More on the Koch brothers

Koch Industries Funding Fight Against Climate Change Law The Yes on 23 Committee, a.k.a. the California Jobs Initiative, a.k.a. the November ballot initiative Proposition 23 which would suspend AB32, California’s climate change law, became $2 million richer yesterday. The funding came through $1 million donation from Flint Hills Resources, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, and another $1 million by another oil refiner, Tesoro, reports the Sacramento Bee...

The New Yorker on David and Charles Koch The idea that the campaign is "covert" is echoed in the text of the article, which says, "In Washington, Koch is best known as part of a family that has repeatedly funded stealth attacks on the federal government, and on the Obama Administration in particular." Ms. Mayer also uses an anonymous quote to try to prove her point: "The Republican campaign consultant said of the family's political activities, 'To call them under the radar is an understatement. They are underground!'" But there's nothing covert or stealthy or underground about it, as evidenced by the fact that Ms. Mayer is able to write about it in her article. The details are readily available on Web sites, federal election records available on the Internet, and in tax returns that are posted on Web sites...

Nick Gillespie at Reason ...the story is a masterpiece not of the tightly researched and argued journalism for which The New Yorker is revered, but of sly innuendo and revelations as lame as they are breathless. Exactly how are the Koch brothers under the radar or underground? They show up every year in the Forbes super-rich lists. Charles Koch wrote a best-selling business book a year or two ago and makes no secret of his belief in free markets and limited government. David Koch ran for vice president of these United States on the Libertarian Party ticket in 1980 (where he helped Ed Clark pull over 900,000 votes, by far the highest total gained by the LP). Both are known for a wide range of philanthropic giving, whether to arts and medical outfits or think tanks or political action groups...

The Kochs Should Come Out of the Closet This month, though, you got it from both barrels of what Andrew Breitbart likes to call the Democrat-Media Complex. On Aug. 9, President Obama spoke at a fundraiser in Texas and warned Democrats of "groups with harmless-sounding names like Americans for Prosperity" with shadowy funding sources and the power to distort elections. "You don't know if it's a foreign-controlled corporation," said Obama. "You don't know if it's a big oil company, or a big bank." Just two weeks later, The New Yorker published a 10,000 word profile of David and Charles Koch, the billionaires who have poured profits from their oil, chemical, and manufacturing companies into a network of libertarian think tanks and activist groups—such as, for example, Americans for Prosperity.

New York media should read Koch's book It's an appealing idea to liberals that the owners of a privately held company in red-state Kansas, pursuing their anti-tax, anti-regulation agenda, are cynically manipulating the yahoos who believe President Obama is a Muslim and that death panels will do away with Granny. The truth seems more complicated and the Kochs' agenda more transparent. Koch funding of Americans for Prosperity and other advocacy groups may well have provided a catalyst for the tea party movement, but the voter anger is quite genuine. If you want to understand the Kochs' agenda, read Charles Koch's 2007 book, "The Science of Success." He makes the strong case that companies, nations and individuals thrive where free markets flourish. Koch Industries has grown into one of the world's largest private companies pursuing his market-based management philosophy...

Left's double standard on Kochs and Soros Mayer did write a 2004 article on Soros, but she implies throughout that his political giving is motivated by a desire to make the world a better place rather than out of economic self-interest. Mayer uncritically quotes a Soros spokesman saying "none of his contributions are in the service of his own economic interests." She notes that the campaign-finance regulations Soros backed also empowered the 527 organizations he was funding, but she calls this "an unintended consequence" of "reform." Rich buys the Soros line, writing: "like many liberals -- selflessly or foolishly, depending on your point of view -- [Soros] supports causes that are unrelated to his business interests and that, if anything, raise his taxes."...more

Liberal Billionaires Good, Conservative Billionaires Evil Liberals love their billionaires, a very long and sometimes radical list that includes Barack Obama's special favorites Warren Buffet and George Soros. Nor is there any fear that Michelle Obama, Queen of Aragon, will seriously attack the diabetes factory called Coca Cola, one of Buffet's largest equity positions, during her crusade against childhood obesity. The special case of George Soros, Nazi collaborator, destroyer of British sterling, funder of countless nefarious leftist causes and one of the most frequent visitors to the White House has been described in detail elsewhere. For liberals there is a special place in hell for conservative billionaires who support free market economic think tanks and causes...more