4/24/96, dicedyuppy wrote:
>could you post that list of telecomm bribes...?
As a partial answer, here is the section of my article "Cyberspace
Inc and the Robber Baron Age" which discusses PFF.
-rkm
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PFF turns out to be a typical industry-front organization. Characterized by
Mr. Stahlman as "Newt's 'think tank'", PFF is funded by a panoply of corporate
sponsors. The February 6, 1995 issue of The Nation carries an article by
David Corn, entitled "CyberNewt". Here's an excerpt;
There is nothing particularly futuristic about the funding sources
behind the P.F.F. and its conference. Telecommunications firms
subsidize the group: AT&T, BellSouth, Turner Broadcasting System, Cox
Cable Communications. Other donors to the P.F.F.'s $1.9 million bank
account include conservative foundations, Wired magazine, high-tech
firms, military contractors, and drug companies (another foundation
passion is attacking the Food and Drug Administration).
When Senator Phil Gramm spoke at the [PFF] conference luncheon, the
tables closest to the podium were reserved for corporate benefactors:
Eli Lilly, Seagram's, Phillip Morris, S.B.C. Communications (formerly
Southwestern Bell) ...
Brock N. Meeks published an article in Inter@ctive Week, dated April 28, 1995,
entitled "Freedom Foundation Faces Scrutiny". These brief excerpts from the
article outline Mr. Meeks' understanding of how PFF funds are used, and how it
seeks to hide its link to Mr. Gingrich:
...Among I@W's findings:
* PFF spent $483,000 to underwrite a college
course taught by Gingrich. ...
* PFF spent $148,000 to underwrite The Progress
Report, Gingrich's weekly cable talk show carried
on his own National Empowerment Television. ...
The PFF links to Gingrich and his own political
action committee, called GOPAC, have drawn the
interest of the Ethics Committee and the IRS, which
is "reevaluating" PFF's nonprofit status,
according to an IRS source.
The PFF link to Gingrich's rising political
currency has proved lucrative. From March 1993 to
March 1994 the group raised $611,000. During the
remainder of 1994, when it became clear that the
Republicans stood a good chance to capture both the
House and the Senate for the first time in 40
years, an additional $1.07 million poured into PFF
coffers, according to its financial records. ...
The latest PFF tax returns do not make any link to
GOPAC or Gingrich. Any such linking would violate
IRS tax exemption rules. However, Eisenach is on
record acknowledging that he did the basic
groundwork of setting up PFF while running GOPAC.
The money trail apparently goes from media/telecommunications conglomerates,
to PFF, and finally to Mr. Gingrich's projects, which seem to be heavily
focused on propaganda ventures. Small wonder that PFF's manifesto, and Mr.
Gingrich's legislative agenda, promote excessive deregulation of the
telecommunications industry, and pave the way for monopolistic control.
Evidently the Lords of Cyberspace Inc are to include the likes of AT&T,
BellSouth, Turner Broadcasting System, and Cox Cable Communications. Mr.
Gingrich's famous pledges to "empower the individual" and "provide laptops
for ghetto dwellers" should be seen for what they are: a shallow populist
veneer covering a corporate-pandering agenda.
* * *
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Posted by Richard K. Moore - •••@••.••• - Wexford, Ireland
Cyber-Rights: http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/
ftp://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/library/
Cyberlib: www | ftp --> ftp://ftp.iol.ie/users/rkmoore/cyberlib/
Materials may be reposted in their _entirety_ for non-commercial use.
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