The Freedom Foundation Hates the Northwest Accountability Project

It’s pretty clear that Freedom Foundation (aka Opt Out Today) staffers and leadership hates the Northwest Accountability Project (NWAP). This was recently made clear when NWAP was the feature of the December edition of their secretive fundraising letter, the ironically named “Living Liberty.” Most people won’t see this newsletter and it’s nowhere to be found on their website, but the NWAP receives a copy every month. This is the publication they don’t want you or union members to read because it’s the publication where they tend to be most honest. It’s the publication they tend to describe their partisan mission or their goal to slash worker’s benefits and pay.

The feature was authored by CEO Tom McCabe and hypocrisy runs rampant in his screed. An obviously inflamed McCabe spends paragraphs trying to rationalize why it’s reasonable for his group to possess the personal information, including birth dates and home addresses, of thousands of public sector workers (like nurses, social workers and educators) and give access to dangerous, right wing activists that have publicly made homophobic, racist and misogynistic comments. One staffer that does “outreach” is a convicted violent felon who joked about bringing a gun to the homes of public sector workers and said he wouldn’t comply with Washington’s voter approved gun laws. Another staffer called for the deportation of all Muslims and mocked survivors of domestic violence. When the NWAP created a public service so public sector union members might know who may show up to their homes or access their personal information, McCabe and the Freedom Foundation got all in a tizzy. They should rename themselves the “Snowflake Foundation.”

We’ll start sharing this material more regularly as interesting articles appear in Living Liberty, especially the humorous fables they cobble together to pull the wool over the eyes of their fringe donors. In the meantime, here’s what the Freedom Foundation had to say about NWAP:

• They call us a “frathouse.” Not sure why it’s important, we just thought it was funny.
• They call us “juvenile.” This is not the first time our staff have been called juvenile in their lifetimes. Trust us.
• They regurgitate the same tired talking points that right-wingers have been spewing about unions for decades. Unions are full of paid protesters, thugs and intimidators, etc. etc. YAWN. YAWN. The Freedom Foundation’s lack of originality in their message and their approach to union busting is part of why they are failing.
• They don’t know who we are or how to reach us? Apparently, they haven’t been to the contact section of our website. Also, our Executive Director’s name featured in one of their videos.

The type of double-speak: what they say publicly and what they say to right-wing donors is yet another reason the Freedom Foundation’s (aka Opt Out Today) has been such an abysmal failure. They are clearly feeling the heat to deliver for their donors and are worried about the NWAP blowing the cover off their entire nefarious organization. 

We wanted to extend a thank you to Tom McCabe for writing this hilarious screed. You can feel his anger towards the NWAP for blowing the top off their propaganda game. It is a wonderful vindication of our work. We mostly laugh at the Freedom Foundation’s blunders, but we also recognize that they irresponsibly share the personal information of our public servants. We’ll continue to monitor and expose all the ways the Freedom Foundation continues to pose threats to the livelihood and safety of working people in the Northwest. And of course, we’ll also look forward to our next feature story in Living Liberty.

Bonus: Their Laura Ingraham event was on September 21, not September 24 like they have printed here. They don’t even know the date of their own event. Sigh…