In the News

(11/14/13) Rick Cohen, Non-Profit Quarterly Some years ago, in a study of foundation support for school privatization, we noted the multiplicity of state-level conservative “think tanks” supporting a pretty consistent state-to-state agenda, achieving widespread success in pushing for vouchers, corporate tax credits for private schools, and charter schools. We documented the grantmaking to these state think tanks, highlighting the significant …

  Heard about the ‘Freedom’ Foundation of the super rich? They want the freedom to attack the pay, benefits and retirement of public servants. Why? To make the rich richer. They did it in Wisconsin. Now they’re after us. They want to starve our union. How? Trick us into giving up our power by dropping our union membership and not …

  The ‘Freedom’ Foundation is a special interest think tank funded by corporate and the ultra wealthy who want to dismantle state government, cut public services and jobs, and hand the provision of public services like education and worker’s compensation over to the hands of private corporations. They’ve set their sights on unions because we’re the biggest obstacle to their …

We know who funds WFSE. It’s us – public employees covered by contract. But where does the Foundation get its funding? Let’s take a closer look. FACT SHEET: FREEDOM FOUNDATION FUNDING SOURCES The Freedom Foundation is a “think tank” that states its mission is to “advance individual liberty, free enterprise, and limited, accountable government.”[i] The foundation is registered with the …

(12/8/15) Statesman Journal The Northwest Accountability Project has filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service asking to have the Freedom Foundation’s tax-exempt charity status revoked. The complaint is intensifying the battle over public unions in Oregon and Washington, and was co-signed by 18 organizations including labor unions and left-leaning activist groups. The Northwest Accountability Project was founded only weeks ago, and is intended to “shine a light on extremism” …

(12/7/15) Northwest Accountability Project Coalition of community and labor groups files IRS complaint against Freedom Foundation for blatant violation of tax-exempt charity status Coalition calls for IRS to revoke Freedom Foundation’s 501(c)(3) status and end taxpayer subsidies of Freedom Foundation’s political campaign activities (Seattle, Was.) – Today, a broad coalition of community organizations in Washington and Oregon announced that they …

(11/30/15)  Jim Brunner, Seattle Times political reporter The Freedom Foundation podcast host said he was not mocking the “possibly even Muslim” surname of a Washington state Democratic Party spokesman. A local conservative think tank has taken down a podcast in which the host and a Republican state lawmaker laughed at the Middle Eastern surname of a state Democratic Party spokesman. …

(11/25/15) Sydney Brownstone, SLOG Two weeks ago, after the attacks in Paris, Washington state representative Jay Rodne posted a typo-ridden comment on Facebook, saying Islam was “incompatible” with Western civilization and imploring Americans to “arm” themselves. Soon after, Democrats called for the Republican from Snoqualmie to be ousted from his position as ranking GOP member of the House Judiciary Committee. …