Empire Center for Public Policy

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The Empire Center for Public Policy (formerly the Empire Center for New York State Policy) is a conservative state-based think tank "dedicated to promoting freedom, opportunity and enterprise" in New York, according to the organization's website.[1] The Empire Center is a project of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and a member of the State Policy Network.[1]

Ties to the Bradley Foundation

In 2016 the Empire Center for Public Policy received $50,000 from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.

Bradley detailed the most recent grants in internal documents examined by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). Below is a description of the grant prepared by CMD. The quoted text was written by Bradley staff.

2016: $50,000 to support general operations. If distributed, this will be the first Bradley grant to the Empire Center for Public Policy (ECPP). According to the grant proposal record, Bradley wants to fund ECPP to bust unions in New York using tactics the Freedom Foundation has employed in Washington and Oregon. ECPP will use Bradley funds to encourage day care workers to drop out of unions and stop by dues. “Empire is willing to learn from and seems to have the stomach for implementing the overall strategies and confrontational tactics of the Freedom Foundation in pursuing Bradley’s programmatic employee rights goals – in a state that matters, given its government unions’ funding of the Left, its causes, and its other organizations nationally.”

Bradley Files

In 2017, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), publishers of SourceWatch, launched a series of articles on the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, exposing the inner-workings of one of America's largest right-wing foundations. 56,000 previously undisclosed documents laid bare the Bradley Foundation's highly politicized agenda. CMD detailed Bradley's efforts to map and measure right wing infrastructure nationwide, including by dismantling and defunding unions to impact state elections; bankrolling discredited spin doctor Richard Berman and his many front groups; and more.

Find the series here at ExposedbyCMD.org.

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

The Empire Center's parent organization, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research has ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council. The Empire Center also belongs to the State Policy Network, which is an ALEC member.

Please see SPN Ties to ALEC for more.

About ALEC
ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our PRWatch.org site.

Ties to the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity

The Empire Center for Public Policy has hosted writers from the ALEC-connected Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, which screens potential reporters on their “free market” views as part of the job application process.[2] The Franklin Center funds reporters in over 40 states.[3] Despite their non-partisan description, many of the websites funded by the Franklin Center have received criticism for their conservative bias.[4][5] On its website, the Franklin Center claims it "provides 10 percent of all daily reporting from state capitals nationwide."[6]

Franklin Center Funding

Franklin Center Director of Communications Michael Moroney told the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) in 2013 that the source of the Franklin Center's funding "is 100 percent anonymous." But 95 percent of its 2011 funding came from DonorsTrust, a spin-off of the Philanthropy Roundtable that functions as a large "donor-advised fund," cloaking the identity of donors to right-wing causes across the country (CPI did a review of Franklin's Internal Revenue Service records).[7] Mother Jones called DonorsTrust "the dark-money ATM of the conservative movement" in a February 2013 article.[8] Franklin received DonorTrust's second-largest donation in 2011.[7]

The Franklin Center also receives funding from the Wisconsin-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation,[9] a conservative grant-making organization.[10]

The Franklin Center was launched by the Chicago-based Sam Adams Alliance (SAM),[11] a 501(c)(3) devoted to pushing free-market ideals. SAM gets funding from the State Policy Network,[12] which is partially funded by The Claude R. Lambe Foundation.[13] Charles Koch, one of the billionaire brothers who co-own Koch Industries, sits on the board of this foundation.[14] SAM also receives funding from the Rodney Fund.

Funding

The Empire Center received $127,532 from DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund between 2012 and 2013, "two funds that have been closely tied to the Kochs but which obscure the percentage of their grants coming from Koch money." A full list of DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund grant recipients is available here.

Contributions by the State Policy Network:

  • 2013: $51,500

Core Financials

2015[15]

  • Total Revenue: $647,789
  • Total Expenses: $907,486
  • Net Assets: $408,441

2014[16]

  • Total Revenue: $1,038,917
  • Total Expenses: $731,440
  • Net Assets: $643,152

2013[17]

  • Total Revenue: $786,302
  • Total Expenses: $761,444
  • Total Assets: $302,467

2012[18]

  • Total Revenue: $474,017
  • Total Expenses: $203,032
  • Total Assets: $342,711

2011[19]:

  • Total Revenue: $11,509,408
  • Total Expenses: $12,415,804
  • Net Assets: $12,112,938

