Tag: Hansjörg Wyss

Buying the News: Documenting the Takeover of Local Journalism by Leftwing Donors

RealClearWire
"The Chronicle" Newsroom, 2007

American journalism has experienced a spectacular collapse in the last 25 years – daily newspaper circulation has declined from over 60 million subscribers to just over 20 million. And the trend is accelerating: According to the Pew Research Organization, the average monthly number of unique visitors to the websites of the country’s top 50 newspapers plummeted 20 percent in one year from 2021 to 2022.

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Bans on Foreign Funding for Ballot Measures Gain Momentum in Congress, States

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Congress Spending

Opponents of foreign funding of U.S. ballot measures expect momentum at both the federal level and in states.

In May, the House Administration Committee advanced a bill to amend federal election law to prevent foreign nationals from contributing to ballot initiatives by closing a loophole, since federal law and most state laws prohibit foreign contributions to candidates. The bill, with bipartisan support, is headed to the House floor for a vote.

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Foreign Billionaire-Backed ‘Climate Power’ Pressuring Broadcasters to Censor Ads Critical of Biden’s EV Mandate

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President Joe Biden

A green nonprofit that is indirectly funded by a foreign billionaire is pressuring broadcasters to drop advertisements that criticize the Biden administration’s massive electric vehicle (EV) agenda.

Climate Power wrote to numerous broadcasters this week demanding that they stop airing American Fuel and Petrochemicals Manufacturers (AFPM)-funded advertisements in swing state markets that rail against President Joe Biden’s plans to impose widespread EV adoption in the coming years. The charitable organization affiliated with Hansjorg Wyss, a Swiss health care mogul and billionaire philanthropist, donates millions of dollars to the Fund for a Better Future, which was the fiscal sponsor for Climate Power until 2023, a spokesperson for Climate Power previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Commentary: Everyone Can Agree on Election Integrity

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Polling Place

At first glance, some Americans could mistakenly conclude that election integrity safeguards are deeply unpopular. After all, liberal politicians and the mainstream media regularly denounce commonsense measures like photo ID laws and routine voter roll cleanups.

No matter what they claim or how loudly they claim it, these voices do not speak for the majority of Americans. As recent polling conducted by Honest Elections Project Action shows beyond all doubt, an overwhelming bipartisan majority of Americans embrace commonsense voting laws that make it easy to vote and hard to cheat.

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House Republicans Introduce Bill to Close Loophole for Foreign Election Funding

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House Republicans are introducing a bill that would prohibit foreign nationals from contributing to political advocacy organizations, closing a loophole that allows their funds to support political campaigns, according to a report by Axios.

Republican Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, who chairs the House Administration Committee that certifies elections to the chamber, will introduce the American Confidence in Elections (ACE) Act in the House on Tuesday, according to Axios. The bill will reportedly ban foreign nationals from donating to political advocacy organizations with tax-exempt status under Section 501 (c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code.

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Republicans Shine a Light on Swiss Billionaire’s Role in U.S. Elections During House Debate

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How did a Swiss billionaire who has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to left-leaning American nonprofit political advocacy groups become a topic of debate over an elections bill on the floor of the Minnesota House of Representatives?

Republican legislators allege that Hansjörg Wyss, a former medical device industry executive turned political activist, has his fingerprints on a provision included in a sweeping elections reform bill the DFL House majority passed on a party-line vote late Thursday night.

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Commentary: John Podesta’s Ties to Dem Megadonor Back in Spotlight

RealClearWire

Eight years ago, the Obama administration bristled at the word “recusal.” White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that the reason that top presidential adviser John Podesta would not be involved in the decision-making process involving the Keystone XL pipeline was that the State Department, not the White House, was already evaluating it “in an impartial way.” It wasn’t a “recusal,” Earnest insisted – there just was no need for Podesta to be involved.

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