In their new report Fear Inc.: The Roots Of the Islamophobia Network In America ThinkProgress has done the hard work to bring into the light who is behind the phony Islamophobia campaign. All credit to them.
While they talk about seven foundations providing $42 million, what stood out to me was that just one of those, the Donors Capital Fund had single handedly contributed over $20 million of that. A quick google led to the their board of directors and officers and their affiliations. They are, on the one hand both mainstream insofar as cross-connecting to the usual so called respectable right wing beltway crowd we would expect (AEI, Heritage), and yet showing once again how the entire right wing apparatus is all the more extremist.
If one ever wondered how such blatently fact free demogogic extremism as the "Sharia Law" nonsense ever got to the level of mainstream coverage it has enjoyed, the answer is certainly connected to the inter-connectedness of these organizations and people:
Board of Directors
Adam Meyerson, Chairman President, The Philanthropy Roundtable
Kimberly O. Dennis, Vice Chairman President, Searle Freedom Trust
Whitney L. Ball, Director President & CEO, DonorsTrust
Christopher DeMuth, Director DC Searle Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Steven Hayward, Director F.K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Kris Alan Mauren, Director Executive Director, The Acton Institute
William H. Mellor, Director President, Institute for Justice
Stephen Moore, Director Economist
John A. Von Kannon, Director Vice President, The Heritage Foundation
Officers
Whitney L. Ball, President President & CEO, DonorsTrust
Kimberly O. Dennis, Secretary President, Searle Freedom Trust
Steven Hayward, Treasurer F.K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Jeffrey C. Zysik, Assistant Treasurer CFO & CIO, DonorsTrust
Founding Benefactor
Bruce H. Jacobs, 1918-2010 Anacortes, Washington
Further details of these folks behind the phony Islamophobia campaign are below
The Donors Capital Fund says their mission is:
It is all too common for philanthropic capital (especially from foundations) to stray from the original donor's wishes and the free market principles that made their philanthropy possible in the first place. As an antidote to this drift, DonorsTrust was established as a 501(c)(3) public charity to ensure the intent of donors who are dedicated to the ideals of limited government, personal responsibility, and free enterprise. As such, DonorsTrust provides an innovative charitable vehicle for donors who wish to safeguard their charitable intent to fund organizations that undergird America's founding principles.
Explicitly devoted to supporting organizations that promote liberty, DonorsTrust alone can commit to honor and defend the charitable intent of donors who share in our mission. The Trust is working to help alleviate, through education, research, and private initiative, society's most pervasive and radical needs, including those relating to social welfare, health, the environment, economics, governance, foreign relations, and arts and culture; and to encourage philanthropy and individual giving and responsibility, as opposed to governmental involvement, as an answer to society's needs.
Who they are helps to translate that statement:
Whitney L. Ball~
Ms. Ball is Co-Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of DonorsTrust, a public charity established to assist donors in supporting liberty through limited government, free enterprise, and personal responsibility. Before helping to launch DonorsTrust, Ms. Ball served as Executive Director of The Philanthropy Roundtable, as well as Director of Development at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. Before her association with the Roundtable, she was Director of Finance for the Education and Research Institute and Circulation Manager of Consumers' Research Magazine. Additionally, Ms. Ball has consulted with a number of nonprofit organizations and served on governing boards and committees of local volunteer organizations. Currently, Ms. Ball is on the board of DonorsTrust and the State Policy Network.
Christopher DeMuth~
Mr. DeMuth is the D.C. Searle Senior Fellow and former President of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI). Before serving at AEI, he was Managing Director of Lexecon, Inc., Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Regulation magazine, Administrator for Regulatory Affairs at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Executive Director of the Presidential Task Force on Regulatory Relief in the Reagan administration, and a private practice lawyer. In addition, Mr. DeMuth has lectured at the Kennedy School of Government and been the Director of the Harvard Faculty Project on Regulation. He has also written articles on government regulation and other subjects that have appeared in The Public Interest, The Harvard Law Review, The Yale Journal on Regulation, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications.
Kimberly O. Dennis~
Ms. Dennis is President and COO of the Searle Freedom Trust, a private grant making foundation supporting research and education on public policies that promote individual freedom and personal responsibility. From 2002 to 2006, she also served as director of the National Research Initiative, a Searle-funded program at the American Enterprise Institute. From 1991 until 1996, Ms. Dennis served as the executive director of The Philanthropy Roundtable. Her previous experience includes over five years with the John M. Olin Foundation and with multiple nonprofit educational and policymaking organizations, including the Institute for Humane Studies and the Pacific Research Institute. Ms. Dennis currently serves on the boards of the Earhart Foundation, The Philanthropy Roundtable, and the Property and Environment Research Center.
Steven F. Hayward~
Steven F. Hayward, is the F.K Weyerhaeuser Fellow in Law and Economics at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington DC, and Senior Fellow at the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy in San Francisco. He holds a Ph.D in American Studies and an M.A. in Government from Claremont Graduate School, and teaches constitutional theory in the Fund for American Studies Capital Semester program at Georgetown University. He writes frequently on a wide range of current topics, including environmentalism, law, economics, and public policy for publications including National Review, Reason, The Weekly Standard, The American Spectator, The Public Interest, the Claremont Review of Books, and Policy Review. His newspaper articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, and dozens of other daily newspapers. He is the author of the annual Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, released each year on Earth Day. He is a grant adviser to the Searle Freedom Trust, and a trustee of the Philadelphia Society, the Institute for Energy Research, and the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University.
