Job Creators Network

The Job Creators Network (JCN) is a conservative U.S. advocacy group. It was founded by Bernie Marcus, the co-founder and former CEO of Home Depot.

Job Creators Network
Websitewww.jobcreatorsnetwork.com

The organization has received significant funding from the Mercer Family Foundation, a private grant-making foundation that invested about $70 million into conservative causes between 2009 and 2014.[1][2][3][4]

Overview

The organization advocates for free-market solutions, lower taxes and fewer government regulations.[5] The organizations motto is: "We are the Voice of Main Street."[6]

The organization also runs the "Information Station" website, which.... offers "explainer" type videos and articles from a pro-business perspective.[7]

Activities

In 2015, JCN and Carly Fiorina launched a “National Women’s Coalition,” with the goal of “giving added voice to women business leaders around the country.”[8]

JCN launched a "Bring Small Businesses Back" (BSBB) campaign in 2016. In April 2016, JCN hosted a BSBB event in Orlando featuring Frank Luntz, Mike Gallagher, and a panel of small business owners.[9]

Throughout 2017, JCN advocated for tax reform through a campaign dubbed “Tax Cuts Now”,[10] and offered the group's support to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The Tax Cuts Now campaign included a bus tour that made stops across the country.

In addition to the bus tour, the campaign included advertising in the mediums of print, digital, and television. Notable public figures voiced their support for the campaign including billionaire Steve Forbes[11] and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who penned an op-ed in USA TODAY with Brad Anderson, former CEO of Best Buy and a member of JCN.[12]

JCN launched another bus tour in 2018, with the goal of touting the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as a success.[13] Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan joined JCN at stops on the tour, including one hosted at a small business in Clinton, Wisconsin.[14]

In February 2019, the group put up a billboard in New York City's Times Square blaming U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Amazon's decision to abandon the building of the company's second headquarters in Queens.[15] After the congresswoman tweeted that the billboard was "wack", JCN put up two more billboards, one saying "Hey AOC, saw your wack tweet", the other, "Hey AOC, this billboard cost about $4,000. But you cost NY 25,000 jobs and $4,000,000,000 in annual lost wages."[3]

In October 2019, JCN Foundation, the 501(c)(3) of JCN, released a framework for an affordable care act rollback under their lobbying group Healthcare For You. Other groups in the Healthcare For You coalition include Physicians for Reform, Americans for Fair Taxation, American Hotel and Lodging Association, Young Americans Against Socialism, and Colorado Business Roundtable.[16][17]

COVID-19 experimental drug lobbying

JCN and related entities have promoted experimental drugs as part of the COVID-19 pandemic, through their lobbying group Healthcare For You. They have placed Facebook ads to generate support for a petition, texted physicians, and lobbied the White House to encourage chloroquine as an experimental treatment for COVID-19, the disease responsible for the pandemic. Its use has been promoted by Donald Trump, Sean Hannity, and Rudy Giuliani, among others. Their spokesperson, Elaine Parker, stated that over 700 doctors had signed the petition.[18] JCN's president, Alfredo Ortiz, has been in direct contact with Steven Mnuchin, speaking with him three times in one day during stimulus package discussions.[19][17][20] Trump and other White House staff have financial ties to drugmakers that are ramping up production of the drug.[21][22][23]

Membership

JCN was founded by Bernie Marcus, the co-founder and former CEO of Home Depot.[24] Since January 2014, the organization's president and CEO is Alfredo Ortiz, a former Pepsi and Kraft executive,[25] while the president and director of communications for the JCN foundation is Elaine Parker.[26][27] Its members include:

