ASPEN 2
see main and bak aspen koch
koch network
crowded, so this is new content and clarification
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Groups connected to the shadowy Koch network have generously donated to Lomborg’s think tank.Since its registration in the U.S. in 2008, the Copenhagen Consensus Center has received $170,000 from the conservative Randolph Foundation, whose director, Heather Higgins, has ties to multiple groups within the Koch network. Copenhagen Consensus Center also received $300,000 from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which is part of the Koch network’s attempt to influence state and federal judges. The group also received $200,000 from conservative Republican billionaire Paul Singer, who had previously given more than $1 million to the oil billionaire Koch brothers. The Koch network has donated lavishly to climate denial efforts.
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Changing public opinion
By 1984, David had parted company with the Libertarian Party, because, he said, "they nominated a ticket I wasn't happy with" and "so many of the hard-core Libertarian ideas are unrealistic".[34] Charles was also soured on direct electioneering after the effort, telling a reporter that conventional politics "tends to be a nasty, corrupting business ... I'm interested in advancing libertarian ideas".[16] In a 1974 speech to libertarian thinkers and business leaders in Dallas, Charles argued that the most effective response to Americans alienation from free markets and minimal government was "not political action",[12] but "the development of a well-financed cadre of sound proponents of the free enterprise philosophy".[36] He regarded politicians as "actors playing out a script" and turned his focus away from the actors and towards supplying "the themes and words" for the actors "scripts".[37] By 2012, David told Politico that he considered "himself a Republican first and foremost — rather than a Libertarian or a nonpartisan supporter of free enterprise".[32] According to writer Eric Black, the brothers move to the Republican Party doesn't stem from "a change of heart, but one of tactics" since libertarianism "was costly and could be bad for the family business long term".[10]
Charles Koch funds and supports libertarian organizations such as the Cato Institute,[38] which he co-founded with Edward H. Crane and Murray Rothbard in 1977,[39] and is a board member at the Mercatus Center, market-oriented research think tank at George Mason University. In 1985, the Kochs and a new adviser, Richard Fink, formed "Citizens for a Sound Economy", a free enterprise-oriented group that evolved into Americans for Prosperity.[12] In addition to funding think tanks, the brothers support libertarian academics;[40] since 1992, Charles has funded the Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow Program through the Institute for Humane Studies, which mentors young self-described libertarians.[41]
2003 beginning of the network
It was in 2003 when the Kochs became disillusioned with mainstream Republican promotion of "certain regulations and new social spending on a Medicare drug program" under President George W. Bush. According to Charles, "we said, 'Gosh, we've got to get involved in politics'." This began the twice-yearly gatherings of wealthy conservative donors known as seminars, the funding and directing of "a full array of political party-like activities, including organizations that could operate in the states and mobilize grassroots activists along with paid operatives".[42] Richard Harold Fink, a former economics professor and former executive vice president of Koch Industries, was described in 2012 by Laurie Bennett as "a longtime associate of the Kochs who oversees much of their influence spending", and by Jane Mayer as "the central nervous system of the Kochtopus".[43]
Since 2008
The secrecy was effective enough that prior to the digging of investigative reporters such as Jane Mayer, even many Washington insiders had not heard of them.[42] However, after Barack Obama was elected in 2008, the Koch's led what some called an "all-out offensive" against Obama and congressional Democrats, attracting many other wealthy conservatives to their seminars and "deploying huge sums of secret money" to block Obama initiatives like cap and trade on carbon emissions and health care reform.[42] Since 2010, the brothers have become highly visible, with "journalists and bloggers" reporting on their latest "fundraising goals and election maneuvers", Democrats demonizing them (Democratic fundraising appeals that mentioned the Koch brothers reportedly have generated more donations than those that do not),[44] media interviewing them,[42] and publishing their op-eds.[45]
Political activity
Koch Industries describes itself as being committed to free societies and free market principles and as supporting those who champion these things.[46]
Obama presidency
After the 2008 United States presidential election, when Democrats won the presidency, both houses of Congress, and the collapse of the housing market and threat of a bank collapse made laissez-faire free market economics appear untenable, the Koch brothers led the resistance to the triumphal Obama administration, warning that Americans "faced the greatest loss of liberty and prosperity since the 1930s".[47] Billionaires came forth to invest in the Koch network", nicknamed the "Kochtopus".[48][note ^1] During Obama's administration, the Republican Party with the help of the Koch-network "made inroads at all levels of governments". At the state level, they gained 900 seats in state legislatures.[48]
Secrecy
In a paper analyzing the John Birch Society, Charles Koch "argued in favor" of at least imitating the society when it came to "not widely advertising" who ran the society.[50] Their father is quoted as saying, "The whale that spouts is the one that gets harpooned."[48] As a result, the Koch brothers' "ambitious enterprise" was "largely hidden" from public view.[51] They avoided "all but the minimum legally required financial disclosures". The guest list at their gatherings was "shrouded in secrecy".[51] Guests were admonished to destroy all paperwork, make no mention of the event online or to the media, and make all arrangements through Koch staff, not resort employees. Any audio or visual recording gear (smart phones, tablets, cameras) were confiscated prior to sessions.[51] At least at one gathering, white-noise-emitting-loud speakers were pointed outwards from the event by audio technicians to foil any media attempting to listen in. When one breach of secrecy occurred, "an intense week-long internal investigation" was launched "to identify and plug the leak".[51] Interested in maintaining their discreet influence, Charles and David have donated to non-profit groups who do not disclose their donors.[52] The secrecy abated somewhat starting at the 2015 summer seminar, when some reporters were invited and "allowed to attend some sessions, including those featuring many of the Republican Party's presidential candidates".[53]
Donors
Based on the one list of donors to the Koch network to surface publicly (from a 2010 summit) Koch donors tend to be disproportionately from the financial or fossil fuel sector of the economy,[54] and to have made or inherited money from private (not publicly traded) companies.[55] Some of the most well-known donors to the network include: Steven A. Cohen, Paul Singer, and Stephen A. Schwarzman.[56] Other prominent and wealthy participants include: Robert Mercer, Ken Langone, Richard Strong, Philip Anschutz, Richard DeVos (1926–2018), Richard Gilliam, J. Larry Nichols, Harold Hamm, and Richard Farmer.[56][note ^2]
Political contributions
In 2008, the three main Koch family foundations contributed to 34 political and policy organizations, three of which they founded, and several of which they directed.[16] As of 2011, Koch Industries' political action committee had donated more than $2.6 million to candidates.[59] The Koch brothers support primarily Republican candidates and in 2010 they supported California Proposition 23, which would have suspended the state's Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.[60][61] The brothers pledged to donate $60 million in the 2012 election season to defeat President Barack Obama.[62][63] According to OpenSecrets, of $274 million in anonymous 2012 contributions, at least $86 million is "attributed to donor groups in the Koch network".[64][65]
Governor Scott Walker contributions
According to Mother Jones, Koch Industries' Political Action Committee (PAC) contributed the second largest donation to Scott Walker's 2010 campaign for governor of Wisconsin. It donated $43,000, second in size only to PAC donations of $43,125 from both the Wisconsin realtors and the Wisconsin home builders.[59][66] That contribution amounted to less than 0.5% of Walker's campaign total[67] because of the limits placed on campaign contributions.[66] Most support for Walker was in the form of expenditures estimated at $3 million from Americans for Prosperity (AFP).[68] Due to Koch's contribution to Walker's campaign, David Koch became a symbolic target for the protests.[67] According to the Palm Beach Post, David Koch was active in Wisconsin politics. Americans for Prosperity reportedly spent $700,000 on ads supporting Governor Scott Walker's changes to collective bargaining.[69][70]
Mitt Romney presidential candidacy
In July 2012, David H. Koch hosted a $50,000-a-person ($75,000 a couple) fundraising dinner for 2012 Republican Party Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, which was the subject of liberal and progressive protests.[52][71][72] Koch Industries cited the protests an example of what they see as liberal hypocrisy regarding fundraising as these same groups don't protest big money donations for Democratic fundraisers.[73] William Koch, the younger brother of Charles and David, gave $1 million to Restore Our Future, a super-PAC backing Romney.[52] During the 2008 presidential race, David Koch donated $2,300 to Romney.[52]
2016 elections and Donald Trump presidency
A group associated with the Kochs announced plans to raise $889 million leading up to the 2016 elections.[74][75][76] After the Republican primary, they decided to not donate to Trump's campaign at all, instead focusing on the Congress and Senate races.[77] This included spending "heavily" on get out the vote drives for Republicans in general which helped Trump win "in key swing states".[48] Charles Koch criticized Trump's Muslim travel ban suggestions during the campaign and went so far as to say "it's possible" that Hillary Clinton could be a better president, although he strongly denied rumours that he would actually support Clinton.[78][79] In June 2018, the Kochs backed a multimillion-dollar campaign organized by three pro-free trade political groups to oppose the First Trump tariffs.[80]
