Center for Media & Democracy, 25 Sept. 2013

Wednesday September 25, 2013

CMD Launches New Web Resource on Outsourcing and Privatization Tuesday, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), publishers of the award-winning ALECexposed.org, launched OutsourcingAmericaExposed.org, a web resource devoted to helping taxpayers identify the corporations seeking to privatize public assets and services in their communities: including their schools, roads, prisons, drinking water, court systems, and more. Read more

Outsourcing America: Sodexo Siphons Cash from Kids and Soldiers Since the 2008 financial crisis, cash strapped states have accelerated the outsourcing of America in hopes of delivering the same services more cheaply. "Desperate government is our best customer," said one executive specializing in infrastructure purchases. But in many instances, this explosion in outsourcing of government services to private for-profit firms has generated higher prices, poorer service, and scandal. Read more

WI Attorney General Seeks to Vitiate Open Records Law to Protect ALEC Member Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen has taken the unprecedented step of asserting that a state legislator cannot be held accountable for refusing to disclose public records in response to a lawful open records request by the Center for Media and Democracy. Read more

CMD Responds to Senator Vukmir's Claim about Open Records We do not believe that Senator Vukmir has complied with the public records law. Senator Vukmir is ALEC’s national treasurer. She attended ALEC’s Oklahoma City meeting in May 2013 and sponsored an ALEC “model” bill that was adopted by ALEC politicians and corporate lobbyists as ALEC policy. Former ALEC Health & Human Services Task Force Director Christie Herrera congratulated Senator Vukmir on the bill's passage with a text message: "Great job Madame Sponsor!" Read more

Breaking: New List of the Dark Money Shell Game Groups Connected to the Kochs On September 18, the Koch-funded "Freedom Partners," which secretly distributed $250 million during the 2012 election season, posted its first federal tax report which uncloaked several Koch-related entities that were previously unknown. Last week, Politico broke the news of the existence of this group. Today, new details of the group's spending are available for the first time. Read more

A Case Study on CCA’s Web of Influence in Arizona: Mark Brnovich Arizona Department of Gaming Director Mark Brnovich, a former Corrections Corporation of America “senior director of business development” and lobbyist, is planning to run for the office of Arizona's top law enforcement officer, Attorney General. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is a for-profit prison corporation that is very influential in Arizona and that has benefited financially from its close ties to the government. Read more

Lockup Quotas Keep Profits High and Prisons Full for CCA and GEO Group 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. Read more

WI Citizens Speak Out about Raw Milk Across the United States, the majority of states allow legal sales of raw, or unpasteurized, milk in one form or another, whether retail, on the farm, or via "herd share" arrangements. A growing number of Wisconsin citizens would like to add this state to that list once and for all. Read more

Revealed: Extensive Koch Links to New Right-Wing $250 Million Mega Fund Freedom Partners (FP) -- a funding group previously unheard of before it shared exclusive and highly selective details about itself with Politico last week -- has extensive hidden connections to Koch Industries and to charities connected to Charles Koch, according to new research by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). Read more