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Chris Matthews attacks Michigan GOPer over Koch ties

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 01:46:00 +0000

Scott Hagerstrom, a worker for the Koch-backed Tea Party group Americans For Prosperity, appeared on Hardball on MSNBC to talk about the right-to-work protests in Michigan, and Chris Matthews let him have it over the group's ties to the billionaire conservatives.

“This is pretty much a union-gutting operation,” Matthews said about the state's legislation. “You work for the Koch brothers. They don’t like unions. Why are you working for them?" Hagerstrom replied: “I work for Americans for Prosperity. This is not about the Koch Brothers.”

Matthews fired back: “Who’s paying your salary?" Hagerstrom kept repeating: “I work Americans for Prosperity."

"What’s that?" Matthews asked.

Watch:

House GOP Leadership pledged to oppose “climate tax”

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 22:01:00 +0000

The entire GOP leadership has signed a pledge to "oppose any legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue.”

The Tea Party group Americans for Prosperity, which is backed by the Koch brothers, sent out a press release Thursday marking the election of House GOP leadership with a reminder that they had all signed.

It lists these key House Republicans as who signed on:

John Boehner – Speaker of the House
Eric Cantor – Republican Majority Leader
Kevin McCarthy – Republican Majority Whip
Cathy McMorris Rodgers – Republican Conference Chairman
Greg Walden – National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman
James Lankford – Republican Policy Committee Chairman
Lynn Jenkins – Republican Conference Vice-Chair
Virginia Foxx – Republican Conference Secretary
Tim Scott – Sophomore Class Liaison to Leadership

“It is heartening to see that for the second congress in a row the House of Representatives will be led by a team that is publicly committed not to use climate as a guise to grow government,” said AFP Director of Policy James Valvo in a statement.

Conservatives fail to oust judges in Iowa and Florida

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 21:11:00 +0000

Supreme Court justices in Iowa and Florida held onto their seats last night, despite campaigns by conservative groups to vote them out because they ruled in ways that were unpopular with the right.

Both states have a policy called merit retention, where voters can decide whether to keep or vote out judges at the end of their terms.

In Iowa, Justice David Wiggins won retention, despite a campaign by social conservative groups to push him out for his ruling to strike down a ban on gay marriage in 2009.

The Des Moines Register reports that Bob Van Der Plaats, head of Iowans For Freedom, the group behind the campaign, said that although Wiggins kept his seat, it was by a small enough margin that he shouldn't be celebrating. “I think the courts understand that people of Iowa still have a voice if they chose to go outside their constitutional boundaries.”

In 2010, Van Der Plaats and other conservative groups succeessuflly ousted three of the other seven judges who had ruled unanimously on the gay marriage law.

Retailer pressures workers to take anti-Obama “civics course”

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 13:28:00 +0000

If you live in the Midwest and you're working on a home-improvement project, you're as likely to do your shopping at a Menards store as at a Lowe's or Home Depot. With 270 stores and 40,000 employees, Menards is the third-largest home-improvement chain in the U.S., and one of the largest privately held corporations in the country. But Menards stores sell more than just lumber and building supplies; their employees are sold a bill of goods in the form of right-wing ideology.

This January, as the Iowa Caucuses were underway, Menards began encouraging employees to take an at-home online "civics" course that characterizes the economic policies of President Barack Obama as a threat to the success of businesses such as Menards, and by extension, to the employees' own well-being.

FBI Investigation

Conservative group: Koch-targeted judges are not “activist”

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 19:26:00 +0000

A report by a conservative legal group concludes that three Florida Supreme Court justices, targeted by the right as "activist judges," are not, in fact, "activist."

The Federalist Society commissioned a report by a professor in Florida to analyze whether three justices, up for merit retention votes this November, are actually "activist." Merit retention is the policy of certain states to let voters decide whether to keep or chuck justices at the end of their terms.

In Florida, three judges have been the subject of a campaign by the Koch-backed Tea Party group Americans for Prosperity and the Republican Party of Florida, because of a number of rulings they made that were unpopular with the right. Among them was a ruling against an effort by the state to block Obama’s healthcare law.

Florida International University professor Elizabeth Price Foley analyzed nine controversial cases taken up by the Florida Supreme Court since 2000, including the healthcare case, and concluded that "there does not appear to be a pattern of unprincipled decision-making by any of the justices of the Florida Supreme Court. There are disagreements, true. but disagreements do not suggest that those with whom you disagree are unprincipled."

Dark money shadows New Mexico

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 13:01:00 +0000

Dark money groups flooded Albuquerque’s airwaves in August, aiming to sway a hotly contested U.S. Senate race by making more than half the political ad buys on top TV stations.

That fact, gleaned through a review of TV station political ad records now available in our Free the Files news application, highlights the role that unlimited anonymous money is playing in this year’s election.

Our analysis of a month of ad orders in the Senate race between Republican Heather Wilson and Democrat Rep. Martin Heinrich is possible because of a new Federal Communications Commission rule requiring major-market affiliates of ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC to upload political ad files to a government website.

In statements to ProPublica, the campaigns of Heinrich and Wilson blamed each other for relying on dark money.

Wilson campaign spokesman Chris Sanchez accused “environmental extremists” of pouring money “into New Mexico to falsely attack Heather Wilson because they know her opponent, Congressman Heinrich, supports their radical agenda.”