On the other hand, although they "disavowed Trump" and opposed the extremes of his populist movement, so many Koch operatives served in top positions in the Trump administration (Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, Wilbur Ross, Betsy DeVos, Rebekah Mercer) that Politico dubbed it "Trump's Koch administration".[48] The Kochs have been accused of setting the general tone of Trump and the Trump-dominated Republican Party,[81] helping to "convince voters that Washington was corrupt and broken and that, when it came to governing, knowing nothing was preferable to expertise".[81] A "former employee in the Koch's political operation" stated that "we are partly responsible" for the Trump populist movement nastiness, and added, "We invested a lot in grassroots army that was not controllable."[82]
Change in focus
In the spring of 2019, the Koch network (made up of a "constellation of groups" and funded by "around 700 like-minded conservatives and libertarians who contribute at least $100,000 annually") rebranded itself from "The Seminar Network" to "Stand Together". In a letter to supporters, Charles Koch outlined the change in mission:[2]
We live in a period of unprecedented progress — economic, social, technological — but not everyone has shared in that progress. While many people have gotten ahead, too many people are falling behind. Our charge is clear: we must stand together to help every person rise In many ways, this new name already expresses who we are. ... But this new name also marks a new chapter — and a new call to action.[2]
According to a description in The Washington Post, the Stand Together Foundation is the name of a nonprofit arm that the Koch apparatus created in 2016 "to support community groups addressing maladies like poverty, addiction, recidivism, gang violence and homelessness" and has as of 2019 "provided grants to 140 organizations". According to The Washington Post, "Freedom Partners, an entity that was once used to air campaign commercials, will cease to exist. Americans for Prosperity will now oversee all political and policy efforts. Groups that cater to specific constituencies, like Libre for Latinos or Concerned Veterans for America, have moved under the AFP umbrella."[19] Koch Industries continued to donate to Americans for Prosperity, giving—as of May 31, 2022—$6.5 million for the 2022 election cycle.[83] The Kochs also told donors and supporters that they would not be involved in the 2020 presidential race.[2] As early as mid-2015, The New York Times reported, "Once known for grim letters to fellow wealthy Americans warning of socialist apocalypse, Charles G. Koch now promotes research on the link between freedom and everyday happiness."[53]
The Kochs were "trading compliments with President Obama". James Davis, a spokesman for Freedom Partners, "In light of the barrage of political attacks and distortions of our record, beliefs, and vision, we are taking the steps necessary to get our story out to the public."[53] At least one critic (Clay Wirestone) maintains "Koch-affiliated groups" are still active "at the front lines of our current culture wars".[20] Explanations for the change include Koch's concern over the success of non-libertarian Donald Trump in the Republican Party and his divisiveness, and/or the success of the goals of the original network.[2]
2024 Republican Party presidential primaries
The donor network of Charles Koch announced it would fund a primary challenge to Trump during the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries.[84] On November 28, the Koch Network announced its endorsement of Nikki Haley.[85]
Impact
The impact of the Koch brothers' work has been called "extraordinary", unlike what anyone else has done (by Democratic activist Rob Stein).[86] Another more sympathetic observer (Brian Doherty, a libertarian author) argues that while "there are few policy victories you can lay directly at their feet", the Kochs have changed the general political zeitgeist "of valuing free markets" and "libertarianism, in a way it never did 20 years ago".[87] Jane Mayer observes that while there may have been few Koch "policy victories", there were plenty of policy defeats inflicted on their adversaries that they can take credit for. Circa 2015, national opinion polls indicated public support for a government action to address global warming, raise taxes on the rich and close loopholes that benefited them, increase funding for social security, or infrastructure, limits on campaign spending. Inside the beltway of the nation's capital, where the success of the Koch network's election campaign victories meant a majority in congress, there was an embrace of austerity, tax cuts for "job creators", and a dismissal as "out of the question" measures fighting global warming and inequality.[88]
Critics like Mayer also allege that the secrecy of the Kochs and some of their operatives helped create a "conventional wisdom" that America's turn to the right was "a public backlash against liberal spending programs", when in fact out-of-sight, the Koch network was helping this political shift along.[89] The Tea Party movement has been attacked as Koch-funded astroturf—as opposed to grassroots—political movement, with groups like Sam Adams Alliance having "deep ties" to the Koch brothers.[90][91] Another example being the seemingly spontaneous anti-Obamacare outrage at town hall meetings in summer of 2009, that was assisted by FreedomWorks (connected with the Koch brothers) which "circulating a memo instructing Tea Partiers on how to disrupt" the meetings.[92][note ^3]
Organizations
The Koch Network
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https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/anonymous-dark-money-destructive-influemce/
when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its controversial 5-4 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commissionin 2009, critics of the decision — including dissenters on the High Court — predicted that elections in the United States would be inundated with a flood of dark money. In his dissent, the late Justice John Paul Stevens, a Gerald R. Ford nominee, stressed that the ruling “threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the Nation” and warned, “A democracy cannot function effectively when its constituent members believe laws are being bought and sold.”
Thirteen years later, critics of the Citizens United decision continued to argue that Republican Stephens was spot on in his dissent. Articles on the influence of dark money have appeared in major publications, and New York Times reporters Kenneth P. Vogel and Shane Goldmacher, on August 22, reported that the largest political donation in U.S. history had come from “electronics manufacturing mogul”:{ Barre Seid:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}: — who gave $1.6 billion to a group led by GOP activist and Federalist Society Co-Chairman Leonard A. Leo.
Journalists David Sirota and Joel Warner examine the influence of dark money in an :{op-ed published by :(style="transition:color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s"):}:The Guardian GUKon August 29, citing Seid’s secretive donation as an especially blatant example.
“This week, the Lever, ProPublica and the New York Times discovered the largest known political advocacy donation in American history,” Sirota and Warner explain. “We exposed a reclusive billionaire’s secret transfer of $1.6bn to a political group controlled by the Republican operative Leonard Leo, who spearheaded the construction of a conservative Supreme Court supermajority to end abortion, block government regulations, stymie the fight against climate change and limit voting rights. This anonymous donation — which flowed to a tax-exempt trust that was never disclosed in any public record or database — was probably completely legal.”
Sirota and Warner continue, “Whether you support or abhor Leo’s crusade, we should be able to agree on one larger non-partisan principle: such enormous sums of money should not be able to influence elections, lawmakers, judicial nominations and public policy in secret. And we should not have to rely on a rare leak to learn basic campaign finance facts that should be freely available to anyone. Unfortunately, thanks to our outdated laws, those facts are now hidden behind anonymity, shell companies and shadowy political groups. America is long overdue for an overhaul of its political disclosure laws — and news organizations in particular should be leading the charge for reform.”
According to Sirota and Warner, dark money’s negative influence on U.S. politics is only “getting worse.”
“In 2020 alone, more than $1bn worth of dark money flooded around weak disclosure rules and into America’s elections, financing Super PACs, ad blitzes, mailers and door-knocking campaigns,” Sirota and Warner warn. “As millions of votes were swayed, reporters and the public had no knowledge of the money sources, or what policies they were buying. Heading into the 2022 election, the situation is getting worse. The two parties’ major Senate and House Super PACs are all being funded by anonymous dark money groups that are not required to disclose their donors.”
Sirota and Warner, however, do offer some “good news,” pointing out that the Disclose Act — a bill sponsored by Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island — would “force dark money groups to disclose any of their donors who give more than $10,000, require shell companies spending money on elections to disclose their owners, and mandate that election ads list their sponsors’ major contributors.” And a separate Whitehouse-sponsored bill, they add, “would additionally require donor disclosure from shadowy groups lobbying the Supreme Court throughamicus briefs designed to tilt judicial rulings without letting the public know which billionaire or CEO’s thumb is on the scale.”
“In the landmark Citizens United ruling that unleashed the modern era of big money politics,” Sirota and Warner write, “the majority noted that while it was unwilling to permit political spending restrictions,it still held that ‘government may regulate corporate political speech through disclaimer and disclosure requirements.’ Those requirements are so desperately needed now — for the free press to play its vital role, and for voters to make informed decisions when they go to the polls.”
READ MORE:**New report details Clarence Thomas’ 'shady ties to sprawling network of dark money'**
https://yyy.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/29/billions-in-dark-money-is-influencing-us-politics-we-need-disclosure-laws
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Billions in ‘dark money’ is influencing US politics. We need disclosure laws
David Sirota and Joel Warner
A donor secretly transferred $1.6bn to a Republican political group. Because of America’s lax laws, the donation was never disclosed in any public record or database
‘A billionaire transferred $1.6bn to a political group controlled by Republican operative Leonard Leo, who spearheaded the construction of a conservative supreme court supermajority to end abortion, block government regulations, stymie the fight against climate change and limit voting rights.’
