Editing Citizens for a Sound Economy

{{Short description|Conservative and libertarian think tank (1984–2004)}}
{{use mdy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{infobox organization
|name         = Citizens for a Sound Economy
|image        = Cse main logo2.gif
|image_border =
|size         =
|caption      =
|map          =
|msize        =
|mcaption     =
|abbreviation = CSE
|publisher    =
|successor    = {{unbulleted list|[[FreedomWorks]]|[[Americans For Prosperity]]}}
|formation    = 1984
|dissolved    = 2004
|type         =
|status       = [[501(c)(4)]]
|headquarters = [[Washington, D.C.]]
|location     =
|region_served =
|membership   = 
|language     =
|leader_title = Founders
|leader_name  = [[Charles Koch]] and [[David Koch]]
|leader_title2 = Chairman
|leader_name2  = [[Ron Paul]] (first)<br/>[[Dick Armey]] (last)
|main_organ    =
|parent_organization = 
|affiliations = [[Koch family foundations]]
|num_staff    =
|num_volunteers = 
|website      = 
}}

'''Citizens for a Sound Economy''' ('''CSE''') (1984–2004) was a [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] [[politics|political]] group operating in the [[United States]]. It was established in 1984 by [[Charles Koch|Charles]] and [[David Koch]] of [[Koch Industries]]. [[Ron Paul]] was appointed as the first chairman of the organization.

In 2002, the CSE designed its [[tea party movement]] website, though the movement did not take off until 2009.<ref name="tobaccocontrol.bmj.com">{{cite journal |title='To quarterback behind the scenes, third-party efforts': the tobacco industry and the Tea Party |first1=Amanda |last1=Fallin |first2=Rachel |last2=Grana |first3=Stanton A. |last3=Glantz |url= |journal=[[Tobacco Control (journal)|Tobacco Control]] |date=February 8, 2013 |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=322–331 |doi=10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815 |pmid=23396417 |pmc=3740007 }}</ref> In 2003, [[Dick Armey]] became the chairman of CSE after retiring from Congress.<ref name="armey">{{cite web|url=http://www.freedomworks.org/press-releases/dick-armey-to-lead-citizens-for-a-sound-economy |title=Dick Armey to lead Citizens for a Sound Economy |date=January 8, 2003 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090308214530/http://www.freedomworks.org/press-releases/dick-armey-to-lead-citizens-for-a-sound-economy |archivedate=March 8, 2009 }}</ref> In 2004, Citizens for a Sound Economy split into two new organizations, with Citizens for a Sound Economy being renamed as [[FreedomWorks]], and Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation becoming [[Americans for Prosperity]]. Both organizations played key roles in the Tea party movement beginning in 2009.

==History==
[[File:1523 16th Street, N.W..JPG|thumb|upright|CSE's former headquarters in [[Washington, D.C.]]]]
Between 1986 and 1990, the [[Koch family foundations]] the [[Koch family foundations#Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation|Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation]], the [[Koch family foundations#David H. Koch Charitable Foundation|David H. Koch Charitable Foundation]], and the [[Koch family foundations#Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation|Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation]] granted a combined $4.8 million to the CSE.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Elite Consensus |first=George |last=Draffan |year=2003 |publisher=Apex |isbn=1-891843-14-1 |page=66}}</ref>

The CSE was one of several organizations that was connected with non-profit organizations that the tobacco industry and other corporate interests worked with and provided funding for after the 1971 [[Powell Memorandum]].<ref name="tobaccocontrol.bmj.com"/><ref name="Brendan DeMelle 2013">{{cite news |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brendan-demelle/study-confirms-tea-party-_b_2663125.html |title=Study Confirms Tea Party Was Created by Big Tobacco and Billionaire Koch Brothers |first=Brendan |last=DeMelle |publisher=[[Huffington Post]] |date=February 11, 2013 |accessdate=March 25, 2015}}</ref> The CSE was mainly funded by the tobacco, oil, energy and sugar industries, including [[Philip Morris USA|Phillip Morris]], [[General Electric]], and [[Exxon]]. Other contributors included [[Microsoft]] and [[Hertz]]. The CSE "received almost $5 million from various Koch foundations between 1986 and 1990, and David Koch and several Koch Industries employees serve[d] as directors of CSE and the CSE Foundation."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bogardus |first1=Kevin |title=Koch's low profile belies political power |date=July 15, 2004 |url=https://publicintegrity.org/environment/kochs-low-profile-belies-political-power/ |access-date=29 April 2022}}</ref>

CSE briefly assumed control of the financially troubled [[Tax Foundation]] and operated it as a subsidiary from CSE's offices until the split in 2000. Beginning in 1990, the Tax Foundation "operate[d] as a separate unit" of Citizens for a Sound Economy.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.taxfoundation.org/sites/taxfoundation.org/files/docs/e5e6abba4dc59512941d0b0e22fb2b85.pdf |title=Tax Features |volume=34 |number=1 |publisher=Tax Foundation |date=January 1990 |accessdate=September 8, 2014}}</ref> By July 1991, the Tax Foundation was again operating as "an independent 501(c)(3) organization".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://taxfoundation.org/sites/taxfoundation.org/files/docs/72bbfeab670a2f70339618c556b54d81.pdf |title=Tax Features |volume=35 |number=6 |publisher=Tax Foundation |date=July 1991 |accessdate=September 8, 2014}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite news| url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73903899.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Oct+9%2C+1989&author=Albert+B.+Crenshaw&desc=Research+Group+Buys+Troubled+Tax+Foundation | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105123844/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73903899.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Oct+9,+1989&author=Albert+B.+Crenshaw&desc=Research+Group+Buys+Troubled+Tax+Foundation | url-status=dead | archive-date=November 5, 2012 | first=Albert B. | last=Crenshaw | title=Research Group Buys Troubled Tax Foundation |website=Pqash.pqarchiver.com| date=October 9, 1989}}</ref>

