Gov. Scott Walker is expected to join several other top Republican presidential hopefuls in California this weekend at an event hosted by a group affiliated with billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch. In April, Charles Koch, who for many years granted only the occasional interview to his hometown newspaper, the Wichita Eagle, answered questions from USA Today.
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Billionaire industrialist Charles Koch is challenging a group of roughly 450 like-minded conservative political donors to advocate for ending “corporate cronyism” – policies that in many cases help their businesses.
“That was Harry Reid that was trying to trip me there”, Koch cracked of the Senate Democratic leader, who has waged a campaign to brand the Koch brothers as the personification of the big-money takeover of American democracy.
Last summer, The Nation, citing a source who attended the conference, reported that “Freedom Partners spent more than $870,000, which included large fees to shut down public access to the golf course, the Michael Mina restaurant Stonehill Tavern and Motif Restaurant” in order to keep out uninvited guests. “I didn’t see him, but I know he’s watching”. The now-infamous Citizens United ruling fundamentally put control of America’s government up for sale to the highest bidder and no human being in America, except maybe the Koch brothers, was happier than Mitch McConnell.
Governor Walker was asked how much money is too much money.
Walker, the Wisconsin governor, praised the Kochs for mobilizing other donors and operatives, and emphasized his fights against his state’s public sector unions, which won him fans in the Koch network. The announcement prompted the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, another donor, to sever its relationship with the fund – a publicity coup, some argued, for the Kochs. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article. As do we! However, according to Politico, this was the first time mainstream media reporters were permitted inside the twice-annual “donor seminar”, on the condition that those present not be named without their permission. As a result of nonprofits don’t disclose their donors, it’s unimaginable to understand how a lot of the Koch community’s spending is underwritten by the Kochs themselves.
McConnell, and the Koch brothers, lust to enact into law, abolish more campaign finance regulations before the 2016 general election season fully gets underway.
Allies of the Kochs acknowledged that their approach had been shaped partly by the bruising experience of the 2012 and 2014 election cycles, when Democrats like Reid sought to make the Koch name a dirty word among voters.
While that battle over the Koch image continues on the airwaves, Freedom Partners is looking to publicize the work of its political organizations at the gathering this weekend, particularly, Davis said, policies “that benefit the politically connected at the expense of everyone else in our society”. It is exactly what a fascist dictator would do and a means for the Koch brothers to repay Republican Mitch McConnell with the greatest day of his 35-year political life.
And Sens. Cory Gardner, Mike Lee, Ben Sasse and Dan Sullivan, as well as Rep. Jim Jordan were set to address donors during a Saturday night dinner in a panel moderated by Freedom Partners president Marc Short.
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A trio of GOP presidential candidates – former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, as well as Sens.
