Richard M. Scaife

Richard Mellon Scaife is U.S. billionaire and major funding source of right-wing causes through the Scaife Foundations, which he controls.

Scaife’s early contributions to Heritage Foundation in 1976 were “absolutely critical” according to Heritage’s president, Ed Feulner.

Scaife’s early support of American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) helped the influential grassroots policy organization get started.

Scaife oversees four “Scaife Foundations”
 * Sarah Scaife Foundation
 * Carthage Foundation
 * Allegheny Foundation
 * Scaife Family Foundation.

Through Scaife’s foundations many right-wing groups receive several awards from different Scaife funds in the same year. For example, in 2001 the Free Congress Foundation received $250,000 from Carthage and $790,000 from Sarah Scaife Foundation, adding up to over a million dollars in a single year.

Through his foundations Scaife helped fund a growing number of right-wing think tanks housed in respected academic institutions. Scaife is a major supporter of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

Scaife's Board Memberships:
Hoover Institution, board of Overseers, since 1960’s.

Heritage Foundation, Vice Chairman of Heritage Foundation Board since 1995, joined board in 1985.

US Advisory Commission for Public Diplomacy, member from 1984-1990. Appointed by President Reagan, Scaife sat on the (USACPD), a board which oversees the US Information Agency. The 6 members of the USACPD are appointed by the President of the United States.

Scaife is the Vice Chairman, Publisher and Owner of Tribune-Review Publishing Co. (Publishes the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review). During the 2000 election campaign Scaife ordered newspaper editors of the archconservative newspaper that he owns, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, to pull all photographs of Democratic nominee Al Gore and guarantee that no prominent images or stories about Gore appear on the front page of the newspaper.

Major Right-Wing Beneficiaries of Scaife Foundations:

 * Acton Economic Research Foundation
 * American Enterprise Institute
 * American Spectator Educational Foundation, publisher of American Spectator Magazine
 * Cato Institute
 * Center for the Study of Popular Culture
 * Federalist Society
 * Federation for American Immigrant Reform
 * Free Congress Foundation
 * Foreign Policy Research Institute
 * Hoover Institute
 * Hudson Institute
 * Independent Women's Forum
 * Institute for Justice
 * Intercollegiate Studies Institute
 * Judicial Watch
 * Landmark Legal Foundation
 * Media Research Center
 * Manhattan Institute for Policy Research
 * National Association of Scholars
 * National Taxpayers Union Foundation
 * Pacific Legal Foundation
 * Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy
 * Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty
 * Rutherford Institute
 * Southeastern Legal Foundation
 * Washington Legal Foundation