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<div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;"><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/cw/guest-words/24209-the-money-trail-ginni-thomas-emails-to-overturn-biden-s-election-leads-to-charles-koch">https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/cw/guest-words/24209-the-money-trail-ginni-thomas-emails-to-overturn-biden-s-election-leads-to-charles-koch</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><blockquote class="article-intro" itemprop="description" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 24px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; border-left: 5px solid rgb(229, 229, 229);">2020 ELECTION CONSPIRACY - The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward and Bob Costa of CBS News have unleashed a fury of renewed interest in the work of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol.</blockquote><section class="article-content" itemprop="articleBody" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Last Thursday, Woodward and Costa set off a political firestorm when <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/24/virginia-thomas-mark-meadows-texts/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">they released the contents of emails</a> that Ginni Thomas, wife of the sitting Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas, had sent to President Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, in 2020, urging him to overturn the Biden election win and attempting to steer his efforts in that regard.A total of 29 emails were obtained by Woodward and Costa, with the bulk of the emails occurring in just the month of November 2020, raising questions as to how many more emails are still out there from Thomas to the White House from December 1, 2020 through January 20, 2021 when Biden was sworn in.Much of the current news debate around the emails is focusing on whether Clarence Thomas should recuse himself from cases involving groups with which his wife is involved and whether the Select Committee should subpoena Ginni Thomas to testify. While those are certainly important issues, what has thus far been ignored is the smoking gun trail that leads directly to the doorstep of billionaire and right-wing Republican political mastermind, Charles Koch, the Chairman, CEO (and majority owner with the heirs of his deceased brother David) of the fossil fuels conglomerate Koch Industries.Wall Street On Parade has <a href="https://wallstreetonparade.com/2021/01/the-money-trail-to-the-siege-at-the-capitol-leads-to-charles-koch-and-koch-industries/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">previously documented</a> that at least three of the front groups that fomented the Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from Trump and that actively solicited thousands of people to turn out for the January 6 event at the Capitol, were funded by Koch Industries or its front groups.The smoking gun in the Ginni Thomas email thread occurs in an email dated November 10, 2020 when she tells Meadows to “Listen to Rush. Mark Steyn, Bongino, Cleta.” Thomas is clearly referring to conservative commentators Rush Limbaugh, Mark Steyn and Dan Bongino, and lawyer, Cleta Mitchell.Cleta Mitchell is best known in the Trump election saga as the lawyer who was on the January 2, 2021 call with Donald Trump when he phoned the Secretary of State of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, and told him this: “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/audio-trump-berates-georgia-secretary-of-state-urges-him-to-find-votes/2021/01/03/aba64f5f-8c3c-490f-af34-618ccea732d7_video.html" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break</a>.” That call took place two months after the presidential election. (Mitchell stepped down from her long-term employment at law firm Foley & Lardner after her presence on that call made the news cycle.)But Cleta Mitchell’s relationship with Ginni Thomas dates back at least a decade earlier – and not in a good way.Cleta Mitchell had filed an amicus brief in the Citizens United case before the Supreme Court that was decided on January 21, 2010. That case would be the tipping point to allow unlimited sums from corporations – like Koch Industries — in U.S. elections.Just eight days after Justice Thomas voted in favor of that decision to open the floodgates to corporate money in campaigns, Cleta Mitchell made a move that looked very much like a quid pro quo to Ginni Thomas. Mitchell, then still a partner at Foley & Lardner, filed an application with the Internal Revenue Service to set up a nonprofit called Liberty Central, Inc. on behalf of Ginni Thomas. According to <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/271222875" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">IRS tax filings</a>, Liberty Central received a combined $1.478 million from dark money donors in 2009 and 2010.On the IRS tax filings for Liberty Central for 2009 and 2010, Ginni (Virginia) Thomas is listed as President and CEO. The 2010 tax filing shows that Ginni Thomas received $120,511 in compensation from Liberty Central that year. She eventually stepped down from an official post at the nonprofit, stating she would serve as a consultant.Liberty Central had the fingerprints of Charles Koch all over it. Acting as General Counsel in 2010 for Liberty Central was a former lawyer for the Charles G. Koch Foundation, Sarah Field. A former Koch lobbyist, Matt Schlapp, served on the Board of Liberty Central at inception.Mitchell’s law firm, Foley & Lardner, <a href="https://bdgrdemocracy.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/rep-vos-e-mail-reveals-koch-industry-lobbyists-authored-policy-pushing-milwaukee-initiative-now-to-be-implemented-statewide/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">employed three attorneys working as lobbyists for a Koch Industries affiliate</a>, Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC in Madison, Wisconsin in 2011. The Koch-related lobbyists were Ray Carey, Jason Childress and Kathleen Walby.Mitchell, herself, was a former lobbyist at the federal level in years 2005 through 2008 for the Alliance for Charitable Reform, a project of The Philanthropy Roundtable, another tax-exempt organization. Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund, two dark money groups which also have Charles Koch’s fingerprints all over them, were spun off from the Philanthropy Roundtable in 1999. (See our report: <a href="https://wallstreetonparade.com/koch-footprints-lead-to-secret-slush-fund-to-keep-fear-alive/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">Koch Footprints Lead to Secret Slush Fund to Keep Fear Alive</a>.)Mitchell is listed on the 2018 federal tax filing for Steve Bannon’s charity, Citizens of the American Republic, <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/823509136/201933209349301103/IRS990" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">as an officer of the organization, holding the position of Secretary</a>. Bannon and others were <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/leaders-we-build-wall-online-fundraising-campaign-charged-defrauding-hundreds-thousands" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">charged in August of 2021 by the Department of Justice</a> with bilking donors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars through that charity.Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, was one of those pushing the narrative on television that the election had been stolen from Donald Trump. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, lawyers and staff of Foley & Lardner were the third largest donor to Johnson’s campaign committees since 2015. Employees and officials of Koch Industries ranked fifth.There were only eight Republican Senators who refused to certify the votes for the challenged states of Arizona and/or Pennsylvania. Those Republican Senators were: Ted Cruz of Texas; Josh Hawley of Missouri; Rick Scott of Florida; Tommy Tuberville of Alabama; Roger Marshall of Kansas; Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi; John Kennedy of Louisiana; and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming. Every Republican Senator who refused to certify the election results on January 6 received funding from Koch Industries PAC.Trump’s Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, whom Ginni Thomas enlisted in the White House to help overturn Biden’s election win, was previously a member of the House of Representatives from North Carolina from 2013 to 2020. He also received campaign funding from the Koch Industries PAC throughout his time in Congress.Charles Koch is usually very careful in keeping an arm’s length relationship between himself and his political operations. But on at least one occasion Koch conducted a dinner meeting directly with sitting Justice Clarence Thomas at a private club in California.In January 2008, Justice Thomas attended an all-expenses-paid, four-day trip to the Koch brothers’ semi-annual political gathering in the Palm Springs area of California. (According to his 2008 disclosure form and the Supreme Court’s public information office, Thomas’ expenses for that trip were paid by the Federalist Society, a conservative nonprofit that Koch foundations have generously supported.)Justice Thomas’ trip to the Koch event occurred in the same year that the Citizens United case was accepted by the Supreme Court.  The Court accepts less than two percent of all cases appealed to it.Wall Street On Parade was previously able to confirm with Scott Markley, Public Information Specialist at the Supreme Court, that during that January 2008 visit to the Koch political gathering, Justice Thomas was hosted by Charles Koch and his wife, Elizabeth, at the private Vintage Club where Charles Koch is a member.The Citizens United decision did not pass the smell test when it was approved in a 5-4 vote by the Supreme Court. Four of the nine justices wrote a scathing dissent that raised the issue of unprincipled behavior, writing that the majority had ruled on issues that were not even legally before the court.The money that the Koch political machine pumped into putting Trump in the Oval Office quickly paid big dividends in his first term (and made it clear as to why Charles Koch would have wanted to see a second Trump term).Koch Industries’ law firm, Jones Day, sent 12 of its law partners to staff up key positions in the Trump administration on the very day Trump was inaugurated. Jones Day has since sacked the press release it issued at the time but you can read the <a href="https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/a_dozen_jones_day_lawyers_are_joining_the_trump_administration" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">reporting on it at the American Bar Association Journal</a>.Once Trump was settled in the Oval Office, a Koch front group, then known as Freedom Partners, mapped out the agenda it expected Trump to march to. In a document titled “<a href="https://kochdocs.org/2019/06/06/freedom-partners-roadmap-repeal/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">Roadmap to Repeal: Removing Regulatory Barriers to Opportunity</a>,” the group listed the laws and regulations it expected to be repealed in the first 100 days of Trump’s administration. The Trump administration dutifully marched to the beat. Repeal the Paris Climate Accord – done. Tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy – done. Gutting federal regulations and the Environmental Protection Agency – done.By the spring of 2018, 12 people who previously worked at Freedom Partners were working in the Trump administration. Freedom Partners has since disbanded but when we last took a look at the nonprofit in July 2018, we found that all but one of Freedom Partners’ 9-member Board of Directors was a current or former Koch company employee. The Board Chair of Freedom Partners at that time was the same Mark Holden that was the General Counsel of Koch Industries.It’s time for the House Select Committee to subpoena not just Ginni Thomas and Cleta Mitchell. It’s time to hear from Charles Koch directly on how so much money bearing his fingerprints ended up fomenting the attack on the Capitol on January 6.There will never be a better time than now for the American people to finally get at the truth.
(Pam Martens & Russ Martens are authors at CounterPunch.org.  This originally appeared on <a href="https://wallstreetonparade.com/2022/03/the-money-trail-to-the-ginni-thomas-emails-to-overturn-bidens-election-leads-to-charles-koch/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">Wall Street on Parade</a>.)</section></div><div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ref 1/20/21</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h2 class="entry-title" style="background: rgb(243, 243, 255); border-width: 3px 0px 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; line-height: 1.3em;"><a href="https://wallstreetonparade.com/2021/01/the-money-trail-to-the-siege-at-the-capitol-leads-to-charles-koch-and-koch-industries/" title="Permalink to The Money Trail to the Siege at the Capitol Leads to Charles Koch and Koch Industries" rel="bookmark" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Money Trail to the Siege at the Capitol Leads to Charles Koch and Koch Industries</a></h2></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">the FBI has asked the public for help in collecting evidence surrounding the siege at the Capitol on January 6 — an insurrection that left five people dead, dozens injured, and Congressional members’ offices ransacked and laptops stolen. The violent scenes at the Capitol played out live on TV, humiliating the United States around the world. The world will watch President-Elect Joe Biden’s inauguration today, surrounded by 25,000 National Guard Troops in Washington, D.C. These images will further undermine the standing of the United States among world leaders.</div>Because the FBI seems to have ignored for decades the serial warning signs regarding Charles Koch, Koch Industries and their intrusions into  elections, we’re providing the FBI a simple and clear roadmap today.Charles Koch is the billionaire Chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, one of the largest private corporations in the world. Koch Industries is a conglomerate with interests in fossil fuels, refineries, chemicals, paper products and extensive trading operations. For the past forty years, Charles Koch has been involved in a stealthy network of front groups that seek to gut the federal government of its regulatory functions and kill off popular federal programs like the U.S. Post Office, Social Security and Medicare.To understand the full scope of Koch’s involvement in the events of January 6, let’s first remember what actually fomented the attack on the Capitol. It was based on the Big Lie that the election had been stolen from Donald Trump through voter fraud — something that Trump’s own cyber security chief, Chris Krebs, and Attorney General, William Barr, dismissed as lacking a factual basis. The playbook for the Capitol attack on January 6 was to intimidate Republican members of the Senate and House into refusing to certify the election results, thus withholding the Presidency from Joe Biden.These are the red flags that lead to the doorstep of Charles Koch and Koch Industries and should play a significant role in any serious investigation conducted by Congress, the FBI, or U.S. intelligence agencies.Red Flag # 1: There were only eight Republican Senators who refused to certify the votes for the challenged states of Arizona and/or Pennsylvania. (All Democrats voted to certify all states.) Those Republican Senators are: Ted Cruz of Texas; Josh Hawley of Missouri; Rick Scott of Florida; Tommy Tuberville of Alabama; Roger Marshall of Kansas; Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi; John Kennedy of Louisiana; and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming.Every Republican Senator who refused to certify the election results on January 6 received funding from Koch Industries PAC.On January 2, ten Senators joined with Senator Ted Cruz to announce that they planned to “vote on January 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not ‘regularly given’ and ‘lawfully certified’ ” until an emergency audit was commissioned. Six of those Senators backed down from challenging the certification after the attack on the Capitol occurred. Those six Senators were: Ron Johnson of Wisconsin; James Lankford of Oklahoma; Steve Daines of Montana; Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee; Mike Braud of Indiana; and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee. All six of these Senators have also been on the receiving end of campaign largesse from the Koch Industries PAC and/or Koch family members.The money to these 14 Senators from Koch-related entities has been documented by Alex Kotch and David Armiak in a January 5 <a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2021/01/05/the-koch-coup-charles-kochs-political-machine-bankrolled-senators-who-will-attempt-to-steal-election-for-trump-tomorrow/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">report at the Center for Media and Democracy</a>. Kotch and Armiak also note that Koch-funded Super PACs boosted the election chances for Blackburn, Daines, Hawley and Marshall, writing that Americans for Prosperity Action has “spent $11.9 million” to promote those candidates.The authors also note that the Koch-backed Freedom Partners Action Fund, “dropped nearly $3 million into the Wisconsin Senate race to support Johnson and attack his liberal opponent, Russ Feingold.”Wall Street On Parade also looked at data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics based on Federal Election Commission records. We found that since 2012 Koch Industries has ranked between the second to six largest donor to Ron Johnson in every fundraising cycle. The Center’s data also shows that <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/james-lankford/contributors?cid=N00031129&cycle=2020&type=C" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Koch Industries was the number one donor</a> to Senator Lankford in the current 2019-2020 cycle. (The money comes from the Koch PAC, employees or family members of employees of Koch Industries, not the corporation itself.)<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Red Flag # 2: At least three of the “nonprofit” groups that fomented the Big Lie that the election had been stolen and actively solicited thousands of people to turn out for the January 6 event were funded by Koch Industries or its front groups.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">According to the TrumpMarch.com website, which was sponsored by Women for America First, its “Coalition Partners” for the January 6 event at the Capitol included the Rule of Law Defense Fund; the Tea Party Patriots; and Turning Point Action, among others. The TrumpMarch.com website has since been taken down but it was <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210102203540/https:/trumpmarch.com/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">captured on January 2, 2021</a> (give it a little time to load) by the Internet Archives’ Wayback Machine.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rule of Law Defense Fund is the dark money arm of Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA)<strong style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">, a group that is raising millions of dollars from corporate felons in order to elect the highest law enforcement officers at the state level. (See our <a href="https://wallstreetonparade.com/2021/01/the-untold-story-of-how-the-republican-attorneys-general-association-funded-with-large-sums-from-corporate-felons-including-oxycontin-drug-pusher-purdue-participated-in-recruiting-the-mob-that-atta/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">in-depth report</a> of January 14, 2021.) According to IRS filings made by RAGA, it has received $511,400 from Koch Industries and a subsidiary since 2014.A division of Koch Industries, i360, has a massive voter database that some suggest is far more sophisticated than that of the Republican National Committee. The database includes phone numbers of people likely to turn out for an event of this nature. Its program, Predictive Dialer, says it can “scale call volume quickly so you aren’t let down as you ramp up your campaigns, from hundreds of outbound calls per hour to more than 100,000.” The Congressional Committees that are investigating the attack at the Capitol need to ascertain if Koch’s i360 services were used to make robo calls for the event.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">As <a href="https://documented.net/2021/01/republican-attorneys-general-dark-money-group-organized-protest-preceding-capitol-mob-attack/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">originally reported</a> by Jamie Corey at the watchdog group, <span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Documented, the dark money arm of RAGA made robo calls to boost turnout for the January 6 event at the Capitol. The message was as follows:<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; vertical-align: baseline;">“I’m calling for the Rule of Law Defense Fund with an important message. The ‘March to Save America’ is tomorrow in Washington D.C. at the Ellipse in President’s Park between E St. and Constitution Avenue on the south side of the White House, with doors opening at 7:00 a.m. At 1:00 p.m., we will march to the Capitol building and call on congress to stop the steal. We are hoping patriots like you will join us to continue to fight to protect the integrity of our elections. For more information, visit MarchtoSaveAmerica.com. This call is paid for and authorized by the Rule of Law Defense Fund, 202-796-5838.”Another of the Coalition Partners, Turning Point Action, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210107060012/https:/twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1346271038011625472" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tweeted</a> that it was “honored to help make this happen, sending 80+ buses full of patriots to DC to fight for this president.” The Tweet was <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/debug/charlie-kirk-delete-tweet-buses-capitol/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">first reported</a> by DailyDot.com.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Turning Point Action is a dark money group that does not report its donors to the Federal Election Commission. However, <a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2020/04/01/koch-foundation-criticizes-turning-point-usa-even-koch-network-funds-group/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">according to the Center for Media and Democracy</a>, its sister group, Turning Point USA, has received $610,000 from Donors Trust since 2017. (We should note that the IRS has not posted the 990 tax filings as yet for Donors Trust’s tax years of 2019 and 2020 so it is quite possible that the cash haul is far greater than $610,000.)Charles Koch’s footprints are all over Donors Trust, another dark money group, as we exclusively reported in 2010. (See <a href="https://wallstreetonparade.com/koch-footprints-lead-to-secret-slush-fund-to-keep-fear-alive/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Koch Footprints Lead to Secret Slush Fund to Keep Fear Alive</a>.) We wrote at the time:“There are shades of Charles Koch all over Donors Capital and Donors Trust. Two grantees receiving repeat and sizeable grants from Donors Capital are favorites of the Koch foundations: George Mason University Foundation and Institute for Humane Studies. Another tie is Claire Kittle. A project of Donor’s Trust is Talent Market.org, a headhunter for staffing nonprofits with the ‘right’ people. Ms. Kittle serves as Talent Market’s Executive Director and was the former Program Officer for Leadership and Talent Development at the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. Then there is Whitney Ball, President of both Donors Capital Fund and Donors Trust. Ms. Ball [now deceased] was one of the elite guests at the invitation-only secret Aspen bash thrown by Charles Koch in June of this year, as reported by ThinkProgress.org. Also on the guest list for the Koch bash was Stephen Moore, a member of the Editorial Board at the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Moore is a Director at Donors Capital Fund. Rounding out the ties that bind is Lauren Vander Heyden, who serves as Client Services Coordinator at Donors Trust. Ms. Vander Heyden previously worked as grants coordinator and policy analyst at the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation.”According to the April 1, 2020 report at the Center for Media and Democracy, “In 2014-15, the Koch’s Knowledge and Progress Fund gave $5.3 million to Donors Trust, and the Charles Koch Foundation has given $980,000 to it since 2014. The connected Donors Capital Fund, to which Koch family foundations have also contributed large sums, donated $100,000 to TPUSA [Turning Point USA] in 2016.”Another Coalition Partner for the January 6 event, Tea Party Patriots, has received at least $200,000 from Freedom Partners, a Koch front group. Tea Party Patriots has also received donations from Donors Trust.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We are unable to report if Women for America First, which obtained the permit for the speeches and rally that preceded the march on the Capitol, has ties to Koch funding because it is such a new group that it has yet to file an IRS 990 form. However, its Chair, Amy Kremer, held previous positions in two tea party groups. The tea party movement was a Koch Industries and Big Tobacco creation, as insider Jeff Nesbit explains in his book, <a href="https://time.com/secret-origins-of-the-tea-party/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Poison Tea: How Big Oil and Big Tobacco Invented the Tea Party and Captured the GOP</a>.Red Flag # 3: Charles Koch and Koch Industries were heavily vested in wanting to ensure that Donald Trump had another four-years as President.One of the Koch front groups that played a major role in the 2016 election was Freedom Partners, which closed up shop in 2019.  It was hard to tell where Freedom Partners begins and Koch Industries ends. When the group was still active in 2018, we took a look at its Board of Directors. We found that all but one of its Board Members was a current or former Koch company employee. According to the Center for Media and Democracy, Freedom Partners ended up with 12 of its former employees working in the Trump Administration.Freedom Partners Action Fund, a related organization that ran attack ads against Democrats, had received at least $14 million from Charles Koch and his trust before it shuttered its operations.Freedom Partners laid down their marching orders for the Trump administration in <a href="https://kochdocs.org/2019/06/06/freedom-partners-roadmap-repeal/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">a formal memo</a> and their handmaidens in the Trump administration delivered: from the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord to the massive tax cut for corporations and one percenters to the gutting of federal regulations and putting industry lobbyists in charge of federal agencies.But that was just the beginning. Koch Industries law firm, Jones Day, sent 12 of its law partners to staff up key positions in the Trump administration on the very day Trump was inaugurated. Jones Day has since removed the press release it issued at the time but you can read the <a href="https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/a_dozen_jones_day_lawyers_are_joining_the_trump_administration" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">reporting on it at the American Bar Association Journal</a>. Wall Street On Parade also <a href="https://wallstreetonparade.com/2017/05/big-law-moves-big-time-into-trump-white-house-after-financing-hillarys-campaign/" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">reported on it at the time</a>, finding it unusual that the Trump transition team would give so many key slots to Jones Day when its partners had supported Hillary Clinton for President. This is another matter worthy of Congressional and FBI investigation.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Red Flag # 4: Koch Industries, through its ownership of i360, was deeply entangled in the campaigns of members of Congress who voted against certifying the votes for Joe Biden. (What kind of intelligence agencies and FBI would allow a private fossil fuels conglomerate like Koch Industries to directly run campaign activities for federal candidates for Congress?) We broke the news in 2018 that Koch Industries had purchased i360. We obtained that information from an internal newsletter at Koch that was available online and from the fact that help-wanted ads for i360 sent applicants to apply at Koch Industries. (The company hasn’t denied our reporting over the past two years.)We reported this at the time:<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; vertical-align: baseline;">“The i360 website says that its database now has information on 199 million voters from all 50 states; information on 290 million consumers with 700+ data points; information on precinct election returns as well as data from the Census, NOAA, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and geo-spatial data; individual sentiment information on candidates and issues from its social media operations; and information from its grassroots groups (read Americans for Prosperity) and paid door-to-door knockers who are using a sophisticated hand-held device to update the database in real time in the pivotal weeks before an election.“But i360 is far more than just a voter database. It has social media targeting operations and really scary data collection that reaches into people’s homes. Consider this from their website:<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 80px; vertical-align: baseline;">‘Through an exclusive partnership with D2 Media Sales, the strategic relationship between DirectTV and Dish, i360 is able to identify households that meet your target criteria and serve ads uniquely to those households – no matter which stations or programs they are watching. With dozens of i360 custom segments pre-matched to more than 20 million DIRECTV and DISH homes, campaigns can now reach the largest addressable TV advertising platform in the nation. One-to-one television targeting combines the emotional impact of TV advertising with the precision and accuracy of direct mail marketing – resulting in the most cost-effective and high impact buying solutions.”<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">According to Federal Election Commission records, a number of Republican House Reps who objected to the certification of Biden’s win utilized the services of i360. For example, Mike Johnson of Louisiana paid i360 $15,580 for what he called “electronic media expense.” Elise Stefanik of New York paid i360 more than $128,000 which she tagged as telephone service, web service, equipment rental, or simply “subscription.” Barry Moore of Alabama paid i360 $12,815 in 2020 for fundraising mailouts and ad buys.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 24px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Senator Tommy Tuberville, who objected to the certification of Biden’s win, also engaged the services of i360 in 2020. Tuberville paid i360 $50,875 for data subscriptions and making phone calls. As the Capitol was under siege and Trump was watching these scenes on TV, he spoke with the newly-sworn in Senator Tuberville by phone, urging Tuberville to make more objections to the certification of the vote, according to reporting at CNN. At around 7 p.m., Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, made a second call to Tuberville. The call went to voice mail. Giuliani left this message for Tuberville, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/politics/mike-lee-tommy-tuberville-trump-misdialed-capitol-riot/index.html" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">according to CNN</a>, based on a report from The Dispatch:“Sen. Tuberville? Or I should say Coach Tuberville. This is Rudy Giuliani, the President’s lawyer. I’m calling you because I want to discuss with you how they’re trying to rush this hearing and how we need you, our Republican friends, to try to just slow it down so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you. I know they’re reconvening at 8 tonight, but it … the only strategy we can follow is to object to numerous states and raise issues so that we get ourselves into tomorrow — ideally until the end of tomorrow…”The nagging question, of course, is what Trump and Giuliani had planned for “tomorrow.”