Competitive Enterprise Institute
Encyclopedia
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is a non-profit think tank
founded on March 9, 1984 in Washington, D.C.
by lobbyist Fred L. Smith, Jr
to advance economic liberty and fight over-regulation by big government
. CEI's stated belief is that people are best helped not by government regulation of commercial
interests, but by a free market
place in which entrepreneurship and innovation to truly thrive. CEI states that it "promotes liberal ideals through analysis, education, coalition-building, advocacy," and when appropriate, "litigation." CEI offers or has offered analysis and advocacy on public policy issues such as energy, environment, biotechnology
, pharmaceutical regulation, chemical risk, telecommunications, insurance, transportation, tobacco regulation, constitutional issues, economic policy and securities law.
, regulation
and economic liberty, legal
and constitutional matters, and health and safety. Among the methods used to implement the organization's agenda are various press releases and policy papers, testifying at governmental hearings, paid advertising, editorial
and op-ed
pieces, open letter
s, books, NGO operations, and "when appropriate," litigations. Their legal actions have included lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of statutes, interstate agreements, and onerous regulations, and suing government agencies to force the disclosure of public information.
CEI's last television ad campaign (to date), entitled A Bright Future For Some, focused on energy policy and global warming, criticizing policies advocated by former Vice President Al Gore
. The CEI ad aired nation-wide in March and April, 2008.
emissions. It favors free-market environmentalism
, and supports the idea that market institutions are more effective in protecting the environment than is government
.
In March 1992, CEI’s founder Fred Smith said of anthropogenic climate change: "Most of the indications right now are it looks pretty good. Warmer winters, warmer nights, no effects during the day because of clouding, sounds to me like we’re moving to a more benign planet, more rain, richer, easier productivity to agriculture."
In May 2006, CEI's global warming policy activities attracted attention as it embarked upon an ad campaign with two television commercials http://streams.cei.org/. These ads promote carbon dioxide
as a positive factor in the environment and argue that global warming
is not a concern. One ad focuses on the message that CO2 is misrepresented as a pollutant
, stating that "it’s essential to life. We breathe it out. Plants breathe it in... They call it pollution. We call it life." The other states that the world's glaciers are "growing, not melting... getting thicker, not thinner." It cites Science
articles to support its claims. However, the editor for Science stated that the ad "misrepresents the conclusions of the two cited Science papers... by selective referencing". The author of the articles, Curt Davis
, director of the Center for Geospatial Intelligence at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said CEI was misrepresenting his previous research to inflate their claims. "These television ads are a deliberate effort to confuse and mislead the public about the global warming debate," Davis said.
In 2009, CEI's director of energy and global warming policy told The Washington Post, "The only thing that's been demonstrated to reduce emissions is economic collapse".
Some of CEI's work on global warming policy includes:
In 2010, coincident with CEI's financial ills, the pace of CEI's work on climate change slowed significantly: national advertising campaigns ceased and, through the first half of the year, CEI's only studies on the topic were two letters written to regulators.
methods to support activities in various areas, such as antitrust
and government regulation, in matters including corporate welfare
, Internet
and E-Commerce, and Privacy
and Security
. They have written comments involving Corporate Average Fuel Economy
(CAFE), rent control
, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposals, and the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC). CEI publishes an annual report on the cost burden imposed by government regulations, entitled "10,000 Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State".
and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
(PCAOB), respectively. The project's web page has been dormant since 2008.
The Project on Technology & Innovation, during the period of its existence, extended CEI's efforts into new areas, including antitrust in high tech and network industries, privacy, e-commerce, intellectual property, and telecommunications.
CEI has opposed a range of regulatory intervention into commercial activities including bans on alcohol advertising
, fuel economy mandates and proposals to mitigate global warming. CEI supports constitutional checks over government's power over corporations.
Award winners include:
and the Detroit News and a nationally syndicated columnist.
