Dear Editor:
I was extremely disappointed with Michael Seward’s letter on January 14 (“Climate science skewed by fiction”) … not because we have a difference of opinion on global warming, but because Mr. Seward doesn’t have a grasp of the facts when it comes to explaining The Heartland Institute to readers of the York Dispatch.
The Heartland Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy think tank that promotes free-market perspectives on the nation’s toughest public policy problems. More than 300 elected state and federal policymakers, including members of Congress, governors, and state legislators from both major political parties, sit on Heartland’s Board of Legislative Advisors. Mr. Seward missed this description completely.
Instead, Mr. Seward wrote a laundry list of accusations that aren’t even close to being true.
Heartland President Joseph Bast does not “represent corporations.” Heartland has about 1,500 active donors. Nearly 1,400 of these are individual citizens. Foundations are the next largest constituency.
Heartland does not engage in any lobbying whatsoever, as it is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Heartland advocates on behalf of one thing: free markets. It doesn’t engage in any sort of contract work on behalf of any donor.
Most of Heartland’s contributions come from individuals who join our think tank or subscribe to one of our six monthly publications.
If Mr. Seward or any other readers of the York Dispatch want to learn more about Heartland, they can find us online at http://www.heartland.org.
Nicholas Tyszka
The Heartland Institute
Chicago, Illinois
Nicholas Tyszka ([email protected]) is the Director of Public Affairs at The Heartland Institute, a free market public policy think tank based in Chicago.