</div></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div>=<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/charles-koch-climate-disinformation-campaign/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/charles-koch-climate-disinformation-campaign/</a>The U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee kicked off its investigation of the fossil fuel industry’s decades-long climate change disinformation campaign last fall by inviting top executives from BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell to testify about their role and subpoenaing their companies for internal documents.This article was produced by <a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/earth-food-life/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Earth | Food | Life</a>, a project of the Independent Media Institute.]The committee followed up that <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/elliott-negin/oil-execs-spout-disinformation-at-house-climate-disinformation-hearing/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">hearing</a>—during which the executives disingenuously denied funding such a campaign—with another <a href="https://www.barrons.com/news/denial-and-delay-big-oil-rebuked-in-us-congress-01644349207" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">hearing</a> on February 8 focusing on the oil companies’ inadequate plans to cut their carbon emissions. The <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/house-oversight-panel-postpones-big-oil-hearing-amid-ukraine-crisis-2022-03-02/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">next round</a> is slated to feature board directors from the same four oil companies testifying on their companies’ climate pledges, followed by <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/21/politics/house-oversight-oil-and-gas-hearing-climate-disinformation/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">testimony</a> from social media companies and advertising agencies about the part they have played in manufacturing doubt about climate change.But before the committee wraps up its investigation, it would be sorely remiss if it didn’t haul in libertarian industrialist Charles Koch, the Daddy Warbucks of climate disinformation, for questioning.The <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/charles-d-koch/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">20th-richest person</a> in the world with a net worth of <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/charles-d-koch/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">$58 billion</a>, Koch, 86, is the longtime CEO of Koch Industries, a conglomerate that owns oil refineries and pipelines; markets crude oil, coal, chemicals, wood pulp and paper; trades energy derivatives; and boasts annual revenues of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/koch-industries/?sh=2c373e0374ce" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">$115 billion</a>. The <a href="https://www.statista.com/chart/23592/largest-private-companies-us/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">second-largest</a> privately held company in the country, Koch Industries is one of the top 25 U.S. corporate <a href="https://peri.umass.edu/toxic-100-water-polluters-index-current" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">water</a> and <a href="https://peri.umass.edu/greenhouse-100-polluters-index-current" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">carbon</a> polluters, is a defendant in a climate accountability <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/elliott-negin/minnesota-sues-exxonmobil-koch-industries-and-top-oil-and-gas-trade-association-for-climate-related-consumer-fraud/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">lawsuit</a> brought by the state of Minnesota, and is <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/koch-industries-russia-ukraine-sanctions/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">continuing to operate</a> its businesses in Russia while Koch-backed groups <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/koch-industries-russia-ukraine-sanctions/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">oppose</a> U.S. sanctions imposed on the Kremlin after it invaded Ukraine.Koch-controlled foundations donated more than <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/fighting-climate-chaos/climate-deniers/koch-industries/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">$145 million</a> to a network of 90 think tanks and advocacy groups from 1997 through 2018 to disparage climate science and block efforts to address climate change. Since the death of Charles Koch’s brother David in 2019, the Charles Koch Foundation has continued to finance this disinformation campaign, giving more than $17 million to 23 groups in <a href="https://charleskochfoundation.org/app/uploads/2021/04/CKF_2019_990.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">2019</a> and <a href="https://charleskochfoundation.org/app/uploads/2021/12/Charles-Koch-Foundation-Form-990PF-Public-Disclosure-Copy-2020.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">2020</a>, pushing the Koch grand total north of $162 million. By contrast, the second-largest funder of climate disinformation, ExxonMobil, spent <a href="https://ucs-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/global-warming/ExxonMobil-grants-2020.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">$39.2 million</a> on some 70 denier groups from 1998 through 2020.To maintain leverage on Capitol Hill, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/koch-industries/summary?id=d000000186" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Koch Industries</a>’ political action committee (PAC), affiliates and employees also <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/fighting-climate-chaos/climate-deniers/koch-industries/koch-pac-funding-of-federal-political-campaigns/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">contribute</a> significantly more to federal candidates, party committees, outside groups, leadership PACs and <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/527s/basics.php" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">527 groups</a> than their counterparts at <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/bp/summary?id=D000000091" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">BP America</a>, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/chevron/summary?id=D000000015" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Chevron</a>, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/exxon-mobil/summary?id=d000000129" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">ExxonMobil</a> or <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/royal-dutch-shell/summary?id=D000042525" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Shell</a>. In the 2018 and 2020 election cycles, Koch Industries’ total outlay of $26.7 million was more than the $21.7 million the four oil and gas companies contributed collectively.In addition, Koch Industries spent more than <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?cycle=2020&id=d000000186" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">$38 million</a> on its Washington lobbying operation during the last two full election cycles, from 2017 through 2020. That’s slightly less than ExxonMobil’s <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?cycle=2020&id=d000000129" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">$40.98 million</a> and Chevron’s <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?cycle=2020&id=D000000015" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">$39.47 million</a>, but the company enjoyed a distinct advantage over the two oil giants besides outspending them on campaign contributions: President Donald Trump’s transition team head, Vice President Mike Pence—a <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/23/the-danger-of-president-pence" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">longtime Koch network veteran</a> who played a key role in promoting the Koch-founded and -funded Americans for Prosperity’s “No Climate Tax” pledge when he was in the House—tapped <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Stand_Together_Chamber_of_Commerce" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">at least 50</a> <a href="https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/migration/public-citizen-koch.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Koch network alumni</a> to work inside the Trump administration. They included Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and White House Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short. Egged on by Koch devotees both inside and outside the government, the Trump administration rolled back at least <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/interactives/tracking-deregulation-in-the-trump-era/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">260 regulations</a>, including <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks-list.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">more than 100 environmental rules</a>.The Biden administration cleared out the Koch disciples when it took office and is in the process of <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/elliott-negin/one-year-of-science-under-biden/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">rolling back the Trump rollbacks</a>, but Koch and his donor network still hold considerable sway over the Republican Party. They will continue to spend hundreds of millions on Capitol Hill and, looking ahead to 2024, a number of Koch network stalwarts are considering a run for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/19/top-10-gop-presidential-candidates-2024-ranked/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">president</a>, including Pence, Texas Senator <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/25/politics/ted-cruz-wilks-brothers/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Ted Cruz</a>, Florida Governor <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/07/10/koch-backed-super-pac-endorses-ron-desantis-for-governor/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Ron DeSantis</a>, former Secretary of State <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/the-koch-brothers-get-their-very-own-secretary-of-state/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Mike Pompeo</a> and Florida Senator <a href="https://floridapolitics.com/archives/270314-ahead-of-tampa-rally-with-koch-backed-candidates-donald-trump-blasts-koch-brothers/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Rick Scott</a>. The Koch network, with its toxic anti-government bias, will likely cast a long shadow over Washington for years to come.Decades of DisinformationFor more than two decades, the Koch network has been diligently spreading disinformation to sabotage efforts to transition to a clean energy economy, more often than not by attacking proposed climate policies on economic grounds. Examples of its malfeasance are legion:<ul class="ee-ul" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; width: 589.456px;"><li style="">To stop a version of the Waxman-Markey <a href="https://www.c2es.org/document/waxman-markey-short-summary/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">cap-and-trade bill</a> in the Senate after it squeaked by in the House in 2009, Americans for Prosperity <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/koch-pledge-tied-to-congressional-climate-inaction" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">persuaded</a> a critical mass of lawmakers to sign its “No Climate Tax” pledge, disingenuously <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/23/the-danger-of-president-pence" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">calling</a> the bill “the largest excise tax in history.” Since then, the overwhelming majority of legislators who have received campaign contributions from Koch Industries’ PAC and employees have <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19072018/anti-carbon-tax-resolution-house-vote-climate-solutions-caucus-curbelo-scalise-koch-influence-congress/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">rejected</a> a carbon tax in amendments and nonbinding resolutions.</li><li style="">
</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">To slow the exponential growth of solar power, the Koch-funded <a href="https://www.desmog.com/american-legislative-exchange-council/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">American Legislative Exchange Council</a> has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/08/climate/rooftop-solar-panels-tax-credits-utility-companies-lobbying.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">armed</a> utilities and state lawmakers with model legislation against net metering, which credits solar panel owners for the excess energy they generate and return to the grid, claiming that rooftop solar credits will drive up non-solar customers’ electric rates. The Energy Department, however, concluded that the credits will have a <a href="https://emp.lbl.gov/publications/putting-potential-rate-impacts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">negligible impact</a> on monthly electric bills.</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">To undermine the widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), the Koch network has <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/elliott-negin/will-koch-pull-the-plug-on-electric-cars/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">urged</a> Congress to kill the federal income tax credit for EV buyers. “Congress should not be in the business of picking winners and losers by subsidizing one form of energy over others, regardless of its source,” Philip Ellender, Koch Industries’ president of government and public affairs, argued in a <a href="https://news.kochind.com/media-resources/on-the-issues/koch-urges-senate-to-allow-innovation-and-consumer" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">letter</a> to Congress in October 2018. Never mind that the oil and gas industry has benefited from <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/memo-to-epa-chief-pruitt-lets-end-subsidies-for-fossil_b_59ee9567e4b0b8a51417bcc6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">massive annual federal subsidies</a> for more than 100 years.</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</li><li style="">After succeeding in prodding President Trump to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement, <a href="https://cei.org/coalition_letters/forty-four-free-market-groups-urge-trump-to-withdraw-from-paris-climate-agreement/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">arguing</a> that the accord would threaten the “economic future of our country,” the Koch network is now <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/climate-koch-brothers-lobbying-biden-build-back-better-1234815/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">spearheading</a> a campaign to kill the Biden administration’s Build Back Better plan, falsely claiming that it “is the biggest spending bill in American history.”</li></ul>There are plenty of <a href="https://www.desmog.com/americans-for-prosperity/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">other examples</a>, but the above sample illustrates the breadth of the Koch network’s reach. Charles Koch and his fellow travelers have played an outsized role scaring the public about the potential impact of climate solutions on their pocketbooks (but at the same time, they spent more than <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4364735-Koch-by-the-Numbers.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">$20 million</a> to promote President Trump’s <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/12/20/572157392/gop-poised-for-tax-victory-after-a-brief-delay" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">$1.5-trillion tax cut</a> that largely benefited corporations and the ultra-wealthy). By practically any measure, Koch is as consequential a disinformer as the four oil company executives who testified last fall before the House Oversight Committee combined.Put Koch Under OathIf the House Oversight Committee called Charles Koch to testify, it could, for starters, ask him about his views on climate change.The executives from BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell who testified last October <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/elliott-negin/oil-execs-spout-disinformation-at-house-climate-disinformation-hearing/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">downplayed</a> the central role human activity—mainly burning fossil fuels—plays in triggering climate change, but after much hemming and hawing they all <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/watch-live-oil-executives-testify-over-climate-misinformation-in-house-hearing" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">conceded</a> that global warming poses an “existential threat.”Koch, for his part, has never acknowledged that climate change is a serious problem and rarely talks about it publicly. On the rare occasion when reporters broach the topic, he responds with… disinformation.Koch’s most recent public comments about climate change came during lengthy interviews with the Washington Post in 2015 and 2016. Asked if he worried about climate change in an August 2015 <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/08/04/charles-koch-on-the-2016-race-climate-change-and-whether-he-has-too-much-power/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">interview</a>, Koch replied that he believes “it’s been warming some” but added that “[t]here’s a big debate on that, because it depends on whether you use satellite measurements, balloon[s], or you use ground ones that have been adjusted.” Climate scientists, he added, “have these models that show it, but the models don’t work….”In fact, all of the measurements Koch cited <a href="https://skepticalscience.com/truth-about-temperature-data.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">indicate</a> that there has been a long-term global warming trend due to climate change. And, coincidentally, just a week before the Washington Post published the Koch interview, a <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2015GL064888" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">peer-reviewed study</a> found that global climate models are even more accurate than previously thought.In August 2016, the Washington Post ran another Koch <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/08/01/i-dont-like-the-idea-of-capitalism-charles-koch-unfiltered/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">interview</a>, during which he was asked if anyone could produce a study that would convince him “that carbon regulation is necessary to heed off disastrous global warming.” “Yeah,” Koch replied. “If we… use the scientific method rather than trying to shut down and shout down and punish anybody who wants to enter into debate about it…. If we’re all trying to find the truth of the matter, then I’m all for that.”Notably, Koch did try to get to the truth of the matter in his own way a few years earlier. The Charles Koch Foundation donated <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/converted-contrarian-argues-humans-to-blame-for-climate-change/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">$150,000</a> to <a href="https://bit.ly/3KYvwcH" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Berkeley Earth</a>, a nonprofit research institute founded in 2010 by Richard Muller, a physicist and self-proclaimed climate science skeptic, to review the temperature data that underpinned global-warming claims. Presumably to Koch’s surprise—and dismay—Muller announced in a July 2012 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/opinion/the-conversion-of-a-climate-change-skeptic.html?pagewanted=all" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">New York Times op-ed</a> that his investigation verified that global warming is indeed real, is “almost entirely” caused by human activity, and is even worse than what the climate science community had concluded at the time.It would be enlightening for the House Oversight Committee to ask Koch about Berkeley Earth’s findings, especially since after Muller announced them, the Koch network stepped up its campaign to characterize climate policies as being too costly, despite the fact that the consequences of failing to curb carbon emissions will cost infinitely more than taking preventive measures.In late 2012, for example, the Koch brothers <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/koch-brothers-fund-bogus-b_2253472" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">financed “bogus studies”</a> falsely claiming that state standards requiring utilities to ramp up their use of renewable energy would dramatically drive up electric rates. Six years later, in 2018, when the House was about to vote on a nonbinding carbon tax resolution, Ellender—the Koch Industries lobbyist—took the same tack. “A carbon tax would make energy more expensive and raise the costs of consumer products and services on which people depend,” he <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/397295-kochs-pledge-support-for-bill-fighting-carbon-taxes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">wrote</a> in a letter to the lawmakers. “It would also make U.S. producers less cost competitive, driving production and jobs to other parts of the world.”The House passed the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/119/text/eh" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">resolution</a>, which stated that “a carbon tax would be detrimental to the United States economy,” by a <a href="https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2018363" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">229 to 180 vote</a>. Nearly 70 percent of the representatives who voted for the resolution—159—collectively received more than <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/koch-industries/summary?topnumcycle=2018&contribcycle=2020&lobcycle=2020&outspendcycle=2020&id=d000000186&toprecipcycle=2018" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">$1.28 million</a> in campaign contributions from Koch Industries PAC and employees during the 2018 election cycle.Investing in Clean Energy While Trashing ItKoch’s jaundiced take on climate change would undoubtedly be welcomed by the 20 Republican members of the Oversight Committee, 14 of whom are <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/climate-deniers-117th-congress/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">climate science deniers</a>. During the 2020 election cycle alone, Koch Industries’ employees and PAC gave more than <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/koch-industries/summary?id=d000000186" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">$136,000</a> in campaign contributions to 18 of the GOP committee members, while their counterparts at <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/bp/recipients?id=D000000091" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">BP</a>, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/chevron/recipients?id=D000000015" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Chevron</a>, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/exxon-mobil/recipients?id=d000000129" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">ExxonMobil</a> and <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/shell-plc/recipients?id=D000042525" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Shell</a> collectively donated $40,347 to 14 of them.The committee members who are less beholden to the fossil fuel industry, however, should take the opportunity to press Koch about his company’s seemingly contradictory investments in sectors that his network is still trying to knee-cap, such as electric vehicles and renewable energy.The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Koch Industries subsidiaries have invested at least <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/koch-industries-built-on-oil-bets-big-on-u-s-batteries-11647946147" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">$750 million</a> in a range of battery technologies and battery-related raw materials, chemicals and recycling. Among the Koch conglomerate’s relatively new holdings are New Jersey zinc battery startup <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/koch-spreads-battery-storage-bets-with-100m-for-long-duration-storage-firm-eos-65352520" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Eos Energy Enterprises</a> and Canada’s lithium-ion battery recycler <a href="https://stockhead.com.au/resources/high-voltage-oil-tycoon-koch-amasses-500m-battery-portfolio-as-lithium-prices-keep-rising/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Li-Cycle Holdings</a>, lithium development company <a href="https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/news/ksp-canada-standard-lithium/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Standard Lithium</a>, and <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/koch-spreads-battery-storage-bets-with-100m-for-long-duration-storage-firm-eos-65352520" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Lithion Power Group</a>, a lithium-ion battery startup.Likewise, Koch subsidiaries have jumped into smart grid and electric vehicle charging technologies. In 2020, Koch Engineered Solutions acquired <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/koch-joins-renewables-revolution-buys-builder-of-solar-power-plants-67869630" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Sentient Energy</a>, a smart grid solutions company, and last year Koch Strategic Platforms invested in <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/news/2021/02/12/koch-backs-evbox.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">EVBox</a>, a Netherlands-based electric vehicle charging station manufacturer.Koch Engineered Solutions is also bullish on solar, but not on distributed rooftop solar, which the Koch network has been trying to stop. Last November, it bought <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/koch-joins-renewables-revolution-buys-builder-of-solar-power-plants-67869630" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">DEPCOM Power</a>, an Arizona company that builds large-scale solar power plants, and plans to supply solar farms in the United States and Canada.Koch Industries’ relatively recent investments in batteries and renewables—which, granted, amount to a tiny percentage of the conglomerate’s far-flung operations—are just the beginning, according to Koch Engineered Solutions President Dave Dotson. “We are believers in the electrification of everything, driven by economics and consumer trends,” he <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/koch-joins-renewables-revolution-buys-builder-of-solar-power-plants-67869630" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">told</a> S&P Global Market Intelligence, “and look for where we can add value across the electric value chain from generation to end-user consumption.”Dotson’s business strategy should come as a surprise to anyone who has been closely following his boss, and should prompt the House Oversight Committee to ask Koch how his company’s recent shopping spree squares with his network’s ongoing campaign against climate solutions.An unabashed libertarian, Koch likely would respond that the private sector should take the lead, not the government, on energy—and just about everything else. For Koch, government efforts to manage the economy, protect public health and the environment, and provide social welfare programs are a slippery slope to totalitarianism and must be rolled back, if not eliminated. In his most recent book (co-authored with Brian Hooks), Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World, Koch argues that individuals, corporations and nonprofit groups are better suited to solve society’s most pressing problems—including the coronavirus pandemic—than the government.Koch’s philosophy, however, fails to account for the fact that it was the private sector—specifically the fossil fuel industry—that got us into the dire situation in which we find ourselves today, faced with increasingly severe climate change-driven impacts. Major oil companies were aware their products wreck the climate at least <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/18/oil-industry-fossil-fuels-air-pollution-documents" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">50 years ago</a> and have spent hundreds of millions of dollars since then to manufacture doubt about climate science, disparage renewables and block government action. Now that Koch Industries, as well as some oil majors, see that there is money to be made by diversifying into clean energy technologies, they are slowly adding them to their portfolios but <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/elliott-negin/oil-execs-spout-disinformation-at-house-climate-disinformation-hearing/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">spending a fraction</a> of what they are still dedicating to their oil, gas and chemical operations. It’s much too little, much too late.If the House Oversight Committee is serious about getting to the bottom of the fossil fuel industry’s longtime campaign to stymie climate policy, it should call Koch on the carpet. By doing so, the committee could shine a light on his prominent role in sponsoring disinformation, as well as expose the threat he and his followers pose to U.S. democracy.Author Bio: Elliott Negin is a senior writer at the <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Union of Concerned Scientists</a>.<div>=</div><div>ref BBB<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/climate-koch-brothers-lobbying-biden-build-back-better-1234815/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/climate-koch-brothers-lobbying-biden-build-back-better-1234815/</a>no lnx manyThe Koch Empire Goes All Out to Sink Joe Biden’s Agenda — and His Presidency, TooThe dark-money network is spending tens of millions to undermine Democrats’ effort to protect the climate and shore up the social safety net
By ANDY KROLL & GEOFF DEMBICKIThe Koch Empire Goes All-Out to Sink Joe Biden's Agenda — and His Presidency, TooThe Koch Empire Goes All-Out to Sink Joe Biden's Agenda — and His Presidency, TooCharles Koch, chief executive officer of Koch Industries, at the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs, 2019. (AP Photo]With the fate of President Biden’s domestic agenda in the balance, an armada of right-wing dark-money groups aligned with the Koch political network is mobilizing to sink Biden’s $3.5-trillion Build Back Better plan and deal a devastating blow to his presidency.The Koch network is one of the most extensive and well-funded political and policy operations in the country, having pledged to spend more than a billion dollars in the past four election cycles. The web of nonprofit groups funded by or affiliated with the Koch network — dubbed the “Kochtopus” by critics — broadly promotes an anti-government, libertarian-style vision for American life. In most cases, the donors who bankroll the network’s groups remain anonymous, playing a central role in the spike in dark-money spending in American politics.
