Real Koch Facts

Not For Profit? Charles Koch’s Pants Are On Fire

April 23, 2015

Charles Koch gave an interview to USA Today insisting that his unprecedented political spending isn’t about increasing the bottom line for Koch Industries, but that claim is so far removed from the facts that it has to dial long distance when it calls home.

Don’t take our word for it: Ask how the Kochs continue to back candidates who break with where they claim to stand on issues like criminal justice reform, immigration, gay marriage, and more. The truth is, it’s all about the money, and the Kochs won’t rest until they’ve successfully gutted Social Security, Medicare, environmental regulations, and any other program that threatens to impact their fortune.

Background

The New York Times: During 1980 Campaign for Vice President, David Koch Gave Speeches Against Overregulation As Koch Industries Was “Subpoenaed As Part Of A Federal Criminal Investigation Into Fraudulently Obtained Oil And Gas Leases,” Filed Suit “To Block Federal Regulators […]

Marco Rubio, Ready for His Koch Close-Up

April 23, 2015

And so it begins… Just two days after Charles and David Koch announced the picks for their shadow primary, Marco Rubio, one of the five chosen ones, is eagerly jumping at the chance to audition.

According to NBC News, Rubio is participating in a conference call today with Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity to discuss the Export-Import Bank, which is the Koch’s latest pet project.

The Kochs have been working to kill off the Ex-Im Bank through several of their organizations, including AFP, Freedom Partners, and the LIBRE Initiative. No surprise that the billionaires’ crusade to end Ex-Im is highly hypocritical. While they say, “the government should not be picking winners and losers,” the truth is Koch Industries has been one of the winners and received up to $16 million in assistance from the program.

This isn’t the first time the Kochs have showered praise on Rubio for opposing the Ex-Im Bank and it’s […]

Koch Brother$ Force GOP Pick$ to Focu$ on Their I$$ue$

April 22, 2015

Ryan Lizza pointed out that the Koch brothers’ invisible primary between Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio will have horrible consequences. The billionaires only care about a narrow set of issues that aren’t on the voter’s radar:

“That changes your sense of what issues are really important. When these guys go to, say the Koch brothers conference to try to win their support, the Koch brothers have issues like anyone else but they are not necessarily the top issues on the minds of the American people. When you go to Sheldon Adelson, one of the billionaires in Las Vegas, who is very influential in Republican politics, he has a set of narrow issues that are not the ones the American people are talking about. And I think that’s – as much as the money – that is what is corrupting.”

While the Koch brothers are […]

MEMO: Koch brothers have deep ties to anti-Clinton book author

April 21, 2015

TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Brad Woodhouse, President, American Bridge 21st Century
RE: Koch brothers have deep ties to anti-Clinton book author
DATE: April 21, 2015

The latest unfounded hit job against Hillary Clinton is a soon-to-be-released book by Peter Schweizer. As with just about any dubious attack on Democrats, the Koch brothers are inextricably linked.

Schweizer has deep ties to the Koch brothers and their network of donors. The Koch brothers might have funneled $1.5 million to Schweizer through donations from Donors Trust, which a former top IRS official has said the Kochs use as an anonymous pass through for their donations.

Rebekah Mercer, the daughter of hedge fund CEO Robert Mercer, is on the Board of Directors of Schweizer’s group, the Government Accountability Institute. At the same time, Bob Mercer has funneled at least $2.5 million to the Koch brothers’ Freedom Partners Action Fund.

In addition, the Kochs have been recruiting Rebekah Mercer to join their sprawling political network in a bid to involve […]

Don’t Worry Yet, Jeb. Auditions for Koch Kingdom Continue

April 21, 2015

The Kochs’ invisible primary took a few twists in the last 24 hours. After David Koch signaled his support for Scott Walker — nudging his vast finance network to fall in line — Koch political operatives are backtracking and assuring the public that auditions for the keys to Koch Kingdom are far from over. Even Jeb Bush will be invited to compete for $889 million the Kochs have promised to spend, which could now be spent in the primary. The Kochs are hedging their bets, though, with a crony telling Politico: “We wouldn’t want to take options off the table by getting behind one of them now,” since the Kochs are fiercely political and want to make sure they own whichever GOP nominee is competing for the White House.

If you believe David Koch’s blabber-mouthing yesterday, Scott Walker is leading the pack. “We will support whoever the candidate is,” said Mr. Koch, […]

Republican Calls out Americans for Prosperity for Deceptive Tactics

April 17, 2015

The Koch brothers might have an uprising on their hands. For the second time in less than a month, Republicans in the Florida state Senate have called out the state’s branch of Americans for Prosperity for their manipulative tactics.

