Richard Mellon Scaife (right) and David Horowitz
Who Paid for ABC’s $40 Million Crocudrama?
Max Blumenthal’s expose at HuffPo on the rightwing cabal behind ABC’s controversial miniseries, “The Path to 9/11,” is a must-read. According to Blumenthal, the show’s producer, director and writer are part of a conservative insurgency within Hollywood. They have connections to David Horowitz, the often-disgraced rightwing media critic who is based in Los Angeles.
The connection into the conservative power grid that may be the most interesting, however, is the production’s ties to Richard Mellon Scaife:
Since the inauguration of Bill Clinton in 1992, Horowitz has labored to create a network of politically active conservatives in Hollywood. His Hollywood nest centers around his Wednesday Morning Club, a weekly meet-and-greet session for Left Coast conservatives that has been graced with speeches by the likes of Newt Gingrich, Victor Davis Hanson and Christopher Hitchens. The group’s headquarters are at the offices of Horowitz’s Center for the Study of Popular Culture, a “think tank” bankrolled for years with millions by right-wing sugardaddies like eccentric far right billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife. (Scaife financed the Arkansas Project, a $2.3 million dirty tricks operation that included paying sources for negative stories about Bill Clinton that turned out to be false.)
Secretive people usually have something to hide, and “secretive” is among the first words that come to mind regarding Mr. Scaife, who is an heir to the Mellon fortune and lives in Pittsburgh where he publishes a daily newspaper known for its rightwing slant. (The other word most-often associatied with him is “eccentric.”)
If you are among the millions whose eyes have been opened over the past six years to the true depravity of Republican malfeasance, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that the skullduggery didn’t start at George W. Bush’s inauguration. Not hardly.
In fact, the current Bush-Rove reign of political terror has its roots in the early days of the Clinton presidency, and from the start one of its major sponsors has been Mr. Scaife.
While Scaife openly funds numerous conservative organizations like Horowitz’ Center for the Study of the Popular Culture — including the Heritage Foundation, the Hoover Institution and the Cato Institute — there is one rightwing effort he has never fully ‘fessed up to funding. Code-named the “Arkansas Project,” it was a vicious campaign of personal destruction against the Clintons that was launched in 1993 and was funded by Scaife. (It was the Arkansas Project that Hillary Clinton once referred to as a “vast rightwing conspiracy.”)
The case could be made that the Arkansas Project paved the way for the Bush presidency. Spurious accusations about the Clintons brought forth by the project’s operatives led to years of useless investigations by Congress and the special counsel, Ken Starr and ended with President Clinton’s impeachment. Issues arising from the impeachment — particularly the Monica Lewinsky matter — hobbled Al Gore’s campaign in 2000. Had the impeachment not been an issue, Gore would have beaten Bush handily, even with the drain of liberal votes by Ralph Nader.
Paula Jones’ sexual harrassment charge against the president was central to the impeachment. But Jones’ case against Clinton was weak and was only kept alive through various appeals by funding from Scaife and others.
So now we know that Scaife is still at it — and that he still has a bug up his ass about the Clintons. But here’s the thing: If Scaife, Horowitz and the producer, director and writer of “The Path to 9/11″ are right about President Clinton, why do they always lie about things he has and has not done.
They lied about him repeatedly in the 1990s — from Whitewater to Travelgate, Troopergate, the Rose law firm billing records, Vince Foster’s suicide and the rest were all faked up scandals — and they’re lying about him now in “The Path to 9/11.”
Update: As our friends at BuzzFlash pointed out, the production reportedly cost $40 million but, according to Fox News (no less), “the series … is to be aired without commercials as a public service.” So who is picking up the tab? (It sure ain’t George Soros.)
Update II: I found an interesting fact about the ownership of the production company behind “Path to 9/11″ here:
UHP Productions is a corporation registered in California:
UHP PRODUCTIONS, INC.
Number: C2727420 Date Filed: 3/24/2005 Status: active
Jurisdiction: California
Address
2400 WEST ALAMEDA AVE
BURBANK, CA 91521Agent for Service of Process
MARSHA L REED
500 SOUTH BUENA VISTA ST
BURBANK, CA 91521-0105Marsha L. Reed was (at least as of March 14 2005) Disney’s Corporate Secretary.
500 South Buena Vista St, Burbank, CA, is the address of Walt Disney corporate headquarters.
2400 West Alameda Avenue, Burbank, has a Google Maps listing but no search results explaining what’s at that address.
Further searching reveals that 2400 Alameda Avenue, Burbank, is - or at least was in 1946 - a Disney office.
The Disney headquarters occupy a block bounded by Alameda Avenue and Buena Vista Street in Burbank. The Buena Vista address is the studio’s main gate.
The working title for the project was “Untitled History Project,” which is probably what the “UHP” refers to.
The fact that UHP Productions is registered as California corporation through Disney likely means that the project was developed in-house — as opposed to having started as an independent production that was brought into the studio.
None of this makes the source of the production funding less murky, however.
Read more:
- The best book on this subject is “The Hunting of the President,” by Joe Conanson and Gene Lyons.
- Arkansas Project
- Richard Mellon Scaife
I agree if you want to see what a piece of shit Scaife is read the Hunting of the President it exposes just what sleazy people the Republican’s are.They lie steal cheat nothing matter’s but staying in power even to destroying the United States which Bush/Cheney are doing.Senator Russ Finegold just stopped Arlen Specter from bringing up a bill that would retroactively exonerate Bush of his crimes against the constitution.(Feingold should be the Democratic President in 06
This quote from Front Page suggests that even if Scafie or someone else financed it, someone with lots of clout in the government may have been involved:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=23865
FP: Tell us how you came to write and produce this miniseries.
Nowrasteh: Early last year (2005) I was approached by ABC and asked if I’d be interested in writing/producing a miniseries based on the 9/11 Commission Report. I met with executive producer Marc Platt and Governor Kean, Chairman of the 9/11 Commission, who agreed to serve as a consultant on the project. I was provided an incredible amount of research materials and high-level advisors from the FBI, CIA, Secret Service, Diiplomatic Security, etc……more
You’re talking high level advisors and that suggests WH complicity to me.
Thanks for this article, you’re right.. Scaife is a big donor to Horowitz, along with the usual gang, Olin Foundation, Bradley, Catle Rock, etc. See Media Transparency summary:
Grants to David Horowitz Freedom Center
(formerly Center for the Study of Popular Culture)
Click date for grant details.
Date Amount Purpose Funder
12-31-2005 150,000 General operating and project support Sarah Scaife Foundation
12-31-2004 225,000 Project support Allegheny Foundation
12-31-2004 250,000 General operating support Sarah Scaife Foundation
12-3-2004 25,000 To support general operations The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc.
10-8-2004 81,250 To support general operations The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc.
7-9-2004 81,250 To support general operations The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc.
4-13-2004 81,250 To support general operations The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc.
1-15-2004 150,000 The programs of the Center John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.
1-9-2004 81,250 To support general operations The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc.
1-1-2004 50,000 Education Campaign Castle Rock Foundation
12-31-2003 125,000 General operating support The Carthage Foundation
12-31-2003 50,000 Project support Allegheny Foundation
12-31-2003 250,000 General operating support Sarah Scaife Foundation
12-12-2003 20,000 To support general operations The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc.
10-20-2003 87,500 To support general operations The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc.
7-10-2003 87,500 To support general operations The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc.
4-11-2003 87,500 To support general operations The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc.
1-28-2003 150,000 The programs of the Center John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.
1-13-2003 87,500 To support general operations The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc.
1-1-2003 5,000 General Fund Hickory Foundation
12-13-2002 20,000 To support general operations The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc.
The Rutherford Foundation was the employer of record for all the small players and most of the big players in that fiasco, and Rutherford is directly connected to Scaife and the heart of the Dominionists.
This crocumentry has definite links to Domionists, but I have not seen links so close to the central heart of that cause.
It would be interesting to see where the people directly tied to this particular travesty are directly tied to that one.
What’s more is that this is being distributed so widely- Britain ( BBC), New Zealand , Australia, it was to go to the schools here- someone really wanted to plant a whole trove of misimpressions to the entire english speaking world. There is the spectacle of a president so insecurely dictatorial that he requires like Kim Jong Il , propaganda movies of which he is the hero, but also the spectale of corporate whoredom so intent in keeping Bushco in power.
The first thing which struck me in the promos was the apparent prominence of Ms. Heaton (who portrays the wife of Ray Romano in “Everyone Loves Raymond,”) in the mini-series. She is an avowed conservative activist and ardent admirer of George Bush. Of all the actresses available in Hollywood, why her in this particular production?
EMEL - You brought up the part that bothers me the most. After all the fuss and outrage dies down (you know, when the MSM finds another missing blonde or Michael Jackson comveniently surfaces), will they continue pushing this into our schools? Because this is what they really want, a whole generation brought up on lies that glorify Bush and vilify Clinton.
We all need to be at local school board meetings and find out whether this is getting into the heads of our kids.
This people are insidious.
President Bush is the Antichrist and Cheney is the Beast as spoken of in the book of Revelations.Read it with an open mind.Events are transpiring that no one thought possible;and the people just stand by helplessly.Where are the great minds of this Country?Can NO ONE read and interept our laws or constitution?When laws are being broken it should be clear.Yet it seems even our lawmakers in Congress cant decide whether or not they(Bush and Cheney) are breaking the law.