RELATED STORIESDemocrats Got Serious About Taxing The Rich. Then Manchin Got Ready To Spike ItTrump Is Now Asking Putin to Dig Up Dirt on the Biden Family]Koch-backed groups fiercely opposed Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act and his cap-and-trade climate bill, successfully weakening the former and helping to kill the latter. The network’s groups have different mandates and focuses, including foreign policy, health care, and energy. At times, their libertarian leanings have found them making common cause with progressive groups — including by pushing to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to criticize government-mandated bans on racial-justice curriculums. But with a Democrat back in the White House, the Koch network of late has largely unified behind a push to stop Biden‘s agenda.
Koch-aligned groups are together spending millions of dollars on advertising, targeting moderate Democratic lawmakers, and pushing their influence in the halls of Congress to whittle down or outright kill the sweeping policy package, which would represent the largest expansion of the social safety net in the past 50 years and the biggest step toward addressing climate change in U.S. history.
“Fighting the reconciliation bill is a top priority for Charles Koch’s surrogates,” says Connor Gibson, founder of the corporate watchdog organization Grassrootbeer Investigations, who has spent years tracking Koch influence in the United States. “This is a viable threat for his network, and we can see that all the tentacles of the Kochtopus are out in full force trying to stop it from passing.”
This lobbying blitz comes at a critical moment for Biden’s agenda. Democratic leaders in Congress have pushed for a two-track strategy to pass a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill paired with the much larger $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act, which contains many of the signature policies Biden campaigned on as a presidential candidate. Those policies include hundreds of billions of new spending on universal prekindergarten, major expansions to child-care and home health-care programs, free community college, and the biggest-ever investments in renewable energies, electric cars, and other climate-focused policies. But for the larger bill to pass, it’ll need to get through a closely divided House and get unanimous support from the 50 Senate Democrats, including centrists such as Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
While the Koch network refused to support Donald Trump in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, the dozens of groups who receive funding or support from the network spent heavily to elect Republican governors, House members, and U.S. senators. AFP Action, the Super PAC affiliate of the Koch network’s flagship group Americans for Prosperity, spent $47 million last year, all of it to elect Republicans and defeat Democrats in high-profile races. The PAC tied to the Libre Initiative, a Koch affiliate focused on Hispanic Americans, spent $1.3 million in other key races across the country, often to great effect.After the Democratic Party took control of the House and Senate, albeit by slim majorities, the Koch network set its sights on the pillars of Biden’s policy agenda. Just days after the two Georgia Senate runoff victories, Koch operatives held a private conference call to strategize about how to kill a top Democratic policy priority, the For the People Act, the most ambitious election-reform bill since Watergate. As the New Yorker reported, an official with Stand Together, a Koch-backed nonprofit, conceded that the bill’s provision requiring greater transparency of dark money was so popular that the Koch network and its allies couldn’t mount a public-pressure campaign to stop — instead, they would have to play the inside game, mounting a lobbying blitz targeting members of Congress if they wanted to stop the bill. Now, the Koch network has an even more sweeping piece of legislation in its sights, the centerpiece of Biden’s domestic policy agenda, the Build Back Better Act.
The tip of the spear for the Koch network in this pressure campaign is Americans for Prosperity. Led by longtime Koch operative Tim Phillips, AFP is spending seven figures on TV and digital ads opposing not only Biden’s $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act but also the bipartisan infrastructure deal awaiting a vote in the House of Representatives.
AFP has adopted another tactic aimed at making Biden’s domestic agenda unpopular — hitching Biden’s plans with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a progressive leader, while claiming that the Build Back Better package is the biggest spending bill in American history. One AFP ad says Biden’s policy package is “the last thing we need to recover from this pandemic,” adding, “Tell Congress to stop the Biden-Sanders spending spree.” The ads appear on Facebook, Google platforms (including YouTube), and on TV stations across the country.
The Koch-backed LIBRE Initiative is running ads against the reconciliation package in Texas, Florida, and Arizona “to inform Latinos about the negative effects of overspending and overtaxing.” The group’s president, Daniel Garza, explains in a release that he intends to “mobilize our grassroots army of volunteers and activists to hold our elected officials accountable.”Yet another group with long-standing Koch network ties, the 60 Plus Association, has launched a multimillion-dollar ad blitz focused on the prescription-drug-reform policies in the Build Back Better Act. Founded in 1992, 60 Plus was originally conceived as the conservative movement’s answer to the AARP; over the years, it’s taken millions from Koch nonprofit groups and been used to attack Obamacare and Democratic candidates for office. Indeed, almost two decades ago, 60 Plus lobbied to eliminate Medicare’s ability to negotiate with drugmakers during a previous battle over drug prices.
In its new ad blitz, 60 Plus claims that the provisions included in Biden’s plan to allow for greater drug-price negotiation in Medicare would cause benefits for Medicare recipients to be slashed and make medication harder to obtain for doctors. Like AFP, 60 Plus describes the Biden plan as an “out-of-control spending spree.” However, PolitiFact slapped this claim by 60 Plus with a “False” rating, citing health care experts who said giving the government the ability to negotiate with drug companies shouldn’t lead to reduced access to key drugs for Medicare patients.
All told, these and more than 100 other similar groups, many of them linked to Koch, are mobilizing to fight the spending bill. “As your committee begins marking up the $3.5 trillion reckless tax-and-spend reconciliation proposal,” this large right-wing coalition said in a letter earlier this month to top congressional Democrats, “we write in opposition to any effort to raise taxes on American families and businesses.”
The threat comes not only in the form of corporate tax increases — although the financial impact could be substantial, given that Trump-era tax cuts potentially saved the Koch brothers up to $1.4 billion, according to estimates from the group Americans for Tax Fairness; many of the Koch-backed groups fighting Biden’s spending package are also deeply concerned about the ambitious climate provisions the package contains.
Proposed policies include expanding tax credits for electric vehicles, as well as provisions pushing utilities to use clean energy instead of fossil fuels. Add up all the climate impacts, and this could reduce America’s carbon footprint by nearly 1 gigaton worth of greenhouse gas emissions, the research firm Rhodium Group estimates. This would represent some of the most significant action ever taken on climate change in the U.S.
But what’s good for the planet is potentially terrible for Koch’s bottom line. The Koch Industries subsidiary Flint Hills Resources, for instance, operates the largest oil refinery in Minnesota, capable of processing more than 300,000 barrels per day of crude oil, predominantly from the Canadian tar sands. The refinery is fed by a Koch-owned pipeline network spanning more than 500 miles.
“Charles Koch has so many different layers of interest in fossil fuel and petrochemical production that the Biden administration’s bill could cause the costs of his businesses to increase, and therefore his profits would drop,” Gibson explains.
Fighting climate action has for this reason long been a top policy priority for Koch’s network — and it’s animating dark-money opposition to the current $3.5 trillion spending package.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation calls the spending package’s climate provisions “incredibly expensive and harmful anti-energy policies that will cripple our economy, increase our dependence on foreign oil, and increase cost of living, especially for the poorest Americans.” The Austin-based think tank has received at least $3.6 million from foundations linked to Koch since 1998, the watchdog group Desmog calculates.
One of the signatories of the coalition letter opposing the plan is Myron Ebell, a Koch-linked energy pundit and professional climate-change skeptic. As recently as 2016, Ebell said that while he now acknowledges climate change is real, he doesn’t think it’s a “rapid or a serious problem.”
The Koch crew is also stoking fears of inflation and skyrocketing prices for consumers if the bill passes. “Prices are rising everywhere, from the gas pump to the grocery store,” AFP recently tweeted.
Opponents of Biden’s Covid-19 relief measures and his domestic policy agenda have raised fears of inflation as a result of so much government spending. But earlier this month, a dozen Nobel Prize-winning economists published an open letter that argued inflation wasn’t nearly as big of a concern. More important, they wrote, was “reversing years of disinvestment in public goods and addressing the country’s long-term needs — including building toward sustainable and inclusive growth and facilitating our clean energy transition.”
The dark-money groups mobilizing against the plan don’t seem to care. The country might have problems — including soaring inequality and a collapsing climate — but, for the Koch empire, that’s just the cost of doing business.
In This Article: Charles Koch, Climate Change, Joe Biden=</div><div>=</div><div>
</div><div>chls</div><div><a href="https://www.desmog.co.uk/2018/12/04/spiked-lm-dark-money-koch-brothers">https://www.desmog.co.uk/2018/12/04/spiked-lm-dark-money-koch-brothers</a></div><div></div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/the-koch-brothers-hellscape-utopia-is-here-a-business-reporter-divulges-the-secret-history-of-the-conservative-empire/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/the-koch-brothers-hellscape-utopia-is-here-a-business-reporter-divulges-the-secret-history-of-the-conservative-empire/</a>no lnx
The Koch brothers’ hellscape utopia is here: A business reporter divulges the ‘secret history’ of the conservative empire
Written by Chauncey DeVega / Salon September 10, 2019Traditionally, politics is the study of the affluent and the influential. Charles Koch and his recently deceased brother David are extreme examples of that truism. Each of the Koch brothers had an estimated net worth in excess of $50 billion. Through their various political projects, they wield great power over American politics and society.
On issues ranging from tax policy to the environment as well as labor and trade laws, the Kochs have advanced a far-right libertarian agenda that views the social safety net as something to be destroyed and democracy as the enemy. In their view, every area of human life should be subjected to the destructive whims of  predatory capitalism. Because so much attention is now focused on the Trump regime, the average American has little if any understanding of how the Koch brothers have shaped their day-to-day lives.
For many liberals and progressives the Koch brothers and their agents are bogeymen and human monsters. But for Republicans the Koch brothers have often been fairy godfathers and financial patrons.
How did the Kochs and their political network amass so much power and influence over American life? How did their “market-based management” philosophy allow them to amass enormous fortunes, and also to conceptualize and execute a remarkably effective set of long-term political strategies?
The Koch brothers’ father was one of the founders of the John Birch Society, which is now almost forgotten but was once immensely influential on the American right-wing. How did that background influence his sons’ worldview and life goals?
What are the specific public policies that the Kochs and their networks have advanced to transform the United States into a right-wing libertarian dystopia where unrestrained corporate power rules over every aspect of public and private life? How is Charles Koch now seeking to hide his extreme right-wing agenda through public relations subterfuge and support for prison reform and other “progressive” programs?
In his mind, is Charles Koch a hero or a villain?
Of course, people in their own minds have a story that they are doing the right thing and that they are heroes. Without question that is true in the case of Charles Koch. He has this whole Midwestern personality, humble shtick. When I met him at his corporate headquarters. it was quite an experience. It is very hard to get access to Charles Koch.
I was emailed a security code on my phone. I held it up to this red screen to scan it and the steel gates opened in the 10-foot-tall wall that surrounds the Koch Industries headquarters. I drove down along the road and security escorted me up to the office and I finally walked into Charles Koch’s CEO suite. He then stands up and looks at me and says, “Chris, you didn’t have to wear a tie to talk to me.” In response to your question, Charles Koch would say, “I’m nothing like a hero. I’m just a guy trying to do a job.”
But it is very clear that when you study his rhetoric, what he writes, the speeches he gives and what he tells other people, that Charles Koch he is a playing a large role in saving the world and making America a better place. Charles has an extremely rigid view in his head about how the world should function, how society should be shaped, the way that the United States should be doing things. He has been executing a plan to make his vision come into being. He has been doing this for 50 years. In Charles Koch’s view, he may not explicitly see himself as a “freedom fighter” but he certainly imagines himself as someone advancing the cause of freedom.
What is Charles Koch’s personal energy and manner like? Is his folksiness affected and false?
His energy is genuinely calm, methodical and warm. He doesn’t laugh a lot. The man I met was very much how the people working for him described — a very low-key, self-effacing person. But do not misunderstand who he is. Charles Koch has a spine of steel. The prologue of my new book “Kochland” is called “The Fighter” and that’s exactly how I see Charles Koch. He was one of four boys raised by this super-wealthy industrialist, Fred Koch, in Wichita, Kansas. Fred Koch made the boys literally box with each other and fight. You see this dynamic of each one of the brothers trying to out-compete the other for their father’s attention.
From a very young age Charles Koch has been both intensely competitive and intensely convinced in his own view of the world. Charles Koch absolutely believes that he has discovered the blueprint for how to run a company and a country. Charles Koch will not back down when he’s asked to compromise.
Charles Koch does not come across as a predator. He is not arrogant. He doesn’t yell at people. He doesn’t slam his fist on the desk when things go wrong. But Charles Koch is implacable. He’s immovable in his vision and if you try to push him off it he is going to fight back extremely hard. There are repeated examples of where people challenge Charles Koch and and he stands his ground and fights.
What is Charles Koch’s vision of the world? What would America be like if he got his way?
He has largely expressed his vision of the world as he wants it to exist by how he has organized his own corporation. The book is called “Kochland.” That title is intentional. Koch’s corporation is an institution, an island of sorts. It’s like a world all its own where — and this is not hyperbole — everybody speaks their own language. The people in Koch’s sphere subscribe to an extremely detailed management philosophy — that also, by the way, functions as a life philosophy — called “market-based management.” Charles Koch has turned Koch Industries into a small-utopian type of free-market world that he wants to see everywhere. What is Charles Koch’s big-picture view of America? What is his view of the world? He describes himself as a “classic liberal.”
Fred Koch was the co-founder of the John Birch Society, which was a secret society convinced that the American federal government was a Communist front group, essentially. They actually believed that Communists had infiltrated the federal government. The Birchers thought these Communists were “stealing” liberty. Fred Koch and the Birchers also believed that labor unions were a thuggish force that were also stealing liberty. Of course this had a profound influence on Charles Koch’s thinking. But he took it in a different direction when he goes to college and starts studying the work of the Austrian economists such as Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises.
As influenced by those thinkers and others, Charles Koch subscribes to a view that basically the only way you can organize society is around a voluntary market exchange system. Government is a type of state-sanctioned thievery. Koch believes that the federal government is intervening in the free market and stealing money through coercion from one group of people and giving it to another. Koch believes that it is not the government which has sovereign power in a society, but rather price which has that ultimate authority.
For example, Charles Koch believes that Medicare puts a fake price on health care. That is destructive, toxic and must be done away with. In Koch’s view, the United States should have a federal government that is basically scaled back to the size of what it was in 1776. I am not sure what Koch believes the federal government should do, besides protect property rights.
Would there be a social safety net? What about civil rights protections for nonwhites and other marginalized groups?
I only had an hour with Charles Koch. Therefore, I had to build my analysis based on information from people who’ve worked with him for 30 years, in addition to people who have been Charles’s friends. I interviewed his son. I’ve also interviewed hundreds of Koch Industries employees. Here is my conclusion.
Charles Koch is not a villain. He cares about people who are sick. He cares about people who are disabled and suffering. I truly think it is his immovable view, however, that the solution to the problem is never government.
For Charles Koch, a social safety net or a specific policy such as Medicare is only creating a massive distortion in the free market. Koch and others who subscribe to similar social theories believe that such distortions will only hurt people in the long run. I know from interviewing former Koch Industries executives that they would say that the solution to social problems in America are churches. The churches are there to provide philanthropy. Government intervention is some type of “coercion.” I believe that Charles Koch would say that helping sick and other people in need must be voluntary.
What about the dysfunctions of the market and negative market externalities?
Let’s consider market externalities. There is a basic concept in economics that a company is not going to do more than it has to do. So, if a company generates mercury as a byproduct of manufacturing and it can put that poison in a river for free, it will do so.  A society must put a price on the pollution to assert some type of discipline over a company’s harmful behavior. There are so many levels where a libertarian vision of society falls apart. Libertarianism instantly breaks down when you start dealing with the real world. That is my personal view. I try to keep my views out of the book and just focus on Charles Koch’s beliefs and what his political network is doing.
There’s no question that if a voluntary exchange system created actual widespread prosperity and abundance, we would not even be having this conversation about the Kochs, the market and pollution. In the United States from the Civil War up until the early 1930s this country experimented with letting the government not intervene in the market by ceding big corporations the latitude to do what they wanted.
That era was a capitalistic free-fire zone. It was horrible. People did not keep the money they earned. People were dying in factories. There was child labor. Pollution was everywhere. The political system was almost destroyed by corruption. Roosevelt’s New Deal reforms were a corrective against that. The government intervened. For 40 years the economy grew and there was more prosperity for most Americans.
Charles Koch was a guest on a recent episode of the Tim Ferriss Show. Ferriss has a podcast audience of millions. Koch’s ideas about life and productivity and success are going to be internalized by many of Ferriss’ listeners, and others as well. One would have to assume Koch will be doing more public appearances as a hedge against your new book.
Around 2013, Charles Koch hired a brand-new public relations team and they are quite good. They come from a background of working for tobacco companies. This PR team knows how to tell a good story. That is why there is this much more public-facing and public-friendly version of Koch Industries being shown to the world, and all this language about “innovation” and “entrepreneurship.” Charles Koch wrote a book that was released in 2015 where he talks in all those vague terms because he cannot get into much detail about “market-based management” because he does not want to give away the secret of his success and how the company makes so much money.
I have talked to the people who work at Koch Industries. The people who work in the trading division are breathtakingly brilliant. They told me the actual strategy of what Koch does, and how he and the company make so much money. What they shared is much more interesting than what Charles Koch is comfortable putting in a book or talking about on a podcast.
He’s done several interviews like that podcast one, and you don’t get to the real or most interesting part of his life and business theories. Koch makes it clear that market-based management is a philosophy that governs how you work, how you organize a country, how you live your personal life.
The people who work for his company think that Charles Koch is a hero for sticking his neck out to fight the “liberal political establishment” in America. They are completely behind his mission to scale back government and remake society.
How would you explain to the average person the power and reach of Charles Koch’s political power?
The Koch network is more powerful today than it’s ever been. Charles Koch’s political power is only going to grow. Here’s the issue, though. They operate in a certain space where government is actually happening. When I started this book, I thought the chapters on politics would be a lot about super-PACs and campaign contributions, but that’s not where the action is. All of the action begins the day after the election. Koch is targeting the infrastructure of American political power where things actually get done: the state legislatures, the court system, the federal appeals court system and, of course, the big center of power in Congress. The Koch network is also working the enormous administrative state which includes OSHA, the EPA and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
This is the world where Charles Koch is operating every single day to influence public policy. What happened with Trump and the Republicans’ recent “tax reforms” is an example of the power that the Koch network possesses. Those tax reforms were a huge, monumental, generational story that Koch had a tremendous influence on. But few people in the general public or elsewhere really understood that, because so much of the news media focuses on “red team” vs “blue team.” Some of what Charles Koch fought for and won in term of tax cuts that benefited his businesses led directly to the massive budget deficit the federal government is now experiencing. This too is part of the right wing’s plan, where they create huge federal deficits to then justify cutting Social Security, Medicare and the entire social safety net.
How is Charles Koch trying to use America’s schools, especially colleges and universities, to disseminate his ideology?Charles Koch uses higher education as a vehicle to promote his views. He is paying money to endow these university chairs and research centers to promote his free-market libertarian point of view. Koch wants to mainstream free-market extremism and then generate the data to support his ideology and long-term plan. Charles Koch and his network would also like to do away with the public education system. They see it as another one of these highly “distortive” systems that ultimately only increases the tax burden on wealthier Americans. Charles Koch and his allies want private education and not public education in America.
What type of citizen does Charles Koch want to create in his schools?
I can tell you almost exactly what he would say: to create principled entrepreneurs. Every little student should be a principled entrepreneur, a solo unit and not part of a cohesive group. For Koch, it is the solo performing unit who is going to try to excel. Schools should cultivate their talent, help them innovate, make money and be more successful. Survival of the fittest. Some students make it, some don’t. Some succeed, some don’t.
The Koch brothers have become involved in “criminal justice reform.” Some liberals and progressives are enamored by what the Kochs are doing on that issue, and may lack a critical perspective about how the Kochs are trying to create more surplus labor to drive down wages. Their ideology does not allow for altruism. Profits are always more important than people. Am I being unfair in my analysis?
They developed a terrible reputation, public relations-wise, particularly after Jane Mayer’s article in the New Yorker where the Koch network’s surreptitious political activities were exposed. They fired almost the entire public relations team around 2013 and brought in a new group of people with a more sophisticated outlook.
Let’s consider their criminal justice reform efforts, which really started during that timeframe. I’ve looked through Koch’s lobbying disclosure forms going back to the 1980s. Criminal justice reform was essentially not there.
Charles Koch is a hardcore libertarian. So if you have somebody come and say, “Look, you could invest in this space of criminal justice reform. It dovetails with your views that government should be limited, and it has the net effect of changing the public image of the Koch political network.”
I can’t tell you how many people have come up to me and said things such as, “The Koch brothers are bipartisan, right? They’re not really Republican. They’re kind of in the middle.” That belief is an outgrowth of how Charles and David Koch invested a few million dollars into this criminal justice reform element, and it obscures the larger mission, which again is a very libertarian, anti-government — not small government — society-wide political project.
Did Charles Koch have an epiphany at some point in his life where he said to himself, “I’m going to be a great man of history”?
He grew up in a mansion in Wichita, Kansas, with three brothers and a father who was, to put it in the kindest sense, an overbearing man. Fred Koch was driving his sons hard. He had power. Fred Koch had conflicts with Charles. Charles Koch openly talks about that fact. Charles Koch was sent off to go work at a ranch over the summer. I truly believe that over the period of 50 years that Charles Koch has been CEO, it’s like he is proving who he really is. I don’t think Charles Koch had an epiphany one night. This all happened slowly. It accumulates in your character. His anti-government beliefs were instilled in him as a child.
Charles Koch is a profoundly competitive, profoundly driven man who is a builder. He has shown that he can build one of the largest corporations in the United States. He basically outpaced his father in every accomplishment his father ever made. That is what motivates Charles Koch, much more than earning the next dollar.
