Posted on 03/14/2003 11:05:14 AM PST by MikalM
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:42:01 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
You're close. It's now a computer room in Chicago. The Pacific Stock Exchange closed down their trading floor 3 years ago.
The "Financial" district now refers to all the lawyers that infest that region, skimming money off the economy and driving up medical and other costs.
I think the good admin made a mistake. Here is the article in full...
Anarchists to take part in S.F. march They say they're demonstrating against evils of capitalism Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer |
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San Francisco -- The next major anti-war protest is scheduled for Saturday in San Francisco. And so is the next so-called breakaway march. The anonymous call for a splinter protest has gone out on the same independent media, anarchist Web sites and flyers as advertised the breakaway march that led to 45 arrests after a peaceful demonstration Feb. 16 in San Francisco. Police know it's coming. So do organizers of the main anti-war demonstration, who are unaffiliated with the loosely knit, anarchist-led side protest. But they say they can't do anything to stop it, and have no idea how big it will be. Then again, neither do the breakaway organizers. They just put out the call, tell people to wear black clothing and a mask, and see who shows up. "Oh, yeah, we know it's coming. Everybody does," said police Lt. Kitt Crenshaw. In response to concerns about violence at past anti-war demonstrations, Crenshaw was part of an undercover detail that conducted videotaped surveillance of breakaway contingents, apparently without the required approval from the chief. Police also know about calls Saturday for the militant "black bloc" tactic, where members of the breakaway protest don black clothing and cover their faces to avoid identification. Police say proponents of this tactic have been responsible for $50,000 in damage to downtown buildings after the past three anti-war demonstrations. Splinter activists are frustrated with conventional peace events and are calling for another breakaway march to "bring some militancy to the (anti-war movement)," said one breakaway organizer who asked not to be identified. "What does (the main march) threaten? It can just be ignored like any other position people are taking," said the organizer, who would identify himself only as "August Spies," the anarchist writer and labor activist executed in connection with the Haymarket bombing in Chicago in 1886. At the Feb. 16 demonstration, police intercepted the 1,000 breakaway demonstrators as they headed to Union Square for what was billed as a nonviolent civil disobedience protest against the consumerism they feel is driving the war effort. A clash ensued. Police say demonstrators threw bottles at them and vandalized businesses, while the protesters say police used excessive force. Charges were dropped for all but one of the 45 people arrested. "Spies," an organizer who has been involved in coordinating three breakaway demonstrations, said many of the participants support Saturday's main march. In fact, many breakaway marchers will first take part in "an anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian contingent" in the main march. The contingent is being billed as nonconfrontational. "We want to create a presence at the demonstration for people who are authentically against capitalism," said Kevin Keating, the driving force behind the anti-gentrification Mission Yuppie Eradication Project. He did not say whether he would march in the breakaway. Those who have participated in past breakaway protests say a few broken windows are nothing compared with what the U.S. military plans to do in Iraq. Some of the more radical participants do not consider property damage to be violence. "I don't encourage the violence at all, but the breakaway protests are about changing the way things are going," said Steve Comstock, a 21-year-old Santa Cruz resident who was arrested after participating in the last splinter march. Misdemeanor charges against him were later dropped. "When you feel strongly about something, you don't just continue to live your life the way you always do." But while the more radical elements of the breakaway march say they follow various strains of anarchist philosophy, one expert doubts their sincerity. "These (violent breakaway protesters) are nihilists, not anarchists," said Stephen Zunes, an associate professor of history at the University of San Francisco and an expert on social movements. "They're basically hoodlums looking for a mass rally to ride the coattails of. They don't have a political agenda. And the worst thing is that they don't have any leaders you can negotiate with." Anti-war organizations promoting the demonstrations haven't been able to connect with the anarchists. While no activist organizations co-sponsoring Saturday's main San Francisco demonstrations condones the splinter protest, few want to publicly criticize it, either. According to recently released police memos and interviews with investigators, police have been monitoring sf.indymedia.org, a widely read independent media Web site that posts a link to the "black bloc." International Answer, a co-sponsor of Saturday's march, includes a link to sf.indymedia.org on its Web site. "To link our organization to (the black bloc) because of that is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," said International Answer spokesman Bill Hackwell. "There are links to all sorts of things," including the Green Party and Veterans for Peace. Privately, other organizers of the main march say they've been threatened by breakaway organizers after making public statements in the past about their actions. And since many of the mainstream organizers intend to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience should the United States attack Iraq, top anti-war activists say they don't want to condemn the nonviolent breakaway marchers for the same kind of behavior. One organizer, Hari Dillon, president of the Vanguard Public Foundation, prefers to keep focused on "this huge crime against humanity that's about to take place" -- a U.S.-led attack. "But," said Dillon, "I'm always concerned about anything that I think can distort our message. There's too much at stake right now." |
Here we go again with more of your speculation.
