Karen Paget is a former Open Society Foundations fellow, author, and contributor to The American Prospect, a left-of-center publication that advocates for expanding the size of the federal government and increased welfare spending. ¹

Open Society Foundations

Fellowship

Karen Paget received a fellowship with the Open Society Foundations in 1998. The Open Society Foundations is a private grantmaking foundation created and funded by billionaire financier and liberal philanthropist George Soros. ^{2 3} Paget’s fellowship provided her with funding to author a book that depicted domestic Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) activities to quell communist viewpoints and tendencies among students in a negative light. The book, which Paget started to write the same year as her fellowship, was published in 2015 and titled Patriotic Betrayal: The Inside Story of the CIA’s Secret Campaign to Enroll American Students in the Crusade Against Communism. ⁴

Paget’s work, referred to by critics as a “thoroughgoing but occasionally convoluted narrative,” ⁵ criticizes attempts by the CIA during the 1950s and 1960s to shift the National Student Association, a national high school student-led activism organization, away from communist ideology and closer to an organization devoted to “train[ing] a new generation of leaders, hopefully wedded to FDR’s New Deal policies and yet firmly anti-communist.” ⁶

Criticism of Money in Politics

In 2001, while receiving support as a fellow from the Open Society Foundations, Paget authored a highly circulated article criticizing money in politics and free speech activity, when used by conservatives. ⁷ The article, written over twenty years ago, lamented the lack of organizational structure within the left-of-center non-profit movement, and called for increased lobbying of government by left-of-center organizations and for federal funds to support the activities of such organizations. ⁸

Political Contributions

Since 2004, Karen Paget has made political contributions to Democratic Party candidates, political action committees (PACs), and left-of-center organizations. ⁹

In 2020, Paget contributed $1,000 to the Joe Biden presidential campaign and $490 to ActBlue, a Democratic Party-aligned PAC, referred to as the “online clearing house for Democratic action.” ¹⁰ The same year, Paget donated $500 to Emily’s List, a PAC that has devoted millions of dollars to electing Democratic Party legislatures that support taxpayer-funded abortion, the organization claims to have helped elect 26 pro-abortion Senators and 150 pro-abortion Representatives. ¹¹

1. “About” The American Prospect. https://prospect.org/about
2. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Open Society Institute (Foundations). Part I. Lines 12, 25, 26, 31. Available: https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2020/03/OSF-2018-Form-990.pdf
3. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990-PF). Open Society Institute (Foundations). Part I. Lines 12, 25, 26, 31. Available: https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2020/03/OSF-2018-Form-990.pdf
4. “Karen Paget” Bay Area Book Festival. https://www.baybookfest.org/speaker/karen-paget/
5. “Karen Paget” Bay Area Book Festival. https://www.baybookfest.org/speaker/karen-paget/
6. “An uneven but useful chronicle of a far-fetched history whose woeful truth is only now emerging.” Kirkus Reviews. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/karen-m-paget/patriotic-betrayal/
7. “State of the Debate: Lessons of Right-Wing Philanthropy” The American Prospect. December 19, 2001. Accessed December 28, 2021. https://prospect.org/power/state-debate-lessons-right-wing-philanthropy/
8. “State of the Debate: Lessons of Right-Wing Philanthropy” The American Prospect. December 19, 2001. Accessed December 28, 2021. https://prospect.org/power/state-debate-lessons-right-wing-philanthropy/
9. “Karen Paget” Federal Election Commission. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=karen%20m%20paget
10. “Where’s the Money?” The Harvard Crimson. Accessed April 24, 2018. Accessed December 28, 2021. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2008/4/30/wheres-the-money-p-alignleftthe-office.
11. “Ellen R. Malcolm” Emily’s List. https://www.emilyslist.org/bios/entry/ellen-malcolm