Posted on 08/24/2005 4:53:41 PM PDT by Thanatos
Freeper Investigation: Cindy Sheehan "Vigil" and "Anti-War Protests" Fake, all bought and paid for by George Soros.
I have been reading the stories on Cindy Sheehan and her "Valiant Vigil" at "Camp Casey" as the "Peace Mom" on AP, CBS, AFP, Reuters, etc... and now the "I Shall Return" announcements and speeches being reported about in the wires. I noticed a similarity in each and every story I read. Each referenced one or another "Spokesperson" named Michelle Mulkey, Mike Smith, Steve Smith, Ryan Fletcher. Well, I did a quick investigation and I found that with the exception of Ryan Fletcher, each of these persons are "Account Executives for "Fenton Communications".
What is Fenton Communications you ask? and what the heck are Account Executives??? Well, to put it simply, Fenton Communications IS a major part of the "Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy". Fenton Communications is a Left-Wing Public Relations Corporation with revenues in the Millions. It has a financial powerbase that has grown exponentantly since 1998 due to the massive infusion of cold cash from Left-wing clients, grants, and whatnot not the least of which is from billionaire George Soros's "The Tide Foundation" , Hollywood elites, and Foreign Sources. It's stated purpose is to provide "Public Relations" services to Left-of-center clients who advocate "Social Change" theories. (For those who do not know, the Communist Manifesto is based directly upon the "Social Change" Doctrine of Karl Marx (as rewritten by FREDERICK ENGELS January 30, 1888 London). "Social Change" is the basis of the "Progressive" movement of today. In other words, out and out Communism.) Account Executives are the guru's who think up ways to "PR" their clients, whether it is in a good way or a bad way.. It does not matter to a Public Relations Account Executive, as long as the Client's purposes are served and the 3 basic guidelines (The 3 C's) are covered (Confidence, Coverage, and Controversy).
You have all seen the power and ability of this "Vast Left-Wing Organization" to promote it's Anti-American, Anti-Capitalist propaganda. What seems to be a bunch of "Non-Profit" Left-Wing organizations out there each promoting their own screed, (ex.. Moveon.org, democraticunderground.org, Gold Star Families for Peace, etc..) They are in reality all one group and all are the brainchildren of the Account Executives at Fenton Communications. Their Proudest Achievement is Moveon.org. Here is a quote from Fenton Communications "About Us" webpage:
/quote
Fenton Communications is the largest public interest communications firm in the country. Since 1982, Fenton has contributed to some of the most defining social change movements of the past quarter century, from the fall of apartheid to the rise of MoveOn.org as a grassroots political force.“When we were looking to hire a PR firm, we wanted one with the expertise and professionalism of a corporate firm, and the heart and values of an organization that cares about our issues as much as we do. With Fenton, we have a true partner that gets us results.”
-Michelle Sawatka, Director of Media Relations, The American Lung Association
With our clients, we've waged winning campaigns on a broad range of issues. We've exposed human rights injustices and corporate corruption and moved the needle on environmental toxins and the death penalty.
Fenton is small enough to be nimble and inventive but big enough to supply a full range of services, from strategic planning and media relations to advertising and online marketing. Our offices in Washington, D.C., New York and San Francisco use the same sophisticated tools as corporations and governments, harnessing them for social change.
We aren't guns for hire. Fenton has always been selective about the clients we work with. We choose not to represent clients and projects that we don't believe in ourselves. This policy serves not only our goals but also our clients' best interests.
/unquote
Who are the "Puppet Masters" behind Cindy and the whole country wide "Controversy"???
From The West coast (Left Coast) we have:
MICHELLE MULKEY
ACCOUNT DIRECTOR
Michelle Mulkey, an account director at Fenton’s San Francisco office, has provided strategy, communications support and publicity on a range of public interest issues, including progressive politics, voting rights, public and children’s health, education reform and environmental protection.
As the lead strategist for Texans for Truth, the advocacy group that provided a Democratic answer to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth during the 2004 election, Mulkey helped expose President Bush’s missing year of service during the Vietnam War. During the 2004 election, she also worked for MoveOn PAC, Common Cause, NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation and People for the American Way on voter turnout and voting rights protection.
Mulkey leads Fenton’s work with Christian, Evangelical and interfaith groups to protect the environment. Her media outreach on behalf of the “What Would Jesus Drive?” and Detroit Project campaigns helped make fuel economy a hot-button issue. And she has placed clients including MoveOn.org and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on “The Today Show,” “The O’Reilly Factor,” “CNN American Morning” and “Hardball,” among others. She has also served as a key staffer on education reform issues in California for the Hewlett Foundation.
Mulkey has a broad range of experience developing branding and communications strategy plans for groups including the Ad Council, Oregon Natural Resources Council and Save The Bay. She also provided research and legislative strategy for the Polly Klaas Foundation’s legislative agenda to protect kids from family abduction.
Mulkey graduated from Green Corps, an environmental leadership training program, after earning her B.A. in history from Pepperdine University.
MIKE SMITH
ACCOUNT DIRECTOR
Mike Smith, an account director in Fenton’s west coast office, brings years of experience in media relations, positioning and branding, strategic communications, marketing and Web site. He specializes in public health, politics and social justice, and example clients include the American Medical Association, the Polly Klaas Foundation, Infact and National Voice, the organization behind the NOVEMBER 2 campaign that registered and turned out a record number of new voters for the 2004 election.
Smith has integrated proven corporate PR strategies into public interest communications from his prior work with the Horn Group, a high-tech public relations firm, WetFeet, a publisher and Internet site for career and recruitment information, and Odwalla, where he conducted marketing outreach, events, donations and sponsorships with community and grassroots organizations. Smith also wrote and developed advertising campaigns for The Onion Newspaper. He received his B.A. in English from Colorado College with minors in journalism and African studies.