Dave, if you traipse on over to ActivistCash.com you'll find that one of the biggies supporting such activities is the Tides Foundation (housed in the San Francisco Presidio). Tides' principal donor is the Pew Charitable Trusts. They also take funds from MacArthur, Carnegie... ain't no Islamofascists there!
Here's a very typical donor list for a VERY typical communist front group: the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice:
- Acta Foundation
- Arca Foundation
- Barry Descendants Trust
- Boehm Foundation
- Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
- The Discount Foundation
- Ford Foundation
- Frame Trustees Limited
- French American Charitable Trust
- Funding Exchange
- Greensboro Justice Fund
- Horncrest Foundation
- Jewish Fund for Justice
- Landau Family Foundation
- Malina Foundation, Inc.
- Morrow Charitable Trust
- Nathan Cummings Foundation
- Needmor Fund
- New World Foundation - Phoenix Fund
- Polk Brothers Foundation
- Rockefeller Foundation
- Sunflower Foundation
- Tides Foundation
- Tua Sapelo Foundation
- U.S./ Labor in the Americas Project
- Z. Smith Reynolds
- ACTS, Sisters of St. Agnes
- Apostleship of the Sea, Port Arthur, Texas
- Archdiocese of Anchorage, Alaska
- Archdiocese of Camden, New Jersey
- Archdiocese of Chicago, Illinois
- Archdiocese of Detroit, Michigan
- Archdiocese of Los Angeles, California
- Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.
- Church of St. Peter, Mendota, Minnesota
- Catholic Campaign for Human Development
- Catholic Charities
- Catholic Committee of the South
- Catholic Health Association
- Church of Our Saviour, Melbourne, Florida
- Commission of Social Action of Reform Judaism (UAHC & CCAR)
- Community Renewal Society
- Congregation Am Shalom, Glencoe, Illinois
- Congregation Hakafa, Glencoe, Illinois
- Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
- Congregation of the Holy Ghost, Bethel Park, Pennsylvania
- Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes
- Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent DePaul
- Depaul University Public Service Grants
- Diocese of Arlington, Virginia
- Diocese of Buffalo, New York
- Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina
- Diocese of Cincinnati, Ohio
- Diocese of Joliet, Illinois
- Diocese of Las Vegas, Nevada
- Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin, Office for Justice & Peace
- Diocese of Oakland, California
- Diocese of Orange, California
- Diocese of Owensboro, KY
- Diocese of Pueblo, Colorado
- Diocese of Richmond, Virginia
- Diocese of Rutherford, New Jersey
- Diocese of San Jose, California
- Diocese of Savannah, Georgia
- Diocese of Sioux City, South Dakota
- Diocese of Spokane, Washington
- Dominican Sisters of San Rafael
- Dominican Sisters of Springfield - Poverty, Justice, and Peace Fund
- Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles
- Evangelical Lutheran Church of America
- General Board of Global Ministries- United Methodist Church: Domestic Hunger/ Poverty and Economic Justice Program
- Fadica, Inc.
