Real Koch Facts

Fiorina Endorses Kochs’ VA Privatization Plan

November 13, 2015

Carly Fiorina just endorsed the Koch brothers’ plan to privatize the VA.

Today, at a townhall event hosted by Concerned Veterans for America, the Koch brothers’ “pro-veterans” front group, Fiorina threw her support behind the Koch-CVA privatization plan, saying:

No amount of tinkering around the edges by politically correct politicians is gonna solve this problem. We need top to bottom reform, and Concerned Veterans for America and the citizens of this nation are going to force top to bottom reform.

What Fiorina’s missing is that the CVA privatization plan is not a pro-veteran policy — veterans don’t like it: A recent bipartisan survey of veterans found that nearly “two-thirds of survey respondents oppose plans to replace VA health care with a voucher system.” And almost 60% of veterans said they’d be less inclined to support a candidate shilling a VA privatization scheme.

But Fiorina’s support for the plan isn’t about veterans. […]

Why The New Koch Revelations Are Important For 2016

November 13, 2015

Yesterday’s bombshell POLITICO report revealed:

The Koch brothers gave their “blessing” to a political consulting firm, Aegis Strategic, to create a new, secretive nonprofit that spent hundreds of thousands in dark money on strategically timed attack ads to take out a rival of one of the Kochs’ chosen candidates in a Republican primary.

At the same time, Freedom Partners ran ads against the general election opponent of the Kochs’ chosen candidate.

After the Kochs’ chosen candidate won the GOP primary, the same political consulting firm helped raise hard money for the Kochs’ candidate at a Koch donor confab where the candidate also personally thanked Koch network donors.

What it means for 2016:

The Kochs are willing to play ball in GOP primary races and spend serious money attacking Republican rivals of their chosen candidates through dark money non groups.

With the Kochs’ success of parachuting in with new, secret groups in 2014, why wouldn’t they […]

Will Koch Pollution Force 2016 GOP Convention To Relocate?

November 12, 2015

When the GOP gathers at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena for the 2016 Republican National Convention next July, it’ll encounter extensive Koch contamination — and not just within its own Koch-infested party infrastructure, because Charles and David Koch are similarly responsible for the algal blooms wreaking havoc on the waters of Lake Erie.

Destructive fertilizer runoff has over the years produced economically and environmentally devastating algal blooms on the lake’s surface — and, according to The Plain Dealer, last summer’s was the worst yet.

The algal bloom was found to be slightly larger than the former record-holder from 2011, as well as the 2014 bloom that polluted the drinking water in Toledo and forced the shutdown of the city’s water-treatment system for three days.

This summer’s bloom forced several private beaches to close and damaged tourism and sports fishing, as well. The USEPA estimates that the blooms are responsible for $64 million in losses per […]

The Kochs Don’t Need To Endorse

November 11, 2015

Sound the alarm — BIG NEWS — Charles Koch revealed to USA Today that he and his billionaire brother aren’t backing a candidate in the GOP primary. That’s because they don’t need to endorse: no matter who wins the GOP nomination they’ll be a puppet of the Koch brothers and beholden to their agenda that stacks the deck in favor of billionaires like them.

Here’s five takeaways from Charles Kochs’ latest stop on his PR tour:

The Kochs see the light – they’re not endorsing in the GOP primary because every candidate is beholden to them & backs their agenda.

Charles Koch must have come to the same conclusion we’ve made about the GOP primary field: Why bother endorsing? Every Republican candidate in the field is a winner for the Kochs. From Marco Rubio to Ted Cruz and Ben Carson, the Kochs have been successful in ensuring each GOP candidate is 100% beholden to […]

GOP Needs The Kochs To Win In 2016, AFP President Warns

November 11, 2015

Without a “bold agenda,” warned Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips Tuesday on Fox News, Republicans cannot win the presidency in 2016. And with that, the Kochs sent the GOP a message: You can’t win without us in 2016 — and you’ll have to go all in for the Koch agenda to get our support.

In the interview, the Koch group’s president name-dropped Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Ben Carson, giving them a not-so-subtle nod that they remain top contenders for the Koch network’s backing in 2016. But Phillips also made it clear that nothing’s a given: Candidates who want a crack at the Kochs’ $900 million have to go big and bold on the Koch agenda.

And we saw big — if not, bold — Koch pandering at Tuesday’s debate. From laughing off minimum wage increases to calling for Wall Street deregulation and massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the field […]

Kochs’ AFP Recycles False & Disproven Attacks In Colorado

November 11, 2015

In hopes of buying another Colorado U.S. Senate seat for the billionaire Koch brothers, Koch political front group Americans for Prosperity is out with a new desperate and misleading attack ad, POLITICO reports.

