Pelican Institute

From SourceWatch
Revision as of 16:32, 4 April 2013 by Alex Oberley (talk | contribs) (added Franklin information)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

{{#badges:AEX|SPN}} The Pelican Institute for Public Policy is a "nonpartisan research and educational organization" based in Louisiana.[1] The Institute's mission is to advance "policies based on free enterprise, individual liberty, and constitutionally limited government."[1]It is a member of the State Policy Network (SPN), a network of state think tanks.

Ties to ALEC

The Pelican Institute is a state think tank member of SPN, which is a private sector member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The Pelican Institute also has ties to ALEC through its annual Policy Orientation for the Louisiana Legislature of which ALEC is a sponsor.[2] ALEC members have also sat on policy panels at the event.[3]

Please see SPN Ties to ALEC for more.

About ALEC
ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our ExposedbyCMD.org site.

Ties to the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity

The Pelican Institute was listed as a Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity "Watchdog Bureau".[4] The Franklin Center funds reporters in over 40 states.[5] Despite their non-partisan description, many of the websites funded by the Franklin Center have received criticism for their conservative bias.[6][7] On its website, the Franklin Center claims it "provides 10 percent of all daily reporting from state capitals nationwide."[8]

Franklin Center Funding

Franklin Center Director of Communications Michael Moroney told the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) in 2013 that the source of the Franklin Center's funding "is 100 percent anonymous." But 95 percent of its 2011 funding came from DonorsTrust, a spin-off of the Philanthropy Roundtable that functions as a large "donor-advised fund," cloaking the identity of donors to right-wing causes across the country (CPI did a review of Franklin's Internal Revenue Service records).[9] Mother Jones called DonorsTrust "the dark-money ATM of the conservative movement" in a February 2013 article.[10] Franklin received DonorTrust's second-largest donation in 2011.[9]

The Franklin Center also receives funding from the Wisconsin-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation,[11] a conservative grant-making organization.[12]

The Franklin Center was launched by the Chicago-based Sam Adams Alliance (SAM),[13] a 501(c)(3) devoted to pushing free-market ideals. SAM gets funding from the State Policy Network,[14] which is partially funded by the Claude R. Lambe Foundation.[15] Charles Koch, one of the billionaire brothers who co-own Koch Industries, sits on the board of this foundation.[16] SAM also receives funding from the Rodney Fund.


Personnel

Staff

  • Kevin Kane, president
  • Knud Berthelsen, marketing strategist
  • Matt Cole, policy analyst

Core Financials

2010[17]:

  • Total Revenue: $435,450
  • Total Expenses: $371,682
  • Net Assets: $90,200

2009[18]:

  • Total Revenue: $377,978
  • Total Expenses: $215,938
  • Net Assets: $26,432


Contact Details

Pelican Institute for Public Policy
643 Magazine Street, Suite 301
New Orleans, LA 70130
Phone: (504) 267-9404
Email: info@pelicaninstitute.org

Resources

Related SourceWatch Articles

Related PRWatch Articles

External Resources

References

  1. ↑ Jump up to: 1.0 1.1 Pelican Institute for Public Policy, "About", organizational website, accessed November 2012
  2. ↑ Pelican Institute, "Sponsors", organizational website, accessed November 2012
  3. ↑ Pelican Institute for Public Policy, "Pelican Institute For Public Policy Announces Inaugural Policy Orientation for the Louisiana Legislature", organizational website, accessed November 2012
  4. ↑ Franklin Center, Watchdog.org, organizational document, May 2013, obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy June 2013.
  5. ↑ The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, Think tank Journalism: The Future of Investigative Journalism, organizational website, accessed August 19, 2011.
  6. ↑ Rebekah Metzler, 'Watchdog' website puts a new spin on politics, The Portland Press Herald, October 2, 2010.
  7. ↑ Allison Kilkenny, The Koch Spider Web, Truthout, accessed August 19, 2011.
  8. ↑ Sara Jerving, Franklin Center: Right-Wing Funds State News Source, PRWatch.org, October 27, 2011.
  9. ↑ Jump up to: 9.0 9.1 Paul Abowd, Center for Public Integrity, Donors use charity to push free-market policies in states, organizational report, February 14, 2013.
  10. ↑ Andy Kroll, Exposed: The Dark-Money ATM of the Conservative Movement, Mother Jones, February 5, 2013.
  11. ↑ Daniel Bice, Franklin Center boss wants apology from Democratic staffer, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 8, 2011.
  12. ↑ Bradley Foundation, The Bradley Foundation, organizational website, accessed August 19, 2011.
  13. ↑ Sam Adams Alliance, Sam Adams Alliance Media Kit, organizational PDF, accessed August 19, 2011.
  14. ↑ Media Matters Action Network, Sam Adams Alliance, Conservative Transparency website, accessed August 19, 2011.
  15. ↑ Media Matters Action Network. State Policy Network, Conservative Transparency website, accessed August 19, 2011.
  16. ↑ Media Matters Action Network, Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, Conservative Transparency website, accessed August 19, 2011.
  17. ↑ Pelican Institute, IRS form 990, 2010. GuideStar.
  18. ↑ Pelican Institute, IRS form 990, 2009. GuideStar.
This article is a stub. You can help by expanding it.
Retrieved from "https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pelican_Institute&oldid=610868"