Maine Heritage Policy Center

The Maine Heritage Policy Center (MHPC) is a right-wing pressure group based in Portland, Maine. MHPC states as its mission to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise; limited, constitutional government; individual freedom; and traditional American values--all for the purpose of providing public policy solutions that benefit the people of Maine." MHPC is a member of the State Policy Network (SPN), a web of state pressure groups that denote themselves as "think tanks" and drive a right-wing agenda in statehouses nationwide.

Right-Wing Advocacy

The Maine Heritage Policy Center aims to promote conservative public policy. According to Maine's Majority Education Fund and the Center for Media and Democracy, the center has specifically focused on:

(1) Cutting Government Services -The Maine Heritage Policy Center advocates lowering taxes for the wealthy and reducing the government budget. The center strongly supported the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) proposal, which would have required voter approval of all tax and spending increases. TABOR failed in 2006. The bill was reintroduced in 2009, entirely rewritten by the Maine Heritage Policy Center. The act failed again, despite the center's direct contribution of $50,000 in support of TABOR. That same year, the Maine Heritage Policy Center and Citizens Against Government Waste ("a tobacco industry funded group that laundered money for Jack Abramoff") published three "piglet books" reporting on "wasteful government spending."

(2) Opposing Healthcare Reform- In 2003, the Maine Heritage Policy Center firmly opposed then Governor John Baldacci's attempt to institute a universal healthcare system. More recently, the group has focused on opposing federal healthcare reform. In 2011, the Director of MHPC's Center for Constitutional Government wrote an article titled, "The Case Against Obamacare."

(3) Privatizing Public Education- A "signature goal of ALEC and the LePage administration has been the diversion of public education resources to out-of-state for-profit online charter school companies, a process it refers to as 'school choice.'" Since 2010, the MHCP has written four reports in favor of for-profit online education. It has "also worked with a bevy of conservative lawmakers and administration officials in an attempt to pass the LePage online education plan." Steve Bowen, the MHCP's former head of education initiatives, was appointed education commissioner under LePage, and is reportedly in charge of "the conversion to for profit online schools."

(4) Attacking Workers' Rights- The MHCP is adamantly opposed to labor unions, "and actively seeks to curtail union rights in Maine." MHCP "supported two pieces of legislation aimed at undermining union power: LD 786, "An Act to Ensure the Voluntary Membership of Public Employees in Unions," and LD 831, "An Act to Prohibit Mandatory Membership in a Union or Payment of Agency Fees and as a Condition of Employment." The MHCP advocates for "right to work" legislation, and in 2011 issued a report entitled "the Case for Right-to-Work in Maine: Examing the Evidence in Oklahoma." The report was allegedly "based on questionable data from Oklahoma."

Koch Wiki

The Koch brothers -- David and Charles -- are the right-wing billionaire co-owners of Koch Industries. As two of the richest people in the world, they are key funders of the right-wing infrastructure, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN). In SourceWatch, key articles on the Kochs include: Koch Brothers, Koch Industries, Americans for Prosperity, American Encore, and Freedom Partners.

Ties to the Koch Brothers

MHPC is a "partner organization" in the Charles Koch Institute's Liberty@Work program, which places students at its Institute in non-profits aligned with Koch interests across the country.

Ties to the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity

Through its media project The Maine Wire, The Maine Heritage Policy Center was listed as a Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity "Watchdog Bureau". The Franklin Center funds reporters in over 40 states. Despite their non-partisan description, many of the websites funded by the Franklin Center have received criticism for their conservative bias. On its website, the Franklin Center claims it "provides 10 percent of all daily reporting from state capitals nationwide."

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). Mother Jones called DonorsTrust "the dark-money ATM of the conservative movement" in a February 2013 article. Franklin received DonorTrust's second-largest donation in 2011.

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

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

Ties to ALEC

The Maine Heritage Policy Center is a state think tank member of SPN, which is a private sector member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). MHPC also has ties to ALEC through its efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act. MPHC hosted the director of ALEC's Health and Human Services Task Force, Christie Herrera, at a 2010 event it held in Portland: “ObamaCare: How Maine Can Fight Back.”

MHPC has also participated in the ALEC Education Task Force. Stephen Bowen represented the Maine Heritage Policy Center at the task force meeting during ALEC's 2010 annual meeting..

Bowen went on to become Commissioner of the Maine Department of Education in 2011.

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.