From the East coast (Washington DC) we have:
STEVE SMITH
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Account Executive Steve Smith brings a rich background in environmental issues to Fenton, where he works with clients including MoveOn.org, the MoveOn Voter Fund, and MoveOn PAC. Prior to joining Fenton, Smith was a media officer at Greenpeace USA, where he secured national coverage for the group in publications such as The New York Times and Washington Post. His media relations work on the U.S. government's highly publicized criminal case against Greenpeace for protesting Amazon mahogany lumber helped frame the issue as a victory for free-speech and peaceful protest in the media, including The Miami Herald, The Denver Post, a cover story in The Miami New Times, as well as a major segment on CBS Evening News.
Smith also worked with Greenpeace International during the 2003 5th Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization in Cancún, Mexico, garnering media coverage in Spanish-speaking press, including numerous affiliates of Univisión, and Telemundo, and El Nuevo Herald in Miami. Prior to that, as the campaigns director assistant at Greenpeace, Smith spearheaded several projects, including outreach to recruit youth activists. He holds a double degree in international affairs and Spanish from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and studied at the Universidad de Alcalá de Henares in Madrid.
New York City:
DAVID FENTON
CEODavid Fenton, named as “One of the 100 most influential P.R. people of the 20th Century” by PR Week magazine, founded Fenton Communications in 1982 to create issue-oriented public relations campaigns focusing on the environment, public health and human rights. Over the course of two decades, he has pioneered the use of professional P.R. and advertising techniques by nonprofit public interest groups in the United States and around the world.
Fenton is also a co-founder of three independent nonprofit organizations: Environmental Media Services, which coordinates communications activities for environmental groups; New Economy Communications, which works on human rights issues in the global economy; and the Death Penalty Information Center. Fenton was formerly director of public relations at Rolling Stone magazine and co-producer of the “No Nukes” concerts in 1979 with Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt and other artists. He is a native of New York City.
That's all fine and dandy, but how do they get all this stuff into the press?? Well, that is actually one of the easiest things to do. A Public Relations firm does just about everything for you, from "Pitching" the stories to the interested reporters and if they need to , they will actually write the news storie and feed them to members of the press who put their names on it and submits it as their own work. Some of these "Journalist" will get paid on the side, other times, they are people looking to get promoted or "Ahead" in their fields and will use these activism stories as stepping stones to anchor jobs or bureau chiefs. Two very well known AP "Journalist" who provide a conduit into the "Main Stream Media" for these Left-Wing Public Relations companies are RON FOURNIER (For Political Stories) and KATHLEEN HENNESSEY (Environmental and Activism Stories). You may not know this, but there is a monopoly of how news is sent to newspapers, tv stations, web sites, Radio Stations, etc.. There is no competing news organizations, no such thing. The "Main Stream" networks may have some stories that they will feed to their affiliates, but 98% of all the news you see on the internet, television, radio, and print (newspapers and magazines) are originated from the Associated Press. This is no made up number. This is fact. You can contact any local news outlet and ask them where they get their news. It is either from AP or their Affiliate news feed. This is why when news is reported around the nation, it is consistent and deviates very little from one place to another (word for word it is the same). Oh sure, you have heard of UPI, AFP, Reuters.. Those are regional newsgathering organizations, but they all get their news from the Associated Press exclusively. (Deep thought for those who think: If you wanted to get rid of the "Main Stream Media" all you have to do is disband the Associated Press and most "Main Stream" news organizations will fall faster then a French Military Retreat).
Watch the news cycle for this particular "Public Relations Project" Code named "Peace Mom" and apply the above to the next news story and see how you will see it in a completely different light.
If anyone is interested on pursuing this further and actually "Connect all the Dots" on this vast left-wing conspiracy, then here are other Left Wing Public Relations and foundations you may want to check out:
PR Groups:
Douglas Gould
Fenton Communications
Hauser Group
The SPIN Project
Spitfire Strategies
Major Left-Wing Funding groups:
I do not need to post any other "Funding" group as 80% of them are actually affiliated with the George Soros Tides Foundation. Start from there and work your way down the funding chain and you will find 98% of the Left wing 527's, 501c's, websites, etc.. are all owned by George Soros.
Projects the vast Left-Wing propaganda machine has perpetuated over the past few years:
Fenton Communications:
Education:
What We Don't Know is Killing Us
Enviromant:
What Would Jesus Drive?
