On Tuesday, David Strom at Hot Air posted an article about the ways that some millionaires use their wealth to influence government policies in various levels of government.

The article notes:

One such program, funded by billionaire Michael Bloomberg, placed and paid the salaries of “government employees” strategically inserted into Attorney General offices in Blue states, funding regulations and lawsuits aimed at targets that Bloomberg’s NYU-based NGO program identified as vulnerable to its pressure. The goal was, of course, fighting climate change.

The article includes a picture of an X post citing an article from The Washington Free Beacon:

“A group housed at the New York University School of Law and backed by billionaire climate activist Michael Bloomberg quietly closed its doors in late August amid congressional scrutiny into its funding and operations. The so-called State Energy and Environmental Impact Center’s signature initiative involved placing paid, climate-focused “fellows” in Democrat-controlled state attorney general offices nationwide as those offices sued the oil industry and other energy providers.”

…Think of it as a cousin to “Zuckerbucks,” where a private entity funds a program that places people in government offices as either quasi- or fully government employees, with a mandate to pursue the NGO’s agenda. The same sort of thing happens with grants to news organizations, where an outside group pays for employees or “coverage” of specific issues, and the stories are still technically the product of the news organization, but the content is directed at producing the results desired by the people who cut the checks.

…James Comer opened an investigation into the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center, and out of the blue, it closed. He sought documents from it, and “poof!” It’s gone.

As these organizations are being investigated, they magically disappear.

The article concludes:

The system goes like this:

• Private money pays for an official function voters did not appropriate.
• The host office gets free (or cheap) labor and a national network.
• The donor gets a docket — climate litigation, election administration, progressive prosecution — that would be harder to pass as statute.

Democrats always criticize Republicans when we talk about privatizing some government function to improve efficiency. Their preferred strategy is to privatize government by paying for people to do their bidding using the compulsory powers of government to achieve their own ends. 

I assume that the concept is legal, since it has been happening for a while. But I also assume that much of the stuff that we never see and that gets buried in internal documents in the NGOs is sketchy or illegal, which is why the NYU center suddenly closed down with no notice. 

Next time you hear a liberal talk about “preserving democracy,” this is what they really mean. A government that can be bought for the right price. 

Please follow the link to read the entire article.