Funding

The Maine Heritage Policy Center does not disclose its donors, but some of its funding sources are known through other tax filings. MHPC's known funders include:

• Castle Rock Foundation: $25,000 (2009)
• Cato Institute: $50,000 (2006)
• Donors Capital Fund: $2,038,981 (2005-2011)
• DonorsTrust: $7,500 (2010)
• Jaquelin Hume Foundation: $135,000 (2007-2011)
• JM Foundation: $45,000 (2004-2007)
• Neal and Jane Freeman Foundation: $67,000 (2003-2011)
• State Policy Network: $206,000 (2007-2013)
• Roe Foundation: $140,000 (2005-2011)

Core Financials

2016

• Total Revenue: $646,421
• Total Expenses: $646,901
• Net Assets: $76,387

2015

• Total Revenue: $621,593
• Total Expenses: $517,871
• Net Assets: $76,866

2014

• Total Revenue: $557,262
• Total Expenses: $533,244
• Net Assets: $34,472

2013

• Total Revenue: $661,260
• Total Expenses: $710,251
• Net Assets: $10,454

2012

• Total Revenue: $693,212
• Total Expenses: $711,650
• Net Assets: $59,455

2011

• Total Revenue: $716,761
• Total Expenses: $855,821
• Net Assets: $77,883

2010:

• Total Revenue: $1,071,606
• Total Expenses: $1,153,631
• Net Assets: $216,943

2009:

• Total Revenue: $1,306,093
• Total Expenses: $1,291,520
• Net Assets: $298,968

Personnel

Staff

As of October 2018:

• Matthew Gagnon, CEO
• Heather Noyes, Director of Operations and Development
• Mike Quatrano, Director of Civic Engagement
• Terry Brown, Director Communications
• Jacob Posik, Policy Analyst
• Nick Murray, Development Associate
• Liam Sigaud, Policy Analyst

Former Staff

• Ann Ward, Development Associate
• Krysta West, Director of Communications
• J. Scott Moody, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Economist
• David Crocker, Director, Center for Constitutional Government
• Joel Allumbaugh, Director, Center for Health Reform Initiatives
• Jonathan Haines, Director of Communications
• Sam Adolphsen, former Director of Government and External Affairs, now Deputy Commissioner of Finance at Maine DHHS
• Kate Clark, former Development and Research Associate, now Deputy Press Secretary to Gov. Paul LePage
• Amanda Clark, Education Policy Analyst
• Steven Robinson, Government Transparency Policy Analyst
• Peter Steele, Press Secretary to Gov. Paul LePage
• Scott Fish, Director of Special Projects at Maine Department of Corrections

Board of Directors

As of October 2018:

• Scott Wellman, Chairman, Chief Financial Officer, Hardwood Products and Puritan Medical Products
• Peter Anania, President, Anania & Associates
• Timothy J. Bryant, Esq., Partner, PretiFlaherty
• Thomas A. Connolly, Esq., Private Investor
• Susan Dench, Founder and President, Success & Company
• Scott Forrey, Senior Director Analytics Operations, Akamai Technologies
• Jeff Kane, President, National Distributors, Inc.
• Jason Oney, President, Strategic Maintenance Solutions
• Laurence Rubinstein, D.D.
• James Ward, JD, President and Principal, Patient Advocates, LLC

Former members

• Jinger Duryea, Chairman of the Board; President, C. N. Brown Company
• John Chandler, Treasurer/Secretary; Managing Partner, BerryDunn
• W. R. Jackson, Jr., Retired President, Pitt-Des Moines
• Hon. Neal B. Freeman, Chairman, The Blackwell Corporation

Board of Advisors

As of November 2018:

• Mary Adams, Grassroots Activist (2004 Freedom & Opportunity Award Recipient)
• William G. Becker III
• Carolyn Brodsky, Sterling Rope
• Joe Bruno, Community Pharmacies
• Lawrence E. Dwight
• Susan Hamill, The Dette Company
• Philip E. Harriman, Lebel & Harriman
• Lisa G. Martin, Manufacturers Association of Maine
• Pembroke C. H. Schaeffer

Former board members, As of November 2013 (No longer listed on site in October 2016):

• Joel Allumbaugh, National Worksite Benefit Group
• Deborah Dunlap Avasthi, HRH Northern New England
• Hon. Joe Bruno, Community Pharmacies
• David Crocker, Esq., Solicitor
• Ronald Drouin, Retired
• Scott Fish, As Maine Goes
• Susan Hamill, The Dette Company
• Hon. Philip E. Harriman, Lebel & Harriman
• Chet Jordan, Digital Architecture
• Lisa G. Martin, Manufacturers Association of Maine

Board of Adjunct Fellows

As of November 2018:

• Joe Crosby, MultiState
• James Frogue, Center for Health Transformation/Gingrich Group
• James Hamilton, For Our Grandchildren
• Roy W. Lenardson, Strategic Advocacy
• John Reisman, University of Maine, Machias
• Dr. Margo Thorning, American Council for Capital Formation

Former:

• Kyle Pomerleau, Georgetown University
• Dr. Wendy P. Warcholik, Public Choice Analytics for the U.S. States