Give Swordfish a Break
Saving Environmental Gems
Taking a Stand on Headwaters Forest
California's Vanishing Wetlands
Fast, Cheap, Clean Energy
Health:
Preventing Violent Deaths
American Lung Association
Liquor-Free TV
Breast Cancer Victories
International:
Nike, Just Do It
Dalai Lama U.S. Tour
Iraq Policy Information Project
Teaching Torture
Human Rights in Guatemala
Legal:
Nazi Slave Labor
Taking Enron to Court
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender:
Dr. Laura's Homophobia
Colin Higgins Courage Awards
Point Foundation Scholars
San Francisco's Historic Marriage Moment
Straightforward Publicity
Media and Culture:
Introducing the Real John Travolta
Vietnam War Widows
Social and Economic Justice:
Taking on the SAT
Affordable Housing: Good for Kids' Health
Corporate Tax Repeal Defeated
Woman, Families, and Youth:
Amber Alert Goes National
Girls Sports get a Boost from Soccer
Juvenile Injustice
Honoring Polly Klaas' Memory
Keeping Kids on the Right Track
FENTON COMMUNICATIONS CLIENTS - PAST AND PRESENT
Education Environment
Foundations
Health
International
Law Firms and Legal Organizations
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender
Media and Culture
Politics and Democracy
Social and Economic Justice
Socially Responsible Businesses
Women, Families & Youth
American Indian Higher Education Consortium
Springboard Schools
Campaign for College Opportunity
Citizens for Effective Schools
The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University
Council of Chief State School Officers
Education Trust-West
National Geographic Society
New Hampshire College
Pencil
Teach for America
UCLA Institute for Democracy, Education and Access
Alaska Wilderness League
Alliance to Save Energy
California Council of Land Trusts
California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG)
California Safe Schools
Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies
Center for Genetics & Society
Center for Marine Conservation
City Parks Forum
The Detroit Project
Earth Institute
Energy Foundation
Energy Future Coalition
Evangelical Environmental Network
Environmental Law Foundation
Environmental Law Institute
Environmental Media Services
Environment Now
Environmental Working Group
ForestEthics
Future 500
Greenpeace
Interfaith Climate & Energy Campaign
Marion Institute (for Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate)
Marine Aquarium Council
Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
Monterey Bay Aquarium
National Center for Bicycling
National Council of Churches
National Environmental Trust
National Religious Partnership for the Environment
Natural Resources Defense Council
The Natural Step
The Nature Conservancy
Ocean Law Project
Oregon Natural Resources Council
Pew Wilderness Center
Peninsula Open Space Trust
President’s Council on Sustainable Development
Rails to Trails
Rainforest Action Network
Save the Bay
SeaWeb
Sierra Club
Sonoma Open Space District
Truckee Donner Land Trust
Trust for Public Land
Union of Concerned Scientists
World Wildlife Fund
Arsalyn Foundation
Benton Foundation
California Endowment
Columbia Foundation
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Environmental Law Foundation
Goldman Environmental Foundation
Heinz Family Foundation
Horizons Foundation
James Irvine Foundation
John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
John Merck Fund
John Templeton Foundation
Joyce Foundation
McKnight Foundation
Open Society Institute
Pew Charitable Trusts
Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund
Tides Foundation
Turner Foundation
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
America’s HealthTogether
American Lung Association
American Medical Association
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Angel Wings Patient Outreach (Ashcroft vs. Raich Supreme Court case)
California Medical Association Foundation/ Pharmacy Partnership
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
Cancer Prevention Coalition
Center for Alcohol, Marketing and Youth
Center for Accessible Society
Center for College Health and Safety – Education Development Center
Center for Food Safety
Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
Generation Rescue
George Washington University-Ensuring Solutions for Alcohol Problems
Harvard School of Public Health
Health Consumer Alliance
Health Care Without Harm
Interstitial Cystitis Association
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Medical Students for Choice
Mount Sinai Center for Children and Environmental Health
National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences
National Library of Medicine
National Sleep Foundation
Physicians for a Violence-free Society
Prostrate Cancer Foundation
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Trauma Foundation
White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine
White House World AIDS Day Summit
African Wildlife Foundation
Amnesty International
Burma Project of the Open Society Institute
Center for International Policy
Civilian Research and Development Foundation
Council for a Parliament of the World Religions
Heifer International
HOPE for African Children Initiative
International Campaign for Tibet and the Dalai Lama
International Forum on Globalization
Nelson Mandela - Presidential Election
NetAid
TransAfrica
United Nations Development Program
United Nations Foundation
World Resources Institute
American Trial Lawyers Association
Bushnell, Caplan & Fielding, LLP
Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman Robbins LLP
Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, LLP
Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes & Lerach, LLP
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers O’Quinn & Laminack
Prison Law Office
Waukeen Q. McCoy, Esq.
Wilner, Klein & Siegel
Youth Law Center
Colin Higgins Foundation
Equality California
Equality Forum
Freedom to Marry
Gill Foundation
Horizons Foundation
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
The Point Foundation
Woodhull Foundation
"A Force More Powerful" (PBS)
“A Woman’s Place” (PBS)
The Ad Council
Air America Radio
“An American Love Story” (PBS)
“Bellevue” (HBO)
“The Bubble of American Supremacy” (George Soros)
“Bush Family Fortunes” (Greg Palast and disinfopedia.com)
“Crimes Against Nature” (Robert Kennedy, Jr.)
Current TV (Al Gore)
“Dirty Pictures” (Showtime)
“The Great Divide: Retro vs. Metro America” (John Sperling)
“The Impossible Will Take a Little While” (Paul Loeb)
“In Good Conscience”
“In These Times”
Island Press
“It’s Elementary “(PBS)
“Livelyhood” (PBS)
“Monumental”
“Outfoxed” (Robert Greenwald)
Out of the Blue Films, Inc.
