Non-profit

Progressive States Network (PSN)

Website:

stateinnovation.org

Location:

DENVER, CO

Tax ID:

20-2912052

Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Budget (2013):

Revenue: $556,322
Expenses: $1,041,445
Assets: $85,010

Formation:

2005

Dissolution:

2014

Founders:

Joel Barkin

David Sirota

Steve Doherty

Formerly:

Progressive Legislative Action Network

Succeeded By:

State Innovation Exchange (SIX)

SIX Action

Contact InfluenceWatch with suggested edits or tips for additional profiles.

Also see successor groups: State Innovation Exchange, SIX Action (Non-profits)

The Progressive States Network (PSN) was a left-of-center organization, which included electoral groups, business associations, educational institutions, and advocacy organizations.1 It aimed “to transform the political landscape by supporting state legislators” and providing “strategic support in defeating rightwing movements.”2 PSN’s founders modeled it after the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), despite the criticism of many on the left of ALEC’s funding methods and political operations.3 PSN merged in 2015 with the American Legislative Issue Campaign Exchange (ALICE) and the Center for State Innovation (CSI) to form the State Innovation Exchange (SIX).

SIX sought to capitalize on its ties to the deep-pocketed, left-wing donor group Democracy Alliance and the support of then-President Barack Obama and other prominent Democratic politicians. Many of its founders and board members have ties to the Alliance, George Soros‘s Open Society Foundations (OSF), Moveon.org, True Majority, and other prominent left-of-center groups.

The organization dissolved in 2014, and as of 2023 it remains defunct.

Background

PSN, formerly The Progressive Legislative Action Network (PLAN), grew out of frustration of many on the left toward Republican victories in the early 2000s. President George W. Bush’s reelection in 2004 exacerbated these frustrations, leading many left-of-center donors to reorient their donations away from the Democratic Party and toward left-of-center nonprofits.4 In 2005, Joel Barkin, veteran Democratic political operative David Sirota, and then-Montana State Senate Democratic Leader Steve Doherty created PLAN to be a progressive response to ALEC.5 Barkin previously served as Communications Director and Senior Adviser to self-described socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont).6

Sirota had served as a fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP), itself an imitation of a conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation.7 Sirota had also served as spokesman and press secretary for Sanders when Sanders served in the House of Representatives. Sirota expressed the need for liberals “to stop focusing exclusively on Congress and view state legislative arenas as a key battleground in building public support for a movement agenda.”8 Doherty gave the following as the motivation for his organizing PSN:

The realization that we were getting beat … and we didn’t have an effective tool to press our own agenda. We were just damn tired of getting kicked around.9

PSN planned to “offer a war room of policy specialists” to left-of-center state legislators.10

The group was officially declared defunct in 2014, and as of 2023 the organization remains inactive.

Left-Wing Allies and Projects

Several left-wing activist organizations and labor unions co-sponsored PLAN’s kickoff conference in August 2005. They included MoveOn.org, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), United Steelworkers, and liberal philanthropists Andy and Deborah Rappaport.11

The Seattle conference featured then-Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer (D), who touted his state’s expanded smoking ban; the 2004 Democratic Vice-Presidential Nominee, former U.S. Senator John Edwards (D-N.C.); CAP founder John Podesta, a close advisor of former President Bill Clinton who would later serve in the Obama White House and as Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign chair; and leftist law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Joel Rogers.12 Rogers founded the left-wing unifying group Apollo Alliance (now the BlueGreen Alliance), and, with controversial Obama White House aide Van Jones, co-founded Green for All (GFA).13

In Montana, where Doherty served as Senate minority leader, groups who formed part of the PSN coalition helped defeat a referendum that would have allowed the government to return tax dollars to taxpayers if the state ran a surplus.14

In 2007, PSN collaborated with MoveOn.org, True Majority, and the Women Legislators’ Lobby to ask citizens across the country to contact their representatives in Congress to express opposition to troop escalation in Iraq.15

In 2009, PSN created State Legislators for Progressive Healthcare Reform. Over 1,000 state legislators signed a letter urging President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress to pass healthcare reform that would include a government-controlled “public option” and expand Medicaid.16

In contrast to prominent left-of-center activists and organizations who focus almost exclusively on Washington, D.C., PSN focused on putting as many people as possible under left-wing government at the state level. PSN co-chair Garnet Coleman noted in a 2009 interview: “We all know if you want to run a national agenda—if you get it done in four states—you basically have a majority of the country.” Coleman emphasized that if Texas, California, Illinois, and New York pass the same policy, the majority of Americans would live under that policy.17

People

PSN’s board members included John Podesta; David Brock, a liberal political consultant with close ties to the Clinton family who was serving as president and CEO of Media Matters for America; and Wes Boyd, president and co-founder of MoveOn.org.18

Funding

PSN received early funding from the Rappaports’ New Progressive Coalition, a scheme for small, leftist donors, which Fred Lucas described as “a way to invest in ‘political mutual funds.’”19 In 2009, the Open Society Foundations issued a two-year grant to PSN of $300,000 “for its work to provide non-partisan support to state legislators” in public policy research and to link legislators and activists across state lines.”20

PSN’s funding, however, failed to gain the momentum that its founders had hoped. In 2013, its best fundraising year, it received $1.3 million.21 After the 2010 midterm elections, Republican-controlled legislatures outnumbered Democratic-controlled legislatures by more than two to one.22

