Real Koch Facts: Missouri

NEW REPORT: Show Me The Money: Kochs Fight Against Working Families In Missouri

October 25, 2016

Today, Bridge Project is releasing a new report on the Koch brothers’ influence in the Show-Me State, called “Show Me The Money: The Kochs Fight Against Working Families In Missouri.”

As the 2016 election comes to a head, the billionaires aren’t slowing down the fight to protect their puppets at the cost of Missouri families. As Republican Senator Roy Blunt struggles in his fight for re-election, the Kochs are flooding Missouri with money in hopes of rescuing the vulnerable senator and Republicans across the state.

Senator Roy Blunt has voted with the Kochs 86% of the time according to his Americans for Prosperity lifetime score.
During the 2016 election cycle, AFP spent nearly $500,000 attacking Democratic candidate Jason Kander.
Sen. Blunt is the “largest recipient of campaign contributions from employees of Koch Industries,” and Koch Industries was a top ten contributor to Blunt in 2016.
The Kochs’ PAC donated at least $161,700 to […]

The Kochs’ “Millennial” Group Is Attacking Social Security

August 10, 2016

Over the last week, the Kochs’ millennial-outreach front group has placed generic anti-Social Security op-eds in newspapers across the country, including in Colorado, Missouri, Florida,Oklahoma, and Mississippi.

Written by the group’s policy director, David Barnes, the op-ed approaches the group’s anti-Social Security agenda with fearmongering pessimism, claiming that:

“Social Security’s math no longer works”;
“Millennials are out of luck”;
“This is a full brown crisis”; and, last but not least,
“Social Security is an unsustainable relic of a bygone era that threatens to take us down with it.”

Beyond the op-ed campaign, the Koch group has similarly exposed its mission to destroy Social Security by promoting grassroots campaigns “petitioning” and “tabl[ing]” for “#liberty and #SocialSecurityReform.”

Previously, the group’s resorted to violent imagery to fearmonger over the supposed Social Security “crisis,” tweeting out the image of a a young professional being held up with a gun to […]

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 […]

Kochs Spend More Money In Missouri, Still Losing On Right-To-Work For Less

September 28, 2015

A few weeks ago, despite massive spending efforts by the Kochs, Missouri legislators did not overturn Governor Jay Nixon’s veto of a right-to-work bill. Now the Kochs are attempting to sway the tides again by — you guessed it — spending more money. Americans for Prosperity (AFP) announced an ad buy today against Republican Rep. Kathie Conway.

According to AFP’s website,

Beginning on Monday, September 28, 2015 Missourians who live in the St. Louis area can expect to see new TV ads calling on Rep. Conway to support Right-to-Work. The spot points out the fact that Representative Conway did not represent her district and instead voted for special interests by protecting union bosses. The TV ad buy will be supported with radio, print and digital advertising, as well as mailers sent to her constituents.

However, AFP’s attempt to force out Republicans who don’t fall in line may be a lost cause this […]

Big Koch Brothers Loss Is A Big Win For Missouri Working Families

September 17, 2015

To the great relief of working families and the great disappointment of the Kochs, Missouri will not become a right-to-work state. Despite heavy spending and campaign efforts by the Missouri chapter of the Kochs’ political long arm, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), they did not win enough votes to overturn Governor Jay Nixon’s veto of the legislation.

In May, the Missouri Senate passed the right-to-work bill, 21-13 — just two votes shy of being able to overturn Gov. Nixon’s promised veto.

AFP Missouri spent the summer going all in on right-to-work. According to St. Louis Public Radio, AFP Missouri spent $200,000 running a TV ad campaign. The Missouri Times reported that the Koch group also released a letter “signed by 55 different organizations… [that] details the economic impact statistics that right to work legislation has had on the 25 states that have adopted such measures.” In addition to their six-figure TV buy, AFP