Unsurprisingly, AFP’s new ad recycles false and disproven claims that they’ve made before.

In 2014, AFP and other Koch front groups spent millions on ads in Colorado attacking health care reform — ads that were deemed “misleading” and earned them multiple Pinocchios.

And their latest attack ad is more of the same.

With the Kochs already spending big, whichever Republican emerges from the crowded primary as the nominee will have to answer for the Kochs’ actions and agenda.

The Kochs treat Colorado as a personal, political, and business playground, but the games they play challenge the ability of Coloradans to govern their own state, put at risk the livelihoods of the state’s residents, and jeopardize the natural beauty that defines Colorado. For more on the Kochs’ […]

Veterans Day Reminder: The Kochs Are Using Their Veterans Group To Buy The 2016 Election

November 11, 2015

Consider this your Veterans Day reminder that the Koch brothers are using their dark-money “pro-veterans” front group — that actively works against veterans’ interests — to buy the 2016 election.

It’s no secret that Charles and David Koch use Concerned Veterans for America (CVA), their “veterans advocacy” front group, to promote their selfish, right-wing agenda. As highlighted in Bridge Project and Vote Vets’ joint-report, “The Vets Group That Fights Against Veterans,” CVA is, among other things, focused on pushing an anti-veterans plan to privatize the VA. And to be clear: VA privatization is not a popular idea — especially among veterans. Nearly two-thirds of veterans oppose the Koch-CVA plan to shift VA health care to a voucher system, according to a recent bipartisan poll. And almost 60% of respondents made it clear they wouldn’t support a candidate who supports the Koch’s VA privatization agenda.

Charles and David must feel a profound […]

New Poll Shows Two-Thirds Of Vets Oppose Koch Plan To Privatize VA

November 10, 2015

A new bipartisan poll out today shows veterans don’t support the Koch brothers’ plan to privatize veterans healthcare by turning it into a voucher system.

Koch front group Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) is a leading advocate for privatizing care for veterans but a new Vet Voice poll “found that almost two-thirds of survey respondents oppose plans to replace VA health care with a voucher system, an idea backed by some Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates.”

And as CVA pushes GOP candidates to back their plan to privatize the VA in exchange for a piece of the nearly $1 billion the Kochs plan to spend on 2016, the new poll shows 57% of veterans surveyed would be less likely to vote for candidates who supports “privatizing the VA health care system.”

This new data is just more evidence that despite claiming to work for veterans, CVA pushes the Koch agenda first and foremost and advocates for extreme right-wing […]

Ed Board Slams Toomey For Siding With The Kochs Over Pennsylvania

November 9, 2015

“Toomey has been actively working against Erie’s interests.”

The editorial board at the Erie Times-News slams Senator Pat Toomey today for siding with the Koch-driven opposition to the Export-Import Bank over what’s best for Pennsylvania.

The Kochs have made opposing the Ex-Im Bank a key factor in gaining their support because it benefits the billionaire Kochs’ bottom line, as revealed in a Bridge Project report, “Banking on Obstruction: Koch Profits Behind Opposition to Ex-Im Bank.” While Koch-owned companies have received a modest $16.2 million from the Export-Import Bank, Koch competitors have received massive benefits to the tune of $19.4 billion.

It’s crystal clear why Toomey is picking the Kochs’ interests over Pennsylvania — he needs their special interest cash to win a tough reelection race in 2016.

And the Kochs have already rewarded Pat Toomey for advancing their self-enriching agenda in Washington by giving his campaign $7,500 this cycle and $18,000 over the course of his career. And earlier […]

Kelly Ayotte, (Pro-Big Oil, Anti-Environment) “Conservationist”

November 6, 2015

On environmental issues, Kelly Ayotte votes with Koch interests 94% of the time. But to hear her tell it, she’s a full-fledged conservationist.

Facing a tough reelection challenge, the Big Oil ally is making herself out to be an environmentalist out of necessity, but that’s a tough play given her close ties with the anti-environmentalist Koch brothers and her history of standing up for polluters.

Here’s some background from New Republic’s Rebecca Leber:

[F]or much of [Ayotte’s] first Senate term, she was hard to distinguish from conservative Republicans who do not think climate change is real, or worth addressing. During her 2010 campaign, she signed an Americans for Prosperity pledge to vote against pro-climate legislation like cap-and-trade, and she received regular positive ratings from the group on her conservative voting record (and low ratings from environmentalists).

Like other Koch candidates, Ayotte’s been well compensated for her loyalty to the two brothers’ […]