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{{#badges:SPN}}'''SPN Agenda''' is a breakout article from the main article on the [[State Policy Network]] (SPN). '''Please see the [[State Policy Network]] for more.''' :"We simply will not have power on the national level until we declare ware on state legislatures." - Don E. Eberly, former president of the Pennsylvania SPN affiliate, [[Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives]]<ref>National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, [http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/wpb87b00/pdf Special Report: Burgeoning Conservative Think Tanks], organizational report, Spring 1991, p. 1.</ref> Below is analysis of SPN's agenda:
==What SPN and its Think Tanks Do==
:"The [SPN] state think tanks' agenda includes privatization of most public services, from mass transit to health clinics to environmental protection, and even libraries; vouchers and tax credits to promote competition between public and private schools; deregulation of business; opposition to labor-backed policies like the minimum wage and family leave; and rollback of taxes." - National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, "Public Policy Initiatives Shifting To Jefferson City, Olympia, Albany," Spring 1991<ref>National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, [http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/wpb87b00/pdf Special Report: Burgeoning Conservative Think Tanks], organizational report, Spring 1991, pp. 1 & 6.</ref>
:"Privatization is the altar at which the [[American Legislative Exchange Council]] and the Madison Group [SPN's predecessor] worship. . . . For most public services, it is believed the private sector not only acts more efficiently, but that it has the inalienable right to the task" - National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, "Privatization -- from Garbage to Schools -- Is Hallmark of State Conservative Movement," Spring 1991<ref>National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, [http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/wpb87b00/pdf Special Report: Burgeoning Conservative Think Tanks], organizational report, Spring 1991, pp. 7, 11 & 17.</ref> (See the SourceWatch portal on "[[Portal:Outsourcing America Exposed|Outsourcing America Exposed]]" for more on privatization.)
SPN's innocuous-sounding purpose, according to its by-laws, is to "assist in organizing, developing and raising funds for institutes throughout the United States whose purpose is the promotion of authoritative ideas and research studies on state and local public policy issues in the public interest."<ref>State Policy Network, [http://www.charitiesnys.com/RegistrySearch/getcontent?guid=%7BB554D81F-5334-4E61-A155-E7F84A636955%7D&orgid=40-15-25&title=Bylaws/organizational%20rules&project=Charities By-Laws of State Policy Network], official organizational filing, obtained from the New York State Office of the Attorney General on October 1, 2012.</ref> When SPN founder [[Thomas A. Roe]] was asked in an interview about his role in encouraging the formation of state think tanks across the country, he recalled a mid-1980's conversation he had with fellow wealthy conservative donor and Heritage Foundation trustee Robert Krieble, in which he allegedly said, "You capture the Soviet Union -- I'm going to capture the states."<ref>Thomas A. Roe, interview with Lee Edwards, April 13, 1996, Naples, FL. Cited in Lee Edwards, ''The Power of Ideas: The Heritage Foundation at 25 Years'', Ottawa, Illinois: Jameson Books, 1997, p. 91.</ref> SPN's founding executive director, Lamm, is quoted in the ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'' as calling what think tanks in the network do "constructive troublemaking."<ref name="ARDG"/>