Mon 29 Aug 2022
This week, the Lever, ProPublica and the New York Times discovered the largest known political advocacy donation in American history. We exposed a reclusive billionaire’s secret transfer of $1.6bn to a political group controlled by the Republican operative Leonard Leo, who spearheaded the construction of a conservative supreme court supermajority to end abortion, block government regulations, stymie the fight against climate change and limit voting rights.
This anonymous donation – which flowed to a tax-exempt trust that was never disclosed in any public record or database – was probably completely legal.
Whether you support or abhor Leo’s crusade, we should be able to agree on one larger non-partisan principle: such enormous sums of money should not be able to influence elections, lawmakers, judicial nominations and public policy in secret. And we should not have to rely on a rare leak to learn basic campaign finance facts that should be freely available to anyone.
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unfortunately, thanks to our outdated laws, those facts are now hidden behind anonymity, shell companies and shadowy political groups. America is long overdue for an overhaul of its political disclosure laws – and news organizations in particular should be leading the charge for reform.
In the early 1970s, leaks and shoe-leather reporting by news organizations uncovered the Watergate scandal – the modern era’s foundational dark money exposé. That debacle birthed the original federal disclosure laws and a golden age of journalism. For a time, the new statutes allowed campaign finance reporting to become systematic, methodical and based on required disclosures, rather than sporadic, random and reliant on the goodwill of courageous whistleblowers.
A half-century later, however, the dark money practices of 50 years ago have again become normalized. In 2020 alone, more than $1bn worth of dark money flooded around weak disclosure rules and into America’s elections, financing Super Pacs, ad blitzes, mailers and door-knocking campaigns. As millions of votes were swayed, reporters and the public had no knowledge of the money sources, or what policies they were buying.
Heading into the 2022 election, the situation is getting worse. The two parties’ major Senate and House Super Pacs are all being funded by anonymous dark money groups that are not required to disclose their donors.
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These problems aren’t unique to the campaign arena. Front groups are also shaping public policy, leaving reporters unable to tell voters who exactly is funding what. In the last few years, an anonymously funded group used post-election ads to successfully pressure lawmakers to water down landmark healthcare legislation designed to eliminate so-called “surprise” medical bills.
Similarly, Leo’s anonymously funded network spent tens of millions to boost the nomination campaigns of three conservative supreme court justices, after leading a campaign supporting Republicans’ refusal to hold a vote on Barack Obama’s 2016 high court nominee, Merrick Garland.
To be sure, news outlets can still cover the shrinking portion of the political finance system that still discloses some money flows to politicians, lobbyists and advocacy groups. And thankfully, there are occasionally disclosures like the Leo leak, which provide a fleeting glimpse into the real forces influencing sweeping policy decisions.
But for every sporadic leak, there are scores of secret donors systematically funneling ever more dark money into elections and legislative campaigns without ever being exposed – and they are reaping the rewards of corrupted public policy.
That’s the bad news. The good news is there is already a legislative blueprint for reform.
The Disclose Act, sponsored by the Democratic senator Sheldon Whitehouse, would force dark money groups to disclose any of their donors who give more than $10,000, require shell companies spending money on elections to disclose their owners, and mandate that election ads list their sponsors’ major contributors. These requirements would extend not only to election-related activity, but also to campaigns to influence governmental decisions – including judicial nominations.
A separate Whitehouse bill would additionally require donor disclosure from shadowy groups lobbying the supreme court through amicus briefs designed to tilt judicial rulings without letting the public know which billionaire or CEO’s thumb is on the scale. And other pending legislation would finally allow the Securities and Exchange Commission to require major corporations to more fully disclose their political spending.
Journalists should proudly advocate for laws like these, which allow us to tell the public what its government is doing. Our industry has done that before in defending open records laws, and we must do it now in advocating for new campaign finance disclosure rules.
In practice, that means reporters elevating the transparency issue and demanding answers from politicians about where they stand on disclosure laws – rather than ignoring or downplaying the rising tide of dark money now shaping every public policy in America.
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It means newspaper editorial boards advocating for campaign finance reform.
It means media organizations lobbying for stronger disclosure laws at the federal, state and local levels.
It means the journalism industry participating in – and at times leading – this fight, rather than using objectivity as a cop-out.
This battle to update campaign finance disclosure laws and bring sunlight to the darkest of dark money already faces powerful opponents. In recent years,the US Chamber of Commerce and Koch Industries– which represent some of America’s biggest dark money spenders – have been lobbying against the Disclose Act, preventing it from advancing for more than a decade.
The Koch network recently convinced the supreme court’s conservative bloc to strike down a California law requiring non-profit dark money groups to at least disclose their major donors to state tax regulators, after spending to back some of those justices’ confirmations to the court.
Most recently, conservative groups and Republican state attorneys general have been trying to block a proposal to force companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions by arguing that it is unlawful “compelled speech” – a preview of the argument they might use against new campaign finance transparency legislation.
Just as alarming, segments of the journalism industry itself have opposed transparency efforts.The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) — which represents the major media outlets making huge profits off of dark money ads — tried to block a rule at the Federal Election Commission a decade ago to require TV and radio stations to disclose ad buys from political groups, arguing it would cost them advertising revenue.
The NAB has recently successfully opposed the Federal Communications Commission’s requirements that broadcasters disclose when foreign governments sponsor material. NAB is right now lobbying on the Disclose Act.
But this week’s revelations about history’s largest dark-money donation should be an alarm telling us that the status quo must change – and indeed it can change, even within the confines of the supreme court’s own precedents.
In the landmark Citizens United ruling that unleashed the modern era of big money politics, the majority noted that while it was unwilling to permit political spending restrictions, it still held that “government may regulate corporate political speech through disclaimer and disclosure requirements”.
Those requirements are so desperately needed now – for the free press to play its vital role, and for voters to make informed decisions when they go to the polls.
But the only chance it will happen is if news outlets and reporters get off the sidelines and enter the battle to secure what they need to do their jobs – and what we all need to preserve our democracy.
- David Sirota is an award-winning journalist who founded the investigative news outlet the Lever
- Joel Warner is the Lever’s managing editor
https://lda.senate.gov/filings/public/filing/f2b28b0d-0cac-42b8-ae22-59463682d440/print/
andrew m Siff & Associates PLLC 5oK$
| 3222 N Street, NW |
2.7M$
Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC
- Address
| Address1 | 601 New Jersey Ave NW |
| 4a. Contact Name | b. Telephone Number | c. E-mail | Mr. | Brian Henneberry | 2028798509 | brian.henneberry@kochps.com |
400390816-12 |
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/01/supreme-court-california-disclosure-law-donors-497554
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Supreme Court nixes California disclosure law in blow to dark-money opponents
The high court ruled a state law requiring not-for-profit organizations that raise money in California to disclose their donors violated the donors' First Amendment rights.
The Supreme Court has ordered California to stop collecting the names and addresses of top donors to charities, siding with a nonprofit group with links to billionaire Charles Koch.
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation, backed by political megadonors Charles Koch and the late David Koch, brought one of the suits. | David Zalubowski, File/AP Photo
By JOSH GERSTEIN and ZACH MONTELLARO
07/01/2021
The Supreme Court dealt a blow Thursday to efforts to rein in so-called dark money political groups, issuing a ruling striking down California’s policy of demanding donor lists from nonprofit organizations.
The high court split 6-3 along ideological lines in its decision on a pair of cases challenging that California requirement, which forced non-profits raising money in California to give the state copies of federal tax forms containing donor information.
Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion for the court, ruled that California’s “blanket demand” for that information “is facially unconstitutional.”
“When it comes to the freedom of association, the protections of the First Amendment are triggered not only by actual restrictions on an individual’s ability to join with others to further shared goals. The risk of a chilling effect on association is enough,” Roberts wrote for the court.
The ruling could have a political impact, complicating donor-disclosure requirements for groups that often pour large sums into elections but stop just short of the “express advocacy” for or against candidates that triggers stricter rules on revealing the sources of donations.
The court ruled that the California mandate for groups to turn over donor information to the state, even if kept confidential, was overly broad.
“The point is that a reasonable assessment of the burdens imposed by disclosure should begin with an understanding of the extent to which the burdens are unnecessary, and that requires narrow tailoring,” Roberts wrote.
Roberts’ ruling did not address the federal government’s authority to require the filing of donor information with the Internal Revenue Service. Most charities are still required to file lists of donors giving over $5,000 in a given year, but in 2018 the IRS dropped the requirement for some politically-oriented groups.