Former and current fellows:
, a special outreach and activist project of CEI, is described as an international network of pro-freedom activists working to promote a political ideology based on personal and economic freedom. Bureaucrash conducts political activism using new media, creative marketing, and education campaigns. Bureaucrash maintains a website (bureaucrash.com) and a channel on YouTube, Bureaucrash TV, which features short videos on political topics. Begun as an independent organization, Bureaucrash was absorbed into CEI and, for a time, maintained full-time staff as part of CEI's staff. In mid-2010, coincident with CEI's financial ills, Bureaucrash transferred its only full time staffer to an open position on CEI's communications staff leaving Bureaucrash itself without any full-time staff.
. The current board of directors consists of: James Curley, William Dunn, Michael Greve
, Leonard Liggio
, Thomas Gale Moore, Frances Smith
(the wife of Fred L. Smith), and Fred Smith
.
Other individuals affiliated with CEI include:
, Exxon Mobil, the Ford Motor Company
Fund, Pfizer
, and the Earhart Foundation
.
In its IRS Form 990 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007, CEI reported revenues totaling $3,650,461, including donations from individuals, foundations and corporations. Its net assets were $2,012,478. Salaries and benefits to its top employees were reported as:
According to the website Charity Navigator, Smith's salary—at about 5 percent of CEI's budget—constitutes a larger percentage of revenues than the salaries of the heads of think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute, Cato Institute, and Reason Foundation.
According to page nine of a from the CEI contained on the University of California, San Francisco
's Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (LTDL), the following companies and foundations were among those listed as supporting CEI's work with annual contributions of at least $10,000, currently the CEI's "Entrepreneurs" level:
Aequus Institute, Amoco
Foundation, Inc., Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Coca-Cola Company, E.L. Craig Foundation, CSX Corporation
, Earhart Foundation
, Fieldstead and Co., FMC Foundation, Ford Motor Company
Fund, Gilder Foundation, Koch Family Foundations
(including the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, David H. Koch Charitable Foundation, and Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation), Philip M. McKenna Foundation, Inc., Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation, Philip Morris
Companies, Inc., Pfizer
Inc., Precision Valve Corporation, Prince Foundation, Rodney Fund, Sheldon Rose, Scaife Foundations
(Carthage Foundation
and Sarah Scaife Foundation
), and Texaco
, Inc. (Texaco Foundation).
Other documents in the LTDL show that CEI has received funding directly from various tobacco companies. For example, the listing on the Philip Morris Glossary of Names: C gives the note "Received public policy grant from Philip Morris (1995); Pro-market public interest group dedicated to advancing the principles of free enterprise and limited government."
ExxonMobil
Corporation was a major donor to CEI, with over $2 million in contributions between 1998 and 2005. In 2002 the company gave $405,000; in 2004 it gave CEI $180,000 that was earmarked for "global climate change and global climate change outreach." In 2006, the company announced that it had ended its funding for the group.
. Shortly thereafter, CEI reported a year-over-year decline in its program spending coupled with a large increase in its fund-raising spending. As a result, the website Charity Navigator
cut CEI's four star rating to two stars. CEI also contracted its web presence significantly in the wake of its financial ills leaving sites including controlabuseofpower.org, ethanolfacts.org, and enjoybottledwater.org dormant. In 2010, furthermore, CEI's production of reports and papers dropped significantly. Whereas the think tank had produced 20 studies during the first six months of 2009, it produced only 10 during the first six months of 2010.
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
founded on March 9, 1984 in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
by lobbyist Fred L. Smith, Jr
Fred L. Smith
Fred L. Smith, Jr. is the President and Founder of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit libertarian think tank. He has written on topics as antitrust law, environmental regulation, and the economic impacts of global warming....
to advance economic liberty and fight over-regulation by big government
Big government
Big government is a term generally used by political conservatives, laissez-faire advocates, or libertarians to describe a government or public sector which they consider to be excessively large, corrupt and inefficient, or inappropriately involved in certain areas of public policy or the private...
