Economy
In reply to the discussion: STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 23 May 2014 [View all]Demeter
(85,373 posts)THAT THE DETROIT NEWS---THAT PARANOID, RETROGRESSIVE RAG--SHOULD PRINT THIS SHOWS THAT THE KOCH BROS. ARE SHOOTING BLANKS.
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140522/METRO01/305220040/1409/METRO
Detroit may be the nations largest bankrupt city. But to Americans for Prosperity Michigan a well-funded arm of the billionaire Koch brothers political operation the city is fat with $3 billion worth of assets that could be liquidated, if you count the storied masterpieces at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Before the state chips in its dollars, American for Prosperity wants those Renoirs and Rembrandts sold. Im more concerned about pensioners trying to put food on the table than about somebody trying to keep artwork on the wall, said Scott Hagerstrom, the groups executive director in Michigan.
Hagerstroms group disdains government spending but happily benefits from tax-exempt status granted to social welfare organizations, an IRS designation, also called 501C4s. And ever since the 2010 Citizens United decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, these social welfare nonprofits have staked out the freedom to buy TV ads, spend money on political education and exercise their constitutional rights to political speech without being required to identify their funding sources, or to report spending except in specific time periods close to elections. The impact, says Russ Choma, a specialist in campaign finance for OpenSecrets.org in Washington, D.C., was transformational.
In 2014, the Michigan AFP group has spent $1.75 million in the Detroit TV market, according to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, which tracks such spending. Almost all of that has gone to pay for ads denouncing Obamacare and U.S. Senate-hopeful Gary Peters, months before the election gets earnest. How much will they spend on phone calls and direct mail operations? Theres no way to know, which is why critics label the funding dark money. Thats led the Peters campaign to denounce the out-of-state billionaires, who have residences in Palm Beach, among other places, but not in Michigan.
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