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National events have a tendency to draw out conspiracy theories about billionaire philanthropist George Soros, and the controversy over the U.S. Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh proved no different. Shortly after Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a California college professor, came forward with allegations that Kavanaugh had attempted to rape her when the two were in high school, a menagerie of junk news sites and internet conspiracy theorists alike began to scour the web for links between her and Soros. And because George Soros is the founder and chair of the Open Society Foundation, which donates to many varied organizations and causes, loose links were inevitably found. Many turned out to be bogus, and even one that was based on some accurate information was spun in a misleading way. On 17 September 2018, Frontpage Mag, a web site operated by the ultra-conservative David Horowitz Freedom Center, reported in a headline that KAVANAUGH ACCUSER'S LAWYER IS VICE CHAIR OF SOROS FUNDED ORG OPPOSING KAVANAUGH: (The Frontpage Mag story was the source for a subsequent, widely-quoted opinion piece published by the Washington Times, which more or less rehashed it with an extra helping of Soros paranoia.) It's true that Debra Katz has served as an attorney for Dr. Ford, and she has indeed also served for years as vice chair of the board for the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that advocates for government transparency and accountability. But claims about the organization's funding and position on Kavanaugh's confirmation have been distorted. POGO does receive some funding from the Open Society Foundation, but it also receives funding from a multitude of other sources as well. In 2016, POGO listed a donation in excess of $100,000 from the Open Society Foundation, while also reporting a donation of more than $25,000 from the conservative Charles Koch Foundation -- both relatively very small proportions of the more than $2.7 million in revenue the organization took in from all sources that year. It's also true that the organization signed on to an 8 August 2018 letter addressed to Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-California), requesting that all senators on the committee be given equal access to documents pertinent to the nominee and expressing concern that the Republican majority had been given preferential treatment. Other groups that signed the letter included the Campaign for Accountability, Human Rights Watch, the National Coalition Against Censorship, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, and the National Security Archive. But POGO spokesman Tim Farnsworth told us POGO is non-partisan and has not taken a position supporting or opposing Kavanaugh's confirmation: I think it's ridiculous to use one funding source for the organization to draw a conspiracy, when we have over 50 foundations and grant makers supporting us, he said. Farnsworth said Katz serves on the organization's board not because of any political views she may hold, but because as an attorney she specializes in representing and protecting government whistleblowers. We sent Frontpage Mag writer Daniel Greenfield questions about whether the headline was still accurate in light of POGO's rebuttal, why he used the term tentacle to describe Soros's charitable foundation activities, and why Katz's long-standing membership on POGO's board was considered newsworthy. He replied: Greenfield didn't explain why he didn't consider it equally newsworthy that POGO has also received funding from Charles Koch, a conservative politically influential billionaire whose activism has shaped and reshaped national politics, or use the word tentacle to describe Koch's charitable activities. Open Society Foundation spokeswoman Laura Silver told us the OSF works on behalf of public causes that promote increasing overall social equality and quality of life: The implications of invoking George Soros' name in relation to Dr. Ford is meant to imply that Ford was motivated to come forward solely for politically partisan reasons, but we found no evidence that is the case. The conspiratorial fixation with Soros often takes hold after mass casualty incidents: he is often the target of fantastical allegations that he orchestrates false flag events. It also becomes prominent when a political controversy sweeps the country, as with the Kavanaugh confirmation process. Because the causes that the Soros foundation supports are often progressive in nature, he's regularly invoked as right wing's boogeyman. David Horowitz, for example authored a book entitled The Shadow Party: How George Soros, Hillary Clinton, and Sixties Radicals Seized Control of the Democratic Party, summarized thusly via online retailer Amazon: As the Anti-Defamation League noted, the more extreme the source of the Soros conspiracy theory, the more likely it will take on an air of hate:
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