Everyone in the blogosphere knows that the mainstream and even the alternative press ain't what it used to be. There is little investigative reporting, and even beat reporting on the affairs of government and other major institutions goes sadly lacking.
Many of us have taken to the blogosphere to try to reinvent the free press in America, as well as a more authenthically democratic and participatory political system and government.
Moving past the sermonette, this is a story about a story. Its one of those stories that might never have been told -- until a blogger (who is also a fine journalist) recognized it; did her homework and told the story this weekend in a way we could all understand.
Jeff Sharlet, editor of The Revealer, a blog affiliated with the NYU school of journalism writes:
A high-ranking cabinet official in charge of $47 billion in funds decides to toss a million bucks to an organization he started in his kitchen. Said organization espouses radically controversial views disputed by many scientists. Sound like a story? It's not. At least, not in the press. Assistant Secretary of Health Wade Horn has been on the radar of religious right watchers for years now, but he just doesn't register with the press despite views on fatherhood and child-rearing -- which, as Assistant Secretary of Children and Families, he has some influence on -- that are controversial by any definition, and inappropriate for a government official by most. To wit: a proposal to limit Head Start programs to the children of married couples, and his assertion that wives should "submit" to their husbands.
Why is Wade Horn invisible to the press? Is it because the media is part of a vast right-wing conspiracy? Is it because reporters hate women and queers? Not likely. Rather, it has more to do with a decades-long decline in press coverage of the federal government's middle managers, who oftentimes have more influence over our everyday lives than the boldface names. Such stories don't sell papers, but they do serve the public interest.
The story he neatly summarized was written by my Talk to Action colleague, CynCooper:
Wade Horn has been very kind to Religious Right organizations, including the one that he founded in 1994 with Religious Right money -- the National Fatherhood Initiative in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Appointed by President Bush as Assistant Secretary for Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services, Horn oversees an annual budget of 47 billion dollars. Horn has shown that he knows all about the hand that feeds, and now, he has taken care to feed the National Fatherhood Initiative with a "Capacities Building" grant in the amount of $999,534 from a program he started in his agency and called by the familiar-ringing name of the "Responsible Fatherhood Initiative."
As Peggy Lee used to sing, 'Nice work, if you can get it -- and if you get it, tell me how.'
She continues:
Serving as a go-to guy for the Religious Right has cemented Horn's career. The National Fatherhood Initiative, was born and bred to spout "traditional values." It was founded in 1994 with $40,000 from the ultra-right Scaife Family Foundation, according to Media Transparency.org. Its original name -- the National Organization of Fathers -- was meant to serve as a male-fronted counter to the National Organization for Women (since NOW and feminists are evil, in their view), just as the Independent Women's Forum, with which Horn was also involved, was to serve as female-fronted counter, both groups parading "traditional values" in sneaky costumes for the Religious Right.
Most of society's problems, according to a 1997 interview of Horn, are caused by feminists.
You can well imagine the quote from Horn that follows.
I recommend the whole story for anyone who wants to get a hair-raising glimpse into how the old fashioned political spoils system, wrapped in the fuzzy math of the "faith-based initiative," is at work in building the infrastructure of the religious right in America with federal funds.
As Sharlet concludes:
...somebody needs to pick up Cooper's ledes and bring to bear the investigative resources of a major news institution.
Update [2007-3-5 0:40:28 by Frederick Clarkson]: Oh yeah. And if you check out her, tip jar comment, you will find links to some of Horn's grant lists for 2006.
Update [2007-3-5 12:17:51 by Frederick Clarkson]: Action suggestion: If there are any local groups on the list of grantees -- see who they are and what they are up to. Become the local expert on this stuff. Some groups may be doing good things. Others, may be as extreme as you suspect or perhaps cross obvious church/state boundaries in what they do with federal funds. We are the oversight we seek. (And belated cookies to Pastordan -- this was his good idea. )