Best of CRC Media Hits for March 2021

Things are beginning to open up and heat up in the nation’s capital, and Capital Research Center is responding to the demand for investigation into the Left with excellent and varied work. From testifying before the Arizona legislature on “Zuck Bucks” funding election efforts in the states to answering questions from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) about “dark money” and donor privacy in a hearing on the Hill, CRC has been in the game.

Below is just a smattering of what we’ve been up to in the month of March as it relates to media and promotion of our work. This list ranges from state radio interviews to two op-eds in national publications to respected reporters using our work to flesh out their pieces. We keep putting great work out there, and these outlets keep getting it to the American people. Enjoy the best of March.

“Shining a Light on the Left’s 2020 Shadow Campaign”
CPAC, Kristen Eastlick (Op-ed), March 1, 2021

Panelists Aaron Ginn, Co-Founder of The Lincoln Network; Kristen Eastlick of Capital Research Center; and Morgan Zegers of Young Americans Against Socialism discussed a recent TIME Magazine article that served as an explainer for how the left mobilized to change the fundamental structure of the 2020 election to ensure Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Moderated by Allen Fuller of the American Conservative Union.

“Republican Senators Expose Senator Whitehouse’s Dark Comedy”
National Review, Carrie Severino, March 11, 2021

One of the spectacles that comes with a Democratic Senate is a platform for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights, to hold a hearing on his favorite subject: dark money. Yesterday’s was entitled “What’s Wrong with the Supreme Court: The Big-Money Assault on Our Judiciary.” A more self-aware senator would have picked a name that did less to conjure the memory of his notorious amicus brief in 2019 in which he threatened the justices with Court-packing if they did not rule his way: “The Supreme Court is not well. . . . Perhaps the Court can heal itself before the public demands it be ‘restructured in order to reduce the influence of politics.’” But self-awareness is not one of the senator’s strong suits, and that allowed Republican senators and witnesses to expose yesterday’s hearing for the dark comedy that it was.

“The Founders of Black Lives Matter”
First Things, Scott Walter (Op-Ed), March 29, 2021

In 2013, George Zimmerman was acquitted of the charge of murdering Trayvon Martin, a black teenager. This was the spark that lit the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM). Three self-described “radical black organizers” responded: Alicia Garza coined the phrase in a “love letter” to black people, Patrisse Cullors turned the phrase into a hashtag, and Opal Tometi started organizing followers online and building BlackLivesMatter.com.

“How the Green New Deal Is a Trojan Horse for Totalitarian Government”
Crossroads with Joshua Phillips, Hayden Ludwig (Guest), March 17, 2021

The US Congress is looking to pass a new infrastructure bill, which contains elements from the Green New Deal. And as the Biden administration continues to push for its policies to remake America’s energy grid, and implement its provisions of no carbon emissions, there are growing concerns over what this actually entails, and what the cost to the country will be. To learn more about this we sat down for an interview with Hayden Ludwig, Senior Investigative Researcher at the Capital Research Center.

“Should a Billionaire Run Arizona’s Elections?”– Gilbert Sun News, Scott Walter and Aimee Yentes, March 9, 2021

How many Arizonans like the idea of one billionaire family manipulating the way Arizona county election offices operate?

That’s an unpopular idea for people across the political spectrum, especially when the billionaire is Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose controversial actions make him distrusted by Left and Right.

Yet that’s what happened last November, in Arizona and dozens of other states. Zuckerberg and his wife gave $350 million to a supposedly “nonpartisan” nonprofit, the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which in turn re-granted the money to thousands of local government election offices across America, including nine of Arizona’s 15 counties.

Details aren’t easy to come by, because CTCL has refused to answer questions from the New York Times, the Associated Press, National Public Radio, and others.

“Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Charity Spent Nearly $8 Million Funding Michigan’s Elections”
The Center Square, Scott McClallan, March 16, 2021

Hayden Ludwig, a senior investigative researcher at the conservative Capital Research Center, pointed out what he saw as hypocrisy.

“I find it really rich that many liberals find the idea of privatizing garbage collection to be abhorrent, but they’re perfectly OK with privatizing an election,” he told The Center Square.

The total amount of private grants is unknown but total at least $7.6 million.

Documents obtained by The Center Square through public records requests and sources show Detroit received $3.5 million; Wayne County: $432,620; Pontiac: $405,000; Flint: $475,625; Lansing: $488,000; Ann Arbor: $417,000; and Grand Rapids: $280,000.

“Liberal Dark Money Network Is Behind ‘Grassroots’ Support for Dem Climate Bill”
Washington Free Beacon, Hayden Ludwig, March 27, 2021

The left’s biggest dark money network is behind a “grassroots” organization pushing Democrats’ $500 billion plan to fight “environmental racism.”

Rewiring America, one of many environmental groups that has endorsed the BUILD GREEN Act, is part of a massive dark money network run by the D.C.-based Arabella Advisors. The nation’s wealthiest liberal donors use Arabella’s $731 million activist network to secretly fund a host of liberal causes.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y) cited Rewiring America’s support in a press release announcing the legislation. The bill’s cosponsors blame “corporate” interests for damaging the climate.

Rewiring America is powered by the Windward Fund, an Arabella subsidiary whose stated mission is to promote “community-based, grassroots grant making.” The Windward Fund and Rewiring America are not required to disclose their budgets, spending, or finances.

“CTCL in North Carolina”
The Pete Kaliner Show, Hayden Ludwig (Guest), March 17, 2021

Holy ZUCK BUCKS! How the Facebook founder pumped millions of dollars into North Carolina election agencies during 2020 — especially in counties that vote heavily for Democrats. Hayden Ludwig from the Capital Research Center joins me to explain what he found when he traced the money. Plus… there is a reason why all the messaging from the left over the last year has been remarkably consistent… like it’s being coordinated. That’s because it is.