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Bankrolled By Big Donors, Not Small Business

A recent analysis by Public Campaign and Alliance for a Just Society shows that the NFIB and its Legal Center received an influx of big dollar donations in 2010 and 2011 as their challenge to the federal health care law moved forward -- suggesting the challenge is bankrolled by deep-pocketed special interests. The NFIB pocketed more than $10 million in 2010 and 2011, with $8.5 million coming from just four contributors. As a non-profit, NFIB is not required to disclose its donors, but it is known that the organization received $3.7 million in 2010 from Karl Rove's 501(c)(4) political group Crossroads GPS. In contrast, in 2009, the year before the healthcare lawsuit, the largest donation NFIB received was $21,000.

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NFIB Ties to Right-Wing, ALEC

While NFIB's funding has recently swelled with its crusade against Obamacare, its partisan affiliations run deep. Ninety percent of its campaign contributions over the past fifteen years have gone to support GOP candidates -- and it is safe to say that ninety percent of small business owners are not Republican. The NFIB's president, Dan Danner, is a longtime lobbyist who has never been a small businessman. The rest of the NFIB's leadership consists of right-wing veterans.

For example, NFIB Senior Vice President for Federal Policy, Susan Eckerly, was previously the director of regulatory policy for the David Koch-founded Citizens for a Sound Economy, which split into Freedomworks and Americans for Prosperity. She also previously served on the board of the right-wing Heritage Foundation, where she voiced support for the Cato Institute's push to repeal the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Community Reinvestment Act.

NFIB is also closely tied to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Jean Card, NFIB's Vice President of Media and Communications, was an ALEC Task Force advisor from 1994 to 1996, before becoming a speechwriter in the Bush administration and eventually moving to the NFIB.