. CEI's stated belief is that people are best helped not by government regulation of commercial
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
interests, but by a free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
place in which entrepreneurship and innovation to truly thrive. CEI states that it "promotes liberal ideals through analysis, education, coalition-building, advocacy," and when appropriate, "litigation." CEI offers or has offered analysis and advocacy on public policy issues such as energy, environment, biotechnology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
, pharmaceutical regulation, chemical risk, telecommunications, insurance, transportation, tobacco regulation, constitutional issues, economic policy and securities law.
General activity
CEI cites its major issues of concern as environmental policyEnvironmental policy
Environmental policy is any [course of] action deliberately taken [or not taken] to manage human activities with a view to prevent, reduce, or mitigate harmful effects on nature and natural resources, and ensuring that man-made changes to the environment do not have harmful effects on...
, regulation
Regulation
Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...
and economic liberty, legal
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
and constitutional matters, and health and safety. Among the methods used to implement the organization's agenda are various press releases and policy papers, testifying at governmental hearings, paid advertising, editorial
Editorial
An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...
and op-ed
Op-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...
pieces, open letter
Open letter
An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally....
s, books, NGO operations, and "when appropriate," litigations. Their legal actions have included lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of statutes, interstate agreements, and onerous regulations, and suing government agencies to force the disclosure of public information.
CEI's last television ad campaign (to date), entitled A Bright Future For Some, focused on energy policy and global warming, criticizing policies advocated by former Vice President Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
. The CEI ad aired nation-wide in March and April, 2008.
Environmental policy
CEI is an outspoken anthropogenic climate change skeptic and an opponent of government action that would require limits on greenhouse gasGreenhouse gas
A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...
emissions. It favors free-market environmentalism
Free-market environmentalism
Free-market environmentalism is a position that argues that the free market, property rights, and tort law provide the best tools to preserve the health and sustainability of the environment...
, and supports the idea that market institutions are more effective in protecting the environment than is government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
.
In March 1992, CEI’s founder Fred Smith said of anthropogenic climate change: "Most of the indications right now are it looks pretty good. Warmer winters, warmer nights, no effects during the day because of clouding, sounds to me like we’re moving to a more benign planet, more rain, richer, easier productivity to agriculture."
In May 2006, CEI's global warming policy activities attracted attention as it embarked upon an ad campaign with two television commercials http://streams.cei.org/. These ads promote carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
as a positive factor in the environment and argue that global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
is not a concern. One ad focuses on the message that CO2 is misrepresented as a pollutant
Pollutant
A pollutant is a waste material that pollutes air, water or soil, and is the cause of pollution.Three factors determine the severity of a pollutant: its chemical nature, its concentration and its persistence. Some pollutants are biodegradable and therefore will not persist in the environment in the...
, stating that "it’s essential to life. We breathe it out. Plants breathe it in... They call it pollution. We call it life." The other states that the world's glaciers are "growing, not melting... getting thicker, not thinner." It cites Science
Science (journal)
Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
articles to support its claims. However, the editor for Science stated that the ad "misrepresents the conclusions of the two cited Science papers... by selective referencing". The author of the articles, Curt Davis
Curt Davis
Curtis Benton Davis was a Major League Baseball pitcher. On October 2, 1933 he was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies from the Pacific Coast League San Francisco Seals in the 1933 rule V draft. He played for the Phillies , Chicago Cubs , St. Louis Cardinals , and Brooklyn Dodgers...
, director of the Center for Geospatial Intelligence at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said CEI was misrepresenting his previous research to inflate their claims. "These television ads are a deliberate effort to confuse and mislead the public about the global warming debate," Davis said.
In 2009, CEI's director of energy and global warming policy told The Washington Post, "The only thing that's been demonstrated to reduce emissions is economic collapse".
