Right-wing billionaires, corporations and the Bradley Foundation pay for junk studies that prop up their agenda


According to a new study by the Madison-based watchdog group Center for Media and Democracy, the 63 think tank members of State Policy Network (SPN) have worked hand in hand with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to craft pro-corporate, anti-democratic legislation that boosts their donors’ bottom line. The allegedly independent, nonpartisan think tanks in SPN—including the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute and the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy—provide and share the ideologically skewed data and analyses that form the justification for bills to sabotage Obamacare, gut workers’ rights and ban unions, reform the tax code to benefit the wealthy and corporations, roll back environmental protections, expand school vouchers and privatization, abolish Common Core standards and more.

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Bradley Foundation Outspends Koch Brothers

With more than $550 million in assets, the Bradley Foundation sunk at least $31 million into its voucher studies and programs, according to a report by One Wisconsin Now (OWN). But its funding is sent to other conservative, free-market foundations and think tanks around the country. “They are the biggest funder of right-wing causes in the nation,” said Mike Browne, OWN’s deputy director. “They spend more money than the Koch brothers.”

The Bradley Foundation is a huge supporter of members of the State Policy Network in Wisconsin and elsewhere. According to OWN’s research, the Bradley Foundation has given more than $16.5 million to the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute and $635,000 to John K. McIver Institute for Public Policy. The two groups are SPN members that have provided voucher-supporting studies and analysis at the same time they attempt to pass themselves off as independent, straight-shooting think tanks.

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WPRI, which bills itself as “Wisconsin’s Free Market Think Tank,” has precious few scholars on staff—none, in fact. Its president is former Journal Sentinel columnist Mike Nichols and its lead commentators are WTMJ’s Charlie Sykes (whose current wife works for the Bradley Foundation), political consultant Deb Jordahl and former Department of Administration Secretary George Lightbourn. WPRI’s board is dominated by the state’s corporate chiefs, including Tom Howatt, chair of Wausau Paper Corp.; Bank Mutual President David Baumgarten; ex-MillerCoors Vice President Michael Jones; former Thompson administration official and We Energies Senior Vice President James Klauser; Milwaukee investor David Lubar; and Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) President Tim Sheehy.