One thing we don’t see often enough in political coverage is the forthright identification of philanthropic non-profits as interest groups. There were some positive signs this week.
First, the Boston Globe’s Rhode Island coverage featured Dan McGowan’s story The Providence Mayor Raised Thousands of Dollars for a Nonprofit with Ties to His Campaign, Then he Reimbursed Himself from its Coffers. Critics complain that Mayor Jorge Elorza is working a get around of campaign finance laws “so he can collect unlimited amounts of money from corporations.” Pols can raise money for a non-profit from corporations and wealthy individuals with an interest in government business, then the non-profits can turn around and pay (or reimburse) the pol for junkets to cool spots like New Orleans. Did I mention that many of these contributions are tax deductible, meaning you the American taxpayer pick up part of the cost of the beignets and Hurricanes? Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Also from the Globe, Priyanka Dayal McCluskey’s National Group Launches Ad Campaign Supporting Baker’s Plan to Rein In Drug Prices. The non-profit’s name is Patients for Affordable Drugs Now. Let’s clear up some terminology: there are no patients, and there is no group. This is actually a front for the policy and political preferences of the Texas billionaires John and Laura Arnold, who are also big into undermining public pension systems and privatization of schools. John Arnold shook out the couch cushions and came up with $250,000 for Great Schools Massachusetts in 2016. I was very pleased to see that McCluskey included in her story that “An affiliated political action committee funded by the Arnolds spent nearly $500,000 to help Baker’s reelection campaign last year.” (More from me here).*
Then there was this one I saw in PoliticoMass:
Stories like these give me some hope that citizens are getting the information they need, though none of the stories point out the essential phoniness of the fronts. For example, the Arnolds’ ads will feature “patients who are struggling to pay for their prescription medications.” If you see one, ignore the “patients;” instead close your eyes and picture the Arnolds lolling in their suite at someplace like Davos or Aspen. What the media really needs to grasp is the institutional aspect of non-profits as interest groups serving the policy preferences of the super wealthy.
A political non-non-profit story: Frank Phillips of the Globe has a piece today Baker Quietly Puts Political Team Together as He Considers 3rd Term. How did Phillips unearth this consequential story? He followed the money.
Always follow the money. Front groups like the late Families for Excellent Schools (Strategic Grant Partners front), Massachusetts Parents United and Democrats for Education Reform Massachusetts (Walton family fronts), and Patients for Affordable Drugs Now (Arnold front) all have appealing names and ad campaigns. If you follow the money you’ll come closer to the truth.
But the truth is something corporations and wealthy philanthrocapitalists would rather we not know.
Money never sleeps. Follow the money.
We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.” – Louis Brandeis
[Full disclosure: as an educator in the UMass system, I am a union member. I write about dark money, not education.]
Image: flickr
* 1:25 PM. A version of this article posted earlier indicated that the Arnold non-profit is a tax deductible 501(c)(3) non-profit. Reporter Priyanka Dayal McCluskey informs me that the vehicle being used by the Arnolds for this campaign is a 501(c)(4) which is not tax deductible. A (c)(3) is also far more limited in the political activities it can undertake than is a (c)(4). I apologize for the error. The Bloomberg release about the Beyond Carbon non-profit is unclear as to status so references to tax status of that organization have likewise been edited out, with my apologies. As to the Providence charity, Dan McGowan reported in his original story that the Providence Tourism Fund is a tax deductible organization.