Lee Fang is an investigative researcher and blogger.[1] He writes for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org.
Background
Lee's hometown is in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Lee attended college at the University of Maryland, College Park and graduated with a B.A. in Government and Politics.[2]
Media and Political Experience
Lee was an intern with ThinkProgress and also a researcher for Progressive Accountability. During his undergraduate years, Lee also interned for Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH), Media Matters, and Westin Rinehart.[2]
Political Coverage
Lee Fang revealed that presidential candidate Rick Santorum's campaign slogan, "Fighting to Make America America Again." The slogan, according to Fang, comes from a poem by Langston Hughes. Fang found it ironic that Hughes, who was a gay poet, was used by an anti-gay politician like Santorum.[3]
In August 2011, Fang broke a story claiming that Peter Haller (formerly Simonyi), a Goldman Sachs VP, had changed his name and worked as an aide to Congressman Darrell Issa to create rules that would stop regulating Goldman Sachs.[4]
Criticism of Fang's Reporting
On October 5, 2010, Fang wrote a story on ThinkProgress.Org stating that the United States Chamber of Commerce funded attack campaigns from its general fund which solicits foreign funding. The article, after consulting with unnamed legal experts, cited that the chamber is "likely skirting longstanding campaign finance law that bans the involvement of foreign corporations in American elections."[5]
Fang's article immediately attracted media attention. A day after its publication, the New York Times published an editorial that raised concerns about whether or not campaign finance laws were being violated with the "commingling of secret foreign money" into the United States Chamber of Commerce.[6]
On October 7, 2010, President Obama said in a speech that "Just this week, we learned that one of the largest groups paying for these ads regularly takes in money from foreign corporations... so groups that receive foreign money are spending huge sums to influence American elections.”[7]
After a previous report criticizing the Fang article,[8] FactCheck.org called the accusation "a claim with little basis in fact."[9]
The New York Times's judicial correspondent Eric Lichtblau wrote, "[T]here is little evidence that what the chamber does in collecting overseas dues is improper or even unusual, according to both liberal and conservative election-law lawyers and campaign finance documents".[10]
In February 2011, Fang wrote an expose of Governor Scott Walker’s donors, which included such “union-busting” organizations as Americans for Prosperity, and the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, and the Bradley Foundation, all supported in some way by businessman Harry Bradley. The article was criticized by John Hinderaker, a conservative blogger and fellow at the Claremont Institute in a response on Power Line which criticized Fang for hypocrisy, pointing out that “CAP is funded, quite lavishly, by rich liberals” and “receives donations from companies, including Wal-Mart” and that “Liberals are always hot to follow the money, except to where it really leads–their own paychecks.”[11]
References
- ^ http://thinkprogress.org/author/lee-fang
- ^ a b "Lee Fang". Center for American Progress.
- ^ Tony Norman (April 19, 2011). Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
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(help) - ^ Lee Fang (08/18/2011). "Exclusive: Goldman Sachs VP Changed His Name, Now Advances Goldman Lobbying Interests As Top Staffer To Darrell Issa". Retrieved 20 August 2011.
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(help) - ^ Fang, Lee. "Exclusive: Foreign-Funded 'U.S.' Chamber of Commerce Running Partisan Attack Ads". ThinkProgress.Org.
- ^ "Clean and Open American Elections". The New York Times. 6 October 2010.
- ^ Lichtblau, Eric (8 October 2010). "Topic of Foreign Money in U.S. Races Hits Hustings". New York Times.
- ^ "Foreign Money? Really?". FactCheck.org. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
- ^ Jackson, Brooks. "Foreign Money? Really?". FactCheck.org. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
- ^ Lichtblau, Eric. "Topic of Foreign Money in U.S. Races Hits Hustings". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
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(help) - ^ John, Hinderaker (21 February 2011). "Think Stupidity". Power Line. Retrieved 3 August 2011.