In his Dec. 3 letter, David Stevenson described the Caesar Rodney Institute as a group of “several hundred small local donors who love Delaware.”
That may be true, but it’s hardly the whole story.
The Caesar Rodney Institute is part of the State Policy Network, an umbrella organization that helps state think tanks push conservative causes.
According to its website, SPN has established think tanks in all 50 states. It provides “training, coaching and strategic planning” and connects “think tank leaders through peer networks.”
The State Policy Network, in turn, is closely aligned with groups such as Charles Koch’s Americans for Prosperity, which sent 68 members to the recent SPN annual meeting (PRWatch, Oct. 31).
SPN affiliates generally have generic “good government” or patriotic-sounding names, such as the Caesar Rodney Institute, that provide little clue to their orientation.
Examples include the Maine Heritage Policy Center, Maryland Public Policy Institute, and the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, which has campaigned for offshore oil and gas drilling in Virginia’s coastal waters - a move I doubt Jefferson would have supported.
SPN affiliates like to characterize themselves as independent and nonpartisan, but a 2013 list of SPN grants tells a different story (The Guardian, 2013).
Every grant went to a right-wing cause. They included grants pushing deregulation, cutting taxes and ending Medicaid expansion.
The grants were funded by the Searle Freedom Trust, which got its money from G.D. Searle & Company, a pharmaceutical giant. The trust donates to a wide variety of right-wing organizations, including those associated with Koch groups.
There’s nothing wrong with promoting conservative causes, but Delawareans should be aware when a group associated with an oil and gas heavyweight like Charles Koch comes out against wind farms.
They should also ask themselves why Stevenson is less than forthcoming about the true nature of the Caesar Rodney Institute.
The Delaware affiliate of the State Policy Network may be independent, but there’s a lot more money and organization behind CRI than just “local small donors who love Delaware.”
Don Flood
Lewes
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