Robert Reich Calls "Baloney" on Koch-Apologist Who Claims That Unions Funnel More $$$ Into Politics

[kpete]

Robert Reich

I debated a Koch-apologist yesterday who claimed America's unions funneled more into politics than the Koch brothers. Baloney. Union money at least comes from large numbers of workers seeking higher pay and better working conditions; Koch money comes from two brothers seeking to entrench their power and privilege. And it's clear the Koch brothers are spending way more. In 2012, union spending (PAC, individual, outside) totaled less than $153.5 million, while Koch spending totaled $412.6 million.

https://www.facebook.com/RBReich

[2pooped2pop]

1. unions represent hundreds of thousands of people

Koch represents Koch x 2

[tk2kewl]

7. democracy

[Omaha Steve]

2. K&R!

[L0oniX]

3. So how much money per union person does that come to?

...and that compares to one Koch how? Fuzzy arithmetic at work.

I mean holy false equivalency Batman.

[Triana]

4. Article & Chart: Koch Spends More Than Double Top Ten Unions Combined (to influence elections)

The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel either has no understanding of campaign finance, or is willfully misleading her readers. In either case, her column today about the Koch brothers’ political spending — which parrots a meme that has bounced around conservative blogs and websites like a bad chain e-mail — gets the facts about Koch spending versus union spending completely wrong.

In her column, “The Really Big Money? Not the Kochs,” Strassel cites a Center for Responsive Politics list to claim that unions “collectively spent $620,873,623 more than Koch Industries” on political races. Of course, if you actually visit this page on the CRP website, the list runs below a disclaimer noting that it does not include certain Super PAC spending or most undisclosed dark money spending, the preferred route for the Koch brothers for decades. In fact, the CRP site notes that union spending might appear inflated since unions traditional PAC spending is coupled with outside Super PAC spending. For the purposes of this chart, union spending is inflated compared to the giving of companies like Koch or Super PAC donors like Sheldon Adelson.

For the last election, Koch PAC spent $4.9 million in disclosed contributions (figures that appear on the chart referenced by Strassel). But they also spent over $407 million on undisclosed campaign entities, which does not show up in the CRP chart.

Republic Report broke down the figures for the last election and found that Koch groups alone spent more than double the combined political spending (including to undisclosed group) for the top ten unions combined. The chart includes union spending on dark money Democratic groups and Koch spending on dark money groups like Americans for Prosperity. See below:



THE REST:

http://www.republicreport.org/2014/unions-koch/#sthash.CCELUflO.dpuf

[rhett o rick]

5. k&r thanks for posting. nm

[Enthusiast]

6. Kicked and Recommended! nt