Where is James Pierson since he left the Olin Foundation you ask?

In recognition of the connection between religious values and a free society, and the fact that personal faith generally has a positive effect on the decision-making and life prospects of youth, the Foundation seeks to increase the ability of faith-based institutions to provide for the needs of youth and foster faith among them. This includes, but is not limited to, mentoring programs, tutoring and after-school programs, abstinence programs, and further research on the influence of faith in the lives of youth.–The William E. Simon Foundation

Bill Simon Possibly Tied to Anti Abortion Extremists

Despite assurances that he will continue to protect a womans right to choose if elected governor of California, Republican candidate Bill Simon has been a longtime supporter and adviser to a New Jersey-based organization with close ties to anti-abortion extremists, the San-Jose Mercury News reported Sunday. Good Counsel, which runs five homes for unwed mothers in New York state, is run by Christopher Bell and Joan Andrews Bell who has been arrested several times over the years for her part in anti-abortion protests. In 1999, Andrews-Bell told the Toronto Sun that killing abortion doctors might be defensible.

James Kopp, who is now facing charges for the murder of Dr. Bernand Slepian who performed abortions at a private clinic, worked at Good Counsel as a handyman. Andrews-Bell and Kopp have known each other since 1988; the two were arrested together in Burlington, Vt. in 1990 during protests at clinics. In addition, Rev. Benedict Groeschel, who is a founding member of Good Counsels board with Simon, also established the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, whose members have held prayer vigils at abortion blockades for more than 10 years.

In the late 1980s, Simon helped found Good Counsel and, until last month, served as head of the groups advisory committee. Since resigning from his formal position on the Good Counsel board in 1991 and moving to Los Angeles, Simon has focused his charitable work on groups such as Covenant House and Catholic Charities. However, the Simon family has continued to support Good Counsel financially with more than $200,000 in contributions to the group from 1997 to 1999 half of those donations came in the four months after Kopp was named to the FBIs 10 Most Wanted list. This year, Good Counsel received $50,000 from the William E. Simon Foundation, Bell told the Mercury-News.

Media Resources: San Jose Mercury News 6/30/02

“The company is owned by two of the richest men in America,” David H. Koch and Charles G. Koch (described as ‘reclusive billionaires’), who have a combined personal fortune estimated at more than $3 billion and who have emerged as major Republican contributors in recent years. … Both David and Charles Koch are ranked among the 50 richest people in the country by ‘Forbes’.”

The Koch brothers control the three family foundations that have “lavished tens of millions of dollars in the past decade on ‘free market’ advocacy institutions in and around Washington.” –’The Nation’, “What Wouldn’t Bob Dole Do for Koch Oil?”

The foundations are financed via the oil and gas fortunes of Fred G. Koch, a founding member of the John Birch Society. David is a libertarian who “provides a significant amount of funding for the Cato Institute’s $4 million annual budget.”

Curtis Moore’s Rethinking the Think Tanks (subtitled How industry-funded ‘experts’ twist the environmental debate) appeared in the September/October 2002 issue of Sierra magazine. Moore states that, “The views will seem to be coming from an independent think tank — the Cato Institute or Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), for example … behind these groups stands the [Koch] brother’s vast fortune.”

In fact, Charles Koch is a co-founder of Cato in 1977 and David helped to launch CSE in 1986. This, says Moore, is the brothers simply following in “dad’s footsteps: Fred Koch was a charter member of the ultraconservative John Birch Society in 1958.” –SourceWatch

The Philip M. McKenna Foundation focuses on public policy and educational affairs. Gave Vandumb and company $250,000.
The Society for Nonprofit Organizations says this about the foundation:

The Foundation is guided by the philosophical orientation and public life of its founder and works primarily in the fields of public policy and education. The Foundation’s purpose is to support the advancement of a free, prosperous, and well-ordered society based upon American civic principles, private enterprise, and the cultural heritage of Western civilization. The Foundation is committed to limited constitutional government, free market economics, and moral virtue. Support is directed toward research and educational programs with a long-term focus as well as public policy programs focused on more immediate concerns.

The good news is the funding for these creeps is dropping off quickly. Sadly (for Vandumb), in 2005 the Olin Foundation folded up the white robes.

Reflecting on its impact and the future of conservative philanthropy, John M. Olin Foundation executive director, James Pierson, wrote that the investment in conservative groups had paid substantial dividends:

“There exists today, in contrast to the 1970s, an impressive network of think tanks, journals and university programs supported by conservative foundations, which are engaged in different ways in promoting the cause of liberty and limited government,”–Sourcewatch

They are against the American Cancer Society but take money from the Tobacco Industry. (Take a look at the board of the ACS some time.)
They hate the environmental movement and take money from Exxon.
They take lots of money from the Bradley Foundation (see below)

“The overall objective of the Bradley Foundation, however, is to return the U.S. — and the world — to the days before governments began to regulate Big Business, before corporations were forced to make concessions to an organized labor force. In other words, laissez-faire capitalism: capitalism with the gloves off.

“To further this objective, Bradley supports the organizations and individuals that promote the deregulation of business, the rollback of virtually all social welfare programs, and the privitization of government services. As a result, the list of Bradley grant recipients reads like a Who’s Who of the U.S. Right … Heritage Foundation … Madison Center for Educational Affairs … American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, literary home for such racist authors as Charles Murray (The Bell Curve) and Dinesh D’Souza (The End of Racism), former conservative officeholders Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, Jack Kemp and William J. Bennett, and arch-conservative jurists Robert H. Bork and Antonin Scalia….

This is the organization that Vandumb speaks about and for. I refuse to call it a think tank, because that would imply it was chaired by intelligent people.

You guys lost shut up. More on this horrid organization, later.

As for the shared-office situation, I asked my colleagues in Washington: CIM did sublet space from Media Matters early on in its existence (for roughly six months from ‘06 to ‘07), but has had two different offices since that arrangement — hence the outdated address at Horowitz’s site. CIM has always operated independently from Media Matters: MnIndy’s parent hasn’t contracted with them and has no shared board members. As for funders, we’ve long had a link at the bottom of each page showing where CIM gets its money. Many of these donors are indeed progressive, and I’m grateful for their support.

In any event, I assume Mr. Schmelzer is acting in good faith but do wish to make clear to readers of this website that the response we’ve been talking about is available at the website of the think tank where I work. Here is the link and thank you for your kind indulgence in this matter:

http://www.capitalresearch.org/blog/2009/06/05/minnesota-independent-covers-up-its-relationship-with-sleazy-media-matters-for-america/

I really think this Acorn stuff is a waste of everybody’s time. A bad red herring from the election that won’t go away even though there isn’t a lick of truth in it. It’s kind of like Vince Foster all over again.