Wall Street Titan Ken Langone, GOP Presidential Candidate Herman Cain At Koch Brothers Meeting

[ProSense]

Think Progress: Wall Street Titan Ken Langone, GOP Presidential Candidate Herman Cain At Koch Brothers Meeting

This weekend, David and Charles Koch, co-owners of the Koch Industries conglomerate of chemical, timber, oil and manufacturing interests, are hosting their twice annual meeting to coordinate strategy and raise funds for the conservative movement. <...>

– Ken Langone, an investment banker and founder of Home Depot, is attending the Koch meeting this weekend. Langone helped found the new Karl Rove network of front groups known as American Action Network, American Action Forum, and American Crossroads/Crossroads GPS, which together delivered an unprecedented wave of attack ads against Democrats last year. Langone and his fundraiser, Fred Malek, attended previous Koch meetings.

– Karl Crow, a Koch-funded operative, will unveil a new voter-targeting system to help Republicans win back the White House in 2012. Last summer, Crow published a memo arguing that corporations should take advantage of the Citizens United decision to flood money into the midterm elections. His memo also claimed that the decision could give corporations unlimited power to coerce their employees into supporting particular pieces of legislation or candidates.

– The first “serious” GOP contender for the presidency, Herman Cain, is at the Koch meeting. Cain, a talk show host and former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, has been a frequent guest at events sponsored by Koch front groups like Americans for Prosperity.

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UPDATE Ronald Erickson, "CEO of Holiday Companies, a Minnesota based petroleum retail and wholesale convenience business with operations in twelve states across the Upper Midwest and Alaska," is at the Koch meeting.

Steve Benen: THE VAST RIGHT-WING CONSPIRACY GETS TOGETHER FOR A MEETING....

Don't expect to see any detailed reporting of arguably this weekend's most important domestic political event, because journalists will be strictly prohibited.

This weekend, at a posh resort near Palm Springs, California, two billionaire corporate titans will convene a semi-annual meeting of a politically well-connected set. It will include wealthy donors and powerful Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

At David and Charles Koch's meeting, attendees will discuss items like how best to promote free markets and how to help elect conservatives. Donors are expected to be asked to donate to conservative causes.

It will be conducted virtually in secret, with no press or public allowed and many attendees keeping event details on the hush.

That's fueled criticism that this gathering is a sort of secret cabal -- a "Billionaires Caucus," critics say. Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary in the Clinton administration, even said that the Koch brothers' meeting represents "a threat to our democracy."

By all appearances, this won't be a casual chat among like-minded allies. Post Citizens United, the Koch Bros' meeting is intended to collect a lot of checks to fund far-right institutions and the network that ties them together, and map a strategy to ensure the funds are invested well.

It's the eight straight year for the gathering, which will reportedly include roughly 200 wealthy businessmen.

<...>

ThinkProgress has done some great work covering the Kochs' gatherings, and reported this week that 40% of this weekend's attendees will be first-time participants -- the meetings, in other words, are growing -- and organizers expect to top the $30 million raised during last year's gathering in Aspen.

Edited to add:

http://static.guim.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/1/30/1296407083945/Koch-Brothers-007.jpg

Found in LBN

[Judi Lynn]

1. Thanks for your O.P. What a pathetic gathering. It IS a threat to democracy, as Robert Reich said.

Recommending.

[glinda]

2. K & R n/t

[onethatcares]

3. money doesn't talk it screams

and these mo fos have way too much in their pockets. They actually think they own the world and the rest of us are nothing more than patrons at their company store.

meanwhile, citizens think they'll be like them some day if they work hard and don't take vacations, get sick or pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

[AndyTiedye]

4. They'll Be Kicking In More Like 30 BILLION by Next Year

Even if we can somehow raise as much as we did for Obama in 2008 (which broke all records, and most of us cannot afford to do it again)
we will still be outspent by at least 50 to 1.

[Tx4obama]

5. More info and VIDEO on the link below

Riot Police Guard Against Anti-Billionaire Protesters in Rancho Mirage.
http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/riot-police-guard-against-anti-billionaire-