July/August 1981

Citizen Scaife - Part 6
Sidebars to the Story

SIDEBAR 1
Meeting Mr. Scaife

Richard Scaife rarely speaks to the press- After several unsuccessful efforts to obtain an interview, this reporter decided to make one last attempt in Boston, where Scaife was scheduled to attend the annual meeting of the First Boston Corporation.

Scaife, a company director, did not show up while the meeting was in progress. Reached eventually by telephone as he dined with the other directors at the exclusive Union Club, he hung up the moment he heard the caller's name. A few minutes later he appeared at the top of the Club steps. At the bottom of the stairs, the following exchange occurred:

"Mr. Scaife, could you explain why you give so much money to the New Right?"

"You fucking Communist cunt, get out of here."

Well. The rest of the five-minute interview was conducted at a rapid trot down Park Street, during which Scaife tried to hail a taxi. Scaife volunteered two statements of opinion regarding his questioner's personal appearance - he said she was ugly and that her teeth were "terrible" - and also the comment that she was engaged in "hatchet journalism." His questioner thanked Scaife for his time. "Don't look behind you," Scaife offered by way of a goodbye

Not quite sure what this remark meant, the reporter suggested that if someone were approaching it was probably her mother, whom she had arranged to meet nearby. "She's ugly, too," Scaife said, and strode off.

K.R.

SIDEBAR 2
The Heritage Foundation

A November 17, 1980, New York Times story on conservative think-tanks reported that "When the Heritage Foundation announced the other day that it was forwarding to Mr. Reagan a suggested 'blueprint for a conservative American government,' requests for details poured into the foundation's Capitol Hill office, and a dozen reporters from the nation's major papers and broadcasting networks showed up for the briefing." The article went on to quote Hugh Newton, a Heritage official, as saying, ''We've never had this kind of attention before. . . A lot of people who used to toss our stuff into the trash can are going to have to start reading it."

There is certainly plenty to read - Heritage, with a staff of sixty and a budget this year of $5.3 million, is probably the most media-oriented of the New Right research and policy study groups, producing a steady stream of reports and publications aimed at both policymakers and the news media. Richard Scaife has given almost $4 million to Heritage - including seed money - since it began operating seven years ago. This year, Scaife grants total about $900,000, including money specifically allocated to an editorial briefing series, distribution of the National Security Record, and a Distinguished Journalism Fellow program.

The day-long, twice-yearly editorial briefings for journalists cost about $15,000, of which Scaife gives two- thirds. About fifty to sixty journalists attend the sessions. Recent topics have included Enterprise Zones (a Reagan- backed urban revitalization plan), the Heritage ''alternative budget" prepared for Reagan, relations with China and Taiwan, and the SALT II treaty.

The National Security Record, aimed primarily at Congress, is a monthly report on defense and national security issues. As an illustration of the Record's influence, the foundation's September/October 1980 newsletter noted that 'Liberal Carl Rowan devoted two columns in a single week to an attempt to refute the assertion in the July National Security Record that the Soviets were manipulating events in the Caribbean through the Cubans and other surrogates. Shortly thereafter, John Chamberlain, [Joseph] Kingsbury-Smith and [Smith] Hempstone wrote columns bolstering the National Security Record's argument - all citing the Heritage research." Chamberlain, a King Features syndicated columnist, was chosen by Heritage last year as its Distinguished Journalism Fellow.

Other Heritage activities include serving as a consultant to WQLN, the public television station in Erie, Pennsylvania, which espouses free-market economics.

Heritage also publishes a quarterly, Policy Review, and produces a twice-monthly column, Heritage Foundation Forum, which it says is used by more than 450 newspapers.

According to John Von Kannon, assistant to the president of Heritage, Scaife and his aides rarely participate in Heritage functions. "They look for organizations they agree with," he says, and then leave them alone.

K.R.

SIDEBAR 3
Where the money goes

Some of the larger or better-known conservative and New Right groups to which Richard Scaife has given substantial funding since 1973 are listed below. Amounts, which include grants from the Carthage and Sarah Scaife Foundations and the Trust for the Grandchildren of Sarah Mellon Scaife, are approximate.

Defense
The Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University (Washington. D.C.),  $5.3 million

The Committee for a Free World (New York)*+,  $50,000

Committee on the Present Danger (Washington.  D.C.)+, $360,000

Hoover Institution on War. Revolution and Peace,  Stanford University (Stanford. Calif.), $3.5 million

Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis (Cambridge)*+ $1.9 million

National Security Program. New York University+;  and National Strategy Information Center (New York)+, $6 million

Economics
Foundation for Research in Economics and Education (Westwood, Calit.), $1.4 million

International Center for Economic Policy Studies  (New York)+, $150,000

International Institute for Economic Research (Westwood, Calif,)*+, $300,000

Law and Economics Center. originally at Miami University, now at Emory University (Atlanta)*+, $3 million

World Research. Inc. (San Diego) $1 million

Media
Accuracy in Media (Washington. D.C.), $150,000

Alternative Educational Foundation (The American Spectator magazine. Bloomington. Ind.), $900,000

The Media Institute ('Washington, D.C.)*t $475,000 WQLN-TV (Erie. Pa.) $500,000

Think-tanks
The Heritage Foundation (Washington. D.C.)*+,  $3.8 million

The Institute for Contemporary Studies (San  Francisco)*+, $1.7 million

Political Research/Education Groups
American Legislative Exchange Council  (Washington. D.C.)+, $560,000

The Free Congress Research and Education  Foundation. Inc. (Washington. D.C.)+, $700,000

Legal Groups
Americans for Effective Law Enforcement (Evanston),  $1 million

National Legal Center for the Public Interest. plus six affiliates (Capital Legal Foundation, Washington, D.C.; Mountain States Legal Foundation, Denver; Mid-Atlantic Legal Foundation, Philadelphia: Great Plains Legal Foundation, Kansas City. Mo.; Mid-America Legat Foundation. Chicago; Southeastern Legal Foundation. Atlanta)*+, $1.8 million

Pacitic Legal Foundation (Sacramento), $1.9 million

+ denotes that the group recently received a contribulkon equal to 10 percent or more at the current or most recent available budget, as based on public or private records and/or contirmation by organizaton

*denotes that the group is known to have received seed money from Scaife

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