Contact Information

Maine Heritage Policy Center
P.O. Box 7829
Portland, Maine 04112
Phone: 207 321 2550
Fax: 207 773 4385
Website: http://www.mainepolicy.org/
Email: info@mainepolicy.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mainepolicy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MainePolicy

Articles and Resources

Related SourceWatch Articles

• State Policy Network:
  • SPN Portal
  • SPN Political Activity
  • SPN Funding
    • SPN 2011 Funding
    • SPN 2010 Funding
    • SPN 2009 Funding
  • SPN Agenda
  • SPN Founders, History, and Staff
  • SPN Members
  • SPN Ties to ALEC
  • Thomas A. Roe
  • Tracie Sharp
  • Byron S. Lamm
  • Roe Foundation
• American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)
  • ALEC Non-Profits
• DonorsTrust
• Donors Capital Fund
• Koch Family Foundations
• Koch Industries
• Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity
• Heritage Foundation
• Think tanks
• Whitney Ball
• Adam Meyerson
• Bridgett Wagner

Related PRWatch Articles

• Brendan Fischer, Why Are the Franklin Center's "Wisconsin Reporter" and "Watchdog.org" Attacking the John Doe?, PRWatch.org, December 19, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, The State Policy Network's Cozy Relationship with Big Tobacco, PRWatch.org, December 16, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, Did ALEC Found SPN? 1991 Report Suggests So, Exposes SPN Agenda, PRWatch.org, December 12, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, Guardian Documents Expose State Policy Network Groups' Intent to Lobby, PRWatch.org, December 5, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, State Policy Network: The Stealth Network Dramatically Influencing State Law, PRWatch.org, December 5, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, Tracie Sharp: Bursar of Mystery Money and "IKEA Model" Materials to Stink Tanks, PRWatch.org, November 19, 2013.
• Center for Media and Democracy, Reports Expose Extreme Pressure Groups Masquerading as Think Tanks, press release, November 13, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, A Reporters’ Guide to the "State Policy Network": the Right-Wing Think Tanks Spinning Disinformation and Pushing the ALEC Agenda in the States, PRWatch.org, April 4, 2013.
• Sara Jerving, ALEC and Heartland Aim to Crush Renewable Energy Standards in the States, PRWatch.org, November 27, 2012.
• Connor Gibson, Meet the Network Hiding the Koch Money: "Donors Trust" and "Donors Capital Fund", PRWatch.org, October 29, 2012.
• Brendan Fischer, Koch-Funded Mackinac Center Brings Wisconsin Act 10 Provisions to ALEC, PRWatch.org, May 2, 2012.
• Sara Jerving, Franklin Center: Right-Wing Funds State News Source, PRWatch.org, October 31, 2011.

