Koch Criminal Justice Reform Push As Self Interest-Driven As Ever

In a recent interview with BuzzFeed News, Koch Industries General Counsel Mark Holden continued to insist that Charles and David Koch’s push for criminal justice reform is not about protecting themselves and their bottom line:

These attacks and whatever else, my feelings don’t get hurt anymore. Here’s my point of view: It doesn’t bother me that they say that. It’s just not true.

Here’s why the Kochs’ motivations are being questioned. A Koch-backed comprehensive criminal justice reform bill currently in the Senate has a related House bill that has, among other things, an added provision that would effectively make it more difficult to prosecute white collar crimes. More specifically, the legislation applies mens rea — an intent requirement putting the burden on “prosecutors to prove that certain suspects intended to break the law” — to white collar prosecutions. In other words: prosecutions where executives at big-time polluters — like, say, Koch Industries or its subsidiaries — have a lot easier time, well, getting away with criminal behavior.

But if Holden’s to be believed, the Kochs’ interest in criminal justice reform has nothing to do with the added plausible deniability and protections that mens rea requirements could give them:

We’re not pushing the mens rea issue. We think it’s important as a fundamental part of any effective and just criminal justice system…We are supportive of the bill without it. We are supportive of the bill with it.

BuzzFeed News reports that while supported by the Kochs, the mens rea provision is “opposed by the Justice Department, the White House, and left-leaning groups like the Center For American Progress.”

Holden claims the Kochs don’t care one way or the other whether the mens rea provision is included — he’s been saying as much since at least December — but if actions speak louder than words, his and their protestations are drowned out by the Koch Network’s dramatically escalated mes rea advocacy. Here are just a few examples:

The Charles Koch Institute just last week argued that “prosecution without proof of criminal intent erode[s] the rule of law,” claiming that “the average American inadvertently commits three arguable felonies in a given day.”
Generation Opportunity has on several occasions over the last month promoted mens rea requirements on Twitter. The group also high-lighted the mens rea dispute in a mid-January blog pot, noting, it “might seem like a small detail, but it’s not.” In another post, the organization argued, “It would be a shame if the company faced criminal charges without proof of criminal intent.”
The Koch-backed Texas Public Policy Foundation launched a new website called “CriminalIntentFacts.com,” and on a blog post argues that it’s a “myth” that “only rich, white collar criminals are helped by criminal intent reform.” And a policy analyst at the foundation argued that mens rea requirements were about helping “everyday citizens,” not “wealthy CEOs.”

Charles and David Koch can continue to deny their subversive motives — it’s what they do. But their protests and denials can’t hide the advocacy and astroturf progaganda campaigns coming out of their front groups: it’s clearer than ever that Charles and David’s interest in criminal justice reform comes down to self-interest, and protecting themselves and their selfish, profit-driven agenda.