Some of CEI's work on global warming policy includes:
- Participating in and reporting on the UNFCCC negotiations in MontrealMontrealMontreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
as an NGO in December 2005. - A letter to the Archbishop of CanterburyArchbishop of CanterburyThe Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
in 2006, after the Archbishop urged Christians to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The CEI wrote that reducing these levels, even in "baby steps," would "result in the deaths of more people in the U.S. than global warming would worldwide." - The book Blue Planet in Green Shackles: What is Endangered, Climate or Freedom?. Published in May 2008, it was written by Václav KlausVáclav KlausVáclav Klaus is the second President of the Czech Republic and a former Prime Minister .An economist, he is co-founder of the Civic Democratic Party, the Czech Republic's largest center-right political party. Klaus is a eurosceptic, but he reluctantly endorsed the Lisbon treaty as president of...
, President of the Czech RepublicCzech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
and keynote speaker at CEI's annual dinner in 2008. Klaus argues that the politics of global warming policy are about human freedom, not the environment. - The Cooler Heads CoalitionCooler Heads CoalitionThe Cooler Heads Coalition was originally a project of the National Consumer Coalition in the United States, a project of the nonprofit organization Consumer Alert. The Cooler Heads Coalition is now financed and operated by the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Its objective is described as...
, which operates the website globalwarming.org. The chairman is Myron EbellMyron EbellMyron Ebell is an American climate change skeptic. He is the Director of Global Warming and International Environmental Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute , a non-profit public policy organization founded in 1984 by Fred L. Smith, Jr. Ebell directs and oversees all aspects of energy...
, the Director of Energy and Global Warming Policy at CEI.
In 2010, coincident with CEI's financial ills, the pace of CEI's work on climate change slowed significantly: national advertising campaigns ceased and, through the first half of the year, CEI's only studies on the topic were two letters written to regulators.
Government regulation
CEI uses think tank and advocacyAdvocacy
Advocacy is a political process by an individual or a large group which normally aims to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions; it may be motivated from moral, ethical or faith principles or simply to protect an...
methods to support activities in various areas, such as antitrust
Antitrust
The United States antitrust law is a body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are intended to encourage competition in the marketplace. These competition laws make illegal certain practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers or both,...
and government regulation, in matters including corporate welfare
Corporate welfare
Corporate welfare is a pejorative term describing a government's bestowal of money grants, tax breaks, or other special favorable treatment on corporations or selected corporations. The term compares corporate subsidies and welfare payments to the poor, and implies that corporations are much less...
, Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and E-Commerce, and Privacy
Privacy
Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
and Security
Security
Security is the degree of protection against danger, damage, loss, and crime. Security as a form of protection are structures and processes that provide or improve security as a condition. The Institute for Security and Open Methodologies in the OSSTMM 3 defines security as "a form of protection...
. They have written comments involving Corporate Average Fuel Economy
Corporate Average Fuel Economy
The Corporate Average Fuel Economy are regulations in the United States, first enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1975, and intended to improve the average fuel economy of cars and light trucks sold in the US in the wake of the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo...
(CAFE), rent control
Rent control
Rent control refers to laws or ordinances that set price controls on the renting of residential housing. It functions as a price ceiling.Rent control exists in approximately 40 countries around the world...
, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposals, and the Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
(FTC). CEI publishes an annual report on the cost burden imposed by government regulations, entitled "10,000 Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State".
Legal and constitutional
CEI has also been active in the legal aspects of antitrust and government regulation. As part of its "Control Abuse of Power" (CAP) project, CEI launched lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the 1998 tobacco Master Settlement AgreementMaster Settlement Agreement
The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement was entered in November 1998, originally between the four largest US tobacco companies and the attorneys general of 46 states...
and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is a private-sector, non-profit corporation created by the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, a 2002 United States federal law, to oversee the auditors of public companies. Its stated purpose is to 'protect the interests of investors and further the public interest...
