Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research

The Pioneer Institute (PI) is a right-wing pressure group headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, that describes itself as a "think tank" that is "committed to individual freedom and responsibility, limited and accountable government, and the application of free market principles to state and local policy". Lovett Peters founded the Pioneer Institute and the Lovett & Ruth Peters Foundation contributes over $100,000 a year to the Institute, according to Annual Reports available on its website. The Pioneer Institute houses and runs the Center for School Reform, the Shamie Center for Better Government, and the Center for Economic Opportunity. It is known for having a staff that has served in various positions in the recent Republican Massachusetts governors' administrations (Weld, Cellucci, Swift, and Romney).

The Pioneer Institute is a member of the State Policy Network (SPN). SPN is a web of right-wing “think tanks” and tax-exempt organizations in 48 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom. As of June 2024, SPN's membership totals 167. Today's SPN is the tip of the spear of far-right, nationally funded policy agenda in the states that undergirds extremists in the Republican Party. SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told the Wall Street Journal in 2017 that the revenue of the combined groups was some $80 million, but a 2022 analysis of SPN's main members IRS filings by the Center for Media and Democracy shows that the combined revenue is over $152 million. Although SPN's member organizations claim to be nonpartisan and independent, the Center for Media and Democracy's in-depth investigation, "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, 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 funders.

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, "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.'"

A set of coordinated fundraising proposals obtained and released by The Guardian in early December 2013 confirm many of these SPN members' intent to change state laws and policies, referring to "advancing model legislation" and "candidate briefings." These activities "arguably cross the line into lobbying," The Guardian notes.

New and Controversies

Former PI Executive Director Charlie Baker Takes Office as Governor of Massachusetts

On January 8, 2015, Charlie Baker (R) was inaugurated as Governor of the state of Massachusetts. Gov. Baker was an executive director of PI for many years and the organization highlighted this on its website on the day he assumed office, "Our confidence stems in part from the fact that the new Governor was one of this organization’s first executive directors, and played a role in a number of research initiatives since that time. Our founder, the late Lovett C. “Pete” Peters, is surely smiling down on today’s Inauguration with a great deal of pride."

Strong Connection to Former Gov. Mitt Romney

The following are known connections between the Pioneer Institute and 2012 U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney:

• Charles Chieppo, the institute’s current Senior Media Fellow and former director of the Pioneer Institute’s Shamie Center for Restructuring Government, was Romney’s Policy Director in the Executive Office of Administration and Finance.
• Jim Peyser, the institute’s Executive Director from 1993-2000, is a member of Romney’s 2012 campaign’s education policy advisory committee, was chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Education during Romney’s administration, and was an education advisor to Romney during his time as governor.
• Steve Poftak, the institute’s current Research Director, was head of the Executive Office of Administration and Finance in the Romney administration, where he oversaw the state budget.
• Charles Baker, former executive director of the Pioneer Institute, was a Romney advisor in 2003 and chaired his transition advisory committee on healthcare before he became governor. Baker would go on to be the Republican Party’s gubernatorial nominee in 2010.
• Kerry Healey, Romney’s Lieutenant Governor, is a current member of the Pioneer Institute’s Board of Directors.
• Peter Nessen simultaneously served on the Pioneer Institute’s Board of Directors and as the chief education advisor to Romney during his time as governor.
• Erin Blake Elefante, Pioneer Institute’s development director, worked on Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign.
• Mary Z. Connaughton, Pioneer Institute’s Director of Finance and Administration, was appointed by then-Governor Romney to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board of directors.
• Josh Archambault, current Director of Health Care Policy at the Pioneer Institute, was a senior legislative aide in the Massachusetts Governor’s Office during the Romney administration.
• Former District Court Judge Daniel B. Winslow, who served as then-Gov. Romney’s chief legal counsel, won the institute’s “Better Government” competition for proposals to reform the judiciary.

