After Jeb Bush’s tepid performance at the Koch’s American for Prosperity summit yesterday, Koch road show regular Ted Cruz is sure to get David Koch and other Koch network donors on their feet today with his fiery endorsement of the Koch agenda and his passionate commitment to moving it forward.

One of the Kochs’ chosen five, Cruz is a favorite at Koch events —  for years he’s taken center stage at AFP, Concerned Veterans for America, Freedom Partners, and other Koch network donor confabs.

And in the Senate, Cruz is one of the loudest advocates and defenders of the Koch agenda — putting special interests and billionaires like the Kochs ahead of middle class and working families.

So, in comparison to Jeb’s smattering of “polite applause,” will Ted Cruz’s deep allegiance to the Kochs and his audition today win him a piece of the $900 million the Kochs said they will spend on this election?

In conjunction with this weekend’s […]

Expecting for Marco Rubio to make news as the last candidate at the Koch/AFP summit? Think again. Rubio is no novice to delivering his carefully crafted argument to his favorite constituency: Charles and David Koch.

As one of the five on the Kochs’ shortlist, Rubio has had many opportunities to show his deep allegiance to the Kochs “libertarian” causes in hopes they’ll spend part of the $900 million they said they’ll spend in 2016 on his campaign.

Recently, Rubio’s taken every potential opportunity he can to suck up to the Kochs, but just like every other candidate this weekend, his Koch ties run long and deep. Additionally, Rubio’s been a strong supporter of the Koch agenda — opposing the Ex-Im Bank, fighting against net neutrality, blocking a raise to the minimum wage, and supporting tax cuts for rich special interests like the Kochs.

In his relentless attempt to win over the Kochs, Rubio has completely disregarded that what’s good for the […]

Jeb Bush and the Koch brothers’ roots run deep.

Though he may claim the contrary, Jeb’s attendance and role as a keynote speaker at today’s Koch-sponsored Defending the American Dream Summit is no coincidence. His relationship with the Kochs is far past budding — it’s been blossoming for years.

Jeb Bush’s association with Koch-linked groups goes back decades, and even predates his first gubernatorial election — continuing through his tenure as governor and to this day. Jeb’s even hired Koch network staffers to work on his presidential campaign.

So, protest as he might that he’s a stranger in Koch Country, rest assured: Jeb’s a native son.

In conjunction with this weekend’s Americans for Prosperity Defending the American Dream conference in Columbus, Bridge Project today also released a new report, “O-H-I-O Koch! Koch! Koch!: How The Kochs Have Polluted Ohio With Their Business & Politics,” detailing the extensive damage done by the Kochs’ subversive Ohio operations. Read more 

It’s been months in the works, but the last two weeks have seen more or less the entire GOP field go all in to join Donald Trump’s team of anti-immigrant policy extremists. Even Jeb Bush — long, though it appears erroneously, seen as the “reasonable voice” and the “adult in the room” on immigration — couldn’t stay away, refusing to back down from the offensive “anchor baby” rhetoric he used to describe American citizens born in the United States to immigrant parents.

This is a problem for the Kochs, who today and are hosting much of the GOP field at their “Defending the American Dream Summit” — one of the premiere events for GOP candidates to cozy up to Koch network donors.

It’s a problem because it exposes them. And it exposes the LIBRE Initiative, Charles and David’s Latino outreach front group, as the propaganda machine that it is.

It’s impossible […]

Throughout his career, Rob Portman has been an advocate of the Koch-promoted corporate interest agenda — supporting policies that facilitate outsourcing and corporate inversions — an agenda that benefits billionaires like Charles and David Koch at the expense of Ohio’s working and middle class families.

And now the Kochs are doing everything they can to ensure that Rob Portman — and their other puppet candidates — get reelected because they can’t afford to lose those who do their bidding in the U.S. Senate.

Earlier this week, the Koch brothers cut a $1.4 million slice of the $900 million they plan to deploy for the 2016 election to prop up Portman through attack ads from Koch front group Americans for Prosperity.

But that’s not the only Koch backing Portman is getting for his campaign.

Revealed today, Charles and David’s political action committee cut Portman another $1,000 check in July, bringing the grand total of Koch PAC cash that Portman’s campaign has taken to $8,000.

To […]

The shady group called Concerned Veterans of America is holding an event in Denver, Colorado. Bridge Project and VoteVets.org have recently exposed the political agenda of Concerned Veterans of America with a report titled, “The Vets Group That Fights Against Veterans.”

CVA promotes extreme right-wing policies that stand in opposition to nearly every other veterans group, as reported in the Military Times. These policies could seriously affect the 390,000 veterans living in Colorado.

Colorado veterans by the numbers in 2013, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs:

84,806 veterans receiving disability compensation or pension payments
80,645 veterans receiving monthing disability
7,664 inpatient visits to VA hospitals statewide
1,000,000 outpatient visits to VA hospitals statewide

From pushing a plan to privatize the VA healthcare system to proposing a transition from the current military retirement system to a private 401(k)-like plan, CVA follows the radical conservatism of the Koch brothers,working […]

Republicans are doing their best these days to channel front-runner Donald Trump, in last-ditch attempts to salvage their respective flailing presidential runs.

This week it’s been all immigration, all the time, with Trump — and subsequently others — calling for an end to “birthright citizenship,” which is, of course, guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

This xenophobic talk is getting Republicans of all stripes riled up, including, interestingly, a senior policy fellow at the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity Foundation. Here’s her grand contribution to the debate, made via Twitter:
@pvenable
Birthright citizenship = “anchor babies”.  Changing that policy would be an immigration game-changer.

How apropos that the GOP field will be taking a trip to Koch Country this Friday and Saturday, after spending the last week fueling up on anti-immigrant rhetoric. We have no doubt they’ll all have much to discuss in terms of strategies for ending birthright citizenship — and repealing the 14th Amendment, […]

With their second $1 million-plus ad buy of the 2016 cycle, the Koch brothers — this time, operating via their Americans For Prosperity front group — are well on their way to deploying the $900 million dollars they plan to spend this election.

Charles and David’s latest big-dollar intervention props up Ohio’s Rob Portman — yet another GOP backer of the Koch agenda that enriches billionaires like the Kochs at the expense of Ohio’s middle class and working families.

We know the Kochs will do whatever it takes — and spend as much as they need to — to ensure that their puppet candidates, happy to advance the Kochs’ legislative agenda in exchange for financial backing, get elected and stay in office.

Throughout his career, Rob Portman has been an advocate of a Koch-promoted corporate interest agenda — supporting policies that that facilitate outsourcing and corporate inversions — an agenda that benefits Charles […]