- General Board of Global Ministries - United Methodist Church: Womens Division
- General Board of Global Ministries - United Methodist Church: Office of Urban Ministries
- General Board of Global Ministries - United Methodist Church: Domestic Hunger and Povety
- The Gross Family Tzedakah Fund of the Shefa Fund
- Interfaith Council of Santa Clara County
- Little Franciscans of Mary
- Loretto Sisters, Special Needs Fund
- Maria Anna Brunner Fund, Precious Blood Sisters
- Marillac Provincial House- Daughters of Charity
- Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
- The Michael and Alice Kuhn Foundation of the Shefa Fund
- Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit
- Morrow Charitable Trust
- Mother Caroline Fund, SSND Milwaukee
- Mother Theresa Fund, SSND, Milwaukee
- MRS/PCMR, United States Catholic Conference
- National Center for the Laity
- National Council of Catholic Women
- National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
- National Pastoral Life Center
- Our Sunday Visitor Foundation
- Pilgrim Congregational Church, Oak Park, Illinois
- Poor and Marginated Fund - Province of St. Joseph of the Capuchin Order, Inc.
- Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
- Presbyterian Women
- Prince of Peace Church, West Bloomfield, Michigan
- The Province of St. Joseph of the Capuchin Order
- Queen of All Saints Basilica, Chicago, IL
- Raskob Foundation
- Religious Action Center
- Religious Formation Conference
- Rivier College
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany
- The S. Irwin Kamin Foundation
- Santa Barbara Pastoral Region
- St. Augustine University Parish
- St. Joseph the Worker Church, Maple Grove, Minnesota
- St. Peters Catholic Church, Charlotte, North Carolina
- St. Scholastica Monastery
- Saints Faith Hope and Charity Parish, Winnetka, Illinois
- Saint Louis Abbey
- SC Ministry Foundation, Sisters of Charity
- School Sisters of Notre Dame - Mother Caroline Mandate Fund
- School Sisters of Notre Dame - Mother Theresa Gerhardinger Fund
- Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- Sisters of Charity Ministry Foundation
- Sisters of the Humility of Mary
- Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet
- Sisters of Loretto - Special Needs Fund
- Sisters of Mercy Health System
- Sisters of the Precious Blood
- Sisters, Servants of Mary, IHM
- Sister of St. Francis of Tiffin, Ohio
- Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet
- Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother (Third Order or St. Francis)
- Social Justice Fund, Order of St. Francis of Philadelphia
- Southern Tier Labor-Religion Coalition
- Springfield Dominican Sisters
- St. Joseph Foundation for Apostolic and Charitable Purposes
- Tabitha Fund, CSJ - St. Louis
- Temple Sinai, Washington, D.C.
- Texas Catholic Conference
- United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries - Public Life and Social Policy
- Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock
- United Methodist Church - Ministries with Women, Children & Families
- United Methodist Church - Womens Division
- Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph
- 21st Century ILGWU Heritage Fund
- AFSCME, Council 31
- American Federation of Labor- Congress of Industrial Organizations
- American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees
- American Federation of Teachers
- American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO
- Association of Flight Attendants
- Bakery, Confectionery & Tobacco Workers International Union
- Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees
- Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen
- Communications Workers of America
- Eastern Region Master Executive Council
- Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE)
- Illinois Nurses Association
- Indiana Regional Council of Carpenters
- International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
- International Brotherhood of Boilermakers,
- Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers
- International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
- International Labor Office
- International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers
- IUE-CWA
- International Union of Operating Engineers
- International Union of Painters & Allied Trades
- International Union of Painters and Allied Trades - District Council #16
- Kentucky State AFL-CIO