2003 Massachusetts Board of Education Ethics Tangle

The Pioneer Institute was the subject of controversy when the state Ethics Commission investigated several members of the Massachusetts Board of Education in 2003. As the board was getting ready to vote on 11 proposed charter schools, board member Charles D. Baker asked the state Ethics Commission if he should recuse himself due to the fact he sat on the Pioneer Institute’s Board of Directors, and six of the 11 charter proposals were submitted by people who received training, support, and a $50,000 stipend (each) from the Pioneer Institute. Baker had previously recused himself of charter school votes in 2002. Two other members of the nine-person board of education also had ties with the Pioneer Institute: Abigail Thernstorm, who was an academic advisor to the institute; and Chairman James Peyser, who was the institute’s former executive director. Peyser did not ask for the Ethics Commission’s opinion, and Thernstorm was cleared to vote by the commission as long as she disclosed her relationship with the Pioneer Institute to the governor’s office (Mitt Romney). Baker ended up not attending the voting meeting, and therefore did not vote, due to a scheduling conflict.

The matter was later brought up in court when the city of North Adams sued the Board of Education, the state’s education commissioner, and the attorney general over the constitutionality of charter schools since they are both publicly funded and privately run. The lawsuit claimed that there was a conflict of interest in the approval of several charter schools due to their connections, present and past, to the Pioneer Institute. The lawsuit was dismissed by the court in 2004.

Ties to the Bradley Foundation

In 2014 the Pioneer Institute received $50,000 from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.

Bradley detailed the most recent grants in internal documents examined by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). Below is a description of the grant prepared by CMD. The quoted text was written by Bradley staff.

2014: $50,000 to support its distribution of its study on the impact of the Common Core State Standards. “Faced with the prospect of the Common Core Initiative overwhelming its successful K 12 reform effort, the Pioneer Institute produced a series of white papers from 2010 13 in the US Department of Education’s promotion of the CCSSI. These papers found the following: that under the Common Core high performing states such as Massachusetts, California, Indiana, Georgia and New Hampshire would see a significant reduction in student exposure to classic works of literature, higher level math and history and civics courses; that under the Common Core the federal government was in violation of laws prohibiting the US Department of Education from directing K 12 curricula, curricular materials, and instructional practice in the states; and that under the Common Core some $16 billion in unfunded mandates will be placed on the states.” Pioneer planned to use the grant to publish its findings, authored by Peter Wood, President of the National Association of Scholars. “Pioneer will work with strategic partners such as Heritage, Cato, the American Principles Project and SPN and certain key attorneys general to provide testimony on the Core and to develop a public policy at the state level for the adoption of K 12 state curricular standards.”

Bradley Files

In 2017, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), publishers of SourceWatch, launched a series of articles on the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, exposing the inner-workings of one of America's largest right-wing foundations. 56,000 previously undisclosed documents laid bare the Bradley Foundation's highly politicized agenda. CMD detailed Bradley's efforts to map and measure right wing infrastructure nationwide, including by dismantling and defunding unions to impact state elections; bankrolling discredited spin doctor Richard Berman and his many front groups; and more. Find the series here at ExposedbyCMD.org.

Ties to the Koch Brothers

The Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research has strong ties to the Koch Brothers. PI is a "partner organization" in the Charles Koch Institute's Liberty@Work program, which places students at its Institute in non-profits aligned with Koch interests across the country. In addition, David Koch has contributed over a $100,000 a year nearly every year between 1998 and 2014.

Koch Wiki

Charles Koch is the right-wing billionaire owner of Koch Industries. As one of the richest people in the world, he is a key funder of the right-wing infrastructure, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN). In SourceWatch, key articles on Charles Koch and his late brother David include: Koch Brothers, Americans for Prosperity, Stand Together Chamber of Commerce, Stand Together, Koch Family Foundations, Koch Universities, and I360.

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

The Pioneer Institute has ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). It has been listed as a member of the ALEC Education Task Force and the Health and Human Services Task Force. An August 2013 ALEC board document obtained by The Guardian suggests that the Pioneer Institute terminated its ALEC membership on March 18, 2013 after it was "kicked out of ALEC (?) because of education issue" (presumably a resolution in opposition to Common Core that passed the Education Task Force twice but was voted down by ALEC's board). SPN is also a private sector member of ALEC.

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 Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research has hosted writers from the ALEC-connected Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, which screens potential reporters on their “free market” views as part of the job application process. The Franklin Center funds reporters in over 40 states. Despite their non-partisan description, many of the websites funded by the Franklin Center have received criticism for their conservative bias. On its website, the Franklin Center claims it "provides 10 percent of all daily reporting from state capitals nationwide."