Consider the “lengths” that this CABAL has “OVERSTEPED” the proclaimed morality of the “compassionate conservative” administration of George W. Bush, as well as the espoused “ethics” of the TV Media, then please explain to me WHY THE FCC HAS NOT intervened, to protect the viewing public from blatant propaganda.
Why not Ms Heaton? she hasn’t got a gig at present and she’s a bush fathead. What more do they need?
The reason why ABC is not having commercials is because all the people will note who the sponsors are and boycott those products.
That’s what I would do.
The hard-core right-wing plays politics for keeps. They will pull any play out of the sleazy book, lie, bribe, manipulate, coerce, wrap-thier-ass-in-the-flag, viscously attack, change subjects, play victim, demand, plead, pray, and call for partisanship…all in the name of winning at all costs.
They will stand before America and claim that they are victims of a strawman, meanwhile attacking any and all who may disagree with them. THEY ARE AMERICANS…and all who disagree with them are “appeasers”…
If you want to get “IN the Game ” with these low down creeps, you better be ready to hit back…and hit back fast and hard…because they are so very vulnerable.
Instead of complaining and whing, lets hit hem back…and hard. God knows they have given us enough ammunition to do so.
A political ad to run during “Imaginary Paths to 9-11″:
A blank tv screen, split into equal left and right sections.
Fade in (right side): an opening shot of GW at the elementary school photo-op of Tuesday, September 11th. Mr. Bush begins to lead a political roundtable on “My pet goat”
Fade in (left side): the key footage from the French documentary on the New York Fire Department, beginning with the arrival of the engine company at the scene of the reported gas leak. Camera shifts from scene of firefighters concentrating on locating leak to tracking final moments of American Airlines Flight 11 as it strikes the North Tower of the World Trade Center Complex. Audio of sounds of aircraft and firefighters commentary is included.
Right screen: GW continues to discuss literary preference with second graders.
Left screen: Scene shifts to show views of initial damage to North Tower, including audio commentary by network news anchors. United Flight 11 is caught on film as it streaks into view and impacts the South Tower. Audio includes unedited comments from witnesses, as well as news anchors.
Right Screen: Andrew Card is shown approaching GW to mention second plane crash into WTC complex. Camera focuses in on Mr. Bush’s reaction.
Left Screen: Shifting views of chaos and carnage at the WTC depicting both emergency response, and reaction of bystanders.
Right Screen: Mr. Bush’s non response (lasting a minimum of five minutes following the second crash) is allowed to be shown without any commentary.
Fade Out (both screens simultaneously)
End Comments (scrolled across screen without voiceover):
“At 8:46 EDT on the morning of Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, months of warnings about looming Al Qaeda attacks, and bizarre behavior by Middle Eastern flight school students were made real in the most devastating terrorist attacks in history. President Bush, in his role of Commander-in-Chief, was unavailable for comment at the time, being immersed in his duties of protecting America from attack.”
Audio only: GW complimenting the teachers on the reading abilities of their students.
Scaife is a nasty piece of work. He uses his money to justify his vile and vicious existence. Having inherited his wealth, he supports right-wing causes in order to make sure that he keeps his cash. He sees himself as defending the “rights” of the moneyed. He cant stand Clinton, because Clinton worked his way up to prominence. Scaife was merely born into wealth. He never truly worked nor achieved for it. The man does little that is positive in life. Like Rove and Cheney, he focuses on being destructive, negative, and slimes everything he touches. He is just a scumbag with money. Men like Scaife do not make the world a better place.
Crooks without borders or boundaries. It is time to take back the licences and start over again as non-profits.
As for the crooked rich. It is time to tax them until they have to live in FEMA trailers. The power to tax the rich is the power to destroy them.
I have to admit that I am not surprised that at the center of the web of deceit there is an EVIL spider! Kudos to Pensito Review for exposing yet another Scaife plot to undermine America and what’s left of Democracy, decency, and freedom.
Gee, just in time for the midterm elections. Hours and hours of free advertising for every war candidate, much more than any of their legitimate campaigns could ever possibly afford to purchase. It must be nice to be playing for the war team. P.S. Another reason to throw all television sets into the garbage.
I hope the newspapers or tabloids pressure the courts to make Scaife’s divorce records public just like his newspaper sued Theresa Heinz to make her husband’s (Senator John Heinz)will public after being sealed. A skank of the highest order. Does anyone know which Scaife the former Allegheny County DA “Limp Wrist” Duggan married? He commited suicide.
Richard is from my wonderful city and the next question is, Does Richard have his hand in the voter fraud ?
2400 W. Alameda is the address of the main Disney building on the lot, cafint North toward Alameda.
So it’s Disney owned, all the way.