The Phillips Collection Calder Miro Exhibit
Princeton University Press (StraightForward)
“Regret to Inform” (PBS)
“Rich Man’s War” (album by Steve Earle)
Salon.com
“Silver City” (John Sayles/Newmarket Films)
“Strong in the Broken Places” (Max Cleland)
America Coming Together
Americans for Campaign Reform
Arianna for Governor
Campaign for America's Future
Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership of Marin
Common Cause
Fourth Freedom
Hip Hop Action Summit
Military Families Speak Out
MoveOn.org
NAACP Voter Fund
National Voice New Democracy Project – “What We Stand For” Conference
Next Ten
Our Nation's Capital
Public Policy Institute of California
RealVoices.org
Rock the Vote
Texans for Truth
True Majority
Vote Watch
Win Without War
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Friends Service Committee
Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities
Businesses for Social Responsibility
California Council for the Humanities
Center for Democracy and Technology
Congress for New Urbanism
Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety
Corporate Accountability International (formerly Infact)
Death Penalty Information Center
Echoing Green
Global Exchange
Global Security Institute
Front Line Defenders (Ireland)
Institute for Policy Studies
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Justice Policy Institute and Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
Justice Project
National League of Cities
National Low Income Housing Campaign
National Urban League
National Voting Rights Institute
New Economy Communications
Northern California Coalition for Immigrant Rights
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Osborne Association
People For the American Way
Public Citizen
Service Employees International Union
UNITE (Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees)
ABC Home & Planet
Align Technology
Ben and Jerry’s
Bion Technologies
Bluewater Wind/Arcadia Windpower
Body Shop
CERES Environmental Solutions
Green Mountain Coffee
HealthGrades
Kashi Cereal
No Sweat Apparel
Patagonia
Rodale Press
Seventh Generation
Solar Energy Industries Association
Washington Freedom Soccer Team
Working Assets Long Distance
Annie E. Casey Foundation/Corporation for Supportive Housing
Breast Cancer Action
The Breast Cancer Fund
California Breast Cancer Research Program
California Breast & Gynecological Cancer Treatment Task Force
California Council for Reproductive Freedom
Center for Reproductive Law & Policy
City Year New York
Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health
Consumers Union
Feminist Majority Foundation
Global Fund for Women
Housing America
Institute for Equality in Marriage
Kids and Cars
Million Mom March
NARAL Pro-Choice America
National Council for Research on Women
National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association
Planned Parenthood Action Fund
Pro-choice Public Education Project
Polly Klaas Foundation
Population Action International
Safe Passages
Women for Women International
Women’s Funding Network
Women’s Institute for Leadership Development for Human Rights
Youth Service America
bump
A Bump of research Amazement.
Pinz
Here's a visual map connecting Fenton Communications to leftist organizations:
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/tm/TM-1VER/index.asp?keyword=Fenton
(Thanks to Zacs Mom who posted it last week.)
You're right. From this Article:
Personal Message From Vacaville
Nowhere do the articles indicating media bias indicate that Casey reenlisted in the military, coming home for a period of time and encouraging many young Vacaville adults to enlist. That he was proud of what he was doing and he believed in what he was doing in Iraq.
FYI. This is rather lengthy... I admit I've only skimmed it.
The left has pulled out all stops to control the media in this country and other countries. They are in a fight of their lives to keep from losing that control. I hope to God that America does not succumb to the deceit of what is about to be pushed upon the world if these people ever get in power here again. The left are definitely using the Karl Marx approach to remove all things having to do with God and capitalism.
Introducing the Real John Travolta
While Disney was using John Travolta's star power to market its hit movie A Civil Action, Fenton Communications was working with real-life attorney Jan Schlichtmann to promote the true environmental story behind the film-toxic contamination of public water supplies.
Schlichtmann risked everything trying to prove that two corporations were responsible for contaminating the water supply of Woburn, Massachusetts.
Fenton, along with our client Environmental Media Services, used the Hollywood version of his story to spotlight dozens of towns around the country where industrial pollution is suspected of causing cancer clusters and other health problems. We created a web site (www.civilactive.com) where journalists could find local toxic polluters simply by entering zip codes.
Taking the name "Civil Active" for our campaign, we issued press materials to movie critics, entertainment producers and health reporters across the country, offering Schlichtmann-the "real" John Travolta-as a talk show guest and interviewee.
The "Civil Active" campaign was a resounding success. All of the film's opening night coverage, including Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood and Inside Edition, featured interviews with Schlichtmann, toxics experts and the Woburn families. Our campaign also inspired a wave of press coverage on the health effects of toxic pollution, including Good Morning America, Burden of Proof, Washington Post, the New York Times, USA Today and Time.
Bump
Bookmark bump!
Polly Klaas Foundation
With their other lists of moonbat clients, should I guess that this foundation protects the murderer and rapist of Polly Klaas?
Environmental Media Services
Also known as a "project" of the Tides Center 1320 18th Street, NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20036 Phone 202-463-6670 | Fax 202-463-6671 | Email ems@ems.org
If you’ve ever been advised to steer clear of a food, beverage, or other consumer product based on the claims of a nonprofit organization, you’ve likely been “spun” by Fenton’s multi-million-dollar message machine -- and Environmental Media Services (EMS) has probably been the messenger.
EMS is the communications arm of leftist public relations firm Fenton Communications. Based in Washington, in the same office suite as Fenton, EMS claims to be “providing journalists with the most current information on environmental issues.” A more accurate assessment might be that it spoon-feeds the news media sensationalized stories, based on questionable science, and featuring activist “experts,” all designed to promote and enrich David Fenton’s paying clients, and build credibility for the nonprofit ones. It’s a clever racket, and EMS & Fenton have been running it since 1994.
Tired of being nagged about which fish are politically correct to eat? Fretting about choosing the “right” catch of the day? You just might be under the influence of SeaWeb and the Natural Resources Defense Council (both Fenton clients), and their “Give Swordfish a Break!” campaign, communicated for over two years by the trusty flacks at EMS. Never mind that Rebecca Lent of the National Marine Fisheries Service said that Atlantic swordfish “are not considered endangered.” The point was to make SeaWeb and NRDC more believable and trusted when the next big enviro-agenda came along.
Freaked out about so-called “Frankenfoods”? Worried that biotech corn will make you glow in the dark? You’ve probably been exposed to something harmful, all right -- EMS’s anti-biotech message, approved and bankrolled by the large segment of the “natural” and organic foods industry that relies on Fenton Communications for its publicity. These include Whole Foods Markets, Green Mountain Coffee, Honest Tea, Kashi Cereal, and Rodale Press, a magazine publisher (Organic Style, Organic Gardening, and many more) that makes millions off of the misguided notion that organic foods are safer to eat than their conventional or biotech counterparts. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s position, by the way, is crystal clear. Former USDA Secretary Dan Glickman has said that “[j]ust because something is labeled as ‘organic’ does not mean it is superior, safer, or more healthy than conventional food.”