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). Mother Jones called DonorsTrust "the dark-money ATM of the conservative movement" in a February 2013 article. Franklin received DonorTrust's second-largest donation in 2011.

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

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

History

The Pioneer Institute was founded with a $160,000 grant (and matching grants requested from personal friends) in 1988 by businessman Lovett C. Peters (1913-2010), who made his millions in the oil and gas industry, including at Energy Ventures, Conoco, and Bankers Trust. Civil rights attorney Harvey A. Silverglate told the Boston Globe upon Peters' death in 2010, "His creature, the Pioneer Institute, follows Pete’s lead . . ." Peters' son Daniel runs the Ruth and Lovett Peters Foundation, a major donor to the cause of education privatization. Peters received the "Roe Award" -- named after SPN founder Thomas A. Roe -- from SPN and the "Champions of Freedom Award" from SPN member the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Michigan. He was a member of the Mont Pelerin Society (a right-wing "free market" organization convened in 1947 by economist F.A. Hayek that counts among its current and former members Charles G. Koch and Thomas A. Roe).

According to the Boston Globe, "the Shamie Foundation . . . is actually the forebear of the Pioneer Institute, which took over its registration number with the secretary of state's office and the attorney general's division of public charities. [Prominent Massachusetts Republican politician Raymond] Shamie is a contributor to Pioneer." Shamie was chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party when Pioneer was founded in 1988. The Institute spent the two years between its founding and the election of Massachusetts' first Republican governor in 16 years, William F. Weld, "trash[ing] state programs," and the Globe called the organization "an agenda-setting forum for the administration" of then-Governor-elect Weld.

The Institute has focused on charter schools and education reform in Massachusetts since the early 1990s. The organization also focuses on government transparency, privatization, economic development, government spending, and healthcare.

Funding

SPN think tanks do not as a general rule publicly disclose their donors. Pioneer, however, does list select donors (without specific donation amounts) in its annual reports, which show that David Koch has given at least $100,000 a year directly to the organization in most years since 1998. CMD has also discovered that David Koch gave $125,000 directly to the Massachusetts-based SPN member think tank Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research in 2007, making him (individually) the largest donor that year. A list of 2007 funders that was disclosed to the IRS was inadvertently made public. That list of funders -- featuring Pennsylvania-based Sovereign Bank, oil and gas magnate Lovett C. Peters, banker William Edgerly, retired Blue Seal Feeds CEO Dean Webster (former director of the right-wing think tank Capital Research Center), Mitt Romney's lieutenant governor Kerry Healey, and textile heir Roger Milliken in addition to David Koch -- provides an important case study in how SPN's member think tanks are funded, and by whom.

Other known funders of the Pioneer Institute include:

• Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation: $641,000 (1997-2006)
• David H. Koch Foundation: $300,000 (1995-2001)
• Jacqueline Hume Foundation: $309,500 (1999-2011)
• Smith Richardson Foundation: $50,000 (1996)
• Roe Foundation: $83,000 (1998-2011)
• Walton Family Foundation: $479,650 (1998-2001 and 2011)
• John M. Olin Foundation: $2,000 (1992)
• Ruth and Lovett Peters Foundation (family foundation of Pioneer's founder, Lovett Peters, with money made in energy industry): $423,100 (1999-2011)
• Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation: $50,000 (2014)
• Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund: $246,400 (2010-2013)

Core Financials

2015

• Total Revenue: $2,333,932
• Total Expenses: $2,030,653
• Net Assets: $3,589,105

2014

• Total Revenue: $2,178,130
• Total Expenses: $1,822,097
• Net Assets: $3,002,082

2013

• Total Revenue: $1,588,496
• Total Expenses: $1,655,532
• Net Assets: $2,646,048

2012

• Total Revenue: $1,672,604
• Total Expenses: $1,622,706
• Net Assets: $2,678,229

2011

• Total Revenue: $2,204,323
• Total Expenses: $1,616,241
• Net Assets: $2,628,329

2010:

• Total Revenue: $1,255,039
• Total Expenses: $1,475,754
• Net Assets:$2,040,246

2009:

• Total Revenue: $1,255,039
• Total Expenses: $1,475,754
• Net Assets: $2,040,246

2008:

• Total Revenue: $1,372,090
• Total Expenses: $1,342,630
• Net Assets: $1,715,824

