves of criticism over the past decade, including for the role it played in promoting harsh sentencing laws, Stand Your Ground legislation, Voter ID laws, and climate change denial. Progressive groups, including Color of Change, Common Cause, People for the American Way and others, have targeted ALEC donors and challenged them to end their funding. As a result, major corporations like McDonalds, Google, Walmart, Facebook, even ExxonMobil, have quit the group.

Because ALEC doesn’t reveal these names, it’s left up to others (like Documented) to dig and report on who our elected officials are meeting with. This isn’t the first list that Documented has revealed ALEC attendee and membership lists. Here are some previous lists:

Dozens Of ALEC Members Revealed in Emails Obtained by Documented Using the Florida Sunshine Law
Posted on December 19, 2019

Revealed: ALEC Meeting Registration List, State Legislators in the Minority, Many States Unrepresented
Posted on December 6, 2019

ALEC Energy Task Force Members Uncovered
Posted on September 27, 2019

Revealed: ALEC Annual Meeting Attendees. List Includes Trump Administration and 2020 Campaign Officials
Posted on August 19, 2019

New ALEC Membership List Names More Legislators Tied to the Group
Posted on June 6, 2019

Revealed: Names of ALEC Lobbyist and Legislator Members
Posted on March 8, 2018

The names of the 2020 SNPS ALEC meeting corporate sponsors were also obtained by Documented. They are:

  • Raytheon Technologies
  • NetChoice
  • KnowWho
  • Coca-Cola Consolidated
  • McShane
  • EdChoice
  • PhRMA
  • The International Franchise Association

The membership and sponsorship of Coca-Cola Consolidated is significant because Coca-Cola Company had quit ALEC in 2012, shortly after a boycott campaign was announced by Color of Change against the soft drink company. CocaCola Consolidated is a legally separate company from Coca-Cola Company, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina and is the largest independent Coca-Cola bottler in the U.S.. Coca-Cola Company owns about 35% of the shares in Coca-Cola Consolidated.

Similarly, weapons manafacturer Raytheon had previously distanced itself from ALEC, telling Walden Asset Management in 2014 that it had ended its support.

ITG Brands is a subsidiary of UK tobacco company Imperial Brands, and owns a number of US cigarette brands including Winston Cigarettes, Dutch Masters cigars, and the e-cigarette brand Blu.

The Koch network organization Stand Together has attended ALEC meetings in the past, but this is the first confirmation that the group has formally joined as an ALEC member. Stand Together is the re-branded group that now coordinates the various entities of the Koch network, including Americans for Prosperity, and both the Charles Koch Institute and Foundation. This network is one of the largest financial backers of ALEC, and staff from its various groups often outnumber other organizations at ALEC meetings. In 2019, Documented revealed 69 staff from Koch organizations at one ALEC meeting.

Here is the full list for the ALEC 2020 SNPS meeting:

Photo of Winston Cigarettes in Istanbul Duty Free by edkohler. Used under Creative Commons license.

Updated on December 2, 2020 to reflect the additional sponsorship of the International Franchise Association.

Republican Attorneys General are helping Trump legal efforts to undermine election. Here are the corporations that fund their election campaigns

A group of ten state republican attorneys general filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, seeking to force the rejection of some mailed ballots in the state of Pennsylvania. The filing was announced by Louisiana’s Attorney General, Jeff Landry, at an event organized by the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA). The move is a clear and obvious attempt to help Donald Trump spread disinformation about the election result.

Prior to the election, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had ruled that ballots postmarked by election day could still be counted provided they were received within 3 days. The extension was given by the court because of the disruption caused by the pandemic, as well as problems within the US Postal Service in getting mail delivered on time. The intent was clearly to stop voters in Pennsylvania being disenfranchised.

The ten republican attorneys general are from the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas.

Republican state attorneys general are backed by the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), which spends millions every election cycle to help fuel their campaigns. Documented has compiled the donors to RAGA so far in 2020, see below. The largest donor of all is the Concord Fund, previously known as the Judicial Crisis Network, which has given $2.75m. Concord/JCN is best known as the group that pushed Justices Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett on to the Supreme Court.

