Breaking: Explosion Reported at Boston Marathon's Finish Line

[Jan Klimkowski]

Since the Jamestown Foundation are curiously ignorant of the CVs of many of their board, let's do a little research for them:

James H. Burnley

Vice Chairman

No further information.

Wiki tells us that;

James Horace Burnley IV (30 July 1948, Greensboro, North Carolina) is an American politician and lawyer.

He graduated magna cum laude from Yale University in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts and got his Juris Doctor from Harvard University in 1973. From 1983 to 1987 he served as Deputy Secretary of Transportation until he became U.S. Secretary of Transportation outright from 1987 to 1989. In 1996, he was a senior advisor to Robert Dole's Presidential campaign.

He later served on the board of directors of Infrasoft, Inc. From 2001 to at least 2003 he worked as a lobbyist for the airline industry.

Burnley is on the board of FreedomWorks.

So, Burnley IV was a government minister under Reagan.

"FreedomWorks" eh?

Sourcewatch tells us that:

FreedomWorks is a non-profit organization heavily involved with the Tea Party movement.[1] It does not disclose its corporate donors, and its leaders are drawn heavily from the leadership of the Republican party and right-wing operatives. In 2006, the Washington Post revealed that from 2001 - 2006 FreedomWorks engaged in a hidden deal with insurance brokers whereby the brokers would sell high-deductible insurance policies and tax-free medical savings plans to individuals at a group discount, and those who purchased the plans would automatically be added FreedomWorks membership list. Customers unaware of the membership arrangement, for which they were charged extra fees. Membership was a condition of getting the discounted insurance plan. The arrangement was credited with helping increase the number of "members" FreedomWorks could claim belonged to the organization. About 16,000 people "joined" the organization in this manner, causing $638,040 to flow into FreedomWorks's coffers over 5 1/2 years in the form of monthly checks for "association fees" collected by the Medical Savings Insurance Company, that were forwarded to FreedomWorks.

And that funders included:

Funders in 2007 were:[48]

Armstrong Foundation, $20,000 for Economic Education and policy analysis
Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, $80,000 ($50,000 To support the work of the Portuguese American Leadership Council of the United States, $30,000 to support general operations)
Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, $100,000
Sarah Scaife Foundation, $200,000
Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation, $20,000

Bradleys and Scaifes, eh?

RightwingWatch adds:

Purpose

FreedomWorks avows that its mission is to advocate for "lower taxes, less government and more economic freedom for all Americans," by "combin[ing] the stature and experience of America's greatest policy entrepreneurs with the grassroots power of hundreds of thousands of volunteer activists."

Its "freedom agenda" is headed by privatizing Social Security, implementing a flat tax and abolishing the estate tax, limiting tort liability, and expanding school vouchers. Other issues FreedomWorks is involved in include judicial nominations (it favors eliminating the filibuster), industrial and environmental regulation, immigration, and welfare.

And:

President George W. Bush: "Folks, you've got to get to know this organization ... They have been doing a great job all over the country educating people."

Nothing to see here.

Move along....