Personnel

Staff

As of September 2018:

• Jim Stergios, Executive Director
• Mary Z. Connaughton, Director of Government Transparency & Director of Finance and Administration
• Barbara Anthony, Senior Fellow in Healthcare
• Tom Birmingham, Distinguished Senior Fellow in Education
• Jamie Gass, Director of the Center for School Reform
• Shawni Littlehale, Director of Pioneer’s Better Government Competition
• Rebekah Paxton: Research Assistant
• Gregory Sullivan, Research Director, Director of the Centers for Better Government and Economic Opportunity
• Chase Bosworth, Communications Assistant
• Lauren Corvese, Development Coordinator and Research Assistant
• Micaela Dawson, Director of Communications
• Brian Patterson, Development Coordinator
• George Parker, Director of Individual Giving
• Joshua Archambault, Senior Fellow
• Cara Candal, Senior Fellow in Education
• Charles D. Chieppo, Senior Media Fellow
• Scott Haller,
• William Smith, Senior Fellow in Life Sciences
• Amy Lischko, Senior Fellow on Health Care

Former Staff

• Matt Blackbourn, Research & Operations Associate
• Erin Elefante, Director of Development
• John Friar, Senior Fellow on Jobs & the Economy
• Stephen Lisauskas, Senior Fellow on Urban Revitalization
• Iliya Atanasov, Senior Fellow on Finance
• Lovett C. Peters Fellow in Healthcare
• John Sivolella, Senior Fellow in Law and Policy

Board of Directors

As of September 2017:

Officers

• Stephen Fantone, Chairman; President/CEO, Optikos Corporation
• Lucile Hicks, Vice-Chair
• C. Bruce Johnstone, Vice-Chair; Managing Director and Senior Marketing Investment Strategist, Fidelity Investments
• James Joslin, Treasurer
• Jim Stergios, Executive Director
• Mary Z. Connaughton, Clerk & Assistant Treasurer

Former Officers

• Nancy Anthony, Treasurer

Members

• Steven Akin
• Nancy Anthony
• David Boit
• Brian Broderick
• Gary Campbell
• Frederic Clifford
• Andrew Davis
• Brackett Denniston
• Ellen R. Herzfelder
• Charles Hewitt, III
• Alfred Houston
• Keith Hylton
• Mary Myers Kauppila
• Gary Kearney
• Pamela Layton
• Nicole Manseau
• M. Holt Massey
• Adam Portnoy
• Mark V. Rickabaugh
• Diane Schmalensee
• Kristin Servison
• Eileen Shapiro
• Emmy Lou Hewitt, honorary
• Edna Shamie, honorary
• Peter Wilde
• William B. Tyler, Chairman Emeritus

Former Members

• Phyllis M. Stearns, honorary
• Amir Nashat
• Preston McSwain
• John Kingston
• Nancy Coolidge
• Stephen Fantone
• Douglas Foy
• Kerry Healey
• Charles C. Hewitt, III
• Lucile Hicks
• C. Bruce Johnstone
• Alan Morse
• Beth Myers
• Brian Shortsleeve
• Patrick Wilmerding

Contact Information

Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research
185 Devonshire Street, Suite 1101
Boston, MA 02110
Phone: 617-723-2277
Fax: 617-723-1880
Website: http://pioneerinstitute.org
Email: pioneer@pioneerinstitute.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PioneerBoston
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PioneerInstitute/

Articles and Resources

Related SourceWatch Articles

• State Policy Network:
  • SPN Portal
  • SPN Political Activity
  • SPN Funding
    • SPN 2011 Funding
    • SPN 2010 Funding
    • SPN 2009 Funding
  • SPN Agenda
  • SPN Founders, History, and Staff
  • SPN Members
  • SPN Ties to ALEC
  • Thomas A. Roe
  • Tracie Sharp
  • Byron S. Lamm
  • Roe Foundation
• American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)
  • ALEC Non-Profits
• DonorsTrust
• Donors Capital Fund
• Koch Family Foundations
• Koch Industries
• Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity
• Heritage Foundation
• Think tanks
• Whitney Ball
• Adam Meyerson
• Bridgett Wagner