(PCAOB), respectively. The project's web page has been dormant since 2008.
The Project on Technology & Innovation, during the period of its existence, extended CEI's efforts into new areas, including antitrust in high tech and network industries, privacy, e-commerce, intellectual property, and telecommunications.
CEI has opposed a range of regulatory intervention into commercial activities including bans on alcohol advertising
Alcohol advertising
Alcohol advertising is the promotion of alcoholic beverages by alcohol producers through a variety of media. Along with tobacco advertising, it is one of the most highly-regulated forms of marketing...
, fuel economy mandates and proposals to mitigate global warming. CEI supports constitutional checks over government's power over corporations.
Health and safety
CEI previously criticized health and safety regulation and argued through its Death by Regulation project that overregulation itself can be deadly. Previously, CEI has claimed that automotive downsizing due to federal fuel economy standards increased road accident deaths, and criticized the delayed availability of new medical therapies due to Food and Drug Administration rules. CEI scholars have also claimed that the health risks of secondhand smoke have not been adequately proven, and thus restrictions on smoking are unwarranted.Annual dinner
Every year CEI hosts an annual dinner gala and presents the Julian L. Simon Memorial Award. The Simon award honors the work of the late economist, winner of the Simon–Ehrlich wager.Award winners include:
- 2011: Robert J. Smith
- 2010: Stephen McIntyre and Ross McKitrick (joint award)
- 2009: Richard TrenRichard TrenRichard Tren is Director of Africa Fighting Malaria, an analyst for the Free Market Foundation, and a Research Fellow of the Environment Unit at the Institute of Economic Affairs.He writes frequently for Tech Central Station.-Books:...
- 2008: Václav KlausVáclav KlausVáclav Klaus is the second President of the Czech Republic and a former Prime Minister .An economist, he is co-founder of the Civic Democratic Party, the Czech Republic's largest center-right political party. Klaus is a eurosceptic, but he reluctantly endorsed the Lisbon treaty as president of...
- 2007: Indur Goklany
- 2006: John StosselJohn StosselJohn F. Stossel is an American consumer reporter, investigative journalist, author and libertarian columnist. In October 2009 Stossel left his long time home on ABC News to join the Fox Business Channel and Fox News Channel, both owned and operated by News Corp...
- 2005: Barun Mitra
- 2003: Bjorn Lomborg
- 2002: Robert L. Bradley
- 2001: Stephen Moore
Warren T. Brookes Journalism Fellowship
In 1991, CEI established the Warren T. Brookes Fellowship to identify and train journalists who wish to improve their knowledge of environmental issues and free market economics. In this manner, the program seeks to perpetuate the legacy of Warren Brookes, who was a longtime journalist with the Boston HeraldBoston Herald
The Boston Herald is a daily newspaper that serves Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and its surrounding area. It was started in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States...
and the Detroit News and a nationally syndicated columnist.
