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Foundation Watch May 2007: Safeguarding a Conservative Donor’s Intent: The Roe Foundation at 39


Safeguarding a Conservative Donor’s Intent

The Roe Foundation at 39 [PDF Here]

By John J. Miller

Summary: The late Thomas A. Roe, a businessman with an enduring respect for free markets and the lasting benefits they bring to society, was determined to prevent his money from being used to expand the size and scope of government. The philanthropist committed his riches to developing a network of state-level free-market think tanks across America and designed a system for preserving his donor intent for posterity.

On February 25, former vice president AI Gore was riding high. He had just collected his best-documentary Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth, his movie about global warming. Much of the political buzz in Washington and around the country focused on his White House ambitions. In the imagination of liberals who wring their hands over Hillary Clinton’s general-election prospects and Barack Obama’s inexperience, the presidential stock of a reinvented Gore began to rise like mercury on a hot August afternoon.

The very next day, however, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research issued a startling press release: “Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy,” it said.

Public records revealed that Gore’s Nashville mansion burned more than twice as much electricity in one month as the average American household uses in one year. His average monthly electric bill topped $1,359. What’s more, his energy use had actually increased since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, in which Gore calls upon Americans to become responsible stewards of the environment by reducing their appetite for energy.

It was the worst single news day of AI Gore’s post-vice presidential life. [For the rest of the story, click HERE]