Real Koch Facts

Kochs Block Ex-Im Reauthorization, Unironically Attack GE For Outsourcing

September 25, 2015

Another shark-jumping episode of Koch hypocrisy with shades of performance art: The Koch brothers, leading opponents of the Export-Import Bank’s reauthorization, now have the audacity to attack a company forced to outsource jobs thanks to the lapse of the Ex-Im Bank’s charter.

Koch front-group Freedom Partners Thursday sent out what amounts to opposition research on General Electric — attacking the company for outsourcing jobs, and aiming to rebut the corporation’s argument that they were forced to do so in light of the Ex-Im Bank’s expiration.

“We noticed that General Electric updated its ransom note over American jobs this morning. But did someone forget to tell Jeff Immelt that GE has been systematically moving jobs overseas for years before the lapse of the Ex-Im Bank?” said a Freedom Partners spokesman in a released statement.

This is just the latest Koch-coordinated Ex-Im hit on GE, piling on a recent blog post from a senior fellow […]

Koch Crony On Pharma Bro’s 4,000% Drug Price Increase: NBD

September 24, 2015

Earlier this week, “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli made news when his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, raised prices on a life-saving drug byroughly 4,000 percent. Shkreli’s decision to raise the cost of Daraprim, a prescription used primarily by HIV patients, from $13.50 per pill to $750 per pill, has caused public outcry. At the same time, Koch crony and former Americans for Prosperity Vice President Phil Kerpen argued against prescription price controls in an Idaho Press-Tribune op-ed:

Health insurance premiums are rising because of Obamacare. And there is still one year left of the assorted reinsurance programs designed to mask premium increases, suggesting next year’s jumps will be even more eye-popping.

…

The damage done by applying price controls to prescription drugs will be catastrophic.

Kerpen is now president of American Commitment, which received 87 percent of its funding from Koch organizations between 2011 and 2013. Along with AFP, Kerpen also previously worked for Koch […]

Plain Dealer Ed Board Slams Kasich For Siding With The Kochs Over Ohio On Ex-Im

September 23, 2015

“Befuddling.” That’s how the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s editorial board characterized John Kasich siding with the Koch-driven opposition to the Export-Import Bank.

The Kochs have made opposing the Ex-Im Bank a key factor in gaining their support because killing the bank boosts the billionaire Kochs’ bottom line, as revealed in a recent 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.

As the Plain Dealer notes, GE supports thousands of jobs in Ohio and the company’s move to Ohio could have brought more jobs to the state, but instead of doing what’s best for the Buckeye state, Kasich put the interests of the billionaire Koch brothers first.

Cleveland Plain Dealer (editorial): Gov. John Kasich’s stance on Ex-Im Bank hurts Ohio

A recent Wall Street Journal report suggested General Electric Co. had written off […]

NEW REPORT: A Koch Confessional

September 23, 2015

Or How The Kochs Have Attacked Pope Francis While Pushing A Self-Enriching Agenda That’s On The Wrong Side Of The Holy Father

As Pope Francis arrives in Washington, Bridge Project is releasing a new report titled, “A Koch Confessional, Or How The Kochs Have Attacked Pope Francis While Pushing A Self-Enriching Agenda That’s On The Wrong Side Of The Holy Father.”

The Kochs are terrified of the pope’s teachings because they threaten what the billionaire brothers worship most, their bank accounts. Bridge Project’s new report, reveals how the Koch network has attacked Pope Francis and targeted his teachings on the economy, immigration, climate change, fair pay, and more.

At the crux of the differences between the billionaire Koch brothers and Pope Francis is their starkly contrasting world views. While the pope has pleaded for his followers to reject the “trickle-down” policies championed by billionaires like the Kochs, and pushed immigration as a “hallmark for our society,” the Kochs have used […]

Pat Toomey Rakes In More Koch Ca$h

September 22, 2015

In the Senate, Pat Toomey has championed the Koch agenda at the expense of Pennsylvania, putting billionaire special interests and Wall Street ahead of Pennsylvania’s middle class and working families including fighting to repeal Dodd-Frank and opposing raising the minimum wage.

And now the Kochs are doing everything they can to ensure that Pat Toomey — and their other puppet candidates — get reelected because they can’t afford to lose those who do their bidding in Washington.

Revealed today, Charles and David’s political action committee cut Toomey another $2,500 check in August, bringing the grand total of Koch PAC cash that Toomey’s campaign has taken to $7,500 for the cycle and $18,000 over the course of his career.

That’s not the only Koch cash Pat Toomey has in his pocket. Since 2010, Toomey has received over $16,000 from the personal accounts of the Koch family.