References
  1. Voght, Kara (February 23, 2019). "A Shadowy Conservative Group Has Started a Billboard War with AOC. She Refuses to Stand Down". Mother Jones. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
  2. Carbone, Christopher (February 21, 2019). "Ocasio-Cortez blasts Times Square Amazon billboard as 'wack' and 'billionaire-funded'". Fox News. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
  3. Alexandra Ma (February 22, 2019). "'Hey AOC, saw your wack tweet': Conservative business group escalates Times Square billboard feud with Ocasio-Cortez over Amazon HQ2 pullout". Business Insider. Retrieved February 23, 2019.
  4. Vicky Ward (March 17, 2017). "The blow-it-all-up billionaires; When politicians take money from megadonors, there are strings attached. But with the reclusive duo who propelled Trump into the White House, there's a fuse". The Huffington Post. Retrieved March 19, 2017. According to The Washington Post, the family donated $35 million to conservative think tanks and at least to $36.5 million to individual GOP races.
  5. "Job Creators Network Launches Major New Campaign to Bring Small Businesses Back". CBS 8. January 13, 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  6. "About". Job Creators Network. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  7. Woodman, Spencer (January 14, 2017). "Force Workers to Watch Anti-Government Propaganda at Work? Trump's Labor Nominee Says Yes". The Nation.
  8. Network (JCN), Job Creators. "Job Creators Network Forms National Women's Coalition". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
  9. Sentinel, Orlando. "Frank Luntz kicks off small biz tour here". OrlandoSentinel.com. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  10. Jagoda, Naomi (September 5, 2017). "Group launches multimillion dollar campaign for small business tax cuts". TheHill. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
  11. Network (JCN), Job Creators. "Steve Forbes Supports Tax Cuts Now Efforts by the Job Creators Network". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
  12. "Gingrich & Anderson: Pass GOP tax cuts by Thanksgiving or get ready for Speaker Pelosi". USA TODAY. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
  13. Jagoda, Naomi (April 19, 2018). "Biz group launches bus tour to promote GOP tax law". TheHill. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
  14. njackson@gazettextra.com, Nate Jackson. "Ryan praises Jakes Electric, tax cuts in Clinton". GazetteXtra. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
  15. Axelrod, Tal (February 20, 2019). "Conservative group blasts Ocasio-Cortez over Amazon with Times Square billboard". The Hill. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  16. "Healthcare for You - Personalized Healthcare". Healthcare for You. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  17. Pearson, Jake. "Republican Billionaire's Group Pushes Unproven COVID-19 Treatment Trump Promoted — ProPublica". ProPublica. Retrieved April 6, 2020. In recent days, Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus’ Job Creators Network has placed Facebook ads and texted supporters to sign a petition urging President Donald Trump to “CUT RED TAPE” and make an anti-malarial drug called hydroxychloroquine available for treating those sickened with the virus, one such message obtained by ProPublica reads.
  18. "Giuliani, a familiar voice in Trump's ear, promotes experimental coronavirus treatments". Washington Post. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  19. "Mnuchin Discusses $850 Billion Stimulus and Checks to Americans". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  20. Bykowicz, Julie (March 26, 2020). "Conservative Group Pushes for FDA Approval of Drug to Treat Coronavirus". WSJ. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  21. "Trump's Aggressive Advocacy of Malaria Drug for Treating Coronavirus Divides Medical Community". nytimes.com. Retrieved April 6, 2020. Another investor in both Sanofi and Mylan, another pharmaceutical firm, is Invesco, the fund previously run by Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary....As of last year, Mr. Trump reported that his three family trusts each had investments in a Dodge & Cox mutual fund, whose largest holding was in Sanofi.Several generic drugmakers are gearing up to produce hydroxychloroquine pills, including Amneal Pharmaceuticals, whose co-founder Chirag Patel is a member of Trump National Golf Course Bedminster in New Jersey and has golfed with Mr. Trump at least twice since he became president... Roberto Mignone, a Teva board member, reached out to the team of Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, through Nitin Saigal, who used to work for Mr. Mignone and is a friend of Mr. Kushner’s, according to people informed about the discussions.
  22. "Touting Virus Cure, 'Simple Country Doctor' Becomes a Right-Wing Star". nytimes.com. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  23. Bing, Christopher. "U.S. group bombards doctors with coronavirus petition to cut 'red tape'". U.S. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  24. "Labor Board Threatens an American Tradition". The Huffington Post. September 30, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  25. Feb. 5; 2014. "Former Pepsi, Kraft Leader to Steer Job Creators Network". CSP Daily News. Retrieved February 28, 2019.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  26. Gilliland, Donald (December 14, 2018). "Nearly the entire country gets it wrong on the minimum wage". TheHill. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  27. "About". Job Creators Network. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  28. "Raising Fed rate isn't a magic bullet: Column". USA Today. December 20, 2015. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  29. "Franchise system under threat". Colorado Springs Gazette. February 1, 2015. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  30. "Higher minimum wage puts the squeeze on business". Miami Herald. September 6, 2015. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  31. "Presidential candidates take note: Energy independence already achieved". Las Vegas Review-Journal. July 28, 2015. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  32. "Wages With Minimal Wiggle Room". The Wall Street Journal. December 28, 2015. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  33. "Job Creators Network Foundation | About". Job Creators Network Foundation. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
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