WaPo: The players in the Koch-backed $400 million political donor network

[highplainsdem]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-players-in-the-koch-backed-400-million-political-donor-network/2014/01/05/714451a8-74b5-11e3-8b3f-b1666705ca3b_story.html

The Washington Post and the Center for Responsive Politics identified a coalition of allied conservative groups active in the 2012 elections that together raised at least $407 million, backed by a donor network organized by the industrialists Charles and David Koch. Most of the funds originated with two groups, the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce and TC4 Trust, both of which routed some of the money through a Phoenix-based nonprofit group called the Center to Protect Patient Rights (CPPR).

The makeup of the coalition may change going forward, but in 2012 the network consisted of:

Americans for Prosperity, the Virginia-based nonprofit that finances grass-roots activities across the country and ran an early and relentless television ad assault against President Obama during the 2012 campaign. More than $44 million of the $140 million the organization raised in the last cycle came from the Koch-linked feeder funds.

The 60 Plus Association, which casts itself as a conservative alternative to AARP. The group reported spending $4.6 million on ads against Obama and House Democrats in 2012.

American Commitment, a new group that reported spending nearly $1.9 million on spots attacking Obama and congressional Democrats in 2012 and that runs online petitions against the federal health-care law and in support of the Keystone XL pipeline.

-snip-

Also identified in this piece:

The American Energy Alliance

The American Future Fund

The Center for Shared Services

Concerned Veterans for America

Concerned Women for America

Evangchr4 Trust

Generation Opportunity

The Libre Initiative Trust

Public Engagement Group Trust

Public Notice

Themis Trust



More on each group in the article.

[BlueStreak]

1. $400,000,000 is a tiny tip of the iceberg

Great article. Good first step.

Free speech? Yes.

Anonymous manipulation of our society? No.