Are you afraid of the repercussions that may come from writing this book? Charles Koch is a very powerful person.
No, not at all. Not to sound too naïve or corny, but this is the United States of America. We have a free press. I consider myself a very old-school reporter. Before the book came out, I gave Koch Industries 260 pages of fact-checking memos. I told them everything critical that was going to be in my book. I gave them a full, fair chance to respond to it. To their credit they engaged in that process.
If “Kochland” was made into a movie what genre would it be?
“Kochland” would be a drama. It is a panoramic view of the American economic and political system today. That’s what I loved about this story. That’s why I wanted to write the book. At one point you the reader or viewer are hanging out with these blue-collar labor union people and you’re learning about their experience of America. The next part of the story you’re at Koch’s derivatives trading floor in Houston, where you’re watching how this world works by looking over the shoulder of a guy who was a Koch employee, who used to make 50 grand a year but then he gets transferred to trading natural gas derivatives and now he’s making $4 million a year. It is all mind-blowing.
Then instantly the camera is in the corporate lobbying office in Washington, and you’re meeting these lobbyists who are shaping public policy and you see how the actual machinery and gears of government work. And then, hovering over the whole picture there is this figure of Charles Koch, who’s got this very firm view of how the world ought to work. The company Charles Koch built is his mini-utopia. It’s “Kochland” and he’s fueling the action.
I truly would like the readers of “Kochland” to see how complicated America’s economic and political system really is. There is so much going on beneath the surface, beyond horse-race politics and the 24/7 news cycle. That is where the real action is. It would warm my heart if people walked away from the book with that new perspective. I would also love it if readers understood that the shape of the economy is not incidental or organic. It is absolutely formed by humans and by policy choices, such as those made by Charles Koch.<div></div><div>maybe a bit like short lived support of criminal reform, aligns with his longtime libtartd principles? more interestingly, soros gets off bogeyman list ?!</div><div>
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</div><div><div>In an astonishing turn, George Soros and Charles Koch team up to end US ‘forever war’ policy</div><div>
</div><div>By Stephen KinzerUpdated June 30, 2019, 5:01 a.m.</div><div>George Soros (left) and Charles Koch are teaming up on the effort.</div><div>
</div><div>BESIDES BEING BILLIONAIRES and spending much of their fortunes to promote pet causes, the leftist financier George Soros and the right-wing Koch brothers have little in common. They could be seen as polar opposites. Soros is an old-fashioned New Deal liberal. The Koch brothers are fire-breathing right-wingers who dream of cutting taxes and dismantling government. Now they have found something to agree on: the United States must end its “forever war” and adopt an entirely new foreign policy.</div><div>
</div><div>In one of the most remarkable partnerships in modern American political history, Soros and Charles Koch, the more active of the two brothers, are joining to finance a new foreign-policy think tank in Washington. It will promote an approach to the world based on diplomacy and restraint rather than threats, sanctions, and bombing. This is a radical notion in Washington, where every major think tank promotes some variant of neocon militarism or liberal interventionism. Soros and Koch are uniting to revive the fading vision of a peaceable United States. The street cred they bring from both ends of the political spectrum — along with the money they are providing — will make this new think tank an off-pitch voice for statesmanship amid a Washington chorus that promotes brinksmanship.</div><div>
</div><div>“This is big,” said Trita Parsi, former president of the National Iranian American Council and a co-founder of the new think tank. “It shows how important ending endless war is if they’re willing to put aside their differences and get together on this project. We are going to challenge the basis of American foreign policy in a way that has not been done in at least the last quarter-century.”</div><div>
</div><div>Since peaceful foreign policy was a founding principle of the United States, it’s appropriate that the name of this think tank harken back to history. It will be called the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, an homage to John Quincy Adams, who in a seminal speech on Independence Day in 1821 declared that the United States “goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.” The Quincy Institute will promote a foreign policy based on that live-and-let-live principle.</div><div>
</div><div>The institute plans to open its doors in September and hold an official inauguration later in the autumn. Its founding donors — Soros’s Open Society Foundation and the Charles Koch Foundation — have each contributed half a million dollars to fund its takeoff. A handful of individual donors have joined to add another $800,000. By next year the institute hopes to have a $3.5 million budget and a staff of policy experts who will churn out material for use in Congress and in public debates. Hiring is underway. Among Parsi’s co-founders are several well-known critics of American foreign policy, including Suzanne DiMaggio, who has spent decades promoting negotiated alternatives to conflict with China, Iran, and North Korea; the historian and essayist Stephen Wertheim; and the anti-militarist author and retired Army colonel Andrew Bacevich.</div><div> </div><div>...</div></div><div></div><div>CMD</div><div>
</div><div>Fox News’ Tucker Carlson is under fire this week for racist, sexist, and homophobic comments he made while chatting on “Bubba the Love Sponge” a shock jock radio show between 2006-2011. Groups are scrutinizing Fox’s advertisers and demanding that they drop the show.But Carlson also publishes The Daily Caller, a controversial online media outlet with <a href="https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/09/06/many-daily-caller-writers-expressed-white-supremacist-views/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">ties to white nationalists</a> that has infamously peddled everything from climate denial and anti-Islamic tropes to false prostitution charges and violence against protesters.Carlson’s moonlighting as an extremist at The Daily Caller is heavily bankrolled by — you guessed it — the Koch brothers. An investigation by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) finds that the Charles Koch Foundation has poured more than $2.7 million into the Daily Caller’s non-profit “charity” since 2012, which generates the lion’s share of the “news” that the Caller publishes.Indeed, in 2016, Koch cash accounted for 83 percent of the The Daily Caller News Foundation’s $1.1 million in revenues.<h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Carlson Under Fire</h2>As if catering to white supremacists was not bad enough, Media Matters published an inventory of hateful comments made by Carlson as a guest on the show between 2006-2011.The radio host discusses Warren Jeffs, the religious leader who was investigated in 2007 for marrying off underage girls to older men and was eventually jailed for sexual assault of minors in 2011. When the radio host condemned Jeffs for being an “accessory to the rape of children,” Carlson said “whatever the hell that means,” and going on to suggest that forcible underage marriage is not as serious as forcible child rape. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=16&v=yr1WnL070hc" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Listen to the tape here.</a>In other interviews, Carlson called Iraqis “semi-literate primitive monkeys,” who “don’t use toilet paper or forks.” They should just “shut the fuck up and obey.” Carlson spoke about his desire for a presidential candidate to blame the “lunatic Muslims who are behaving like animals.” That candidate would be “elected king” if they vowed to “kill as many of them as [they] can.” Carlson also said Afghanistan is “never going to be a civilized country because the people aren’t civilized.” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=14&v=umRRGXS2LG4" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Listen to the tape here.</a>The release of the older audio tapes gives “context and insight” on his nightly programming today, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np84TCO2-RY&feature=youtu.be&t=411" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">said Media Matters President Angelo Carusone</a> on MSNBC.So far, Carlson has failed to apologize. As Fox News scrambles to control the damage, at least three advertisers — Allergan, letgo, and GreatCall — <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/companies-advertising-tucker-carlson-and-jeanine-pirro-shows-db6fe90458cc/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">have had enough</a>.But with the focus on advertisers, it’s important to remember who else bankrolls Carlson’s mini media empire.<h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Koch Caller?</h2>The Kochs have long underwritten The Daily Caller. Previously, <a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/tucker-carlson" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">CMD reported</a> that the Kochs gave $805,512 to The Daily Caller News Foundation between 2012 and 2015, predominantly from the Charles G. Koch Foundation. Since then, the numbers have continued to grow.The Koch foundation gave another $946,000 in 2016 and $960,000 in 2017, the last year publicly available — for a total of $2.7 million.In 2017, <a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/tucker-carlson" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">CMD analyzed emails</a> sent by the Trump campaign to The Daily Caller subscribers and estimated that the outlet also received at least $150,000 from the Trump campaign in the months right before the November election, based on the fee charged for mailings to its list. The funding was never disclosed by Carlson or The Daily Caller as they reported on the Trump campaign.In addition, CMD also examined the relationship between the non-profit and for-profit arms of Tucker Carlson’s operation. The mechanics of how they operate together raise serious concerns about whether Carlson’s tax-free nonprofit is operating primarily for the private benefit of his for-profit media outlet, which would be a violation of tax law.CMD’s story was picked up by numerous media outlets including the Washington Post, which interviewed tax experts on the legality of the scheme.“It really does look like the reason for the existence of this 501(c)(3) organization is to provide benefits to the for-profit company, and that should be a private benefit that is not acceptable,” Linda Sugin, a law professor at Fordham University, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/06/02/charity-doubles-as-a-profit-stream-at-the-daily-caller-news-foundation/?utm_term=.c75e6e79f1af" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">told the Post</a> and other media outlets. “You can’t have money going into the foundation being used for purposes that are really to support the for-profit organization.”</div><div></div><a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2019/03/12/trump-taps-climate-denier-to-lead-a-secret-white-house-climate-panel">https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2019/03/12/trump-taps-climate-denier-to-lead-a-secret-white-house-climate-panel</a>david aEmeritus Professor of Physics at Princeton University and well-known climate science denier William Happer will lead the Presidential Committee on Climate Security, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/white-house-readies-panel-to-assess-if-climate-change-poses-a-national-security-threat/2019/02/19/ccc8b29e-3396-11e9-af5b-b51b7ff322e9_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ca13f5312a80" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Washington Post has reported</a>. Happer, a National Security Council senior director since last September, and his panel will “assess whether climate change poses a national security threat,” according to documents obtained by the Washington Post.Happer is a well-regarded researcher in the field of atomic physics and adaptive optics, but has no formal training in climate science. Happer’s name is notorious among climate scientists and environmentalists for his staunch denial of climate change and the science supporting it.Last Thursday, the leaders of four U.S. House Committees <a href="https://science.house.gov/sites/democrats.science.house.gov/files/documents/2.28.19%20Letter%20to%20Trump%20Secret%20Climate%20Panel.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">sent a letter</a> to Trump protesting the move, saying:<blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 40px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">We are deeply concerned about recent reports that the National Security Council (NSC) is planning to assemble a secret panel, led by a discredited climate change denier, to undermine the overwhelming scientific consensus on the nature and threats of climate change, including to the national security of the United States.</blockquote>The panel will not operate under the standard rules for Federal Advisory Committees, which require open meetings, transparency and public involvement. If the panel meets in secret, its conclusions will not be open to peer review or criticism, hallmarks of science.Trump, who has pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord, rolled back the Clean Power Plan, revived plans for Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, and deregulated the fossil fuel industry, has yet to respond to the congressional letter.<h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Happer’s “CO2 Coalition” Well-Funded by the Far Right</h2>Before joining Trump, Happer served as president of a group called the CO2 Coalition.After a few years of flatlining, global carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/co2-emissions-reached-an-all-time-high-in-2018/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">jumped to an all time high</a> in 2018, but that is not a problem for the CO2 Coalition.CO2 Coalition describes its mission as “educating thought leaders, policy makers, and the public about the important contribution made by carbon dioxide to our lives and the economy.” In a section on its website dubbed, “CO2 Fundamentals,” CO2 Coalition says, “The debate about global warming and climate change has shifted from genuine scientific exploration to a campaign demonizing CO2.”CO2 Coalition has received <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Contributions_of_the_Bradley_Foundation" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">$100,000</a> <a href="http://bradleyfdn.org/Portals/0/pdfs/Report%202017/2017%20Annual%20Report.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation</a> in 2016 and 2017, according to IRS filings examined by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). In an internal Bradley Foundation grant proposal record for CO2 Coalition dated 6/14/2016, Bradley staff writes, “Through strategic public discourse techniques, it will use science to counter the campaign demonizing the use of fossil fuels — a campaign that has effectively replaced scientific inquiry in the climate change debate.”Bradley internal documents show that it is a major funder of the web of climate change denying organizations and that it “has made significant grants to support energy policy think tanks, attack-dog groups that target environmentalists, and efforts to discredit climate science,” <a href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/07/12/bradley-foundation-funds-web-climate-change-deniers/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">CMD found</a>.An internal spreadsheet from Bradley shows a matching grant of $130,000 ($132,000 on its 2016 IRS Form) from Scaife Foundation for CO2 Coalition. The <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/scaife-family-foundations" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Scaife Foundation funds many organizations</a> that dispute the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change including: Heartland Institute, Hoover Institution, Heritage Foundation, Competitive Enterprise Institute, and Atlas Economic Research Foundation. Scaife Foundation gave another $135,000 to CO2 Coalition in 2017, its IRS filing shows.The Mercer Family Foundation led by Trump supporter Rebekah Mercer, the daughter of hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, is the top supporter of CO2 Coalition with <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mercer_Family_Foundation#Grants" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">$320,000</a> in donations in 2016 and 2017 IRS filings show. A <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tax-return-shows-mercer-family-fueled-climate-skeptics_us_5c12be38e4b0cce3ea29d15f" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Huffington Post report</a>late last year detailed more than $4 million from the foundation in grants to climate skeptics in 2017.Charles Koch, billionaire owner of one of America’s biggest polluters Koch Industries, has also given to CO2 Coalition but an examination of IRS filings raises some questions. Charles Koch Foundation (CKF) details <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Family_Foundations" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">$32,409</a> to CO2 Coalition in 2016 and 2017 and Charles Koch Institute (CKI) <a href="https://mk0qeluyepi9drvw7cng.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/CHARLES-KOCH-INSTITUTE-2017-990-AMENDED-PDC.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">$10,000</a> in 2017 on their individual IRS filings, but CO2 Coalition’s detail no contributions from CKF and $46,409 from CKI in <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5766143-CO2-Coalition-2016-990.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">2016</a> and <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5766144-CO2-Coalition-2017-990.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">2017</a>.Other major contributors to Happer’s climate science denial outfit include many of the major right-wing funders:<ul style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; word-spacing: 3.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5766143-CO2-Coalition-2016-990.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">$125,000</a> <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5766144-CO2-Coalition-2017-990.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">from Searle Freedom Trust (2016-2017)</a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5766143-CO2-Coalition-2016-990.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">$125,000</a> <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5766144-CO2-Coalition-2017-990.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">from Thomas W. Smith Foundation (2016-2017)</a></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5766143-CO2-Coalition-2016-990.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">$50,000</a> from Achelis and Bodman Foundations (2016)</li><li style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: initial; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5766144-CO2-Coalition-2017-990.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">$40,000</a> from the Randolph Foundation (2017)</li></ul>
<a href="http://documentedinvestigations.org/2018/07/12/janus-decision-rooted-koch-wishlist/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://documentedinvestigations.org/2018/07/12/janus-decision-rooted-koch-wishlist/</a>With last month’s monumental Janus decision by the Supreme Court, the Koch family won a major victory in their multi-generational attack on unions.The ruling spreads to the entire public sector one of the laws the Koch fortune first helped push through in Kansas 60 years ago: “right-to-work.” And in doing so it enshrines the union-busting agenda their fossil fuel money has helped advance for decades.(This story was first <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/21294/koch_anti_union_janus_supreme_court" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">published</a> by In These Times.)Through a single vote, the Court’s 5-4 Janus decision reverses decades of legal precedent that had obstructed part of the Koch’s pro-corporate agenda. That vote was secured with the Kochs’ help in bankrolling efforts that include: helping to maintain a GOP Senate majority; helping the Senate block President Obama from filling the February 2016 Supreme Court vacancy; and helping to win the confirmation of right-wing corporate activist Neil Gorsuch.Janus helps cement the nation’s highest court as the Koch Court, and Charles Koch wants to keep it that way.As Documented <a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/02/25/koch-brothers-trump-administration/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">first detailed</a> in partnership with the Intercept, for months the Kochs had been investing heavily in anticipation of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement from the Court, which was announced on June 27, the same day as Janus. Earlier this year, the Koch group “Americans for Prosperity” (AFP) hired Sarah Field from the Koch-funded Federalist Society to spearhead its campaign to extend the Koch hold on the Court for perhaps a generation or more.Despite claims by AFP that helping to seat Gorsuch was their “first” foray into Supreme Court nominations, the Koch effort to influence who becomes a judge and how they interpret the law goes back much further.In fact, the Kochs have been investing in reshaping the law to suit their personal agenda for decades. For example, the Koch group Citizens for a Sound Economy, AFP’s predecessor, <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-09-15/news/9103100215_1_national-black-nurses-family-research-council-national-jewish-coalition" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">backed</a> Clarence Thomas’ controversial confirmation to the Court more than 25 years ago.The Kochs’ long-term agenda to remake the United States in their image is a multi-pronged effort that includes changing both the law and who makes or interprets the laws, including the anti-union Janus decision.<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding: 1.5em 0px 0px; font-weight: 300; text-transform: uppercase;">THE SEEDS OF JANUS</h3>The effort to roll back union rights actually began almost a century ago, as wealthy industrialists objected to the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, known as the Wagner Act, which enshrined the right to collective bargaining in the United States.Many tycoons of the time, like Alfred Sloan, head of General Motors, opposed those rights along with other business reforms of FDR’s New Deal.Fred Koch, co-founder of the corporation that later became Koch Industries, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sons-Wichita-Brothers-Americas-Powerful/dp/B01LTHXJT6" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">harshly criticized American workers</a> under New Deal policies in 1938. He extolled the economic policies of Emperor Hirohito and fascists Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini:<blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;">Although nobody agrees with me, I am of the opinion that the only sound countries in the world are Germany, Italy, and Japan, simply because they are all working and working hard… The laboring people in those countries are proportionately much better off than they are any place else in the world. When you contrast the state of mind of Germany today with what it was in 1925 you begin to think that perhaps this course of idleness, feeding at the public trough, dependence on government, etc., with which we are afflicted is not permanent and can be overcome.</blockquote>Only recently, through the investigative work of Jane Mayer, has the public learned that <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Money-History-Billionaires-Radical/dp/0307947904/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_1?encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=QFB6YX7BC9EZ3Y02VSEP" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">the Koch fortune was actually built in part on directly aiding Hitler</a> by building the oil-cracking factory that became “a key component in the Nazi war machine.” As Mayer noted in her 2016 book Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, that factory <a href="https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/01/13014/koch-daddy-and-nazis-revealing-timeline" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">refined high-octane fuel needed for the Luftwaffe</a>, which targeted, terrorized, and killed many thousands of innocent civilians. Fred Koch’s praise of Germany came after <a href="https://elpais.com/elpais/2015/12/30/inenglish/1451462698_825891.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">Hitler’s air bombers helped murder 136 men, women, and children in Guernica</a> in the Basque region, a tragedy made famous by the mural painted by <a href="https://www.pablopicasso.org/guernica.jsp" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">Pablo Picasso</a>.Meanwhile, industrialists like Sloan pursued efforts to undo New Deal reforms. In 1947, Congress amended the Wagner Act with the Taft-Hartley Act. It gave states the power to pass “right-to-work” laws that undermined collective bargaining by not requiring workers who benefit from bargained rights to pay dues to the unions that secured and enforced them.<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding: 1.5em 0px 0px; font-weight: 300; text-transform: uppercase;">HOW THE KOCHS FERTILIZED “RIGHT-TO-WORK”</h3>As Mayer noted:<blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;">[Fred Koch] was an early and active member of the Wichita-based DeMille Foundation for Political Freedom, an anti-labor group [founded in 1945] that was a forerunner of the National Right to Work Defense Foundation. In a revealing private letter, one of its staff members explained the group’s ‘Astroturf’ strategy. In reality, he said, big-business industrialists would run the group, serving as its ‘anonymous quarterbacks,’ and ‘call the turns.’ But he said they needed to sell the ‘yarn’ that the group was ‘composed of housewives, farmers, small businessmen, professional people, wage earners-not big business industrialists.’ Otherwise, he admitted, the movement was ‘almost certainly doomed to failure.’</blockquote>By 1954, an engineer from Wichita, Kan., Reed Larson, took a leave from his job at the Coleman Company, to launch <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=mmZkf7dselMC&pg=PA18714&lpg=PA18714&dq=%22Reed+Larson%22+%22temporary+leave%22&source=bl&ots=lzSBcfR-pD&sig=8bOKm0KpqTMXOdD1BJnKMFtu2wk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjm6M7es-bAhVfHDQIHUnRB40Q6AEINjAC#v=onepage&q=%22Reed%20Larson%22%20%22temporary%20leave%22&f=false" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">Kansans-for-the-Right-to-Work</a>. The following year, former Rep. Fred Hartley, Jr., (R-N.J.) co-founded the National Right to Work Committee (NRTWC). By 1958, the NRTWC was targeting six states to adopt right-to-work laws but it failed in every place, except Kansas.“Fred [Koch] co-led a referendum drive to alter the state constitution in order to make it harder for unions to take root in Kansas,” Duke University Professor <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Democracy_in_Chains.html?id=iW4ADAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button#v=snippet&q=Right-to-Work&f=false" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">Nancy MacLean noted</a>.On Nov. 9, 1958, the New York Times reported that right-to-work won in Kansas <a href="https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1958/11/09/92655331.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">because</a> anti-union views had taken hold, noting:<blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;">More campaign efforts and more money were expended on the emotion-provoking issue than on the campaigns of all Republican and Democratic state and Congressional candidates combined. … For the last 10 days or so before Election Day an organization called Kansans-for-the-Right-to-Work flooded newspapers, television channels and other advertising media with appeals to ‘vote yes.’ These by far outnumbered the ‘vote no’ advertisements of unions opposing the amending.</blockquote>A month later, Fred Koch joined Robert Welch and ten other men in Indianapolis to found the extreme rightwing group dubbed the “John Birch Society” (JBS).As the Washington Post noted in its 1961 profile of JBS:<blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;">At the top of the Society’s structure in Wichita are several very wealthy industrialists. Oil engineer Fred Koch is president of the Rock Island Oil and Refining Co. A millionaire several times over, he is on the Society’s national council. … Wichita is the John Birch Society’s center of strength in Kansas, and one of its greatest in the country. … The leadership of the Birch Society overlaps heavily with the leadership of the organizations that successfully campaigned in 1958 for a right to work amendment to the State’s Constitution.</blockquote>As detailed by Group Research Inc. in its 1962 <a href="https://www.prwatch.org/files/rtw_group_research.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">history of JBS</a>, Koch worked with both NRTWC and the Christian Crusade in arguing against union dues like those at issue in the Janus case.A History of HostilityIn 1959, Fred Koch joined the Executive Committee to plan the JBS strategy to push back against what it viewed as communism in nearly every American institution.In 1960, Koch published his <a href="http://justtheevidence.blogspot.com/2014/08/an-american-businessman-looks-at.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">polemic “A Business Man Looks at Communism”</a> and distributed it to JBS chapters across the country. That pamphlet makes a variety of hysterical claims against unions, including:<blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;">Labor Unions have long been a Communist goal. How far they have been penetrated by Communists I have no idea, but it must be very far indeed, judging the hatred andvenom poured out in some labor papers….