RAGA has been spreading misinformation about problems at the polls since election day. The group claimed on twitter that Republican volunteers were locked out of the ballot count in Detroit, Michigan, a claim that distorted reality and gave the impression that something nefarious was going on inside. According to USA Today:

Earlier in the day, 268 Democratic challengers, 227 Republican challengers and 75 nonpartisan challengers were on the floor. The number of people per party and per independent organization was designated by state law to be no more than 134, the same as the number of absent voter counting boards set up to process and count ballots.

“We were well over the 134 maximum,” explained Lawrence Garcia, the city of Detroit’s lead attorney. “In the haste of doing business, nobody noticed that until it was over 200 for each party, and at that point, we said, we better stop admitting people until some people leave, and we’re under the 134 number.”

There are many household names among the RAGA 2020 donor list, including Koch Industries ($375k), Comcast Corporation ($200k), Walmart ($140k), Home Depot ($125k), Amazon ($100k), TikTok ($75k), 1-800 Contacts ($51k), Chevron ($50k), The National Rifle Association ($50k), Monsanto ($50k), Facebook ($50k), Fox Corporation ($50k), Uber ($50k), Coca Cola ($50k), Exxon ($50k), and Google ($25k). For the full searchable list, see below.

RAGA is holding its post-election meeting in Orlando, Florida this week. According to an invitation obtained by Documented, the meeting will feature sessions today about “the future of the judiciary, congressional overreach, and federalism and the role of state attorneys general.” 

Image used under Creative Common, by Kyle Tsui

Newly Surfaced Recording Reveals ALEC and GOP Election Attorneys Working with State Legislators to Question Validity of Election

The revelations were presented during a February 2020 Council for National Policy strategy session about elections.

American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) CEO Lisa Nelson told a room full of conservative activists that ALEC had been working with three GOP attorneys on “action items that legislators can take to question the validity of an election.” The comments were made during a strategy session about elections at the Council for National Policy in February 2020. 

Nelson, who runs the legally non-partisan charity (ALEC) and is a member of CNP, told the group, “obviously we all want President Trump to win and win the national vote. But it’s very clear from all the comments and all the suggestions up front that really what it comes down to is the states and the state legislators.” She added that they’ve been working with former Federal Election Commission (FEC) Member and Heritage Foundation attorney Hans Von Spakovsky, former FEC member Brad Smith, and GOP attorney Cleta Mitchell “trying to identify what are those action items that legislators can take in their states.” 

“They can write a letter to the secretary of state questioning the validity of an election and saying what did happen that night,” Nelson said. “So we are drafting a lot of those things. If you have ideas in that area, let us know and we’ll get those to the state legislators and they can start to kind of exercise their political muscle in that area.”

Documented first reported ALEC created a “process working group” in 2019, chaired by Mitchell and Arizona State Rep. Shawnna Bolick, which would address redistricting, ballot measures, and election law. The secretive group does not appear anywhere on ALEC’s website. Ahead of their 2020 annual meeting, ALEC organized an “Election Roundtable” for the process group. “We will have election experts and legislators from over 20 states discussing election policy,” an invitation to the meeting stated.

ALEC has aligned itself closely to the Trump administration since the outcome of the 2016 election. ALEC hosted its 45th anniversary at the Trump International Hotel and officials from the Trump administration and campaign have spoken at its meetings. Vice President Mike Pence spoke with the group in April to “discuss COVID-19, the federal response and getting America back to work.”

The comments are particularly concerning in light of reporting by the Atlantic, which revealed the Trump campaign had floated plans to “bypass election results and appoint loyal electors in battleground states where Republicans hold the legislative majority.” 

According to the meeting agenda, Director of Communications for the Trump campaign Marc Lotter and Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs Paul Teller attended the meeting. 

In partnership with The Intercept, Documented previously reported other comments made during the strategy session, including a presentation by Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of True the Vote, to recruit veterans and first responders to become poll watchers on Election Day. 

CNP members hold several meetings a year where they strategize about their objectives ranging from preventing mail-in ballots to advancing the nominations of conservative federal judges. Documented has obtained 59 recordings from these meetings, which can be viewed here: https://documented.net/2020/10/documented-publishes-internal-videos-from-cnp/

Note: Article updated on October 29, 2020 to reflect an email obtained by Documented detailing plans for the ALEC “process group” to meet during the ALEC Annual Meeting in July 2020.

