Corporations

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A Case Study on CCA’s Web of Influence in Arizona: Mark Brnovich

by Beau Hodai — September 23, 2013 - 6:56am
  • Topics: Corporations, Outsourcing America Exposed

    • Earlier this year, DBA Press and the Center for Media and Democracy launched an investigation of the influence of the private prison industry on state policies. The review of public records this summer revealed a surprising connection between Arizona Department of Gaming Director Mark Brnovich and the Corrections Corporation of America. In the midst of this story being written, Brnovich announced he would be leaving his post in state gaming regulation, which paves the way for him to seek the post of state Attorney General.

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    Lockup Quotas Help For-Profit Prison Companies Keep Profits High and Prisons Full

    by Brendan Fischer — September 20, 2013 - 8:26am
  • Topics: Corporations, Outsourcing America Exposed, Politics

    • For-profit prison companies like Corrections Corporation of American and GEO Group are no strangers to controversy. Their business model rests on incarceration, and their profits soared throughout the 1990s and 2000s as harsh sentencing laws, the War on Drugs, and tough immigration enforcement led to a dramatic rise in detention and incarceration.

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    WI Senate Fast-Tracks Bill to Close Forest to Benefit Out-of-State Mining Firm

    by Alex Oberley — September 11, 2013 - 7:29am
  • Topics: Right Wing, Corporations, Environment

    • A controversial out-of-state mining company is closer to gaining control over a 3,600-acre swath of publicly available forest near where it is planning a massive open-pit iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin. The Florida firm, Gogebic Taconite, has begun test drilling in the area and has already stirred controversy by hiring out-of-state armed security with automatic assault weapons to guard their activities. The Arizona firm was kicked out of the state after the media uncovered they were not licensed here. Now Gogebic Taconite is attempting to shut down whole forests to keep its controversial mining activities from protestors and curious eyes.

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    After Student Protests, Sallie Mae Becomes 50th Corporation to Dump ALEC

    by Brendan Fischer — September 9, 2013 - 7:34am
  • Topics: Activism, ALEC Exposed, Corporations, Democracy, Education, Politics

    • Sallie Mae has dropped its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) after a student-led campaign demanding that the nation's largest student loan lender cut ties with the controversial organization. Sallie Mae is the 50th corporation to publicly drop its ALEC membership in the past year-and-a-half as the organization has come under increasing public scrutiny.

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    Wisconsin Prepares to Hand Half-Million in Taxpayer Funds to Koch-Tied GOP Lobby Shop

    by Brendan Fischer — August 27, 2013 - 9:13am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Corporations, Democracy, Politics, Wisconsin Protests

    • A small GOP lobby shop tied to the Tea Party and David Koch's Americans for Prosperity, and which was active in the state's recent recall elections, was awarded $500,000 in taxpayer dollars in what some are calling a backdoor, sweetheart deal cooked up by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) State Chair, outgoing Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder.

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    Wall Street Journal Defends ALEC without Disclosing Deep Ties of Editorial Board Member Stephen Moore

    by Lisa Graves — August 19, 2013 - 6:29am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Corporations

    • The Wall Street Journal's latest defense of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), penned by WSJ Editorial Board Member Stephen Moore, fails to disclose Moore's deep ties to ALEC.

    Moore's op-ed attacks U.S. Senator Richard Durbin for scrutinizing ALEC's role in peddling the Florida "Stand Your Ground" legislation as a model for the nation for more than six years. That law was initially cited to prevent the arrest of George Zimmerman for shooting Florida teenager Trayvon Martin to death, and that law proved to be instrumental in the failure to convict after the jury was instructed that law Zimmerman had a "right to stand his ground" and had "no duty to retreat."

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    ALECexposed: List of Corporations and Special Interests that Underwrote ALEC's 40th Anniversary Meeting

    by Lisa Graves — August 15, 2013 - 12:27pm
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Corporations

    • This year's annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) had fewer corporations listed as sponsoring that meeting for a seemingly smaller total amount of revenue.

    Based on the sponsorship rates ALEC promoted earlier this year, the organization took in approximately $910,000 from firms specifically designated as "President" to "Trustee" level sponsors for its 40th Anniversary meeting compared with estimated revenue of approximately $1.2 million for the same level of sponsorships at last year's meeting in Salt Lake City.

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    More Corporations Drop Off ALEC's Conference Brochure

    by Lisa Graves — August 15, 2013 - 6:37am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Corporations

    • An examination of the promotional brochure for the Chicago meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) reveals that the meeting -- where corporate lobbyists secretly vote as equals with legislators on model bills at ALEC task force meetings -- has fewer corporate sponsors willing to tell the public they bankroll ALEC's operations. This news comes in the aftermath of 48 corporations and six non-profits leaving ALEC after the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) connected the dots between "Stand Your Ground" legislation and ALEC, and coalition of organizations pressed for corporations to stop funding ALEC.

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    "Pandora's Lunchbox" -- Ingredients in Processed Food Products May Surprise You

    by Lisa Graves — August 13, 2013 - 8:05am
  • Topics: Agriculture, Children, Corporations, Food, Food Rights Network, Health, Marketing, Science

    • "The vitamin D in your milk ... is almost surely a derivative -- after many chemical stages -- from lanolin from Australian sheep wool, concocted in a factory in China. ... Vitamin A, is often synthesized from acetone, a principal ingredient in nail polish remover," notes George Kenney based on his interview with Melanie Warner, a former writer for the New York Times.

    Guest Contributor

    The Tiniest New Technology Poses Unanswered Safety Questions

    by Jill Richardson — August 12, 2013 - 6:21am
  • Topics: Food Safety, Corporations, Food Rights Network, Health

    • You might use nanotechnology in the sunscreens you squirt or lather on your kids. You might lick your lips and taste it in your favorite lip-gloss. You might even eat it in your Jell-O pudding. But is it safe?

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