Portal:Fix the Debt/Phony State Chapters
"Up to this point, Fix the Debt's ad campaigns have been largely Washington-focused, combined with a heavy dose of CEO-lobbying. The next phase, Romano says, is national outreach," Fortune Magazine reported in January 2013.[1] Fix the Debt has 23 “state chapters” listed on its website as of February 2013.[2] Those state chapters have been created following a similar formula: "Select bipartisan co-chairs along with a passel of business leaders, write a press release, hold a teleconference et voilà!: a 'chapter' is born that looks like an organic, bipartisan effort."[3] More than 90 Fix the Debt leaders at the state level are current or former lobbyists, and many lobby for Fix the Debt firms, according to a review of federal and state lobbying databases by the Center for Media and Democracy in February 2013. Click here to see a list of state leaders and their lobbying ties.
- ↑ Anne VanderMey, "Fix the Debt isn't going anywhere", Fortune, January 30, 2012.
- ↑ Fix the Debt, "State Chapters", organizational website, accessed February 14, 2013.
- ↑ Mary Bottari, Pete Peterson's Puppet Populists, The Nation, February 21, 2013.