Best of CRC Media Hits for Second Quarter of 2023

We had quite a second quarter of media hits at CRC, with new investigations into the groups targeting Clarence Thomas and the Supreme Court, a massive new election integrity report on charities helping register Democrat voters, and a look at how Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents helped that effort come to fruition.

Sprinkled throughout are op-eds ranging in topics from ESG and shareholder activism to Bud Light’s disastrous decision to bow to the woke activist groups on the left. Our work was covered in outlets like The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, The Guardian, and more.

As we continue to grow our media presence, we’re hoping to reach out more to local outlets with an interest in some of the policy ideas we’re promoting directly to legislators and leaders in Washington, DC.

Below are the best hits from May, June, July, and August 2023.

“Here Are the TOP 9 MAJOR Recipients from George Soros”
Glenn Beck, Katarina Bradford, May 11, 2023

The Capital Research Foundation published a report that George Soros has poured nearly $21 BILLION dollars into U.S. politics since 2000, aptly calling him “the biggest ATM for leftist political causes in the world.” 23 years and $21 billion dollars later, has our country benefited from Soros’ generosity? Even Democrats are beginning to catch on to the detrimental consequences of extreme left politicians.

“‘I Just F***ed Up’: Court Reform Group Accidentally Leaks Donor List”
The Daily Wire, Michael Whitaker, May 17, 2023

“I have only two foundations that give me money, and if their names become public, they’re never going to talk to me again,” Roth lamented. “Fix the Court is over. My screwup this morning probably cost me my job.”

Roth also told the Examiner that he “wanted to fix the mistake as soon as possible” as his “donors don’t want their names out there.”

Parker Thayer, investigative researcher at Capital Research Center, a conservative think-tank, said that Roth’s reaction reveals that his group is “not serious about transparency.”

“They have attempted to smear honorable men like Justice Thomas over his own financial disclosures but are apparently terrified at the thought of someone obtaining their own,” Thayer said.

“Conservative Bud Light Strategy Takes Down Leftists with Their Own ‘Rules’”
Fox News, Mike Watson (Op-Ed), June 7, 2023

The Bud Light boycott is a prime example of the right finally taking some cues from the radicalism of the left, and using those tactics to win. It’s about time.

Since at least the mid-2000s, conservatives – especially social conservatives – have been utterly befuddled at how to approach an increasingly socially liberal business world. Woke capitalism, driven by a combination of a consortium of left-wing nonprofits, ESG investing, and professional-class ideological dynamics, has driven a wedge between conservatives and their longtime allies in business.

Sometimes this alienation manifests in self-destructive policy proposals that would empower organized labor, a result conservatives of the past would reject. Some conservative circles insist unions would protect workers from management’s woke fads.

“ProPublica And Activist Groups Attacking Clarence Thomas Share Same Funders”
Legal Insurrection, Mike LaChance, June 24, 2023

Over the past few months, ProPublica has published several investigations into Clarence Thomas’ relationship with his friend, the billionaire real estate developer Harlan Crow. The stories detailed expensive trips Thomas took with Crow, Crow’s purchase of Thomas’ mothers home and Crow’s paying of private school tuition for Thomas’ grandnephew. At the same time, several of ProPublica’s top donors are also major financiers of left-wing groups running campaigns against Thomas. This includes organizations pushing for Thomas to be investigated in the wake of ProPublica’s reporting.

“It is no coincidence that several organizations smearing Justice Thomas are funded generously by many of the same donors,” Parker Thayer, an investigative researcher at Capital Research Center, told the DCNF. “The ‘pop-up’ public pressure campaign, where just a few donors pay dozens of ‘grassroots’ activist groups to give the appearance of broad public support for a particular issue, has long been a favored tactic of the Left’s wealthy special interests.”

“Documents Provide Rare Glimpse into How Arabella Advisors Exerts Centralized Control over a Vast Left-Wing Advocacy Network”
Free Beacon, Andrew Kerr and Joseph Simonson, July 10/23

The Student Experience Research Network and hundreds of other left-wing activist groups like it are controlled from the top down by Arabella Advisors, a for-profit consultancy that plays an integral role in Democratic causes, fueled by donations from billionaires including George Soros and Pierre Omidyar. The company, which distributes billions to Democratic pet projects, has established five tax-exempt nonprofit groups that pay Arabella a hefty fee—ostensibly for back-office work—and in turn operate a vast array of left-wing advocacy groups including the Student Experience Research Network.

In fact, the Student Experience Research Network’s ostensible employees don’t even work there. They are employees of an Arabella offshoot, the New Venture Fund. The average citizen would have no idea who’s pulling the strings.

“To Understand ESG Activism, Look to Shareholder Resolutions”
RealClearMarkets, Robert Stilson (Op-Ed), July 26, 2023

For those wondering how and why environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) became a ubiquitous feature of American corporate culture seemingly overnight, you’re not alone. Congress wants to know, too.

The House Financial Services Committee recently held a series of hearings on the issue, as part of what Republicans have been calling “ESG month.” Congressional attention has been driven by ESG’s increasing prominence as a political issue, and concerns range from its impact on ordinary investors to the way in which it shoehorns substantive public policy debates into the private corporate sector.

“GOP Lawmakers Question If Nonprofits Misuse Authority for Political Reasons”
Sinclair Broadcasting, Kristine Frazao, August 17, 2023

In its new report, “How Charities Secretly Help Win Elections,” the conservative Capital Research Center alleges certain nonprofits are running “well-designed voter registration campaigns because it’s an effective tactic to score additional Democratic votes.”

The report also suggests Joe Biden’s victory in key states may have been a result of this effort, though there’s no definitive data to back this up.

“The IRS is allowing essentially Democratic political activism to be labeled as nonprofit charitable work, which just is not fair or right,” said Parker Thayer, an investigative researcher at the Capital Research Center.

“Sam-Bankman Fried’s Mom Helped Craft Democrats’ ‘Illegal’ 2020 Election Tactics: Report”
New York Post, Lydia Moynihan, August 17, 2023

Sam Bankman-Fried’s mother helped craft a strategic memo that guided the Democratic Party’s 2020 election strategy – with shrewd tactics that proved to be wildly successful but which were also illegal, according to a bombshell report from a right-leaning political research firm.

Barbara Fried, who ran Democratic Super PAC Mind the Gap, authored a memo in late 2019 that encouraged Democrats to give to a 501(c)(3) known as The Voter Registration Project or Everybody Votes.

The Stanford professor argued that getting more Democrats registered to vote would be far more effective than simply donating to candidates, and encouraged donors to give 90% of their election contributions to Everybody Votes.

“Non- partisan voter registration” charities are “4 to 10 times more cost-effective” at “netting additional Democratic votes,” Fried wrote in the memo.

The charity ended up raising a whopping $190 million, according to recent filings cited by the Capital Research Center.