Richard Mellon Scaife

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{{cquote|You fucking Communist cunt, get out of here!<ref>''Lies (and the Lying Liars That Tell Them): A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right-Wing'' by Al Franken (2003) Dustton. ISBN  0525947647.</ref>{{rp|141}}}}
'''Richard Mellon Scaife''' {{lived|1932|2014}} was a nephew of [[Andrew W. Mellon]] and billionaire heir to the Mellon family fortune made on [[oil]], [[banking crisis|banking]], and [[aluminum]] [[business]]es. He was the chief financier behind the "Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy" that spent most of the 1990s trying (and failing) to get [[Bill Clinton]] out of the [[White House]]. A number of [[conspiracy theories]] surround Scaife, and he himself was given to whacked-out conspiracy theories.

In the 1960s and '70s, he donated to the campaigns of [[Barry Goldwater]] and [[Richard Nixon]] (some of the money for which ended up in a [[Watergate]] slush fund) and helped co-found the [[Heritage Foundation]].

During the 1990s, he bankrolled a number of organizations and news outlets that attempted to dig up dirt on Clinton, including [[Accuracy in Media]], ''American Spectator'', Christopher Ruddy of Scaife's ''Pittsburgh Tribune-Review'' (who ironically gave Clinton a positive review in a 2007 article<ref>[http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/bill-clinton-gives-interview-to-former-foe/ Bill Clinton Gives Interview to Former Foe], ''New York Times''</ref>) and Judicial Watch, which filed a number of lawsuits against Clinton. These groups pushed a number of Clinton conspiracy theories, mostly surrounding the death of [[Vince Foster]] and allegations that Clinton had run a [[drug]] smuggling ring in [[Arkansas]] in collaboration with the [[CIA]]. A common [[moonbat]] conspiracy is that Scaife had intimate ties to Kenneth Starr and the two orchestrated the vast right-wing conspiracy in a smoke-filled room somewhere.<ref>Starr did in fact belong to a couple of Scaife-funded organizations including the Washington Legal Foundation, but there is no [[evidence]] the two met to work together against Clinton. In addition, it was Starr's investigation that ruled Foster's death a [[suicide]] while Scaife-backed [[propaganda]] organs continued to push the conspiracy theories.</ref> Another moonbat conspiracy is that Scaife put a hit on Steve Kangas, a Las Vegas-based investor in [[gambling]] operations and proprietor of a website called "[[Liberal]]ism Resurgent" (which contained anti-Scaife material), who committed suicide in 1999.<ref>[http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/19990314suicide1.asp Death Sparks Conspiracy Theory], ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette''</ref>

Scaife himself had an interest in [[intelligence (government)|intelligence]] operations and was prone to seeing "[[Red-baiting|Reds under the bed]]" and some of his outlets like Accuracy in Media push [[John Birch Society|Bircher-esque]] conspiracy theories about [[socialist]] and [[United Nations]] takeovers of the [[US]]. They are also big backers of [[global warming conspiracy theory|global warming conspiracy theories]] and [[denialism]].

In a [[stopped clock|notable exception]] to his usual nutty politics, he was [[pro-choice]] and donated to [[Planned Parenthood]], as well as to the [[Reason (magazine)|Reason]] Foundation, which advocates against the [[War on Drugs]].

==See also==
* [[Andrew W. Mellon]], Mellon Scaife's [[wingnut]] uncle and [[Herbert Hoover]]'s Secretary of the Treasury whose advice on how to deal with the [[Great Depression]] was to ''"[[Austrian School|liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate farmers, liquidate real estate... it will purge the rottenness out of the system]]. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more [[moral]] life. Values will be adjusted, and [[Social Darwinism|enterprising people will pick up from less competent people]]."''
* [[Christopher K. Mellon]], a distant relative
*[[Koch Industries|The Koch Brothers]], the 21st century's heirs to Scaife's scoundrelcy (albeit not quite so in control as some of the far-left claims, they're powerful enough)
*[[Newsmax]], now mostly owned by Christopher Ruddy

==External links==
*[http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Richard_Mellon_Scaife Sourcewatch entry]
*[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/scaifemain050299.htm Scaife: Funding Father of the Right], ''Washington Post''
*[http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/02/scaife200802 A Vast Right-Wing Hypocrisy], ''Vanity Fair''

==References==
*Burnett, Thom. ''Conspiracy Encyclopedia''. pp. 128-130 [http://books.google.com/books?id=4QBjaEMELSsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=conspiracy+encyclopedia&hl=en&src=bmrr&ei=U5n7TdD5NoLe0QHtudmOAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=scaife&f=false]
*Knight, Peter (ed.) ''Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia''. pp. 645-646 [http://books.google.com/books?id=qMIDrggs8TsC&pg=PA645&lpg=PA645&dq=richard+mellon+scaife+conspiracy+theories&source=bl&ots=tfajPUxoD3&sig=GzcR7AcLCld_aOWAwJVCijpmHLQ&hl=en&ei=35b7TfbyKeHn0QHv9ej2Aw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CFgQ6AEwCTgK#v=onepage&q=richard%20mellon%20scaife%20conspiracy%20theories&f=false]

==References==
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[[Category:Billionaires]]
[[Category:Business]]
[[Category:Global warming denialists]]
[[Category:Right-wing activists]]

Categories: Billionaires, Business, Global warming denialists, Right-wing activists