</blockquote>Koch also accused the U.S. Supreme Court under former Gov. Earl Warren (R-CA) of issuing pro-Communist decisions, the universities of having thousands of Communist professors, the United Nations of being subversive, and former GOP President Dwight Eisenhower of being soft on Communism.Similar sentiments were expressed in numerous other publications the JBS also pushed. The organization pitched a screed against the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00685LGUY/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?encoding=UTF8&btkr=1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">union workers who organized against Kohler</a> fixtures in Wisconsin. It pushed attacks on the UAW’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Walter-Reuther-autocrat-bargaining-Hardcover/dp/B003WBJIOI" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">Walter Reuther</a>, who was posthumously awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom.It published and peddled right-wing writer Rosalie Gordon’s <a href="http://www.thechristianidentityforum.net/downloads/Nine-Liberties.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">attack on the U.S. Supreme Court</a> for decisions enforcing collective bargaining rights as protecting the “labor-union monopoly,” along with what she called the “plague” of desegregation caused by Brown v. Board of Education.The JBS also pushed reprints of tomes by Ludwig von Mises attacking unions as <a href="http://lf-oll.s3.amazonaws.com/titles/2200/Mies_1459_LFeBk.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">illegitimate intervenors</a> in the “free market,” <a href="https://mises.org/sites/default/files/Human%20Action_3.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">artificial inflators of wages</a> for workers, and <a href="https://mises-media.s3.amazonaws.com/The%20Anti-Capitalistic%20Mentality_3.pdf?file=1&type=document" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">thieves of the profits of tycoons</a>. It promoted F.A. Hayek’s vilification of government regulation of corporations as leading to fascism and Hilaire du Berrier’s <a href="https://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/biography/item/20110-passing-of-a-patriot" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">conspiracy theories</a> that American labor unions were supposedly using union dues to finance communist terrorist violence abroad.Fred Koch’s son Charles <a href="http://dizerega.com/gus-dizerega/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">urged</a> visitors to the John Birch Society bookstore in Wichita to read copies of JBS pamphlets, including those by anti-labor writers from the Austrian School of Economics, <a href="http://dizerega.com/gus-dizerega/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">like Mises</a>.Indeed, as the present author <a href="http://progressive.org/dispatches/like-dad-charles-koch-bircher-new-documents/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">first documented</a> for the Center for Media and Democracy, Charles Koch became active in JBS after returning home to Wichita to help with the family business. Charles was a leader and fundraiser for JBS, including underwriting its publications and national radio network, while it attacked collective bargaining and leaders of the civil rights movement such as the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Parks.<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding: 1.5em 0px 0px; font-weight: 300; text-transform: uppercase;">CHARLES KOCH IN ACTION</h3>Though he left JBS in 1968, Charles Koch never abandoned its core anti-union agenda and the lessons of his father’s commitment to right-to-work. He did try to shed some of the rhetoric around communist conspiracies, though of late he was painted by Koch political strategist Richard Fink as a <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/03/koch-brothers-recording_n_5757592.html?1409750594" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">martyr against “collectivism</a>,” in audio obtained by the Undercurrent, which also included outlandish claims linking fascism and the minimum wage.It was Charles Koch’s investment in lifting up the work of Mises and Hayek, who made similar claims, that helped preserve and extend their legacy. As Stephen Moore noted in a 2006 <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB114687252956545543" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">profile on Charles</a> for the Wall Street Journal:<blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;">The authors who have had the most profound influence on his own political philosophy include <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZBXFeAj5lM" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">F.A. Hayek</a>, Ludwig von Mises, Joseph Schumpeter, Julian Simon, Paul Johnson and Charles Murray. Mr. Koch says that he experienced an intellectual epiphany in the early 1960s, when he attended a conference on free-market capitalism hosted by the late, great Leonard Reed.</blockquote>Charles brought Mises to Wichita to speak and <a href="https://mises.org/library/ihs-and-rebirth-austrian-economics-some-reflections-1974%E2%80%931976" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">deployed F.A. “Baldy” Harper’s Institute for Humane Studies</a> (IHS) to promote Mises and his protégé Hayek. As lauded by Reed’s Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), Hayek <a href="https://fee.org/articles/hayek-on-the-rule-of-law-and-unions/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">argued that unions violated the very idea of the “rule of law”</a> and that the Wagner Act was central to that violation, a sentiment he promoted in numerous writings.Charles Koch is deeply devoted to an alternative universe in which collective bargaining undermines the rule of law and is not a major cause of increased wages.Moore <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB114687252956545543" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">noted</a> in his interview:<blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;">As we continue, Mr. Koch becomes increasingly animated. He discusses another seminal work in his collection, F.A. Harper’s 1957 Why Wages Rise. The book demonstrates ‘that wages rise not because of unions or government action, but because of marginal productivity gains — people get more money when they produce more value for other people.’ Then he confides, “I was so thrilled by this revelation that I had what Maslow called a ‘peak experience.’'”</blockquote>Koch has also supported the NRTWC, which “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=pQ4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA140&lpg=PA140&dq=sought+to+put+a+new+face+on+the+anti-union+campaign+by+building+its+rhetoric+on+the+arguments+of+Hayek&source=bl&ots=qETvylyYue&sig=7UMKva7cgTiU9T9ZQ9ToQiagSgw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwicgJmty_DbAhXiIjQIHetuAD4Q6AEILDAA#v=onepage&q=sought%20to%20put%20a%20new%20face%20on%20the%20anti-union%20campaign%20by%20building%20its%20rhetoric%20on%20the%20arguments%20of%20Hayek&f=false" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">sought to put a new face on the anti-union campaign by building its rhetoric on the arguments of Hayek, Mises, and others</a> with a ‘respectable’ pedigree.” The NRTWC argues that:<blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;">Compulsory unionism itself violates the dignity of the individual worker, regardless of how the forced union tribute is spent. As the late Nobel Prize-winning economist <a href="https://cafehayek.com/2014/01/hayek-on-unions.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">Friedrich A. von Hayek</a> wrote: “[T]he coercion which unions have been permitted to exercise … is primarily the coercion of fellow workers.</blockquote>Deep Devotion and InvestmentHayek and Mises are not the only two virulently anti-union economists Charles Koch backed. As Nancy MacLean documented in Democracy in Chains, one of the key architects of the Koch agenda domestically and internationally, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/533763/democracy-in-chains-by-nancy-maclean/9781101980972/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">James Buchanan</a>, also railed against the so-called “union monopolies” for distorting “free market” wages.And, as <a href="http://www.unkochmycampus.org/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">UnKoch My Campus</a> has detailed, Koch money has funded scores of academics to push their agenda at universities, buying control over content and personnel with restrictive dictates attached to their donations.Many of the rightwing groups Charles Koch is known to have made a major investment in since the 1970s have pushed right-to-work or attacked collective bargaining rights. These include <a href="http://reason.com/archives/1975/11/01/trends/print" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">Reason</a> magazine, the <a href="https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/2010/1/cj30n1-9.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">Cato Institute</a>, <a href="https://americansforprosperity.org/setting-record-straight-right-work-janus-v-afscme/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">Americans for Prosperity</a>, the <a href="https://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/Right_to_Work_Act_Exposed" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">American Legislative Exchange Council</a>, the <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/features/janus_supreme_court_unions_investigation.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">State Policy Network</a> and many more.During David Koch’s 1980 bid to become vice president, running on the ticket of Libertarian Ed Clark—which was pushed by Charles and fueled with Koch cash—the campaign platform included <a href="https://lpedia.org/1980_National_Platform" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">making right-to-work the law of the land</a>:<blockquote style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;">[W]e urge repeal of the National Labor Relations Act, and all state Right to Work Laws, which prohibit employers from making voluntary contracts with unions. We oppose all government back-to-work orders as imposing a form of forced labor.</blockquote>That is, there would be no need for state right-to-work laws if there were no NLRA that protects collective bargaining rights. As a result, right-to-work would be effectively nationalized at the determination of the employer.After badly losing that election, the Kochs have invested heavily in changing the culture—and courts of America—to make their anti-union vision a reality.Right-to-work is part of that vision.<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding: 1.5em 0px 0px; font-weight: 300; text-transform: uppercase;">MILLIONS SPENT</h3>A leak of the Kochs’ summer retreat in 2010 revealed that they <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/memo-health-insurance-banking-oil-industries-met-with-koch-chamber-glenn-beck-to-plot-2010-election-3c1a0908a245/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">featured NRTWC leaders at their gathering of billionaires</a> to plot plans for that year’s midterm elections.In 2012, before most of America even knew that the Kochs had branded their billionaire conclave as “Freedom Partners,” that group <a href="http://conservativetransparency.org/recipient/national-right-to-work-committee/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">injected $1 million directly into the NRTWC</a> among the more than $200 million of its known spending that cycle.In 2016, they <a href="http://fortune.com/2016/10/16/koch-brothers-gop-senate/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">focused</a> much of their known political spending on keeping a GOP majority in the Senate, and they <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/04/05/gop-senator-more-convinced-than-ever-that-garland-should-get-hearing/?utm_term=.4007c477ab73" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">influenced</a> the make-up of the U.S. Supreme Court by helping to block Judge Merrick Garland’s confirmation.For the 2018 election, they’ve pledged to spend more than $400 million through the Seminar Network, the latest rebranding of their network of tycoons.To be clear, the Koch family fortune is not the only one that has been expended pushing right-to-work laws to try to weaken the power of ordinary people to negotiate through unions. A major funder of right-to-work effort has been the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, along with Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund, which Mother Jones has dubbed “the ATM” of the right wing.Collective bargaining has provided women with greater economic opportunities and job security. Right-to-work laws also have a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/26/17053328/janus-afscme-supreme-court-unions-minorities" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">disproportionate impact on people of color,</a> who are union members at a higher rate than whites. <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/black-women-will-be-most-affected-by-janus/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">Black women will likely be the group most adversely affected</a> by the Janus case. Notably, workers in <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/right-to-work-states-have-lower-wages/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">right-to-work states also have lower wages</a> than in states that have rejected this agenda.<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding: 1.5em 0px 0px; font-weight: 300; text-transform: uppercase;">UNDERMINING PROGRESSIVES TOO</h3>The spread of right to work through Janus also will affect our elections.As In These Times has documented with the Center for Media and Democracy, the national push for right-to-work is designed to <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/features/janus_supreme_court_unions_investigation.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">undermine</a> the power of unions and to “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/30/rightwing-alliance-unions-defund-defang" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(15, 15, 15) 0px -1px 0px inset; transition: color 80ms ease-in 0s, box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s, -webkit-box-shadow 130ms ease-in-out 0s;">defang and defund</a>” them as a way to weaken the chances for progressives to win in politics and policy.The Koch investment in making right-to-work a national reality represents one of the longest and deepest commitments to this agenda, aside from NRTWC itself.And this year marks the 60th anniversary of Fred Koch’s victory of making right-to-work legally binding in Kansas.Now, six decades later, Charles Koch has helped make his father’s wish binding on the rest of America through helping to make the Janus ruling a reality.<hr style="box-sizing: content-box; height: 1px; overflow: visible; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;" />Lisa Graves=2016Charles Koch – Estimated worth: $48.3 billion. Contributions (with wife Elizabeth Buzzi) since 1989: $13.1 millionThe chairman and CEO of the sprawling Koch Industries conglomerate and his wife donated $6.9 million last cycle, the bulk of which went to <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=C00564765&cycle=2016" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Freedom Partners Action Fund</a>, a hub in their vast political money machine. The super PAC spent $28.9 million against Democrats such as Senate candidates Ted Strickland, Catherine Cortez Masto and Katie McGinty. Koch also donated directly to a number of lawmakers, including now-CIA Director <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/summary.php?cid=N00030744&year=2016" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Mike Pompeo</a>, House Speaker <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00004357&cycle=2016" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Paul Ryan</a> (R-Wisc.) and Sen. <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00030836&cycle=2016" target="blank" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Rand Paul</a> (R-Ky.).Of course, these totals, and those for the everyone else we’ve listed, don’t include any dark money contributions — funds given to organizations that can be engaged in politics but don’t have to disclose their donors. In Koch’s case, that sum may be considerable. =<a href="http://www.alternet.org/education/right-wing-billionaires-are-funding-cynical-plot-destroy-dissent-and-protest-colleges" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">http://www.alternet.org/education/right-wing-billionaires-are-funding-cynical-plot-destroy-dissent-and-protest-colleges</a>
As s far-right speakers face loud student opposition at their university speaking gigs, conservative lawmakers in several states are introducing legislation that cracks down on protesters. As <a href="http://www.unkochmycampus.org/mar-1-2017-protest-ban-sold-as-free-speech/" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">uncovered</a> by UnKoch My Campus’ Ralph Wilson, numerous states have borrowed their so-called “campus free speech” bills from the rightwing Goldwater Institute, which is funded by conservative plutocrats including Charles Koch and the Mercer family.The intent of these bills isn’t to protect student speech; it’s actually to suppress it in favor of guest speakers who, at times, support white nationalism, LGBTQ discrimination and other hateful worldviews. By funding the Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute, wealthy conservatives are enabling the promotion of hate speech while stifling student dissent. Whether or not Koch, for example, agrees with the hate speech he indirectly sponsors, he certainly benefits from a more friendly academic environment for far-right ideologues who often deny climate change and praise his extreme brand of tax- and regulation-free capitalism.The Goldwater Institute’s model bill allegedly ensures “the fullest degree of…free expression,” but it explicitly <a href="https://goldwater-media.s3.amazonaws.com/cms_page_media/2017/1/30/Campus%20Free%20Speech%20Paper.pdf#page=20" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">states</a> that “protests and demonstrations that infringe upon the rights of others to engage in or listen to expressive activity shall not be permitted and shall be subject to sanction.”It goes on to say, “Any student who has twice been found responsible for infringing the expressive rights of others will be suspended for a minimum of one year, or expelled.”Under this code, imagine that a student protests a climate change denier and gets a brief suspension. Then the College Republicans group brings in a full-on white nationalist. Will this student do what she thinks is right and protest a racist who’s given a platform at a respected university, or stay home because she's risking expulsion? This campus "free speech” legislation is essentially an attack on student speech and an elevation of ultra-conservative ideas that many people in university communities think have no place in American society.“These laws would create a chilling effect on students who reject the idea that white supremacists or climate deniers are simply representing an ‘opposing viewpoint’ that should be tolerated, and who are rightfully relying on their first amendment freedoms to stop the rise of fascism and prevent global climate catastrophe,” Wilson, UnKoch’s senior researcher, told AlterNet. The group has been conducting research into Charles Koch’s considerable <a href="http://www.alternet.org/investigations/inside-charles-kochs-plot-hijack-universities-across-america" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">ideological donations</a> to higher education, most of which goes toward free-market programs.Charles Koch Foundation representatives say that conservative views are underrepresented in higher education, and the foundation’s massive university donations—which fund free-market academic centers, professorships, grad students and lecture series—are necessary for academic freedom. This view is shared by other conservative billionaires and higher ed donors including Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who recently <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/02/24/education-secretary-criticizes-professors-telling-students-what-think" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">said</a> to the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference, “The education establishment [tells you] what to think…the real threat is silencing the First Amendment rights of people with whom you disagree.”What the Kochs and their allies really want, by amplifying the voices of far-right professors and guest speakers, is to steer society towards a tax- and regulation-free plutocracy. Charles and David Koch, who together are worth nearly $97 billion, have been working toward this goal for over 40 years.In 2014, Virginia passed the nation’s first <a href="http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?141+ful+HB258" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">law</a> banning so-called “free speech zones,” which restrict protected speech to designated areas often far away from events that students want to protest. The following year, Missouri enacted a <a href="http://www.senate.mo.gov/15info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=165" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Campus Free Expression Act</a> forbidding “free speech zones” without imposing punitive measures.But while more recent legislation bans free speech zones as well, it also restricts student free speech in scenarios where, lawmakers claim, free speech is protected.The protest crackdownLegislators in some states including Illinois and Tennessee have introduced bills in 2017 that explicitly mention sanctions on student protesters. <a href="http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=&SessionId=91&GA=100&DocTypeId=HB&DocNum=2939&GAID=14&LegID=104448&SpecSess=&Session=" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Illinois’ bill</a>, proposed by two Republicans, lifts this language, and additional passages, nearly verbatim from the Goldwater model. Also sponsored by Republicans, the <a href="http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/110/Bill/HB0739.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">bill</a> in Tennessee—nicknamed the “Milo Bill” after an event at the University of California at Berkeley featuring the racist “alt-right” icon Milo Yiannopolous was canceled due to protests—directs universities to enact free speech policies that include “sanctions for anyone under the jurisdiction of the institution who interferes with the free expression of others,” and it gives faculty “the right to regulate class speech.”In North Carolina, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest intends to work with legislators on a <a href="http://ltgov.nc.gov/lt-governor-dan-forest-push-campus-free-speech" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Restore Campus Free Speech Act</a>, which would create “a discipline policy that would punish students who shout down visiting speakers or deprive others of their right to free expression, a tactic commonly known as the ‘hecklers’ veto.'"Last year, Forest floated <a href="http://www.alternet.org/activism/how-campus-free-expression-act-north-carolina-actually-aims-suppress-student-speech" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">a measure</a> calling on the University of North Carolina’s board of governors to create a system-wide policy that would impose harsh penalties, including expulsion, on students, staff and faculty members who disrupt classes, public meetings or events. The Koch-funded Generation Opportunity <a href="https://generationopportunity.org/press-release/new-legislation-protecting-free-speech-on-unc-campuses-to-be-introduced-this-month/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">lauded</a> the effort at the time. Forest has said that yelling at a guest speaker “has never been free speech,” and he’s called campus protest methods “terrorist tactics.” No one introduced a free speech bill that year.Other proposed laws, like <a href="http://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/65-2017/documents/17-0328-03000.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">North Dakota’s</a>, which was introduced by six Republicans, omit sanctions provisions but state that a university may restrict student speech if it blocks entrances to buildings, obstructs traffic or interferes with events. Much of the North Dakota bill comes directly from the text of the Goldwater model legislation. A large group of most Republican legislators in Virginia has a <a href="http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HR431+hil" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">new bill</a> in play that includes much of the Goldwater language but stays away from restrictions on students.Additional campus free speech bills have been introduced this year in <a href="http://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2017A/bills/2017A_062_ren.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Colorado</a> (sponsored by two Republicans and one Democrat) and <a href="http://le.utah.gov/_{2017/bills/static/HB0054.html}" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Utah</a> (sponsored by 14 Republican state representatives). <a href="http://floridapolitics.com/archives/232665-florida-legislate-free-speech-college-campuses" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Florida</a> could be next. Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin has a "free speech" provision in his proposed <a href="http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/university/scott-walker-s-budget-would-turn-university-of-wisconsin-free/article_f8a221ef-5bd0-558f-b3c2-fc83ab7568fe.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">budget</a>.Big money driving campus 'free speech’ effortsOne of the model bill’s authors, Stanley Kurtz, is a longtime fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Ethics and Public Policy Center, which applies “the Judeo-Christian moral tradition to critical issues of public policy,” according to its website. The center has received millions of dollars in donations from the foundations of the conservative Bradley, Scaife, Olin and Earhart families, as well as hundreds of thousands from two vehicles for wealthy right-wing donors, Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund.Billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch are responsible for more than $9 million in contributions to the two groups from 2006 to 2015, according to the website Conservative Transparency and additional research by this author. Much of the $6.3 million that went to Donors Trust came in 2015. A now-defunct Koch nonprofit, the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, donated $190,000 to the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and the Charles Koch Foundation has given over $9,000.The Goldwater Institute’s James Manley, senior attorney, and Jonathan Butcher, education director, also co-authored the “campus free speech” model legislation. The institute took in nearly $2.5 million from Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund from 2002-2015, according Conservative Transparency and additional research. The Charles Koch Foundation has pitched in $75,000. Manley formerly worked at the Mountain States Legal Foundation, which has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the two Donors funds. Butcher was a research assistant at the heavily Koch-funded Heritage Foundation from 2002 to 2006.Says Wilson, “These bills take Koch's academic presence to the next level, creating protected space to reveal the white supremacist roots of Koch's free market crusade, likeKoch's close friend and white nationalist Charles Murray who has taken to campuses to espouse the genetic superiority of white males.”Another Koch-funded think tank, the American Enterprise Institute, reportedly has student groups at nearly 80 colleges and universities. These groups bring in AEI fellows like the eugenicist Murray to speak on their campuses. Recently, Murray attempted to give a lecture at Middlebury College in Vermont but was stymied by vociferous protests. He had to end his speech early, and he and a liberal professor were attacked on their way out.Students at UC Berkeley and area residents protested Yiannopoulos, whom the College Republicans had invited to speak. The protests led to fires, vandalism, and reportedly, fights. Until recently, Yiannopoulos was an editor at Breitbart News, known as the online “platform of the alt-right,” which happens to be funded by Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah, the far-right mega-donors who are major Donald Trump backers and whose family foundation has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Goldwater Institute. The younger Mercer was even a member of Trump’s transition team. Violence against a speaker, a professor or an onlooker is certainly unacceptable. So is inviting a white supremacist to speak at an institution of higher learning, and so is preventing students and faculty from protesting such a speaker. Plenty of right-wing billionaires likely don’t agree with white nationalist ideas, and by funding these so-called campus free speech bills they’re trying to advance free-market principles. But regardless of motivation, this campus "free speech" movement is spreading the hate of white nationalism, the racist “alt-right,” Islamophobia and homophobia—not to mention climate change denial and economic policies that benefit only the very wealthy—on campuses filled with young students. Conservative, corporate millionaires and billionaires are at fault.=Charles Koch gave $90 million to influence higher ed in the South<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2015/12/charles-koch-gave-90-million-to-influence-higher-e.html">http://www.southernstudies.org/2015/12/charles-koch-gave-90-million-to-influence-higher-e.html</a>Last month, the provost of Western Carolina University in North Carolina asked the public school's chancellor to approve an academic center funded by the Charles Koch Foundation, a private nonprofit run by the billionaire chairman, CEO, and co-owner of the Koch Industries oil and chemical corporation. The foundation funds academic programs, professorships, scholarships, conferences, lecture series and economics centers, all for the purpose of promoting the free-market agenda embraced by Koch and his brother David.The chancellor has come out in support, and on Dec. 4 the school's trustees will vote on the fate of the Center for the Study of Free Enterprise, which would launch with $2 million from the Charles Koch Foundation over five years and $1.4 million from the university.The proposed agreement has come under fire from the school's faculty senate, which voted 21-3 to oppose the center's creation. The group raised concerns about academic freedom, cost, reputation, and the lack of peer review.