- Laborers' California Organizing Fund
- Laborers' International Union of North America
- Long Island Coalition of Labor & Religion
- MEBA
- Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO
- Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council (AFL-CIO)
- Montana State AFL-CIO
- National Association of Catholic School Teachers
- National Association of Letter Carriers
- National Treasury Employees Union
- New York City Central Labor Council - AFL-CIO
- New York State AFL-CIO
- PACE, Local 423
- PACE Defense Fund
- Religion and Labor Coalition of Western Pennsylvania
- St. Paul AFL-CIO Trades & Labor Assembly
- San Francisco Labor Council
- Seafarers International Union of North America
- Service Employees International Union
- SEIU, Local 47
- SEIU, Local 150
- Sheet Metal Workers International Association
- Southern Illinois District Council of Carpenters
- Transport Workers Union of America
- Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO
- Union Community Fund
- Union of Needle and Industrial Textile Employees
- United Association of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry
- United Food and Commercial Workers
- UFCW, Local 400
- UFCW, Local 408
- UFCW Local 880
- UFCW, Local 881
- UFCW Local 1099
- UFCW, Local 1428
- United Steelworkers of America
- United Auto Workers
- United Latinos of UFCW
- UMC Board of Church & Society
- United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers
- Wisconsin State AFL-CIO
- Department of Justice - Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices
- Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services (FMCS)
- Office of Special Counsel
- American Income Life Insurance Company
- Bernstein & Lipsett
- Bill Usery Associates, Inc.
- Castelli Enterprises Inc.
- Frame Trustees Limited
- GKMG Consulting Services Inc.
- International Construction Institute
- James & Hoffman, P.C.
- Kelly Press, Inc.
- The McLaughlin Company
- The National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company
- ULLICO, Inc.
- Wilson Center for Public Research, Inc.
- The Catholic Health Association
- Detroit Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues
- The Faith and Politics Institute
- Grassroots Leadership
- IF/W.H.E.N.
- Leadership Council on Civil Rights
- National Opinion Research Center
- People for the American Way
- U.S. Leap
- Wisconsin Citizens Action
- Cornell University Union Leadership Program
- St. Mary's Seminary and University
- University of Notre Dame
- Richard Appelbaum
- Judith Barnes
- Kimberley Bobo
- Louise Bobo
- George Black
- Mr. and Mrs. Elliott and Louise Bredhoff
- Christopher Burke
- John J. Cormier
- Bishop Jesse Dewitt
- Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Dwan
- Monsignor John J. Egan
- Bernadette Gargan
- Hillel Gray and Cathy Bowers
- Mr. and Mrs. Leo Hawk
- Mary Heidkamp and Jim Lund
- Michael Holland
- Sister Julia Huiskamp
- Emily John
- Mr. Gary W. Kendall
- Evely Laser Shlensky
- Reverend Jim Lewis
- Arthur and Susan Lloyd
- Marie Therese McDermott
- William H. Miller
- Janet H. Morrow
- Rev. Jack OMalley
- John A. and Sheila Pigott
- Suzanne Polen
- Rabbi Robert Marx
- Eileen T. Murphy
- Nancy Schlossberg
- Rev. Dr. Paul H. Sherry
- Richard M. Stanton
- Mr. and Mrs. Joseph and Jeanne Sullivan
- Debbie Stone and Timothy Pitzer
- Dr. Mark W. Wendorf
- James and Evelyn Whitehead
- Robert and Sue Wieseneck
- Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth and Charlotte H. Young
Dave, these are Americans. Here is a list of the Tides Iraq Peace fund grantees:
Organization Purpose Amount American Friends Service Committee Peace Building Unit $20,000 The Arts of Peace Mainstream Media's Anti-War Media project $10,000 Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities True Majority Campaign $20,000 Center for International Policy Iraq Policy project $140,000 Democracy Now! War & Peace Report $10,000 Education for Peace in Iraq Center Veterans for Common Sense project $10,000 FCNL Education Fund Iraq Anti-War Organizing project $10,000 The Florence Fund "Osama Wants You" advertisement $25,000 Friends Committee on National Legislation Campaign to Stop the War in Iraq project $10,000 Global Exchange United for Peace Coalition $20,000 Global Exchange Women's Vigil $5,000 Independent Media Institute AlterNet.org project $10,000 Independent Press Association Beyond War project $10,000 Institute for Policy Studies General