Koch-affiliated groups plan to spend nearly $900 million on the 2016 elections, more than double what they spent on the last presidential election. Andy Kroll on the depressing news: -Erika $889 million. Thats how much Charles and David Kochs political network hopes to spend on the presidential race, House and Senate contests, and other elections and policy fights in 2016. That figure is not far off from how much President Barack Obamas and Mitt Romneys presidential efforts each spent in 2012. It is well over what John Kerry and George W. Bush together spent during the 2004 campaign. This fundraising target was announced Monday morning at the Koch brothers winter retreat for members of their elite donor network. And theres a good chance that much of the money the Kochs and their allies plan to unleash will be spent in the dark—that is, with little disclosure of the true source of those millions. (Key parts of the Koch network are nonprofit advocacy groups that engage in political work without revealing their donors.) If the Koch network—which included 450 or so attendees at this weekends donor confab—meets it $889-million goal for 2016, it would more than double its outlay from the last presidential election season. During the 2012 campaign, the Kochs collection of nonprofit groups spent over $400 million, with a sizable chunk of that aimed at defeating President Obama. The Kochs and their donor-allies are now essentially their own political party. As the New York Times Nick Confessore points out, the Koch networks $889 million exceeds the spending power of the Republican Party.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 19:48:00 +0000