Shills R Us: Organizations That Get AT&T Cash Endorse its Mega-Merger with T-Mobile

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AlterNet / By David Rosen and Bruce Kushnick

Shills R Us: Organizations That Get AT&T Cash Endorse its Mega-Merger with T-Mobile
A growing number of nonprofits are recipients of AT&T grants; are they violating their IRS nonprofit status by shilling for the company's interests?

June 21, 2011 |


The first real blood in the fight to derail AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile’s wireless business was spilled on Saturday, June 19th, when Jarrett Barrios, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), was forced to resign his position. This is a remarkable occurrence because it came as a result of the group’s board of directors’ opposition to the merger.

One of the rituals that take place during a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) merger hearing is the introduction of statements of support of the merger by a gaggle of nonprofit organizations. This is a traditional, rubber-stamp exercise used to present a patina of legitimacy or social benefit to an obvious corporate consolidation grab.

Amidst the current and well-scripted Noh theater performance now taking place in Washington, DC, over the merger, AT&T has pulled out all the stops. It has called in the chips from three hundred nonprofit groups, labor unions, trade associations, state and local politicians, and private corporations. AT&T wants the acquisition to go through.

The action by the GLAAD board joins a growing chorus of public-interest groups and senators raising concerns about the merger. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/151360/shills_r_us%3A_organizations_that_get_at%26t_cash_endorse_its_mega-merger_with_t-mobile_/