ConWebWatch Exclusive - Who's in the mysterious board of directors of WorldNutDaily?

[ck4829]

WorldNetDaily has been notoriously close-lipped about who its backers are. Back in 2002, ConWebWatch asked WND founder and editor Joseph Farah who owns his company and who put up the $4.5 million in startup money for it; he answered the first question (he and the Western Journalism Center he co-founded own a majority of it) but not the second.

In the face of Farah and WND refusing to offer a straight answer, we set off to find one. A ConWebWatch investigation of Delaware corporate records (WND is registered as a Delaware corporation) shows that the members of WND's board of directors -- many of whom have presumably kicked in money for the operation -- are, in contrast to Richard Mellon Scaife's backing of NewsMax, not household names; they are mostly California-based activists who quietly support conservative causes.

The exception to those quiet and California-based traits is Robert Beale, a Minnesota-based technology firm owner who sat on the WND board of directors from 2000 to 2002. As ConWebWatch has noted, the only mentions of Beale by WND came in an April 2002 column by Farah thanking him (and many others) by name as Farah prepared to move from Oregon to the Washington area "to become more visible," and in a June 2003 article by Art Moore detailing Beale's complaint that Minnesota officials seized his $3 million, 30-room house for back taxes. Beale insisted he was not a Minnesota resident at the time and doesn't owe the taxes, but he refused to fight the seizure in state tax court because he denies its legitimacy. The end of the article states: "By way of disclosure, Robert Beale is a board member and stockholder in WorldNetDaily.com."

Beale, at one point, had a website (now defunct) that promoted Beale's case, designed by his son, Theodore Beale, who's better known to WND readers as columnist Vox Day.

Other people on the board include:

Richard Botkin, a California stockbroker who has been on WND's board since its spinoff from the Western Journalism Center as a for-profit company in 1999. WND has noted Botkin's membership on its board in a handful of articles he wrote for the website on mostly non-political subjects, such as a Christian ministry to Cambodia and military-related issues (Botkin is a former Marine).

Wayne C. Johnson has, like Botkin, been on WND's board since its inception. He's a California political consultant working largely on conservative candidates and issues. He is currently president of the American Association of Political Consultants. (Update: Johnson is also a longtime member of the board of directors of the Chalcedon Foundation, the far-right group founded by R.J. Rushdoony that advocates the idea of Christian reconstructionism -- a philosophy that aims to remake the world from a biblical worldview. ConWebWatch has previously noted that Farah holds reconstructionist views, such as opposition to public education in favor of homeschooling and approval of the death penalty for moral crimes such as adultery.)

Abe Siemens. A search of the Center for Responsive Politics' Open Secrets political donor database reveals that Siemens has donated to numerous right-wing politicians and causes, including Howard Phillips, the U.S. Taxpayers Party, its successor the Constitution Party, Pat Buchanan, Ron Paul, Howard Kaloogian, and the Gary Bauer-led Campaign for Working Families.

William Creedon, a securities executive, served on the WND board from 1999 to 2001. He has donated to Republican candidates and (like Farah) has been a member of the Council on National Policy, a secretive gathering of conservatives.

Bob Evans, head of the Fiber Internet Center of Palo Alto, Calif., which provides WND with co-location and ISP services (the company's website features a testimonial from WND managing editor David Kupelian); and James A. Clark II of Elk Grove, Calif.

http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2007/wndbackers.html

[Maat]

1. Interesting.

I'm surprised Ahmanson is not involved; he's the west coast version of Scaife (in terms of funding rightwing nuttery).

[MissMarple]

2. Dominionists, reconstructionists, AKA authoritarian pond scum.

They hate the United States and the Constitution. They act as though God has abdicated his earthly responsibilities and put them in charge. Just what we need, more utopian idealists. :eyes: