11.19.10
Posted in Politics, albuquerque, economy, franchise, knme, new mexico, pbs, reaganism, wal mart at 12:45 am by Administrator
In yesterday’s blog I attacked Paul J. Gessing’s Libertarian non-profit Rio Grande foundation for appearing to be an astroturf outfit with statistically zero members and tenuous ties to New Mexico.
I heard from Paul J Gessing via email today. He answered only two of my many questions. That is, he provided a pdf of the foundation’s 2009 990-EZ and he provided a link to a blog post that discusses some of Gessing’s writing that originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal.
First the tax form:
Form 990-EZ provides for a separate line item for revenue received from membership dues. RGF left this line blank. Unless I’m mistaken, that means they were not able to gain one single dues paying member from anywhere in the world, let alone a genuine New Mexican.
Of the roughly 250,000 RGF took in this year most was from out of state right-wing organizations. Here’s the list:
Donor’s Capital Fund, of Virginia, $122,500
State Policy Network, of Virginia, $30,000
Roe Foundation, of South Carolina, $15,000
Wal-Mart, of Arizona, $10,000
Atlas Foundation, of DC, $10,000
There were also two large New Mexico donors, both from Albuquerque;
Jeff Van Dyke, $12,000
Chris Baum, $5,540
So… if my math’s correct, that’s under nine percent of major donations from the state of New Mexico.
The other, roughly $53,300, monies that RGF took in are not delineated but let’s make a safe bet and guess that not much of that is from NM either (remember, no new membership dues were paid to RGF in 2009).
This is classic corporate astroturfing.
Perhaps I should get a few friends together, call it a foundation and get on local media, too.
After all, what’s Gessing Got that I don’t? Oh, yeah, three years shilling for Corporate power in Washington.
You know the saddest thing about all of this? The left is allowing the Libertarians to gain legitimacy because Democrats are not standing up for the little guy against government power (only one Democratic US Senator voted against the unAmerican PATRIOT ACT) and he was just voted out of office.
Gessing actually makes sense on some serious issues, like drug offenders and sunshine laws. What’s with New Mexico being one of only three states that doesn’t stream floor arguments in the state house?
When you let yourself slip into magical thinking and utopian vision you kinda feel, well, maybe a little ‘Libertarian’.
The “freedom and Prosperity” meme is powerful.
But then you realize the Libertarians are bent on handing all the power (corporations are people, money is speech) that the Federal Government now has to amoral, , oblique multi-national corporations.
As a follow up, the NTU confirms that Gessing headed up their lobbying efforts for a few years. So I guess that would make him an expert, of a sort.
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11.17.10
Posted in albuquerque, astroturf, astroturfing, economy, lucre, new mexico, nmsu, wal mart at 9:51 pm by Administrator
Tonight KUNM, the Albuquerque public radio station, aired an interview with Paul J. Gessing, the President of the Rio Grande Foundation, a Libertarian policy group based in Santa Fe.
The occasion for the interview was a letter (pdf) sent by the RGF to incoming New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez which detailed possible ways to cut the state’s spending. RGF recommended drastic cuts in education, public transportation and New Mexico’s film industry incentives.
Being both curious of the RGF’s credentials and jealous (one must cop to one’s own fallibility), I did a quick googling.
As far as I can tell, and I’ve not heard back from the officers of the RGF whom I emailed, the RGF is comprised of nine people (plus a couple of lawyers) who live in New Mexico.
Okay, nine people, plus two lawyers. Not quite a jury.
What’s more interesting is the ’staff’ of RGF, a litany of rightwing ‘think tank’ economists from the coasts, a New Mexico Cardiologist, a website designer and.. wait for it…
A New Mexican who, “has 25 years of progressively increasing experience in corporate communications, public affairs, and business development.”
I don’t have any idea what that means either, but, if I get an answer I’ll let you know.
So, That’s 14 people in all (plus two lawyers) with the economic heavy-weights all from out of state. Maybe they’re not listing all of their members? That’s a distinct possibility.
No physical address is given. I wonder if this is a simple remission or if the offices of RGF are comprised of a desk in Gessing’s Algodones home. I’ve run businesses out of my home. There’s nothing wrong with it. I just wonder if I’d sent a letter from that desk to the governor elect’s, would it be news? Would the Gov Elect ever see it?
