Real Koch Facts

“Moderate” Bruce Rauner really just another Koch lackey

August 11, 2014

Need proof that Illinois gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner is no moderate? Look no further than the billionaire’s “charitable” giving to see where his true priorities lie: as has been recently exposed, Rauner “has given more than $2 million to extreme right-wing causes and groups associate with the Tea Party and the billionaire Koch brothers.”

This is the same Bruce Rauner who likes to tout his “everyman” credentials by wearing an $18 watch and driving an old camper van, while also spent $100,000 on a single parking spot at a Chicago condo building and bragging about his status among the wealthiest .01% in the country. Over the past 10 years, Rauner’s given millions to Koch-backed groups and other extreme right-wing groups that want to move the state and the country backwards on the minimum wage, Social Security, Medicare, abortion, marriage equality, climate change, and the environment.

Here’s a sample of Rauner’s extreme priorities:

He’s on record saying that […]

Putting the “Fib” in NFIB

August 8, 2014

The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) presents itself as a do-good nonpartisan group that fights for the best interests of small businesses and stays out of politics.

It isn’t.

Dig a litter deeper and you’ll quickly learn that NFIB is another group with Koch-funding working to push their anti-working family agenda and elect politicians who embody it. They purport to lobby for small business, but fight tooth and nail for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans — tax cuts that help people like the Kochs and not people like the local hardware store owner.

And now their claim of being a non-partisan has been even further torn to shreds. The Washington Post reports that NFIB has significant ties to ALEC:

“The American Legislative Exchange Council, which connects state lawmakers with private sector executives to discuss and craft legislation, recently added Steve Woods, NFIB’s senior vice president in charge of state operations, […]

Koch education event in Nashville ‘spreads misinformation’

August 6, 2014

Last month, we gave you a preview of the Charles Koch Institute’s disingenuous — if not downright hypocritical — education forum in Nashville. This week, the Tennesseean has a post-event recap that highlights the paradox inherent in an education discussion hosted by an outfit that wants to end federal funding for education altogether.

The Kochs and their allies approach education much like they do any other aspect of their platform, in that they want to do away with government oversight, regulation and funding in favor of a privatized system. For an example, one needn’t look any further than neighboring North Carolina, where the Kochs and Americans for Prosperity have supported state budgets that slashed public education jobs and funding. Simultaneously, AFP has demonized public education in the Tar Heel state and lauded efforts to establish a voucher system […]

Kochs scramble to protect their investment in Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback

August 1, 2014

The Koch brothers and their political entity, Americans for Prosperity, are spending millions in support of candidates who share the billionaires’ extreme conservative, anti-working families agenda. We’ve recently recapped their efforts to push this agenda in North Carolina, Colorado and Wisconsin, but one needn’t look any further than the Kochs’ own backyard for the latest example. According to the Washington Post, they’re coming to the defense of Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, whose failed far-right policies are threatening his reelection prospects.

The Kochs’ support for Governor Brownback is hardly surprising, as the Governor has championed several pieces of extreme legislation straight out of the Koch playbook. During his first term, Brownback cut taxes for the wealthiest Kansans, while slashing state spending and cutting public jobs, according to the Post. As the economy continues to recover, other states have been able to […]

Republicans Pledge Allegiance To Koch, NH Edition

Nothing says “I’m a strong independent-minded leader” like signing a sweeping pledge of allegiance to the Koch brothers.

The Concord Monitor reports that Republican state candidates across the board in New Hampshire have signed an Americans for Prosperity pledge that includes among other things, opposition to Medicaid expansion, which has already expanded health care access to 50,000 Granite Staters, and support for legislation to limit collective bargaining and further strain working families.

Already, the Kochs’ AFP has shown that the pledge is no joke — they have sent out mailers attacking two Republican state senators in New Hampshire who signed last year’s pledge, but then voted for Medicaid expansion and a tiny increase in the gas tax to fund crucial infrastructure projects.

Republicans in New Hampshire stood proudly with AFP’s NH director as they signed over their voices to the Koch brothers. And one of the two Republican […]

AFP Bucks Bipartisan Concern Over High Cost of Important Medical Treatment

July 31, 2014

A new Hepatitis C drug costs $84,000 per treatment. And the Kochs’ Americans For Prosperity thinks that’s just lovely, because free markets or something.