Related PRWatch Articles

• Brendan Fischer, Why Are the Franklin Center's "Wisconsin Reporter" and "Watchdog.org" Attacking the John Doe?, PRWatch.org, December 19, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, The State Policy Network's Cozy Relationship with Big Tobacco, PRWatch.org, December 16, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, Did ALEC Found SPN? 1991 Report Suggests So, Exposes SPN Agenda, PRWatch.org, December 12, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, Guardian Documents Expose State Policy Network Groups' Intent to Lobby, PRWatch.org, December 5, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, State Policy Network: The Stealth Network Dramatically Influencing State Law, PRWatch.org, December 5, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, Tracie Sharp: Bursar of Mystery Money and "IKEA Model" Materials to Stink Tanks, PRWatch.org, November 19, 2013.
• Center for Media and Democracy, Reports Expose Extreme Pressure Groups Masquerading as Think Tanks, press release, November 13, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, A Reporters’ Guide to the "State Policy Network": the Right-Wing Think Tanks Spinning Disinformation and Pushing the ALEC Agenda in the States, PRWatch.org, April 4, 2013.
• Sara Jerving, ALEC and Heartland Aim to Crush Renewable Energy Standards in the States, PRWatch.org, November 27, 2012.
• Connor Gibson, Meet the Network Hiding the Koch Money: "Donors Trust" and "Donors Capital Fund", PRWatch.org, October 29, 2012.
• Brendan Fischer, Koch-Funded Mackinac Center Brings Wisconsin Act 10 Provisions to ALEC, PRWatch.org, May 2, 2012.
• Sara Jerving, Franklin Center: Right-Wing Funds State News Source, PRWatch.org, October 31, 2011.