[[OpenSecrets]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgave2.php?cmte=C00353227&cycle=2000 | title=Citizens for a Sound Economy Contributors, 2000 cycle | publisher=[[OpenSecrets]]}}</ref>  has no contributions listed to CSE after 2000,  when it received a total of  about $35,000, and zero contributions in 1998.

In 2002, CSE designed and made public a "tea party" website. The website stated "our US Tea Party is a national event, hosted continuously online and open to all Americans who feel our taxes are too high and the tax code is too complicated".<ref name="tobaccocontrol.bmj.com"/> In 2003, [[Dick Armey]] became the chairman of CSE after retiring from Congress.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1041986931689098504|title=Citizen Armey|first=Dick|last=Armey|date=8 January 2003|website=Wsj.com|accessdate=29 July 2017}}</ref>

In 2004, Citizens for a Sound Economy split into [[FreedomWorks]] and [[Americans for Prosperity]], according to the British newspaper ''[[The Guardian]]''.<ref name=guardian20090918>{{cite news |first=Ed |last=Pilkington |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/18/republicans-internet-barack-obama |title=Republicans steal Barack Obama's internet campaigning tricks |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=September 18, 2009 |accessdate=April 5, 2015}}</ref> Dick Armey stayed as chairman of FreedomWorks, while David Koch stayed as chairman of Americans for Prosperity.{{citation needed|date=March 2015}}

On July 23, 2006, ''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported on the organization's tactics in signing up as members people who did not know about the organization, by enrolling them as members during unrelated insurance transactions in order to boost membership numbers.  The group obtained about $638,000 and 16,000 members through the sale of insurance policies in this way, according to the report.<ref name=WithInsurance/> When someone signed up for insurance through "Medical Savings Insurance Company", they were also automatically signed up for Citizens for a Sound Economy without their knowledge, the report asserted. Their information is subject to be rented out as the Medical Savings Insurance Company deemed fit, which is not uncommon for many groups who obtain client contact information. Critics suggested the effort as a way for this group to inflate their membership rosters, and more exactly, by taking dues from people with no interest in the groups' politics.<ref name=WithInsurance>{{cite news
|title=With Insurance Policy Comes Membership
|first=Jonathan
|last=Weisman
|newspaper=Washington Post
|date=July 23, 2006
|page=A05
|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/22/AR2006072200683.html
|accessdate=2007-05-15}}</ref>

==Activity==
The group produced more than 100 policy papers each year in its run, delivering them to many congressional offices, sending out thousands of pieces of mail, and getting coverage of its viewpoints in thousands of news articles around the [[United States]]. The group's representatives appeared on hundreds of radio and television shows and published hundreds op-ed articles arguing that "environmental conservation requires a commonsense approach that limits the scope of government," [[acid rain]] is a "so-called threat [that] is largely nonexistent," and global warming is "a verdict in search of evidence."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Liu |first1=Xin |title=Inaugural-Dissertation |url=https://www.thecre.com/pdf/20110919_Liu_Xin.pdf |publisher=The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |access-date=29 April 2022}}</ref>

According to the conservative magazine [[Weekly Standard]], CSE's greatest political success came in 1993 when it opposed [[Bill Clinton]]'s proposal for a BTU energy tax.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/paranoid-style-liberal-politics_555525.html?page=2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110411062913/http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/paranoid-style-liberal-politics_555525.html?page=2|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 11, 2011|title=The Paranoid Style in Liberal Politics|date=4 April 2011|website=Weeklystandard.com|accessdate=29 July 2017}}</ref> In addition to fighting tobacco taxes and healthcare reform, the CSE was a member organization of the [[Cooler Heads Coalition]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cei.org/news-letters-cooler-heads-digest/cooler-heads-0|title=Cooler Heads|publisher=[[Competitive Enterprise Institute]]|date=December 7, 2004|first=Myron|last=Ebell|authorlink=Myron Ebell}}</ref>

During the [[2004 United States presidential election|2004 presidential election]] campaign, [[CNN]] reported that Oregon Citizens for a Sound Economy were urging [[George W. Bush]] supporters to help get [[Ralph Nader]] on the ballot in [[Oregon]].<ref>{{cite news
  | title = Group: Bush allies illegally helping Nader in Oregon
  | publisher = CNN
  | date = 2004-07-01
  | url = http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/30/bush.nader/index.html
  | accessdate = 2009-09-15 }}
</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00353227&cycle=2002 Financial profile] at [[OpenSecrets]]

{{Koch family}}
{{Ron Paul}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Citizens For A Sound Economy}}
[[Category:Koch network]]
[[Category:Political organizations based in the United States]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1984]]
[[Category:Conservative organizations in the United States]]