The justices’ ruling Thursday addressed lawsuits filed by two politically active, conservative nonprofit organizations in 2015. The Americans for Prosperity Foundation,backed by political megadonors Charles Koch and the late David Koch, brought one of the suits. The other was filed by the Thomas More Law Center, a Michigan-based legal organization active on behalf of Catholic causes that was bankrolled by Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino’s Pizza.
Both organizations argued that California rules requiring filing of donor lists with state officials violate the First Amendment by discouraging individuals from giving and by exposing them to threats and harassment.
In 2016, AFP persuaded a federal judge in Los Angeles to issue a permanent injunction against the requirement. The judge said the state rarely used the information, but often disclosed it accidentally with charities’ public tax filings.
However, two years later, a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously reversed that ruling,holding that the state had a legitimate need for the data and that the Koch-founded group had not shown a significant burden on donors.
It’s unclear how the Supreme Court’s conclusions will impact similar donor-disclosure requirements at the federal level. The Internal Revenue Service has generally done a better job of keeping filings it receives confidential.
Part of Roberts’ opinion does, however, open the door to challenges to other disclosure requirements: “While exacting scrutiny does not require that disclosure regimes be the least restrictive means of achieving their ends, it does require that they be narrowly tailored to the government’s asserted interest,” he wrote.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing in dissent and joined by the two other liberal-leaning justices, did however predict that the decision would open the floodgates to weakening disclosure requirements.
“Today’s analysis marks reporting and disclosure requirements with a bull’s-eye,” she wrote. “Regulated entities who wish to avoid their obligations can do so by vaguely waving toward First Amendment ‘privacy concerns.’”
The high court rulings could have a broader impact on efforts by Democrats to broaden and increase disclosure requirements, particularly for groups that run ads that mention federal candidates while stopping short of explicitly endorsing or opposing them.
The For the People Act, congressional Democrats’ massive campaign and ethics reform legislation that is stalled in the Senate amid Democratic infighting and a successful Republican filibuster last week, also contains provisions that would remake campaign finance disclosure law if enacted.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stands with Sens. Raphael Warnock and Amy Klobuchar while speaking with reporters before a vote on the For the People Act.
CONGRESS
[Senate Republicans block Dems’ sweeping elections reform bill
BY MARIANNE LEVINE AND ZACH MONTELLARO]
Amid the hundreds of pages of the bill is a long-fought-over proposal that would dramatically expand which organizations are required to disclose donors and expenditures if they spend a nominal amount on communications that broadly mention federal candidates.
Republicans are now broadly opposed to such measures, a turnabout from two decades ago when prominent GOP leaders backed robust disclosure rules as an alternative to attempts to restrict donations to campaigns and outside groups.
“Republicans are in favor of disclosure,” Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a 2000 interview. “Why would a little disclosure be better than a lot of disclosure?”
McConnell has said that soon after those comments — and the passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act despite his opposition in 2002 — he concluded that such rules for groups that don’t engage in express advocacy violate the First Amendment. In the AFP case decided Thursday, he filed an amicus brief saying donor-disclosure requirements should face the “strictest scrutiny” when reviewed in court.
While AFP and the Thomas More Law Center unsurprisingly garnered support for their legal challenges from other conservative organizations, several liberal groups and First Amendment advocates also urged the Supreme Court to rule in favor of donor privacy in the cases.
The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union, the LGBTQ rights advocacy group Human Rights Campaign and others argued that the justices should hold that California’s failure to keep the donor information confidential violated the conservative groups’ rights.
However, the liberal organizations’ brief — which drew significant interest from conservative justices at oral arguments — pushed the court toward a narrow decision that would not upset disclosure requirements for political campaigns or address the rights of regulators with a better track record for confidentiality to gather donor information.
FILED UNDER: CAMPAIGN FINANCE, CALIFORNIA, U.S. SUPREME COURT,}}
https://www.newsweek.com/koch-network-wont-support-trump-2020-1278141
https://www.newsweek.com/koch-network-wont-support-trump-2020-1278141
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KOCH DONOR NETWORK WILL NOT SUPPORT TRUMP IN 2020, BUT WILL PROMOTE PERMANENT LEGAL STATUS FOR DREAMERS: REPORT
BY DANIEL MORITZ-RABSON ON 1/3/19 AT 2:56 PM EST
U.S.
DONALD TRUMP
2020 ELECTION
NETWORK
TRUMP
Politically powerful billionaire Charles Koch will not lobby for President Donald Trump if he runs for re-election in the 2020 contest, Time reported. But the Koch donor network will advocate for establishing permanent legal status for Dreamers, undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, recipients are often called Dreamers, after the DREAM Act—Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors—which offered many of the same protections but never passed Congress.)
Koch will also focus his immense influence on gubernatorial and congressional races, prioritizing issues including poverty and drug addiction, the article said.
"We are making significant investments to unite the country and address critical issues that will help people improve their lives," Koch spokesman James Davis told Time. "This starts with a major new initiative to fight poverty in America, and following on the success of the First Step Act in December continuing to build broad-based policy coalitions on issues from education reform to immigration. These will include a significant investment to support policy champions in Senate, House and state races. This is where we can make the biggest difference for millions of Americans."
Charles and David Koch have long wielded their enormous wealth to support far-right politics but did not overtly promote Trump during the 2016 election. They have recently been attempting to re-brand themselves as more benevolent.
Koch Industries, which The New Yorker's Jane Mayer called a "fossil-fuel leviathan," amassed $100 billion in revenue in 2017, according to BBC News. The multinational conducts business in disparate realms, including finance, agriculture and electronics.
Charles and his brother, David, held a significant role in shaping the fiscally conservative Tea Party movement, which gained traction in 2010.
A Greenpeace investigation said that Koch industries was funding 35 libertarian and conservative organizations and over 20 legislators to spread inaccurate information about climate change science, The Guardian reported in 2010. The report from the environmental organization said the Kochs had also funded prominent think tanks that were involved in promoting doubts about the veracity of global warming.
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After President Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord in 2017, prominent political figures including former Secretary of State John Kerry, criticized the Kochs, according to The New Yorker.
Koch Industries more recently supported the First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill that President Trump signed last month.
"Our criminal justice system has been a huge barrier to opportunity for millions and millions people for the last 30 to 40 years. So, we see the criminal justice system as a way to increase liberty. We see it as a moral issue, we see it as a constitutional issue, and also, it's a fiscal issue," Mark Holden, general counsel for Koch Industries, said before the legislation was passed.
dem in chains
koch network spy on jrnl " upping the transaction costs for the other side" 232
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https://www.motherjones.com/politics/**2011/09/**koch-brothers-million-dollar-donor-club/
mojo
Exclusive: The Koch Brothers’ Million-Dollar Donor Club
GAVIN ARONSEN
Read our inside account of the Koch brothers’ Vail seminar, and listen to the exclusive audio.
Twice a year, the billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch host secretive retreats for an exclusive list of corporate America’s rich and powerful to strategize and raise money for their right-wing political agenda. Mother Jones has obtained exclusive audio recordings that shed some light on the brothers’ latest retreat, held at a resort near Vail, Colorado, in late June.
In a speech that is part of these recordings, Charles Koch thanks donors who gave more than $1 million to the cause. We checked the audio against a list of participants at the Kochs’ 2010 seminar in Aspen that was obtained by ThinkProgress.org and did additional research on these individuals. Below are the names Koch read that appeared on the previous guest list.
John Childs: Childs is the founder and CEO of private equity firm JW Childs Associates. In 2006, Boston Magazine placed the “notoriously media-shy” magnate—a.k.a. “the Republican ATM”—among the city’s wealthiest residents, reportedly worth $1.2 billion. Childs donated $750,000 to outside political expenditure groups in 2010. He’s also been involved in Florida wetlands conservation efforts.
The Cortopassis: Dean “Dino” Cortopassi and his wife, Joan, hail from Stockton, California. This article, which identifies the pair as philanthroposts, calls Dino a “wealthy self-made agribusinessman who is Stocktonian of the Year for 2005.” He is suing the state of California for its failure to dredge streams in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Joe Craft: Joseph Craft is president, CEO, and chairman of Alliance Resource Partners, a coal company based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that gave $2.4 million to outside political expenditure groups in 2010. His family is reportedly worth $1.9 billion.
Richard DeVos
The DeVoses: Rich and Helen DeVos hail from Michigan. The cofounder of Amway and owner of the NBA’s Orlando Magic, Rich DeVos is reportedly worth in the ballpark of $4.2 billion. The Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation funds conservative Christian groups such as Focus on the Family. The DeVoses are big enough political donors to have their own profile at OpenSecrets.org.
The Farmers: Dick Farmer is from Ohio. The founder and former CEO of the Cintas Corporation, his story is literally rags-to-riches: He turned his father’s Depression-era rag-cleaning business into a $3.5 billion enterprise. Farmer and his wife, Joyce, are longtime Republican boosters; during the 2002 election cycle the couple gave about $1 million to the party.
