Job Creators Network

The Job Creators Network (JCN) is a conservative U.S. advocacy group 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, the Marcus Foundation, and Phil Anschutz.[1][2][3][4][5]

Activities

The Job Creators Network was originally founded in 2010 under the name The Job Creators Alliance.[6] 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.[7]

Throughout 2017, JCN advocated for tax cuts through a campaign dubbed “Tax Cuts Now”, and offered the group's support to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which offered temporary tax cuts to individuals and permanent tax cuts to corporations.[8] The Tax Cuts Now campaign included a bus tour that made stops across the country.[8] Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich penned an op-ed supporting the campaign in USA Today with Brad Anderson, former CEO of Best Buy and a member of JCN.[9]

JCN launched another bus tour in 2018, with the goal of promoting the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.[10] Then-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan joined JCN at stops on the tour, including one hosted at a small business in Clinton, Wisconsin.[11] The organization delivered thousands of petitions to Ryan in support of the legislation.[12]

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.[13] 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."[4]

In May 2021, JCN filed a lawsuit against Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association after the league decided to move the All Star Game from Atlanta to Denver in protest over Georgia’s voting laws.[14] JCN highlighted this lawsuit in a series of Times Square billboards, including one criticizing MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, saying he has “no balls, all strikes.”[15] A judge ruled against JCN and the lawsuit was dropped.[16]

JCN regularly distributes a “Defender of Small Business” award to members of Congress. Recipients include Missouri Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer and Minnesota Rep. Jim Hagedorn.[17][18]

The organization runs the "Information Station" website, which offers "explainer" type videos and articles from a pro-business perspective.[19]

Political Advocacy During COVID 19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, JCN oversaw campaigns on both healthcare policy and business policy. JCN hosted a petition on its “Healthcare for You” website for doctors to show their support for the drug hydroxychloroquine, which had not been approved by the FDA for coronavirus treatment. The organization pledged to deliver the petitions to the White House and to “protect physician autonomy and medical decision-making as we stand in harm’s way to care for the American public.”[20]

At the start of the pandemic, JCN's president, Alfredo Ortiz, was in direct contact with Steven Mnuchin, speaking with him three times in one day during stimulus package discussions.[21][22][23] Ortiz recommended having private banks distribute PPP loans, rather than the Small Business Administration, a change Mnuchin implemented in the final policy.[1] Trump and other White House staff have financial ties to drugmakers that are ramping up production of the drug.[24][25][26] JCN joined the Save Our Country coalition to advocate for governments to allow small businesses to reopen during the pandemic. In 2021, the organization announced its intentions to sue the Biden administration over its vaccine mandate for private businesses with more than 100 employees.[27][28]

Advocacy against Student Loan Forgiveness Program in 2022

In October 2022, the Job Creators Network Foundation Legal Action Fund filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Education Department and its secretary, Miguel Cardona, seeking to block the Biden administration’s student loan debt forgiveness program.[29] U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman, who was appointed by Donald Trump, struck down President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, in November 2022.[30]

Membership

JCN was founded by Bernie Marcus, the co-founder and former CEO of Home Depot.[31] Since January 2014, the organization's president and CEO is Alfredo Ortiz, a former Pepsi and Kraft executive,[32] while the president and director of communications for the JCN foundation is Elaine Parker.[33][34] Its members include:

