Real Koch Facts

Kochs using dark money to oppose dark money disclosure rules

November 21, 2014

Previously on Real Koch Facts, we’ve likened the flow of money between the organizations in the Koch brothers’ political network to an elaborate shell game, where cash is covertly shuttled between dozens of nonprofits, holding companies and “disregarded entities.” A new report from the Center for Public Integrity further confirms that the so-called “Kochtopus” is as deliberately opaque as it is multi-tentacled. CPI outlines the activities of American Commitment, a “social welfare” nonprofit that received the bulk of its funding from 2011-2013 from three Koch-backed groups and is currently advocating against enhanced IRS disclosure rules for organizations of its kind.

According to CPI, American Commitment received 87 percent of its 2011-2013 funding — in other words, millions of dollars — from the Koch brothers’ “secret bank,” Freedom Partners Action Fund, the Koch-backed Center to Protect Patient Rights, and Free Enterprise America. Keep in mind that American Commitment did […]

Koch Brothers Find Most Pathetic Excuse Yet To Attack Government

November 21, 2014

Since 1991, it has cost $15 to buy an annual bird-hunting permit in America. But if birds run out, you can’t hunt them anymore. So Tea Party Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) introduced a bipartisan bill, which Politico reports had the backing of the duck hunters, to increase the annual bird-hunting permit cost from $15 to $25. Everyone wins.

Only, the Koch Brothers’ Americans For Prosperity didn’t see it that way. For AFP, anything that could possible be used as an excuse to attack government should be used as such, no matter how pathetic. This, believe it or not, was a statement written in response to the bipartisan, duck hunter-backed, Tea Party introduced, $10 annual permit hike:

“The scrooges in Congress want to ask American families for even more of their paycheck to help fund a bloated, oversized government that cannot properly do the few things it is supposed […]

New report highlights same old Koch education scheme

November 20, 2014

In addition to myriad political entities and nonprofits, the Koch brothers’ network — or the “Kochtopus” — also comprises Koch-funded education initiatives designed to impart their extreme libertarian views on our nation’s young people. These initiatives — like Youth Entrepreneurs — wield influence in our schools the same way the Kochs do politically: by buying it. Standard operating procedure among the Kochtopus’ tentacles, but as a new report from Huffington Post highlights, it’s especially craven when you consider the Kochs’ open hostility toward public education, and the drastic education funding cuts that some of their favorite elected officials have presided over in North Carolina, Kansas and Wisconsin.

Huffington Post digs into the machinations of the Bill of Rights Institute (BRI), an organization that has received millions in funding from the Koch organizations that came together to launch BRI in 1999, including the Charles Koch Foundation and […]

Yet Another Shady Election Group Now Linked To The Koch Brothers

In 2010, Common Sense Principles, a dark-money “social welfare” group in New York, sprang seemingly out of nowhere and started spending big against Democrats in the state senate. The mysterious group earned the scrutiny of the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption, who described it as “daisy chain of out-of-state corporations and ‘ghost companies.’” That is to say, the shadowy group went to great lengths to avoid disclosing their donors and their connections.

Well Crain’s New York Business is now reporting that the mysterious Common Sense Principles has ties to The Koch brothers’ ever-growing political network. Surprise, surprise. During the 2012 cycle, Common Sense funneled $900,000 to American Future Fund, $500,000 to the American Justice Partnership, and $10,000 to the Hispanic Leadership Fund, all three of which operate within the Koch sphere.

Shockingly, nobody from any of those three groups returned phone calls looking for comment on the new Crain’s story. And […]

Koch network likely to spend heavily for Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson

November 12, 2014

Just over a week has passed since the 2014 elections, so all eyes are now on the November 2016 elections, natch. Given that the Koch brothers and their allies spent heavily this cycle to help send their top cronies, like Iowa’s Joni Ernst and North Carolina’s Thom Tillis, to the Senate, it’s unsurprising that the Kochs’ 2016 spending plans are already being discussed. It’s especially unsurprising when you consider the battleground state in question: Wisconsin, where the Kochs and their political arm, Americans for Prosperity, have already spent millions to support Governor Scott Walker’s efforts to implement a far right agenda in the Badger state.

