Joining forces.

• Author: Conniff, Ruth
• Position: Editor's Note - The Progressive and the Center for Media and Democracy merger - Editorial

Get ready, friends, I have some really big news: I am thrilled to announce that The Progressive is joining forces with the Center for Media and Democracy.

We are merging our two national, progressive nonprofits, and I could not be more excited about what this means, both for the magazine and for the broader progressive movement.

The Progressive was founded by Fighting Bob La Follette early in the last century to take on the original robber barons--Big Oil, the railroad trusts, and all the forces of greed working to undermine the public interest. The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), through its research into the Koch Brothers, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), dirty industry, and dark-money groups, is leading the fight against the robber barons of today.

CMD made ALEC a household word--and set off a rush to the exits by the group's corporate membership--when it broke the biggest leak in that nefarious organization's history. Now we know that corporations actually vote with friendly state legislators on model legislation behind closed doors before it is foisted on unsuspecting citizens.

By tearing the mask off ALEC on its ALECexposed website, CMD performed a great public service.

And that's not all.

The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Guardian, and many other news outlets regularly cite CMD's investigative research on issues like the Koch Brothers and mapping the rightwing infrastructure. With its original research and websites, CMD has a powerful and respected voice that will strength The Progressive's impact.

Over the last year, The Progressive has been working closely with CMD. We relied on its investigation into local homeland security targeting of Occupy activists for a cover story last year. CMD's work led to our cover story on the Keystone XL Pipeline last month. And, on the cover of this issue, we feature CMD's expose of Rex Sinquefield, a plutocrat in Missouri who is strangling the Show-Me state's public schools.

In March, The Progressive and CMD moved in together at our offices at 409 East Main Street in Madison. We cleaned up and put a fresh coat of paint on the walls. We moved around our cubicles, so the two staffs are entirely integrated. We are blending our families into one better, stronger operation.

The new Progressive, Inc., will be a cutting-edge research, educational, and journalistic powerhouse. We will have a greater reach, a bigger impact, and a sturdier financial base.

Lisa Graves is our new...