2010[20]:

  • Total Revenue: $11,509,408
  • Total Expenses: $12,415,804
  • Net Assets: $12,112,938

2009[21]:

  • Total Revenue: $6,128,425
  • Total Expenses: $8,352,484
  • Net Assets: $13,162,062

Personnel

Staff
As of September 2018:[22]

  • Tim Hoefer, Executive Director
  • E.J. McMahon, Research Director
  • Kenneth Girardin, Communications and Marketing Director
  • Bill Hammond, Director of Health Policy
  • Ann Hughes, Director of Development
  • Dan Russo, Director of Operations
  • Abigail Salvatore, Communications Director
  • Mark Walsh, Data Analyst
  • Benjamin Sano, Research Analyst

Board of Directors
As of September 2017:[23]

  • Frank H. Suits, Jr., Chairman
  • Kenneth W. Bond, Board member
  • Anita MacDougal, Treasurer
  • Carl Schramm, Board Member

Former Staffl

  • Missy Millett, Office Manager
  • E.J. McMahon, Senior Fellow
  • Michael Cretz, Research Analyst
  • Russell Sykes, Senior Fellow
  • Bob Scardamalia, Data Consultant
  • Missy Millett, Office Manager

Former Directors

  • Edmund McMahon, President
  • Timothy Hoefer, Executive Director
  • Sheridan Biggs, Chairman
  • Kenneth Bond, Board Member

Contact Information

Employer Identification Number: 46-1987418

Empire Center for New York State Policy
100 State Street, Suite 600
Albany, New York 12207
Phone: 518-434-3100
Fax: 518-434-3130
Email: info@empirecenter.org
Web: http://www.empirecenter.org/

Articles and Resources

Related SourceWatch Articles

Related PRWatch Articles

External Resources

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Empire Center for New York State Policy, "About Us", organizational website, accessed November 2012
  2. ↑ Franklin Center, Franklin Affiliates in Your State, organizational website, accessed October 2012.
  3. ↑ The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, Think tank Journalism: The Future of Investigative Journalism, organizational website, accessed August 19, 2011.
  4. ↑ Rebekah Metzler, "Watchdog" website puts a new spin on politics, The Portland Press Herald, October 2, 2010.
  5. ↑ Allison Kilkenny, The Koch Spider Web, Truthout, accessed August 19, 2011.
  6. ↑ Sara Jerving, Franklin Center: Right-Wing Funds State News Source, PRWatch.org, October 27, 2011.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Paul Abowd, Center for Public Integrity, Donors use charity to push free-market policies in states, organizational report, February 14, 2013.
  8. ↑ Andy Kroll, Exposed: The Dark-Money ATM of the Conservative Movement, Mother Jones, February 5, 2013.
  9. ↑ Daniel Bice, Franklin Center boss wants apology from Democratic staffer, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 8, 2011.
  10. ↑ The Bradley Foundation. The Bradley Foundation. Organizational website. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  11. ↑ Sam Adams Alliance. Sam Adams Alliance Media Kit. Organizational PDF. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  12. ↑ Media Matters Action Network. Sam Adams Alliance. Conservative Transparency. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  13. ↑ Media Matters Action Network. State Policy Network. Conservative Transparency. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  14. ↑ Media Matters Action Network. Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation. Conservative Transparency. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  15. ↑ Empire Center for Public Policy, 2016 IRS Form 990, ProPublica, February 2, 2017, p. 1.
  16. ↑ Empire Center for Public Policy, [www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2015/461/987/2015-461987418-0cae5aed-9.pdf 2014 IRS Form 990], organizational tax filing, February 15, 2016, p. 1.
  17. ↑ Empire Center for New York State Policy, 2013 IRS Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, January 12, 2015, p. 1.
  18. ↑ Empire Center for New York State Policy, 2012 IRS Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, October 21, 2013.
  19. ↑ Empire Center for New York State Policy,2012 IRS Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, 2012.
  20. ↑ Empire Center for New York State Policy, 2011 IRS Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, 2011.
  21. ↑ Empire Center for New York State Policy, 2010 IRS Form 990, Internal Revenue Service, 2010.
  22. ↑ Empire Center, Staff, organizational website, accessed August 29, 2016.
  23. ↑ Empire Center, Board of Directors, organizational website, accessed September 2017.
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