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IWF/V True North Research report
==News and Controversies==
===IWF/V Claims it Helped Flip Wisconsin Red in 2016===
On February 23, 2020 Lisa Graves first wrote in ''The Cap Times'' that IWF/V claimed to have played a decisive role in delivering Wisconsin for Trump in the 2016 election, according to an internal report obtained by True North Research (TNR). The report, prepared for IWF/V by Shaw and Company Research, suggests that IWF/V's quizzes targeting independent and GOP women in Wisconsin may have moved the needle just enough to tip the state to Trump, who won by a narrow 22,748 votes in Wisconsin. IWF/V developed quizzes shortly before the election focusing on the ACA, Supreme Court, and workforce issues like paid leave to relay distorted information to voters, masking the group's extreme agenda while increasing support for Republicans like Trump and Senator Ron Johnson.
According to Graves, "Shaw’s analysis argued, 'had the IWF/IWV quiz information messaging not occurred, Trump would have received 215,840 fewer votes. Given that his ultimate margin in Wisconsin was 30,000 or so, this outreach clearly had an impact.' Heather Higgins would later go on to boast about these findings saying, 'Had IWV’s educational messaging not occurred Trump would have received an estimated 215,840 fewer votes in Wisconsin, the state completely written off by all the political professionals.' Overstating your impact is something of a tradition by political creatures, but the prospect of a D.C. group with little name recognition and even less donor transparency achieving even a fraction of its claims in our elections should give any reasonable person pause."<ref> Lisa Graves, [https://madison.com/ct/opinion/column/lisa-graves-who-is-behind-the-dark-money-group-that/article_cacda445-7639-5ddb-b92f-a5c52fb22e05.html Who is behind the dark money group that claims it flipped Wisconsin in 2016?], ''The Cap Times'', February 23 2020.</ref>
The Center for Media and Democracy's David Armiak wrote that the TNR report revealed that IWV claimed credit for Scott Walker's 2012 recall win. "According to Higgins, IWV targeted Wisconsin voters using 'interactive phone calls, postcards with questionnaires, and targeted online advertising,' after it found that independents that opposed Walker believed that public employees are underpaid and sacrifice money to stay in their positions. 'Through our educational program, we changed this foundational belief into an understanding that unionized public employees are overcompensated relative to the private sector,' IWV claims. Higgins boasted of this in a speech to CPAC in 2015. IWV launched a website, 'isthatreallyfair.org,' as part of the effort, which also includes a quiz. It is unclear how much the 2012 effort cost Higgins’s groups, and since IWF/V are not required to disclose funders under the tax code, there is no telling who bankrolled the effort."
Armiak detailed more IWF/V's Wisconsin funding, including billionaires [[Diane Hendricks]], [[Steven Einhorn]], [[Terry Kohler]]. CMD also identified 28 Foundations and donor conduits that contributed a combined $8 million to IWF between 2011 and 2018.<ref> David Armiak, [https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2020/02/24/dark-money-womens-group-claims-pivotal-role-2016-presidential-election/ Dark Money “Women’s” Group Claims Pivotal Role in 2016 Presidential Election], Center for Media and Democracy, February 24, 2020.</ref>
===Opening of the Independent Women's Law Center===
IWF announced the launch of a law center to "advocate [..] for equal opportunity, individual liberty, and freedom of association" and "push back against attempts to convince the public that constitutionalist, originalist judges are a threat to women's rights." The "Independent Women's Law Center" (IWLC) is lead by Jennifer C. Braceras and Erin Hawley.<ref>PR Newswire [https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/iwf-launches-independent-womens-law-center-300927092.html IWF Launches Independent Women's Law Center] IWF Press Release, Sept. 30, 2019</ref> Hawley is IWLC's senior legal fellow, a former clerk to Chief Justice [[John G. Roberts, Jr.]], and senior fellow at the University of Missouri's [[Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy]]. Baracus is the director of IWLC, former Staff Assistant in the Office of Vice President Dan Quayle and former law clerk to conservative judges.<ref>IWF [http://iwf.org/about About] organization website, accessed Oct 2. 2019</ref> In a promotional video, IWLC claims that "left-leaning feminist groups" are attempting to "politicize the federal judiciary" by "smearing" conservative justices, such as [[Robert Bork]], Justices [[Clarence Thomas]] and [[Brett Kavanaugh]]. In the video, IWLC declares itself a "voice" for women who "support the nomination of justices who will stay in their constitutionally prescribed lanes." Additionally, IWLC says it was launched in light of renewed calls for judicial reform and the abolition of the electoral college.<ref>IWF [http://iwf.org/blog/2810700/Video:-Introducing-Independent-Women's-Law-Center Introducing IWLC] organizational site, accessed Oct 2. 2019</ref>