MOYERS & CO: Koch Brothers would be shamed & hurt publicly if people knew what that money was doing

[kpete]

Who’s Buying our Midterm Elections?
March 21, 2014



BILL MOYERS: This week on Moyers & Company, the corrupting influence of money in politics.

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BILL MOYERS: So are you suggesting-- is it feasible that the Koch brothers or anybody is putting all this money into this labyrinth because they would be ashamed or hurt publicly if people knew what that money was doing?

ANDY KROLL: Absolutely. Absolutely. I think in a few rare cases, we have seen I.R.S. forms sort of accidentally released that include a list of donors. And it's been sort of a who’s who of--

KIM BARKER: Fortune 500--

ANDY KROLL: Fortune 500 corporations. I mean, there was a tax filing from the early 2000s for the group Americans for Prosperity. Which is founded and funded by Charles and David Koch. And it had a whole roster of major corporations, name brand corporations. And they give to these organizations specifically so that they don't have their name out in the public. And they can sort of quietly push, you know, this issue or that issue, but not have their brand out there. And they want to have their cake and eat it too.

BILL MOYERS: So that would explain why when the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United said transparency, disclosure will be the cleansing agent here, Mitch McConnell and others in Congress made sure the disclosure bill that would implement that transparency didn't pass. The Disclose Act.

KIM BARKER: Yeah, yeah, and you really-- so I think that the-- either the Supreme Court was naive about how campaign finance really works. Or maybe just prescient. Maybe they knew what was going to happen. But their whole idea of using disclosure as some sort of cleansing mechanism and the internet as a way for people to figure out what was actually going, naive, you know?

You look at some of these groups, Americans for America, ad paid for by Americans for America, and you say, "I'm an American. I can get behind that idea. I can get behind America." You know? And you really have no idea, though, where the money is coming from. And you have to do the level of research-- I mean, I think Andy and I can spend months on a story. And you still get to the end of it. And I can say, "I know someone's controlling this network from behind the scenes. But I can't tell you who it is."[/b]




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http://billmoyers.com/episode/whos-buying-our-midterm-elections/

[Peacetrain]

1. The Koch organiztion is here in Iowa..trying to derail the seat that Harkin is giving up

All of these guys should be shamed in public..their dirty tricks given the light of day..

[YOHABLO]

2. We need to derail the Kochs .. seriously folks!!

[flying rabbit]

3. K&R

[Mnemosyne]

4. k&r nt

[OnyxCollie]

5. A perception of social responsibility.

Spawned from the concept of the charitable trust, the foundation is what Friedmann (1957) characterizes as “the most important modern institution in the field of group power” (p. 157). A chiefly American invention, the foundation is a permanent charitable institution that provides a tax shelter to donors, primarily heads of corporate empires. The foundation accomplishes this in multiple ways: through gifts exempt from gift taxes, which are then allowed to be deducted from income; through bequests deductible from estate taxes; and through the exemption of the foundation itself from income tax, property tax, and other taxes. The foundation allows for large sums of wealth to be diverted from tax collection, while simultaneously awarding control, credibility, and a perception of social responsibility.

Friedmann, W. G. (1957). Corporate power, government by private groups, and the law. Columbia Law Review, 57(2), 155-186.

[Initech]

6. The Koch Brothers are pure evil. They are committing terrorism and treason.

[Scuba]

7. Well, with our "liberal media" I'm sure the word will be out soon. Or never.