National Policy Forum

The National Policy Forum (NPF) was "founded in 1993 as a 'grassroots' think tank to develop a policy agenda through a series of 'town meetings,' i.e. policy forums, throughout thenation. The NPF was formed by Haley Barbour, then the recently elected Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), and others, and started with $100,000 in RNC 'seedmoney.' The NPF was structured as a nonprofit corporation under Section 501c4 of the Internal Revenue Code." [1]

Now defunct, the "organization is most infamous for its involvement in an RNC foreign fundraising scandal." [2]

Documents Contained at the Anti-Environmental Archives

Documents written by or referencing this person or organization are contained in the Anti-Environmental Archive, launched by Greenpeace on Earth Day, 2015. The archive contains 3,500 documents, some 27,000 pages, covering 350 organizations and individuals. The current archive includes mainly documents collected in the late 1980s through the early 2000s by The Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research (CLEAR), an organization that tracked the rise of the so called "Wise Use" movement in the 1990s during the Clinton presidency. Access the index to the Anti-Environmental Archives here.

Findings by the Committee on Governmental Affairs

1. RNC Chairman Haley Barbour and the RNC intentionally solicited foreign money for the NPF.
2. The NPF was an arm of the RNC and, as the Internal Revenue Service concluded, was not entitled to tax-exempt status as a social welfare organization under section 501c4 of the U.S. tax code.
3. Barbour solicited Ambrous Young, a foreign national, and Young agreed to provide the collateral for a loan to NPF for the purpose of helping Republican candidates during the 1994 elections.
4. The evidence before the Committee strongly supports the conclusion that Barbour and other RNC officials knew that the money used to collateralize the NPF loan came from Hong Kong. Barbour's testimony that he did not know about the foreign source of the loan collateral was not credible.
5. As a result of NPF's default on the loan, the RNC improperly retained $800,000 in foreign money during the 1996 election cycle. [3]

SourceWatch Resources

• Alex Courtelis
• John R. Bolton, President 1995-1996 [4]
• S. Fred Singer
• Young Brothers Development (Taipei, Taiwan)

External links

• "National Policy Forum" Fact Sheet, exxonsecrets.
• "Haley Barbour's Nightmare," American Politics Journal, March 13, 1997.
• "National Policy Forum Denied Nonprofit Status," OMBWatch.org, June 15, 1997.
• Larry Margasak, "It's the Democrats turn to ask questions," AP, July 21, 1997.
• Transcript: "Haley's Comments," PBS Online NewsHour, July 24, 1997.
• "Allegations Relating to the National Policy Forum," U.S. Senate.
• "The National Policy Forum": Investigation of Illegal or Improper Activities in Conjunction with 1996 Federal Election Campaigns. Final Report of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, Senate Report 105-167 - 105th Congress 2d Session - March 10, 1998 (archived document Federation of American Scientists website): "To the extent that foreign money may have influenced the 1994 Congressional elections, there is evidence with respect to money funneled to the Republican National Committee through the National Policy Forum (NPF)."
• Charles Snyder, "US okays Taiwan backer for post," Taipei Times, May 10, 2001.
• David Corn, "Taiwangate: A Fallout-Free Scandal," The Nation, April 10, 2002.