Wisconsin Low Wage Island in the Midwest, while Right-wing Funded UW Professor uncovers Alternative Facts!!!

Remember Scott Walker's wasted taxpayer funded ad campaign to attract job seekers to Wisconsin

$6.8 million marketing and advertising campaign aimed at Midwestern millennial's, returning military veterans and alumni of the state’s public and private colleges … promote the state’s industry mix, recreation, education, arts, health care.

What didn't get any attention at all was this striking minimum wage reality that would make anybody think twice about coming here:

Guess we're not going to be seeing caravans of unemployed millennial's crossing the southern border of our state anytime soon.

Evers proposed gradual minimum wage hike to $15 is once again, according to Republicans, a business disaster and job killer. Yet there's living proof that didn't happen in Washington state:

Seattle, since 2014 ... shows that workers made more money— but that experienced workers made out the best. The study found that the increase added about $10 per week on average ... even while reducing weekly hours slightly...

Employee turnover decreased ... at the cost of reduced opportunity for the inexperienced," the study's authors wrote. (But)...The Economic Policy Institute says problems with the study haven't been fixed ... Since it defines "new entrant" as someone making less than $15 an hour ... the study would count someone who got hired at $16 or $17 an hour as a lost job instead of a better one.

Enter the UW's new Alternative "Facts" Research Facility? But wait, Republicans have a UW-Madison professor up their sleeve now. The talk show Upfront never mentioned this about Prof. Noah Williams, who's featured in their story on the minimum wage below:

Williams is director of the Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy, established in July. Funding for the center includes $240,000 from the Charles Koch Foundation and $100,000 from the Bradley Foundation ... Williams was an adviser to Walker’s presidential campaign, the Associated Press reported. Williams published a report concluding that another existing tax credit backed by Walker helped grow manufacturing jobs in the state. 

Williams’ analysis of the controversial Foxconn plant proposal concluded that the high-tech plant could return nearly $4 for every $1 of a proposed $3 billion state tax subsidy... 

How's that Foxconn deal turning out Noah?



First, anyone notice a distinct research pattern from Williams that seems to always come up GOP positive, like this from last week trashing Gov. Evers plan to expand Medicaid (BadgerCare):

Republican lawmakers are touting a health care study, by the conservative WILL and UW-Madison economics professor Noah Williams, (that) found expanding Medicaid in 2020 would increase private insurance consumer costs ... a conclusions (that) drew sharp criticism from Donna Friedsam, health policy programs director of UW-Madison’s Population Health Institute. “This study has several methodological and analytical flaws that substantially compromise the validity of its conclusions” ... pointed to mathematical errors and problems with the study’s conclusion that health care spending is higher in Medicaid expansion states. Friesam added most economists reject the reasoning that private sector health care costs would increase...

Getting back to the Upfront video clip, conservative special interest lobbyists at the Wisconsin Restaurant Association had the balls to whine about this...:

Wisconsin Restaurant Association: "...so it's always concerning to our members when they hear the government is going to artificially raise the rates..."

Hold on, wages have flat-lined for decades, yet big business just got a major Trump corporate tax cut along with multiple tax cuts for the wealthy. Nothing artificial about that government action?

I am the proud father of 2 sons, 16 and 20, and I blow a gasket every time I hear a Republican devalue their incredible lives by saying that because they lack inexperience, they aren't worth a decent wage. 

My 16 year old, who recently started a weekend food service job, registered surprise when he saw $400 in his own checking account, money he made. It was that moment when I realized; like everyone else, once you get a taste of earning an income, you want to work harder and make more. That's human nature, that's the real motivation, not a mandated government work requirement by a Republican who doesn't think young workers are worth it.  

Charles Koch beating Harry Reid in Iowa? Moyers on our Slide into Oligarchy.

Bill Moyers' recent focus has been on income inequality and the rise of the oligarchs. Merriam Webster defines oligarch this way: "a person who belongs to a small group of people who govern or control a country, business, etc. "

Just more whining and needless fear mongering from losing liberal Democrats shut out by billionaire contributors? Well, if the picture to the right doesn't worry you at all, than we've got a real problem.

The conservative Washington Free Beacon found Charles Koch had an impressive lead over Sen. Reid in their imaginative matchup:

Iowa voters would back libertarian philanthropist Charles Koch by a hefty margin over Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) in a hypothetical 2016 presidential race, according to a new Washington Free Beacon poll. The results are in keeping with earlier polls showing that Charles and his brother David Koch are more popular than Reid, despite the majority leader’s breathless campaign to portray the libertarian philanthropy barons as “un-American” and “against everything that’s good for America.” Voters may have tired of Reid’s deranged bluster about the Koch brothers trying to “buy our democracy” while his Super PAC raises money from a handful of liberal billionaires.