Afraid to eat dairy products from cows that have been treated with hormones to produce extra milk? Scared that the hormone, which the FDA calls “entirely safe,” will make its way into your body and cause cancer or other irreparable damage? Beginning with a huge press conference in 1998, EMS pushed that very message relentlessly for over two years. And they did it on behalf of Ben & Jerry’s, a paying Fenton client. Why would Ben & Jerry’s care? Because their ice cream is made with hormone-free milk, and David Fenton calculated that a little health hysteria would drive customers to their “alternative” product quite nicely.
It’s called “black marketing,” and Environmental Media Services has become the principal reason Fenton Communications is so good at it. EMS lends an air of legitimacy to what might otherwise be dismissed (and rightly so) as fear-mongering from the lunatic fringe. In addition to pre-packaged “story ideas” for the mass media, EMS provides commentaries, briefing papers, and even a stable of experts, all carefully calculated to win points for paying clients. These “experts,” though, are also part of the ruse. Over 70% of them earn their paychecks from current or past Fenton clients, all of which have a financial stake in seeing to it that the scare tactics prevail. It’s a clever deception perpetrated on journalists who generally don’t consider do-gooder environmentalists to be capable of such blatant and duplicitous “spin.”
The first rule of this game is that it’s strictly pay-for-play. For a price, you too can promote your product by maligning the competition with junk-science smear tactics. To Fenton Communications, you’ll be a “client”; down the hall at EMS, though, you’ll join the ranks of its “project partners.” And nobody will be the wiser.
Surely by now you know that money makes the world go ‘round, and the globe doesn’t stop spinning for Environmental Media Services just because it calls itself “nonprofit.” EMS exists to make money. It turns a profit for Fenton Communications by improving the bottom lines of a wide variety of Fenton clients. Understanding how the money changes hands, though, requires a shift in focus from Washington to San Francisco, where the Tides Foundation is based.
The Tides Foundation is an unusual philanthropy in many ways, not the least of which is that it gives away other foundations’ money. Corporations, individuals, and other foundations can all use Tides as a pass-through vehicle, “designating” that their cash be funneled to tax-exempt third parties. Tides is also unusual in that it runs its own “incubator” for these nonprofit entities, a subsidiary called the Tides Center that runs the day-to-day operations of new activist groups so they can focus on making life difficult for the rest of us. The end result is a “foundation” that uses its own tax-exemption as a sort of blanket coverage for newly-formed nonprofits (all of them left-of-center), while funding them with money that originates somewhere else.
In this arrangement, startup activist groups don’t have to risk being turned down when they ask the IRS for tax-exempt status: they just ride piggy-back on Tides’s exemption, giving them the same privileges extended to churches and universities without having to satisfy any real requirements. And big-money donors with anti-corporate or anti-consumer leanings can readily fund the lunatic fringe without having to disclose where their money went. They only need mention in their tax returns that a donation was made to the Tides Center, and their legal obligations are fulfilled. One more curious side effect of this deal is that newly-incubated activist groups (what Tides calls “projects”) can appear to have absolutely no expenses of their own for employees, lobbyists, or fundraising contractors, as Tides officially cuts all the checks.
So while Environmental Media Services was started, and is still run, by staffers of Fenton Communications, it was officially instituted as a “project” of the Tides Center in 1994. This gave Fenton some plausible deniability and initially shielded him from the suggestion that EMS was just a shill for his clients. It has also provided a ready-made funding mechanism for foundations, “progressive” companies, and other Fenton clients who don’t want their contributions to EMS noted for the public record [Editor’s note: despite the logistical roadblocks set up by Tides, our research still has been able to reverse-engineer several million dollars in foundation grants to EMS].
Of course, anyone ingenious enough to invent such a scheme is also probably crafty enough to abuse it as well. Consider that the Tides Center paid EMS president Arlie Schardt over $115,000 in 1998. Fair enough, since he was technically a Tides employee, in addition to being the “Senior Counselor” at Fenton Communications and a board member at Friends of the Earth. But that doesn’t explain the $583,727 that Tides paid to Fenton that same year, which was designated as “public relations” expenses in Tides’s tax return. You see, Tides has never “officially” been a Fenton client, as that would appear to be a huge conflict. The Fenton Communications web site doesn’t list Tides as a current or former client either. So what was the half-million-dollar payout for?
We may never find out. But we do know that in the past three tax years (1998-2000), the for-profit companies “eGrants,” Seventh Generation, and Working Assets (which sells long-distance phone service and brokers credit cards), have each put over $1 million into Tides. They are all, by the way, clients of Fenton Communications. So are big-money foundations like the Pew Charitable Trusts, the David & Lucille Packard Foundation, and the John Merck Fund. Together, they have contributed another $1.6 million (that we know of) to EMS, using Tides as a money-funnel.
The big picture, then, is a quasi-money-laundering scheme worthy of a name like “Tides” (apologies to Procter & Gamble). Fenton Communications’ for-profit and foundation clients put massive amounts of cash into Tides, and enjoy a healthy tax write-off for their trouble. Tides turns around and makes huge “grants” to Fenton’s nonprofit clients, including the Environmental Working Group, Natural Resources Defense Council, and SeaWeb (just to name a few). Tides also funds EMS, which David Fenton uses as a mouthpiece in order to promote fear campaigns which benefit his other for-profit clients. EMS makes good use of the “experts” who haunt the halls of Fenton’s nonprofit clients. Tides pays everyone’s salary, and even sends the odd half million dollars to Fenton Communication for its trouble.
