How the Koch Brothers hijack the System
By Climate Science Watch | January 8, 2014 | Release URL Almost […]
Date Posted:
January 9, 2014
By Climate Science Watch | January 8, 2014 | Release URL
Almost four years ago we started to call attention to the Koch brothers, radical ‘free market’ oil and gas conglomerate multibillionaires, as significant funders of the global warming denial machine (Koch Industries multibillionaire Koch brothers bankroll attacks on climate change science and policy). Since then, the Koch political empire continues to metastasize into what a Washington Post investigative article on January 5 calls “a far-reaching operation of unrivaled complexity, built around a maze of groups that cloaks its donors, according to an analysis of new tax returns and other documents.” (Koch-backed political coalition, designed to shield donors, raised $400 million in 2012)
On January 7, Amy Goodman at Democracy Now! talked with Lisa Graves, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, and publisher of PRWatch.org and ALECExposed.org, about some of the implications of having a large network of secretly-funded political organizations, operating with tax-exempt status, playing an increasingly powerful role in driving and shaping U.S. politics (From Funding Climate Deniers to Shadowy Groups, Koch Brothers Network Spent $400 Million in 2012).
In March 2010 we noted, in one of the first pieces on the Koch brothers:
Some of the most determined opponents of action on climate change in the U.S. are so-called libertarians, motivated by an ideological commitment to minimal government and “free market” laissez-faire capitalism. Their efforts on behalf of unregulated corporate wealth and power have been funded heavily by patrons in the fossil fuel industry. While ExxonMobil has drawn much attention for its patronage of global warming denialist activity by such groups, much less public attention has been paid to the activities of the multibillionaire brothers, Charles and David Koch, owners of Koch Industries. Koch Industries is the second largest private company in the U.S., with estimated 2008 revenues of $100 billion. Started as a petroleum business by their father Fred Koch, who was also a founder of the right-wing extremist John Birch Society, Koch Industries has become a diversified enterprise that funds large-scale lobbying and a range of libertarian policy and activist groups that play a significant role in the global warming denial machine.
To the libertarians, the widely-shared scientific assessment that human-caused climate change will likely produce major harmful consequences — and the communication of this evidence to the public by the leading climate scientists — poses a particularly serious threat. An informed public concerned about the likelihood of harmful impacts of unchecked global climatic disruption is more likely to call for significant government action to curb greenhouse gas emissions. In order to block proactive government policymaking and keep corporate interests unregulated, libertarian groups have focused a significant part of their efforts on climate change on distorting the science to confuse public opinion, denying the seriousness of the problem, and, most recently, impugning the integrity of the climate science community. The Koch brothers have stepped forward with deep pockets to bankroll such efforts.
They’re still there. The rhetoric, tactics, and cast of characters shift over time, but the framework remains in place — only now with more donors, more organizations, more money, and less transparency.
About the Author: Climate State
We don’t wear turtlenecks like Amy Goodman, but we do wear trousers.
See what The Sans-culottes can offer you today.
Hey Amy, Its not Climate Deniers, it’s GLOBAL WARMING HOAX!
Why don’t you run a story on the Ship stuck in the ICE. Where another ship
sent was stuck and yet another ship was sent and it too was stuck. But….
The Ship was there on a GRANT to measure the ICE in this GREAT GLOBAL
WARMING HOAX which like Obamacare is only to generate Billion’s more in
TAXES.
When these Volcanoes go off spewing trillions of tons of gassed into to
air, and Ocean volcanoes go off. Why haven’t they TAXED the Country for all
the emissions being spewed into the air and ocean? There is 16 Active
Volcanoes in the Pacific ring now. How much gasses are they releasing
hourly?
This is all to Raise Taxes on your travel. Just as France is already taxing
users of Solar Panel’s. Its all over MONEY.
Just like the HOAX War on Terror. US Doctor’s and FDA Approved drugs kills
hundreds of thousands of American’s each year. Why isn’t Homeland Security
posted at all Doctors offices?
Al Gore is a very rich man, since his global warming movie!
What nonsense, what the hell does that even mean “climate denier”? Is it
some distasteful attempt to suggest that anybody who is not hysterical
about the climate is somehow equivalent to a holocaust ‘denier’? How can
anybody deny the climate? In addition, the climate has been changing for
4.5 billion years, this isn’t news.
I love that these peasants defend teh Koch brothers. As if the Koch
brothers would even shake your hands.
I can only think these people are paid by the Koch brothers.
Democracy now, still one of the best news sources. Thanks Amy Goodman.
Honesty is hard to find now days
Here it’s another idiot how in the hell taxing people will change the
clime, who pays your salary.
Why would the Koch brothers spend 400 million dollars to climate change
denier groups in a year if man made Climate change wasn’t real? Why would
an Energy company do that? Hmmmm I wonder…..
You know, it’s really striking how many people who seem to have no
ideological or even cultural affinity with a channel like this seem to pop
up in droves in the comment pages, once an independent news channel tackles
the issue of illegitimate funding of illegitimate political causes.
It really leaves one to wonder what makes them believe it’s worth spending
their time here.
Just saying…
Democracy Now rocks the Llama’s socks!
Goodman bashes the Koch brothers, and yet, she gets funding from the Ford
Foundation…the same foundation from the Fords… a Corporation!!!! One
that has been funding our Prussian education system for Years. Goodman is
nothing more than a Gatekeeper on the left. Peace.
The *Brothers Grim* wield more clout than Congress because they own half of
them. And the poor misguided *sheeple* wave their little flags and call
for less government and sing *freedom*, give us freedom….sad
They are not deniers they just challenge the so called settled science.