External Resources

• Wall Street Journal, The Spoils of the Republican State Conquest, December 9, 2016, archived by CMD here.
• DeSmog Blog, Stink Tanks: Historical Records Reveal State Policy Network Was Created by ALEC, December 9, 2013.
• The Guardian, State conservative groups plan US-wide assault on education, health and tax, December 5, 2013.
• Portland Press Herald, "Washington County residents have mixed reactions to plan to eliminate taxes," December 5, 2013.
• The Texas Observer, "The Money Behind the Fight to Undermine Medicaid," December 5, 2013.
• Media Matters, North Carolina Newspapers Largely Ignore Conservative Funding Of Sham Think Tanks, December 3, 2013.
• Shepherd Express, Masters of Manipulation: Right-wing Billionaires, Corporations and the Bradley Foundation Pay for Junk Studies that Prop up Their Agenda, November 27, 2013.
• "Moyers & Company," How a Shadowy Network of Corporate Front Groups Distorts the Marketplace of Ideas, November 19, 2013.
• MSNBC "Rachel Maddow Show," November 18, 2013.
• Free Speech TV "Ring of Fire," Facebook, Microsoft, AT&T and Others Supporting Right Wing Propaganda Machine, November 18, 2013.
• Topeka Capital-Journal, Trabert dismisses report tying KPI to Koch agenda, November 16, 2013.
• The New Yorker (Jane Mayer), Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?, November 15, 2013.
• Salon, Ted Cruz and Koch brothers embroiled in shadowy Tea Party scheme, November 15, 2013.
• St. Louis Business Journal, Beyond Sinquefield: Who else is funding the Show-Me Institute?, November 15, 2013.
• The Guardian, Facebook and Microsoft help fund rightwing lobby network, report finds, November 14, 2013.
• Huffington Post, Meet The Little-Known Network Pushing Ideas For Kochs, ALEC, November 14, 2013.
• CBS St. Louis, Show-Me Institute’s Ties Questioned in New Report, November 14, 2013.
• Talking Points Memo, Florida Conservative Group Helping Muck Up Obamacare In Alaska, November 14, 2013.
• Mint Press News, Reports Reveal SPN’s Secret Corporate Agenda Through Use ‘Expert’ Testimony, November 14, 2013.
• Media Matters, Shadowy Right-Wing Group Generates Media Coverage For Conservative Policy From Coast To Coast, November 14, 2013.
• The Institute for Southern Studies, Are conservative think tanks breaking lobbying laws?, November 14, 2013.
• Nonprofit Quarterly, Corporate Money in Network of Right-Wing State Policy Think Tanks, November 14, 2013.
• The Progressive, Right-Wing Think Tanks Push Privatization in the States, November 13, 2013.
• Politico, Report: Think tanks tied to Kochs, November 13, 2013.
• Lawrence Journal-World, Reports released by progressive groups are critical of Kansas Policy Institute, November 13, 2013.
• Maine Insights, Report: Maine Heritage Policy Center’s funding connection to Koch Brothers, November 13, 2013.
• The Florida Current, Liberal groups bemoan lobbying by conservative think tanks, November 13, 2013.
• The Oregonian, Cascade Policy Institute benefits from secretive donor group but says it operates independently, November 13, 2013.
• Center for Media and Democracy, EXPOSED: The State Policy Network, The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Arizona Working Families and CMD, A Reporter’s Guide to the Goldwater Institute: What Citizens, Policymakers, and Reporters Should Know, organizational report, updated November 13, 2013.
• Progress Florida and CMD, Lawmaking Under the Influence of Very Special Interests: Understand the role of Florida ‘think tanks’ in driving a Koch-fueled, ALEC-allied corporate agenda, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Maine's Majority Education Fund, Fooling Maine: How national conservative groups infiltrated Maine politics by founding and funding the Maine Heritage Policy Center, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Progress Michigan, Who's Running Michigan? The Far-Right Influence of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Alliance for a Better Minnesota, Who's in Charge: How Nationalized Corporate-Run Think Tanks Influence Minnesota Politics, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Progress Missouri, What Missourians Need to Know About the Show-Me Institute, organizational report, updated November 13, 2013.
• Granite State Progress, Bad Bartlett: The Josiah Bartlett Center and NH Watchdog Answer the Call of the Koch Brothers, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• ProgressOhio, Smoke Screen: The Buckeye Institute, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Keystone Progress, Think tanks or corporate lobbyist propaganda mills?, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Progress Texas, TPPF + ALEC, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• One Wisconsin Now, S is for Shill: Inside the Bradley Foundation's Attack on Public Education, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Muncie Voice, Pence and Right-Wing Are Taking Over Public Education, November 13, 2013.
• The Spokesman-Review, Shawn Vestal: Idaho Freedom Foundation pushes limits of word ‘charity’, November 2, 2013.
• AZ Central, When this ‘watchdog’ pitches, taxpayers strike out, October 12, 2013.
• IndyStar, Daniels says speech to partisan group was a mistake, October 10, 2013.
• Muncie Voice, Indiana Policy Review: Not an Independent News Source, October 2, 2013.
• The Spokesman-Review, Idaho Freedom Foundation's charitable status scrutinized, September 15, 2013.
• CounterSpin, Lee Fang on 'The Right Leans In', April 5, 2013.
• FireDogLake, State Policy Network, an umbrella coordinating ALEC, Heritage, Heartland and others, April 4, 2013.
• Thom Hartmann with Lee Fang on MSNBC, The conservative State Policy Network is sneaking into your state & will change America, March 29, 2013.
• Current TV "War Room", Lee Fang discussing the State Policy Network, March 28, 2013.
• The Nation, The Right Leans In, March 26, 2013.
• Democracy Now, Donors Trust: Little-Known Group Helps Wealthy Backers Fund Right-Wing Agenda in Secret, February 19, 2013.
• Paul Abowd, Center for Public Integrity, Donors use charity to push free-market policies in states, Consider the Source, February 14, 2013.
• John R. Mashey, Fake science, fakexperts, funny finances, free of tax 2, DeSmog Blog report, updated October 23, 2012, p. 74.
• Urban Milwaukee, Stealth Conservatives, October 11, 2012.
• Rome News-Tribune, ANALYSIS: Georgia leaders depend on the same well for ideas, October 2012.
• Andy Kroll, The Right-Wing Network Behind the War on Unions, Mother Jones, April 25, 2011.
• Guidestar, State Policy Network, IRS filings and other organizational information about SPN.
• Center for Policy Alternatives, ALEC and the Extreme Right-Wing Agenda, organizational brochure about ALEC and SPN.
• John J. Miller, Fifty Flowers Bloom: Conservative think tanks — mini–Heritage Foundations — at the state level, National Review, November 19, 2007.
• Bridge Project, State Policy Network, online resource listing grants to SPN and SPN's connections to other groups.
• People for the American Way, State Policy Network, RightWingWatch.org, organizational resource.
• Greenpeace, Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Group: State Policy Network (SPN), organizational resource.