External Resources

• Wall Street Journal, The Spoils of the Republican State Conquest, December 9, 2016, archived by CMD here.
• DeSmog Blog, Stink Tanks: Historical Records Reveal State Policy Network Was Created by ALEC, December 9, 2013.
• The Guardian, State conservative groups plan US-wide assault on education, health and tax, December 5, 2013.
• Portland Press Herald, "Washington County residents have mixed reactions to plan to eliminate taxes," December 5, 2013.
• The Texas Observer, "The Money Behind the Fight to Undermine Medicaid," December 5, 2013.
• Media Matters, North Carolina Newspapers Largely Ignore Conservative Funding Of Sham Think Tanks, December 3, 2013.
• Shepherd Express, Masters of Manipulation: Right-wing Billionaires, Corporations and the Bradley Foundation Pay for Junk Studies that Prop up Their Agenda, November 27, 2013.
• "Moyers & Company," How a Shadowy Network of Corporate Front Groups Distorts the Marketplace of Ideas, November 19, 2013.
• MSNBC "Rachel Maddow Show," November 18, 2013.
• Free Speech TV "Ring of Fire," Facebook, Microsoft, AT&T and Others Supporting Right Wing Propaganda Machine, November 18, 2013.
• Topeka Capital-Journal, Trabert dismisses report tying KPI to Koch agenda, November 16, 2013.
• The New Yorker (Jane Mayer), Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?, November 15, 2013.
• Salon, Ted Cruz and Koch brothers embroiled in shadowy Tea Party scheme, November 15, 2013.
• St. Louis Business Journal, Beyond Sinquefield: Who else is funding the Show-Me Institute?, November 15, 2013.
• The Guardian, Facebook and Microsoft help fund rightwing lobby network, report finds, November 14, 2013.
• Huffington Post, Meet The Little-Known Network Pushing Ideas For Kochs, ALEC, November 14, 2013.
• CBS St. Louis, Show-Me Institute’s Ties Questioned in New Report, November 14, 2013.
• Talking Points Memo, Florida Conservative Group Helping Muck Up Obamacare In Alaska, November 14, 2013.
• Mint Press News, Reports Reveal SPN’s Secret Corporate Agenda Through Use ‘Expert’ Testimony, November 14, 2013.
• Media Matters, Shadowy Right-Wing Group Generates Media Coverage For Conservative Policy From Coast To Coast, November 14, 2013.
• The Institute for Southern Studies, Are conservative think tanks breaking lobbying laws?, November 14, 2013.
• Nonprofit Quarterly, Corporate Money in Network of Right-Wing State Policy Think Tanks, November 14, 2013.
• The Progressive, Right-Wing Think Tanks Push Privatization in the States, November 13, 2013.
• Politico, Report: Think tanks tied to Kochs, November 13, 2013.
• Lawrence Journal-World, Reports released by progressive groups are critical of Kansas Policy Institute, November 13, 2013.
• Maine Insights, Report: Maine Heritage Policy Center’s funding connection to Koch Brothers, November 13, 2013.
• The Florida Current, Liberal groups bemoan lobbying by conservative think tanks, November 13, 2013.
• The Oregonian, Cascade Policy Institute benefits from secretive donor group but says it operates independently, November 13, 2013.
• Center for Media and Democracy, EXPOSED: The State Policy Network, The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Arizona Working Families and CMD, A Reporter’s Guide to the Goldwater Institute: What Citizens, Policymakers, and Reporters Should Know, organizational report, updated November 13, 2013.
• Progress Florida and CMD, Lawmaking Under the Influence of Very Special Interests: Understand the role of Florida ‘think tanks’ in driving a Koch-fueled, ALEC-allied corporate agenda, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Maine's Majority Education Fund, Fooling Maine: How national conservative groups infiltrated Maine politics by founding and funding the Maine Heritage Policy Center, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Progress Michigan, Who's Running Michigan? The Far-Right Influence of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Alliance for a Better Minnesota, Who's in Charge: How Nationalized Corporate-Run Think Tanks Influence Minnesota Politics, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Progress Missouri, What Missourians Need to Know About the Show-Me Institute, organizational report, updated November 13, 2013.
• Granite State Progress, Bad Bartlett: The Josiah Bartlett Center and NH Watchdog Answer the Call of the Koch Brothers, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• ProgressOhio, Smoke Screen: The Buckeye Institute, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Keystone Progress, Think tanks or corporate lobbyist propaganda mills?, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Progress Texas, TPPF + ALEC, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• One Wisconsin Now, S is for Shill: Inside the Bradley Foundation's Attack on Public Education, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Muncie Voice, Pence and Right-Wing Are Taking Over Public Education, November 13, 2013.
• The Spokesman-Review, Shawn Vestal: Idaho Freedom Foundation pushes limits of word ‘charity’, November 2, 2013.
• AZ Central, When this ‘watchdog’ pitches, taxpayers strike out, October 12, 2013.
• IndyStar, Daniels says speech to partisan group was a mistake, October 10, 2013.
• Muncie Voice, Indiana Policy Review: Not an Independent News Source, October 2, 2013.
• The Spokesman-Review, Idaho Freedom Foundation's charitable status scrutinized, September 15, 2013.
• CounterSpin, Lee Fang on 'The Right Leans In', April 5, 2013.
• FireDogLake, State Policy Network, an umbrella coordinating ALEC, Heritage, Heartland and others, April 4, 2013.
• Thom Hartmann with Lee Fang on MSNBC, The conservative State Policy Network is sneaking into your state & will change America, March 29, 2013.
• Current TV "War Room", Lee Fang discussing the State Policy Network, March 28, 2013.
• The Nation, The Right Leans In, March 26, 2013.
• Democracy Now, Donors Trust: Little-Known Group Helps Wealthy Backers Fund Right-Wing Agenda in Secret, February 19, 2013.
• Paul Abowd, Center for Public Integrity, Donors use charity to push free-market policies in states, Consider the Source, February 14, 2013.
• John R. Mashey, Fake science, fakexperts, funny finances, free of tax 2, DeSmog Blog report, updated October 23, 2012, p. 74.
• Urban Milwaukee, Stealth Conservatives, October 11, 2012.
• Rome News-Tribune, ANALYSIS: Georgia leaders depend on the same well for ideas, October 2012.
• Andy Kroll, The Right-Wing Network Behind the War on Unions, Mother Jones, April 25, 2011.
• Guidestar, State Policy Network, IRS filings and other organizational information about SPN.
• Center for Policy Alternatives, ALEC and the Extreme Right-Wing Agenda, organizational brochure about ALEC and SPN.
• John J. Miller, Fifty Flowers Bloom: Conservative think tanks — mini–Heritage Foundations — at the state level, National Review, November 19, 2007.
• Bridge Project, State Policy Network, online resource listing grants to SPN and SPN's connections to other groups.
• People for the American Way, State Policy Network, RightWingWatch.org, organizational resource.
• Greenpeace, Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Group: State Policy Network (SPN), organizational resource.