"The Charles Koch Foundation has previously set forth explicit expectations in line with their political views in exchange for monetary gifts to universities," the faculty senate said in a statement, "thereby constraining academic freedom by influencing and interfering with the development of new knowledge."The proposed center at WCU is part of a long campaign by Koch to influence higher education. The Charles Koch Foundation along with three other groups led by Koch gave nearly $108 million to 366 colleges and universities from 2005 to 2014, finds an Institute for Southern Studies investigation, building on research by Greenpeace. The other groups are the Fred and Mary Koch Foundation, the Claude R. Lambe Foundation, and the Charles Koch Institute. (For more about these groups, see "The Koch-led charities funding higher education" at the end of this story.)
Eighty-five percent of the donations — or $91 million — went to 147 Southern colleges and universities.The bulk of the money given by the four nonprofits — $77.7 million — went to George Mason University, a public school in Fairfax, Virginia. Much of that went to the school's Mercatus Center and Institute for Humane Studies, nonprofits housed at the university that focus on teaching and promoting free-market economics. But even when the GMU donations are excluded from the total giving, Southern schools received 45 percent of the remaining contributions.Besides GMU, the other schools that received the most money from the Koch foundations are all in the South: Florida State University at $2.3 million, West Virginia University at $1.3 million, Clemson University of South Carolina at $1.3 million, and Troy University of Alabama at $1.1 million...<div class="content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 19.5px;"><article class="article-content">Looking at Koch contributions to schools by state, The four Koch-connected groups' donations to higher education have risen since 2005, when they gave $2.3 million to colleges and universities. The <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/sites/default/files/CKF-2014.pdf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">most recent tax return</a>, posted to the foundation's website last month shows that the Charles Koch Foundation donated $23.6 million in 2014, nearly double the $12.4 million that it and the Fred and Mary Koch Foundation together donated in 2012. The latter foundation's 2014 tax return is not yet available. A Southern focusWhy would so much of Charles Koch's contributions to higher education be going to schools in the South?The Charles Koch Foundation did not respond to requests for comment. But Ralph Wilson, a doctoral candidate at Florida State University who co-founded the student activist group FSU Progress Coalition and is active with <a href="http://www.unkochmycampus.org/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">UnKoch My Campus</a>, a student group dedicated to uncovering the Kochs' influence on U.S. universities, thinks the Southern focus has to do with the brothers' political clout in the conservative region.Koch Industries has contributed heavily to candidates for state office in the South, according to the <a href="http://www.followthemoney.org/show-me?f-fc=2&d-eid=1457%2523%25255B%25257B1%25257Cgro=s" style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">National Institute on Money in State Politics</a>. Since 1994, the company, its political action committee, and its lobbying arm have invested the most money in state candidates, other political action committees, and outside political groups in Texas ($1.5 million), with Virginia in third ($670,000), Georgia in fifth ($275,000), and Florida in seventh ($200,000).State politicians in turn are often in charge of appointing public university systems' boards of governors and trustees who appoint top administrators, who then can influence the creation of academic centers, the donations a school accepts, and hiring decisions. Some politicians even become top university officers themselves.Take for example Florida State, where <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/26355-kochs-alec-threaten-campus-democracy-at-florida-state-us-universities" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">a contentious search</a> for the university president took place last year. One candidate for the job was businessman John Thrasher, then a Republican state senator in Florida and chair of the re-election campaign of Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who received significant support from the Kochs. Thrasher's own campaign got $3,000 from Koch Industries over three election cycles, and in 1998 he was named legislator of the year by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a pro-business advocacy group that receives funding from Koch foundations.Thrasher, who twice violated ethics laws as a state representative and voted to cut Florida's higher education budget, was up against three candidates who many thought were better qualified for the university presidency. But the <a href="http://academeblog.org/2014/08/29/an-open-letter-to-allan-bense-florida-state-university-board-of-trustees-chair-and-florida-governor-rick-scott/" style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">Scott-appointed chair</a> of the school's board of trustees picked the presidential selection committee, which included <a href="https://fsuprogresscoalition.wordpress.com/category/fsu-psac-koch/" style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">many politicians, former politicians and lobbyists</a>. Thrasher was chosen as president.In 2008, Florida State had entered into a $1.5 million funding deal with the Charles Koch Foundation that granted the foundation wide leverage in hiring decisions and imposed other requirements. Public outcry led to a revised agreement, which drew fire from students, faculty, and alumni for <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/26355-kochs-alec-threaten-campus-democracy-at-florida-state-us-universities" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">infringing upon</a> academic freedom.In Thrasher's final months in the Florida House, he supported<a href="http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2014/0318/%252525253FTab=BillHistory" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;"> a bill </a>that weakened donor transparency requirements for state universities. And after Thrasher became FSU's president, the school <a href="http://www.fsunews.com/story/news/2015/06/04/progress-coalition-report-uncovers-alleged-violation-university-donor-policy/28490341/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">removed the requirement</a> for a formal gift agreement — a written document<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/sites/default/files/UnKochGiftReportMay2015.pdf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"outlining the program to be supported and the schedule of contributions"</a> — for donations over $25,000."Thrasher, as a legislator and now as president, has enabled FSU's resistance to donor transparency," says Wilson. "He has personally perpetuated the university's misinformation about the Koch agreements as justification for refusing to meet with students and faculty, and maintained total silence regarding recent student and faculty concerns over the university's donor policy."A free-market strategyUniversity funding is part of a multi-pronged approach to social change that Charles Koch and his close ally <a href="http://mercatus.org/richard-fink" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">Richard Fink</a> devised decades ago.Fink, the Koch brothers' <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/politico50/2014/charles-kochs-brain.html#.Vl9Z08qdXow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">"grand strategist,"</a> is currently executive vice president of Koch Industries, president of the Charles Koch Foundation, and chair and CEO of Koch Companies Public Sector LLC, which coordinates Koch Industries' lobbying. Starting in the 1970s, Fink worked with Charles Koch to devise <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/sites/default/files/Structure-of-Social-Change.pdf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">a three-part strategy of influence</a> based on ideas from Austrian economist and free-market proponent Friedrich Hayek to spread their laissez-faire ideology as widely as possible.The first step in Fink's "Structure of Social Change" involved pouring millions of dollars into universities to produce what he called "intellectual raw materials" to support their political agenda. But these materials had to be packaged in a way that non-academics could understand, and that's where the second step in the strategy came in: Think tanks such as the libertarian Cato Institute, co-founded by Charles Koch and heavily funded by the Koch foundations, produce reports, policy proposals, and opinion pieces that turn academic work into political fodder.Next, what Fink calls "citizen activist" groups put the think tanks' ideas into action by advocating for the recommended policy changes. The Koch network includes <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/politico50/2014/charles-kochs-brain.html#.Vl9Z08qdXow" style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">a vast array of such groups</a>, including the "social welfare" nonprofit Americans for Prosperity, which David Koch founded with Fink and North Carolina political mega-donor Art Pope, and the closely linked nonprofit Americans for Prosperity Foundation, which <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/08/30/covert-operations" style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">bankrolled the beginnings of the Tea Party</a>. AFP spends millions on federal, state and local elections, often buying attack ads<a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/recips.php?cmte=Americans+for+Prosperity&cycle=2014" target="blank" style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">targeting</a> opponents of their favored candidates. The Kochs and their companies' political action committees also donate directly to the politicians they hope will usher their policy preferences into law.While the Kochs are prolific donors to higher education in the South, they are by no means alone. Their close ally Art Pope, for example, has given six- and sometimes seven-figure donations to mainly Southern universities, much of it going towards free-market programs. The foundation of the North Carolina-based bank BB&T has given at least 63 <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/10/16/new-paper-details-extent-bbt-banks-ayn-rand-inspired-grant-program" style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">"Moral Foundation"</a>grants to universities that require the schools to offer a course centered on "Atlas Shrugged" by libertarian favorite Ayn Rand.And not all of the big donors to higher education are conservatives: For example, liberal financier George Soros and independent Michael Bloomberg have also donated heavily to universities, as Dave Levinthal of the Center for Public Integrity showed in his <a href="http://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/10/30/18684/koch-brothers-higher-ed-investments-advance-political-goals" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">far-reaching investigation</a> of the Koch Foundations' higher ed donations.The Kochs' giving, however, is more focused on a particular area — free-market economics — than most others' donations, and comes with more strings attached. The Charles Koch Foundation has in some cases proposed courses, sought to approve hiring decisions, and even asked for the names and email addresses of students in Koch-sponsored courses, as Levinthal documented. As university budgets suffer in the wake of a prolonged economic recession and amidst cuts by conservative state legislatures, giving to higher ed by the Koch foundations could continue to rise. While deals like WCU's free enterprise center are often approved, the Kochs' politically polarizing image sometimes derails these efforts: Suffolk University just decided to <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/12/01/suffolk-beacon-hill-institute-sever-ties/joRJw5WHRsZHyaKHhENZzM/story.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">sever ties</a>with its Koch-funded, conservative research institute; Brooklyn College <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/06/25/professor-says-brooklyn-college-missed-chance-get-millions-koch-foundation" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">reportedly rejected</a> a multimillion-dollar gift from the Charles Koch Foundation last year; and the <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/06/25/professor-says-brooklyn-college-missed-chance-get-millions-koch-foundation" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">University of Dayton</a>has stopped accepting Koch funding.Today the Kochs and their giving to higher education are under more scrutiny than ever. UnKoch My Campus, launched in 2013 by students and alumni of numerous schools and coordinated in part by Wilson and Greenpeace investigator Connor Gibson, has active campaigns opposing Koch money at several schools including FSU, George Mason, and Suffolk.Because of UnKoch's work, "students finally have the information necessary to distinguish an education that serves the student from a privatized education in service of a Kansas billionaire," says Gibson. "That couldn't be said five years ago."<p class="rtecenter" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> * *<h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: normal; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: -0.05em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Koch-led charities funding higher education</h2>Charles Koch is the chairman of the Charles Koch Foundation, which spends primarily on educational programs and had $528 million in net assets at the end of 2014. It also funds free-market think tanks and conservative journalism. Last year, Koch was the sole funder of the foundation, giving $168 million, but in 2014 a number of family trusts, including one in his name, supplied most of the revenue.The Fred and Mary Koch Foundation, with over $30 million in assets after 2013, has Charles and David Koch on its board of directors and Charles Koch's wife, Elizabeth Koch, as its president. The foundation gives to universities, scholarship programs, and nonprofit organizations, including one that "teaches business and entrepreneurial education" in numerous high schools.The Claude R. Lambe Foundation, where Charles and Elizabeth Koch were directors, disbanded in 2013, but gave tens of thousands of dollars to universities in 2005 and 2009.The Charles Koch Institute, set up in 2011 as a 501c3 educational nonprofit organization, mainly funds its own educational programs and gives money to policy think tanks but gave tens of thousands of dollars to Indiana University, the University of North Carolina, and George Mason University from 2013 to 2014. Charles Koch is on the board of directors, and the institute had $290 million in assets at the end of last year.
 <div id="fb-root" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></article></div><div class="asset-meta" style="margin: 5px; padding: 8px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 246);">By <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/users/alex-kotch" title="View user profile." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">Alex Kotch</a> on <span class="date-submitted" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">December 3, 2015 11:11 AM</div>http://www.alternet.org/environment/charles-koch-admits-climate-change-happening-then-denies-problemAs the nation warily watches <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/04/21/charles-koch-republican-candidates-2016/26142001/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">every Republican presidential candidate kiss the ring of billionaire donor Charles Koch</a> [3] for a shot at his network's $300,000,000 pool of presidential cash, Charles Koch did something unusual. Last week's <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/04/23/charles-koch-interview-republican-president-primaries/25936305/" target="blank" title="Charles Koch USA Today" style="">USA Today interview with Charles Koch</a> [4] noted his shifting opinion on what he calls climate change “hysteria:”<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">For the record, Koch says this of climate change: “You can plausibly say that CO2 has contributed” to the planet's warming, but he sees “no evidence” to support “this theory that it's going to be catastrophic.”</blockquote>Wait…Charles Koch just accepted that the planet is warming? Hold your applause.Clearly, Mr. Koch still denies that there's a problem - which means he's missing the entire point of discussing climate change. But any movement from Charles on the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2013/sep/16/climate-change-contrarians-5-stages-denial" target="blank" style="">5 Stages of Climate Denial–from #1 down to #3</a> [5]–is a big deal. This is the same guy who has poured <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/" target="blank" style="">$80 million</a> [6] into organizations that have misrepresented climate change science to the public and advocated against any viable solutions to the problem.Koch's Right-Hand-Man: “Charles is ahead of me on this.”Last June, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/30/mitch-mcconnell-koch-brothers_n_6076746.html" target="blank" style="">leaked</a> [7] recordings <a href="http://www.salon.com/2014/09/04/exclusive_new_secret_koch_tape_reveals_united_negro_college_fund_plot/" target="blank" style="">surfaced</a> [8] from <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/180267/exclusive-behind-koch-brothers-secret-billionaire-summit" target="blank" style="">Koch's regular meeting</a> [9] of millionaires and billionaires who are coordinating $889 million in spending around the 2016 election. Charles's Koch top strategist Richard Fink indicated that we may see a shift in Koch's rhetoric on climate change. Fink, aka “<a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/politico50/2014/charles-kochs-brain.html" target="blank" style="">Charles Koch's Brain</a> [10],” told attending prospective donors what they wanted to hear: donate to us, and we'll fight the crazy commie hippies and their pesky science. From <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/03/koch-brothers-recording_n_5757592.html" target="blank" style="">the Undercurrent</a> [11]:<blockquote>“The environmental movement. Occupy Wall Street. These kids are searching for meaning. They're protesting the 1 percent. They are the 1 percent, but they're protesting the 1 percent. The environmental movement and climate change. It's not about climate change. I studied climate change for six years. I can't figure it out, quite frankly. Charles is ahead of me on this. I'm not a climatologist, but I'm not completely stupid. I can tell you I meet with people, particularly in California, that are convinced the world is going to burn up in you know, a year or two. They don't know the answer – they don't even know the question, because it's not about climate change. It's about a cause. It gives their life meaning.”</blockquote>For context, you should probably know that Fink told the room's billionaires that the minimum wage would lead to fascism, comparing today's low-income Americans to pre-Nazi Germany citizenry. Not exactly a room full of academics. And since one of the people that Mr. Fink 'meets with' was a scientist that he funded to study global temperature data, you have to wonder how much experience Rich Fink has with willful ignorance.When Charles Koch Accidentally Proved Global WarmingCharles Koch cannot deny is that he's seen the global temperature record data. In 2011, through the Charles Koch Foundation (CKF), CKF president Richard Fink funded a high-profile study on global surface temperature data. This dataset, which was an <a href="http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2011/10/berkeley-earthquake-called-off/" target="blank" style="">unnecessarily redundant</a> [12] reproduction of several other similar studies, was constructed by a scientist who at the time was a climate change denier.<div alt="" class="media-image" height="400" width="521" style="width: 400px; height: 307px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><img alt="" class="media-image" height="400" width="521" typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://www.alternet.org/files/annual-comparison-small.png" style="border: 0px; width: 400px; height: 307px;" /></div>BEST data compared with previous reconstructions of global surface temperature data.Dr. Richard Muller's <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/07/28/602151/bombshell-koch-funded-study-finds-global-warming-is-real-on-the-high-end-and-essentially-all-due-to-carbon-pollution/" target="blank" style="">Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Study (BEST)</a> [13] made headlines when he announced his acceptance of what climate scientists had already been saying for over 15 years–yes, people are responsible for unnatural climate variability that scientists have documented–and surprised the country by becoming an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/opinion/the-conversion-of-a-climate-change-skeptic.html?r=0" target="blank" style="">advocate</a> [14] for solutions to global warming.This put Mr. Koch in an awkward spot. <a href="http://berkeleyearth.org/funders?/donors/" target="blank" style="">Koch's $150,000 grant to Dr. Muller</a> [15] made him the project's top single donor, and Muller was a celebrated skeptic before his dramatic change-of-heart.Add to that Mr. Koch's background in science–a chemical engineering degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For such an educated, celebrated albeit controversial high-society businessman, the refusal to acknowledge science that is understood by middle schoolers guaranteed to undermine the sensible reputation that <a href="http://www.kochfacts.com/kf/" target="blank" style="">Koch Industries has spent a lot of money</a> [16] to put out there.But Charles gets no credit here. Dumping almost $80 million into organizations that have attacked the scientists who study climate change and interfered with virtually every proposed policy and regulation to solve global warming isn't being a science-savy CEO. It's being a denier, and especially in the context of a self-serving petrochemical billionaire, that's pretty offensive to the rest of us.We define climate change denial as “<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/aug/19/climate-change-denial-flip-flop-public-relations-firm-edelman" target="blank" style="">anyone who is obstructing, delaying or trying to derail policy steps that are in line with the scientific consensus that says we need to take rapid steps to decarbonize the economy</a> [17].” Mr. Koch remains a staunch denier in that regard.The Koch brothers continue to finance campaigns to make Americans doubt the seriousness of global warming, <a href="http://drexel.edu/now/archive/2013/December/Climate-Change/" target="blank" style="">increasingly hiding money</a> [18] through nonprofits like <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/feb/14/donors-trust-funding-climate-denial-networks" target="blank" style="">DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund</a> [19].Why focus on Charles Koch and David Koch? Many large foundations associated with corporate fortunes are active in <a href="http://drexel.edu/now/archive/2013/December/Climate-Change/" target="blank" style="">financing climate denial groups</a> [18] - Anschutz, Bradley, Coors, DeVos, Dunn, Howard, Pope, Scaife, Searle, and Seid, to name a few. Unlike Koch, most of those fortunes did not come from owning a corporation like Koch Industries, historically rooted in fossil fuel operations. And none come as close as the Kochs in terms of decades-long focus on actively <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/01/06/mapping-the-koch-brothers-massive-political-network/" target="blank" style="">building a political influence network</a> [20] and <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/180267/exclusive-behind-koch-brothers-secret-billionaire-summit" target="blank" style="">coordinating</a> [9] other wealthy executives, corporations and families to dump amounts money into politics that not even the Koch brothers could afford.Check out Greenpeace.org for more research on the <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/" target="blank" style="">Koch brothers crusade against climate science</a> [6]. <div class="bio-new body_environment" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="field field-name-field-bio field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Connor Gibson is a researcher for Greenpeace USA and a guest author for DeSmogBlog based in Washington, D.C.. He focuses on polluting industries, their front groups and PR operatives. He specializes in tracking those who professionally deny climate change science and obstruct policy solutions to global warming.</div></div></div></div>=RS 9/14 But Charles was already falling under the sway of a charismatic radio personality named Robert LeFevre, founder of the Freedom School, a whites-only libertarian boot camp in the foothills above Colorado Springs, Colorado. LeFevre preached a form of anarchic capitalism in which the individual should be freed from almost all government power. Charles soon had to make a choice. While the Birchers supported the Vietnam War, his new guru was a pacifist who equated militarism with out-of-control state power. LeFevre's stark influence on Koch's thinking is crystallized in a manifesto Charles wrote for the Libertarian Review in the 1970s, recently unearthed by Schulman, titled "The Business Community: Resisting Regulation." Charles lays out principles that gird today's Tea Party movement. Referring to regulation as "totalitarian," the 41-year-old Charles claimed business leaders had been "hoodwinked" by the notion that regulation is "in the public interest." He advocated the "barest possible obedience" to regulation and implored, "Do not cooperate voluntarily, instead, resist whenever and to whatever extent you legally can in the name of justice."   http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch
 <div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#Koch_Brothers_Early_History" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1 Koch Brothers Early History</a><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#Relationship_to_John_Birch_Society" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.1 Relationship to John Birch Society</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#The_Koch_Fortune" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2 The Koch Fortune</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#Koch_Brothers_Early_Activism.2C_1960-1980" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3 Koch Brothers Early Activism, 1960-1980</a><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#David_Koch_Runs_for_Vice_President_as_Libertarian.2C_1980" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3.1 David Koch Runs for Vice President as Libertarian, 1980</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#Charles_Koch_Calls_for_the_Development_of_a.E2.80.9CWell_Financed_Cadre.E2.80.9D" style="background: none;">3.2 Charles Koch Calls for the Development of a “Well Financed Cadre”</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#Building_the_Koch_Cadre.2C_Non-Electoral_Activity" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4 Building the Koch Cadre, Non-Electoral Activity</a><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#Bankrolling_American_Legislative_Exchange_Council.28ALEC.29" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4.1 Bankrolling American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#Funding_Judicial_Junkets" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4.2 Funding Judicial Junkets</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#Bankrolling_the_Tea_Party" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4.3 Bankrolling the Tea Party</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#Electoral_Activity" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5 Electoral Activity</a><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#.22Triad.22_Campaign_Finance_Scheme_Avoids_Disclosure_Laws.2C_1996" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.1 "Triad" Campaign Finance Scheme Avoids Disclosure Laws, 1996</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-13" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#The_Koch_Donor_Network" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.2 The Koch Donor Network</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-14" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#Building_a_Post-Citizens_United.24400_Million_Dark_Money_Web" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.3 Building a Post-Citizens United $400 Million Dark Money Web</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-15" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#Koch_Funded_Dark_Money_Groups_Investigated_and_Fined_in_California" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.4 Koch Funded Dark Money Groups Investigated and Fined in California</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-16" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#Involvement_in_Scott_Walker_Race_and_Recall_Election_in_2010" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.5 Involvement in Scott Walker Race and Recall Election in 2010</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-17" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#2012_Post-Election_Audit" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.6 2012 Post-Election Audit</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-18" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#Future_Commitment_to_Politics" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.7 Future Commitment to Politics</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-19" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#News_and_Controversies" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6 News and Controversies</a><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-20" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#Opposition_to_Bailouts" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.1 Opposition to Bailouts</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-21" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#Opposition_to_Obama_Administration" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.2 Opposition to Obama Administration</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-22" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#.22Mostly_False.22_Claim_that_EPA_Called_Koch_Industries_a.22Model.22" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.3 "Mostly False" Claim that EPA Called Koch Industries a "Model"</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-23" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#Affiliations" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">7 Affiliations</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-24" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#Sourcewatch_resources" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">8 Sourcewatch resources</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-25" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#External_resources" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">9 External resources</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-26" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#Contact" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">10 Contact</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-27" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#References" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">11 References</a></li></ul></div> <h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Koch Brothers Early History</h2>Charles Koch (b. 1935) and David Koch (b. 1940) are two of the four children of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Fred_Koch" title="Fred Koch" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Fred Koch</a> and Mary Koch. Fred Koch founded Wood River Oil and Refining Co. in 1940; it had been renamed Rock Island Oil & Refining Co. by 1961 and was renamed <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_Industries" title="Koch Industries" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Koch Industries</a> by Charles Koch in 1967.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[5]</a> Fred Koch was also a founder and executive committee member of the far-right <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_Birch_Society" title="John Birch Society" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">John Birch Society</a>, known for opposing the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and communism.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-koch_cartel-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[6]</a>The senior Koch's views are thought to have influenced the Koch brothers' pro-business, anti-union agenda. Lisa Graves noted that "The Kochs' mistrust of public education can be traced to their father, Fred, who declared that the National Education Association was a communist group and public-school books were filled with “communist propaganda,” paranoia that extended to all unions, President Eisenhower and the “pro-communist” Supreme Court."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-graves-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[7]</a> Echoing this anti-union fervor, David Koch has stated that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's attack on public unions was “critically important."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[8]</a>He also accused President Barack Obama of being "a hardcore socialist."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-9" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[9]</a><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Relationship to John Birch Society</h3>Fred Koch was a founding member of the John Birch Society. In the 1960s, Charles Koch opened a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_Birch_Society" title="John Birch Society" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">John Birch Society</a> bookstore with <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bob_Love&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Bob Love (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Bob Love</a>, a friend of his father.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-sons_of_wichita-10" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[10]</a> At the time, the Society was campaigning against the civil rights movement, calling for the impeachment of Chief Justice Earl Warren, who had ordered public school desegregation in Brown v. Board of Education, and accusing President John F. Kennedy of "treason" in ads shortly before his assassination. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-koch_cartel-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[6]</a>Charles and Love didn't resign from the Society until 1968. The split was reportedly due to disagreement's about the Society's support for the Vietnam War.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-koch_cartel-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[6]</a>Charles shared his isolationist position with Robert LeFevre's all-white "Freedom School," which he funded and on whose board he sat. Charles had also encouraged his brother, David, to attend a Freedom School retreat, according toSons of Wichita.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-sons_of_wichita-10" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[10]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Koch Fortune</h2>Charles Koch took over his father's Rock Island Oil and Refinery Company, becoming president and chairman in 1967 and renaming it Koch Industries <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-koch_cartel-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[6]</a> Since then, the company's revenues grew from just over $100 million to over $115 billion in 2014. The Koch brothers' fortunes have also grown dramatically in that time, increasing from $375 million each in 1984 to some $17 billion each in 2008--and a staggering $41 billion each in 2014, just a few years after the 2008 economic crisis.In addition to successful investments and expansion of its resource extraction operations over the years, Koch Industries has engaged in commodity speculation and created new types of derivatives.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-speculation-11" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[11]</a> The Nation has reported that Koch Industries was "among the largest traders (including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley) speculating on the price of oil in the summer of 2008,"<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[12]</a> afterwards also playing a prominent role in lobbying against regulation of the derivatives market, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-wall_street_lobbying-13" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[13]</a>Koch Industries has been involved in many investigations and indictments related to the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.
