More on the CSI Anti-Nuke Poll

Both Greenr and Noblesse Oblige picked up on the Opinion Research Center's bogus poll that we looked at last week. And the anonymous author of Noblesse Oblige had some more questions to ask about the Civil Society Institute, the sponsor of the poll:

This "“institute"” in Boston is remarbly anonymous, and seems designed to be a pseudo-think-tank front to create desired polls and seemingly authoritative opinion hit-pieces. Visit the home page, see if you can figure out who funds this group, who their board is from their "“about" page. Yes, I know I am anonymous as well, but if you can'’t figure out where I stand, and that I am an individual from my "“about"” then you are not reading well.

Well, one of our researchers here at NEI did a little digging, and here's what they found out about CSI:

The Civil Society Institute:

Background: Founded in 1992 to focus on Boston-area community issues, including handgun control and educational opportunities. In 1996, the group received a $35 million endowment (anonymous donor) that has funded most of its work and permitted it to expand its mission on a national level.

CSI says it is "“100 percent independent of any organization with a financial, political, or agenda on climate change. CSI is not controlled directly or indirectly by any political party, advocacy organization, company promoting a certain technology or solution, labor union, or other group."”

Key interests: Empowering grassroots organizations and individuals by assisting with access to capital.

Investigating the relationship between biotechnology and disease.

Fostering innovative thinking on an institutional level (schools, shareholders, other policy groups).

Opposing policies and trends that lead to violence and suffering.

Key personnel: Pam Solo is the group'’s executive director and founder. She started her career as an anti-nuclear campaigner in the 1970s, founding Rocky Flats opposition groups and the Nuclear Weapons Facilities Task Force. She later served on the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign and founded Freeze Voter.

In the 1980s, she was Representative Patricia Schroeder's (D-CO) campaign director, managing her short-lived presidential run. She also served as a staff member for the House Armed Services committee.

Solo has received a five-year MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. She is also the author of From Protest to Policy: Beyond the Freeze to Common Security.

Contributors: CERES, the Joyce Foundation, Marguerite Casey Foundation, McCormick Tribune Foundation, others

Hope that helps.

UPDATE: I think I ought to point out that instead of hiding when folks question her work, NEI's pollster, Ann Bisconti, takes the time to engage her critics.

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