The remarkable thing here is that this is all legal, and that it takes this much concentrated duplicity to produce an effective food scare.
In December of 1998, Environmental Media Services (with several Fenton Communications staffers in tow) held a press conference with guests including activist representatives from the Center for Food Safety and the Consumers Union. Before news cameras and dozens of reporters, this panel of “experts” warned that “recombinant” Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) given to cows would render milk harmful to humans, and even cancerous. The Boston Globe, the New York Times, and ABC News (among others) all ran stories based on this “breaking news” event suggesting that American consumers should be suspicious of any dairy products associated with rBGH.
Not surprisingly, the press event produced by EMS made no mention of the fact that Ben & Jerry’s was both a Fenton client and a major stakeholder in the debate. Just one year earlier, Ben & Jerry’s had made headlines (again, with a wind-assist from EMS) with a legal settlement in which it would be permitted to use product labels touting its products’ lack of rBGH as an advantage for consumers. Back then, EMS was very open about its relationship with Ben & Jerry’s, sending out press releases touting the ice cream maker’s “legal victory.” Fenton Communications knew full well that its client was interested in painting rBGH-wielding competitors as cancer conduits, and EMS was happy to oblige.
What they never told you was that Ben & Jerry’s also had to agree to a disclaimer, which still appears on some ice cream cartons today: “The FDA has said no significant difference has been shown and no test can now distinguish between milk from rBGH treated and untreated cows.”
When is a foundation not a foundation? When it gives away other foundations’ money. Most of America’s big-money philanthropies trace their largesse back to one or two wealthy contributors. The Pew Charitable Trusts was funded by Joseph Pew’s Sun Oil Company earnings, the David & Lucille Packard Foundation got its endowment from the Hewlett-Packard fortune, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation grew out of General Motors profits, and so on. In most cases, the donors’ descendants manage and invest these huge piles of money, distributing a portion each year to nonprofit groups of all kinds (the IRS insists that at least 5 percent is given away each year). This is the way philanthropic grantmaking has worked for over a century: whether a given endowment’s bottom line occupies six digits or twelve, the basic idea has remained the same.
Now comes the Tides Foundation and its recent offshoot, the Tides Center, creating a new model for grantmaking -- one that strains the boundaries of U.S. tax law in the pursuit of its leftist, activist goals.
Set up in 1976 by California activist Drummond Pike, Tides does two things better than any other foundation or charity in the U.S. today: it routinely obscures the sources of its tax-exempt millions, and makes it difficult (if not impossible) to discern how the funds are actually being used.
In practice, “Tides” behaves less like a philanthropy than a money-laundering enterprise (apologies to Procter & Gamble), taking money from other foundations and spending it as the donor requires. Called donor-advised giving, this pass-through funding vehicle provides public-relations insulation for the money’s original donors. By using Tides to funnel its capital, a large public charity can indirectly fund a project with which it would prefer not to be directly identified in public. Drummond Pike has reinforced this view, telling The Chronicle of Philanthropy: “Anonymity is very important to most of the people we work with.”
In order to get an idea of the massive scale on which the Tides Foundation plays its shell game, consider that Tides has collected over $200 million since 1997, most of it from other foundations. The list of grantees who eventually received these funds includes many of the most notorious anti-consumer groups in U.S. history: Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Environmental Media Services, Environmental Working Group, and even fringe groups like the now-defunct Mothers & Others for a Livable Planet (which used actress Meryl Streep to “front” the 1989 Alar-on-apples health scare fraud for NRDC).
For corporations and other organizations that eventually find themselves in these grantees’ crosshairs, there is practically no way to find out where their money originated. For the general public, the money trail ends at Tides’ front door. In many cases, even the eventual recipient of the funding has no idea how Tides got it in the first place.
Remarkably, all of this appears to be perfectly legal. The IRS has traditionally been friendly toward this “donor-advised” giving model, because in theory it allows people who don’t have millions of dollars to use an existing philanthropy as a “fiscal sponsor.” This allows them to distribute their money to worthwhile charities, while avoiding the overhead expenses of setting up a whole new foundation.
In practice, though, the Tides Foundation has turned this well-meaning idea on its head. When traditional foundations give millions of dollars to Tides, they’re not required to tell the IRS anything about the grants’ eventual purposes. Some document it anyway; most do not. When Tides files its annual tax return, of course, it has to document where its donations went -- but not where they came from.
Where the Money Comes From
The Tides Foundation is quickly becoming the 800-pound gorilla of radical activist funding, and this couldn’t happen without a nine-figure balance sheet. Just about every big name in the world of public grantmaking lists Tides as a major recipient. Anyone who has heard the closing moments of a National Public Radio news broadcast is familiar with these names. In 1999 alone, Tides took in an astounding $42.9 million. It gave out $31.1 million in grants that year, and applied the rest to a balance sheet whose bottom line is over $120 million. Since 1996, one foundation alone (the Pew Charitable Trusts) has poured over $40 million into Tides. And at least 17 others have made grants to Tides in excess of $100,000.
The Tides Center: A Legal Spin-Off
While Tides makes its name by facilitating large pass-through grants to outside groups, many of Tides’ grantees are essentially activist startups. Part of Tides’ overall plan is to provide day-to-day assistance to the younger groups that it "incubates." This can translate into program expertise, human resources and benefits management, assistance with facilities leasing, and even help with public relations and media. Tides typically charges groups 8 percent of their gross income for these services.
Until recently, these administrative functions were provided to grantees by the Tides Foundation itself. But in order to limit exposure to any lawsuits that might be filed against its many affiliated groups (many injured parties have considered suing environmental groups in recent years), a new and legally separate entity was born. In 1996 the Tides Center was spun off, insulating the Foundation’s purse and permanently separating Tides’ grantmaking and administrative functions.