Documented publishes 59 internal videos from the highly secretive Council for national policy

For almost four decades, the Council for National Policy (CNP) has convened secret organizing meetings for leaders and donors on the right in U.S. politics. The members and meeting attendees include the leaders of groups like the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, Alliance Defending Freedom, the Family Research Council, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and Tea Party Patriots, alongside senior Republican politicians, strategists and activists. Vice President Pence and President Donald Trump have both spoken since 2016, as have Trump administration aides and Trump political campaign senior staff.

The meeting agendas, stamped “confidential”, along with the group’s membership lists and other materials, are highly guarded, and members risk their good standing in the network if they reveal them. Members of the press are not welcome at the events, and participants are warned against revealing anything that is said. Despite this, Documented has obtained and is publishing 59 recordings from inside CNP meetings between 2017 and 2020, providing an insiders perspective on how the right has organized during the Trump administration. Documented is also publishing many other internal CNP materials, including membership brochures spanning 2017 to as recently as September 2020, and a variety of other internal documents, available here.

The CNP mission can broadly be described as being to coordinate actions amongst its membership to push the U.S. to the right culturally and politically. An internal 2016 CNP policy, a copy of which was obtained by Documented, makes clear the secretive nature of these meetings. It reads:

“CNP meetings are off the record. To promote free discussion and a lively exchange of ideas, CNP members may not disclose the source of what is said at a meeting, whether by CNP members, invited guests or speakers.”

“…CNP members may not record, stream, “tweet”, or post on Facebook or via other social media forums, any CNP meetings, events, communications or other content.”

Members who breach the policy risk having their CNP membership revoked.

Below are the 59 recordings from the sessions at CNP meetings obtained by Documented and released together here for the first time. Copies of the meeting agendas, stamped “confidential” and also obtained by Documented, are available here.

To learn more about CNP and its members, see our investigations page.

Previous Reporting

In conjunction with the Intercept, Documented has previously reported on some of these meetings and remarks:

Additionally, the Washington Post published remarks made by Federalist Society’s Leonard Leo from the February 2019 meeting.

New filing shows massive dark money support from Judicial Crisis Network to Republican Attorneys General Association

The Concord Fund (CF), a right-wing dark money group also known as the Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), recently poured nearly $2.1 million into the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), according to a filing made to the IRS this week and reviewed by Documented. The organization exists to promote the confirmation of right-wing judges to the courts, and has committed to spending at least $10m in ads to support the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett.  

The filing, which covers the period between July and the end of September 2020, shows that RAGA received $1.4m of this support late in the period. This happened just a week after President Trump released a new list of possible nominees to the Supreme court that he would consider if a vacancy were to come up. That contribution is dated September 16th, just two days before Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg died. RBG’s ongoing fight with cancer was widely known at the time. It has subsequently been reported that her health took a severe turn earlier that week, after she was hospitalized for a number of days the week before.

RAGA, and many republican attorneys general have been actively promoting Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination. 22 Republican attorneys general, all members of RAGA, sent a letter to members of the Senate on September 30th, urging them to support her confirmation. And RAGA has been promoting a video that it produced, with attorneys general standing before the American flag waxing lyrical about the judge.

RAGA was similarly active in supporting the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh in 2018, a year when it eventually received a total of $3m from JCN.

The Concord Fund/JCN is run by Carrie Severino, a former law clerk of Justice Clarence Thomas. Severino, who became the leader of the group in 2010, is an outspoken opponent of abortion rights, and helped draft legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act.

According to a recent New York Times article, describing a 2019 on-air conversation Severino had with an anti-abortion activist, Severino made clear her motivations in pushing for the confirmation of judges like Amy Coney Barrett. NYT: “To ‘get to our ultimate goal,’ she said, ‘we are going to, in the end, need one more justice.’ “

RAGA spun off from the Republican State Leadership Committee, another corporate-backed 527, in 2014. It immediately began raising large sums from major republican donors to be used to help elect Republican attorneys general. In return for large corporate contributions, it sold private and typically undisclosed access to republican state attorneys general, with the largest contributors getting the most access during the groups annual meetings. In that first year, it received $1.5m in cash from Sheldon Adelson, $2.2m from groups associated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, $215k from Altria, and $125k from Koch Industries. 

