Following the Money Behind State Level Anti-ESG Campaigns with Lauren Windsor American Family Voices
May 19, 2026
Lauren Windsor, investigative journalist, partner in Democracy Partners, and the Executive Director of American Family Voices, joins Deepak Puri, Founder of The Democracy Labs, to discuss state treasurers, particularly GOP members of the State Financial Officers Foundation, who wield significant power to influence state policies on climate change, diversity, LGBTQ+ rights, and access to women's healthcare. State budgets are often intentionally complex to discourage public scrutiny and can involve hundreds of millions or billions of dollars in spending on politically motivated projects.
The job of the investigative reporter is to shine a light on the coordination of efforts across states and reveal conflicts of interest and misuse of authority. A recent story by Lauren is about apparent pay-to-play in Alaska, suggesting former Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum helped Governor Mike Dunleavy advance LNG pipeline and hyperscale data center initiatives using taxpayer rainy-day funds.
Deepak and Lauren talk about
- Exposing bad actors in the right-wing networks fighting against climate and diversity initiatives
- Efforts of state financial officers run by conservative governors to coordinate on policy and model bills
- Conflict of interest in Alaska of former Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum
- Why voters need to pay attention to who is running for state treasurer
#LAWindsor #TheDemLabs #StateTreasurers #VoterSuppression #VoterEngagement #ProgressiveActivism #CivicEngagement #PoliticalActivism #DemocracyInAction #Election2026 #AlaskaPolitics #AdamCrum #Alaska #PublicFinance #ESG #AntiESG #ClimateRisk #GoodGovernance #Corruption #SFOF #LeonardLeo #LNG #Arctic #Democracy #Accountability