Many environmental groups that now operate on their own got their start as a “project” of the Tides Center. These include the Environmental Working Group, Environmental Media Services, and the Natural Resources Defense Council -- which was itself founded with a sizable Tides “grant.” The Tides Center began with a seemingly innocent transfer of $9 million from the Tides Foundation. The Center immediately took over the operations of nearly all of the Tides “projects,” and undertook the task of “incubating” dozens more. There are currently over 350 such projects, and the number grows each year.
This practice of “incubation” allows Tides to provide traditional foundations with a unique service. If an existing funder wants to pour money into a specific agenda for which no activist group exists, Tides will start one from scratch. At least 30 of the Tides Center’s current “projects” were created out of thin air in response to the needs of one foundation or another.
The Tides Center board of directors has been especially busy of late. In 2001 the first Tides “franchise” office (not counting Tides’ presence in Washington and New York) was opened in Pittsburgh. This new outpost, called the Tides Center of Western Pennsylvania, was erected largely at the urging of Pittsburgh native Teresa Heinz (the widow of Senator John Heinz, the ketchup heir). Heinz pulls more strings in the foundation world than almost any other old-money socialite; she’s presently married to U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA). The Tides Foundation has collaborated on funding projects with the Heinz Endowments (Teresa Heinz’s personal domain) for over 10 years.
The tangled web
The Tides “complex” has established itself as an important funding nexus for movements and causes aligned with leftist ideology. Everyone who’s anyone in the big-money activist world now has some connection to Drummond Pike and his deputies.
Consider that as early as 1989, when the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) wanted to promote the now-infamous health scare about apples and the chemical additive Alar, the Tides Foundation was used as a financial conduit to allow NRDC to pay Fenton’s fees. NRDC was itself set up by Tides, and has since incorporated on its own, one of over a dozen other multi-million dollar former Tides projects to do so.
Fenton Communications, itself a touchstone for radical political campaigns, made use of the Tides Center to set up its Environmental Media Services (EMS) in 1994 (it has also since emerged from under Tides’ protection and formally set up shop in Fenton’s offices). The fact that Tides originally ran EMS’ day-to-day operations provided PR spinmeister David Fenton with “plausible deniability” -- a ready-made alibi against charges that this supposedly “nonpartisan” media outfit was just a shill for his paying clients. Now, of course, we all know that it is just that.
Similar stories can be told about SeaWeb, the Environmental Working Group, the National Environmental Trust (formerly known as the Environmental Information Center) and the Center for a Sustainable Economy, each of which received millions while under the Tides umbrella. Besides having been “incubated” in this fashion, the other principal commonality among these organizations is a client relationship with Fenton Communications.
The depth and financial implications of the Tides/Fenton connection is truly impressive, if not surprising. After all, long-time Fenton partner and recently-departed Environmental Media Services chief Arlie Schardt has sat on the board of the Tides Center/Tides Foundation complex since the very beginning. At present, the Fenton Communications client list includes at least 36 Tides grantees, as well as 10 big-money foundations that use Tides as a pass-through funding vehicle just about every year. In some cases, the Tides Foundation has been used to funnel money from one Fenton client to another.
Even taking into account the peculiar relationship between Tides and its in-house “projects,” Tides only spends about 40% of its money on these organizations. The rest goes to other left-leaning grantees, many of which have managers or board members that are connected to Tides in other ways.
For instance, the Tides Center’s corporate registration documents on file in Minnesota show that Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) president Mark Ritchie is its “registered agent.” This might explain why the Tides Foundation has paid over $20,000 to a commercial corporation owned by Ritchie and his brother. It’s a “sustainable coffee” company called Headwaters Inc., which does business with the public using the name Peace Coffee. The Ritchie brothers run this for-profit venture out of the same offices of their nonprofit (IATP), which just happens to advocate society’s total conversion to Peace Coffee’s main product. It’s a clever bit of flim-flammery, and the Tides Foundation has been helping to foot the bill.
This is business as usual for Mark Ritchie, though. He is the mastermind behind several other food-scare and health-scare organizations, all of which get appreciable funding through his Tides connection. A Tides Center “project” called the Trade Research Consortium lists its purpose as “research that illuminates the links between trade, environmental, and social justice.” Ritchie is its only discernable contact person. Similarly, Ritchie’s IATP runs the organic-only food advocacy group Sustain, but has taken great pains to hide this relationship (the group’s Internet domain listing was altered just hours after the connection was noted in an on-line discussion group in 2001). Ritchie also started the Consumer’s Choice Council, a Tides grantee that lobbies for “eco-labels” on everything from soybeans to coffee.
Tides also maintains an interesting relationship with the multi-billion-dollar Pew Charitable Trusts. Since 1993 Pew has used the Tides Foundation and/or Tides Center to “manage” three high-profile journalism initiatives: the Pew Center for Excellence in Journalism, the Pew Center for Civic Journalism, and the Pew Center for the People and the Press. These Pew “Centers” are set up as for-profit media companies, which means that Pew (as a “private foundation”) is legally prohibited from funding them directly. Tides has no such hurdle, so it has gladly raked in over $95 million from Pew since 1990 -- taking the standard 8 percent as pure profit.
In practice, the social reformers at the helm of the Pew Charitable Trusts use these media entities to run public opinion polling; to indoctrinate young reporters in “reporting techniques” that are consistent with Pew’s social goals; and to “promote” (read: subsidize) actual reporting and story preparation that meets Pew’s definition of “civic journalism.” Civic journalism, by the way, is defined as reporting that “mobilizes Americans” behind issues that Pew considers important.