The Oligarchic point:

A study, to appear in the Fall 2014 issue of the academic journal Perspectives on Politics, finds that the U.S. is no democracy, but instead an oligarchy, meaning profoundly corrupt, so that the answer to the study’s opening question: "Despite the seemingly strong empirical support in previous studies for theories of majoritarian democracy, our analyses suggest that … the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy." To put it short: The United States is no democracy, but actually an oligarchy.  

But then we kind of had bad feeling about the money pouring into campaigns, didn't we? Here's a much shortened, highlight version of Bill Moyers, with Paul Krugman. See the whole thing here:

David and Charles Koch not the rugged free market individuals they say they are? Inherited Wealth makes for Big Talkers.

The free spending Koch brothers are like every other self righteous conservative who thinks they're entitled to a few extra benefits in life than everyone else. Inheriting wealth is one hell of a way to get a jump on everyone else. 

But do the Koch's walk-the-walk, and live by the same ideological political agenda pushed by their front groups like Americans for Prosperity? Even that names comes across like a sneering inside joke on seniors and low information voters.

The National Memo pointed out the Koch hypocrisy below with a list of 4 handouts they have no problem accepting:

1. In the midst of campaigning against the Affordable Care Act, the Koch brothers still managed to reap benefits from the new health care law. Koch Industries of having received subsidies under the Affordable Care Act’s temporary Early Retiree Reinsurance Program … the Associated Press confirmed … Koch Industries received $1.4 million in early retiree subsidies, which are meant to compensate employers who have to provide insurance for employees who retire before becoming eligible for Medicare.

2. Though the Koch brothers … outspoken critics of welfare programs that tend to help the poor and disabled … have aggressively lobbied for taxpayer handouts for Koch Industries refineries — the primary form of corporate welfare. Additionally, according to a ThinkProgress report, a failing Koch Industries oil refinery based in Fairbanks, Alaska once asked then-governor Sarah Palin’s administration for the type of taxpayer-funded bailout that libertarians routinely decry.

3. Despite advocating for a laissez-faire economic system, the Koch brothers obtained massive government contracts that allowed Koch Industries to buy millions of barrels of crude oil from the Middle East – specifically from Iraq, during the U.S. occupation. Koch Industries has also benefited from billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies in the form of federal government contracts and awards – billions of dollars Koch Industries never declined to accept.

4. The Kochs have also benefited from an existing provision of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal program, which conservatives over the years have condemned as socialist. A Koch Industries subsidiary and cattle ranching company, Matador Cattle Company, actually uses one of the New Deal’s existing provisions — the Land Utilization Program —  to “profit off of federal land for free.”

Democratic campaign against Koch Brothers Flushes out Charles to write pity party editorial.

Poor Charles Koch, can't take a little criticism? He can dish it out though. That's what you get from an inheritance brat who thinks he's entitled to the kind of country HE wants. 

Let's take a look at parts of his Wall Street Journal editorial. You first have to accept a long list of false premises. Line by line I've responded to Charles Koch's false premises:

(A) "A truly free society is based on a vision of respect for people and what they value." (Respect?-see picture)

(B) "In a truly free society, any business that disrespects its customers will fail, and deserves to do so." (So bad businesses will fail, like the Wall Street Banks did?)

(C) "The same should be true of any government that disrespects its citizens." (If our government disrespects its citizens, we have elections right?)

(D) "The central belief and fatal conceit of the current administration is that you are incapable of running your own life, but those in power are capable of running it for you." (This has always been the dumbest argument, ever!!! Stop it please. )

This respectful flyer compliments of Americans for Prosperity

(E) "This is the essence of big government and collectivism." ("Collectivism" is bad for government, but really good for corporate monopolies or big box stores buying in bulk)

(F) "The more government tries to control, the greater the disaster, as shown by the current health-care debacle." (ObamaCare is succeeding, where the old system wasn't. It killed people.)

(G) "Collectivists (those who stand for government control of the means of production and how people live their lives) promise heaven but deliver hell. For them, the promised end justifies the means." (When did government promise us heaven?)

(H) "Instead of encouraging free and open debate, collectivists strive to discredit and intimidate opponents. They engage in character assassination. (I should know, as the almost daily target of their attacks.)" (See Americans for Prosperity poster again)

(I) "Such tactics are the antithesis of what is required for a free society—and a telltale sign that the collectivists do not have good answers. (He said it, not me-again-see pic again!)

(J) "Instead of fostering a system that enables people to help themselves, America is now saddled with a system that destroys value, raises costs, hinders innovation and relegates millions of citizens to a life of poverty, dependency and hopelessness." (The assumption that people will stop innovating is ridiculous. I grew up hearing there was always someone behind me ready to take my place. That was true, despite regulation and safety net programs)

(K) "This is what happens when elected officials believe that people's lives are better run by politicians and regulators than by the people themselves." (...wow, can you say Republican social engineers?)

