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December 28, 2012
36 notes

David Koch sends letter warning members of Congress not to vote for proposed aid package for victims of Hurricane Sandy.

(The Nation) - Billionaire David Koch’s prime political organization, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), having failed in its $125 million quest to oust President Barack Obama, is now aiming at a slightly less sophisticated political target: victims of Hurricane Sandy.

Hurricane Sandy was the second most costly in American history, leaving 100 lives lost, over $50 billion in devastation and tens of thousands of damaged or destroyed homes. Legislative efforts to help those who survived Hurricane Sandy’s wrath will reach a major stumbling block.

Earlier this week, AFP, which is chaired by Koch and believed to be financed by several other plutocrats from the New York City region, released a letter warning members of Congress not to vote for the proposed federal aid package for victims of the storm that swept New Jersey, New York City and much of the surrounding area in October. An announcement on the group’s website says that the vote next week for the Sandy aid package will be a “key vote”—meaning senators who support sending money for reconstruction could face an avalanche of attack ads in their next election. Already, opposition to the bill is growing, although it passed one procedural hurdle last night.

There is some legitimate criticism with aspects of the legislation, including the fact that some of the money will go to non-Sandy related reconstruction efforts in disaster areas. For AFP, however, the whole bill must die and victims of the storm deserve no help from the government.

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Tags: politics hurricane sandy GOP Koch David Koch

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October 04, 2011
121 notes
manicchill: Koch Industries’ Iranian Profits Used to Pay Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin Yesterday, I wrote a post on Bloomberg Market Watch’s upcoming expose on the Koch brothers and Koch Industries. Well, that article made it online last night, and had a few more surprises for readers. It turns out that some, but not all, of the money that Koch Industries made in their deals with Iran is traceable. And I doubt you’ll be surprised about where Bloomberg’s reporters found it. from Politicus USA: Bloomberg revealed the deaths, bribes, felony charges, envelopes stuffed with cash, criminal violations, deliberate poisoning of the air with cancerous smoke, and hundreds of millions of fines behind the Koch Brothers. They revealed that employees are taught to cheat and steal under “The Koch Method.” Oh, and the Kochs sold millions of dollars in petrochemical equipment to Iran, a country recognized for sponsoring terrorism but also one of three countries in the George W Bush identified “Axis of Evil.” It’s ironic that Sarah Palin, whom the Koch brothers money paid to speak on behalf of the “Tea Party,” has accused President Obama of “palling around with terrorists.” See, the money from those petrochemical sales funded Americans for Prosperity which funds the Tea Party which pays people like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck to speak. David Koch is in fact the founder of Americans for Prosperity. This money trail is no longer murky. Based on an analysis of FEC filings and IRS disclosure, Kenneth P Vogel of Politico reported this morning, “POLITICO’s analysis of disclosures filed with the Internal Revenue Service and Federal Election Commission found that the large groups spend big bucks on salaries, like the $500,000 that FreedomWorks paid its chairman, Dick Armey, endorsements from radio hosts like Glenn Beck and Mark Levin, and speaking fees to movement heroes like Sarah Palin and Samuel “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher, not to mention millions more on consultants and ad buys.” Explaining how the groups like Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works fund the Tea Party, Vogel detailed, “All the groups say they provide training, yard signs or help planning rallies and booking speakers. The Express has held dozens of rallies around the country and in April reported paying a $750 honorarium to Wurzelbacher, while Americans for Prosperity in 2010 spent $1.9 million on event planning, and $253,000 on honoraria including a $128,000 payment to the speakers’ bureau that represents Palin, with whom AFP had contracted to speak at its Defending the American Dream Summit in Clarkston, Mich., in May 2010.” AFP also paid Palin to go to Wisconsin to tell the Fox brethern how bad unions were. Clearly we can see how well her employers treat people. Why would anyone need a union? Then there’s Glenn Beck, paid by Freedom Works. The Kochs denied having anything “specific” to do with Freedom Works, but Karoli at Crooks and Liars traced Koch brothers money into the origins of Freedom Works. Read More Remember, about 6 months ago, when various celebrities began donating large sums of money they’d received as payments from the Gaddafi family? What do you think the odds are that we see Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin doing the same? Read the Bloomberg Market Watch article online here WOW! And still, the main stream media is largely ignoring this story, and on places it’s posted on the internet there are already SHITLOADS of loyal Fox news viewers stating that it’s a made up conspiracy, or a smear campaign by liberals.

manicchill:

Koch Industries’ Iranian Profits Used to Pay Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin

Yesterday, I wrote a post on Bloomberg Market Watch’s upcoming expose on the Koch brothers and Koch Industries. Well, that article made it online last night, and had a few more surprises for readers. It turns out that some, but not all, of the money that Koch Industries made in their deals with Iran is traceable. And I doubt you’ll be surprised about where Bloomberg’s reporters found it.

from Politicus USA:

Bloomberg revealed the deaths, bribes, felony charges, envelopes stuffed with cash, criminal violations, deliberate poisoning of the air with cancerous smoke, and hundreds of millions of fines behind the Koch Brothers. They revealed that employees are taught to cheat and steal under “The Koch Method.” Oh, and the Kochs sold millions of dollars in petrochemical equipment to Iran, a country recognized for sponsoring terrorism but also one of three countries in the George W Bush identified “Axis of Evil.”