Former and current fellows:
| 1993-1994 | Ronald Bailey Ronald Bailey Ronald Bailey is the science editor for Reason magazine. He was born in San Antonio, Texas and raised in Washington County, Virginia, and attended the University of Virginia, where he earned a B.A... |
2003-2004 | Neil Hrab |
| 1994-1995 | Michael Fumento Michael Fumento Michael Fumento is an investigative journalist, attorney, and author of five books, admired by some and cricized by others as a bigot and conspiracy theorist. A former paratrooper, he embedded a total of four times in Iraq and Afghanistan... |
2004-2005 | John Berlau John Berlau John Berlau is an American economist who currently lives in Washington, D.C. and is the director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free market think tank.... |
| 1995-1996 | Michelle Malkin Michelle Malkin Michelle Malkin is an American conservative blogger, political commentator, and author. Her weekly syndicated column appears in a number of newspapers and websites. She is a Fox News Channel contributor and has been a guest on MSNBC, C-SPAN, and national radio programs... |
2005-2006 | Timothy Carney |
| 1996-1997 | James Bovard James Bovard James Bovard is a libertarian author and lecturer whose political commentary targets examples of waste, failures, corruption, cronyism and abuses of power in government. He is the author of Attention Deficit Democracy, and eight other books... |
2006-2007 | Jeremy Lott Jeremy Lott Jeremy Lott is an American writer, editor, and pundit. He is currently editor of and associate editor of . Lott has written several books and hacked out maybe a thousand articles on everything from conservatism to lawn mowing... |
| 1997-1998 | Jesse Walker Jesse Walker Jesse Walker is managing editor of Reason magazine. The University of Michigan alumnus has written the book Rebels on the Air: An Alternative History of Radio in America and maintains a blog called The Perpetual Three-Dot Column... |
2007-2008 | Lene Johansen |
| 1999-2000 | Brian Doherty Brian Doherty (journalist) Brian Doherty is an American journalist. He is a Senior Editor at Reason magazine. He is the author of This Is Burning Man: The Rise of a New American Underground , Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement and Gun Control on Trial: Inside the... |
2008-2009 | Silvia Santacruz |
| 2000-2001 | Sean Paige | 2009-2010 | Ryan Young |
| 2001-2002 | Eileen Ciesla-Norcross | 2010-2011 | Kathryn Ciano |
| 2002-2003 | Hugo Gurdon |
Bureaucrash
BureaucrashBureaucrash
Bureaucrash is an international network of libertarian activists whose stated goals are "decreasing the scope of government" and "increasing individual freedom" which engages in culture jamming.-History:...
, a special outreach and activist project of CEI, is described as an international network of pro-freedom activists working to promote a political ideology based on personal and economic freedom. Bureaucrash conducts political activism using new media, creative marketing, and education campaigns. Bureaucrash maintains a website (bureaucrash.com) and a channel on YouTube, Bureaucrash TV, which features short videos on political topics. Begun as an independent organization, Bureaucrash was absorbed into CEI and, for a time, maintained full-time staff as part of CEI's staff. In mid-2010, coincident with CEI's financial ills, Bureaucrash transferred its only full time staffer to an open position on CEI's communications staff leaving Bureaucrash itself without any full-time staff.
CEI Studios
CEI Studios was the organization's video project. It produced short-format videos on current public policy issues, from the 2008 financial crisis to flood insurance to global warming and many other topics. It stopped producing original videos in 2011, using its site instead as a repository for videos of CEI events and occasional TV appearances by CEI fellows.Governance
The organization is governed by a board of directorsBoard of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
. The current board of directors consists of: James Curley, William Dunn, Michael Greve
Michael Greve
Michael Greve is the John G. Searle Scholar and Director of the Federalism Project at the American Enterprise Institute. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Competitive Enterprise Institute...
, Leonard Liggio
Leonard Liggio
Leonard Liggio is a classical liberal author, research professor of law at George Mason University, and executive vice president of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in Fairfax, Virginia, USA.-Present positions:...
, Thomas Gale Moore, Frances Smith
Frances Smith
Frances Smith was a Smith College freshman who disappeared in January 1928. Her body was discovered on March 29, 1929 in the Connecticut River, near Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Her full name was Frances St. John Smith....
(the wife of Fred L. Smith), and Fred Smith
Fred L. Smith
Fred L. Smith, Jr. is the President and Founder of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit libertarian think tank. He has written on topics as antitrust law, environmental regulation, and the economic impacts of global warming....
.
Scholars and affiliates
CEI lists its adjunct scholars as well as full and part-time staff members on its website and major area of responsibility on its website. Some notable full-time staff working out of CEI's Washington, D.C. offices include:- Fred SmithFred L. SmithFred L. Smith, Jr. is the President and Founder of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit libertarian think tank. He has written on topics as antitrust law, environmental regulation, and the economic impacts of global warming....
