Recently, Bridge Project conducted six focus groups with swing voters in swing states on the billionaire Koch brothers as they gear up to spend nearly $900 million pushing their agenda and backing their puppet candidates in 2016. The focus groups revealed that to know the Kochs is to dislike them and that voters are turned off by their harmful, self-enriching agenda also backed by their puppet candidates.

National Journal reviewed the 12 hours of focus group footage, finding: “The voters pro­fessed a strong dis­like of the Koch broth­ers, their money, and the in­flu­ence they wield…. In most cases, by the end of the roughly hour-long ses­sions, the gathered men and wo­men said they would be less likely to back then next Re­pub­lic­an nom­in­ee for pres­id­ent be­cause they feared that as pres­id­ent, he or she would have no choice to im­ple­ment the Koch agenda.” (Those fears are well founded — just a few […]

Charles and David Koch — opponents of campaign finance reform — have a $900-million plan to get money out of politics. In brief, it involves spending $900 million to elect candidates who similarly oppose campaign finance reform — and it doesn’t make any sense.

In an recent interview with Yahoo News, Charles Koch ludicrously claimed that he and his brother are spending big in the name of “less money in politics.” Here‘s how the exchange went down:

Yahoo News: Campaigns have become so expensive now, Charles. Is there too much money in politics, and is it because rich people are putting too much money into politics?

Charles Koch: No, it’s because of corporate welfare. It’s — why are 6 out of the 10 most prosperous counties around Washington, D.C.? The estimates are that, that there are over $5 trillion — out of a $15 trillion economy — that goes to corporate […]

Ahead of her new, highly anticipated book on the Koch brothers out in January, don’t miss Jane Mayer’s take on Ken Vogel’s “blockbuster” story from yesterday that exposed the Kochs’ “secretive operation that conducts surveillance and intelligence gathering on its liberal opponents.” Mayer wrote the original piece that pulled the curtain back on the Kochs’ true motivations in building a network that spends millions to push their agenda and her book promises to be equally revealing.

Read more:

The New Yorker: Do the Kochs Have Their Own Spy Network?

Mounting evidence suggests that Charles and David Koch may be looking to Ben Carson as the GOP’s last best hope to beat out Donald Trump. Yes, Carson, whose own advisers admit that it’s a constant challenge to “make him smart.” Well, desperate times and all that.

It’s no secret that Charles and David Koch have for months been concerned about Donald Trump’s rise and GOP primary dominance. Now, it seems they’re doing what they can to help out Carson, who was just last week floated as a potential Koch-supported nominee by Americans for Prosperity President Tim Philips.

No one’s accusing Carson of having a sophisticated grasp of policy or the salient issues of the day, but that hasn’t stopped the Kochs from giving Carson a boost in the form of access to their voter file data through a Koch-linked corporation, “Demeter Analytics Services, Inc.”

FEC filings show that Carson America, […]

With Freedom Partners’ 2014 990 out today, we’re finally getting a glimpse at the $129 million the Koch network spent through shadowy groups to push their self-enriching agenda and elect their puppet candidates in 2014.

Freedom Partners is more than just a coordinator for the secretive mega-donor conferences that candidates of all levels audition at and a pass-through for the usual Koch network groups — Americans for Prosperity, Concerned Veterans for America, Generation Opportunity, the LIBRE Initiative, and others: it’s a way for the Koch network to funnel millions to groups across the far-right that back their agenda and help elect their candidates. 

Check out our five things not to miss in Freedom Partner’s newly released tax filing. As the Kochs’ promise to spend nearly $900 million in 2016, imagine what we’ll learn about what their money bought them in this election, but not until November 2017, of course.

“The Koch ATM,” Freedom Partners, says […]

The Kochs are tired of just being told what they want to hear; they want to see action from their politicians.

The last few weeks have made it abundantly clear: the Koch brothers always expect something in return from the candidates they support. 

Last week, Charles Koch told USA Today that if Republicans don’t vote the way they want, they should expect a primary:

Asked what he wants to hear from Republican contenders vying for his support, Koch said: “It’s not only what they say.”

“If they start saying things we think are beneficial overall and will change the trajectory of the country, then that would be good, but we have to believe also they’ll follow through on it, and by and large, candidates don’t do that.”

Also last week, POLITICO exposed how the Kochs secretly bought the 2014 Iowa Republican primary for Joni Ernst. The Kochs chose Ernst because she would put their self-enriching agenda ahead of Iowa.

In the bombshell […]