Kochs Engaged In “Coercive Employer Political Motivation”

May 5, 2016

The Koch Brothers’ attempts to influence the political process through freewheeling spending on elections at all levels is well documented, but another tactic employed by the brothers has been largely overlooked. The UCLA Law Review has published an article “Citizens Coerced: A Legislative Fix for Workplace Political Intimidation Post-Citizens United” detailing the political coercion of employees by businesses. Unsurprisingly, Koch-owned Georgia Pacific is prominently featured in the piece. 

The article references a letter sent to all 45,000 Georgia-Pacific employees ahead of the 2012 presidential election. The cover letter, authored by Koch Industries President and COO Dave Robertson, carried a clear message–vote for Koch-candidates, or economic ills will befall you:

While we are typically told before each Presidential election that it is important and historic, I believe the upcoming election will determine what kind of America future generations will inherit. . . . If we elect candidates who want to spend hundreds of billions in borrowed money on costly new subsidies for a few favored cronies, put unprecedented regulatory burdens on businesses, prevent or delay important new construction projects, and excessively hinder free trade, then many of our more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors may suffer the consequences, including higher gasoline prices, runaway inflation, and other ills.

The packet also included opinion pieces by Charles Koch and David Koch preaching their extreme libertarian ideals and parroting their candidates of choice. The Kochs’ tactic–creating a culture of fear of economic downturns that could (read “definitely will”) affect employees status–is coercion in its purest form. 

Not limiting their pernicious and coercive influence to their own employees, the brothers, through Americans for Prosperity, launched “Prosperity 101”, a “voluntary” workplace program propagating the Kochs’ agenda. The program preached an anti-union philosophy to Wisconsin workers ahead of the election of union-busting governor Scott Walker. 

The Kochs’ attempts to influence their employees’ political views hasn’t waned since the 2012 cycle. Charles Koch penned a letter in Koch Industries June 2015 “Discovery” magazine in an attempt to frame the narrative around the Kochs’ planned spending in the 2016 election. Charles claimed that the nearly $1 billion in planned expenditures was necessary, “Given the control that many politicians want over our day-to-day lives.” Koch employees can’t escape the brothers’ nefarious brainwashing attempts, even in a medium as seemingly innocuous as a company newsletter.

Background: 

Americans For Prosperity’s “Employee Education” Program, Prosperity 101, Was Run By Wisconsin Prosperity Network’s Linda Hansen.  According to the Investigative Fund, “In June of last year, as the 2010 election campaigns gained steam — just five months before Wisconsin elected its famously anti-union governor, Scott Walker — Linda Hansen, executive director of the Walker-allied Wisconsin Prosperity Network, stood, beaming, behind a podium bearing the logo of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation. She was there at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester to introduce her new “employee education” program, Prosperity 101, to a lively group of conservative activists. (See the video here.) During the question-and-answer session that followed, Hansen offhandedly mentioned one company whose participation in her AFP-linked workplace program was likely a big coup: Menards, a major retailer one of the nation’s largest privately held companies.” [Investigative Fund, 6/2/11]

Prosperity 101 Was Connected to AFP

Investigative Fund: “In The Program Textbook, Employee Participants Are Urged To Join Americans For Prosperity.” According to the Investigative Fund, “The idea behind Prosperity 101 is simple: Employers gather employees for a ‘voluntary’ seminar where nervous workers, already sweating in an economy that is shedding jobs, are told that government regulation, unions and tax increases — even if only on the wealthy — are bad for their employers, thereby threatening the workers’ own livelihoods. Then they’re reminded to vote — for example, in last year’s midterm elections. (The Prosperity 101 textbook includes a sample voter registration form from the State of Wisconsin.) And in the program textbook, employee participants are urged to join Americans for Prosperity, which has a history of alliances with GOP candidates.” [Investigative Fund, 6/2/11]