According to POLITICO, Wisconsin’s potentially vulnerable Tea Party Senator Ron Johnson’s bid for a second term would likely be aided by the deep-pocketed brothers. The report notes that Johnson is a “favorite of the Koch brothers’ donor network” and that Koch-affiliated operatives confirm the […]

Return On Investment: Kochs Demand New Republican Majority Kill Wind Tax Credit

November 7, 2014

The Koch brothers are fresh off their nearly $300 million campaign to boost Republicans in this year’s midterm elections, and we’re already starting to see the kinds of favors they expect as a return on their investment.

Just days after the election, the Koch brothers’ Americans For Prosperity and other Koch-funded groups are leading a coalition demanding that Republicans in Congress let the wind production tax credit (PTC) expire. The PTC for wind is a popular incentive that has been crucial to the wind energy industry as it has boomed in recent years, providing more affordable energy, supporting thousands of new jobs, and protecting our environment. It was created in 1992 under President George H. W. Bush, and has been repeatedly renewed by both Democrats and Republicans since then.

But the self-interested billionaire Koch brothers don’t care about any of those things. They care about continuing to grow their massive fortune accumulated […]

Confirmation That For The GOP, Koch Cash Trumps Sound Policy

November 4, 2014

Coral Davenport wrote an eye-opening piece for the New York Times last week about one of the most puzzling recent refrains from Republican politicians. Why, when asked about climate change, has nearly every key Republican started responding, “I’m not a scientist”?

The piece includes quotes from Republican strategists and lobbyists highlighting just how ridiculous this response really is:

“It’s got to be the dumbest answer I’ve ever heard,” said Michael McKenna, a Republican energy lobbyist who has advised House Republicans and conservative political advocacy groups on energy and climate change messaging. “Using that logic would disqualify politicians from voting on anything. Most politicians aren’t scientists, but they vote on science policy. They have opinions on Ebola, but they’re not epidemiologists. They shape highway and infrastructure laws, but they’re not engineers.”

So why do Republicans continue to default to that line, when everyone seems to agree that it’s an idiotic one? Two words: Koch […]

Closing Argument: Kochs Fight To Save Candidate Cronies In Critical Election

October 30, 2014

The midterms are around the corner and the Koch brothers and their vast political network have gone to unprecedented lengths to elect extreme Tea Party candidates who support their self-serving agenda. The Kochs have bought and paid for these candidates (both senate and gubernatorial), and are clearly hoping for an Election night wave to secure support for their anti-working families agenda.

Unparalleled Spending

The billionaire brothers began their dirty campaign early this cycle. By January of 2014, the Kochs’ chief political arm, Americans For Prosperity (AFP), had already poured $22 million in dark money into TV ads smearing Democratic senators up for reelection. AFP did not stop there. They have continued to spend so heavily on television ads, which range from misleading to patently false, that AFP has accounted for one out of every sixteen Senate ads this cycle as of August 2014.

But Americans For Prosperity’s spending is just one cog […]

Closing Argument: Thom Tillis Helped Make North Carolina The Kochs’ “Model State”

October 30, 2014

In 2013, a year before Koch-backed groups had begun their all out assault to help elect Speaker Thom Tillis to the Senate, the head of the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity (AFP) said that North Carolina provided “a great opportunity” to “create a model state”. What exactly did the Kochs have in mind for this “model state?” If their support for his Senate candidacy is any indicator, it probably looks a lot like the extreme, Tea Party agenda enacted by Speaker Tillis – helping the wealthy and special interests at the expense of North Carolina’s schools and working families.

Speaker Tillis’s worked hard to deliver for the secretive billionaire Koch brothers. His budget gave massive tax breaks to millionaires and raised taxes on small business owners and seniors’ retirement income. It stripped $500 million in education funding over two years and cut 13,000 education jobs, causing good teachers to leave the state […]

Closing Argument: Koch Crony Cory Gardner Counting On Kochs to Drag Him Across The Finish

October 30, 2014

In Colorado, Republicans have pinned their hopes on Koch-crony Cory Gardner, a classic supporter of the Kochs’ self-serving agenda. What does that agenda look like in Gardner’s case? More of the same policies the Kochs have been working toward for years, benefitting wealthy special interests at the expense of working families and the middle class.

On issue after issue, Gardner has stood in line with the Koch agenda. Charles Koch has opposed the minimum wage entirely and David Koch ran for VP on a ticket that called for abolishing it. Their primary political entity AFP identified opposition to raising the minimum wage as a key vote multiple years in a row. Cory Gardner said he opposed raising the federal minimum wage. On equal pay for women, Koch Industries lobbied against the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would help women fight back against instances of pay discrimination. Cory Gardner voted against […]