The Friesses: Foster Friess founded the investment firm Friess Associates in 1974 with his wife, Lynn; in 2001, he sold a majority share for $247 million. Friess is a champion of conservative Christian causes and one of Wyoming’s richest men. His son, Steve Friess, helps him run the family’s philanthropic foundation. (Steve’s wife, Polly, was also on the list of Aspen Koch participants.)
The Fullinwiders: Jerry and Leah Fullinwider hail from Dallas. Jerry has pursued oil exploration and development in the United States, Canada, and Russia. He now serves under Ross Perot’s son as vice chairman of Hillwood International Energy, which has operations in Iraq and Jordan as well as the United States and Russia. He also has ties to Hilarion Alfeyev, an anti-abortion Russian Orthodox bishop.
The Gilliams: Richard Gilliam and wife, Leslie, are natives of southwest Virginia. Richard founded the Cumberland Resources Corporation, which was one of the nation’s largest private coal mining companies when Massey Energy bought it for nearly $1 billion in March 2010. He’s now a director with the Vancouver-based mining corporation Endurance Gold.
The Griffins: Ken and Anne Dias Griffin are a hedge fund power couple from Chicago who wed in 2003. Ken is the founder and CEO of Citadel and is reportedly worth $2.3 billion. Anne founded one of the nation’s largest woman-run hedge funds, Aragon Global Management. Ken bundled money for both President Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain during the 2008 election.
The Haworths: Richard “Dick” Haworth is the former CEO and chairman emeritus of Haworth, an international office-interiors manufacturer based in Holland, Michigan, that he took over from his father in 1975. The company reported sales of $1.4 billion in 2005, the year he retired. He is married to Ethie Haworth and has donated more than $100,000 to Republican causes, according to OpenSecrets.org.
Diane Hendricks
Diane Hendricks: Hendricks is the billionaire former head of the ABC Supply roofing company, which she took over from her husband Kenneth after he died in a construction site accident in 2007. Reportedly worth $2.2 billion, she is the richest businesswoman in Wisconsin and a big Republican Party donor. She recently gave her state’s embattled Republican governor, Scott Walker, $10,000 in advance of a potential recall vote next year.
The Humphreys family: Ethelmae Humphreys is the chair of the board of Tamko Building Products, one of the country’s largest independent roofing manufacturers. She also serves on the board of directors of the Cato Institute, a Koch-funded think tank. Her son David is Tamko’s CEO. The two have doled out hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates. That includes David’s $25,000 donation to the successful recount effort this year of conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, who came under fire recently for allegations that he choked a fellow justice. (He wasn’t charged.)
The Levys: Kenneth Levy of Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, cofounded the Jacobs Levy equity management firm and has donated about $85,000 to conservative causes, according to FEC records. His wife, Frayda Levin, is a national director at the Koch brothers’ advocacy group Americans for Prosperity and sits on the board of the Club for Growth. She also cofounded the Motion Picture Institute, which “promotes liberty through film,” according to her AFP bio. FEC records show that she has given well over $100,000 to conservative causes.
The Marshall family: Elaine Marshall of Dallas is the widow of E. Pierce Marshall, a son of oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall who served on the board of Koch Industries before his death. Elaine was involved in a successful effort to prevent the late Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith, who married Howard when he was 89, from inheriting the family’s wealth. Before Smith’s death, she was investigated by the FBI but never prosecuted in a murder-for-hire plot against Pierce. In the end, Pierce inherited the bulk of his father’s wealth because he and his father had previously helped Charles and David Koch thwart a takeover of Koch Industries; Howard’s eldest son—also named Howard—sided against his father and was disinherited as a result. Meanwhile, Elaine’s son, E. Pierce Marshall Jr., is senior vice president and general counsel at oil exploration company MarOpCo. Another son, Preston Marshall of Houston, is the president of MarOpCo.
The Popes: Art Pope is a millionaire Republican booster from Raleigh, North Carolina, who inherited his retail fortune from a family business. According to this article, he’s “one of the most trusted members of the Koch’s elite circle” and a regular at the Kochs’ secret seminars, as well as a “valuable junior partner in many key Koch operations.” He’s another national director at Americans for Prosperity and is married to Kathy Pope. According to this October 2011 New Yorker profile by Jane Mayer, who has also profiled the Koch brothers, Pope has dumped millions into sculpting the political landscape in North Carolina, a swing state—including giving money to outside groups that fund malicious attack ads.
The Robertsons: Corbin Robertson is CEO and chairman of the board of Natural Resource Partners, a Houston-based fossil fuels company. He’s also been involved with a number of other energy organizations and was listed as the richest US small-business owner in 2007 by CNNMoney. He and wife Barbara have donated to the Baylor College of Medicine and both Democratic and Republican politicians.
Karen Wright: Wright is the founder and CEO of the Ariel Foundation, a private philanthropy group based in Mount Vernon, Ohio. She’s also CEO of the Ariel Corporation, a natural-gas compression company, and on the American Petroleum Institute’s board of directors. She has donated more than $100,000 to Republican causes, according to OpenSecrets.org.
Tom Rastin: Rastin shares a Mount Vernon, Ohio, address with Karen Wright. He serves on the board of directors at the Ariel Foundation and is vice president of marketing and engineering at the Ariel Corporation. Last year, he gave $2,400 to the failed congressional campaign of former Democratic Louisiana House Speaker Hunt Downer, who switched to the Republican Party after endorsing the Bush-Cheney ticket in 2000.
The principals with the Services Group of America: SGA is a billion-dollar food services wholesaler; its CEO, Peter Smith of Scottsdale, Arizona, appears on the list of 2010 Koch attendees. Smith took over as CEO last year after its former head, GOP heavyweight Thomas J. Stewart, died in a helicopter crash. According to FEC records, Smith has donated $12,500 to Republican congressional candidates. SGA’s political action committee donates heavily to Republicans.
At the event, Charles Koch also read off names that did not appear on the 2010 attendees list, but that mirrored those of well-known GOP donors for whom giving $1 million or more to the Kochs would not seem out of character. You’ll find these names below. We chose not to offer any details on the handful of names for which we could find no association with Koch business interests or conservative political giving. (Listen to Charles Koch reading the donor list.)
The Camerons: Ron Cameron of Little Rock, Arkansas, runs agribusiness giant Mountaire Corporation, which generated $1.22 billion in revenue in 2009. He has donated at least $175,000 to Republicans in recent years, including $5,000 to Sarah Palin’s PAC, according to FEC records. The company itself has given at least $125,000 to outside spending groups over the past decade, according to OpenSecrets.org.
The Hamms: Self-made magnate Harold Hamm of Oklahoma City is reportedly worth $8.2 billion. The son of sharecroppers, Hamm soared up the corporate ladder from gas station attendant to CEO of “America’s Oil Champion,” Oklahoma-based Continental Resources. According to OpenSecrets.org, he’s doled out more than $100,000 to political causes and candidates, mostly Republican. Stricken with diabetes, he and wife Sue Ann founded a center at the Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center to help combat the disease.
The Haydens: Jerry and Marilyn Hayden of Barrington, Illinois, doled out $400,000 to conservative-leaning outside spending groups in 2010 and about $250,000 to Republicans in 2008. Before retirement, Jerry ran Peacock Engineering, a packaging company. As of September 2008, he served on the board of directors at the United Republican Fund of Illinois. The Haydens recently donated $2.5 million toward an alumni center at their alma matter, Bradley University.
Virginia James: James is an investor from New Jersey. She has donated handsomely to right-wing causes, including a $750,000 gift to the Club for Growth in 2008 and another $350,000 last year. This year, she donated $25,000 to the successful recount of Wisconsin’s Justice Prosser.
The Menards: John Menard of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, is the founder of Menards, the country’s third-largest hardware company. He’s worth a reported $5.2 billion and has donated about $80,000 to his state’s Republican Party and federal candidates, mostly Republicans, according to FEC records. His company backed a recent anti-union program that was linked to the Kochs’ Americans for Prosperity and supported by Gov. Scott Walker.
John Moran: Hailing from Palm Springs, Florida, Moran is the former chairman of the Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corporation, an international holding company based in New York City. He also chaired the Republican National Finance Committee from 1993 to 1995. Moran has given more than $900,000 to Republican causes since 1991, according to OpenSecrets.org, and he bundled between $250,000 and $500,000 more for McCain’s 2008 presidential bid. In 1997, he warned that the religious right was putting his party’s future “in jeopardy.”
Charles Schwab
The Schwabs: Charles Schwab of San Francisco is founder and chairman of the Charles Schwab Corporation, the country’s largest independent brokerage firm. He is reportedly worth $4.7 billion. Since 1989, Schwab has donated more than $1.6 million to political causes, mostly Republican, according to OpenSecrets.org. Part of that went to his company’s lobbying arm, which has given away millions more.