(L) "If more businesses (and elected officials) were to embrace a vision of creating real value for people in a principled way, our nation would be far better off—not just today, but for generations to come. I'm dedicated to fighting for that vision." (Nice goal, but impossible. Not all businesses will act in a principled way, that's life. Alan Greenspan admitted his surprise at the unprincipled way Wall St. banks screwed over their customers. He said free market principles failed.)

Democrats campaign against "obscure" Koch brothers...who?!!!

The amazing piece of reporting below does all it can to make the Koch brothers influence seem petty and ridiculously small. How could these "obscure" brothers, who are publically unrecognizable, be so "significantly troubling?"

AP: Democratic Senate candidates ... are gambling they can turn voters against two billionaire brothers funding the attacks — even if few Americans would recognize the pair on the street … Democrats are denouncing Charles and David Koch, the key figures behind millions of dollars in conservative TV ads hammering Democratic candidates and their ties to President Barack Obama ... the Koch brothers, who rarely appear in public, are so significant and troubling that voters should reject the Republican candidates benefiting from their ads.

Who are these..."Coke" brothers, and why are liberals being so unfair?

Democrats depict the Kansas-based Koch (pronounced "Coke") brothers as self-serving oil barons who pay huge sums to try to "buy" elections and advance their agenda of low taxes and less regulation. And they're using unusually harsh language in the Senate.

Here's Politico's Mike Allen with a little talked about story about how the Koch's are doing their own ad campaigns now:



Here's the meak and mild Sen. Harry Reid:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: "I guess if you make that much money, you can make these immoral decisions. The Koch brothers are about as un-American as anyone I can imagine."

Republican Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas defended the Kochs and compared Reid's remarks to the communist-baiting tactics of Joseph McCarthy. "I can't imagine that's an effective tool," said Moran, who chairs the Senate Republicans' campaign committee.

Democratic pollster Geoff Garin says Americans, when given this basic information, believe the brothers are trying to elect a government that helps them at the expense of less wealthy people, who would fare better under Democratic policies.

Republican Richard Burr: "I don't think there's any resentment to a group or individual spending their money to tell people what's really going on."

What's REALLY going on? Give me a break. My conservative friend in Milwaukee sent me this: "WISN's Dan O'Donnell reports that the boogeymen of the left give just a tiny fraction of the money that employee unions have spent..." The problem is, the totals O'Donnell talked about dated back to 1989, and NOT just the last five years or so. Deceptive, sure, but that's how the game is played.

Here's Rachel Maddow's look at the Koch's early spending spree:

Here are the Koch highlights from the documentary "(Astro) Turf Wars."



Still more odds and ends:

Republicans note that liberal billionaires also spend heavily on politics … (like) environmentalist and hedge-fund manager Tom Steyer … Democrats say Steyer will not benefit financially by pushing his climate change agenda, whereas the Kochs' campaign ... would help big businesses like theirs.

Reid: "Think about what an America rigged by the Koch brothers would look like. The Koch brothers don't care about creating a strong public education system in America" … nor a "strong safety net of Medicare and Social Security" or "a guarantee of affordable, quality health insurance for every American. Why? Because the Koch brothers can afford to buy all those benefits and more for themselves. I'm going to keep talking about them every chance I get because America should not be for sale."

Matt Canter of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign committee: "We've done extensive polling ... Voters understand that Republicans are pushing a policy agenda that is good for their benefactors, the Koch brothers. The message we've tested does not rest on them knowing who Charles and David Koch are." In state after state, Democrats are berating the Kochs in speeches and fundraising appeals.

Koch industries spokesman Steve Lombardo defended the ads ... "it is unfortunate that Harry Reid is focused on attacking citizens of the United States rather than the problems facing this country." He said "I think the American people are smart and will see through this tactic," Lombardo said.

Who's attacking "citizens of the United States? 

The Koch’s: The Bond like villain’s out to destroy the Middle Class now want Americans to give up health care insurance.

The Koch brothers have lots of money to do anything they want to achieve their selfish ideological ends. Even tell people not to buy insurance? Believe it or not, yes.

They’re not shy about their agenda either, having named their most visible group “Americans for Prosperity.” They, we're talking about the wealthy, are the Americans growing their prosperity. Over "95 percent of the income gains reported since 2009 have gone to the top 1 percent."-CNBC

Rachel Maddow pointed out last night how the Koch's have hired the guy who pushed government mandated vaginal ultrasounds in multiple states to run ads against government mandated health care. That confusing message is just what the Koch's are counting on. Love the scary Uncle Sam ad too:

In a related local story, the Koch's are portrayed as just another manufactured target of the liberal left. What are Democrats afraid of, success? The fact that the Koch's have $72 billion of "free speech" wealth to spend on corporate Ayn Randian propaganda should send up a few red flags, even for staunch conservatives.

