Washington Public Interest Research Group (WashPIRG) Foundation is the policy research arm of the Washington Public Interest Research Group. It is the Washington state affiliate of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (US-PIRG) Education Fund, a national left-progressive policy advocacy coalition within the Public Interest Network of left-of-center advocacy groups.

Reports

WashPIRG has published several reports analyzing public consumer habits and how vendors or local governments are failing to properly vet the products being sold or enact proper policies regulating manufacturer-consumer relations.

In 2019, WashPIRG Foundation published a report entitled “Following the Money 2019: How the 50 States Rank on Online Economic Development Subsidy Transparency” intending to expose the spending details of each state in America. The report categorizes different budgetary purposes, such as economic subsidy data and economic development spending data, and grades the states based on the state’s transparency about this information and the accessibility states give for citizen review. ¹

Leadership

Faye Park is the president of WashPIRG and the executive vice president and chief of staff for the Public Interest Network (PIN). Prior to her current position, Park was the treasurer for the Public Interest PAC, a campus organizer for the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) and Chairman of the left-leaning Environment California. ²

Ed Mierzwinski is the senior director for the Federal Consumer Program at WashPIRG. Mierzwinksi has been in leadership with numerous PIRG chapters including Arizona, Connecticut, and the National Center for the Public Interest. In addition to his current responsibilities, Mierzwinksi is a contributor to the left-leaning media outlet Huffington Post and is a member of the board of directors for Consumer Reports, Consumer Federation of America, and Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) and chairs its Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Task Force. Mierzwinski earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Connecticut. ^{3 4}

Mike Litt has been the consumer campaign director for WashPIRG since 2017. Prior to his current position Litt was a consumer advocate for US-PIRG and field director for the Clean Energy Project (CEP) out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He earned a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from the University of Texas in 2005. ⁵

Wendy Wendlandt is the senior vice president and political director of the Public Interest Network. Wendlandt began her career with PIN as a campaigner with WashPIRG. She also works with Environment America, having been the acting president, and holds a bachelor’s degree from Whitman College. ⁶

1. Cross, R.J., Linus Lu, and Andre Delattre. “Following the Money 2019: How the 50 States Rank on Online Economic Development Subsidy Transparency .” Washington PIRG Foundation, December 2019. https://washpirgfoundation.org/sites/pirg/files/reports/WAP FtM Report Dec19-web.pdf.
2. “Faye Park.” Faye Park | U.S. PIRG. Accessed May 4, 2020. https://uspirg.org/staff/usp/faye-park.
3. “Ed Mierzwinski.” HuffPost. Accessed May 4, 2020. https://www.huffpost.com/author/ed-mierzwinski.
4. “Edmund Mierzwinski.” Consumer Reports. Accessed May 4, 2020. https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/about-us/our-people/our-board/edmund-mierzwinski/index.htm.
5. “Mike Litt.” Congress.gov, March 26, 2019. https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/109175/witnesses/HHRG-116-GO05-Bio-LittM-20190326.pdf.
6. “Wendy Wendlandt.” Wendy Wendlandt | Environment North Carolina. Accessed May 4, 2020. https://environmentnorthcarolina.org/staff/ame/wendy-wendlandt.