Maryland is home to two State Policy Network (SPN) think tanks: the Calvert Institute for Policy Research

and the Maryland Public Policy Institute (MPPI) . SPN is an umbrella group of right-wing think tanks across the country. While the two think tanks claim to be focused on issues important to the people of Maryland, they actually push an agenda dictated by their national right-wing funders and partners.

Defund and privatize Maryland public schools with vouchers and charter schools Block access to affordable healthcare for Maryland families

Destroy public employees retirement benefits by switching to risky defined -contribution pension plans Oppose workers collective bargaining rights Oppose raising the minimum wage

Cut public funding to essential programs Lower corporate taxes

MPPI, accessed 9/24/2013; Calvert Institute, accessed 9/24/2013

The Maryland Public Policy Institute is also an affiliate of the Franklin Center, an umbrella organization of right-wing "news" outlets in states across the country. Despite the Franklin Center's nonpartisan description, many of the websites funded by the Franklin Center have received criticism for their conservative bias. MPPI uses its so-called journalism operation to promote its right -wing agenda through statehouse reporting and agenda-driven investigations.

Both the Calvert Institute and MPPI are not required to disclose their donors to the public, and neither organization does so voluntarily. There are only three known Calvert Institute donors, whose contributions total $61,500(a fraction of the organizations total funding): the JM Foundation, the Armstrong Foundation, and the Roe Foundation (of SPN founder Thomas Roe). There are more known funding sources of the Maryland Public Policy Institute, most of them being out-of-state right-wing organizations. By far the largest known MPPI donor is the Koch-funded Donors Capital Fund, known as the dark money ATM of the conservative movement. DCF, which has funneled at least $633,500 to MPPI since 2005, keeps its own funders anonymous, adding another layer of secrecy. In 2010 alone, funding from Donors made up over 43% of MPPIs total revenue for the year. Other major MPPI funders include the California-based Jaquelin Hume Foundation ($300,000), the South Carolina-based Roe Foundation ($185,000), and the Virginia-based State Policy Network ($102,500).