Desmog Video

Paul Chesser

According to his own website, Chesser "specializes in opinion writing, investigative journalism and reporting on state government issues."

Prior to his writing career, Chesser "worked in accounting for both private business and a nonprofit organization [and for] athletic shoe company Converse, Inc., in Massachusetts and New Hampshire."

Chesser and the John Locke Foundation

Chesser is listed as a "director" for a North Carolina free-market think tank called the John Locke Foundation (JLF). Chesser manages the JLF's Climate Strategies Watch project, which is set up to attack the work of the Center for Climate Strategies, an organization that advises states about how they can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The site depicts the Turner Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Heinz Foundation as cockroaches.

Chesser is critical of the Center for Climate Strategies because they "staunchly believe global warming must be reduced through reductions in human-caused carbon dioxide emissions."

In other words, Chesser is critical of the CCS because they are basing their policy direction on what the world's scientific organizations are telling us is the reality of global warming.

The John Locke Foundation also operates a monthly newspaper called the Carolina Journal, which they use as a venue for attacking the scientific evidence for global warming.

According to a May 2005 article, the JLF has been reluctant to provide a report of the funding it has received. However, according to a Foundation Center report, the JLF has "received at least $81,500 from organizations with fossil fuel ties."

The John Locke Foundation has received funding in the past from tobacco-giant Philip Morris for "public policy" work. In fact, the former president of the JLF, Marc Rotterman sat on the board of a Philip Morris funded front group called the "National Smokers Alliance" (NSA).

According to Sourcewatch, the NSA was a front group formed circa 1993 by Philip Morris Tobacco Company was formed, "to give the appearance of grassroots opposition to smoke-free laws without its corporate involvement being detected."