My name is Chris Bowers. I write for www.MyDD.com, and I live in Philadelphia (PA-02, Chaka Fattah, to be precise). I want you to know how concerned I am about an upcoming event that all Senate and House Democratic Chiefs of Staff have been invited to attend: the 2005 Chief of Staff Retreat hosted by the Mercatus Center to be held February 4-5 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Philadelphia, PA. I am writing this to urge you to not attend this event.

It is important that you realize who funds the Mercatus Center. Since 1985, the Mercatus Center has received 513 grants totaling $45,347,884. Their top donors have been as follows:

• Koch Family (Includes Claude Lambe Foundation): $24,258,797
• Olin Foundation: $7,530,824
  
• Scaife Family (includes Carthage Foundation): $5,031,000
  
• Bradley Foundation: $2,5544,050
  
• Barre Seid: $2,212,000
  
• Earhart Foundation: $996,348
  
• McKenna: $265,000
  
• Jacquelin Hume Foundation: $260,000
  
• Smith Richardson: $254,315
  
• The Walton Family (Wal-Mart): $120,000
  
• JM Foundation: $85,000
  
• Castle Rock Foundation (Coors Family): $75,000

Nine of these twelve are the top nine donors to the conservative think tank apparatus. The other three are "conservative angel" Barre Seid, big-time conservative donor Jacquelin Hume, and the Walton family of Wal-Mart infamy. Together, these twelve sources of funding make up over 95% of the Mercatus Center's funding since it was founded in 1985. Several of the smaller donors not listed here are also uber-conservative "angels."

Quite frankly, I believe that attending this retreat would be tantamount to your boss becoming a member of the Fainthearted Faction. If you need an explanation of this term, please click here. Believe me when I tell you that this is not a label you want to give to your boss.

I believe that it is absolutely essential that not a single Democratic Chief of Staff attend this retreat. If you have already reserved a place, cancel it. Under no circumstances should Democrats be associating with, and buttered up by, conservative influence peddlers such as the Mercatus Center. This is especially true at a time when we have become an opposition party and the President is gearing up a campaign to destroy Social Security. We are never going to take our country back if our main influences are the Koch family, the Olin foundation, and the Scaife family.

If you are not attending this retreat, please tell your colleagues why and urge them to do likewise.

In solidarity,
Chris Bowers
Christopher_j_bowers@yahoo.com

P.S.: I urge anyone who reads this to contact the chief of staff of your local Democratic congressman and/or Senator and urge them not to attend. Also, I have already contacted Harry Reid's chief of staff, and it went very well. There is no need to contact him further.