But cash isn’t the only way the Kochs are propping up Toomey. […]

“King Of Kochworld” Falls But Rest Of GOP Field Ready To Put The Kochs First

September 22, 2015

Scott Walker was the Kochs’ chosen one, the “King of Kochworld.” The Kochs hand-picked Walker because of his deep commitment to putting the Kochs’ self-enriching agenda ahead of everything else. On nearly every single issue, Walker was the Kochs’ model candidate. Whether it was attacking health care reform, slashing funding for education, working to disenfranchise voters, or hurting working families, when the Kochs said jump, Scott Walker said, “How high?”

While the Kochs won’t get a return on their investment under a President Walker, the rest of the GOP field is just as cozy with the Kochs and committed to moving the billionaires’ self-interested, profit-maximizing agenda forward.

In the end, whomever the Republican nominee is, the Kochs won’t lose. Like Walker, the rest of the GOP field is committed to toeing the Koch line:

Jeb Bush is no stranger in Koch country, as his ties to the billionaire brothers run deep. Jeb’s association […]

Pope You Lie

September 18, 2015

“[W]hen the Pope chooses to act and talk like a leftist politician,” writes Koch–funded U.S. Congressman Paul Gosar (R-AZ), “then he can expect to be treated like one.”

The latest Republican to gin up the Pope-Hate-And-Outrage Machine, Rep. Paul Gosar yesterday announced his plan to boycott Pope Francis’ address to Congress, in an opinion column for the conservative blog Town Hall:

If the Pope plans to spend the majority of his time advocating for flawed climate change policies, then I will not attend…As the leader of the Catholic Church, and as a powerful voice for peace throughout the world, His Holiness has a real opportunity to change the climate of slaughter in the Middle East…not the fool’s errand of climate change.

To break this down:

This is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, a self-described “proud Catholic…taught to think critically, to welcome debate and discussion,” diminishing the urgency of […]

Rand Paul, LIBRE Team Up To Push The Koch Agenda In Las Vegas

September 17, 2015

This evening Senator Rand Paul will meet with the LIBRE Initiative at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas. The LIBRE Initiative calls itself a “grassroots organization” that was created to “empower Hispanics” but it’s really a front group pushing the Koch brothers’ agenda.

Despite efforts to integrate into the Latino community, the Republican-operative run organization has a reputation for taking positions that will hurt Latinos and immigrants. Their executive director, Daniel Garza, has testified against President Obama’s protections against deportation. The front group also opposes raising the minimum wage and wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, stances which will disproportionately affect the very demographic they say they represent.

Paul’s meeting with the LIBRE Initiative might as well be another attempt to pander to Charles and David Koch. Read more about the LIBRE Initiative in Bridge Project’s report, “Kochs’ LIBRE Initiative Is Harmful To Hispanic Community.”

Big Koch Brothers Loss Is A Big Win For Missouri Working Families

September 17, 2015

To the great relief of working families and the great disappointment of the Kochs, Missouri will not become a right-to-work state. Despite heavy spending and campaign efforts by the Missouri chapter of the Kochs’ political long arm, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), they did not win enough votes to overturn Governor Jay Nixon’s veto of the legislation.

In May, the Missouri Senate passed the right-to-work bill, 21-13 — just two votes shy of being able to overturn Gov. Nixon’s promised veto.

AFP Missouri spent the summer going all in on right-to-work. According to St. Louis Public Radio, AFP Missouri spent $200,000 running a TV ad campaign. The Missouri Times reported that the Koch group also released a letter “signed by 55 different organizations… [that] details the economic impact statistics that right to work legislation has had on the 25 states that have adopted such measures.” In addition to their six-figure TV buy, AFP

Kochs Vs. The Pope: Koch Machine Gears Up To Attack Pope Francis

September 17, 2015

Pope Francis is set to visit the U.S. in just a few days, and the Koch spin machine is already firing on all cylinders to attack his teachings because they threaten the billionaire brothers’ bottom line. Today, the Koch-backed Heartland Institute is holding a press conference in Philadelphia to target the pope’s teachings on climate change and the economy.

For months, ever since Pope Francis signaled that he would be issuing an encyclical definitively stating that climate change is man-made and calling for swift action, the Koch brothers’ network has been trying to get ahead of the narrative.

CNN has described the Koch-funded Heartland Institute as “the headquarters for the U.S.-based opposition to Pope Francis’ climate change plans.” Heartland has “churned out podcasts, videos, and white papers, and recently arranged a trip to Rome — all in an effort to build opposition to the pope’s environmental message.”

From Eddie Vale, Vice President of […]