Judges targeted by right-wing groups

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 20:55:00 +0000

Tea Partyers and conservatives have set their sights on (what they might call) "liberal activist judges" who are up for review at the state level.

Certain states have what's called "merit retention," where voters can decide whether to keep or chuck the justices at the end of their terms. In some of those states, right-wing groups have been campaigning against the judges who didn't quite vote their way.

In 2010, anti-gay group Iowans for Freedom poured money into a campaign to get rid of three Iowa Supreme Court justices. Other groups like the National Organization for Marriage were also heavily involved. The reason? Those judges, along with four others, had unanimously voted to strike down the state's ban on gay marriage. They were successful. All three judges lost their seats.

This year, one of the remaining four judges, David Wiggins, has reached the end of his term, and faces opposition from the right.

Koch-funded activists to protest Occupy

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 17:36:00 +0000

It seems an odd choice, to protest against Occupy Wall Street; police forces around the country have already done a thorough job of taking on Occupy groups throughout the year. However, billionaire Koch brothers' right-wing advocacy group Americans for Prosperity is still concerned that Occupy needs dealing with.

On Thursday in New York's midtown, Americans for Prosperity activists are gathering for a protest in a leg of their "Failing Agenda Bus Tour," aimed at disavowing government policies that would increase national debt. On Thursday, however, the free market fans will take specific aim at Occupy Wall Street. A statement from Steve Lonegan, Americans for Prosperity's New Jersey state director, said of Occupy participants, "These are people who despise free enterprise. They are not attacking Wall Street. They are attacking the very freedoms that everyday Americans cherish to pursue their own dreams and succeed.”

Around 7,500 individuals have been arrested in the past year for involvement in various Occupy activities, including nearly 200 arrests during the last week for the Occupy anniversary marches and rallies in New York. Aggressive policing of Occupy has drawn broad criticism, including from a United Nations special rapporteur on human rights. But Americans for Prosperity has had enough of such leniency; as Lonegan stresses in his release, "It’s time that someone stood up to the Occupy Wall Street mob.”

It is unclear how many people are expected at Thursday's protest against protesters, but the Koch-funded advocacy group claims to have a national network of 2 million supporters.

Romney condom, anyone?

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 17:35:00 +0000

In a cruel turn for sex fans everywhere, and another unwelcome intrusion of politics into the bedroom, Obama and Romney condoms are being handed out in New York.

Videographer Tim Pool snapped this image of the free novelty prophylactics at an anti-Occupy protest, staged by activists from Koch brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity.

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Update: Salon would like to thank the salacious minds that responded to our call out for alternative condom slogans. The Romney condom packet carried the slogan "Great for Any Position" (as a barb at the presidential not-so-hopeful's flip-flopping). The Obama condom read, "Won't break as easily as his promises." We asked readers if they could do any better. Here are a few great alternative suggestions proposed by readers.

Via Twitter:

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Our friends on Facebook also had some delightful suggestions. Suzanne Grace Collins proposed, "Romney condoms, for when you don't want to feel anything." And Ben Ellington had this tasteful offering: "Obama -- Change is cumming."

Koch group’s $25 million buy

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 20:00:00 +0000

Americans for Prosperity, the libertarian grass-roots organizing shop founded and chaired by David Koch, is buying $25 million worth of ads targeting President Obama, it announced yesterday. The campaign is, of course, “the latest example of how independent political groups funded by a small number of wealthy donors are shaping the presidential campaign in key swing states,” as the New York Times notes, but it’s interesting for two other more important reasons as well.

First, despite organizing massive Tea Party rallies pushing policy goals closely in line with those of the GOP, AFP has always tried to maintain a veneer of nonpartisanship. Unlike other outside groups, the group has never run ads that expressly call for the election or defeat of any candidate, but rather only “issue ads” that attack or support candidates for adopting policies AFP supports. But no longer. In the new campaign, $6.7 million will go to expressly advocate the defeat of President Obama. On a conference call with reporters yesterday, AFP president Tim Phillips said, “We’ve always stayed away from express advocacy. But given the president’s disastrous record, we felt this was necessary.”

The third Koch brother?

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:17:00 +0000

Rachel Maddow spent a lot of time Thursday night on what is potentially the most damaging Herman Cain scandal: charges that his campaign manager, Smokin' Mark Block, used corporate money donated to Prosperity USA to pay Cain campaign expenses. Prosperity USA is affiliated with Americans for Prosperity, the conservative corporate advocacy group funded by Charles and David Koch.

Cain, of course, strenuously denies the allegations of sexual harassment against him, but when it comes to charges that he's too close to the rapacious Kochs, he pleads guilty. “I am the Koch brothers' brother from another mother,” Cain told an Americans for Prosperity summit Friday, insisting he was “very proud” to know the right-wing Kochs, who run oil and gas behemoth Koch Industries.

But now Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics is asking for a probe of the ties between Americans for Prosperity and the Cain campaign. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported this week that Block used Prosperity USA funds to pay for Cain's travel and other campaign expenses. Block headed Prosperity USA before he joined Cain, and before that he was with Americans for Prosperity. Back before that, of course, he ran a Wisconsin judicial campaign that went so afoul of campaign law Block found himself barred from politics in Wisconsin for three years.