Both FREE and LEC get funding directly
from corporations, from the foundations of large companies and from
prominent conservative foundations.
Uncovering a complete record of the
money FREE and LEC receive directly from corporations is almost
impossible. FREE acknowledges that it receives 20% of
its revenues directly from corporations. LEC annual reports from 1992 to 1994
confirm that LEC receives direct funding from dozens of the nation's
largest corporations including Philip Morris, Shell, Du Pont, Hercules,
Weyerhaeuser, Exxon, and GM. However, in 1994 LEC began channeling
all its donations through the George Mason Foundation, which then
distributes the money to LEC. This essentially sets up a firewall for
investigating LEC's corporate funding.
Tax records provide more information
about FREE and LEC's funding from corporate and private foundations.
From these records, we know that both FREE and LEC receive funding from
the foundations of large companies: FREE from Exxon Mobile, General Electric Fund, and Koch Oil (Lambe Foundation); LEC
from, among others, Ford Motor Company Fund, The Abbott Laboratories
Fund, and the Proctor and Gamble Fund. FREE and LEC get funding from a
number of prominent conservative foundations, most notably the Sarah
Scaife and Carthage Foundations (both controlled by right-wing financier
Richard Mellon Scaife) and the.
FREE and LEC's funders also bankroll
federal court litigation. For example, the Olin, Scaife and Carthage
foundations are among the largest supporters of non-profits like
the Pacific Legal Foundation, Washington Legal Foundation and
the New England Legal Foundation that challenge environmental
regulations in federal court. Similarly, the companies that fund
FREE and LEC through their corporate foundations appear in court
and bankroll associations to litigate on their behalf. This litigation
activity by FREE's and LEC's sponsors often means that litigants
funded by FREE and LEC sponsors gets the advantage of appearing
before a judge schooled at FREE or LEC.
Why Junkets Matter
