Koch Brothers Spend Big On Vulnerable Rob Portman

 

 

 

Portman Received A Total Of $43,000 From KOCHPAC Between 2002 And 2016. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rob Portman and his leadership PACs, America’s Majority Trust and Promoting Our Republican Team PAC, received a total of $43,000 from KOCHPAC between 2002 and 2016. This information is further detailed in the following table:

[OpenSecrets.org, accessed 2/15/16]

 

Rob Portman Uses The Koch’s Digital Platform, i360. According to Yahoo News, “Interviews with more than three dozen people, including top decision-makers in both camps, have revealed that the Kochs’ i360 platform for managing voter contacts — which is viewed by many as a superior, easier-to-use interface than what’s on offer from the RNC — is becoming increasingly popular among Republican campaigns. […] This cycle the group says eight Senate campaigns are using its programs, including those of two of the most vulnerable Republican Senators up for reelection in 2016: Rob Portman (Ohio) and Kelly Ayotte (N.H.).” [Yahoo News, 6/11/15]

 

AFP Was Set To Put $1.4 Million Into “TV Ads Bashing Democratic Senate Candidate Ted Strickland.” According to National Journal, “So it begins: This week in Ohio, Americans for Prosperity will begin airing TV ads bashing Democratic Senate candidate Ted Strickland. The conservative nonprofit will put $1.4 million into this effort, but the big question is what will come next, two years after AFP spent tens of millions of dollars in an unprecedented early TV ad campaign targeting Democratic senators.” [National Journal, 8/18/15]

 

Koch Donor Robert Mercer Was One Of The Two People Who Have Donated To Rob Portman’s Portman Victory Committee. According to Bloomberg, “[T]his year [Robert Mercer] gave more to the Koch brothers’ organization, $2.5 million, than the Kansas founders, David and Charles, who each chipped in just $2 million to Freedom Partners Action Fund. […] Senator Rob Portman, the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s finance chair and a potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate simply said, ‘I don’t have any insights’ about the man who is one of two people who’ve donated to the Portman Victory Committee.  The other contributor is Mercer’s wife of more than 40 years, Diana.  ‘The conversation I had with him was about the direction of the country. His focus with me was on the economic issues and the fiscal issues,’ Portman said.” [Bloomberg, 10/22/14]

 

 

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Published: Apr 4, 2016