Paul Singer: While Singer is not on the list of Aspen participants, the New York Times noted that “Annie Dickerson, who also runs a foundation for Paul Singer, a hedge fund executive who like the Kochs is active in promoting libertarian causes,” showed up at that seminar. Singer founded the $17 billion hedge fund Elliott Management and recently issued an economic manifesto slamming the Federal Reserve as a “group of inbred academics.”
The Templetons: John “Jack” Templeton Jr. and his wife, Josephine, of Pennsylvania, gave $50,000 apiece to Wisconsin Justice Prosser’s recount effort this year. Jack, an evangelical Christian, has donated more than $1 million to Republicans, according to state and federal records. He heads the John Templeton Foundation, an organization whose critics—including prominent scientists—say it aims to apply scientific legitimacy to matters of faith. The foundation was started by Jack’s late father, Sir John the mutual fund billionaire, and in 2009 reportedly had $1.7 billion in assets.
Be sure to Read Part 1 of our two-part series: “Exclusive: The Secret Koch Brothers Tapes.”
And check back tomorrow for Part 2, on the GOP superstar who rocked the Koch crowd on opening night.
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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/david-koch-charles-koch-network-is-going-all-in-for-2018-midterms/
Indian Wells, Calif. —The network backed by Charles and David Koch realizes 2018 will be a challenging environment — and they're going "all in" to defend their policy priorities and candidates who support them, to the likely tune of roughly $400 million. That would be likely the largest investment the Koch network — the affiliated groups backed by the brothers and donors — has ever had in a midterm election, and significantly more than the roughly $250 million they spent during the 2016 presidential cycle.
Last summer, the Koch brothers' political network projected it would spend $300 to $400 million on politics and policy in the election, but now, spending will be on the "high end" of that.
"So we're all in," said Tim Phillips, the president of the network's political advocacy arm Americans for Prosperity, at a gathering of the Koch-affiliated Seminar Network in Indian Wells, Calif., Saturday.
Allies of the network — about 700 of them — are meeting this weekend to discuss the intersection of policy, politics and philanthropy in 2018 and beyond. The tone of leaders in the Koch network Saturday, the first day of the three-day gathering, was one of optimism, coming off of what Phillips described as perhaps the most effective policy year yet. They count reforms in the Department of Veterans Affairs, the nomination of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, and — perhaps most of all — tax reform as significant, long-lasting accomplishments in Washington, D.C.
But there's no denying that history and polling don't favor Republicans, the party with which the Kochs have generally aligned themselves. According to Real Clear Politics, Democrats, on the generic House ballot, Democrats beat Republicans by about 8 points, as of polls aggregated between Jan. 8 and Jan. 23. Historically, midterm elections don't favor the party in power, as Phillips was quick to highlight. Elections in Virginia and elsewhere have revealed momentum for Democrats.
"The left is energized, there's no question about that," Phillips said.
The financial support comes, coincidentally, as the Republican National Committee loses finance chair Steve Wynn, who resigned after the Wall Street Journal reported alleged extensive sexual misconduct. Wynn, a casino mogul, was a major backer of Republican candidates.
The unspoken aspect of the challenging 2018 environment is President Trump, who continues to struggle with approval ratings lower than his recent predecessors at this point in their presidencies. The Koch brothers themselves declined to spend anything on the 2016 presidential race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. But that tone seems to have shifted since the 2016 election, and Koch-related entities are finding ways to work with the Trump administration. Marc Short, for instance, the White House's director of legislative affairs, previously worked in Koch world, at Freedom Partners.
Now, they want to protect what they consider significant accomplishments in the administration, and work to further them.
Part of that includes an infusion of up to $20 million on selling tax reform to the public — after already spending $20 million on passing the legislation Mr. Trump signed into law at the end of last year.
Other than that, much of their spending strategy in 2018 has yet to be seen. But, it likely won't be focused on the upcoming primary races.
"Historically, we have not gotten involved with primaries," Phillips said.
Leaders in the Koch network on Saturday were hesitant to share what specific requirements they might have for backing candidates, on immigration or any other policy area. The Seminar Network on Saturday issued a statement Saturday supporting the White House's proposal for a path to citizenship for young immigrants, but expressed concern over the proposal to end extended family-based migration.
"If you're not a champion, it's going to be hard to support you," said James Davis, president of In Pursuit Of, the relatively new public relations arm affiliated with the Koch network.
"We're going to be there for our champions, and that's what we've consistently said and done."
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https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/koch-brothers-network-planning-massive-spending-increase-for-2018-midterms
WELLS, Calif. — Charles Koch and members of his Seminar Network — donors who contribute a minimum of $100,000 to the various political action and philanthropic organizations run by the conservative billionaire Koch brothers — have big plans for the midterm elections.
At a retreat this weekend, the group announced plans to spend between $300 million and $400 million in 2018 — a 60 percent increase from its spending in 2016 — to defend Trump administration policies that Charles and David Koch and their network overwhelmingly support— while distancing themselves from a man that some believe is personally unfit to serve as president.
President Donald Trump is “not the greatest human being,” said Liz Wright a staunch libertarian from Colorado who voted for the independent Gary Johnson in the 2016 presidential election. “I’m not a fan, but I think he’s done an amazing job of putting in policies that really are changing the trajectory of the country.”
This is the compromise many members of the Koch network seem to have made.
“We’re voting for a chief executive who makes good decisions,” Pick said.“We’re not voting for [a] best friend,” said Jacki Pick, a first-time attendee from Austin, Texas, who works in the energy sector. Pick praised Trump’s policies and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, a climate change skeptic who supports increasing oil and gas development.
The Koch brothers network is pledging to up its political spending because of the difficult political environment the Republican Party faces in November. With a number of retirements and Trump’s low approval rating, there is increased concern among many conservatives that more GOP seats could be vulnerable in the fall.
Trump “is not a nice person and he’s alienating a lot of people, similar to the way Obama destroyed the Democratic Party,” said Wright, a reference to the Republicans’ historic gains in the midterm elections of 2010.
Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity, the Koch brothers primary political organization, acknowledged the midterm elections are “challenging,” arguing that the GOP needed to improve its messaging around the tax bill. The party has to make “people connected to the benefits of the tax bill,” Phillips said. His group has committed an additional $20 million to fund a campaign focused on championing the bill, which was Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress’ top legislative victory in 2017.
Charles Koch launched the biannual event
with a poolside cocktail party at the Renaissance Resort in Indian Wells, California. “We’ve made more progress in the last five years than I have in the previous 50,” he said in a speech.
Koch challenged his supporters to increase their output ten-fold, a project the Network has dubbed “10x.”
The retreat and its theme, “Breaking Barriers,” also highlighted the Network Seminar’s work outside of politics.
Koch released a film, 
,” over the weekend that tells the story of the Seminar’s overall goals, which include education and criminal justice reform.
The Kochs “started with policy and that is the real interest. Most people here have been involved with philanthropy and engaged with education reform their entire adult lives,” said Randy Kendrick, a conservative donor from Arizona who is married to the owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team.
The Network Seminar also includes a growing philanthropic division, Stand Together, that supports non-profits aligned with the organization’s goals, and has become a venture fund seeding money to enable successful non-profits to grow.
The 2018 retreat was the Network Seminar’s largest gathering ever, with 550 attendees including 160 first-timers. The three-day policy conference focused criminal justice reform, free speech, reducing regulations, and creating opportunities for all.The initiative has helped organizations like Rising Tide Capital, a New Jersey-based firm that educates potential entrepreneurs in management and micro-finance, and PHOENIX, a fitness-focused recovery program that uses outdoor activities like hiking, climbing, and boxing to provide paths forward for those fighting through addiction.
Several elected officials attended the retreat, which gives Republicans access to wealthy donors and party activists. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., were all featured Saturday night at the opening dinner, and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, also made an appearance.
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https://www.ecowatch.com/koch-pipelines-dakota-keystone-2540819277.html
Koch Network Took Credit for Dakota Access, Keystone XL and REINS Act, Leaked Memo Shows
By Steve Horn
A leaked memorandum published by The Intercept and Documented Investigations shows that a Koch Industries' donors network, known as the Seminar Network, has taken credit for Donald Trump approving the permits for both the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines during the first months of his presidency.
The memo also applauded efforts by the Koch network's Americans for Prosperity (AFP) chapter in Wisconsin to pass a deregulatory measure there known as the REINS Act. The Seminar Network, which meets secretly twice a year, is made up ofdonors who give at least $100,000 toward Koch-led political and philanthropic efforts.