Former AFP-WI Director Mark Block “Denied Having Any Involvement With Prosperity 101,” But Herman Cain Told An Audience That “It Was Block Who, With Hansen, Had Recruited Him” To Help Prosperity 101. According to the Investigative Fund, “Burke suggested that I speak with Mark Block, then AFP state director in Wisconsin, who failed to respond to a phone message and follow-up e-mail. When I caught up with him at February’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., Block, now serving as “chief of staff” to keynoter Herman Cain, the fast food magnate turned GOP presidential hopeful, denied having any involvement with Prosperity 101. Yet at a Prosperity 101 event the previous summer in Las Vegas, Cain told his audience that it was Block who, with Hansen, had recruited him for the program.” [Investigative Fund, 6/2/11]

Hansen Said That Prosperity 101 “Was Part Of The Wisconsin Prosperity Network,” But The Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore “Was Under The Impression That Prosperity 101 Was A Program Of The AFP Foundation.” According to the Investigative Fund, “The lines between these various entities are often quite tangled. At a February 2010 Tea Party rally in the small city of Sheboygan, Hansen told supporters that Prosperity 101 — a for-profit company — was part of the Wisconsin Prosperity Network, the non-profit she directs. But when I tracked down Moore at a September religious-right conference, he was under the impression that Prosperity 101 was a program of the AFP Foundation. And when I spoke with Tim Phillips, who heads up both AFP and its foundation, after his January 2011 appearance in Virginia, he told me he didn’t know if Prosperity 101 was affiliated with his organizations or not. Mary Ellen Burke, then a spokesperson for both AFP and its foundation, responded to an e-mail query in more definitive terms.” [Investigative Fund, 6/2/11]

Prosperity 101 Taught An Anti-Union, Pro-Koch Message

Prosperity 101 Sought To “Educate The Retailer’s Employees On Policies Hansen Contended Could Negatively Impact Their Jobs. The Policies Hansen Listed… Just Happen To Be Endorsed And Advanced By Democrats.” According to the Investigative Fund, “The firm would join a list of other local firms working with Prosperity 101 to educate the retailer’s employees on policies Hansen contended could negatively impact their jobs. The policies Hansen listed — including energy and healthcare reform — just happen to be endorsed and advanced by Democrats. As the nation’s third-largest home improvement retail chain — just behind Lowes and Home Depot —Menards, based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, operates more than 250 retail stores, mostly in the Midwest, and employs more than 40,000. It was now poised to become one of Prosperity 101’s largest participants.” [Investigative Fund, 6/2/11]

Prosperity 101 Preached “An Anti-Union, Anti-Government Gospel To Workers In Their Own Workplaces.” According to the Investigative Fund, “Set up as a for-profit company, Prosperity 101 preaches an anti-union, anti-government gospel to workers right in their own workplaces.” [Investigative Fund, 6/2/11]

Prosperity 101 Was Presented “In At Least A Dozen Workplaces In The Heat Of The 2010 Election Campaign – Most Of Them In Wisconsin.” According to the Investigative Fund, “The Prosperity 101 program was presented, according to [Stephen] Moore, in at least a dozen workplaces in the heat of the 2010 election campaign — most of them in Wisconsin. Organizers of Prosperity 101, a for-profit company, were unwilling to speak with AlterNet about it, as were executives at most of the participating companies. So, too, were executives of the Wall Street Journal.” [Investigative Fund, 6/2/11]

Investigative Fund: Prosperity 101’s Textbook Said “Government Can Never Create Prosperity” And Argued “Against Social Service Programs, Implying Those Who Need Them Lack… ‘Hard Work And Determination.’” According to the Investigative Fund, “The program’s textbook, Prosperity 101™: Job Security Through Business Prosperity, asserts: ‘Government can never create prosperity’ and argues against social service programs, implying that those who need them lack the values of ‘hard work and determination.’” [Investigative Fund, 6/2/11]

Paid for by American Bridge 21st Century Foundation