It appears that the Montana Secretary of State has filed a complaint alleging 3 and possibly 4 Montana election laws were broken. Here’s a story on the Valley News and The Republic.
Additionally, it appears that the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation paid for the mailers using at least some of a $250,000 grant that had some matching funds with Stanford.
You can learn quite a bit about The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation really fast on Wikipedia, and they go back a long time and have a long tradition of excellence. They’ve funded universities for years, they’ve helped the environment, funded the performing arts, and generally made the world a better place because of their philanthropic deeds.
You probably know the name because you’ve heard it at the start of nearly every PBS News Hour. They always name off their sponsors, and that’s why I recognized so many of those names earlier today when I began digging into the funding for the Hoover Institute. Trust me, you have that list next to the TV at 6 PM tonight and you’ll see some overlapping.
Anyways, it’s been reported in the media and in the complaint that Linda McCullough filed today that this organization is complicit in this crime, having funded the mailers from their grant to the university.
Now, maybe they can get off the hook and say that none of their money was used. I mean, we know that it couldn’t have cost more than $50,000 here in Montana, and that’s if you’re putting a Forever Stamp on each and everyone of those mailers.
But they went to New Hampshire and California, too, and that’s going to be more than the $100,000 that Stanford matched. So yes, they are liable.
I hope California Watch looks into this. It’s that state’s leading nonpartisan investigative news agency, but it was started by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Talk about a conflict of interest, huh?
I’d imagine PBS and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation will want to get this shit off their shoes real quick. It’ll grow over the weekend, and come Monday, whoa boy, it could stink to high heaven.
One thing that I found was the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, which is a conservative think-tank that specializes in taking down civil rights initiatives, immigrant bills, and affirmative action stuff. One of their major funders is the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, as well as Exxon Mobil, Chase Manhattan, and the Sarah Scaife Foundation.
That last one there, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, just happens to be the same organization that gave more money to the Hoover Institute than any other organization between 1985 and 2008. They're also big funders of ALEC, the American Legislative Executive Council. Herein may lie the connection. And don't forget to leave out Reynolds America, or Big Tobacco...they're also funding ALEC.
You’ll remember from previous reporting on this issue by Montana Cowgirl that the Stanford professors responsible for the illegal Montana mailer are part of the Hoover Institute as Fellows, so there's another connection.
Back in August Inside Philanthropy reported on the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s attempts to reduce gridlock in Congress by having more moderates elected. Could this policy have been used against them?
I’m just trying to get my head around how this organization could have been hoodwinked into this scam against Montana, which we now know is most likely illegal.
It seems to me that the Foundation may have been led astray through their efforts to fund schools and make them better. Could a lot of these right-wing charter school nuts or other people have gotten their hooks into them that way? When I see the William and Flora Hewlett Foundations’ name come up on the same page as the American Legislative Executive Council, I have to wonder.
I’m sure those that know this Foundation will wonder too. They have a large list of groups they support, and maybe some of those groups would look askance at this.
Additionally, it appears that the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation paid for the mailers using at least some of a $250,000 grant that had some matching funds with Stanford.
You can learn quite a bit about The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation really fast on Wikipedia, and they go back a long time and have a long tradition of excellence. They’ve funded universities for years, they’ve helped the environment, funded the performing arts, and generally made the world a better place because of their philanthropic deeds.
You probably know the name because you’ve heard it at the start of nearly every PBS News Hour. They always name off their sponsors, and that’s why I recognized so many of those names earlier today when I began digging into the funding for the Hoover Institute. Trust me, you have that list next to the TV at 6 PM tonight and you’ll see some overlapping.
Anyways, it’s been reported in the media and in the complaint that Linda McCullough filed today that this organization is complicit in this crime, having funded the mailers from their grant to the university.
Now, maybe they can get off the hook and say that none of their money was used. I mean, we know that it couldn’t have cost more than $50,000 here in Montana, and that’s if you’re putting a Forever Stamp on each and everyone of those mailers.
But they went to New Hampshire and California, too, and that’s going to be more than the $100,000 that Stanford matched. So yes, they are liable.
I hope California Watch looks into this. It’s that state’s leading nonpartisan investigative news agency, but it was started by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Talk about a conflict of interest, huh?
I’d imagine PBS and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation will want to get this shit off their shoes real quick. It’ll grow over the weekend, and come Monday, whoa boy, it could stink to high heaven.
One thing that I found was the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, which is a conservative think-tank that specializes in taking down civil rights initiatives, immigrant bills, and affirmative action stuff. One of their major funders is the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, as well as Exxon Mobil, Chase Manhattan, and the Sarah Scaife Foundation.
That last one there, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, just happens to be the same organization that gave more money to the Hoover Institute than any other organization between 1985 and 2008. They're also big funders of ALEC, the American Legislative Executive Council. Herein may lie the connection. And don't forget to leave out Reynolds America, or Big Tobacco...they're also funding ALEC.
You’ll remember from previous reporting on this issue by Montana Cowgirl that the Stanford professors responsible for the illegal Montana mailer are part of the Hoover Institute as Fellows, so there's another connection.
Back in August Inside Philanthropy reported on the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s attempts to reduce gridlock in Congress by having more moderates elected. Could this policy have been used against them?
I’m just trying to get my head around how this organization could have been hoodwinked into this scam against Montana, which we now know is most likely illegal.
It seems to me that the Foundation may have been led astray through their efforts to fund schools and make them better. Could a lot of these right-wing charter school nuts or other people have gotten their hooks into them that way? When I see the William and Flora Hewlett Foundations’ name come up on the same page as the American Legislative Executive Council, I have to wonder.
I’m sure those that know this Foundation will wonder too. They have a large list of groups they support, and maybe some of those groups would look askance at this.
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation publicly supports these groups. Behind the scenes, however, they support organizations that act to thwart the missions of these groups.
After all, the grant money that the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is giving to universities is then being funneled back into dark money groups to be spent against the very causes they publicly support. If there's ever been a case of the right hand doing something while the left doesn't know about it, then I'm blind to it.
Perhaps the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is as well, and that really makes me wonder if I should be donating to them this tax year. Many in Montana are about to wonder, and I have a feeling some in Washington might soon be as well.
Perhaps the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is as well, and that really makes me wonder if I should be donating to them this tax year. Many in Montana are about to wonder, and I have a feeling some in Washington might soon be as well.