(director) - Founder and president - Myron EbellMyron EbellMyron Ebell is an American climate change skeptic. He is the Director of Global Warming and International Environmental Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute , a non-profit public policy organization founded in 1984 by Fred L. Smith, Jr. Ebell directs and oversees all aspects of energy...
(since 1999) - specializes in climate change* - Sam Kazman General counsel
Other individuals affiliated with CEI include:
- Michael GreveMichael GreveMichael Greve is the John G. Searle Scholar and Director of the Federalism Project at the American Enterprise Institute. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Competitive Enterprise Institute...
(director) - American Enterprise InstituteAmerican Enterprise InstituteThe American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a conservative think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and... - Leonard LiggioLeonard LiggioLeonard Liggio is a classical liberal author, research professor of law at George Mason University, and executive vice president of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in Fairfax, Virginia, USA.-Present positions:...
(director since 1994) - Atlas Economic Research FoundationAtlas Economic Research FoundationThe Atlas Economic Research Foundation, also known as the Atlas Network, is a non-profit organization based in the United States which organizes and convenes workshops, offers training, runs prize programs, and provides advisory services in order to continue growing and strengthening an informal... - Christopher C. HornerChristopher C. HornerChristopher C. Horner is an attorney in Washington, D.C., a Senior Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and the author of three books on global warming....
- attorney and author, part time staffer - Steven MilloySteven MilloySteven J. Milloy is a commentator for Fox News and runs the Web site junkscience.com, which is dedicated to "debunking" what Milloy labels "faulty scientific data and analysis." On Fox News Channel he is billed as a "Junk Science commentator." He describes himself as a libertarian.Among the topics...
- editor of JunkScience.com and FoxNews.com columnist, adjunct fellow
Funding
CEI is funded by donations from individuals, foundations and corporations. Past and present funders include the Scaife FoundationsScaife Foundations
The Scaife Foundations refer collectively to four foundations: the Allegheny Foundation, the Carthage Foundation, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, and the Scaife Family Foundation. The organizations are based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.-External links:*...
, Exxon Mobil, the Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
Fund, Pfizer
Pfizer
Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...
, and the Earhart Foundation
Earhart Foundation
The Earhart Foundation is a private charitable foundation that funds research and scholarship. It was founded in 1929 by oil executive Harry Boyd Earhart.- History :...
.
In its IRS Form 990 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007, CEI reported revenues totaling $3,650,461, including donations from individuals, foundations and corporations. Its net assets were $2,012,478. Salaries and benefits to its top employees were reported as:
- Fred L. Smith, President, $208,935
- Marlo Lewis, Senior Fellow, $104,974
- Sam Kazman, General Counsel, $132,152
According to the website Charity Navigator, Smith's salary—at about 5 percent of CEI's budget—constitutes a larger percentage of revenues than the salaries of the heads of think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute, Cato Institute, and Reason Foundation.
According to page nine of a from the CEI contained on the University of California, San Francisco
University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco is one of the world's leading centers of health sciences research, patient care, and education. UCSF's medical, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, and graduate schools are among the top health science professional schools in the world...
's Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (LTDL), the following companies and foundations were among those listed as supporting CEI's work with annual contributions of at least $10,000, currently the CEI's "Entrepreneurs" level:
Aequus Institute, Amoco
Amoco
Amoco Corporation, originally Standard Oil Company , was a global chemical and oil company, founded in 1889 around a refinery located in Whiting, Indiana, United States....
Foundation, Inc., Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Coca-Cola Company, E.L. Craig Foundation, CSX Corporation
CSX Corporation
CSX Corporation was formed in 1980 by the merger of Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries and eventually merged the various railroads owned by those predecessors into a single line that became known as CSX Transportation. Based in Richmond, Virginia, USA after the merger, in 2003...
, Earhart Foundation
Earhart Foundation
The Earhart Foundation is a private charitable foundation that funds research and scholarship. It was founded in 1929 by oil executive Harry Boyd Earhart.- History :...