A list of lawsuits involving Koch Industries can be accessed here: <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_Industries#Legal_Complaints_Against_Koch_Industries" title="Koch Industries" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Legal Complaints Against Koch Industries</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Koch Brothers Early Activism, 1960-1980</h2><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">David Koch Runs for Vice President as Libertarian, 1980</h3>David Koch was the vice-presidential nominee for the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Libertarian_Party" title="Libertarian Party" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Libertarian Party</a> in 1980, running alongside presidential candidate Ed Clark. About the failed bid, the New York Times has written that "much of what occurred in that quixotic campaign shaped what the Kochs have become today — a formidable political and ideological force determined to remake American politics, driven by opposition to government power and hostility to restrictions on money in campaigns."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-nytimes-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[14]</a>David Koch's campaign was made possible by <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Campaign_finance(U.S.)#Buckley_v.Valeo" title="Campaign finance (U.S.)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Buckley v. Valeo</a>, a 1976 Supreme Court decision that loosened campaign finance laws. The decision permitted unlimited spending of a candidate's own money on his/her own campaign, as well as unlimited spending by individuals to promote a candidate, if that individual was not coordinating their campaign with the candidate.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-nytimes-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[14]</a> In 1979, David Koch wrote a letter to Libertarian Party members about his plan to make use this new loophole to fund a Libertarian Party campaign. “As the Vice presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party I will contribute several hundred thousand dollars to the Presidential campaign committee in order to ensure that our ideas and our Presidential nominee receive as much media exposure as possible.”<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-nytimes-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[14]</a> David would spend about $2.1 million on the campaign, but the Libertarian Party won just over 1% of the vote nationally.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-nytimes-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[14]</a>According to William Koch, Charles and David's brother, Charles began spending significantly on the Libertarian Party. According to the New York Times, William said in a 1986 interview, "Charles was giving as much to the Libertarians as he was paying out in dividends […] Pretty soon we would get the reputation that the company and the Kochs were crazy.”<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-nytimes-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[14]</a>Statements David Koch made during the campaign are revealing of his anti-government views. As the New York Times reported about his statement at the 1979 Libertarian nominating convention, David "denounced the 'harassment of Koch Industries and implored the Libertarian Party activists to make the party 'a force that will roll back the coercive force of government.'"<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-nytimes-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[14]</a> At a speech on the campaign trail in 1980, "David Koch railed against what he saw as overregulation. Presidents Nixon and Carter had bequeathed an 'Alice in Wonderland' energy policy, he argued, a mix of subsidies and price controls that had stymied market forces and caused high prices and shortages."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-nytimes-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[14]</a><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Charles Koch Calls for the Development of a “Well Financed Cadre”</h3>Charles Koch began funding the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Institute_for_Humane_Studies" title="Institute for Humane Studies" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Institute for Humane Studies</a> in the 1960s. He also created his own Charles Koch Foundation to funnel money to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Libertarian_Society&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Libertarian Society (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Libertarian Society</a>. He helped found the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Cato_Institute" title="Cato Institute" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Cato Institute</a> in 1974, by which time he was already giving money to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Libertarian_Party" title="Libertarian Party" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Libertarian Party</a>. Charles also purchased the Libertarian Review.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-koch_cartel-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[6]</a>In a 1974 speech, Charles Koch stated:<dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">"The important strategic consideration to keep in mind is that any program adopted should be highly leveraged so that we reach those whose influence on others produces a multiplier effect. That is why education programs are superior to political action, and support of talented free-market scholars is preferable to mass advertising. The development of a well financed cadre of sound proponents of the free enterprise philosophy is the most critical need facing us at the moment."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-nytimes-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[14]</a></dd></dl>The Kochs have funded a number of nonprofit organizations like the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Legislative_Exchange_Council" title="American Legislative Exchange Council" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">American Legislative Exchange Council</a>, think tanks and legal foundations, which are listed here:<h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Building the Koch Cadre, Non-Electoral Activity</h2>After the failed 1980 campaign for the vice presidency, the Koch brothers lessened their involvement in the Libertarian Party, increasingly focusing their attention and financial support on developing their own network of "educational programs" and "cadre" of free-market advocates.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-nytimes-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[14]</a>The Kochs' funding founded <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Citizens_for_a_Sound_Economy" title="Citizens for a Sound Economy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Citizens for a Sound Economy</a> (CSE) in 1984, headed <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard_Fink" title="Richard Fink" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Richard Fink</a>. Fink was shortly thereafter appointed to President Ronald Reagan's "Commission on Privatization."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-15" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[15]</a> In the late 1980s and 1990s, CSE pushed for banking deregulation, like the elimination of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Glass_Steagall&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Glass Steagall (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Glass Steagall</a>,<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-graves-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[7]</a> spearheaded the defeat of a greenhouse gas tax,<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-mayer-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[2]</a> and helped in the defeat of health care reform in the Clinton era.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-16" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[16]</a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-17" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[17]</a>In 2003, a rift between CSE and its related foundation led the Kochs to found <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Americans for Prosperity</a>.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-mayer-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[2]</a> David Koch chairs the board of directors for the Americans for Prosperity Foundation.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-18" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[18]</a>Today the brothers directly and indirectly fund a wide network of organizations that promote their "free enterprise philosophy," from think tanks to scholarship programs to policy advocacy groups. Recipients include a long list of academic institutions; <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_family_foundations" title="Koch family foundations" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Koch family foundations</a> gave some $30.5 million to 221 colleges and universities from 2007 to 2012.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-nytimes-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[14]</a>Access a list of organizations with ties to the Koch brothers here:<h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Bankrolling American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)</h3><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_Industries" title="Koch Industries" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Koch Industries</a> has had a seat and a vote on the corporate board of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Legislative_Exchange_Council" title="American Legislative Exchange Council" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">American Legislative Exchange Council</a> (ALEC) since 1994. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC" title="ALEC" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">ALEC</a> has awarded both Koch brothers its Adam Smith Free Enterprise Award.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-graves-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[7]</a> The Nation reports that the Kochs have likely given over $1 million to ALEC over the years, and many of ALEC's model bills reflect the policies the Kochs have been advocating for decades.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-graves-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[7]</a><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Funding Judicial Junkets</h3>The Kochs have funded seminars for judges since the 1990s, first at the University of Kansas and later at <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/George_Mason_University" title="George Mason University" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">George Mason University</a>, which hosts the Koch-funded think tank the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mercatus_Center" title="Mercatus Center" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Mercatus Center</a>. For example, the George Mason University Law & Economics Center hosted "an expenses-paid conference on public pension reform" which was funded by the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_G.Koch_Foundation" title="Charles G. Koch Foundation" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Charles G. Koch Foundation</a>, as well as corporate funders like <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ExxonMobil" title="ExxonMobil" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">ExxonMobil</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Google" title="Google" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Google</a>, and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Walmart" title="Walmart" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Walmart</a>, according to the Center for Public Integrity.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[19]</a> The Judicial Conference of the United States has noted that judges' attendance at such seminars "poses certain concerns," including that "judges may be influenced inappropriately by those who sponsor or contribute (financially or otherwise) to these seminar programs and who might be litigants before those judges."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-20" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[20]</a>A report by Center for Media and Democracy/The Progressive found that a federal judge who halted an investigation into alleged illegal campaign coordination, which involved groups like the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wisconsin_Club_for_Growth" title="Wisconsin Club for Growth" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Wisconsin Club for Growth</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Americans for Prosperity</a>, "attended privately-funded, all-expenses-paid judicial seminars put on by George Mason University in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-21" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[21]</a> The Washington Post reported on a similar conference in 2011, when Google was facing an antitrust investigation, writing that "Google executives worked behind the scenes with officials at George Mason University’s Law & Economics Center to put on academic conferences that would be attended by officials who were considering the case."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-22" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[22]</a><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Bankrolling the Tea Party</h3>The Koch brothers and their network have played a significant role in supporting the far-right <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tea_Party" title="Tea Party" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Tea Party</a> movement. According to the New Yorker, the Kochs' "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Americans for Prosperity</a> has worked closely with the Tea Party since the movement’s inception," providing everything from "Tea Party talking points" to lists of officials for activists to contact to funding conferences.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-mayer-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[2]</a> The New York Times reported that <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Freedom_Partners" title="Freedom Partners" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Freedom Partners</a>, for which "longtime Koch employees" constitute a majority of the board, has given grants to a number of Tea Party-affiliated groups.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-23" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[23]</a>According to the New Yorker, a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_Industries" title="Koch Industries" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Koch Industries</a> spokesperson has denied that the Kochs provide funding for Tea Party groups, and David Koch has told New York magazine, "No one representing the tea party has ever even approached me."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-mayer-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[2]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Electoral Activity</h2><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">"Triad" Campaign Finance Scheme Avoids Disclosure Laws, 1996</h3>The Koch’s have a long history of funding money into electoral campaigns. For example, the Kochs used a variety of means to influence the 1996 election cycle.In Kansas, according to the Lawrence Journal-World,<dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">"Koch-linked contributions of ‘hard money’—gifts of more than $200 by identifiable individuals or political action committees divulged to the FEC—to the state's four representatives and two Senators totaled $130,600."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-24" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[24]</a></dd></dl>Senate Democrats found evidence of more complex funding schemes, as well, namely a political campaign operation called "Triad," which they suggested "allowed wealthy individuals to put more money into the election process than they would otherwise legally have been allowed to do" while evading campaign reporting requirements.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-koch_cartel-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[6]</a> In 1997, investigators for the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee told the New York Times that "they believe[d] Koch Industries support[ed] the Economic Education Trust, based in Twin Falls, Idaho, which gave $1.3 million to Triad in 1996."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-wayne-25" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[25]</a>In an interview with Bill Moyers, staffer Beth Stein explained the scheme as follows:<dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">"One of the things that Triad did was set up two shell corporations, essentially, tax-exempt organizations. One was called <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_Reform&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Citizens for Reform (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Citizens for Reform</a> and the other was called <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Citizens_for_the_Republic_Education_Fund" title="Citizens for the Republic Education Fund" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Citizens for the Republic Education Fund</a>, and the sole thing that those corporations did was to air attack advertising in various races across the country."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-26" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[26]</a></dd></dl>In 1998, the Minneapolis Star Tribute reported that “Koch Industries Inc. backed a secret trust that donated $1.8 million in 1996 to finance issue ads sympathetic to conservative Congressional candidates, [lending] new credence to the conclusion last year of Senate Democratic investigators that Koch's owners, Charles and David Koch, were probably the financiers behind the trust that contributed to at least two nonprofit groups.”<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-27" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[27]</a><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Koch Donor Network</h3>Since at least 2006, the Kochs have hosted semi-annual meetings for wealthy right-wing donors.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-28" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[28]</a> While these <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_network" title="Koch network" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Koch network</a> gatherings are carefully guarded, occasional leaked documents and recordings have revealed that they include "titans of industry — from health insurance companies, oil executives, Wall Street investors, and real estate tycoons — working together with conservative journalists and Republican operatives," as well as prominent public officials, including members of Congress, state governors, and even Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-29" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[29]</a> The meetings involve fundraising, reportedly in the millions of dollars, as well as discussions about political strategy.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-30" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[30]</a>A full list of known participants in Koch summit meetings can be accessed on the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_network" title="Koch network" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Koch network</a> page.<h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Building a Post-Citizens United $400 Million Dark Money Web</h3>According to the Washington Post, in 2012 the Kochs and fellow donors backed a "network of politically active nonprofit groups" that was "carefully constructed with extensive legal barriers to shield its donors," raising over $400 million for the election cycle. As the Post explains, a "labyrinth of tax-exempt groups and limited-liability companies help[ed] mask the sources of the money, much of which went to voter mobilization and television ads attacking President Obama and congressional Democrats."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-31" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[31]</a>For example, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Freedom_Partners" title="Freedom Partners" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Freedom Partners</a>, which Politico has referred to as "the Koch brothers' secret bank", spent some $250 million in the 2012 election cycle, much of it spent in grants to other groups that ran so-called "issue ads" during the election.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-32" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[32]</a><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Koch Funded Dark Money Groups Investigated and Fined in California</h3>The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_to_Protect_Patient_Rights" title="Center to Protect Patient Rights" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Center to Protect Patient Rights</a>, a group run by Koch operative <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sean_Noble" title="Sean Noble" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Sean Noble</a>, was fined by the California state elections board for <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_to_Protect_Patient_Rights#.22Campaign_Money_Laundering.22_Investigation" title="Center to Protect Patient Rights" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">violating campaign finance disclosure laws</a> as part of a campaign to prohibit "unions from using automatic payroll deductions to raise money for political campaigns."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-33" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[33]</a>Other "dark money" groups involved in the network included funding sources <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Freedom_Partners" title="Freedom Partners" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Freedom Partners</a> and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/TC4_Trust" title="TC4 Trust" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">TC4 Trust</a>, CSE successor <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Americans for Prosperity</a>, and a long list of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_astroturf&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Koch astroturf (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Koch astroturf</a> organizations like the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/60_Plus_Association" title="60 Plus Association" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">60 Plus Association</a>,<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Generation_Opportunity" title="Generation Opportunity" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Generation Opportunity</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Commitment" title="American Commitment" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">American Commitment</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Concerned_Women_for_America" title="Concerned Women for America" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Concerned Women for America</a>, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/The_Libre_Initiative" title="The Libre Initiative" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Libre Initiative</a>, and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Public_Notice" title="Public Notice" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Public Notice</a>.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-34" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[34]</a> Additional funding went to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wisconsin_Club_for_Growth" title="Wisconsin Club for Growth" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Wisconsin Club for Growth</a>, and from there to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Citizens_for_a_Strong_America" title="Citizens for a Strong America" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Citizens for a Strong America</a>, both of which were later involved in a criminal investigation related to the 2012 election.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-35" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[35]</a><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Involvement in Scott Walker Race and Recall Election in 2010</h3>Walker's gubernatorial campaign received $43,000 from the Koch Industries PAC during the 2010 election. The Koch PAC gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, which in turn spent $65,000 on independent expenditures to support Walker.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-36" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[36]</a> The RGA also spent $3.4 million on TV ads and mailers attacking Walker's opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-37" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[37]</a>In a February 2012 interview with the Palm Beach Post, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/David_Koch" title="David Koch" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">David Koch</a> admitted that he was helping fund Wisconsin Gov. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Scott_Walker" title="Scott Walker" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Scott Walker</a> as Walker fought off a recall election sparked by his anti-union legislation.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-singer-38" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[38]</a> The paper reported that Koch acknowledged his group, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Americans for Prosperity</a>, was "hard at work in places such as Wisconsin, where Gov. Scott Walker is facing off with public unions and grappling with a likely recall."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-singer-38" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[38]</a>Koch was quoted as saying, "We're helping him, as we should. We've gotten pretty good at this over the years [...] We've spent a lot of money in Wisconsin. We're going to spend more." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-singer-38" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[38]</a>Highlighting the recall as a fight against unions, Koch also stated that "What Scott Walker is doing with the public unions in Wisconsin is critically important. He's an impressive guy and he's very courageous…If the unions win the recall, there will be no stopping union power."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-singer-38" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[38]</a><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">2012 Post-Election Audit</h3>According to Politico, after this network "spent hundreds of millions to win the White House and the Senate — and came up empty," the Kochs undertook a major audit of their organizations. Reportedly disappointed with the election results, Charles Koch wrote an e-mail to major donors about the need "to re-examine our vision and the strategies and capabilities required for success," adding that "Our goal of advancing a free and prosperous America is even more difficult than we envisioned, but it is essential that we continue, rather than abandon, this struggle."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-39" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[39]</a><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Future Commitment to Politics</h3>In a 2014 interview with the Wichita Business Journal, Charles Koch identified "cronyism" as one of the biggest problems facing the United States, adding, "You name it, in every industry we have this. The successful companies try to keep the new entrants down. Now that’s great for a company like ours. We make more money that way because we have less competition and less innovation. But for the country as a whole, it’s horrible."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-mccoy-40" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[40]</a>When asked why he continues to be involved in politics, despite negative public reactions, Charles answered, "It’s like Lee Trevino used to say, somebody asked him, "How are you winning all these golf tournaments?" and he said, “Well somebody has got to win them and it might as well be me.” That’s the way I am on this. There doesn’t seem to be any other large company trying to do this so it might as well be us. Somebody has got to work to save the country and preserve a system of opportunity."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-mccoy-40" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[40]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">News and Controversies</h2><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Opposition to Bailouts</h3>In a 2011 <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wall_Street_Journal" title="Wall Street Journal" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Wall Street Journal</a> op-ed, Charles Koch wrote that "government spending on business only aggravates the problem" and "businesses that fail to do so should be allowed to go bankrupt rather than be bailed out."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-41" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[41]</a><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Opposition to Obama Administration</h3>In a 2014 <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wall_Street_Journal" title="Wall Street Journal" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Wall Street Journal</a> op-ed, Koch wrote that the "fundamental concepts of dignity, respect, equality before the law and personal freedom are under attack by the nation's own government."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-42" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[42]</a> He criticized the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Barack_Obama" title="Barack Obama" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Obama</a>administration as holding the "central belief and fatal conceit" that people are "incapable" of running their own lives.In a closed June 2011 strategy seminar, Charles Koch said: "We have Saddam Hussein...this is the mother of all wars" in what appeared to be a reference to President Obama and the 2012 elections.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-43" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[43]</a><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">"Mostly False" Claim that EPA Called Koch Industries a "Model"</h3>Koch claimed in a 2014 Wall Street Journal op-ed that the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Environmental_Protection_Agency" title="Environmental Protection Agency" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Environmental Protection Agency</a> had commended <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_Industries" title="Koch Industries" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Koch Industries</a> for being a "model for other companies." PolitiFact rated this claim as "Mostly False," determining that "the statement contains an element of truth" but that "Koch Industries has a history with the EPA that was completely glossed over, and it includes multiple violations of rules."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-44" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[44]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Affiliations</h2><ul data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaauaaaanaqmaaabb8jblaaaablbmvex="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX" auow5qsojaaaaaxrstlmaqobyzgaaabnjrefucb1jyeabbqw="AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw" wlcagqeagpidyt0ivcsaaaaasuvork5cyii="); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" style="line-height: 19.2px; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mercatus_Center" title="Mercatus Center" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Mercatus Center</a>, board member</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Institute_for_Humane_Studies" title="Institute for Humane Studies" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Institute for Humane Studies</a>, chairman</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Claude_R.Lambe_Foundation" title="Claude R. Lambe Foundation" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Claude R. Lambe Foundation</a>, chairman</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_G.Koch_Charitable_Foundation" title="Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation</a>, chairman</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mont_Pelerin_Society" title="Mont Pelerin Society" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Mont Pelerin Society</a>, member<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_note-45" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[45]</a></li></ul><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sourcewatch resources</h2><ul data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaauaaaanaqmaaabb8jblaaaablbmvex="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX" auow5qsojaaaaaxrstlmaqobyzgaaabnjrefucb1jyeabbqw="AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw" wlcagqeagpidyt0ivcsaaaaasuvork5cyii="); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" style="line-height: 19.2px; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/David_H.Koch" title="David H. Koch" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">David H. Koch</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_Industries" title="Koch Industries" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Koch Industries</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Americans for Prosperity</a></li></ul><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">External resources</h2><ul data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaauaaaanaqmaaabb8jblaaaablbmvex="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX" auow5qsojaaaaaxrstlmaqobyzgaaabnjrefucb1jyeabbqw="AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw" wlcagqeagpidyt0ivcsaaaaasuvork5cyii="); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" style="line-height: 19.2px; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Bill Berkowitz, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.mediatransparency.com/story.php?storyID=98" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip">Patron saints of right wing think tanks acquire Georgia Pacific Corp:</a> Oil barons Charles and David Koch, two of the nation's worst environmental criminals, now control the country's largest privately held company",Working for Change, December 6, 2005.