Something stinks in Rhode Island,
and according to StinkTanks.org, that smell is the Ocean State Center for Freedom and Prosperity.
A new report which follows Koch
brother and other corporate spending through the State Policy Network to its
state-based advocacy groups says the Center for Freedom and
Prosperity, “claims to be focused on issues important to the people
of Rhode Island, it actually pushes an agenda dictated by its national
right-wing funders and partners.”
Justin Katz, the group’s research
director, told me, “This shows that our work is having an effect, but it’s
pretty clear that it was produced by outside organizations with no real
understanding of what’s going on in Rhode Island.”
RI Future contributor Russ Conway
gets a shout out in the report, who debunks the group’s biased
research on education in this post. He wrote, “What I found though
was nothing but a rehash of the standard right -wing talking points framed as
“so sensible and obvious” that they needed no explanation.”
The report indicates the Center
received $122,000 from the SPN in 2011 and $25,000 from the JM Foundation in 2012.
You can check out the full report
here:
Bob Plain is
the editor/publisher of Rhode Island's Future. Previously, he's worked as a
reporter for several different news organizations both in Rhode Island and
across the country.