, Fieldstead and Co., FMC Foundation, Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
Fund, Gilder Foundation, Koch Family Foundations
Koch Family Foundations
Koch Family Foundations is the informal name for a group of charities in the United States of America associated with the family of Fred C. Koch. The most prominent of these are the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation and the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation, created by two of Fred C...
(including the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, David H. Koch Charitable Foundation, and Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation), Philip M. McKenna Foundation, Inc., Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation, Philip Morris
Altria Group
Altria Group, Inc. is based in Henrico County, Virginia, and is the parent company of Philip Morris USA, John Middleton, Inc., U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, Inc., Philip Morris Capital Corporation, and Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. It is one of the world's largest tobacco corporations...
Companies, Inc., Pfizer
Pfizer
Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...
Inc., Precision Valve Corporation, Prince Foundation, Rodney Fund, Sheldon Rose, Scaife Foundations
Scaife Foundations
The Scaife Foundations refer collectively to four foundations: the Allegheny Foundation, the Carthage Foundation, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, and the Scaife Family Foundation. The organizations are based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.-External links:*...
(Carthage Foundation
Carthage Foundation
The Carthage Foundation is one of the American Scaife Foundations. It is controlled by Richard Mellon Scaife. The foundation does not award grants to individuals. It concentrates its efforts towards causes focused on public policy at a national and international level. From 1985 to 2003 the...
and Sarah Scaife Foundation
Sarah Scaife Foundation
The Sarah Scaife Foundation is one of the American Scaife Foundations. It is controlled by Richard Mellon Scaife. The foundation does not award grants to individuals. It concentrates its efforts towards causes focused on public policy at a national and international level...
), and Texaco
Texaco
Texaco is the name of an American oil retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand....
, Inc. (Texaco Foundation).
Other documents in the LTDL show that CEI has received funding directly from various tobacco companies. For example, the listing on the Philip Morris Glossary of Names: C gives the note "Received public policy grant from Philip Morris (1995); Pro-market public interest group dedicated to advancing the principles of free enterprise and limited government."
ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil
Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil, is an American multinational oil and gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. Its headquarters are in Irving, Texas...
Corporation was a major donor to CEI, with over $2 million in contributions between 1998 and 2005. In 2002 the company gave $405,000; in 2004 it gave CEI $180,000 that was earmarked for "global climate change and global climate change outreach." In 2006, the company announced that it had ended its funding for the group.
Financial Ills
In late 2009, the Competitive Enterprise Institute reported a budget gap of at least $450,000 and the loss of its profitable Center for Risk, Regulation and Markets to the Heartland InstituteHeartland Institute
The Heartland Institute is a libertarian, American public policy think tank based in Chicago, Illinois which advocates free market policies. The Institute is designated as a 501 non-profit by the Internal Revenue Service and advised by a 15 member board of directors, which meets quarterly. As of...
. Shortly thereafter, CEI reported a year-over-year decline in its program spending coupled with a large increase in its fund-raising spending. As a result, the website Charity Navigator
Charity Navigator
Charity Navigator is an independent, non-profit organization that evaluates American charities. Its stated goal is "to advance a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace by evaluating the financial health of America's largest charities."-About:...
cut CEI's four star rating to two stars. CEI also contracted its web presence significantly in the wake of its financial ills leaving sites including controlabuseofpower.org, ethanolfacts.org, and enjoybottledwater.org dormant. In 2010, furthermore, CEI's production of reports and papers dropped significantly. Whereas the think tank had produced 20 studies during the first six months of 2009, it produced only 10 during the first six months of 2010.
External links
- CEI homepage
- CEI Open Market Official blog
- GlobalWarming.org Cooler Heads Coalition homepage
- CEI Studios a CEI project
- Bureaucrash a CEI project
- Bureaucrash TV a CEI project