GekeVenn: PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS

The Pew Charitable Trusts are a group of funds set up by the descendants of Joseph Pew, the founder of Sun Oil, better known as Sunoco. The organization's stated mission is to improve public policy, a vague goal. Beneficiaries of the funds have included the John Birch Society, the American Enterprise Institute, and the Brookings Institution, but the organization tended to support conservative causes until the 1980s. However, in 1988, left-leaning Rebecca Rimel took over as executive director. Today she is president and chief executive officer, a position she's held since 1994.

Pew Research has reported critically on the lobbying activities of corporations, but in 2004, Pew Charitable Trusts applied to become a nonprofit, allowing the organization to spend 5 percent of its own budget on lobbying. But before Pew even registered its lobbying activities, it was heavily involved in attempting to influence and ensure passage of McCain-Feingold, to the tune of $40 million (though according to journalist Ryan Sager, for the 10 years prior to the bill's passage that figure jumps to $140 million). McCain-Feingold was the bill promoted by Big Money to limit the smaller donations regular folk are allowed to contribute to political campaigns under the guise of “campaign finance reform.”

Rimel denied that Pew was trying to hide its advocacy on the issue. However, a former Pew staffer, Sean Treglia, is on video stating that, “If Congress thought this was a Pew effort, it’d be worthless. In order, in essence, to convey the impression that this was something coming naturally from outside the beltway, I felt it was best that Pew stay in the background.”

In 2011, Pew was caught reporting “imprecise” numbers that showed artificially inflated lobbying activities of various Catholic organizations.

Note that lobbyist Ed Kutler was also a senior research associate for the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank that has received funds from the Pew Charitable Trusts.