In a subcommittee hearing addressing Medicaid expansion, state Sen. Rene Garcia said the Koch-funded group was sending out misleading mailers that “deceive the voters of my district.”

AFP lobbyist Melissa Fause responded by saying “maybe our intent didn’t come through in the mailers” because the state Senate was in fact “already engaging in a lot of amazing policies.”

At that, a second Republican state senator, Lizbeth Benacquisto, asked Fause, “would you mind sending a mailer to all of our constituents that you sent the original mailer to, suggesting we’re engaged in some ‘really amazing’ policy development and follow up on your comments here at this committee?’

It’s good to see that more Republicans are starting to […]

Rand Paul redefines sucking up to Koch brothers

April 16, 2015

Rand Paul pulled one of the biggest suck-ups of all time when he said, “the Kochs have consistently lobbied against special-interest politics,” in his lavish praise of the Koch brothers in TIME. Rand either doesn’t understand the definition of “special interest” or ignored the Koch brothers’ long history of being “takers,” not “makers” as Paul Ryan would say — redefining special interest politics in the process.

As everyone knows, the Kochs might not walk the halls of Congress themselves, but they plan to spend $889 million to buy the 2016 election and employ an army of political operatives to strong-arm the Republican Party. One by one, Republican presidential candidates, governors, senators and House members are signing onto the Kochs’ extreme worldview: Tax cuts for the wealthy and corporate America, eliminating the minimum wage, slashing Medicare and dismantling Social Security, and opposition to safe air and water standards, to name a few.

The Koch […]

The Kochs are Failing at Youth Outreach

April 16, 2015

The Koch brothers are continuing their pathetic attempts to be “cool” Uncles Dave and Chuck and harness the youth vote using misguided schemes and bizarre tactics.

Last month, Koch Industries announced a multi-year deal with Learfield Sports for an “integrated national sponsorship platform.” In other words, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State athletics are now sponsored by one of America’s most controversial petrochemical empires. The Kochs are making their first major foray into collegiate advertising just as students across the nation are amping up pressure on their administrations to divest their fossil fuel holdings and sever ties with big polluters contributing to climate change. The in-game mentions, radio advertising, and Koch-branded towels are a desperate attempt to convert young people. Nothing says youth outreach like a Koch branded towel.

In another attempt to showcase their “know how” on what the kids want these days, the Koch […]

Koch brothers’ hypocrisy in misleading Hillary Clinton attack

April 15, 2015

Freedom Partners, a Koch brothers political front group, launched a new misleading attack ad against Hillary Clinton that’s dripping with hypocrisy over her support for the Export-Import Bank. The Koch brothers’ latest attempt to kill the Ex-Im Bank failed to mention that Koch Industries received up to $16 million in assistance.

The truth is the Ex-Im Bank’s mission is to protect American companies and give them a competitive edge abroad. For more than 80 years, it’s been a bipartisan program because it promotes American exports. Last year alone it supported 164,000 jobs here at home with no cost to taxpayers. But now the Kochs have trained their sights on ending the bank entirely.

In the end, the Koch brothers are hiding their potentially $16 million slice of the pie to hurt U.S. workers and our economy.

Koch Industries and Its Subsidiaries Received At most $16,205,823 In Assistance from The Export-Import Bank

Company
Date
Amount

Georgia-Pacific
5/17/2003 (prior to Koch ownership)
$1,000,000-$5,000,000

Georgia-Pacific
2007-Present
$3,796,039

John Zink
2007-Present
$5,414,356

Koch […]

Koch-Backed Group Wants You to Believe They Don’t Like Corporate Interests

April 10, 2015

In the latest episode of Koch hypocrisy, a Koch-backed group’s spokesperson blamed millennial’s unemployment on the government focusing on corporate interests rather than the economy. Take a minute to think about that: The kings of corporate interest are ridiculing someone else for having that perception.

In an interview with OneNewsNow, Generation Opportunity’s Corie Whalen Stephens said, “Both major parties tend to focus so much on corporate interests and spending taxpayer money on things like bailouts. We’d like to see some candidates who maybe have a more positive message focused on entrepreneurship and limited government.” Generation Opportunity is funded through Freedom Partners, which is commonly known as the Koch brothers’ secret bank.

OneNewsNow identifies the organization as a nonpartisan non-profit. While legally they can claim to be a 501(c)(4), don’t be fooled into believing they don’t have a partisan agenda. Remember those creepy anti-Affordable Care Act ads that came out back […]