Koch Industries has a business interest in both pipelines, though their approval has not been something its funded network has widely discussed. Quietly, though, Koch has advocated for the pair of pipelines in regulatory hearings in both Iowa for Dakota Access—as previously reported by DeSmog—as well as in Canada, as reported in 2012 by InsideClimate News.
The REINS (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny) Act, which GOP officials have been pushing in Congress since Obama's first term, passed as state law in Wisconsin in 2017. The law, long considered crown jewel legislation by the Koch front group AFP, gives legislative bodies full veto authority over regulations proposed by executive agencies. Conservative groups in Wisconsin already are using the law to sue the top state public education officer.
"State legislatures, particularly in states with a strong Network presence, have also made significant progress toward removing harmful and unnecessary regulations. For example, Wisconsin this year went so far as to enact the nation's first REINS Act, which will require legislative approval of any issued regulation that has an impact above a certain cost threshold," reads the Koch Seminar Network document.
The American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-funded group of mostly Republican Party state legislators, has a REINS Act model resolution on the books, which supports the federal version of this legislation. In 2017, six states introduced pro-REINS Act resolutions: Kansas, Montana, Missouri, Georgia, Ohio and South Carolina. ALEC—which brings corporate lobbyists and state legislators together at annual meetings for networking, seminars and voting on what it dubs "model policies" —maintains close connections with the Koch network.
Koch, KXL, DAPL Business Ties
Koch Industries also owns assets in a tar sands reservoir located in Alberta, Canada, both in the form of lease holdings for land and as a company with a drilling interest. For the latter, Koch owns Koch Oil Sands Operating, which has a drilling interest in both the Gemini and Muskwa tar sands fields in Alberta.
It also owns 1-2 million acres' worth of land (the exact number is contested) in the tar sands for prospective future leasing, according to a 2013 report published by the International Forum on Globalization. Keystone XL, the pipeline owned by TransCanada and approved by Trump and his U.S. Department of State in March 2017, would bring around 500,000 currently-booked barrels per day of tar sands oil from Alberta to Cushing, Oklahoma, where the pipeline connects with TransCanada's Gulf Coast Pipeline.
Gulf Coast, which was approved by President Barack Obama in a 2012 election season executive order, sends the tar sands bitumen down to Port Arthur, Texas, where the substance is refined into products and then sent to market.
[map]
Koch Industries even nearly testified at a 2012 hearing in support of its development of tar sands, before backing out after signing confidentiality agreements with impacted landowners. Much of the tar sands extracted in Alberta is refined at Koch's refinery in Pine Bend, Minnesota, which is owned by its subsidiary Flint Hills Resources and is the top refiner of tar sands in the U.S. at 223,000 barrels per day, as of 2013.
For Dakota Access, Koch also quietly came out in support of the pipeline via its front group, the 60 Plus Association, which purports to be a conservative alternative to the American Association of Retired Persons for seniors. Through intermediary groups, 60 Plus had received tens of millions of dollars from the Koch network.
Koch Industries has a direct tie to Dakota Access, through a storage terminal part-owned by its subsidiary Flint Resources and located in North Dakota's Bakken Shale basin. As DeSmog previously reported, this terminal, called the COLT Hub, feeds oil into the Dakota Access pipeline.
Back in 2015 when the pipeline was hotly contested in Iowa, a representative for 60 Plus testified on behalf of Dakota Access in front of the Iowa Utilities Board.
"The Dakota Access Pipeline Project is important to seniors for several reasons. High energy prices are disproportionately impacting America's low and fixed-income senior citizens today—citizens that often have limited financial resources with which to meet their needs," the 60 Plus representative testified in September 2015. "By helping the United States to better capitalize upon its growing domestic energy resources—and affordably transport these resources to market—the Dakota Access Pipeline will help to foster stability within energy markets nationwide, and improve the availability of affordable American produced crude oil."
60 Plus also began lobbying and campaigning on behalf of the Dakota Access as the protest movement grew against the pipeline at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. Around the same time those protests began in September 2016, 60 Plus deployed its chairman, Jim Martin, to begin lobbying Congressabout Dakota Access. Martin also wrote an opinion piece that month supporting the pipeline for the publication Morning Consult.
"Whether it's heating or cooling your home or putting gas in your car, the cheaper the energy, the more economically stable your checkbook will be," wrote Martin. "The 60 Plus Association's 5.5 million members know this all too well. This is why as an organization that champions free enterprise and who have championed energy issues for seniors before, we strongly support the Dakota Access pipeline."
'Whole New Level'
In the 2018 election cycle, the Koch network plans to spend up to $400 million to keep the Republican majority in Congress and GOP control over statehouses nationwide.
"We've made more progress in the last five years than I had in the last 50," Charles Koch, one of the infamous petrochemical billionaire Koch brothers, said in January at a private Seminar Network meeting held in Indian Wells, California. "The capabilities we have now can take us to a whole new level."
Reposted with permission from our media associate DeSmogBlog.
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- ## 2016 Election Activity
Freedom Partners Action Fund
In 2016, Freedom Partners has used the Freedom Partners Action Fund (FPAF) to support candidates across the country who "promote free markets and a free society."[9] Here are the the candidates who received financial support from FPAF in the 2016 election cycle:
- Rep. Todd Young (R-IN) received $1 million in support of his race for U.S. Senate from the Freedom Partners Action Fund in the form of TV and digital attack ads on former Sen. Evan Bayh (D).[10]
- Freedom Partners Action Fund spent $7.6 million on ads opposing Joe Heck’s opponent, Catherine Masto, in his race for the Nevada U.S. Senate seat.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]
- Freedom Partners Action Fund placed over $6.74 million in ads opposing Gov. Strickland, that assisted Sen. Rob Portman in his reelection bid.[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]
- Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) received $7.08 million in support in the form of digital and tv ads opposing his opponent Kathleen McGinty.[31][32][33][34][35][36][19][37][38]
- Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) received FPAF support of $2.69 million in ads attacking Russ Feingold, his opponent, and in supporting his record.[39][40][41][42][43][44][45][19]
- Bill Cole received $100,000 from FPAF to his PAC Accelerate West Virginia for his run for Governor of West Virginia.[46]
View the 2016 election cycle Freedom Partners Ads here.
Funding
According to a 2015 year-end FEC filing, Freedom Partners Action Fund raised $11.8 million in 2015 and now have $14.8 million available to spend on elections in 2016.[47] Those who contributed over $1 million to the Freedom Partners Action Fund in 2015 are:
- Paul L. Foster: $1,000,000
- Richard B. Gilliam: $1,000,000
- Kenneth C. Griffin: $2,000,000
- Diane Hendricks: $2,000,000
- Charles G. Koch: $3,000,000
Donor Meetings
Winter 2016
Freedom Partners again hosted the Koch network's winter donor meeting January 30-February 2, 2016 at the Renaissance Indian Wells Resort & Spa in California. Membership to this gathering reportedly costs $100,000.[48] According to reports, Freedom Partners did not commit to endorsing a Presidential candidate at the meeting. [48] However, they came up with five preferences for the GOP candidacy: Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina.[49] The following public officials attended the meeting: Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX 5th), Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R), West Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Cole, Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL 6th), Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA 4th), and Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt.[48]
Summer 2015
The Koch network held its 2015 summer meeting July 31-August 2 at the St. Regis Monarch Beach luxury resort in Dana Point, California. According to Politico, about 450 donors attended. Attendees included several Republican candidates for President: former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Carly Fiorina, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.[50]
Politico also reported that several elected officials in attendance spoke about the influence of the Koch's donor network. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey "recalled that he attended a previous conference as a donor before being elected to his state’s top office last year. 'Every time I’ve been invited to this conference, I’ve benefited from this conference,' he said." Senators Ben Sasse (R-NE), Tim Scott (R-SC), and Dan Sullivan (R-AK), all first elected in 2014, "credited Koch network donors for helping the GOP take control of the Senate that year. 'Your help over the last election cycle produced the numbers that we have today,. Scott said [...] 'The major contributions and investments that you have made have played a major role."
Click here for a transcript of Charles Koch's speech.
