{"id":135,"date":"2019-02-18T01:37:07","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T01:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/?p=135"},"modified":"2019-02-18T03:55:30","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T03:55:30","slug":"dark-money-is-funding-anti-union-propaganda-in-ct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/dark-money-is-funding-anti-union-propaganda-in-ct\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark Money is Funding Anti-Union Propaganda in CT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Crossing the Pearl Harbor Bridge this afternoon, I saw this billboard: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/5b16ae1685ede1c007daf88f\/t\/5c48b569758d46280beac880\/1548268942890\/YI_RECERT_WEB+BANNER2.jpg?format=750w\" alt=\"Billboard: Bring Democracy Back to the Union\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>It included a URL for a website, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ctworkers.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">CTWorkers.org<\/a>. When I got home, I visited that website, and found this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"369\" height=\"254\" src=\"http:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Screen-Shot-2019-02-17-at-8.05.04-PM.png\" alt=\"Janus Has Been Decided. What now? Button: Help Me Resign from My Union\" class=\"wp-image-136\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Screen-Shot-2019-02-17-at-8.05.04-PM.png 369w, https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Screen-Shot-2019-02-17-at-8.05.04-PM-300x207.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 369px) 100vw, 369px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The whole website is dedicated to encouraging public sector workers to resign from their unions and stop paying dues. Of course, their stated mission is to &#8220;Empower Workers&#8221; and to serve as a &#8220;community for Connecticut public employees interested in talking about workplace rights.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond that, there&#8217;s no information on the site about who they are or where they came from. Clicking through to their Facebook page, though, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ads\/archive\/?active_status=all&amp;ad_type=all&amp;country=ALL&amp;view_all_page_id=239041406869404\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">you can look at an archive of their old ads<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"301\" height=\"406\" src=\"http:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Screen-Shot-2019-02-17-at-8.10.45-PM.png\" alt=\"CT Workers Facebook ad, paid for by the Yankee Institute for Public Policy\" class=\"wp-image-137\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Screen-Shot-2019-02-17-at-8.10.45-PM.png 301w, https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Screen-Shot-2019-02-17-at-8.10.45-PM-222x300.png 222w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 301px) 100vw, 301px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>All are paid for by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yankeeinstitute.org\/ rel=\" nofollow\"=\"\" title=\"bootlicking pieces of trash\">Yankee Institute for Public Policy<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Yankee Institute, of course, is a Connecticut-based right-wing think tank that &#8220;advances free-market, limited-government solutions.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, the Yankee Institute is funding &#8220;CT Workers.&#8221; Who&#8217;s funding them? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"According to SourceWatch.org (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sourcewatch.org\/index.php\/Yankee_Institute_for_Public_Policy\" target=\"_blank\">According to SourceWatch.org<\/a>, Yankee Institute receives funding from the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sourcewatch.org\/index.php\/Franklin_Center_for_Government_and_Public_Integrity\" target=\"_blank\">Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity<\/a>, a right-wing watchdog group connected to ALEC, the notorious lobbying group that feeds reactionary legislation to local politicians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Yankee Institute also receives a great deal of funding from <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Donors Trust (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Donors_Trust\" target=\"_blank\">Donors Trust<\/a>, the Koch Brothers&#8217; anonymous, dark money lobbying group. <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"According to Mother Jones (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/politics\/2013\/02\/donors-trust-donor-capital-fund-dark-money-koch-bradley-devos\/\" target=\"_blank\">According to Mother Jones<\/a>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote>Over the past decade, it has funded the right\u2019s&nbsp;assault on labor unions, climate scientists, public schools, economic regulations, and the very premise of activist government. &#8230; It is the dark-money ATM of the right.<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote>&#8230;<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote>Founded in 1999, Donors Trust (and an affiliated group, Donors Capital Fund) has raised north of $500 million and doled out $400 million to more than 1,000 conservative and libertarian groups, according to&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.donorstrust.org\/AboutUs\/WhitneyBall.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Whitney Ball<\/a>, the group\u2019s CEO. Donors Trust allows wealthy contributors who want to donate millions to the most important causes on the right to do so anonymously,&nbsp;essentially scrubbing&nbsp;the identity of those underwriting conservative and libertarian organizations.<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Connected to Donors Trust, ALEC, and the Yankee Institute is the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"State Policy Network, which has launched a nation-wide campaign attacking state employee unions (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2017\/aug\/30\/rightwing-alliance-unions-defund-defang\" target=\"_blank\">State Policy Network, which has launched a nation-wide campaign attacking state employee unions<\/a>. The ultimate goal is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.exposedbycmd.org\/2019\/01\/22\/alecs-new-union-busting-toolkit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"to bankrupt them (opens in a new tab)\">to bankrupt them<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, in short, anonymous and unaccountable dark money is funding billboards attacking unions here in Connecticut and across the country. I knew this sort of thing happens, but all the same it was jarring to see it in front of my face, 30 feet tall on a Sunday afternoon. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Crossing the Pearl Harbor Bridge this afternoon, I saw this billboard: It included a URL for a website, CTWorkers.org. When I got home, I visited that website, and found this: The whole website is dedicated to encouraging public sector workers to resign from their unions and stop paying dues. Of course, their stated mission is&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.14 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Dark Money is Funding Anti-Union Propaganda in CT | Peter M. Cunningham Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/dark-money-is-funding-anti-union-propaganda-in-ct\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dark Money is Funding Anti-Union Propaganda in CT | Peter M. Cunningham Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Crossing the Pearl Harbor Bridge this afternoon, I saw this billboard: It included a URL for a website, CTWorkers.org. When I got home, I visited that website, and found this: The whole website is dedicated to encouraging public sector workers to resign from their unions and stop paying dues. Of course, their stated mission is...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/dark-money-is-funding-anti-union-propaganda-in-ct\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Peter M. Cunningham Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/petermcunningham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-18T01:37:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-02-18T03:55:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/5b16ae1685ede1c007daf88f\/t\/5c48b569758d46280beac880\/1548268942890\/YI_RECERT_WEB+BANNER2.jpg?format=750w\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@NotJohnHubinger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@NotJohnHubinger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/dark-money-is-funding-anti-union-propaganda-in-ct\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/dark-money-is-funding-anti-union-propaganda-in-ct\/\",\"name\":\"Dark Money is Funding Anti-Union Propaganda in CT | Peter M. Cunningham Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-18T01:37:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-18T03:55:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ff1cf7a92f309f5fb687272866ee2ed3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/dark-money-is-funding-anti-union-propaganda-in-ct\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/dark-money-is-funding-anti-union-propaganda-in-ct\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/dark-money-is-funding-anti-union-propaganda-in-ct\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dark Money is Funding Anti-Union Propaganda in CT\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Peter M. Cunningham Blog\",\"description\":\"It&#039;s Pete&#039;s Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ff1cf7a92f309f5fb687272866ee2ed3\",\"name\":\"Peter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1443a27fc92203c4229a30d929d23193?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1443a27fc92203c4229a30d929d23193?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Peter\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dark Money is Funding Anti-Union Propaganda in CT | Peter M. Cunningham Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/dark-money-is-funding-anti-union-propaganda-in-ct\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dark Money is Funding Anti-Union Propaganda in CT | Peter M. Cunningham Blog","og_description":"Crossing the Pearl Harbor Bridge this afternoon, I saw this billboard: It included a URL for a website, CTWorkers.org. When I got home, I visited that website, and found this: The whole website is dedicated to encouraging public sector workers to resign from their unions and stop paying dues. Of course, their stated mission is...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/dark-money-is-funding-anti-union-propaganda-in-ct\/","og_site_name":"Peter M. Cunningham Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/petermcunningham","article_published_time":"2019-02-18T01:37:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-02-18T03:55:30+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/5b16ae1685ede1c007daf88f\/t\/5c48b569758d46280beac880\/1548268942890\/YI_RECERT_WEB+BANNER2.jpg?format=750w"}],"author":"Peter","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@NotJohnHubinger","twitter_site":"@NotJohnHubinger","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/dark-money-is-funding-anti-union-propaganda-in-ct\/","url":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/dark-money-is-funding-anti-union-propaganda-in-ct\/","name":"Dark Money is Funding Anti-Union Propaganda in CT | Peter M. Cunningham Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-02-18T01:37:07+00:00","dateModified":"2019-02-18T03:55:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ff1cf7a92f309f5fb687272866ee2ed3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/dark-money-is-funding-anti-union-propaganda-in-ct\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/dark-money-is-funding-anti-union-propaganda-in-ct\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/dark-money-is-funding-anti-union-propaganda-in-ct\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dark Money is Funding Anti-Union Propaganda in CT"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/","name":"Peter M. Cunningham Blog","description":"It&#039;s Pete&#039;s Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ff1cf7a92f309f5fb687272866ee2ed3","name":"Peter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1443a27fc92203c4229a30d929d23193?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1443a27fc92203c4229a30d929d23193?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Peter"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142,"href":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions\/142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petermcunningham.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}