On KBDI, Independence Institute's Caldara and CEI guest attacked Gore, ignored their own energy industry funding

Summary: While interviewing Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) founder and President Fred L. Smith Jr. on Independent Thinking, Independence Institute President Jon Caldara discussed "this misconception that people ... say, 'Oh,' you know, 'they're in the pockets of big oil.' " In fact, although Caldara failed to mention it, both organizations have received substantial funding from energy industry-related companies or foundations.

On the April 17 broadcast of public television KBDI Channel 12's Independent Thinking, host and Independence Institute President Jon Caldara discussed with guest Fred L. Smith Jr., president and founder of the "free market" Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), "this misconception that people look on our side and they say, 'Oh,' you know, 'they're in the pockets of big oil.' " But Caldara did not disclose that CEI has received funding from "big oil" company ExxonMobil Corp. and other energy industry sources, as Media Matters for America has noted repeatedly. Caldara also said, "I wish big oil would give us some damn money," without noting that past funders of both the CEI and Independence Institute have included foundations run by the leaders of Koch Industries, considered the nation's largest privately owned energy company.

Additionally, Caldara and Smith attacked former Vice President Al Gore, with Caldara suggesting that he is an "eco-hypocrite[]" and claiming that at one of Gore's homes "they spend nearly 30 grand a year on the utility bill alone." However, Caldara and Smith did not mention Gore's statements that he and his family "live a carbon-neutral life" and that he has addressed energy issues at his Nashville residence.

Caldara raised the subject of direct government subsidies to renewable energy companies and "this misconception that people look on our side and they say, 'Oh,' you know, 'they're in the pockets of big oil.' " After Smith later responded, "[T]here's this argument about, 'You guys are just fronting for big business,' " Caldara talked about a desire to get a share of "big oil" money for his own operation, while Smith said it "makes more sense" to receive money from individuals than from other sources such as governments or foundations:

CALDARA: I wish big oil would give us some damn money. They, you know, we carry a lot of water for these guys. They oughta give us some damn money.

SMITH: But I doubt if they are.

CALDARA: No, they won't.

SMITH: They're politically correct now. But the argument is, after all, any organization -- public television, the arts, schools, anything -- has to obtain resources to keep going. There's only three sources of money: government, foundations, and individuals. Well, governments are stolen money, foundations are dead people's money, and corporations are live people's money. It seems to me that if you had to pick from one of them, people are still earning it, makes more sense than the other two.

As Media Matters has noted, CEI has received substantial funding from the fossil fuel industry, including more than $2 million from ExxonMobil since 1998. CNN reported in September 2006 that ExxonMobil had stopped funding CEI: "ExxonMobil, which has come under increasing scrutiny for funding junk science views on global warming in recent years, has given no money to a global warming denier group it had previously funded."

Further, according to MediaTransparency -- a website that tracks grants made to conservative organizations -- past funders for Independence Institute have included the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation and the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, while CEI has received funding from the Lambe foundation. Both organizations are directed by Charles Koch, chairman and chief executive officer of Koch Industries Inc., a diversified corporation that Forbes magazine in 2007 listed as the largest privately held company in the United States, and that Media Transparency, citing a report from the National Committee for Responsible Philanthropy, characterized as "the largest privately owned energy company in the nation."

Koch's website indicates that among its diversified businesses, the company owns domestic oil refineries with combined capacity for processing 800,000 barrels of crude oil daily; that it owns or operates about 4,000 miles of pipeline for transporting "crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas liquids and chemicals"; and that it owns a 3 percent interest in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System and 28 percent interest in Colonial Pipeline Company, "owner of the world's largest-volume refined products pipeline."

Later in the broadcast, Caldara and Smith suggested that Gore was an "eco-hypocrite[]" by pointing to the purported "nearly 30 grand a year on the utility bill" of one of Gore's homes. However, Caldara and Smith ignored reporting that Gore has said that he and his family "live a carbon-neutral life." Also, according to the March 30 broadcast of CBS News' 60 Minutes:

They bought an 18-room mansion in Nashville. After they moved in, they were criticized because the house "Mr. Global Warming" lived in used 20 times more energy than the average American household. Since then, they have retrofitted everything, including installing 33 solar panels on the roof.

He's also making his parents' farm eco-friendly, by installing windmills to generate electricity, with plans to turn it into a training center for people from all over the world.

From the April 17 broadcast of KBDI Channel 12's Independent Thinking:

CALDARA: Good evening, and welcome. I'm Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute. Gotta tell you about the weirdest experience I've had in a number of years. I spent three days with Al and Tipper Gore. Yes; yes, I did. It was weird. Actually, it was pretty cool. And so was a friend of mine there: Fred Smith from the Competitive Enterprise Institute out in D.C. Fred, thanks for joining me.

SMITH: Glad to join you. It was fun to be in Colorado.

[...]

CALDARA: Here in Colorado we've opened up a new wind power plant. They'll build the blades for wind turbines; which is great. Of course, they've gotten now $4 million in direct corporate subsidies from government, and that's just fine for us. And I'm thinkin', if Exxon got $4 million in direct corporate welfare, people would be rightfully pissed off.

SMITH: And the thing to realize, too, is the history of government-funded horse races, where government picks the winners and tries to --

CALDARA: Right.

SMITH: -- push them across the time line. You weaken the incentives. To make an idea actually a viable idea takes, often, that last-minute burst of energy, inspiration, and so on. Well, if you're going to get paid whether you succeed or fail. And, in fact, if you succeed you might have to go out and get another job, there's a certain tendency to coast those last weeks.

[...]

CALDARA: I think there's this misconception that people look on our side and they say, "Oh," you know, "they're in the pockets of big oil. They're in the pockets of somebody. And, you know, they really don't want what's right." In fact, I don't know what's right. I'm gonna let the market decide what's right. And as oil prices --

SMITH: And the market is not this abstraction. The market is you and me and the millions of Americans making their choices.

CALDARA: Right. And as, for instance, gas prices go up to $3.50 a gallon or $4 a gallon, we don't need subsidies for ethanol; we don't need subsidies for oil shale. You know what? All of a sudden these things become more cost-effective, and people will gravitate to 'em. And the ones that work will win; the ones that lose go away.

SMITH: You know, there's this argument about, "You guys are just fronting for big business." We -- see, I at least -- accepts as much money from anyone who are willing to let us be independent of --

CALDARA: I wish big oil would give us some damn money. They, you know, we carry a lot of water for these guys. They oughta give us some damn money.

SMITH: But I doubt if they are.

CALDARA: No, they won't.

SMITH: They're politically correct now. But the argument is, after all, any organization -- public television, the arts, schools, anything -- has to obtain resources to keep going. There's only three sources of money: government, foundations, and individuals. Well, governments are stolen money, foundations are dead people's money, and corporations are live people's money. It seems to me that if you had to pick from one of them, people are still earning it, makes more sense than the other two.

[...]

CALDARA: And what I love are the eco-hypocrites. Now, when I found out that Al Gore's home in Tennessee actually spend, they spend nearly 30 grand a year on the utility bill alone of one of his -- was it five or six--

SMITH: One of his homes.

CALDARA: Only one of his homes. It gives me an idea, "Wait a second, those who preach do not always practice." You put out an interesting little ad on this.

SMITH: We did indeed. Yeah. And we're actually trying to make people to understand that if you're gonna walk the, if you're going to talk the talk, then walk the walk.

—C.H.