Is this supposed to be new?

One of CMD’s common tactics is to point out instances where businesses might be behind the funding of advocacy campaigns or non-profits and use those donations as proof that the public should not trust the campaign or organization’s information. CMD has created a series of “exposed” pages on SourceWatch dedicated to unveiling the funders of free-market organizations.

Yet CMD doesn’t turn the same critical eye on left-leaning groups.

CMD frequently cites the work of the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank funded by labor unions, without noting the union connection. CMD has also publicized work from the National Employment Law Project, another union-backed liberal think tank, without noting the organization’s funders.
In addition to the Economic Policy Institute and National Employment Law Project, other liberal advocacy organizations such as the George Soros-funded Democracy Alliance and the Center for American Progress lack “exposed” profiles in any of CMD’s publications though none fully disclose their donors.
CMD has invested considerable time in attacking the American Legislative Exchange Council. Yet the Progressive States Network, a liberal equivalent of ALEC, has received no attention from CMD despite performing many of the same tasks and refusing to disclose its donors.
One of CMD’s project partners, ProgressNow, received direct funding from the same “donor advised funds” so derided by CMD. In 2006, ProgressNow received funding from the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, a donor advised trust, and has received more than $250,000 from labor unions.

When asked about this contradiction—where funding from conservative organizations is suspect but is acceptable from liberal organizations–Graves argued “The question of conservative funders versus liberal funders, I think, is a matter of false equivalency… Quite frankly a number of these (corporate donors) like Koch Industries … they’re advancing not just an ideological agenda but an agenda that helps advance the bottom line of their corporate interests.”

However, the very same corporations criticized by Graves for backing free-market friendly ALEC also donated to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which has worked to pass legislation in direct opposition to ALEC’s positions. In 2012, Bloomberg found that 13 of 22 members of ALEC’s private enterprise board contributed at least $2 million to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.