The
Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is a
non-profit libertarian think tank
founded in
1984 by
Fred L. Smith, Jr and
based in Washington,
D.C.
, USA. CEI's stated belief is that humans are
best helped not by
government
regulation of
commercial interests, but
by humans being allowed to make their own choices in a
free marketplace. CEI states that it promotes
libertarian ideals through analysis,
education, coalition-building, advocacy, and regulation. CEI offers
analysis and advocacy on public policy issues such as energy,
environment,
biotechnology,
pharmaceutical regulation, chemical risk, telecommunications,
insurance, transportation, tobacco regulation, constitutional
issues, economic policy and
securities
law.
CEI is a
think tank funded by donations
from individuals, foundations and corporations. CEI does not accept
government funding. Past and present funders include the
Scaife Foundations,
Exxon Mobil the
Ford Motor Company Fund,
Pfizer, and the
Earhart
Foundation. CEI cites its major issues of concern as
Environmental Policy,
Regulation and
Economic Liberty,
Legal
and
Constitutional, and
Health and Safety. Among the methods used
to implement the organization's agenda are various press releases
and policy papers, testifying at
governmental hearings, suits against
various
governmental agencies,
paid advertising,
editorial and
op-ed pieces,
open letters,
books, and
NGO operations. CEI's most recent
television ad campaign, entitled
A
Bright Future For Some, focused on energy policy and
global warming, criticizing policies advocated by former Vice
President
Al Gore. The CEI ad aired
nation-wide in March and April, 2008.
Policy areas
Environmental policy
CEI is an outspoken opponent of
global
warming constituting a problem, and of government action that
would require limits on
greenhouse
gas emissions. It favors
free-market environmentalism,
stating that market institutions are more effective in protecting
the environment than is
government.
In March
1992, CEI’s founder Fred Smith said of
global warming: "Most of the indications right now are it looks
pretty good. Warmer winters, warmer nights, no effects during the
day because of clouding, sounds to me like we’re moving to a more
benign planet, more rain, richer, easier productivity to
agriculture."
[90289]
In May
2006, CEI's global warming policy
activities gained fame as it embarked upon an ad campaign with two
television commercials
[90290]. These ads promote
carbon dioxide and argue that
global warming is not a problem. One focuses
on the message that CO2 is misrepresented as a
pollutant, stating that "it’s essential to life.
We breathe it out. Plants breathe it in... They call it pollution.
We call it life." The other states that the world's glaciers are
"growing, not melting... getting thicker, not thinner." It cites
Science articles to
support its claims. However, the editor for
Science stated
that the ad "misrepresents the conclusions of the two cited
Science papers... by selective referencing". The author of
the articles,
Curt Davis, director of the
Center for Geospatial Intelligence at the University of
Missouri-Columbia, said CEI was misrepresenting his previous
research to back their claims. "These television ads are a
deliberate effort to confuse and mislead the public about the
global warming debate," he said.
[90291]
Some of CEI's work on global warming policy includes:
- Participating in (and reporting
on) the UNFCCC negotiations in Montreal
as an NGO in
December 2005.
- A letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2006,
after the Archbishop urged Christians to take action to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. The CEI wrote that reducing these levels,
even in "baby steps," would "result in the deaths of more people in
the U.S. than global warming would worldwide." [90292]
- The book Blue Planet in Green Shackles: What is Endangered,
Climate or Freedom?. Published in May 2008, it was written by
Václav Klaus, President of the
Czech
Republic
and keynote
speaker at CEI's annual dinner in 2008. Klaus argues that
the politics of global warming policy are about human freedom, not
the environment.
- The Cooler Heads
Coalition, which operates the website globalwarming.org. The chairman is Myron Ebell, the Director of Energy and Global
Warming Policy at CEI.
Regulation
CEI uses think tank and
advocacy methods to
support activities in various areas, such as
antitrust and
government regulation, in matters
including
corporate welfare,
Internet and
E-Commerce, and
Privacy and
Security. They have caused or influenced
subjects in the area, including matters involving
Corporate Average Fuel
Economy (CAFE),
rent control, the
U.S.
Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) proposals, and the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC). CEI
publishes an annual report on the cost burden imposed by government
regulatations, entitled
"10,000 Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal
Regulatory State".
Legal and constitutional
CEI is also active in the legal aspects of antitrust and government
regulation. As part of its "Control Abuse of Power" (CAP) project,
CEI launched lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the 1998
tobacco
Master Settlement
Agreement and the
Public Company
Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), respectively.
The
Project on Technology & Innovation is extending
CEI's efforts into new areas, including antitrust in high tech and
network industries, privacy, e-commerce, intellectual property, and
telecommunications.
CEI opposes a range of regulatory intervention into commercial
activities including bans on alcohol advertising, fuel economy
mandates and proposals to mitigate global warming. CEI supports
constitutional checks over government's power over
corporations.
