{{Short description|American libertarian think tank in Oregon}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}{{Infobox institute | name = Cascade Policy Institute | image = Cascade Policy Institute logo.png | image_size = | image_alt = | caption = | motto = | founder = | established = {{start date and age|1991}} | mission = | focus = Issues of policy (state and local) for Oregon | president = | chairman = | head_label = President and CEO | head = John A. Charles Jr. | faculty = | adjunct_faculty = | staff = | key_people = | budget = Revenue: $1.17 million<br>Expenses: $832,000<br>(FYE December 2024)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/931045925 | title=Nonprofit Explorer – Cascade Policy Institute | website=ProPublica | date=May 9, 2013 | access-date=2022-08-15}}</ref> | endowment = | debt = | num_members = | subsidiaries = | owner = | non-profit_slogan = | location = | city = | state = | country = | coor = {{Coord|45.4846|-122.7515|display=inline,title}} | address = 4850 SW Scholls Ferry Rd., S-103<br>Portland, Oregon 97225 | website = [http://www.cascadepolicy.org/ cascadepolicy.org] | footnotes = }} '''Cascade Policy Institute''' is a non-profit and non-partisan American libertarian think tank based in Oregon that focuses on state and local issues.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Cascade Policy Institute |url=https://cascadepolicy.org/about-cascade-policy-institute/ |access-date=2022-08-15 |website=Cascade Policy Institute}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Baker |first=Nena |date=May 22, 1997 |title=Cascade Policy Institute works to shine spotlight on free-market solutions |page=A20 |work=The Oregonian |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/417380152 |access-date=2022-08-15 |id={{ProQuest|417380152}} }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Green |first=Ashley |date=May 22, 1997 |title=Privatization movement finds tough sledding in Oregon Legislature |page=A20 |work=The Oregonian |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/417383257 |access-date=2022-08-15 |id={{ProQuest|417383257}}}}</ref> Founded in 1991, the institute advocates limited government in cost and size, and promotes privatization and other free market alternatives to government services.<ref name=":0" /> Cascade is a member of the State Policy Network,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Murphy |first=Tim |date=July–August 2022 |title=Zen and the Art of Political Espionage |volume=47 |pages=48–57, 65 |work=Mother Jones |issue=4 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2679862637 |access-date=2022-08-15 |id={{ProQuest|2679862637}}}}</ref> a network of conservative and libertarian think tanks in the United States and Canada.<ref>{{Cite web |title=State Policy Network (SPN) |url=https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/state-policy-network/ |access-date=2022-08-16 |website=Influence Watch}}</ref>
== Background == The institute was incorporated in January 1991, with the mission of "promoting public policies fostering individual liberty, personal responsibility, and economic opportunity."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Hickock |first=Kathryn |date=December 10, 2018 |title=Cascade Policy Institute Founder Steve Buckstein Retires After Nearly 28 Years |url=https://spn.org/blog/cascade-policy-institute-founder-steve-buckstein-retires-after-nearly-28-years/ |access-date=2022-08-16 |website=State Policy Network}}</ref> Steve Buckstein, a former investment broker influenced by the libertarian ideas of Milton Friedman, founded Cascade Policy Institute after leading a 1989 ballot initiative to introduce school choice to Oregon, which failed.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |date=May 26, 1995 |title=Conservative Spotlight: Cascade Policy Institute |work=Human Events |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=9506130015&lang=en-gb&site=eds-live&scope=site |access-date=2022-08-18 |via=EBSCOHost}}</ref> Co-founders of the institute included David Gore and Bill Udy, who served as the organization's first board members, along with Buckstein.<ref name=":1" /> Tracie Sharp, president of the State Policy Network, was also a co-founder of Cascade Policy Institute.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Mapes |first=Jeff |date=November 13, 2013 |title=Cascade Policy Institute benefits from secretive donor group but says it operates independently |work=The Oregonian |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/mapes/2013/11/cascade_policy_institute_benef.html |access-date=2022-08-16}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=Cascade Policy Institute |url=https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/cascade-policy-institute/ |access-date=2022-08-16 |website=Influence Watch}}</ref>
Buckstein led the organization as president until 2004, when he was succeeded by John A. Charles Jr. as president and CEO.<ref name=":1" /> Charles was previously the environmental policy director at Cascade Policy Institute.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |last=Shope |first=Dan |date=April 23, 2000 |title=Activist says government over-regulates the environment |work=The Morning Call |location=Allentown, Pennsylvania |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A71451737/STND |via=Gale OneFile}}</ref> Before joining Cascade, he was the executive director at the Oregon Environmental Council, where he worked as a lobbyist for 17 years.<ref name=":5" />
