The Koch brothers attacked American Bridge by name in a Wall Street Journal op-ed for highlighting the Charles Koch Foundation’s shady tactics by attaching strings to university grants, like libertarian ideological requirements for professors and graduate students. It’s extortion-as-education that rivals the Kochs’ nearly $900 million they’re spending this election to audition conservative candidates for president. On top of the Koch Foundation, Koch-linked organizations Independent Women’s Forum and Mercatus at George Mason University are also picking fights with Bridge.
Looks like our year-long effort to raise awareness about the Kochs’ moneyed special interests hit a nerve. This month alone, Bridge Project has released reports on the Kochs’ efforts in Florida and Iowa as well as their harmful LIBRE Initiative as part of our “Month’s Supply of Koch.”
For years now, the Koch brothers have been providing grants to universities with stipulations attached to manipulate the curriculum and teaching professionals at each institution — all while promoting their self-serving conservative agenda.
Take one look at the Kochs’ grants to Florida State University. In 2007, when they first looked into donating to FSU, they demanded power over the university staff and when they began the hiring process, rejected nearly 60 percent of the faculty’s suggestions. The Koch syllabus is complete with climate science denialiasm, Ayn Rand, and John Stossel. The Kochs and their cronies can try to argue that they are promoting “academic freedom” until they’re blue in the face, but at the end of the day the evidence isn’t on their side.
American Bridge and Bridge Project have long been committed to revealing that the Kochs’ political operations serve one purpose: to pad Koch Industries’ bottom line. As a result of our diligence, never before seen documents on David Koch’s run for vice president have been uncovered and our daily rapid response on Real Koch Facts continues to shine a light on the Kochs’ real motives.
Thanks for letting us know we’re on the right path, Koch brothers.