Thumbing Their Noses At America
Among the most unbelievable “projects” of the Tides Center is something called the Institute for Global Communications (www.igc.org). IGC is a clearinghouse for Leftist propagandists of all stripes, including living-wage advocates, anti-war protesters, slave-reparations hucksters, and a wide variety of extreme environmentalists. In February 2002 Orange County Register columnist Steven Greenhut called it “a network of the loony left” that “has to be seen to be believed… One alert posted in an IGC member conference calls for financial support for the Earth Liberation Front… Another message warns readers against cooperating with the FBI.”
The Chronicle of Philanthropy has documented this sort of America-bashing before. In a November 15, 2001 story, the Chronicle reported that the Tides Center had given the Independent Media Center (IMC) $376,000 -- ironically, from its “9/11 fund.” IMC is a notorious bastion of far left, radical viewpoints, and also serves as an organizing outpost for all sorts of large-scale protest activity. In particular, the IMC served as a “virtual” staging ground prior to the April 20, 2002 anti-war protests in Washington, DC. Visitors to the IMC web site can read the rantings of “black bloc” anarchists, violent animal-rights criminals, and an assortment of anti-American advocates, all brought to you by the Tides Center and its tax exemption.
Skirting the Tax Law
The Tides Foundation and Tides Center continue to build their activist war chest by exacting an 8 to 9 percent “handling fee” on funds that pass through on their way to other activists. Some monies are awarded as “grants” in the traditional fashion (according to “donor-advised” agreements). It’s impossible to know for sure whose money is being spent for which of these grants. Other funds go toward management services to existing activist organizations in return for a percentage of their gross revenues. In still other examples, the Tides Center offers financial and administrative support for start-up advocacy groups.
In this last case, the Tides Center offers a sort of blanket tax-exempt designation for its grantees and projects. The entire foundation (pun intended) on which the Tides Center is built depends on the notion that the law allows one tax-exempt group to “lend” its exemption to another organization.
The legality of this proposition has never been challenged in court, but Tides’ practice of allowing smaller groups to share “piggyback” tax-exempt status could make its own 501(c)(3) status vulnerable.
In 1997 Larry Wright, an officer with the Northern California District of the IRS, told The San Francisco Bay Guardian that “tax-exempt status is not transferable.” A nonprofit like Tides that holds a tax exemption, he said, legally has to prove that the activities of all of its sponsored “projects” satisfy the same exact tax-exempt purpose for which its own exemption was granted. “You can't just set up a clearinghouse,” Wright said. “[Tides] can’t pass along its tax-exempt status.” There ought to be a law. Oops -- there is a law. It should be enforced.
Widespread philanthropic support is the best-kept secret of America’s most vocal activist groups, and the people running the foundations will stop at nothing to fund their agendas. By taking advantage of collective-funding pioneers like Tides, even the smallest group can now speak with the weight of an entire activist community. The Tides Foundation exists, in part, to give the Left’s small-fries (and their fringe messages) the collective bullhorn and bankroll necessary to remake society in their image.
With dozens of wealthy foundations bankrolling radical activist groups, a good deal of public philanthropy has become a shell game. The money flows freely, largely undetected, thanks to Tides’ innovative funding vehicles. The many groups that Tides “incubates” (and which operate under Tides’ umbrella) are smart, fierce, and built to last -- their targets in industry are just now beginning to learn the size of this organized opposition and its institutional bankroll.
In order to keep the gravy train running, Tides has demonstrated remarkable ingenuity in coming up with unusual funding streams in addition to its mainstays in traditional philanthropy. Consider the following:
When Ben & Jerry’s announced that profits from its popular “Rainforest Crunch” ice cream flavor were earmarked for save-the-earth charities, the mass media swooned. What they didn’t tell you was that 20% of the cut went directly to the Tides Foundation.
In 1999 the Tides Foundation created “eGrants.org,” the first internet-only foundation funding source. Web-savvy leftists can privately give any amount they like to Tides, and earmark it for specific projects. And it’s all tax-deductible.
Back in 1985, Drummond Pike and two colleagues started the Working Assets Funding Service, a for-profit company whose family of credit-card, mutual fund, and long-distance telephone services have grown into a $130 million business. Working Assets lures consumers (over 400,000 so far) with promises of “socially responsible” commerce. A two-percent cut of the profits go to activist causes -- funneled, of course, through the Tides Foundation.
Working Assets has itself become a propaganda tool, sending telephone customers monthly bills with political lobbying information tucked inside. These messages always emphasize a leftist perspective, and often contain blatant misinformation. In one such 1999 billing insert, Working Assets urged its customers to call their representatives in Congress and urge support for a “Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act.” Their rationale: “[S]tringent food testing is needed to identify [GE foods’] health risks.” Working Assets forgot to mention that genetically modified foods are already tested extensively by the Food and Drug Administration, for an average of over 10 years.
Another 1999 missive from Working Assets called for a permanent ban on the use of antibiotics in livestock feed, claiming that “mounting evidence” indicated that such practices exposed humans to additional health risks. Again, Working Assets showed its strained relationship with the truth. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has said that its researchers are “unable to find data directly implicating subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics in livestock with illnesses in people.” An earlier report from NAS ruled: “The assertion that… antibiotics in livestock feed are hazardous to human health has been neither proven nor disproven.”
Scientists from an NAS panel told The New York Times in 1998 that such a ban in agriculture “would cost consumers $1.2 billion to $2.5 billion a year in higher prices for meat and other foods.” In addition, they said, animal diseases might become more widespread without the regular use of antibiotics, thereby increasing the risks to human health. Besides, the Food and Drug Administration already regulates all farm antibiotics, and regularly inspects all manufacturers of “medicated” animal feed.
Tides Foundation and Tides Center article from Activist Cash
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This needed more then one!
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