Tracie Sharp

Tracie Sharp, president of the State Policy Network (SPN) since January 2000, had previously served on its board of directors for 14 years (see the State Policy Network article for more). She was the executive director and one of the founders of Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon's market-oriented think tank, from 1991 to 1999. She worked in the areas of education and social security privatization. This article is a breakout of the State Policy Network article. Please see State Policy Network for more.

In 2012, a list of 2010 funders of an SPN member think tank in Texas, the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), that was disclosed to the IRS was inadvertently made public. The list of funders revealed is an important case study in how SPN's member think tanks are funded, and by whom. Koch Industries, for example, gave $159,834 directly to TPPF, in addition to $69,788.61 from the Claude R. Lambe Foundation, which is a Koch Family Foundation. SPN itself gave TPPF $49,306.90, but what's more, Tracie Sharp, SPN's executive director, was the contact person for an additional $495,000. These two grants, for $300,000 and $195,000, were listed as being received from the "State Think Tank Fund" and the "Government Transparency Fund," respectively -- two funds about which virtually nothing is known.

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council
Sharp represents SPN as a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). She is a member of ALEC's Education Task Force and Health and Human Services Task Force. She was the recipient of ALEC's 2009 Private Sector Member of the Year Award.

Other Ties and Background
Sharp is also a trustee to the Roe Foundation of Greenville, South Carolina, the foundation endowed by South Carolina hardware store millionaire and SPN founder Thomas A. Roe, and to the Special Hope Foundation, a "family foundation supporting innovative projects to assist the causes of the physically, emotionally, and developmentally disabled," a biographical note on the SPN website states. In 1993, Sharp founded HOPE-Oregon, a Portland, Oregon-based "private volunteer effort to provide health care education services to low-income families."

According to SPN, "Previously, Ms. Sharp worked with Washington State radio commentator and Republican Party leader John Carlson as director of programs at the Washington Institute for Policy Studies in Seattle."

Contact information
State Policy Network PO Box 5208 Richmond, CA 94805 E-mail: Sharp At spn.org Direct phone: (510) 965-9700