Private prison industry now faces 87.4% financing gap

Due to popular pressure from below, major banks - eight of them, as of September - are publicly vowing to end any future financing arrangements with the private prison industry. As a member of the Families Belong Together coalition, we’ve been working to uncover the complicity of big banks in propping up this industry by providing massive lines of credit and term loans. Now private prisons face an astounding 87.4% financing gap, downgraded credit ratings, and tanking stocks, as banks continue to flee under public scrutiny. The story has garnered widespread media attention including reports from CBS News and Forbes.

Read our story on the banks that have fled from the private prison industry.

PAI Cited in NYT on Puerto Rico Vulture Governor’s Conflicts

Puerto Rico saw a major political upheaval this summer with the massive protests that threw out Governor Ricardo Rosselló. The appointment of his successor, Pedro Pierluisi, was found unconstitutional by Puerto Rico's Supreme Court, and Pierluisi lasted only about a week in office. PAI's was on the forefront of exposing Pierluisi’s serious conflicts of interest - our work was cited in a front-page New York Times article the day that he was ousted.

See PAI's discussed on the front page of the New York Times.

In June, we also reported on recent positive developments in the effort to cancel Puerto Rico’s debt - see coverage in PrimeraHORA.

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Following the money behind the Texas far right

Empower Texans is a dark money political operation in Texas that attempted to drive that state’s politics to the far right over the past decade. Our new report profiles the oil and gas billionaires financing Empower Texans - and also reveals that its main funder, Tim Dunn, is himself financed by a private equity fund in which unwitting pension funds and university endowments across the U.S. invest. Check out coverage of our report at the Intercept.

Read our new report on the money behind Empower Texans.

Working with allies to #MapThePower

We were honored to take part in the Bargaining for the Common Good Housing Convening in Chicago in July! And it was a pleasure to give a presentation on power research at the 2019 Labor Research Action Network (LRAN) in Cleveland.

PAI power researcher Derek Seidman speaking at LRAN 2019 in Cleveland.

Make a donation to PAI & LittleSis today so we can continue to map the power!

Fossil fuel money in the 2020 election

We’ve been keeping an eye on fossil fuel industry contributions to 2020 presidential candidates. We profiled donations from Enbridge - the company behind the controversial Line 3 replacement pipeline - to 2020 candidates, which resulted in Amy Klobuchar returning $5,600 to an Enbridge donor. You can read about it at City Pages and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

We also teamed up with Sludge on a report that profiles the crucial role that private equity and hedge funds play in financing the fossil fuel industry - and how many 2020 candidates who have taken the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge have also accepted big donations from these Wall Street interests that have billions in oil and gas holdings.

Check out our report with Sludge on private equity fossil fuel money to 2020 candidates.

In case you missed it…

Here are some other PAI & LittleSis highlights from recent months:

We highlighted the outsized influence of real estate donations over New York State rental laws - and right on the cusp of a major victory for housing advocates.

Our work on the greenwashing antics of the New York League of Conservation Voters and the Environmental Defense Fund made it into Liza Featherstone’s Jacobin column and onto Doug Henwood’s Behind the News show!

GM investors and executives have been getting big payouts - even as they refuse to meet autoworker demands.

Just 3 worker pension funds provide 20% of the funds overseen by hedge fund Trian Partners, who refuses to have Wendy’s (which it owns) join the Fair Food Program.

Virginia state legislators have been actively promoting the Atlantic Coast Pipeline even as they have big personal investments in the pipeline’s owners.

We took a close look at the shady dealings of the CEO of Blackjewel - the bankrupt company that refused to pay some of its Kentucky miners.

Enbridge has been resorting to the fossil fuel industry astroturf playbook as it seeks to advance its controversial Line 3 replacement pipeline.

A "green" businessman in Buffalo who takes big public subsidies and lavishes local politicians with cash is also the area's top Trump donor (mentioned in Politico)

Finally, we’re in the middle of revamping our Oligrapher mapping tool - so stay tuned! And if you have ideas for improvement, drop us a line at [email protected].

Help us continue to follow the money! Donate to PAI & LittleSis today!