== Funding == In 1997, Cascade said it had more than 800 private donors, including individuals and corporations.<ref name=":0" /> Between 2007 and 2011, Cascade Policy Institute received $4.38 million in grants and donations.<ref name=":2" />
==Programs== Cascade publishes background reports and policy studies, which it encourages Oregon lawmakers to read and cite,<ref name=":0" /> and hosts conferences and forums.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":0" /> Issues they discuss include transportation, right-to-work laws, health care, education, land use, economic opportunity for small businesses, tax and budget policies, and the environment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Top Issues in Oregon |url=https://cascadepolicy.org/ |access-date=2022-08-18 |website=Cascade Policy Institute}}</ref>
===Children's Scholarship Fund–Oregon=== The Children's Scholarship Fund–Oregon (CSF-Oregon) is a program run by the Cascade Policy Institute, and is affiliated with the national Children's Scholarship Fund (CSF) network.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Children's Scholarship Fund–Oregon |url=https://cascadepolicy.org/projects/childrens-scholarship-fund/ |access-date=2022-08-18 |website=Cascade Policy Institute}}</ref> Kathryn Hickock, executive vice president at Cascade Policy Institute, also serves as director of CSF-Oregon.<ref name=":6">{{Cite news |last=Hickock |first=Kathryn |date=January 23, 2022 |title=Opinion: Oregon should expand choices to help all students succeed |work=Portland Tribune |url=https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/10-opinion/534472-427755-opinion-oregon-should-expand-choices-to-help-all-students-succeed |url-access=registration |access-date=2022-08-18}}</ref> According to Hickock, as of January 2022, Children's Scholarship Fund–Oregon has provided $3.5 million in partial tuition scholarships for low-income elementary school children to attend private schools.<ref name=":6" />
=== Better government competition === In the past, the Cascade Policy Institute sponsored a better government competition, soliciting proposals from the general public about how to improve state or local services.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Andrews |first=Lewis M. |date=June 27, 1995 |title=These Think Tanks Think Small |volume=87 |work=Christian Science Monitor |issue=148 |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9507076132&lang=en-gb&site=eds-live&scope=site |access-date=2022-08-18 |via=EBSCOHost}}</ref> The judges included community and political leaders from a wide range of backgrounds, but winning submissions reflected the institute's free-market philosophy.<ref name=":0" /> Winners of Cascade's better government competition included proposals to privatize prisons, liquor operations, and Driver and Motor Vehicle Services;<ref name=":0" /> reform Oregon's agricultural land use laws;<ref>{{Cite news |last=Brentmar |first=Ann |date=January 31, 1997 |title=Reform Oregon's land-use laws: regulations governing on-site agricultural processing must be expanded |work=Business Journal–Portland |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A19294605/ITOF |access-date=2022-08-18 |via=Gale OneFile}}</ref> and streamline adoption of children into foster families.<ref name=":3" /> In 1994, 8 out of 10 submissions selected for further development were introduced before the Oregon legislature.<ref name=":4" />
== Policy stances and impact ==
=== Education === Cascade Policy Institute has advocated school choice laws since the organization's inception over 30 years ago.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Education |url=https://cascadepolicy.org/education/ |access-date=2022-08-18 |website=Cascade Policy Institute}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> Cascade organized conferences supporting charter schools in 1993 and 1994, inviting speakers such as Jeanne Allen, founder of the Center for Education Research, one of the first nationwide groups promoting charter schools, and Ted Kolderie, the policy analyst who helped to develop the first charter school law in Minnesota which passed in 1991.<ref name=":8">{{Cite news |last=Cohen |first=Dan |date=June 2017 |title=Market mobilities/immobilities: Mutation, path-dependency, and the spread of charter school policies in the United States |work=Critical Studies in Education |url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=122786876&lang=en-gb&site=eds-live&scope=site |access-date=2022-08-18 |via=EBSCOHost}}</ref> Although charter school bills failed to pass in 1995 and 1997, Oregon finally passed its charter school law in 1999, which included compromises allowing for strong local district control rather than a "pure" free-market approach.<ref name=":8" />
=== Health care === A long-time advocate of medical savings accounts,<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 17, 1995 |title=New federal law boosts MSAs |work=Business Journal–Portland |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A19184948/ITOF |access-date=2022-08-19 |via=Gale OneFile}}</ref> Cascade Policy Institute sponsored numerous conferences on MSAs starting in 1995,<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":9">{{Cite web |title=Health Care |url=https://cascadepolicy.org/health-care/ |access-date=2022-08-19 |website=Cascade Policy Institute}}</ref> and published papers promoting MSAs as a free-market alternative to third-party payer systems.<ref name=":3" />
