Exclusive: The Koch brothers' secret bank

[Robb]

Earlier tonight I noted elsewhere (in the conversation about the Colorado recall of Democratic senators who voted for background checks) that Koch's Americans for Prosperity spent $34 million on ads attacking Democrats in 2012.

I no longer think that is a big number. Read on.

An Arlington, Va.-based conservative group, whose existence until now was unknown to almost everyone in politics, raised and spent $250 million in 2012 to shape political and policy debate nationwide.

The group, Freedom Partners, and its president, Marc Short, serve as an outlet for the ideas and funds of the mysterious Koch brothers, cutting checks as large as $63 million to groups promoting conservative causes, according to an IRS document to be filed shortly.

The 38-page IRS filing amounts to the Rosetta Stone of the vast web of conservative groups — some prominent, some obscure — that spend time, money and resources to influence public debate, especially over Obamacare.

The group has about 200 donors, paying at least $100,000 each in annual dues. It raised $256 million in the year after its creation in November, 2011, the document shows. And it made grants of $236 million – meaning a totally unknown group was the largest sugar daddy for conservative groups in the last election, second in total spending only to Karl Rove’s American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, which together spent about $300 million.

Read More: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/behind-the-curtain-exclusive-the-koch-brothers-secret-bank-96669.html?hp=t1_3

[KansDem]

1. Well, we know the tune: "Money talks...

...and Kochshit walks."

[gopiscrap]

2. God I hope the government finds something to nail those fuckers on.

[mike_c]

3. you're missing a fundamental truth about "the government...."

Those fuckers are the government, for all intents and purposes.

[Scuba]

4. And we beat all that money by standing in line!

We can turn this thing around.

[sheshe2]

5. They are trying to buy America...

One politician at a time.

GOTV 2014! Let's shut them down.

[2naSalit]

6. FYI

I did a search but there was no actual listing on "Freedom Partners"

I did do a query on Koch Industries and, well, for a good interactive visual...

http://www.muckety.com/Koch-Industries/5002758.muckety

And if you do a query on "Freeddom Works" and select all the options you'll find an element labeled "donor's trust". If you "click" on that you get an expanded chart that clearly points to Charles Koch.

http://www.muckety.com/Query?name=freedom+works&prev=freedom+works&SearchResult=5063748&SearchResult=5016693&SearchResult=5096026&SearchResult=5063719&SearchResult=5063749&graph=MucketyMap

You see, they are also funding the Rove machine too.

Merely for those who might be interested.

Edited to add that you should also scroll down for more info below the relationship charts.

[Robb]

7. Kick. Not a conspiracy theory

...as some would have you think: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3652588

[hootinholler]

8. You can be sure they will have folded

And a replacement group will be there for 2016.

[NYC_SKP]

9. How much did they spend in the Colorado recall effort where 5:1 spending failed?

Where 5x as much money was spent fighting the recall but the voting constituency still recalled two Democrats, how much did Kock Bros. contribute?

I've been asked twice in other threads and I have no idea. But I also have no idea how much might have been spent by pro-control groups that go unreported.

Edited to add a lovely example here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3650892

I've answered that I don't know because it's not reported in the same way as other funding, but that's a guess.

What's the scoop?

[Scurrilous]

10. K & R

[bobthedrummer]

11. Kick and a link to ALEC Exposed (The Center for Media and Democracy)

ALEC Exposed
http://www.prwatch.org/projects/alec-exposed