support $30,000 Institute for Public Accuracy Anti-war activities $5,000 Link Media WorldLink TV project $10,000 MoveOn.org General support $20,000 National Council of Churches Anti-war efforts $30,000 Pacifica Foundation "Imperatives for Peace: Pacifica's Peace Watch" radio program $5,000 Peace Action Education Fund General support $10,000 Peace Action Education Fund October 26 March on Washington $20,000 Peace Action Education Fund Black Voices for Peace Project $10,000 September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows Peaceful Tomorrows' Iraq Campaign $10,000 Physicians for Social Responsibility Campaign to Stop War Against Iraq project $10,000 Public Education Center National Security News Service project $10,000 Taxpayers for Common Sense Education campaign on the costs of invading and rebuilding Iraq $10,000 WAND Education Fund General support $9,000 Total: $489,000 As far as foreign interests are concerned, I think you'll find more traditional communist suppliers than Islamofascists, such as the Russians and Chinese, as well as a number of European members of the Popular Front. It's a matter of networking. White communists have pretty serious disdain for hustling dollars from Muslims, especially when they don't have to.
Such a regular thing in San Francisco.
They have "critical mass Friday" every month (are they still doing this?), where hordes of bicyclists try to shut down the city streets with their deliberately planned traffic jams.
San Franciscans, unfortunately, are used to this type of nonsense. It's not news.
Teresa Heinz funds these guys. Does Heinz make green Catsup? From: ActivistsCashTides Foundation & Tides Center
"Anonymity is very important to most of the people we work with."
Tides Foundation founder Drummond Pike, quoted in The Chronicle of Philanthropy
Background
When is a foundation not a foundation? When it gives away other foundations money.Most of Americas big-money philanthropies trace their largesse back to one or two wealthy contributors. The Pew Charitable Trusts was funded by Joseph Pews Sun Oil Company earnings, the David & Lucille Packard Foundation got its endowment from the Hewlett-Packard fortune, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation grew out of General Motors profits, and so on. In most cases, the donors descendants manage and invest these huge piles of money, distributing a portion each year to nonprofit groups of all kinds (the IRS insists that at least 5 percent is given away each year). This is the way philanthropic grantmaking has worked for over a century: whether a given endowments bottom line occupies six digits or twelve, the basic idea has remained the same.
Now comes the Tides Foundation and its recent offshoot, the Tides Center, creating a new model for grantmaking
-- one that strains the boundaries of U.S. tax law
in the pursuit of its leftist, activist goals.Set up in 1976 by California activist Drummond Pike, Tides does two things better than any other foundation or charity in the U.S. today: it routinely obscures the sources of its tax-exempt millions, and makes it difficult (if not impossible) to discern how the funds are actually being used.
In practice, Tides behaves less like a philanthropy than a money-laundering enterprise (apologies to Procter & Gamble), taking money from other foundations and spending it as the donor requires. Called donor-advised giving, this pass-through funding vehicle provides public-relations insulation for the moneys original donors. By using Tides to funnel its capital, a large public charity can indirectly fund a project with which it would prefer not to be directly identified in public. Drummond Pike has reinforced this view, telling The Chronicle of Philanthropy: Anonymity is very important to most of the people we work with.
In order to get an idea of the massive scale on which the Tides Foundation plays its shell game, consider that Tides has collected over $200 million since 1997, most of it from other foundations. The list of grantees who eventually received these funds includes many of the most notorious anti-consumer groups in U.S. history: Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Environmental Media Services, Environmental Working Group, and even fringe groups like the now-defunct Mothers & Others for a Livable Planet (which used actress Meryl Streep to front the 1989 Alar-on-apples health scare fraud for NRDC).
