Mar 25, 2014
Below, written by fact check.org regarding the group, Americans for Prosperity which is a great description of this political organization funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers have expended hundreds of millions of dollars over the past several years attempting to create a Congress controlled by the publican party. They have further funded millions of dollars in state races were many of their business interest reside. And philosophy is not the main logic to remove the Democrats from power. The motive, is money. They want significant reductions in regulatory requirements that they indicate cost their company hundreds of millions of dollars. The Koch brothers own such companies as Georgia -Pacific, Flint Hills Resources, Koch Pipelines, Koch Fertilizer, Koch Minerals and The Matador Cattle Company.
Political Activity:
• Koch Industries has spent more than $50 million to lobby in Washington since 2006, according to the Center for Responsive Politics
• According to the Center for Responsive Politics, many of Koch Industries’ contributions have gone toward achieving legislation on energy issues, defense appropriations and financial regulatory reform.
• Koch employees were the largest donors from the oil and gas industry to members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is responsible for legislation affecting that industry.
• Charles Koch co-founded the Cato Institute in 1977
Their free enterprise seminars in Aspen Colorado have included supreme court justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas; Governors Bobby Jindal and Haley Barbour; commentators John Stossel, Charles Krauthammer, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh; Senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn; and Representatives Paul Ryan, Mike Pence, and Tom Price.
• Known as “the nation’s most prominent funders of efforts to prevent curbs on fossil-fuel burning“.
• As of 2011, David Koch sits on the board of directors of the Cato institute, the Reason Foundation and the Aspen Institute
• Public records show that the Kochs gave more than $17 million between 1997 and 2008 to various groups including the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which lobbies for legislation opposing unions.
• According to Greenpeace, the company has “had a quiet but dominant role in a high-profile national policy debate on global warming,” and has out-spent ExxonMobil (another corporation active in
fighting climate change science and legislation) in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change. “From 2005 to 2008, ExxonMobil spent $8.9 million while the Koch Industries-controlled foundations contributed $24.9 million in funding.”
• According to a study by the progressive media watchdog Media Matters for America, Koch Industries (and other Koch brothers-owned companies) “have benefited from nearly a $100 million in government contracts since 2000.”
• According to Jane Mayer (New Yorker magazine) During the US 2000 election campaign, Koch Industries spent some $900,000 to support the candidacies of George W. Bush and other Republicans. And tax records in 2008 indicate the three main Koch family foundations gave money to thirty-four political and policy organizations, three of which they founded, and several of which they direct.
Reducing the cost of environmental regulations by a Republican-controlled Congress would more than Koch industries millions of dollars. It would further allow them to expand their most environmentally dangerous operations. Below, we list several of their environmental violations and note the source in each case.
Additional Koch Brothers Links