Real Koch Facts: Arizona

Koch Money To Arizona Universities Comes Without Conditions, Except For All The Conditions

May 2, 2016

The Koch brothers’ ongoing mission to transform public universities into propaganda centers for their “free enterprise” ideology is getting a boost from Arizona GOP lawmakers. Arizona Republicans are proposing spending $5 million of taxpayer money to supplement the millions the Kochs have spent to establish programs which reflect their views at Arizona State University and the University of Arizona.

The Kochs have a long history of using their fortune to influence higher education programs. While claiming that their grants come without conditions, John Hardin, director of university relations for the Charles Koch Foundation, clarified that the programs receiving funding are expected to, “pursue questions about freedom and prosperity.”

The Kochs’ spending at state universities is not altruistic. As pointed out by David N. Gibbs, professor of history at University of Arizona, “The question would be, ‘Why would they be funding it unless they want some sort of ideological payoff?‘” The […]

Arizona To Be Koch Brothers’ Playground

March 30, 2016

Unlike other states where state legislatures are toughening up their campaign finance laws, Arizona is doing the exact opposite. Yesterday, the Arizona state legislature passed SB 1516–a bill that guts the state’s responsibility to track and regulate ‘dark money’ that could be hidden in 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 non-profits, redefines campaign contributions and its transfer between campaigns, and further clouds who and how campaign finance laws should be enforced.

The fight over the Arizona bill, which could be signed into law as early as this week, has pitted good government activists against deep-pocketed corporate donors and political groups underwritten by the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch. It also spotlights a growing national debate over secret political spending, which is on pace to hit record levels in 2016.

We’ve seen already the influence that tens of millions of “dark” money from the Koch brothers have waged in Arizona. Americans for Prosperity, […]

Out Of Options, Koch-Backed Club For Growth Bets On Ted Cruz

March 24, 2016

Out of options, the Charles and David Koch-backed Club for Growth just endorsed settled for Ted Cruz. The Kochs have for months been agonizing over the reality that they can’t buy Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s loyalty with campaign contributions. Hoping that someone — anyone — other than Ted Cruz would emerge as a viable challenger, Charles and David have thus far held off from getting involved in the race. Now, it looks like they’re settling — and hoping that they can somehow get Cruz into the White House where he’ll be sure to advance their selfish agenda.

Club for Growth has over the last several years benefited from at least $1.9 million from Koch groups. The organization received $924,000 from the Koch-linked Center to Protect Patient Rights from 2009-2012. And Club for Growth benefited from a massive $1,000,000 contribution from Freedom Partners in 2014, alone. As far as 2015 Koch contributions to Club for Growth? We […]

The Kochs Just Got A Seat On The Arizona Supreme Court

January 7, 2016

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey just appointed a Koch agenda advocate to the state’s Supreme Court: Clint Bolick, co-founder of the Koch-supported Institute for Justice and a litigator at the Koch-supported Goldwater Institute. Ducey is a big fan of the Kochs in his own right — the guy even hired a Koch operative as his first chief of staff — so it comes as no surprise that he’s looking to assist the Kochs in their Arizona takeover.

Bolick’s organization, the Institute for Justice, has benefited from “generous” Koch funding over the years — and it’s dutifully propped up the two brothers’ selfish agenda in return, including:

Leading an Arizona Supreme Court case to force “candidates out of public financing and back into the money machine of private donors” like the Kochs. (Putting Bolick right on the Court cuts out the middle man.)
Pushing an anti-regulations agenda; and,
Defending school choice legislation.

Charles and David Koch just got a great deal […]

Kiss Academic Freedom Goodbye: The Koch Brothers Invade College Campuses

May 19, 2015

College campuses are pushing Koch propaganda and you might not even know it. Case in point: A new study out of Arizona State University says the state could phase out the personal income tax in six to eight years, which would exempt tycoons like the Kochs from paying their fair share. What the study doesn’t say is that the Koch brothers funded ASU’s Center for the Study of Economic Liberty to the tune of $3.5 million, which turned around and produced the very report that would mean enormous gains for billionaires like the Kochs.

Predictably, Arizona Governor — and Koch pawn — Doug Ducey is backing the proposal. Prior to his election, Governor Ducey attended a Koch summit where he was caught professing his love for the billionaire brothers and groveling for Koch funds.

But that’s not all.

ASU also accepted more than $1 million in Koch cash […]

Governor-Elect Doug Ducey Hires Koch Lackey As Chief Of Staff

December 10, 2014

Throughout Doug Ducey’s gubernatorial campaign in Arizona, his ties to the self-interested Koch brothers were often in the spotlight. Ducey was caught on a recording at the Kochs’ secretive billionaires’ retreat in California pleading for their money. He even had Governor Chris Christie jump in at a joint event and rush to the Kochs’ defense on behalf of Ducey.

Well, his newly announced selection of Kirk Adams as chief of staff illuminates just how deeply he is connected to the Koch brothers and their powerful network. So who is Kirk Adams?

As the Los Angeles Times put it, Kirk Adams one of the “early architects of the Koch network of nonprofits.” That description comes in article about Adams and fellow Arizona Koch crony, Sean Noble, coordinating the activities of two shady “pro-business” groups that spent heavily during the 2012 elections to fight against increased education funding in California. The group […]

Christie Angrily Defends Koch Brothers After Ducey Is Caught Professing Love To Them

Yesterday, The Nation released more damning audio from a recent secretive summit hosted by the Koch brothers and attended by key Republican candidates. This time, the cajoler-in-chief was Arizona gubernatorial candidate Doug Ducey, who made his adoration for the Kochs’ Americans for Prosperity clear, saying “I can’t emphasize enough the power of organizations like this.”

In his attempt to solicit Koch money, Ducey promises to enact an extreme agenda similar to the one Scott Walker jammed through in Wisconsin — one which is highly unpopular, gutted education funding, and has left Wisconsin’s economy reeling.

Well, last night, Brahm Resnik at KPNX in Phoenix, called Ducey out, asking him about his connection to these shady billionaires. But as luck would have it, fellow education raider and noted loudmouth Chris Christie was in town, so before Ducey was forced to defend himself, Christie went into one of his patented angry, dismissive rants, […]