For corporations and other organizations that eventually find themselves in these grantees crosshairs, there is practically no way to find out where their money originated. For the general public, the money trail ends at Tides front door. In many cases, even the eventual recipient of the funding has no idea how Tides got it in the first place.
Remarkably, all of this appears to be perfectly legal. The IRS has traditionally been friendly toward this donor-advised giving model, because in theory it allows people who dont have millions of dollars to use an existing philanthropy as a fiscal sponsor. This allows them to distribute their money to worthwhile charities, while avoiding the overhead expenses of setting up a whole new foundation.
In practice, though, the Tides Foundation has turned this well-meaning idea on its head. When traditional foundations give millions of dollars to Tides, theyre not required to tell the IRS anything about the grants eventual purposes. Some document it anyway; most do not. When Tides files its annual tax return, of course, it has to document where its donations went -- but not where they came from.
Where the Money Comes From
The Tides Foundation is quickly becoming the 800-pound gorilla of radical activist funding, and this couldnt happen without a nine-figure balance sheet. Just about every big name in the world of public grantmaking lists Tides as a major recipient. Anyone who has heard the closing moments of a National Public Radio news broadcast is familiar with these names. In 1999 alone, Tides took in an astounding $42.9 million. It gave out $31.1 million in grants that year, and applied the rest to a balance sheet whose bottom line is over $120 million. Since 1996, one foundation alone (the Pew Charitable Trusts) has poured over $40 million into Tides. And at least 17 others have made grants to Tides in excess of $100,000.
The Tides Center: A Legal Spin-Off
While Tides makes its name by facilitating large pass-through grants to outside groups, many of Tides grantees are essentially activist startups. Part of Tides overall plan is to provide day-to-day assistance to the younger groups that it "incubates." This can translate into program expertise, human resources and benefits management, assistance with facilities leasing, and even help with public relations and media. Tides typically charges groups 8 percent of their gross income for these services.
Until recently, these administrative functions were provided to grantees by the Tides Foundation itself. But in order to limit exposure to any lawsuits that might be filed against its many affiliated groups (many injured parties have considered suing environmental groups in recent years), a new and legally separate entity was born. In 1996 the Tides Center was spun off, insulating the Foundations purse and permanently separating Tides grantmaking and administrative functions.
Many environmental groups that now operate on their own got their start as a project of the Tides Center. These include the Environmental Working Group, Environmental Media Services, and the Natural Resources Defense Council -- which was itself founded with a sizable Tides grant. The Tides Center began with a seemingly innocent transfer of $9 million from the Tides Foundation. The Center immediately took over the operations of nearly all of the Tides projects, and undertook the task of incubating dozens more. There are currently over 350 such projects, and the number grows each year.
This practice of incubation allows Tides to provide traditional foundations with a unique service. If an existing funder wants to pour money into a specific agenda for which no activist group exists, Tides will start one from scratch. At least 30 of the Tides Centers current projects were created out of thin air in response to the needs of one foundation or another.
The Tides Center board of directors has been especially busy of late. In 2001 the first Tides franchise office (not counting Tides presence in Washington and New York) was opened in Pittsburgh. This new outpost, called the Tides Center of Western Pennsylvania, was erected largely at the urging of Pittsburgh native TERESA HEINZ (the widow of Senator John Heinz, the ketchup heir). Heinz pulls more strings in the foundation world than almost any other old-money socialite; shes presently married to U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA). The Tides Foundation has collaborated on funding projects with the Heinz Endowments (Teresa Heinzs personal domain) for over 10 years.
The tangled web
The Tides complex has established itself as an important funding nexus for movements and causes aligned with leftist ideology. Everyone whos anyone in the big-money activist world now has some connection to Drummond Pike and his deputies.
Consider that as early as 1989, when the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) wanted to promote the now-infamous health scare about apples and the chemical additive Alar, the Tides Foundation was used as a financial conduit to allow NRDC to pay Fentons fees. NRDC was itself set up by Tides, and has since incorporated on its own, one of over a dozen other multi-million dollar former Tides projects to do so.