In 2010, it published a report, ''The Oregon Health Plan: A "Bold Experiment" that Failed'', critiquing the state's inability to meet its objectives.<ref name=":9" /> Analysis by Cascade based on U.S. census data showed that the percentage of uninsured Oregonians increased from 12.4 percent in 1990 to 15.3 percent in 1996 after the Oregon Health Plan was first implemented, contradicting a widely cited statistic from the Office of Oregon Health Plan Policy and Research that the percentage had dropped significantly during that period.<ref name=":10">{{Cite news |last=Hemingway |first=Mark |date=February 24, 2014 |title=The Guinea Pig State: Oregon's quarter-century of failed liberal health care experiments |work=The Weekly Standard |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A359015908/AONE |access-date=2022-08-19 |via=Gale OneFile}}</ref> Cascade also argued that by failing to compensate health care providers adequately, the Oregon Health Plan had caused health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to reduce their services to rural areas.<ref name=":10" />
=== Transportation and land use === Cascade has been called one of the leading neoliberal critics of Portland Metro's Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) program,<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last=Nielsen |first=Erik Solevad |title=Smart Growth Entrepreneurs: Partners in Urban Sustainability |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2016 |isbn=978-3319410289 |pages=155–156}}</ref> and has testified in front of the Oregon legislature, the TOD Steering Committee, and the Metro task force attempting to raise funds through bonds.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gallagher |first=Bill |date=July 8, 2019 |title=SW MAX LINE: THE BIG A$K |work=Southwest Connection |publisher=Pamplin Media Group |location=Portland Metro Area |url=https://pamplinmedia.com/scc/103-news/432937-339574-sw-max-line-the-big-ak |access-date=2022-08-20}}</ref> Sociologist Erik Solevad Nielsen explains that rather than a wholesale rejection of rail systems or sustainable development, Cascade Policy Institute's stance is that "Metro and TriMet should abandon urban planning, designing and development – and especially avoid high-risk projects."<ref name=":11" /> The institute has objected to subsidization of Portland's MAX light rail system and associated development projects, arguing that they have squandered millions of taxpayer dollars, often on projects that have in turn created more housing and transportation problems, and would have been better addressed through privatization.<ref name=":11" /> In John Charles's view, the fact that every TOD project undertaken requires subsidies means that the program by definition lacks an economically sustainable business model.<ref name=":11" />
In 2011, the Cascade Policy Institute allied with 1000 Friends of Oregon, a non-profit organization focused on sustainable land use.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal |last=Frick |first=Karen Trapenberg |date=March 2021 |title=No Permanent Friends, No Permanent Enemies: Agonistic Ethos, Tactical Coalitions, and Sustainable Infrastructure |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0739456X18773491 |journal=Journal of Planning Education & Research |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=62–78 |doi=10.1177/0739456X18773491 |s2cid=231809126 |via=EBSCOHost|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Acknowledging that they were "strange bedfellows", the two organizations issued a statement that they were nevertheless aligned in opposing certain aspects of a proposed megaproject to build a new bridge and light rail system connecting Oregon and Washington.<ref name=":12" /> Instead, they argued, Oregon should focus on seismically retrofitting the existing bridge; funding the construction of a new bridge through tolls; and increasing legislative oversight and management.<ref name=":12" />
== Staff == * John A. Charles Jr., president and CEO. He is the author of a chapter on Portland in ''A Citizens' Guide to Smart Growth'', published by The Heritage Foundation and Property and Environment Research Center.<ref name=":7" /> * Kathryn Hickock, executive vice president and director of Cascade's CSF-Oregon program. She is the co-author of ''15 Leadership Principles and Ronald Reagan: Use Them to Change Your World'' with Larry W. Dennis Sr., a Cascade board member.<ref name=":7" /> * Eric Fruits, vice president of research. He is a past contributor to ''The Economist'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', and ''USA Today''.<ref name=":7" />
==References== {{Portal|Oregon|Libertarianism|Conservatism}} {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{official|http://www.cascadepolicy.org}}
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Category:Research institutes in Oregon Category:Politics of Oregon Category:Organizations established in 1991 Category:Political and economic think tanks in the United States Category:Libertarian think tanks Category:Libertarian organizations based in the United States Category:1991 establishments in Oregon