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{{#badges:SPN}}The '''California Public Policy Center''' (formerly the California Public Policy Center) is a right-wing pressure group based in California. Founded in June 2010, it is a state affiliate of the $83 million right-wing [[State Policy Network]] (SPN), a web of state pressure groups that denote themselves as "think tanks" and drive a right-wing agenda in statehouses nationwide.<ref>State Policy Network, [http://www.spn.org/members/default.asp Members], organizational website, accessed December 2013.</ref> See [[SPN Members]] for more.
Although SPN's member organizations claim to be nonpartisan and independent, the Center for Media and Democracy's in-depth investigation, "[httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/2/25/SPN_National_Report_FINAL.pdf EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government]," reveals that SPN and its member think tanks are major drivers of the right-wing, [[SPN Ties to ALEC|American Legislative Exchange Council]] (ALEC)-backed corporate agenda in state houses nationwide, with deep ties to the [[Koch brothers]] and the national right-wing network of [[SPN Funding|funders]].<ref>Rebekah Wilce, Center for Media and Democracy, [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/2/25/SPN_National_Report_FINAL.pdf EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government], organizational report, November 13, 2013.</ref>
In response to CMD's report, SPN Executive Director [[Tracie Sharp]] told national and statehouse reporters that SPN affiliates are "fiercely independent." Later the same week, however, ''The New Yorker'''s Jane Mayer caught Sharp in a contradiction. In her article, "[http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/11/is-ikea-the-new-model-for-the-conservative-movement.html Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?]," the Pulitzer-nominated reporter revealed that, in a recent meeting behind closed doors with the heads of SPN affiliates around the country, Sharp "compared the organization’s model to that of the giant global chain IKEA." She reportedly said that SPN "would provide 'the raw materials,' along with the 'services' needed to assemble the products. Rather than acting like passive customers who buy finished products, she wanted each state group to show the enterprise and creativity needed to assemble the parts in their home states. 'Pick what you need,' she said, 'and customize it for what works best for you.'" Not only that, but Sharp "also acknowledged privately to the members that the organization's often anonymous donors frequently shape the agenda. 'The grants are driven by donor intent,' she told the gathered think-tank heads. She added that, often, 'the donors have a very specific idea of what they want to happen.'"<ref>Jane Mayer, [http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/11/is-ikea-the-new-model-for-the-conservative-movement.html Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?], ''The New Yorker'', November 15, 2013.</ref>