But overwhelmingly it has been the Judicial Crisis Network that has made the largest contributions to RAGA each year. According to an analysis by Documented of the organization’s quarterly IRS filings, since 2014 JCN/CF has donated a total of $12.7m. No other entity comes close to that level of support. Since its launch, JCN/CF has given more to RAGA than the next five highest donors combined.

Below is the 2020 Q3 RAGA filing in full:

Photo of President Donald Trump and Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett at a September 26, 2020 ceremony by Andrea Hanks / White House, used under public domain.

Front Group Created by Lobbying Firm Worked Alongside Trump Administration to Gain Support for NEPA Rollbacks from Republican Governors

A campaign dubbed “Building a Better America” worked behind-the-scenes, alongside the Trump Administration, to seek out support from Republican Governors for rolling back the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Building a Better America is a 501(c)(4) entity run by two lobbying firms that share many of its staff, 50-State LLC and GuidePost Strategies, and was formed to support the Trump Administration’s NEPA rollbacks. The group generated more than 496,000 comments supporting the proposed rule, according to an analysis of the language that appears on its website under “Take Action” and the same language that appears in the federal register under the proposed rule.

Building a Better America and Trump Energy Adviser Francis Brooke participated in a February 2020 call requesting support of the proposed rule from Republican Governors through a number of tactics, including submitting comments to the Federal Register. Building a Better America provided draft template letters to submit formal comments and offered to help governors with draft op-eds for local newspapers and to host public events with stakeholders in states.

Documented uncovered these efforts through a number of state public record requests made to Governor offices. Below are some of the highlights of the emails obtained by Documented:

  • The Republican Governors Public Policy Committee (RGPPC), the policy arm of the corporate-backed Republican Governors Association (RGA), hosted a call in February 2020 with Republican Governors’ offices about the proposed NEPA rollback.
  • RGA is a 527 political organization that can accept unlimited contributions from wealthy donors, corporations and lobbyists. Contributions to RGA funds TV ads and mailers that help elect Republican Governors to office. Numerous energy corporations are financial backers of RGA. According to an IRS filing that reported contributions to RGA between January through March 2020, reviewed by Documented, funding to the group includes Koch Industries ($250,000), ConocoPhillips ($75,000), NextEra Energy ($250,000), Ygrene Energy Fund ($100,000), Alliant Energy ($100,000), Xcel Energy ($250,000), American Petroleum Institute ($135,000), WPX Energy ($100,000), Southern Company ($100,000), Marathon Oil ($100,000), and Marathon Petroleum ($400,000).
  •  A “confidential readout” from the call stated Trump Energy Adviser Francis Brooke provided “responses to common criticisms” of the proposed rule and “illustrative examples from states where projects have been slowed or delayed due to NEPA permitting.” Brooke requested Governors submit formal comments to the Federal Register and explained “illustrative examples from states where projects have been slowed or delayed due to NEPA permitting would be helpful in making the regulatory changes as defensible as possible.”
  • During the call, a representative from a lobbyist-run front group called “Building a Better America,” offered “suggested messaging” and told the group they could help governors submit formal comments, draft op-eds for local newspapers and host public events with stakeholders in states. Building a Better America provided confidential talking points on the NEPA rollbacks and wrote draft letters for Republican Governors to use, aimed at amplifying Republican Governors support for the rule. 
  • As a result, Republican Alabama Governor Kay Ivey submitted comments under the rule, borrowing heavily from the language from one of two letters provided to the Republican Governors written by Building a Better America.
  • Additional emails obtained by Documented show within hours of President Donald Trump’s announcement of the rule, 50-State, LLC Vice President Larissa Martin sent nearly identical emails to at least two Republican Governor offices requesting supportive statements about the rule. Martin attached a “confidential” document stamped with the “Building a Better America” logo outlining “benefits” of the proposed rule and describes the coalition as “American workers, job creators, and state and local leaders who understand that better infrastructure means more jobs and a more dynamic, competitive economy.”

The emails and letter submitted by Governor Ivey can be viewed below:

Photo of President Donald Trump’s press conference announcing the NEPA reforms by Shealah Craighead / White House, used under public domain.

Murray Energy CEO to Host Trump Fundraiser

Robert Murray, CEO of the coal company Murray Energy Corporation, will host a private fundraising event for President Trump in Wheeling, West Virginia on July 24, 2019, according to an event invitation obtained by Documented. 