Health and safety
CEI criticizes health and safety regulation and argues through its
Death by Regulation project that overregulation itself can
be deadly. For example, they have claimed that automotive
downsizing due to federal fuel economy standards may increase road
accident deaths, and have criticized the delayed availability of
new medical therapies due to Food and Drug Administration rules.
CEI scholars have also claimed that the health risks of
secondhand smoke have not been adequately
proven, and thus restrictions on smoking are unwarranted.
CEI events
Annual dinner
Every year CEI hosts an annual dinner gala and presents the
Julian L. Simon Memorial Award. The Simon award honors
the work of the late economist, winner of the
Simon-Ehrlich wager.
Award winners include:
CEI projects
Warren T. Brookes Journalism Fellowship
In 1991, CEI established the Warren T. Brookes Fellowship to
identify and train journalists who wish to improve their knowledge
of environmental issues and free market economics. In this manner,
the program seeks to perpetuate the legacy of Warren Brookes, who
was a longtime journalist with the
Boston Herald and the
Detroit News and a nationally-syndicated
columnist.
Former and current fellows
Bureaucrash
Bureaucrash, a special outreach and
activist project of CEI, is described as an international network
of pro-freedom activists working to promote a political ideology
based on personal and economic freedom. Bureaucrash conducts
political activism using new media, creative marketing, and
education campaigns. Bureaucrash maintains a website
(bureaucrash.com) and a channel on YouTube (
Bureaucrash TV), which features short videos on
political topics.
CEI Studios
CEI Studios is the organization's video project. CEI produces
short-format videos on current public policy issues, from the 2008
financial crisis to flood insurance to global warming and many
other topics. Videos may be viewed on
CEI On Demand.
CEI staff
CEI lists its Adjunct Scholars and thirty full-time staff members,
their titles, and major area of responsibility on its
website.
[90293]. Some notable staff members include:
Funding
In its
IRS Form 990 for the fiscal year ending
September 30, 2007, CEI reported revenues totaling $3,650,461,
including donations from individuals, foundations and corporations.
Its net assets were $2,012,478. Salaries and benefits to its top
employees were reported as:
- Fred L. Smith, President, $208,935
- Marlo Lewis, Senior Fellow, $104,974
- Sam Kazman, General Counsel, $132,152
According
to page nine of a report from the CEI contained on the University of
California, San Francisco
's Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (LTDL),
the following companies and foundations were among those listed as
supporting CEI's work with annual contributions of at least
$10,000, currently the CEI's "Entrepreneurs" level:
Aequus Institute,
Amoco Foundation, Inc.,
Lynde and Harry Bradley
Foundation,
Coca-Cola Company,
E.L. Craig Foundation,
CSX Corporation,
Earhart Foundation, Fieldstead and Co.,
FMC Foundation,
Ford Motor
Company Fund,
Gilder
Foundation,
Koch Family
Foundations (including the
Charles G. Koch Charitable
Foundation,
David H. Koch Charitable
Foundation, and
Claude R. Lambe Charitable
Foundation),
Philip M. McKenna Foundation, Inc.,
Curtis and Edith
Munson Foundation,
Philip Morris
Companies, Inc.,
Pfizer Inc.,
Precision Valve Corporation,
Prince Foundation,
Rodney Fund,
Sheldon
Rose,
Scaife Foundations
(
Carthage Foundation and
Sarah Scaife Foundation),
and
Texaco, Inc. (
Texaco Foundation).
Other documents in the LTDL show that CEI has received funding
directly from various tobacco companies.
[90294],
[90295],
[90296] For example, the listing on the
Philip Morris Glossary of Names: C gives the note
"Received public policy grant from Philip Morris (1995); Pro-market
public interest group dedicated to advancing the principles of free
enterprise and limited government."
ExxonMobil Corporation was a major donor
to CEI, with over $2 million in contributions between 1998 and
2005.
[90297] In 2002 the company gave $405,000;
[90298] in 2004 it gave CEI $180,000 that was
earmarked for "global climate change and global climate change
outreach." In 2006, the company announced that it had ended its
funding for the group.
[90299]
Governance
The organization is governed by a
board of directors. The current board of
directors consists of: James Curley, William Dunn,
Michael Greve,
Leonard Liggio, Thomas Gale Moore,
Frances Smith, and
Fred Smith.
[90300]
Notes
- Europe Advises U.S. Officials on Climate By
Juliet Eilperin, Staff Writer (March 6, 2009); Page A04 -
Washington Post
- Global Warming and the Free Market - The Debate
By Emily Messner (October 3, 2005)
- Self-description on National Survey of Oncologists
- Issues |
CEI
- The Tempest Washington Post, by Joel Achenbach,
May 28, 2006
- Competitive Enterprise Institute SourceWatch
Encyclopedia
- Jerome C. Arnett, Is the public health message on secondhand smoke
based on science? Skin and Allergy News, 38(2):13,
2007.
- Exxon-Mobil 2005 annual giving (donations) report: Competitive
Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C., General Operating Support
90,000, General Operating Support* 180,000 ,Total 270,000 2005 annual giving report
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