If you're unfamiliar with the Koch brothers, here's a quick summary from Mayer's article. The Koch fortune comes from oil refineries, ownership in companies such as Brawny paper towels, Dixie Cups, Georgia Pacific lumber, and Lycra, to name a few. Koch Industries is the second largest private company in the U.S. The Koch brothers are major donors to such charities as the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute and The Smithsonian. David Koch is known as one of the biggest philanthropists in New York City. The Kochs sound like good people, non?
But look a little deeper into their "philanthropic" activities and you begin to see a different story. The Kochs have used their vast (to put it mildly) personal fortunes to bankroll political action committees, "think tanks," and citizen action groups to further their corporate interests. One of the Koch's pet projects is the Americans for Prosperity Foundation. You may have heard of AfP - they're the ones bankrolling the Tea Party movement. So much for a grassroots effort free from special interest groups and corporate influence.
Now the Kochs have a constitutional right to put their money where ever they want - but let's at least have some transparency. According to Mayer's article, Koch spokespeople deny the involvement of the Kochs in the Tea Party movement. "But what about George Soros?" my conservative friends may ask. Yes, George Soros has given disgusting amounts of money to liberal causes and pledged his personal fortune to defeat George W. Bush. But at least he was up front about it. If you're going to try an buy and election, just own it.
Another reason I don't have as big a problem with Soros throwing his money around is that he generally gives money to organizations and causes that are not going to better his bottom line. You may disagree with some of the things he supports (that Millennium Project to end extreme poverty in Africa is evil, pure evil, I tell ya!) but he's not making money off it.
But the Kochs have given millions of dollars to organizations that oppose environmental regulation and support lower taxes for industry. Again, the Kochs are well within their rights. But come on - tell me there isn't a conflict of interest when George Mason University, a publicly funded university, accepts millions of dollars to host an institution that is controlled by the Koch family. Want a clearer connection between the Kochs and GMU? The Mercatus Center at GMU was founded by Richard Fink who heads Koch Industries' lobby efforts, is the president of the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, director of the Fred C. and MaryR. Koch Foundation, and co-founder (with David Koch) of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation. But what's the harm in such close collaborations between corporate wealth and so-called academic endeavors. Well...to quote Mayer's article, again,
"The Wall Street Journal has called the Mercatus Center “the most important think tank you’ve never heard of,” and noted that fourteen of the twenty-three regulations that President George W. Bush placed on a “hit list” had been suggested first by Mercatus scholars. Fink told the paper that the Kochs have “other means of fighting [their] battles,” and that the Mercatus Center does not actively promote the company’s private interests. But Thomas McGarity, a law professor at the University of Texas, who specializes in environmental issues, told me that “Koch has been constantly in trouble with the E.P.A., and Mercatus has constantly hammered on the agency.” An environmental lawyer who has clashed with the Mercatus Center called it “a means of laundering economic aims.” The lawyer explained the strategy: “You take corporate money and give it to a neutral-sounding think tank,” which “hires people with pedigrees and academic degrees who put out credible-seeming studies. But they all coincide perfectly with the economic interests of their funders."Yep - perfectly within their 1st amendment rights. The groups sponsored by the Kochs have decried global warming and acid rain as myths. Of course, Koch Industries has been named as one of the biggest air polluters in the States. My favorite example of the Koch's philanthropic endeavors is the millions of dollars they have given to cancer research. They gave so much money that in 2004, then President Bush named David Koch to the National Cancer Advisory Board for the National Cancer Institute. At the same time, Koch Industries has been lobbying the EPA to declare that formaldehyde does not cause cancer - despite the fact that scientists have known for years that formaldehyde causes cancer! Did I mention that Koch Industries is a major producer of formaldehyde?
I could go on and on, but I've got to go assess the damage the kids have done to the house while I wrote this. But let's take a stand and say "NO" to corporate control of our political system. Write, call, send carrier pigeons to your elected officials asking for serious campaign reform (that means for George Soros too). Let's demand transparency in our political action committees and think tanks. In other words, SHOW US THE MONEY! If I'm going to be bought by corporate interests, I at least I want to know who's doing the bidding.