The event has been widely reported. Documented is the first to publish the invitation to the event as well as a letter from Murray to the West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, requesting his participation. The West Virginia MetroNews reported that Governor Justice “intends to be there.”

“The future of the coal industry and our family livelihoods depend on President Trump being re-elected,” the letter states. “All twenty Democrats who have announced that they are running for President against him have, as you know, vowed to eliminate the use of coal. Democrat members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives are currently doing the same.”

Murray Energy Corporation contributed $300,000 to President Trump’s inauguration committee and the Trump administration has provided several wins for the coal industry. Most recently, the EPA finalized the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, which replaced the Obama Administration’s efforts to combat climate change called the Clean Power Plan. 

The event invitation and letter to Governor Justice, which was obtained through a public records request made to the West Virginia’s Governor’s office, can be viewed below and here.


Photograph by Michael Vadon. Used under Creative Commons license.

Oil Refinery Lobbyists Drafted Letter for Governors to Support Rollback in Fuel Standards

The oil refinery lobbying group American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) drafted a joint Governors’ letter “vigorously” supporting the Trump Administration’s proposed rule that would rollback Obama-era Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards and asked for signatures from the Governors of Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas. 

The email correspondence, obtained by Documented through a public records request made to the Mississippi Governor’s office, provide a behind-the-scenes look into AFPM’s efforts to gain support for the Trump Administration’s proposed fuel economy rule from Republican Governors. 

AFPM sent the letter to the Mississippi Governor’s Chief Legal Counsel Whitney Lipscomb in September 2018. 

Documented previously reported that AFPM, with the help of the Republican Governors Association and their policy arm Republican Governors Public Policy Committee, circulated a subsequent joint Governors’ letter to Lipscomb and several other offices in October 2018. Governors from Texas, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota and Oklahoma ultimately signed that letter and it was published in the federal register. Documented also revealed that AFPM had “been shopping around op-ed” to Republican Governors in Wyoming and Nebraska, which would have also showed support for the rule. 

The message obtained by Documented is highlighted in a new report from DeSmog about the latest efforts of the Trump Administration’s efforts to rollback fuel Obama-era standards.

Below is the email correspondence obtained by Documented:

Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Wsiegmund. Used under creative commons license.

Koch-Backed Tech Group Behind Tool Used to Push Union Opt-Out Campaigns

The Lincoln Network, a group started with seed money from the Charles G. Koch Foundation, is behind online technology called “Edunity” that is being deployed to encourage teachers and other public sector union members to leave their unions.

According to an online member update from the State Policy Network (SPN), the tool was designed in “partnership with several SPN member organizations.” SPN is a network of corporate-backed think tanks. Many of the groups in the network have also received funding from the Koch network of organizations and foundations. Other donors to SPN have included AT&T, Altria, Microsoft, Kraft Foods, Philip Morris.

According to SPN: “Lincoln designed and developed a technology platform to handle the end-to-end opt-out process from a public-sector union and provide leaving union members competitive benefits.”

The benefits to union members who quit their union using Edunity, would include “discounts to useful major retailers, from Target to Microsoft.”

Since June 2018 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME, SPN and its member groups have been promoting anti-union opt-out campaigns.

SPN was well positioned to take advantage of the Janus decision. The Illinois Policy Institute, the SPN group in Illinois, was behind the lawsuit. Soon after the court issued its ruling, the Illinois Policy Institute hired Mark Janus.

As Rachel Cohen and myself wrote about recently for The Intercept, SPN is engaging in long and multi-faceted campaign to drain unions of members and resources. SPN publicly talks about empowering workers, but on a call with their donors that was published with our article, SPN leaders were more straightforward about their motivations. Describing the Janus case to the donors, Tracie Sharp, CEO of SPN said: “Once this ruling comes down — and we do expect it to come down in our favor — everything will change. The door to pass a dream list of free-market reforms is going to swing open for us.”

“The flexible opt-out workflow feature is plug-and-play, and it can break through any type of barrier a union builds to prevent an opt-out,” SPN boasted.

Photograph of Charles Koch by Kevin Moloney/Fortune Brainstorm TECH. Used under creative commons license.