It’s ironic that Sarah Palin, whom the Koch brothers money paid to speak on behalf of the “Tea Party,” has accused President Obama of “palling around with terrorists.” See, the money from those petrochemical sales funded Americans for Prosperity which funds the Tea Party which pays people like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck to speak. David Koch is in fact the founder of Americans for Prosperity. This money trail is no longer murky.

Based on an analysis of FEC filings and IRS disclosure, Kenneth P Vogel of Politico reported this morning, “POLITICO’s analysis of disclosures filed with the Internal Revenue Service and Federal Election Commission found that the large groups spend big bucks on salaries, like the $500,000 that FreedomWorks paid its chairman, Dick Armey, endorsements from radio hosts like Glenn Beck and Mark Levin, and speaking fees to movement heroes like Sarah Palin and Samuel “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher, not to mention millions more on consultants and ad buys.”

Explaining how the groups like Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works fund the Tea Party, Vogel detailed, “All the groups say they provide training, yard signs or help planning rallies and booking speakers. The Express has held dozens of rallies around the country and in April reported paying a $750 honorarium to Wurzelbacher, while Americans for Prosperity in 2010 spent $1.9 million on event planning, and $253,000 on honoraria including a $128,000 payment to the speakers’ bureau that represents Palin, with whom AFP had contracted to speak at its Defending the American Dream Summit in Clarkston, Mich., in May 2010.”

AFP also paid Palin to go to Wisconsin to tell the Fox brethern how bad unions were. Clearly we can see how well her employers treat people. Why would anyone need a union? Then there’s Glenn Beck, paid by Freedom Works. The Kochs denied having anything “specific” to do with Freedom Works, but Karoli at Crooks and Liars traced Koch brothers money into the origins of Freedom Works.

Read More

Remember, about 6 months ago, when various celebrities began donating large sums of money they’d received as payments from the Gaddafi family? What do you think the odds are that we see Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin doing the same?

Read the Bloomberg Market Watch article online here

WOW!

And still, the main stream media is largely ignoring this story, and on places it’s posted on the internet there are already SHITLOADS of loyal Fox news viewers stating that it’s a made up conspiracy, or a smear campaign by liberals.

Tags: Politics News Koch Industries Koch Brothers Charles Koch David Koch Sarah Palin Glenn Beck Iran Bloomberg Koch Method Americans for Prosperity FreedomWorks Tea Party Express

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September 07, 2011
12 notes

During Secret Retreat With Billionaires, Koch Lobbyist Admits Tea Party Group ‘Designed’ To Elect Republicans In 2010

By Lee Fang thinkprogress.org

This morning, blogger Brad Friedman, writing in Mother Jones and BradBlog, revealed a set of audio tapes from the last major donor meeting convened by the billionaire Koch brothers. There are a number of startling revelations from the scoop — but the opening remarks from Kevin Gentry, a Koch Industries executive at the firm’s DC lobbying office, blow the cover off the many Tea Party efforts underwritten by the billionaires in the Koch network of donors.

Gentry, who doubles as the official responsible for doling out Koch charitable grants, admits privately what ThinkProgress and others have noted for years: Americans for Prosperity, the front group founded by David Koch, orchestrates Tea Party events simply to elect more Republicans. Gentry said he met with Fred Young, a Wisconsin owner of engine manufacturing plants, at an Americans for Prosperity (AFP) event “designed to help in the Congressional races” during one of their “get out the vote tours”:

KEVIN GENTRY: I’m going to turn it over to a dear friend, Fred Young, for the purposes of an introduction. Fred is a long-time fighter, freedom fighter, in this movement, from Racine, Wisconsin. Former owner of Young Radiator. As part of our efforts last year, in 2010, I was on the road for [TN?] in Wisconsin, here at one of Americans for Prosperity’s last minute kind of get out the vote tours. And I went to an event in Racine, Wisconsin, and met up with Fred. It was sort of a Tea Party AFP event designed to help in the Congressional races. And Fred was kind enough to lend me a sweatshirt because I wasn’t actually prepared for Racine, Wisconsin in November. So Fred, let’s take it away, please.

Too many in the media ignored the Koch network’s transparently partisan agenda last year. A few outlets, like the Washington Post, took the group to task for spending $45 million in attack ads against Democrats using an unaccountable, secret money wing of Americans for Prosperity. However, most failed to report on the millions more spent on four different bus tours designed to promote Republicans. These rallies, which required great resources in terms of staff and logistics, were never reported to the Federal Elections Committee as campaign spending, thus evading the few watchdog groups and reporters interested in serious election coverage.

As ThinkProgress revealed last year, in documents outlining the June, 2010 donor meeting, billionaires like Paul Singer, Ken Griffin, Rich DeVos, and John Childs are regular attendees of these events, which solicit multi-million donations for an elaborate array of right-wing front groups, from Tea Party organizers like Americans for Prosperity to stealth advertising campaigns like “Public Notice.” Unfortunately, many still report on Tea Party groups like Americans for Prosperity as bonafide grassroots organizations.

Tags: Americans for Prosperity Charles Koch David Koch Koch Industries Tea Party politics