Which commentators are newsworthy? It’s a difficult question. I’m merely questioning whether RGF is newsworthy by dint of Chicago School of Economics ideas coupled with previous ‘media’ exposure.
Gessing’s credentials seem sound enough. Previously, he apparently “headed the lobbying efforts of the National Taxpayer’s Union.” (quote from his website). But, and it’s a big one, there may be some serious discrepancies in his claims on the RGF website. I’ve written a letter to Gessing asking for qualification of the apparent problems, details follow:
He published a Letter to the Editor in the Wall Street Journal. The Rio Grande Federation website seems to be remiss in that it says Gessing published an ‘article’ in the WSJ. I’m sure RGF will correct that.
Of course the mistake could be on the WSJ end. I once had a letter published in Harpers Magazine. I have the clipping somewhere. But I cannot get the Harper’s website to find the electronic version in their archive. Oh, how I’d like to link that!
Gessing has, according the the RGF website, published articles in U.S. News and World Report and the Washington Post. However, both of those websites return ‘not found’ messages when searched for “Paul J. Gessing”, “Paul Gessing” and “Gessing”. Of course a website search is far from thorough. I suspect the Rio Grande Foundation will provide links once they’ve been apprised of the missing articles.
The Rio Grande Foundation did once host Libertarian icon John Stossel. I’ve seen the Wikipedia entry.
My question is, have we been astroturfed again? Who funds the RGF? Apparently Gessing is able to make a living as the President of the foundation on some fairly shaky credentials (at least internety-wise). Beyond an MBA, a stint at a heavily-funded right-wing lobbying organization and some exposure in the local papers, what makes Gessing any more an expert on economics of public offices than, say, well, anyone with an MBA and a Letter to the Editor in the Wall Street Journal.
Perhaps the RGF has a few in-state wealthy backers? Maybe the RGF has simply not updated their member’s list?
At any rate, I’ve contacted the National Taxpayer’s Union to confirm that Gessing “headed up the lobbying efforts of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU)”. Hopefully the weak nature of the RGF’s website is just indicative of the same thing I suffer: terrible internet blogging skills.
In a side note to Gessing’s appearance on public radio, the NTU has recently called for an end to public funding of public radio. Yep.
Anyhoo, the Rio Grand Foundation is a 501(c) non-profit, so I guess I can find out about funding on my own if I have the gumption tomorrow. Should I bother?
OH!! if you’re still reading, here’s the letter I sent to Gessing and the Board of Directors at RGF:
President Gessing and Rio Grande Federation Board Members,
It appears there are some mistakes on the RGF website or on the websites of national news organizations. on the RGF website Mr. Gessing is listed as having published an article in the Wall Street Journal (I can only find a Letter to the Editor) and articles in U.S. News and World Report and the Washington Post. I could find none. No articles in major national papers or journals. In fact, outside of local papers no articles at all. Please correct me if I’m wrong so I can correct my blog!
What were the dates of service for Mr. Gessing at the National Taxpayer’s Union? How many of those years was it that he (quote from your website), “headed up the lobbying efforts of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU)”.
I’m also writing seeking information about your membership rolls at the Rio Grande Foundation. It appears to be a rather small affair considering the weight you’re ideas are given in local media. Should I assume that your membership list, especially of New Mexico residents, has not been updated recently?
How many people are paying members of the Rio Grande Foundation?
How many of the paying members are residents of the state of New Mexico?
Do you derive funding from sources from out of the State of New Mexico? If so, what is the percentage of your funding that is not provided by New Mexico residents?
I believe RGF is a 501(c)? As such your records would be open to public scrutiny? I’m not really familiar with RGF so please correct me if I’m wrong.
As a side note, I really appreciate your attempts at opening the NM government records (I’m referring to your fight against the cost quoted by the Santa Fe School District to provide their records to your organization). So that makes me quite happy that you’ll provide the financial information requested in the spirit of openness that should be shown by a non-profit.
I have suspicions RGF is an astroturf organization. I’d sure like to be proven wrong,
Sincerely,
Chris Dudley
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