ProgressNow, previously the Rocky Mountain Progressive Network, is a

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

501(c)(4) A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)) and is one of over 29 types of nonprofit organizations exe ...

advocacy organization in the United States. Founded in 2003, ProgressNow bills itself as a network of state based communications hubs which act as a marketing department for progressive ideas.

History and mission

ProgressNow was created in 2003 as a response to the

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

Independence Institute. It has since grown a subscriber base of more than 350,000 grassroots activists in Colorado. In 2006, ProgressNow began to expand its network outside of Colorado and has since created ProgressNow Partners Networks in twenty-one states: Alliance for a Better Minnesota, Alliance for a Better Utah, Battle Born Progress (formerly ProgressNow Nevada), Better Georgia, Better Idaho,

Courage Campaign Courage California (formerly Courage Campaign) is a state-based 501(c)(4) progressive grassroots advocacy organization founded in 2005 and based in California. The organization claims an online grassroots activism network of over 1 million member ...

(California),

Fuse Washington Fuse Washington is a Progressivism in the United States, progressive advocacy organization in Washington state. It is a member of the ProgressNow network. Fuse, a 501(c)(4) organization, along with its sister organization the Fuse Innovation Fu ...

, Granite State Progress (New Hampshire), Keystone Progress (Pennsylvania),

One Wisconsin Now One Wisconsin Now is a liberal issue advocacy organization based in Wisconsin that focuses on advancing "progressive leadership and values." Created in 2006, One Wisconsin Now rose to prominence in 2006 when the group unsuccessfully opposed the e ...

, ProgressNow Arizona, ProgressNow Colorado, Progress Florida, ProgressIowa, Progress Michigan, Progress Missouri, ProgressNow New Mexico, Progress North Carolina, ProgressOhio, Progress Texas, and ProgressVirginia. As of 2015, the organization reported that it had an email list of over four million names. The first chairman was Rollie Heath, a Boulder executive who gained office as the 18th district's state senator in 2008. Heath was followed by Dr. Albert Yates, the former president of

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

. The founder of ProgressNow is

Michael Huttner Michael Huttner is an American Attorneys in the United States, attorney, author, crisis communications expert and political entrepreneur. Huttner is a partner witCulture of Giving Backto advise donors on progressive causes and he also serves as Ch ...

, a

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

and University of California Hastings College of Law graduate and lawyer turned political strategist. The current executive director is Arshad Hasan, who previously led Democracy for America. Its founding board members included

Wes Boyd Wes Boyd (born c.1960) is an American software developer and political organizer. In 1987, he and his wife Joan Blades co-founded Berkeley Systems, a San Francisco Bay area software company.Bozman, Jean S. (1990)Macs talk to visually impaired, '' ...

, founder of MoveOn.org, Rob McKay, chairman of the board of the Democracy Alliance and president of the McKay Family Foundation, Jared Polis, elected in 2008 as the U.S. Congressman for Colorado’s 2nd District, and

Ted Trimpa Ted Trimpa (born February 12, 1967) is a Democratic strategist, lobbyist and political consultant based in Denver, Colorado. He is the founder and CEO of Trimpa Group, a consulting firm.Vyong, Andy (August 6, 2010). Colorado Political Operative T ...

(the current chair), an attorney and government relations expert. The group co-sponsored a blogging workspace, 'The Big Tent', during the

2008 Democratic National Convention The 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for president and vice president. The conventi ...

. In 2007, progressnow.org received multiple honors from the Golden Dot Awards (online political advocacy awards). In 2010, the book ''The Blueprint: How Democrats Won Colorado, and Why Republicans Everywhere Should Care'' by Adam Schrager and Rob Witwer described ProgressNow as the "crown jewel" of the progressive investors' effort to flip the state.

Affordable Care Act advocacy

In October 2013, ProgressNow Colorado released a controversial series of advertisements promoting Obamacare. According to the '' Denver Post'', one advertisement "features a woman flashing a thumbs up with one hand and holding a packet of birth-control pills in the other. She is wrapped in a man's arm next to text that includes the sentence 'Let's hope he's as easy to get as this birth control.'" In response to inquiries about whether taxpayer funding was used for the advertising campaign, the executive director of ProgressNow Colorado said, "I know some people are saying this is a taxpayer-funded campaign...but that is just not the case." ProgressNow said the series of advertisements was paid for with donations and individual contributions, and the organization denied association with state agencies.

Plagiarism claims

In November 2013, ProgressNow Michigan released a report critiquing the Mackinac Center, a Michigan-based, free-market think tank. Portions of the report were copied, without attribution, from a 2011 article in '' Mother Jones''. The report also copied an explanatory note from a report written by the Center for Media and Democracy. After accusations of plagiarism were published in the ''

Daily Caller Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'', ProgressNow changed the passages in question and added a disclaimer to the front page of the report, stating "An earlier version of this report inadvertently left out two citations, which have been included in this version."

Cardboard Cory

ProgressNow Colorado was notably a part of a four year campaign to oppose Republican U.S.

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Cory Gardner. A group of activists and ProgressNow came up with the concept of a cardboard cutout of Garner, and developed and participated in events, press conferences, and rallies with the stand-in from 2017 until Gardner's defeat in 2020.

References

External links