The vast right-wing conspiracy is VERY real

Vital reading on from the Center for Media and Democracy, who have set up a new website at the aptly-named stinktanks.org, exposing the oligarch-funded State Policy Networks, and the many front groups the Kochs and other privatizers use to sneak over their spin onto a lazy media. And it has a special chapter on the right-wing propaganda machine in Wisconsin, following the money to showcase the often-hidden funders of lying rags like MacIver and the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI). The biggest backer of which is the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation.



    It also discusses how the Bradley Foundation is mostly nothing more than WisGOP insiders and money-launderers masquerading as "researchers," with much of the funds flowing from Bradley CEO and 2010 Scott Walker campaign co-chair Michael Greedy Grebe

  

 

   

And that picture doesn't even include Bradley Foundation board member Char-LIE Sykes, or longtime WPRI front men like Chrissy Schneider and Mike Nichols- all three of which have or currently do pull regular paychecks from Journal Communications.

On top of that, I'd also encourage you to read Lisa Kaiser's excellent work in the Shepherd Express tracking the Kochs' money-laundering that has been done in Wisconsin over the last 2 1/2 years. Kaiser starts by looking at the Wisconsin Club for Growth, and tracing the funds back from there.

A Shepherd investigation into Wisconsin Club for Growth’s funding sources found that shadowy national right-wing groups donated to the organization during the recall fight.

They include:

■ Center to Protect Patient Rights: Little is known about this Arizona-based conservative front group headed by the Koch-connected Sean Noble, but, as mentioned above, it donated $225,000 to the Wisconsin Club for Growth in 2011 and Noble’s blog posted flattering messages about Walker, who survived a recall the year after CPPR made its donation.

The organization paid a record-setting fine in California for not disclosing its funders.

■ The Wellspring Committee: National Public Radio and the Center for Responsive Politics recently investigated this dark-money group run by Ann Corkery, which mixes conservative politics and religion. It’s funded right-wing groups such as Americans for Prosperity, the Faith and Freedom Coalition and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. In 2011, the group sent $400,000 to Wisconsin Club for Growth.

■ Faith and Freedom Coalition: This Georgia-based issue advocacy group is headed by former Christian Coalition chief Ralph Reed and, according to the Center for Media and Democracy, has close ties to the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity. The national Faith and Freedom Coalition gave Wisconsin Club for Growth $60,000 in 2011.

You know, with Scotty making the rounds on talk shows hawking his fiction-filled book, perhaps some enterprising interviewer might bring this up and ask "Is this what you meant when you asked the fake David Koch for some help in February 2011, during the protests?" I'd be interested in seeing Gov Dropout try to explain that one - and explain it during John Doe, Part Deux as well.

So keep these two articles in mind if you ever wonder why right-wing media and politicians all seem to say the same, bubble-worldish things. Because as these articles show, they're probably all getting their strings pulled by the same puppetmasters.