References
  1. "Newly Obtained Emails Include Private-Sector Executives' Pandemic-Related Communications With Kushner, Mnuchin". American Overesight. American Oversight. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  2. 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.
  3. Carbone, Christopher (February 21, 2019). "Ocasio-Cortez blasts Times Square Amazon billboard as 'wack' and 'billionaire-funded'". Fox News. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Mandelbaum, Robb (August 17, 2017). "Who Funds This New Small Business-Group? Hint: Mostly Not Small Businesses". Forbes. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  7. "Frank Luntz kicks off small biz tour here". OrlandoSentinel.com. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  8. Jagoda, Naomi (September 5, 2017). "Group launches multimillion dollar campaign for small business tax cuts". The Hill. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
  9. "Gingrich & Anderson: Pass GOP tax cuts by Thanksgiving or get ready for Speaker Pelosi". USA Today. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
  10. Jagoda, Naomi (April 19, 2018). "Biz group launches bus tour to promote GOP tax law". The Hill. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
  11. Jackson, Nate. "Ryan praises Jakes Electric, tax cuts in Clinton". GazetteXtra. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
  12. Gordon, Marcy; Fram, Alan. "House Republicans await audience with Trump on tax overhaul". News 4 San Antonio. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  13. Axelrod, Tal (February 20, 2019). "Conservative group blasts Ocasio-Cortez over Amazon with Times Square billboard". The Hill. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  14. Gasparino, Charlie. "MLB, players' union facing all-star lawsuit for pulling game out of Atlanta". Fox Business. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  15. Cavino, Dan. "Major League Baseball feeling pressure from political advocacy group to move All-Star Game back to Atlanta". Fox Business. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  16. Malcom, Sandy. "Judge Rejects Effort To Return MLB All-Star Game To Georgia". Associated Press. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  17. Stolle, Matthew. "Hagedorn receives small business award while Rochester area truckers express concerns about future". Rochester Post Bulletin. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  18. Pivoney, Ryan. "Luetkemeyer honored for small-business advocacy". Missouri News Tribune. Retrieved November 4, 2021.
  19. Woodman, Spencer (January 14, 2017). "Force Workers to Watch Anti-Government Propaganda at Work? Trump's Labor Nominee Says Yes". The Nation.
  20. Pearson, Jake. "Republican Billionaire's Group Pushes Unproven COVID-19 Treatment Trump Promoted". ProPublica. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  21. "Mnuchin Discusses $850 Billion Stimulus and Checks to Americans". Bloomberg. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  22. Pearson, Jake. "Republican Billionaire's Group Pushes Unproven COVID-19 Treatment Trump Promoted". 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.
  23. Bykowicz, Julie (March 26, 2020). "Conservative Group Pushes for FDA Approval of Drug to Treat Coronavirus". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  24. "Trump's Aggressive Advocacy of Malaria Drug for Treating Coronavirus Divides Medical Community". The New York Times. 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.
  25. "Touting Virus Cure, 'Simple Country Doctor' Becomes a Right-Wing Star". The New York Times. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  26. Bing, Christopher. "U.S. group bombards doctors with coronavirus petition to cut 'red tape'". Reuters. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  27. Conklin, Audry. "Biden vaccine mandate: Small business advocacy group prepares to sue administration". Fox Business. Fox Business. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  28. Stone, Peter. "Pro-Trump donors in huge cash drive to boost doctors pushing states to reopen". The Guardian. The Guardian. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  29. Colvin, Jill. "Another conservative business group just sued Biden over student loan debt forgiveness". Fortune. Fortune. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  30. Colvin, Jill. "Federal judge in Texas strikes down Biden's student loan forgiveness plan". The Washington Post. The Washington Post. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  31. "Labor Board Threatens an American Tradition". HuffPost. September 30, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  32. "Former Pepsi, Kraft Leader to Steer Job Creators Network". CSP Daily News. February 5, 2014. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  33. Gilliland, Donald (December 14, 2018). "Nearly the entire country gets it wrong on the minimum wage". The Hill. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  34. "About". Job Creators Network. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  35. "Raising Fed rate isn't a magic bullet: Column". USA Today. December 20, 2015. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  36. "Franchise system under threat". Colorado Springs Gazette. February 1, 2015. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  37. "Higher minimum wage puts the squeeze on business". Miami Herald. September 6, 2015. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  38. "Presidential candidates take note: Energy independence already achieved". Las Vegas Review-Journal. July 28, 2015. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  39. "Wages With Minimal Wiggle Room". The Wall Street Journal. December 28, 2015. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  40. "Job Creators Network Foundation | About". Job Creators Network Foundation. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
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