Bruce H. Jacobs~
Our founding benefactor, Bruce H. Jacobs, died peacefully in his sleep on June 14, 2010, at the age of 92. Mr. Jacobs served on the Donors Capital Fund board since its inception in 1999. He was a retired cattle rancher and investor from California. During his lifetime, Mr. Jacobs also served on the board of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
Kris Alan Mauren~
Mr. Mauren is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, an international educational and public policy organization based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Institute organizes seminars to promote an understanding of the ethical dimensions of the free market economy. After graduating from The Johns Hopkins University, Mr. Mauren founded the Acton Institute and has traveled the world, lecturing and consulting in more than a dozen countries. He serves on the board of directors for the Foundation for Economic Education and is affiliated with The Philadelphia Society, the Council for National Policy, and the National Society of Fundraising Executives.
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William H. Mellor~
Mr. Mellor is President and General Counsel as well as Co-Founder of the Institute for Justice. The Institute for Justice is a public interest law firm that litigates cases for the purpose of protecting economic liberty, property rights, and the First Amendment. Prior to his tenure at the Institute for Justice, Mr. Mellor served as President of the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, a nationally recognized "think tank" located in San Francisco. He also served in the Reagan Administration as Deputy General Counsel for Legislation and Regulations in the Department of Energy. Mellor's views and writings have appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, National Law Journal, "CBS Evening News," CNN, ABC News "Nightline", and numerous other publications and programs.
Adam Meyerson~
Mr. Meyerson is the President of The Philanthropy Roundtable, a national association of individual donors, foundation trustees and staff, and corporate giving officers. Prior to joining the Roundtable, Mr. Meyerson was Vice President for Educational Affairs at The Heritage Foundation and editor-in-chief of Heritage's magazine, Policy Review. He also served as an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal, editor of the Journal's "Manager's Journal" and "Asia" columns and its book reviews, and Managing Editor of The American Spectator magazine. He is co-editor of The Wall Street Journal on Management.
Stephen Moore~
Mr. Stephen Moore is a senior economics writer and member of the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal. He was formerly a Senior Fellow of the Cato Institute, a market-liberal think tank where he was the Director of Fiscal Policy Studies. Prior to his tenure at the Cato Institute, Moore served as a Senior Economist at the Joint Economic Committee under Chairman Dick Armey, was the Grover M. Hermann Fellow in Budgetary Affairs at the Heritage Foundation, and worked on the National Economic Commission and the Commission on Privatization under President Reagan. Moore is the founder of the Club for Growth, is a contributing editor of National Review, and is the coauthor of It's Getting Better All the Time: 100 Greatest Trends of the Past 100 Years and author of Government: America's #1 Growth Industry.
Jeffrey C. Zysik~
Mr. Zysik is an attorney and accountant with fifteen years of tax planning experience, focusing primarily on sophisticated estate and income tax concepts. Before joining DonorsTrust, he was managing-director and co-founder of Charitable Entity Administration, LLC (CEA). Before launching CEA, Mr. Zysik served as Director-in-Charge of strategy development at myCFO's national tax group. He also spent five years with KPMG LLP--one year in a tax practice office, three years with the firm's Washington National Tax Personal Financial Planning practice and a final year serving as Director-in-Charge of the firm's South Florida Personal Financial Planning practice. Admitted to the New York State Bar, Mr. Zysik holds a Bachelor of Accountancy degree from George Washington University, a Master in Public Accounting-Tax degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and a JD degree from George Mason University.
John H. Von Kannon~
Mr. Von Kannon is Vice President and Treasurer of The Heritage Foundation. Previously, he was Vice President of the Pacific Legal Foundation and President of Russell & Von Kannon, a marketing and consulting firm in suburban Chicago. Mr. Von Kannon has also served as the publisher of The American Spectator, a conservative journal of opinion and commentary. In addition to his work at Heritage, he currently serves as a trustee at FREE - The Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment as well as at two private foundations, the Holman Foundation and the Strong Family Heritage Fund.
and:
DonorsTrust Officers & Directors
Whitney L. Ball, President
President & CEO, DonorsTrust
Kimberly O. Dennis, Chairman
President, Searle Freedom Trust
James Piereson, Vice Chairman
President, William E. Simon Foundation
Nathaniel C. Moffat
Moffat & Company
William J. Hume
Chairman of the Board, Basic American, Inc.
Jeffrey C. Zysik, Secretary-Treasurer
Chief Financial Officer & Chief of Information Technology, DonorsTrust
DonorsTrust Staff
Whitney L. Ball
President & Chief Executive Officer
Jeffrey C. Zysik
Chief Financial Officer & Chief of Information Technology
Joy L. Simington
Finance & Administration Director
Lauren B. Vander Heyden
Client Services Coordinator
Always nice to see the the cross-connection of, just by way of example, the William E. Simon Foundation folks (famously part of the founding of the modern conservative movement in reaction to the environmental and labor victories in the early 1970s) and the anti-labor Right to Work crowd, all openly together as one.
It is of course, as always, the same interlocking circle of the same folks -- who have given us 30 plus years of deregulation, cuts in taxes for the rich, rise in taxes for the working and middle class, income stagnation, rising inequality --- who are of course also behind the bread and circuses of Islamophobia fearmongering.
Anyway, it looks like Media Matters can add some additional names to it list of who is behind the Conservative Cabal.
