Stink Tanks in Your State: Inside the State Policy Network (SPN)
Session Type(s): Panel
Starts: Friday, Jul. 18 4:30 PM (Eastern)
Ends: Friday, Jul. 18 5:45 PM (Eastern)
The State Policy Network (SPN) is a network of 64 right-wing state-based “think tanks” that have been the leading advocates of the right-wing agenda in the states for over the last two decades. In November 2013, ProgressNow and the Center for Media and Democracy launched StinkTanks.org, which houses a national report on SPN, state-based information on the SPN affiliates in every state (including several state-based reports), and action items people can take to help expose SPN. This session will focus on presenting the information on StinkTanks.org and be used as an educational tool for progressives on how SPN works, the funders behind it (including the Koch brothers), and ways to fight back against those who work against us.
Moderator
Arshad Hasan
Arshad Hasan is the co-founder and Principal of Convey Communications, a firm dedicated to lifting up emerging leaders of the progressive movement – especially women, people of color, and queer folks – on their public communications skills. You’ve got a vision, we help you convey it to a world that needs to hear it. You deserve to be heard.
Arshad is a long serving member of Netroots Nation’s Board of Directors and served as the immediate past Chair of the Board. Prior to founding Convey Communications, Arshad has led some of the progressive movement’s most high-impact political organizations such as Democracy For America and Progress Now. He lives in Vermont with his tiny dog, Cole.
Panelists
Jane Carter
Jane Carter is a Labor Economist with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), specializing in the prevention of privatization and outsourcing of public services and assets. Her work includes assisting affiliates in negotiations at the bargaining table and outsourcing battles at the state and local levels. Additionally, she monitors and tracks the flow of money to organizations and leaders attacking working families. Jane has appeared on RT’s Thom Hartmann and has served as a panelist across the U.S., the U.K. and Canada, to discuss the perils of privatization and the attacks on working families, and the organizations behind those efforts.
Jane is an avid Oklahoma Sooners fan, an honorary Kentucky Colonel and currently resides in Washington, DC.
Lisa Graves
Lisa Graves is Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy, the publisher of ALECexposed.org (its award-winning investigation of the American Legislative Exchange Council), PRWatch.org, SourceWatch.org, and BanksterUSA.org. She previously served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice, Chief Counsel for Nominations for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Deputy Chief of the Article III Judges Division at the U.S. Courts, and Senior Legislative Strategist for the ACLU on national security issues, among other posts. Reach her on twitter: thelisagraves and email: lisa@prwatch.org.
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