References

  1. Ness, Eric C. “Ideological Think Tanks in the States: An Inventory of Their Prevalence, Networks, and Higher Education Policy Activity.Education Policy 28.2. (2014): 258-280.
  2. Payne, Erica. The Practical Progressive: How to Build a Twenty-first Century Political Movement. New York: Public Affairs, 2008.
  3. Vogel, Keneth P. “Democrats create an ALEC-killer,” Politico. November 9, 2014, accessed March 27, 2018. https://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/democrats-create-an-alec-killer-112733_full.html

  4. Lucas, Fred. “New Progressive Coalition: A New Way to Help Small (Leftist) Donors.” Capital Research Center. March 1, 2009. Accessed March 30, 2018. https://capitalresearch.org/article/new-progressive-coalition-a-new-way-to-help-small-leftist-donors/
  5. Singer, Matt. “Man with the PLAN.” In These Times. July 15, 2005. Accessed March 30, 2018. http://inthesetimes.com/article/2253
  6. Joel Barkin. The Roffe Group P.C. Accessed March 30, 2018. http://roffegroup.com/our-people/joel-barkin/
  7. Center for American Progress. Influence Watch. Accessed March 30, 2018. https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/center-for-american-progress-cap/.
  8. Sirota, David. “ABC News: Progressive States Network “Positively Grover Norquistian” In Its Successful Iraq Campaign.” The Huffington Post. Frebruary 17, 2007. Accessed March 27, 2018. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/abc-news-progressive-stat_b_41481.html
  9. Lenderman, Garrett. “Progressive States Network Active in Montana,” mediatrackers. March 26, 2013. Accessed March 30, 2018. http://mediatrackers.org/2013/03/26/progressive-states-network-active-in-montana/
  10. “Recap of the PLAN Kickoff: Today was a very busy, but also an exciting, day.”  The Cascadia Advocate. August 16, 2005. Accessed March 26, 2018. https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2005/08/recap-of-plan-kickoff.html
  11. Doherty, Steve. Sirota, Davis. Press Release: “Moveon, SEIU, Steelworkers Join PLAN in Seattle.” Progressivestates.blogspot.com. July 15, 2005. Accessed March 30, 2018. http://progressivestates.blogspot.com/
  12. “Recap of the PLAN Kickoff.” The Cascadia Advocate. August 16, 2005. Accessed March 28, 2018. https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2005/08/recap-of-plan-kickoff.html.
  13. Hanen, Jonathan. “The Surdna Foundation Meets Saul Alinsky: Community organizing in the era of Obama.” Capital Research Center. January 6, 2014. Accessed March 30, 2018. https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-surdna-foundation-meets-saul-alinsky-community-organizing-in-the-era-of-obama/.
  14. Lenderman, Garrett. “Progressive States Network Active in Montana,” mediatrackers. March 26, 2013. Accessed March 30, 2018. http://mediatrackers.org/2013/03/26/progressive-states-network-active-in-montana/.
  15. [1] Sirota, David. “The Anti-Escalation Campaign.” The Huffington Post. September 3, 2007. Accessed on March 28, 2018. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-antiescalation-campai_b_43053
  16. Evans, Desiree. “Southern state lawmakers join call for health care reform.” Facing South: The Online Magazine for the Institute for Southern Studies. October 8, 2009. Accessed March 30, 2018. https://www.facingsouth.org/2009/10/southern-state-lawmakers-join-call-for-health-care-reform.html
  17. Progressive States Network. “Interview with Rep. Garnet Coleman (TX).” Vimeo. 2009. Accessed March 30, 2018. https://vimeo.com/3277707
  18. Progressive States Network. Discover the Networks. Accessed March 30, 2018. http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/printgroupProfile.asp?grpid=7339
  19. Lucas, Fred. “New Progressive Coalition: A New Way to Help Small (Leftist) Donors.” Capital Research Center. March 1, 2009. Accessed March 30, 2018. https://capitalresearch.org/article/new-progressive-coalition-a-new-way-to-help-small-leftist-donors/
  20. U.S. Programs, Progressive States Network. Open Society Foundations. Accessed March 30, 2018. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/about/programs/us-programs/grantees/progressive-states-network.
  21. Vogel, Keneth P. “Democrats create an ALEC-killer,” Politico. November 9, 2014, accessed March 27, 2018. https://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/democrats-create-an-alec-killer-112733_full.html
  22. Nelson, Libby. “Republicans now have historic majorities in state legislatures. That’s a really big deal.” Vox. November 6, 2014. Accessed March 30, 2018. https://www.vox.com/2014/11/6/7164287/midterm-elections-2014-state-legislatures-governors-party-control

Directors, Employees & Supporters

  1. David Sirota
    Co-Founder
  2. Joel Rogers
    Co-Founder
  3. John Podesta
    Board Member
  4. David Brock
    Board Member
  5. Andy Rappaport
    Initial Funders
  See an error? Let us know!

Nonprofit Information


Available Filings

Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
2013 Dec Form 990 $556,322 $1,041,445 $85,010 $100,064 N $550,296 $0 $57 $79,034 PDF
2012 Dec Form 990 $343,505 $1,276,137 $568,005 $97,936 N $341,990 $0 $111 $129,830 PDF
2011 Dec Form 990 $1,374,115 $1,228,019 $1,486,635 $83,934 N $1,368,354 $0 $123 $93,161 PDF
2010 Dec Form 990 $407,212 $1,124,866 $1,380,813 $124,208 N $403,378 $0 $3,072 $148,970 PDF

Additional Filings (PDFs)

Progressive States Network (PSN)

450 E 17TH AVE UNIT 310
DENVER, CO 80203