</li></ul><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Contact</h2><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">References</h2><ol class="references" style="line-height: 19.2px; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li id="cite_note-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Forbes.com <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/21/private-companies-09_Koch-Industries_VMZQ.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">America's Largest Private Companies- Koch Industries</a>, accessed July 2, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-mayer-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-mayer_2-0" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up to:2.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-mayer_2-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.1</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-mayer_2-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.2</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-mayer_2-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.3</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-mayer_2-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.4</a> Jane Mayer, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Covert Operations</a>," New Yorker, August 30, 2010. Accessed July 2, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-koch_about-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-koch_about_3-0" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Koch Industries, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.kochind.com/newsroom/bios_CharlesKoch.aspx" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaduleqvqyv2p4="AAAAdUlEQVQYV2P4" awxv3lthf0dxkxyd="Awxv3LThf0dXKxyD" da5deug="DA5DEUg" twrv2aawtfcibojyjrhctgtrmcgebhpl2="tWrV2AaWTFcIboJyJrhCtGtRMcgebhpL2" v="v" lvn="Lvn" x="x" irjifn8v="IRjIfn8v" p="P" t055gxzgkpzac8y="t055gxZgKPzaC8Y" nmyqvlpnm8f="nMYQVLpnM8f" zo3aqkfzyool="zo3AqKfzyOOL" h="h" sh="sh" c9sbusiyvaerdjwjk4e="c9sBUSIyvAeRdJWjk4E" aaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Charles Koch</a>, organizational biography, accessed July 3, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Forbes, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/charles-koch/" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Charles Koch</a>, profile page, accessed July 3, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Fred and Mary Koch Foundation, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.fmkfoundation.org/history.asp" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">History</a>, organizational website, accessed June 30, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-koch_cartel-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-koch_cartel_6-0" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up to:6.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-koch_cartel_6-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.1</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-koch_cartel_6-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.2</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-koch_cartel_6-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.3</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-koch_cartel_6-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.4</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-koch_cartel_6-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.5</a> Lisa Graves, "The Koch Cartel: Their Reach, Their Reactionary Agenda, and Their Record," The Progressive, July/August 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-graves-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-graves_7-0" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up to:7.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-graves_7-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">7.1</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-graves_7-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">7.2</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-graves_7-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">7.3</a> Lisa Graves, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.thenation.com/article/161973/alec-exposed-koch-connection" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">ALEC Exposed: The Koch Connection</a>," The Nation, July 2012, 2011. Accessed June 2, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Mary Bottari, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/02/11308/anniversary-prank-call-real-david-koch-wants-stop-union-power-wisconsin" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">On Anniversary of Prank Call the Real David Koch Wants to "Stop Union Power" in Wisconsin</a>," PR Watch, February 21, 2012.</li><li id="cite_note-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-9" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Sarah Owen, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2011/05/billionaire_conservative_david.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">David Koch Gives President Obama Zero Credit for Bin Laden’s Death</a>," New York Magazine, May 5, 2011.</li><li id="cite_note-sons_of_wichita-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-sons_of_wichita_10-0" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up to:10.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-sons_of_wichita_10-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">10.1</a> Daniel Schulman, Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America's Most Powerful and Private Dynasty, Grand Central Publishing, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-speculation-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-speculation_11-0" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Lee Fang, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://thinkprogress.org/report/koch-oil-speculation/" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">How Koch Became An Oil Speculation Powerhouse</a>," ThinkProgress, June 19, 2011. Accessed July 1, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Lee Fang, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/175387/not-just-goldman-sachs-koch-industries-hoards-commodities-trading-strategy#" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Not Just Goldman Sachs: Koch Industries Hoards Commodities as a Trading Strategy</a>," The Nation, July 22, 2013. Accessed July 1, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-wall_street_lobbying-13" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-wall_street_lobbying_13-0" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Asjylyn Loder, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-04-15/koch-cargill-fight-dodd-derivative-bill-reversing-30-years-of-cftc-policy.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Not Just Wall Street Opposes CFTC Derivatives Overhaul</a>," Bloomberg Businessweek, April 15, 2010. Accessed July 1, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-nytimes-14" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-nytimes_14-0" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up to:14.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-nytimes_14-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">14.1</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-nytimes_14-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">14.2</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-nytimes_14-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">14.3</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-nytimes_14-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">14.4</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-nytimes_14-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">14.5</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-nytimes_14-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">14.6</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-nytimes_14-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">14.7</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-nytimes_14-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">14.8</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-nytimes_14-9" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">14.9</a> Nicholas Confessore, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/us/politics/quixotic-80-campaign-gave-birth-to-kochs-powerful-network.html?r=0" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Quixotic ’80 Campaign Gave Birth to Kochs’ Powerful Network</a>," New York Times, May 17, 2014. Accessed May 29, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-15" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-15" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Joel Brinkley, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/04/us/reagan-appoints-privatization-unit.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Reagan Appoints Privatization Unit</a>," New York Times, September 4, 1987. Accessed July 1, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-16" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-16" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Robert Pear, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/24/us/clinton-s-health-plan-principles-experts-grades-security-c-simplicity-d-savings.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">CLINTON'S HEALTH PLAN: Principles; Experts' Grades: 'A' in Security, 'C' in Simplicity, 'D+' in Savings</a>," New York Times, September 24, 1993. Accessed July 1, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-17" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-17" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Tim Dickinson, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/echoes-of-philip-morris-and-hillarycare-20091001" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Echoes of Philip Morris and Hillarycare</a>," Rolling Stone, October 1, 2009. Accessed July 1, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-18" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-18" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Americans for Prosperity Foundation, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://americansforprosperityfoundation.com/about/directors" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Directors</a>, organizational website, accessed July 1, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-19" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Chris Young, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/04/25/14662/koch-brothers-major-corporations-sponsor-pension-reform-seminar-judges" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Koch brothers, major corporations sponsor pension reform seminar for judges</a>," Center for Public Integrity, April 25, 2014. Accessed June 30, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-20" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-20" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Judicial Conference of the United States, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.uscourts.gov/RulesAndPolicies/PrivateSeminarDisclosure/StatementOfPurpose.aspx" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Judicial Conference Policy on Judges' Attendance at Privately Funded Educational Programs</a>, May 2006. Accessed June 30, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-21" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-21" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Brendan Fischer, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.progressive.org/news/2014/05/187710/federal-judge-who-halted-walker-dark-money-criminal-probe-attended-koch-backed" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Judge Who Halted Walker Dark Money Criminal Probe Attended Koch-Backed Junkets</a>," The Progressive, May 27, 2014. Accessed June 30, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-22" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-22" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Matea Gold and Tom Hamburger, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2014/04/12/how-google-worked-behind-the-scenes-to-invite-federal-regulators-to-conferences/" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">How Google worked behind the scenes to invite federal regulators to conferences</a>," Washington Post, April 12, 2014. Accessed June 30, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-23" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-23" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Nicholas Confessore, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/us/politics/tax-filings-hint-at-extent-of-koch-brothers-reach.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Tax Filings Hint at Extent of Koch Brothers’ Reach</a>," New York Times, September 12, 2013. Accessed July 1, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-24" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-24" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Tim Carpenter, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www2.ljworld.com/news/1997/nov/16/koch_industries_flexes_political/" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Koch Industries Flexes Political Muscle in Kansas</a>," Lawrence Journal-World, November 16, 1997. Accessed July 7, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-wayne-25" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-wayne_25-0" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Leslie Wayne, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/30/us/papers-link-donations-to-2-on-senate-hearings-panel.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Papers Link Donations to 2 On Senate Hearings Panel</a>," New York Times, October 30, 1997. Accessed June 30, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-26" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-26" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Frontline, PBC "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/scandal/etc/script.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Washington's Other Scandal</a>," show transcript, air date October 6, 1998. Accessed June 30, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-27" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-27" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Greg Gordon, "Koch backed GOP ads in '96 races, report confirms; The company's owners funded a trust that gave $ 1.8 million to boost conservative candidates." Star Tribune (Minneapolis), June 2, 1998, Metro Edition. Pg. 5A.</li><li id="cite_note-28" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-28" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Stephen Moore, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB114687252956545543" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Private Enterprise</a>," Wall Street Journal, May 6, 2006.</li><li id="cite_note-29" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-29" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Lee Fang, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/10/20/124642/beck-koch-chamber-meeting/" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">MEMO: Health Insurance, Banking, Oil Industries Met With Koch, Chamber, Glenn Beck To Plot 2010 Election</a>," ThinkProgress, October 20, 2010. Accessed June 30, 2010.</li><li id="cite_note-30" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-30" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Lee Fang, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.republicreport.org/2012/koch-meeting-indian-wells/" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">EXCLUSIVE: Koch Brothers Convene Ultra-Secret Billionaires Meeting To Raise Funds, Plot Strategy</a>," Republic Report, February 3, 2012. Accessed June 30, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-31" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-31" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Matea Gold, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/koch-backed-political-network-built-to-shield-donors-raised-400-million-in-2012-elections/2014/01/05/9e7cfd9a-719b-11e3-9389-09ef9944065e_story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Koch-backed political network, built to shield donors, raised $400 million in 2012 elections</a>," Washington Post, January 5, 2013. Accessed June 30, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-32" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-32" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/behind-the-curtain-exclusive-the-koch-brothers-secret-bank-96669.html#ixzz2hj4y5I8o" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Exclusive: The Koch brothers' secret bank</a>," Politico, September 13, 2013. Accessed June 30, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-33" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-33" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Nicholas Confessore, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/25/us/politics/group-linked-to-kochs-admits-to-campaign-finance-violations.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Group Linked to Kochs Admits to Campaign Finance Violations</a>," New York Times, October 24, 2013. Accessed June 30, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-34" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-34" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Al Shaw, Theodoric Meyer and Kim Barker, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://projects.propublica.org/graphics/koch" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">How Dark Money Flows Through the Koch Network</a>," ProPublica, February 14, 2014. Accessed June 30, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-35" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-35" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Brendan Fischer, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/11/12309/new-john-doe-investigation-probes-dark-money-wisconsin-recall-elections-club" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">WI Club for Growth, Target of Walker Recall Probe, at Center of Dark Money Web</a>", Center for Media and Democracy, November 18, 2013. Accessed June 30, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-36" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-36" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Lisa Graves, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/02/9964/cmd-special-report-scott-walker-runs-koch-money" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">A CMD Special Report: Scott Walker Runs on Koch Money</a>," Center for Media and Democracy, February 18, 2011. Accessed July 7, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-37" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-37" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Andy Kroll, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2011/02/wisconsin-scott-walker-koch-brothers" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker: Funded by the Koch Bros.</a>," Mother Jones, February 18, 2011. Accessed July 7, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-singer-38" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-singer_38-0" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up to:38.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-singer_38-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">38.1</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-singer_38-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">38.2</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-singer_38-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">38.3</a> Stacy Singer, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/david-koch-intends-to-cure-cancer-in-his-2185046.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">David Koch intends to cure cancer in his lifetime and remake American politics</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Palm Beach Post</a>, February 18, 2012.</li><li id="cite_note-39" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-39" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Ken Vogel, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=C3F3B132-A7E6-44F4-A173-03E912635A0C" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Koch World reboots</a>," Politico, February 20, 2013. Accessed June 30, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-mccoy-40" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-mccoy_40-0" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up to:40.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-mccoy_40-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">40.1</a> Daniel McCoy, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/blog/2014/02/40-minutes-with-charles-koch.html?page=all" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Charles Koch: business giant, bogeyman, benefactor and elusive (until now) -- exclusive interview</a>," Wichita Business Journal, February 28, 2014. Accessed June 2, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-41" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-41" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Charles G. Koch, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704288304576170974226083178" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Why Koch Industries Is Speaking Out</a>," Wall Street Journal, March 1, 2011.</li><li id="cite_note-42" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-42" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Charles G. Koch, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303978304579475860515021286" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Charles Koch: I'm Fighting to Restore a Free Society</a>," Wall Street Journal, April 2, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-43" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-43" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/09/exclusive-audio-koch-brothers-seminar-tapes" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">"Exclusive Audio: Inside the Koch Brothers' Secret Seminar"</a> Mother Jones, Sep. 6, 2011.</li><li id="cite_note-44" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-44" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> PolitiFact, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/apr/04/charles-koch/epa-koch-brothers-business-environment/" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Has the EPA called Koch brothers businesses a 'model' company for a clean environment?</a>," PolitiFact.com, April 2, 2014.</li><li id="cite_note-45" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Charles_Koch#cite_ref-45" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> Mercatus Institute, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://mercatus.org/charles-koch" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Charles Koch</a>, organizational website, accessed July 3, 2014.</li></ol>  =<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2014/7/8/the_kochs_anti_civil_rights_roots">http://www.democracynow.org/2014/7/8/the_kochs_anti_civil_rights_roots</a> charles: The Progressive magazine and Center for Media and Democracy have released new documents that show billionaire oil industrialist Charles Koch was an active member of the controversial right-wing John Birch Society during its campaigns against the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Charles Koch was following in the footsteps of his father, Fred Koch, a leader of the John Birch Society from its founding. We speak with The Progressive’s Lisa Graves about her new article, "The Koch Cartel: Their Reach, Their Reactionary Agenda and Their Record." Graves details how the reactionary ideas absorbed during Charles Koch’s youth continue to animate many of his actions decades later. Charles and his brother, David Koch, have used their wealth to push a similar agenda into the mainstream through the tea party and "dark money" political coalitions that allow donors to shield their identity while funding attack ads against Democrats.  http://www.progressive.org/news/2014/07/187769/his-dad-charles-koch-was-bircher-new-documents Today, as announced on Amy Goodman's DemocracyNow!, the Progressive Inc. and the Center for Media and Democracy are publishing new information and analysis documenting that billionaire oil industrialist Charles Koch was an active member of the controversial right-wing John Birch Society during its active campaigns against the civil rights movement. Many commentators have noted that the father of the controversial Koch Brothers, Fred Koch, was a leader of the John Birch Society from its founding in 1958 until his death in 1967. But, in fact, Charles Koch followed his father's footsteps into the John Birch Society for years in Wichita, Kansas, a hub city for the organization in that decade of tremendous societal unrest as civil rights activists challenged racial segregation. Charles Koch was not simply a rank and file member of the John Birch Society in name only who paid nominal dues. He purchased and held a "lifetime membership" until he resigned in 1968. He also lent his name and his wealth to the operations of the John Birch Society in Wichita, aiding its "American Opinion" bookstore -- which was stocked with attacks on the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, and Earl Warren as elements of the communist conspiracy. He funded the John Birch Society's promotional campaigns, bought advertising in its magazine, and supported its distribution of right-wing radio shows. The reactionary ideas learned from his father and stoked by his ideological ally in Wichita, Bob Love of the Love Box Company, were not simply passing fancies of the young scion of an oil fortune. The tools of the trade he absorbed in his late twenties and early thirties appear to continue to animate some of his actions decades later, as with his 2014 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal claiming those who criticize him are "collectivists." The echoes of his past role reverberate along with the millions he and his brother David Koch have spent fueling a John Birch Society-like "Tea Party" peopled with right-wingers like Birchers of decades past who contend against all reasoning that the president is a communist. David Koch himself has claimed President Obama is a scary "socialist." These roots run deep in the Kochs. In many ways, the playbook deployed by the Kochs today through myriad organizations resembles a more sophisticated (and expensive) playbook of the John Birch Society back then. Even the recent announcement of the Kochs to give a $25 million gift to the United Negro College Fund (with strings attached requiring the recruitment of "free market" African American college students) echoes that past. In 1964, in the face of criticism for its assault on the civil rights movement, the John Birch Society also funded a scholarship program to give college funds to African Americans who were not active in the civil rights movement, according to documents the Progressive.org/Center for Media and Democracy has obtained. Below is an excerpt of a new story just published by The Progressive magazine in its newly redesigned summer issue, summarizing some of the long-term research of the Center for Media and Democracy, which is now part of the Progressive Inc. The complete version of that story, which sheds new light on the political activities and environmental record of the Kochs, is available in the <a href="https://secure.ablesoftsolutions.com/pdmg/SecurePages/NewSub.aspx?pi=prg" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">digitial edition</a> of the magazine. Below the excerpt are some key quotes from the John Birch Society's attacks on the civil rights movement and its outlandish claims about the circumstances faced by African Americans in the 1960s. When Charles Koch resigned from the John Birch Society in 1968, he did so along with running a full-page ad taking the opposite position of the John Birch Society on the Vietnam War.  But, he made no similar gesture expressing any opposition to its long-standing, high priority anti-civil rights agenda, which his financial support made possible. In leaving the John Birch Society, Charles Koch had become enamored with a more anarchical expression of his attachment to unregulated capitalism that at its root opposes government action other than that which is necessary to protect property and freedom of contract, two theoretical "ideals" at odds with the very kind of anti-discrimination laws, labor laws, and social programs that the John Birch Society attacked. Since the 1960s, Charles Koch and his brother David have spent untold millions to move these related theories into the mainstream. And, like the John Birch Society spearheaded in recruiting their father, they too have done so by recruiting other industrialists, as with their billionaire "Freedom Partners," to join them in funding efforts to dramatically change this country by trying to takeover Congress and the states and rewrite the laws to suit their own interests.----From The Progressive magazine July-August 2014:In 1961, at the age of twenty-six, Charles moved home to Wichita, Kansas, to work for Rock Island Oil and Refining Company, which was led by his father, Fred Koch, who was on the national council of the John Birch Society. Charles subsequently opened a John Birch Society bookstore in Wichita with a friend of his father, Bob Love, the owner of the Love Box Company in Wichita, according to Dan Schulman’s Sons of Wichita. The John Birch Society’s “American Opinion Bookstores” were stocked with material opposing the civil rights movementBirchers had put up billboards in Kansas and elsewhere calling for the impeachment of Earl Warren, the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court who had ordered the desegregation of the public schools in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.There’s no indication that Fred or Charles objected to the Birch campaign to impeach Warren.There is no indication they objected when it ran ads in Dallas in 1963 with President John F. Kennedy’s head depicted like two mug shot photos, with the word “Treason” below, shortly before the assassination of the President ... Or when it opposed the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, based on the Bircher claim that the movement was created as a forty-year front for the communists.Or when it supported billboards calling Martin Luther King a communist. None of these things was cited by Charles Koch and Bob Love in their resignation from the John Birch Society in 1968, according to correspondence with Robert Welch, who had launched the organization a decade earlier with Fred and a few other businessmen. Oddly, it was Welch’s “Win the War” strategy of signing up people to support the Vietnam War that caused the breakup between Charles Koch and the John Birch Society.In 1968, Charles Koch bought a full-page ad, “Let’s Get Out of Vietnam Now,” based on the isolationism of a competing flank of the far right movement....Charles also gave public speeches espousing the view that government’s only proper role was to police the interference with the free market—an ideology that inherently rejects child labor laws, minimum wages or safety rules, the protection of union rights, and more....---Find out more about what happened next (like Charles Koch's call for a Second American revolution and the Senate investigation of a pre-cursor to the Kochs' Freedom Partners operation) in the <a href="https://secure.ablesoftsolutions.com/pdmg/SecurePages/NewSub.aspx?pi=prg" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">digital edition</a> of the magazine. Or keep reading below to learn more details about the kind of claims the John Birch Society made that did not provoke a counter-ad by Charles Koch, like the outrageous claim that photos of civil rights protestors attacked by dogs were shams. Select research documents have also been posted below, although more are available. Additional new stories about the Koch empire and activities will be gathered in a new resource for concerned citizens called <a href="http://www.kochexposed.org/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">KochExposed.org</a>.- See more at: http://www.progressive.org/news/2014/07/187769/his-dad-charles-koch-was-bircher-new-documents#sthash.z352T3Qz.dpuf=<header class="entry-header post" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.46em; padding: 0.69em 2.3em 0.7659em; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; background-color: white;"><h2 class="entry-title" itemprop="name headline" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.08em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 5.5rem; vertical-align: baseline; text-shadow: rgb(238, 238, 238) 0px 1px 0px;"></h2><div>10. The Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs accused Koch Oil of scheming to steal <a href="http://libsysdigi.library.uiuc.edu/oca/Books2008-05/finalreportlegis10160unit/finalreportlegis10160unit_djvu.txt" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);">$31 million</a> of crude oil from Native Americans. Although the company claimed it was accidental, a former executive in this operation said Charles Koch had known about it and had responded to the overages by saying, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=r7XO-2nouK0C&pg=PT94&lpg=PT94&dq=%E2%80%9CI+want+my+fair+share,+and+that%E2%80%99s+all+of+it.%E2%80%9D+palast+best+democracy+money+can+buy&source=bl&ots=5B6wwAZcbl&sig=l9sze56BGJ-gOH5uFkbs1x-OCE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9MKAT-PRLo_MiQLE5p37Ag&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);">"I want my fair share, and that's all of it."</a></div><div>===</div><h2 class="entry-title" itemprop="name headline" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.08em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 5.5rem; vertical-align: baseline; text-shadow: rgb(238, 238, 238) 0px 1px 0px;">Koch And Native-American Reservation Oil Theft</h2>MARCH 9, 2012</header> </div>