Best of CRC Media Hits for July 2021

Another month, another slate of original op-eds and fantastic media hits showcasing Capital Research Center’s work on everything from Zuck Bucks to teacher unions to leftist “dark money.” July 2021 was a month marked by original research and writing in outlets such as the Daily Signal, American Conservative, Washington Examiner, and North Carolina’s North State Journal.

Notable successes include the efforts of an intern and former intern as they had first op-eds placed and first interviews with national news outlet Fox News. Congratulations go out to Victoria Ydens, who publishing her first op-ed in Issues & Insights and then left us at the end of the month to complete her studies in Texas; and former intern Parker Thayer, who was recently hired on full-time and immediately spoke on camera with Fox. Enjoy their accomplishments and other media hits from July below.

“Mark Zuckerberg Cash Discreetly Leaked into Far-Left Prosecutor Races”
Fox News, Parker Thayer (Guest), August 2, 2021

Cash from Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg appears to have leaked into prosecutor races as part of his foundation’s larger mission to reform the criminal justice system, a review of tax forms found.

Zuckerberg does not directly donate to progressive district attorney candidates. Instead, his cash has flowed through two nonprofits before hitting a federal PAC, which then pushed it to state-level PACs to benefit candidates. The money has stumped reporters and observers in the past, who could not pinpoint where significant cash was coming from for one such race in Oregon.

“Texas Election Reforms Don’t Go Far Enough to Protect Against Fraud”
Issues & Insights, Victoria Ydens (Op-ed), July 28, 2021

While some Texas legislators decided to run away to Washington, D.C., rather than vote on election integrity legislation, Lone Star State Republicans are dedicated to making it easier to vote and harder to cheat. And they’re not alone. Several other state legislatures have the outside spending of billionaires like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (and the public distrust of elections that ensued) squarely in their sights.

According to research conducted by Capital Research Center, the Zuckerberg-supported Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) gave $33.5 million to Texas county election offices across 117 different counties. Most of that money (over $15 million) was granted to Dallas County. Election administrators in these counties applied for grants from CTCL and ostensibly used the money for COVID-19 safety measures, including drive-thru voting, mail voting sorting assets, polling place rental expenses, labor expenses including hazard pay, personal protective equipment, and voter education and outreach.

“Going Postal: How the Left Will Use Vote by Mail to Federalize Elections”
The American Conservative, Hayden Ludwig (Op-ed), July 6, 2021

If anyone thinks the flood of mail-in ballots the country witnessed in 2020 was just a one-off fluke, they haven’t been paying attention.

Vote by mail is the future of American democracy, with all the accompanying opportunities for ballot harvesting, mail fraud, and deceit—at least if the left has its way. This was evident in the failed For the People Act (H.R. 1/S. 1), the Democrat’s vision for federalizing U.S. elections into a top-down nightmare that undermines voter I.D. laws and forces every state to adopt automatic and same-day voter registration, voting rights for felons, no-excuse absentee balloting, mandatory early voting, and taxpayer funding for political campaigns. If that weren’t enough, it would violate free speech rights by forcibly disclosing nonprofits’ donors and imposing state legislatures with redistricting committees for every state—committees that are more accountable to special interests than the American public.

“Why You Should Still Care About Big Labor’s Disproportionate Clout”
The Daily Signal, Mike Watson (Op-ed), July 6, 2021

Big Labor’s decline was the result of a confluence of factors, including state and federal laws and competitive market forces providing employment benefits unions previously might have helped achieve; unions’ failure to evolve with the economy and to provide things of actual value to employees; and their use of dues for political purposes often contrary to the beliefs of the members paying those dues.

But because so few workers are members of unions today—with only 10.8% of the total workforce and 6.3% of the private sector workforce being union members—it’s easy to overlook the role that labor unions still play in the economy—and especially the role they play in politics.

“Left-Wing Groups Flooded Georgia with ‘Dark Money’ and Mail-In Ballots in 2020”
North State Journal, Hayden Ludwig and Sarah Lee (Op-ed), July 7, 2021

If there’s something the left has plenty of, it’s cash. When you add that largesse to liberals’ newfound love of mail-in voting — something even Barack Obama frowned upon as recently as 2008 — you have a recipe for mischief that almost certainly tilted states to favor Democrats in the 2020 election. Georgia is a prime example, and it should come as no surprise the Biden Department of Justice has chosen to sue the state over its election-reform legislation.

That lawsuit will draw attention away from the story of what happened in Georgia in 2020, when left leaning “dark money” groups flooded the Peach State with outside money. The Washington, D.C.,-based Sixteen Thirty Fund — part of a $731 million nonprofit network run by the left-wing consultancy Arabella Advisors and the 10th-biggest spender in 2020 — funneled at least $23 million into PACs and super PACs created to support Democrats both in 2020 and in the January special election, which determined control of the U.S. Senate.

“You’ve Probably Never Heard of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation“
Instapundit, Mark Tapscott, July 18, 2021

But you should know about it because it is one of the main tools of the Left in advancing its campaign to remake America in the socialist image. Hayden Ludwig of the Capital Research Center (CRC) has all the details.

“Don’t Let Billionaires Export New York’s Failed Election System”
Washington Examiner, Mike Watson (Op-ed), July 8, 2021

The New York City Democratic primary elections on June 22 should have demonstrated the superiority of liberal election administration. Mail-in voting was widespread, with extremely generous deadlines for ballot arrival. In-person early voting was available. Photo identification for voters was unnecessary. And in 2019, the city added the trendiest new “solution” to “save democracy”: ranked-choice voting, with the financial help of liberal billionaires such as James and Kathryn Murdoch, Jonathan Soros, and Laura and John Arnold (through their Action Now Initiative).

But more than one week after the votes were cast, they had not been counted, and the city’s hegemonic Democratic Party did not know whom it had nominated for mayor.

“Big Philanthropy Is Not America’s Friend”
The American Conservative, Hayden Ludwig (Op-ed), July 10, 2021

When considering big liberal donors, most people tend to think of George Soros or the Ford Foundation. Forgotten are scores of megadonors that few non-philanthropoids have heard of. Yet these funders pour out billions of dollars each year in aid to leftist groups pushing radical climate policies, abortion on demand, vote-by-mail schemes, and even redrawing congressional maps.

Center stage among these quiet contributors is the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF), a Bay Area pass-through funded by a host of left-leaning Big Tech billionaires, among them Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings.