Real Koch Facts

Kochs Renew Selfish Ex-Im Opposition

August 18, 2016

Why would the Koch brothers’ political network oppose an entity that fostered $28 billion in American exports and supported more than 160,000 domestic jobs in 2014? Because that cash wasn’t flowing to their entities. With congress set to reconvene in the coming weeks, the Koch network is again ramping up their opposition to the Export-Import Bank and twisting the arms of politicians who benefit from a steady flow of Koch-cash.

The Kochs’ opposition to the Ex-Im bank isn’t based in some lofty, idealistic opposition to so-called corporate welfare. Like everything the Kochs do, it’s based in self-interest. Read more here.

FIRST LOOK: CONSERVATIVE GROUP RALLIES RYAN AGAINST EX-IM RESCUE: Koch-backed advocacy group Freedom Partners is urging House Speaker Paul Ryan to block efforts to restore the Export-Import Bank to full power through the appropriations process, per Pro Financial Services’ Victoria Guida.

The export credit agency hasn’t been […]

Kochs’ “Employee Freedom Week” Is A Blatant Attack On Working Families

August 17, 2016

The Kochs’ “Employee Freedom Week” is a transparent attack on America’s working families. Charles and David Koch don’t hesitate to put their selfish agenda over the interests of America’s working families. And that’s why they’ve worked hard to combat workers’ efforts to achieve fair wages and guarantees of fair treatment in the workplace. From West Virginia to Missouri and Wisconsin, Koch candidates and front groups have pushed for right-to-work-for-less laws that reduce workers’ ability to ensure they’re treated fairly. And the Kochs had a major role in engineering the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association case, a brazen attack on public employees.

Across the country — including at the national level — Charles and David’s groups have similarly launched campaigns against minimum wage increases, measures to fight income inequality, rules that would protect families from predatory financial lending, and even opposed paid sick and family leave mandates.

Engineered by Koch-linked and funded groups, so-called “Employee […]

New Koch Front Group Joins Their Hypocritical Crusade Against Electric Cars

August 16, 2016

The Koch brothers’ crusade against renewable energy and the electric vehicle continued this weekend with the announcement of the “Fueling U.S. Forward” group. At the Red State Gathering, Charles Drevna, the group’s president and CEO, spoke about the Kochs’ latest initiative:

“We need a sustainable energy to ensure the future of the country,” Mr. Drevna told the audience.

The source of that energy? That which Mr. Drevna labeled “reliable, abundant, efficient and sustainable fuels.”

“Folks, that’s of course the fossil fuels,” he immediately added.

Apparently there was a distinct absence of dictionaries when Drevna wrote his speech as he was unable to correctly use “sustainable” in a sentence.

Drevna previously worked for the Koch-funded Institute For Energy Research as a distinguished senior fellow. The president of the newest Koch front group also told the Red State crowd that he wasworking directly with Koch Industries Board Member James Mahoney and that Koch Industries […]

Koch “Ban The Box” Push Based 100% In Self-Interest

August 16, 2016

In a PR push, the Koch brothers are asking their political network to “ban the box” inside their companies.

The Kochs only became interested in criminal justice reform after executives at their companies were indicted for felony violations of environmental regulations. The Kochs’ underlying interest is changing mens rea laws so that corporate executives in their companies can avoid prosecution. Koch Industries has been convicted of felonies in state and federal courts and has to check the box the Kochs seek to ban.

Don’t Worry About Inequality, Just “Make The Best Of What You Have”

August 12, 2016

Another Koch-group staffer made a silly mistake: telling the truth about what the Kochs believe. The Koch brothers’ carefully constructed facade of caring about poverty too often crumbles when Koch mouthpieces start talking.

The Kochs’ focus on poverty casts government as the cause of inequality. A Koch Industries video accused government of “picking winners and losers,” a favorite refrain of the billionaire brothers. Income inequality is a purely political talking point for the billionaire brothers. Stand Together–a non-profit arm of the Koch empire–was launched with a focus on poverty. The stated goal of Stand Together is to win over moderate and disengaged voters. (Not to actually do anything about poverty.)

Then someone opens their mouth and betrays the real thinking of the Koch network. In an interview with Freedom Action Network, Americans for Prosperity North Carolina Communications Director Joseph Kyzer dismissed concerns about economic inequality and tax cuts that only benefit […]

The Kochs’ “Millennial” Group Is Attacking Social Security

August 10, 2016

Over the last week, the Kochs’ millennial-outreach front group has placed generic anti-Social Security op-eds in newspapers across the country, including in Colorado, Missouri, Florida,Oklahoma, and Mississippi.

Written by the group’s policy director, David Barnes, the op-ed approaches the group’s anti-Social Security agenda with fearmongering pessimism, claiming that:

“Social Security’s math no longer works”;
“Millennials are out of luck”;
“This is a full brown crisis”; and, last but not least,
“Social Security is an unsustainable relic of a bygone era that threatens to take us down with it.”

Beyond the op-ed campaign, the Koch group has similarly exposed its mission to destroy Social Security by promoting grassroots campaigns “petitioning” and “tabl[ing]” for “#liberty and #SocialSecurityReform.”

Previously, the group’s resorted to violent imagery to fearmonger over the supposed Social Security “crisis,” tweeting out the image of a a young professional being held up with a gun to […]

Kochs Continue To Ramp Up Senate Spending

August 10, 2016

The Kochs may not be thrilled with the top of the GOP ticket, but that won’t stop them from building a coalition to elect their political puppets down the ballot (and if that helps out Donald Trump along the way, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).

According to The Hill, the Koch brothers and their political front groups have “already spent more than $24 million in Senate races and [made] advertising reservations for the fall totaling at least $42 million.” They’ve signaled their support for vulnerable Republicans in Nevada, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, among others, and plan to make a buy in North Carolina.

Take a look at how over the past couple of weeks the Koch network has invested in each state to insure the Senate and the House is full of people who will do the brothers’ bidding, even if it hurts the voters who elected them:

Florida

It’s no […]

Charles And David Koch Get A Beatdown In Their Own Backyard

August 3, 2016

Incumbent Congressman and Koch favorite Tim Huelskamp was successfully primaried yesterday — in Charles and David’s own backyard. The Kochs have invested thousands of dollars into Huelskamp over his career. In fact, Koch Industries has been Huelskamp’s top career campaign contributor, as Huelskamp’s received upwards of $40,000 from individuals associated with the company and its PACs, according to OpenSecrets.

And despite his loss, the Kochs’ didn’t sit out Huelskamp’s primary, either. Americans for Prosperity bolstered him with “six figures on [his] behalf…putting the money into mail, newspaper, digital ads and door-knocking canvassers,” according to Politico. Furthermore, in the days leading up to Tuesday’s election, AFP was “flooding homes with campaign mailers aimed at protecting conservative incumbents and portraying challengers as sinister liberal extremists,” reported the Witchita Eagle’s editorial board.

It’s very much a quid pro quo arrangement and Huelskamp’s done his part to prove to the Kochs that he’s a […]

Koch Funded Johnson Center’s Mission To Destroy Pensions

August 3, 2016

The Kochs’ infiltration of college curriculum is well documented, but the Kochs are now beginning to see their investment in higher education pay dividend. The Johnson Center at Alabama’s Troy University is heavily funded by the Charles Koch Foundation. The Kochs’ financial influence translates into the Kochs “completely and thoroughly” driving the educational agenda at The Johnson Center.

The Kochs influence–wielded through The Johnson Center–extends beyond indoctrinating students, however. Faculty members sympathetic to the Kochs’ agenda are using the Center as a vehicle to undermine Alabama’s pension system and push for privatization of retirement accounts. In the echo chamber of Koch “academia”, Johnson Center professors are using another Koch entity, the Mercatus Center to publish works pushing for privatization of the state’s pension system.

In a presentation given to the Association of Private Enterprise Education–another group funded in part by the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation–Johnson Center professor George […]

Selfish Billionaires Who Fight Policies That Help Working Families Pretend To Care

August 2, 2016

Selfish Billionaires Who Fight Policies That Help Working Families Pretend To Care

Charles And David Koch Oppose Fair Wages, Paid Sick And Family Leave, Pay Equity, And Collective Bargaining.

This weekend the Kochs and their donor-network of millionaires and billionaires gathered at the swanky Broadmoor resort to pay lip-service to the problem of income inequality. Hollow rhetoric aside, the Kochs only care about preserving their profits. The industrialist duo have habitually pushed back on any meaningful solutions to narrow income inequality and help working families.

“Charles Koch has spent his entire life creating income inequality by helping to elect the Kochs’ cadre of puppet-politicians to pass legislation that pads the Kochs’ bottom line,” said Eddie Vale, Vice President of American Bridge. “The Koch network spends hundreds of millions of dollars on elections and lobbying for their self-serving agenda. Whether it’s a minimum wage increase, the right to collectively bargain, pay equity, paid sick leave, protection of retirement income, or any issue […]