About Foxes in the Henhouse

A nonpartisan site fact checking dual roles and conflicts of interest

Welcome to Foxes in the Henhouse.  We aim to uncover the obvious and not so obvious conflicts of interest and potential hidden agendas of members of our government as well as the advocacy groups and donors that support them.  In some ways this is merely a different and deeper type of political fact checking, though our approach requires a longer term look at individuals and groups to see if there is the appearance of impropriety.  Sometimes the appearance of a potential hidden agenda or dual role leads to actual problems, and other times it does not.

We will not focus on one political party or the other because there are enough foxes to go around.  When we do list a group or individual who is aligned with Democrats or Republicans we welcome our readers who support that party to refute any foxes allegations we suggest.  Most comments will be published – only those that are mean-spirited, use questionable facts, or contain any type of personal attack will be rejected.  We also welcome your contributions of material and ideas about potential foxes no matter where on the political spectrum you fall.  And with your permission we might publish your political fact check from a foxes perspective.

When it comes to dual roles, our goal is not necessarily to say whether the conflict of interest is “right” or “wrong”, especially when the person has done nothing to intentionally hide it.  In fact, in some cases both Democrats and Republicans will appoint those with dual roles for specific reasons, and in other cases special interest groups will not even try to hide their dual role.  Rather, we’d like to point out cases where any potential conflict of interest or dual role causes problems with the way decisions are made, such as when they violate a campaign promise or potentially lead to decisions that the public might not support if fully informed.  Of course we will certainly point out those cases where the political appointee or group seems to be intentionally hiding the dual role or conflict of interest.

Hidden agendas are a different animal by definition.  We will always take on those political special interest groups, appointees, and politicians themselves who seem to be hiding their true agenda.  Again, we don’t care if the group or individual is aligned with Democrats or Republicans, a hidden agenda is a problem and we will point out even the appearance of such.  We feel that hidden agendas are particularly dangerous and troublesome in any democracy, and our fact checking seeks to weed them out.

Our site is divided into the following sections, each covering a different category of potential henhouse fox:

Advocacy Groups: There might include “official” groups such as political party campaign committees, less official groups such as industry lobbying groups, or more secretive groups such as 527s and  Super PACs

Elected Leaders: Including any politician who was elected to office at the state or federal level, from the president to congress people to governors, no one is safe from our political fact checking.

Political Appointees: This includes those who were tapped to run government agencies or to decide on policy, such as business regulations, the environment, and foreign policy

Other Foxes: Includes groups that do not neatly fit anywhere else, like political polling companies, corporations, and unions

We strongly encourage political fact checking contributions from our visitors of possible henhouse foxes of any type. Use the “Suggest Content” page to do so, and note that we will only share whatever you put in that form as your name, and we will never share your e-mail. If you disagree with our categorization of a politician, special interest group, donor, or political appointee as being a henhouse fox, please use the comments forms on each page. All we ask is that comments posted are respectful and use rated PG language.

The A Collective Good Network of Sites

If you like the approach taken by this site and would like to explore other innovative ways of political fact-checking, and are also interested in political news and views that take an independent stance, you might enjoy one of our other sites:

• A Collective Good: Promoting unbiased education to help truly inform voters
• Campaign Report Cards: Your chance to grade the candidates, political parties and outside interest groups
• Political Truth Serum: What would happen if the candidates were given truth serum?  What are they hiding?
• Unaffiliated Voters: A site specifically for those who have been alienated by Democrats or Republicans or both!

Foxes Disclaimer: Our Political View

Thanks for visiting, and for your interest in the kind of innovative political fact checking we do here at Foxes in the Henhouse!