Others reportedly in attendance included:
- Art Pope, "longtime Koch network donor," CEO of Variety Wholesalers,[50] director of the Pope Foundation
- Kellie Peters, "major Ohio donor focused on education reform"[50]
- Nancy Pfotenhauer, board member of Americans for Prosperity[50]
- Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO)[51]
- Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH)[51]
- Former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels[52]
Politico also reported that New York hedge fund tycoon Robert Mercer was a Koch network donor.[50]
Winter 2015
Freedom Partners sponsored the Koch network's winter donor meeting the weekend of January 23, 2015 at a hotel in Palm Springs, California. Sources told Politico that Republican politicians including "Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida, and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin received coveted invitations to speak to the vaunted network assembled by the billionaire industrialist megadonors Charles and David Koch."[53] Walker's plans to attend were confirmed by a campaign spokesperson.[54]
At the meeting, it was revealed that the network planned to spend $889 million on the 2016 election campaign, a goal the New York Times called "unprecedented" and which "would put it on track to spend nearly as much as the campaigns of each party’s presidential nominee."[55]
“It’s no wonder the candidates show up when the Koch brothers call,” said David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Mr. Obama. “That’s exponentially more money than any party organization will spend. In many ways, they have superseded the party.”[55]
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Koch Donor Summits and Known Attendees
"Unprecedented" Spending Plans for 2016 Election Cycle
At the January 2015 Koch network meeting, it was revealed that the network planned to spend $889 million on the 2016 election campaign, a goal the New York Times called "unprecedented" and which "would put it on track to spend nearly as much as the campaigns of each party’s presidential nominee."[4]
In October 2015, the network had reportedly "raised and ha[d] commitments for about $600m," and donors associated with the network had contributed at least $20 million to Super PACs supporting Republican candidates, The Guardian reported, including:
"Arizonan Randy Kendrick, a wealthy conservative who has donated $100,000 to a pro-Rubio Super Pac and is also a leading fundraiser for his campaign committee in her home state of Maryland. Kendrick is a regular attendee at the Kochs’s semiannual retreats."Ken Griffin, who runs Citadel, a large Chicago hedge fund, and has donated to Koch network projects. Griffin also chipped in $100,000 to the pro-Rubio Super Pac, and $100,000 to the pro-Jeb Bush super Pac, Right to Rise USA."Hedge-fund mogul Robert Mercer, a big donor to the Koch network, who poured $11m into the pro-Cruz Pac, Keep the Promise I, of which $500,000 was shipped to the Fiorina-supporting Super Pac, Carly for America."Helen Schwab, the wife of investor Charles Schwab, a longtime donor to the Koch network, who gave $1.5m to the Jeb Bush-supporting Super Pac, Right to Rise USA."[5]
August 2015, Dana Point, California
The Koch network held its 2015 summer meeting July 31-August 2 at the St. Regis Monarch Beach luxury resort in Dana Point, California. According to Politico, about 450 donors attended. Attendees included several Republican candidates for President: former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Carly Fiorina, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.[6]
Politico also reported that several elected officials in attendance spoke about the influence of the Koch's donor network. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey "recalled that he attended a previous conference as a donor before being elected to his state’s top office last year. 'Every time I’ve been invited to this conference, I’ve benefited from this conference,' he said." Senators Ben Sasse (R-NE), Tim Scott (R-SC), and Dan Sullivan (R-AK), all first elected in 2014, "credited Koch network donors for helping the GOP take control of the Senate that year. 'Your help over the last election cycle produced the numbers that we have today,. Scott said [...] 'The major contributions and investments that you have made have played a major role."
Click here for a transcript of Charles Koch's speech.
Others reportedly in attendance included:
- Art Pope, "longtime Koch network donor," CEO of Variety Wholesalers,[6] director of the Pope Foundation
- Kellie Peters, "major Ohio donor focused on education reform"[6]
- Nancy Pfotenhauer, board member of Americans for Prosperity[6]
- Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO)[7]
- Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH)[7]
- Former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels[8]
Politico also reported that New York hedge fund tycoon Robert Mercer was a Koch network donor.[6]
Controversy Over "Strings Attached" to Media Access
This was the first summit that allowed major newsmedia to attend, but only after reporters agreed to certain conditions. Nine media organizations reportedly agreed: Associated Press, Bloomberg News, CNN, Politico, Time Magazine, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Washington Times.[9]
Politico reported that it attended the summit "on the condition that donors spotted there not be named unless they agreed to be identified." One of its staff members, Mike Allen, also conducted a set of on-stage interviews with presidential candidates during the summit.[6]
Michael Calderone of The Huffington Post raised concerns about the restrictions: "The problem is that the ground rules could restrict journalists from reporting what's right in front of their eyes... So it’s possible journalists end up reporting largely what the event sponsors want, such as fiery speeches and candidate remarks criticizing Democrats, but less on the power brokers attending who play key behind-the-scenes roles in the 2016 election."[10]
The Undercurrent, which was also at the resort but "was not granted any special access," criticized media for agreeing to the restrictions, writing, "The presence of major media companies at the retreat lends the Koch operation the appearance of transparency, essentially white-washing activities that are corrosive to American democracy."[9]
January 2015, Palm Springs, California
According to Politico, the Koch network planned to hold its winter meeting the weekend of January 23 at a hotel in Palm Springs, California. Sources told Politico that Republican politicians including "Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida, and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin received coveted invitations to speak to the vaunted network assembled by the billionaire industrialist megadonors Charles and David Koch."[11] Walker's plans to attend were confirmed by a campaign spokesperson.[12]
At the meeting, it was revealed that the network planned to spend $889 million on the 2016 election campaign, a goal the New York Times called "unprecedented" and which "would put it on track to spend nearly as much as the campaigns of each party’s presidential nominee."[4]
“It’s no wonder the candidates show up when the Koch brothers call,” said David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Mr. Obama. “That’s exponentially more money than any party organization will spend. In many ways, they have superseded the party.”[4]
June 2014, Dana Point, California
The June 2014 Koch conference appears to have been held at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, near San Diego, California. The entire hotel was reserved under the name "T&R Sales Meeting" for the weekend of June 14-17, and "guests who weren’t part of the conference [...] were escorted out of the hotel by security on Saturday afternoon."[13] Reporters who were among those escorted out reported that the conference theme was "American Courage, Our Commitment to a Free Society" and attendees appeared to be discussing new Common Core education standards and the IRS investigation of political non-profits.[13] A new super PAC, Freedom Partners Action Fund, was also announced at the summit, according to Politico. It "aims to spend more than $15 million in the 2014 midterm campaigns."[14]
Reportedly present at the summit were "James Davis, former communications director and chief spokesman for the 2012 Republican National Convention" and affiliated with Freedom Partners, "Carl Anderson, former chairman and CEO of Arrow International Inc. and current board member and independent director at Carpenter Technology Corp," David Koch, and Charles Koch.[13] The speaker list was reported to include Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and Dr. Charles Murray, author of The Bell Curve.[15]
Groups reported to be in attendance included:[16]
- Concerned Veterans for America
- Center for Shared Services
- The Libre Initiative
- Americans for Prosperity
- Mercatus Center
- Charles G. Koch Foundation
- Institute for Humane Studies
- i360, owned by Freedom Partners
- Charles Koch Institute
- Generation Opportunity
Audio of Koch Politicians
Audio recordings of some portions of the meeting were obtained by The Undercurrent, Huffington Post, and The Nation. The recordings included speeches by three Republican Senate candidates: Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst, Arkansas Rep. Tom Cotton, and Colorado Rep. Cory Gardner,[17] and remarks by Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).[18]
Ernst credited the Koch network with advancing his career, saying "But the exposure to this group and to this network and the opportunity to meet so many of you, that really started my trajectory." Cotton highlighted the role of Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity: ""Americans for Prosperity in Arkansas has played a critical role in turning our state from a one-party Democratic state [inaudible] building the kind of constant engagement to get people in the state involved in their communities."[17]
McConnell attacked campaign finance limits, saying that "The worst day of my political life was when President George W. Bush signed McCain-Feingold into law in the early part of his first administration." He also described plans to "go after" Democrats by using attaching riders to spending bills. "No money can be spent to do this or to do that. We’re going to go after them on healthcare, on financial services, on the Environmental Protection Agency, across the board [inaudible]. All across the federal government, we’re going to go after it."[18]
The recordings and transcripts are available here: McConnell's remarks, Senate candidates, Koch operatives.
List of Attendees
According to conference documents obtained by The Nation, the following people participated in the June 2014 summit:[19][20]
Attendees| Name(s) | Industry | Notes |
February 2014, Palm Springs, California
This is a list of attendees at the Koch brothers' semiannual conference held in Palm Springs in February of 2014.[21] The list was discovered by a hotel guest who provided it to Mother Jones. The document not only lists prominent attendees of the conference, but also executives of Koch Industries, Americans for Prosperity, and Freedom Partners with whom they were scheduled to meet in one-on-one conversations. According to Mother Jones, "the meeting list illustrates the interwoven nature of the Koch brothers' corporate, political, and philanthropic activities" and "suggests a close collaboration between officials of Koch Industries, AFP, and Freedom Partners, whose staff and board are stacked with numerous current and former Koch Industries employees."[21]
List of Attendees
The February 2014 Koch semiannual conference attendees were:[21]
Attendees| Name(s) | Industry | Notes |
List of Koch "players"
These are the Koch "players" who were scheduled to meet with the above attendees.
Koch "players"| Name(s) | Organization |