Sovaldi is a highly effective new drug, but one also that threatens to strain everybody’s pocket books, driving up premiums. For context, as AHIP CEO Karen Ignagni wrote, it would cost more money to treat every American with Hepatitis C with Sovaldi than the entire country spent on all prescription drugs in 2012. So naturally, there has been bipartisan concern about the pricing of the drug.

But not in Kochville. Americans for Prosperity just strongly denounced government efforts to make this groundbreaking treatment more affordable. This is really just a window into the Kochs’ perfect world: replace as much government as possible with the magic of the unregulated free market and let profits reign supreme. Even when it comes to matters of life and […]

Beauprez stumps for the Koch brothers in Denver

July 30, 2014

With their billions coming from the fossil fuel industry, the Koch brothers’ opposition to environmental regulations is both predictable and well-documented. Yesterday, Americans for Prosperity Colorado, the Kochs’ political arm in the state, held a rally in Denver opposing the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed power plant emissions regulations that protect children and families from health problems like asthma.

AFP Colorado was joined at the rally by former Congressman and candidate for governor, Bob Beauprez. Singing from the Koch song sheet, Beauprez criticized these common sense protections for families while lauding companies like Koch industries. Exactly what AFP and the Kochs — whose company is ranked 14th in the country in air pollution — want to hear.

The Koch brothers and AFP are aiming to elevate Beauprez, in service of their mission to push Colorado to the far right. For his part, Beauprez’s […]

More Koch Money for Top Crony Joni Ernst

We recently introduced you to Koch-Crony Joni Ernst, and outlined how she’s in lockstep with the billionaires and their political outfit, Americans for Prosperity. Last week, The Hill reported that Charles Koch, his wife, son and daughter-in-law all gave the maximum contribution allowed by law to Ernst’s campaign last month, which the outlet deems “a sign of the Koch brothers’ particular interest in helping her campaign.”

Today brings yet another piece of evidence of the Kochs’ “particular interest” in supporting the extreme Republican nominee for Iowa’s open Senate seat, albeit a much less obvious one.

The Washington Post reports that Concerned Veterans for America has a new ad out today attacking Ernst’s Democratic opponent, which will air in a massive, million-dollar ad buy across the state. What’s not evident from the 30-second spot is that Concerned Veterans for America is actually a key part of the Koch network and its plan to spend $300 million influencing this fall’s elections. During the 2012 campaign cycle, Concerned Veterans from America received $2 million in funding from the Kochs’ mysterious dark money apparatus.

For her part, Joni Ernst has previously thanked AFP for running ads against her opponent and espouses a laundry list of Koch-approved policy positions, cementing her status as both a top Koch crony and beneficiary.

Koch-friend Thom Tillis replenishes his stash

July 24, 2014

The Koch brothers’ political arm, Americans for Prosperity, has already spent millions in support of ultra-conservative North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis’ candidacy for the Senate and his anti-working families agenda. According to reports this week, apparently the billionaire Kochs just can’t enough of their favorite Tar Heel, as another of their secretive entities and several Koch family members are dispatching even more cash in their attempt to buy Tillis a Senate seat.

Roll Call has the scoop on Freedom Partners — aka the Kochs’ “secret bank” — snatching up almost $3 million in airtime in North Carolina for next month, all benefiting Thom Tillis’ campaign. Not ones to be left out of a political spending spree, individual members of the Koch family have maxed out personal donations to Tillis’ campaign, per the News & Observer. The […]

Koch lackey Tillis balances tax cuts on the backs of NC teachers

The love story of North Carolina’s Thom Tillis and the Koch brothers gets more epic by the day, now spanning multiple years and issues and with millions spent to cement their political union. Earlier this year, the Kochs’ political arm, Americans for Prosperity, even held a series of rallies proclaiming their admiration for Tillis and his extreme policies, most especially the tax breaks for the state’s uber-wealthy that he helped shepherd into law.

According to the Charlotte Observer, the initial 2013 wave of those tax cuts reduced state revenue this year by $500 million, possibly more. Last year’s Tillis budget also cut education funding by approximately the same amount. Faced with a teaching force whose pay ranks 48th in the nation, the state legislature is “struggling” to give its teachers a much-deserved raise, which would cost $400 million, according to the […]