Koch Brothers

President Brad Woodhouse Op-Ed: The TRUTH About the Koch Agenda

Don't miss American Bridge President Brad Woodhouse's new op-ed on CNN.com on the truth behind the Koch agenda, and visit RealKochFacts.com to learn more.

They called Social Security "the most serious threat to the future stability of our society next to the threat of nuclear war." They wanted to abolish all minimum wage laws, while giving tax breaks to the rich and big oil. All in a self-serving attempt to drive the policy discourse further toward their extreme ideals to benefit their own bottom line. Voters deserve to know the truth behind the Kochs' self-serving agenda and just what they stand for. So, at American Bridge, we've launched RealKochFacts.com, a new research and rapid response resource to highlight the truth about the Koch agenda and what it means for working families in states around the country.

You can read the full op-ed over on CNN.com

DUI: Democracy Under the Influence (of Koch)

The Koch brothers have been trying to abolish campaign finance laws for more than three decades. In 1980, David Koch discovered a loophole that allowed him to contribute unlimited funds to a campaign if he was on the ticket. So he wrote to the Libertarian Party, bought a spot as their VP nominee, contributed over $2 million of his own money, and ran on a ticket that advocated for abolishing campaign finance laws (among others, like the minimum wage). Fast forward 30+ years and the Kochs' dream of overrunning democracy with unbridled political spending has essentially been realized. Their extensive network of dark money organizations reaches far and deep - like the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity, which has already promised to spend $125 million to buy midterm elections for extreme Republican candidates that will push the Kochs' self-serving agenda. It's the same agenda that they've been pushing for decades--abolishing the minimum wage, slashing Medicare, removing environmental protections, and dismantling Social Security.

Founder David Brock Talks With POLITICO

In the most recent Open Mike with Mike Allen of POLITICO, he chats with American Bridge founder David Brock.

Mike Allen: “The Clinton camp is pushing back hard against Karl Rove's statement the other day.” David Brock: “If you're asking does it backfire, the answer to that is yes. I think Rove was so grotesque in the overstepping that it ended up being a big mistake, even though I understand what he was trying to do. This was really part of a pattern on Karl Rove's part. We've seen it before — sleazy, personal attacks for partisan reasons.” Allen: “Of the 2016 Republican candidates, does that look like a target-rich environment or are these guys kind of boring? Brock: “We've been tracking all the potentials. Chris Christie can be fun to track. As we know, he can be incredibly colorful. Rand Paul can also be an interesting kind of person to track. I don't find him to be plain vanilla or boring. This is a pretty massive intelligence-gathering operation we have going here.”

You watch the full Open Mike video over at POLITICO here.

New TV Ad, War Room to Fight Back Against the Koch Agenda

Meet the real Koch brothers, secretive billionaires willing to spend millions to drive their self-serving agenda at the expense of working families. That's the message in American Bridge's new TV ad "If they win" being released today (our first of the cycle!). The ad, released by the American Bridge 21st Century Foundation with a national cable buy, is part of a new war room Bridge is launching today to fight back against the promise by the Kochs' Americans for Prosperity to spend $125 million to buy this year's mid-term elections. The Real Koch Facts project includes dedicated staff who will focus on a daily communications, research and rapid response effort to tell voters just how dangerous the Kochs' self-serving agenda is for working families.

Marco Rubio, Climate Scientist

Sen. Marco Rubio made headlines this weekend with an eyebrow-raising rebuke of science. Here's what the 2016 presidential hopeful told ABC's Jonathan Karl:

"I don't agree with the notion that some are putting out there, including scientists, that somehow there are actions we can take today that would actually have an impact on what's happening in our climate. Our climate is always changing. And what they have chosen to do is take a handful of decades of research and say that this is now evidence of a longer-term trend that's directly and almost solely attributable to manmade activity, I do not agree with that."

It's unclear when Sen. Rubio became a connoisseur of climate science with the authority to chide the 97% of climate scientists who agree that humans are contributing to climate change. Perhaps it has something to do with his courting of the far right and their deep-pocketed, Koch-funded outside groups like Americans for Prosperity, which promises to spend $125 million this year to buoy candidates that embrace their extreme agenda. AFP's president, Tim Phillips, hasn't parsed words in bragging about their role in pushing Republican candidates to deny climate science:

"We’ve made great headway. What it means for candidates on the Republican side is, if you … buy into green energy or you play footsie on this issue, you do so at your political peril. The vast majority of people who are involved in the [Republican] nominating process—the conventions and the primaries—are suspect of the science. And that’s our influence. Groups like Americans for Prosperity have done it."

So there you have it. Marco Rubio was born and raised in Miami, a city that is severely threatened by rising sea levels associated with climate change. He has an opportunity as a Senator to take action on climate change, stand up for his constituents, and help protect his home state. But he'd rather protect his political aspirations, spewing the mythical rhetoric that the Koch brothers and their allies have made mainstream in today's GOP. At least we know where his priorities lie.

Billionaire Koch Brothers Oppose Increasing the Minimum Wage

From President Brad Woodhouse: Not exactly a newsflash – but here it is - from the Koch funded AFP – a note to Senators urging a vote against increasing the minimum wage. Two dudes worth a combined over $80 billion opposing an increase in the minimum wage for people who work fulltime but still live in poverty. Unbelievable.