Real Koch Facts: Tennessee

AFP pulls out all the stops to keep 200,000 Tennesseans uninsured

February 6, 2015

If you’ve been following the ongoing political battles over Medicaid expansion in Republican-controlled states across the country, then you know that the Koch brothers’ chief political arm, Americans for Prosperity, has been a vocal opponent of expanding Medicaid coverage in states like North Carolina. Their effort to block Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands of uninsured is bad enough on face, but even worse is the sheer glee with which AFP has heralded the defeat of Medicaid expansion proposals. In North Carolina, the state AFP chapter offered Governor McCrory their “congratulations” for signing a bill blocking Medicaid expansion into law, and now this week in Tennessee, that state’s chapter has declared it a “victory” that 200,000 Tennesseans will remain uninsured.

NBC News has a must-read rundown of AFP’s “aggressive” effort to make Republican Governor Bill Haslam’s widely popular Medicaid expansion proposal, Insure TN, politically unpalatable […]

Koch education event in Nashville ‘spreads misinformation’

August 6, 2014

Last month, we gave you a preview of the Charles Koch Institute’s disingenuous — if not downright hypocritical — education forum in Nashville. This week, the Tennesseean has a post-event recap that highlights the paradox inherent in an education discussion hosted by an outfit that wants to end federal funding for education altogether.

The Kochs and their allies approach education much like they do any other aspect of their platform, in that they want to do away with government oversight, regulation and funding in favor of a privatized system. For an example, one needn’t look any further than neighboring North Carolina, where the Kochs and Americans for Prosperity have supported state budgets that slashed public education jobs and funding. Simultaneously, AFP has demonized public education in the Tar Heel state and lauded efforts to establish a voucher system […]