Fenton Communications, itself a touchstone for radical political campaigns, made use of the Tides Center to set up its Environmental Media Services (EMS) in 1994 (it has also since emerged from under Tides protection and formally set up shop in Fentons offices). The fact that Tides originally ran EMS day-to-day operations provided PR spinmeister David Fenton with plausible deniability -- a ready-made alibi against charges that this supposedly nonpartisan media outfit was just a shill for his paying clients. Now, of course, we all know that it is just that.
Similar stories can be told about SeaWeb, the Environmental Working Group, the National Environmental Trust (formerly known as the Environmental Information Center) and the Center for a Sustainable Economy, each of which received millions while under the Tides umbrella. Besides having been incubated in this fashion, the other principal commonality among these organizations is a client relationship with Fenton Communications.
The depth and financial implications of the Tides/Fenton connection is truly impressive, if not surprising. After all, long-time Fenton partner and recently-departed Environmental Media Services chief Arlie Schardt has sat on the board of the Tides Center/Tides Foundation complex since the very beginning. At present, the Fenton Communications client list includes at least 36 Tides grantees, as well as 10 big-money foundations that use Tides as a pass-through funding vehicle just about every year. In some cases, the Tides Foundation has been used to funnel money from one Fenton client to another.
Even taking into account the peculiar relationship between Tides and its in-house projects, Tides only spends about 40% of its money on these organizations. The rest goes to other left-leaning grantees, many of which have managers or board members that are connected to Tides in other ways.
For instance, the Tides Centers corporate registration documents on file in Minnesota show that Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) president Mark Ritchie is its registered agent. This might explain why the Tides Foundation has paid over $20,000 to a commercial corporation owned by Ritchie and his brother. Its a sustainable coffee company called Headwaters Inc., which does business with the public using the name Peace Coffee. The Ritchie brothers run this for-profit venture out of the same offices of their nonprofit (IATP), which just happens to advocate societys total conversion to Peace Coffees main product. Its a clever bit of flim-flammery, and the Tides Foundation has been helping to foot the bill.
This is business as usual for Mark Ritchie, though. He is the mastermind behind several other food-scare and health-scare organizations, all of which get appreciable funding through his Tides connection. A Tides Center project called the Trade Research Consortium lists its purpose as research that illuminates the links between trade, environmental, and social justice. Ritchie is its only discernable contact person. Similarly, Ritchies IATP runs the organic-only food advocacy group Sustain, but has taken great pains to hide this relationship (the groups Internet domain listing was altered just hours after the connection was noted in an on-line discussion group in 2001). Ritchie also started the Consumers Choice Council, a Tides grantee that lobbies for eco-labels on everything from soybeans to coffee.
Tides also maintains an interesting relationship with the multi-billion-dollar Pew Charitable Trusts. Since 1993 Pew has used the Tides Foundation and/or Tides Center to manage three high-profile journalism initiatives: the Pew Center for Excellence in Journalism, the Pew Center for Civic Journalism, and the Pew Center for the People and the Press. These Pew Centers are set up as for-profit media companies, which means that Pew (as a private foundation) is legally prohibited from funding them directly. Tides has no such hurdle, so it has gladly raked in over $95 million from Pew since 1990 -- taking the standard 8 percent as pure profit.
In practice, the social reformers at the helm of the Pew Charitable Trusts use these media entities to run public opinion polling; to indoctrinate young reporters in reporting techniques that are consistent with Pews social goals; and to promote (read: subsidize) actual reporting and story preparation that meets Pews definition of civic journalism. Civic journalism, by the way, is defined as reporting that mobilizes Americans behind issues that Pew considers important.
Address P.O. Box 29907
San Francisco, CA 94129Phone 415 561-6300 Fax 415-561-6301 info@tides.org Website www.tides.org www.tidesfoundation.org
www.tidescenter.org www.igc.org
www.egrants.org www.workingassets.com
more sites...
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