The way reputable scientist do. you had some real crackpots (even by your
standards) yesterday) on your misguided show. BTW Amy Gore is not a
scientist either and he is the pne profiting from the scam
AMY, it is a fact that more people don’t believe in climate hoax are normal
street folks. Any of this company’s have a profit of non denial.
We see, we feel and we film. We hear, we listen and know it is a hoax. It
is a mega industry for money laundering.
JANUARY 7, 2014 by Democracy Now : From Funding Climate Deniers to Shadowy Groups, Koch Brothers Network Spent $400 Million in 2012
Extract:
AMY GOODMAN: I want to get your reaction to the Washington Post report by Matea Gold, “Koch-Backed Political Coalition, Designed to Shield Donors, Raised $400 Million in 2012.” Why don’t you go through, first of all, this whole issue of shielding donors, not knowing where the money is coming from that is affecting elections all over the country?
LISA GRAVES: Well, it’s been a long-standing practice in the United States for ordinary charities, like the Red Cross or others, to have anonymous donors, to have donors that are not disclosed to a charity. But what we’re seeing is really a growth in the amount of money that’s going to what are known as C4 nonprofits. C4s are tax-exempt, but the donations to them are not a tax deduction. And we’ve seen an enormous rise in the activity of C4 political—or, C4 organizations that are really political, that are running ads in our elections.
And what this really important story in The Washington Post reveals is this network that’s been created that spent more than $400 million—that’s, you know, a half-a-billion dollars—during largely the 2012 elections, and no one even knew the names of some of the groups that were behind it, let alone the individuals who were funding it. And so, this fall, just a few months ago, we learned that there was a thing called Freedom Partners, that was stocked with Koch-connected staffers—people from Koch Industries or from the Koch charities, from other Koch operations, were either on the board or on the staff of this entity—that it was doling out, you know, well over $100 million, over $200 million, really, to an array of groups, and that those groups were—a lot of those groups were running ads in the elections. Those ads were so-called issue ads, but they were plainly designed to influence the outcome of the election, in my opinion.
AMY GOODMAN: In this, Matea Gold writes, “The political network spearheaded by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch has expanded into a far-reaching operation of unrivaled complexity, built around a maze of groups that cloaks its donors.”
She goes on to say, “The resources and the breadth of the organization make it singular in American politics: an operation conducted outside the campaign finance system, employing an array of groups aimed at stopping what its financiers view as government overreach. Members of the coalition target different constituencies but together have mounted attacks on the new health-care law, federal spending and environmental regulations.”
—
LISA GRAVES: That’s right. So, you have a group that describes itself as being for protecting patients’ rights, the Coalition to Protect Patients’ Rights, that has been led by Sean Noble. It was implicated in the California campaign finance investigation this past year, which led to a record $1 million fine, one of the largest fines in U.S. history, for the way the money was passed, and people didn’t know where the money came from. […] I think the campaign finance system is plainly broken. I think this illustrates how broken the law has become in the wake of the judicial activists on the Supreme Court in that Citizens United decision.
And I think Congress ought to investigate it. Congress has the right to investigate whether our elections have integrity or not, how people are attempting to influence the outcome of the elections. And I think that they ought to be investigating this and trying to help impose reforms to protect the integrity of our elections, which I think have really been undermined by all of this dark money flowing in directly to groups who are running ads to influence our elections.
—
“RACHEL MADDOW: In 2011, the Tampa Bay Times discovered that Florida State’s Economics Department had quietly cut a deal with a billionaire to essentially give that billionaire control over who the department hires. […] Forget naming rights to the stadium or whatever. Conservative billionaire Charles Koch purchased hiring rights for the faculty at Florida State’s Economics Department. And, yes, Florida State has the word “State” in its name because it is a public university. And, yes, it is objectively insane that the state of Florida allowed that to happen.”
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/1/7/from_funding_climate_deniers_to_shadowy
DECEMBER 5, 2012 From Fossil Fuels to Global Warming Denial, Koch Brothers May Be Biggest Force Behind U.S. Inaction
The billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch are known for funneling vast donations into Republican campaigns in the United States. But what impact are the Koch brothers having on global warming? As the United States is accused of blocking progress at the U.N. climate talks in Doha, a new report says the Koch brothers may be the biggest force behind the climate stalemate. The Kochs run oil refineries and control thousands of miles of pipeline, giving them a massive personal stake in the fossil fuel industry. Researchers say they have also funneled tens of millions into climate denial science, lobbying and other efforts to derail policy that could lessen the impact of global warming.
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/12/5/from_fossil_fuels_to_global_warming
DECEMBER 18, 2012 VIDEO: New “Kochtopus” Graphic Maps the Influence of Billionaire Koch Brothers on Climate Policy
The author of a new report on U.S. carbon billionaires gives Democracy Now! a tour of the Kochtopus — a map of the empire of Charles and David Koch. The Kochs run oil refineries and control thousands of miles of pipeline, giving them a massive personal stake in the fossil fuel industry. We are joined by Victor Menotti, executive director of the International Forum on Globalization.
http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2012/12/18/video_kochtopus_map_of_the_billionaire_koch_brothers_influence
Testing your comment system. I’m correctly logged in to my account.
so what you are saying here is Koch is bad for us? Really? lol
I think democracynow should modify their videos slightly. Have you ever
watched Bill Maher or the Daily Show with Jon Stewart? I think that you
should make you show exactly how you have for years. It works well but for
those of us that want to see the interviews that always seem to get cut off
continue in more detail we should be able to go see the over time on
youtube. Does that make sense? If you have guests that are really awesome
like this woman, it would be awesome to view another few minutes to see
where she was going.
Fukuchima, japan should be covered in your coming news.
I have not heard a single positive thing about the koch bros.