RepublicEn is a nominally right-leaning environmentalist advocacy organization. The group is a project of the Center for Climate Change Communication (4C) at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.^[1]

Background

RepublicEn was created in 2012 by executive director Bob Inglis, a former U.S. Representative from South Carolina who lost his congressional seat in a 2010 primary election. Inglis has claimed that he lost due to his advocacy for regulations to combat global warming,^[2] stating,  “For many conservatives, it became the marker that you had crossed to Satan’s side—that you had left God and gone to Satan’s side on climate change.”^[3]

Inglis’s alleged political martyrdom has earned him positive coverage by left-wing advocacy media as the “conservative who believes that climate change is real.”^[4]

Environmental Activism

RepublicEn was created to provide a “conservative” solution to climate change. RepublicEn advocates for enacting environmentalist taxes carbon emissions. The organization condemened President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.^[5] The group has also called for import tariffs on countries that don’t already tax carbon dioxide.^[6] One of RepublicEn’s members, Alex Bozmoski, have openly praised U.S. Representative Carolos Curbelo’s (R-Florida) carbon tax bill in interviews.^[7]

Association with Left-Wing Organizations

RepublicEn has ties to the left-wing Citizen’s Climate Lobby (CCL) through Inglis.^[8] The CCL, an organization with ties to a number of other right-leaning carbon tax advocates such as the American Conservation Coalition, has also lobbied Congress for a carbon tax—most notably the Climate Solutions Caucus, a bipartisan House caucus whose members are generally sympathetic to such legislation.^[9] Despite CCL’s claim of bipartisanship, however, its employees overwhelmingly donate to the reelection campaigns of Democratic politicians including U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR).^[10]

CCL is also a member of the U.S. Climate Action Network, a climate change advocacy coalition of left-wing organizations including 350.org, the Center for American Progress, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and Greenpeace.^[11]

People

Bob Inglis, former U.S. Representative for South Carolina’s 4^th congressional district, created RepublicEn and serves as acting executive director. Inglis also sits on the advisory board of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL). The CCL is an organization that promotes a carbon tax scheme and who’s staffers have a history of donating to left-wing causes. Inglis shares his position on the board with George Shultz, former secretary of State; James Hansen, former director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies; Steven Chu, former secretary of Energy; University of Massachusetts-Amherst Professor of Social Justice Barbara Love, and liberal actors Don Cheadle and Bradley Whitford.^[12]

Wen Lee, RepublicEn’s engagement director, is a staffer with a background in left-wing activism who previously worked for a number of left-wing nonprofits, including the Center for a New American Dream and the Alliance for Climate Education which are both funded with millions from organizations like the Tides Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.^[13]

Alex Bozmoski, RepublicEn’s Managing Director, is also a staff member at the Center for Climate Change Communication (4C) at George Mason University.^[14] While 4C is barred from lobbying, Bozmoski has stated in interviews that the group intends to raise grassroots support for carbon tax bills.^[15] Bozmoski stated in an interview that “If we had 100 people in 50 of the right congressional districts phoning their support for climate leadership, I have no doubt that Congressman Curbelo would experience a rush of enthusiasm for his bill and quite possibly for amending his bill.”^[16]

Chelsea Henderson, RepublicEn’s director of editorial content, is a proponent of a Republican Party-supported carbon tax, stating in an interview that it is “the preferred compliance mechanism of conservatives and economists . . . for solving climate change.”^[17]

Funding

RepublicEn is sponsored by Center for Climate Change Communications (4C), a part of George Mason University. 4C has received millions of dollars in grants from left-wing funders including the Energy Foundation,^[18] Skoll Global Threats Fund,^[19] and the Sea Change Foundation.^[20].