ForReal, the conservatives of CAGW has had their share of controversies.
Microsoft's Antitrust Case (Litigation)
In 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported that at least two dead people had been sent a form letter by CAGW opposing the antitrust case against Microsoft to Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. According to the paper, family members crossed out the names on the form letters and signed for them. This brought about the "Microsoft Supported by Dead People" controversy[7] from Microsoft's and CAGW's opponents and the CAGW's response that they were not tied to Microsoft or to ATL despite Microsoft having donated money to CAGW.[8]
Freeware Initiative
In 2003, CAGW put out a press release opposed to what it called the "Freeware Initiative" in the State of Massachusetts, which it claimed would have required "that all IT expenditures in 2004 and 2005 be made on an open-source/Linux format."[9]
Responding to the press release, the state's secretary for administration and finance, Eric Kriss, denied the existence of a 'Freeware Initiative' and said the state was simply considering ways to integrate disparate systems using open standards such as HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), XML (Extensible Markup Language) and Java. [10]
CAGW and tobacco
The St. Petersburg Times reported that CAGW "got at least $245,000 from the tobacco industry", and subsequently lobbied on its behalf. Internal tobacco industry documents made available by the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement indicate that CAGW and its affiliates supported the tobacco industry in several instances. Specifically, in 2001 when an industry-sponsored bill entitled the "Youth Smoking Reduction Act" was introduced in Congress, CAGW provided a letter of support, despite the opposition of most public health organizations.[11][12] CAGW was also contacted to by Phillip Morris to include ASSIST, a federal tobacco control program, in their Pig Book. ASSIST was considered an imminent threat to industry activities at the time.[13]
Asked about his group's tobacco work, CAGW president Tom Schatz said, "We have always welcomed contributions to support the issues we support. Many of them have to do with fighting higher taxes and more regulations."[14] [15]
Other controversies
Throughout its history, CAGW has been accused of fronting lobbying efforts of corporations to give them the appearance of "grassroots" support.[16]
According to the St. Petersburg Times in 2006, the Pig Book has been used to benefit corporate donors, specifically health clubs who donated to CAGW. It listed federal grants to YMCAs who compete with those health clubs as waste. CAGW's president countered that "The Ys are there because they qualify as pork. Period."[16]
A Senate Finance Committee investigating ties between CAGW (and other non-profits) and Jack Abramoff in 2006 stated in a report that the non-profits: 'probably violated their tax-exempt status "by laundering payments and then disbursing funds at Mr. Abramoff's direction; taking payments in exchange for writing newspaper columns or press releases that put Mr. Abramoff's clients in a favorable light; introducing Mr. Abramoff's clients to government officials in exchange for payment; and agreeing to act as a front organization for congressional trips paid for by Mr. Abramoff's clients."'[17]
In 2007, CAGW supported a bill that would limit damages resulting from malpractice lawsuits.[18] Many consumer watchdog groups opposed the bill.[19]
"Chinese Professor" ad
The CAGW launched an ad, now commonly referred to as "Chinese Professor", which portrays a 2030 conquest of the West by China, using local Asian American extras to play Chinese, although the actors were not informed of the nature of the shoot.[20] Columnist Jeff Yang said that in the campaign there was a "blurry line between Chinese and Chinese-Americans".[21] Larry McCarthy, the producer of "Chinese Professor," defended his work by saying that "this ad is about America, it's not about China."[22] [23]
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