Cap Times: The latest: Politico reports the Kochs have been operating a secret “bank” that doled out a quarter of a billion dollars to various conservative causes and political groups last year.

“Freedom Partners is organized under the same section of the Tax Code as a trade association, a 501(c)6, which allows the group to conceal its donors from public release, although the amounts and recipients of its major grants are public.”

So imagine my surprise, which wasn't much of a real surprise, when I came across this upside down comment from David “blowhard” Blaska:

 “ALEC, of course, shares the liberal dunking pond with the Koch Brothers, Fox News, the Bradley Foundation, WMC, Karl Rove and Scott Walker — the mere mention of which draw sustained hissing and huffing from true blue fisters.”

That’s right, they’re all just innocent bystanders.

Of course Blaska’s party filled their own dunking pond with blue fisters, unionistas, liberal Madison, activist judges, smug elitists, Moveon.org and George Soros. But they don't count David?

Speaking of ALEC, I even asked my conservative friend in Milwaukee if he had heard of ALEC; he didn't. I think that might be true of many conservative voters. The conservative media is very good at filling their news with distractions.

Scott Walker would have given up $28 million in federal funds to pay off Koch front group United Sportsmen!

I ran across this informative WSAU interview with state Rep. Katrina Shankland that gets into the details of Scott Walker's incredible funding mistake to United Sportsmen, a group described by reporter Greg Palast as a Koch brothers front group. 

The Koch Operation, Americans for Prosperity, had its Chief set up a front called United Sportsmen of Wisconsin. United Sportsmen of Wisconsin, which appeared and then instantly vanished after the recall vote...

A nice quick listen, audio only:

WSAU’s: Shankland says Governor Walker’s administration willfully moved forward with the grant during the budget knowing the risk to federal wildlife funds. “It appears that the Walker administration failed to do their due diligence and informing all members of the Legislature of this issue, specifically members of the Joint Finance Committee who voted to approve this $500,000 grant without knowing that we would be losing $28 million dollars in funds.” When asked if this issue will come up soon in a committee meeting, Shankland says, “It better.” She added, “I think this isn’t over. As a member of the Natural Resources and Sporting Heritage Committee in the Assembly, I’ll be following this issue very closely, and at the very least, we need an apology.”

Another Legislator upset about this is Republican Senator Rob Cowles from Allouez. Cowles says lawmakers should not be finding out about potentially costly problems with a state budget provision months after the budget was signed, and that this whole situation raises serious questions.

Ryan attends Koch Secret Meeting! Why the Secrecy, what are they hiding?

No matter how bad secrecy sounds, Republicans aren't shy about cloaking themselves in it.

What are they hiding? Secrecy hides things.

Politico: Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan headline Koch summit: Rep. Paul Ryan, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor secretly spoke to wealthy donors at the Koch brothers’ recently concluded summer gathering on the outskirts of Albuquerque. (Ryan is a) return participant to the twice-annual seminar, which also drew wealthy donors and conservative non-profit leaders.

Secretly meeting with the Koch’s? Why? What secret plan is Ryan a part of? Check out this list of power brokers, politicians, pundits and Justices who have secretly huddled with one of the largest conservative free market contributors ever, and what are they getting in return for such secrecy?

Ryan has developed deep ties to Koch World, having appeared at multiple events for Americans for Prosperity, and delivering a major speech at the Kochs’ summer 2008 donor summit on his “fiscal ‘Roadmap for America’s future,’” Other past attendees include Supreme Court justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, media stars Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and the late Andrew Breitbart, Govs. Chris Christie of New Jersey, Bob McDonnell of Virginia and Rick Perry of Texas, and Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who has since resigned to head the Heritage Foundation, which has received funding from the Koch donor network.

Money does corrupt, and Ryan is secretly meeting with and taking that corruption. 

John Birch Society's Fred Koch made Millions helping Stalin build Power Plants!!!

The other day on WPR's Joy Cardin show, Claire Conner, author of Wrapped In the Flag: A Personal History of the Radical Right, filled us in on the John Birch Society and its current incarnation, the tea party.

Before there was the TEA Party, there was the John Birch Society. Joy Cardin's guest this hour can speak personally to the inner workings of the Society. Her parents were founding members. Learn about the similarities she sees between the John Birch Society of the 1950s and the TEA Party of today. 

Here's a shortened 7 minute clip from the hour long program that gets to the heart of the tea party movement and the ugly origin of the Koch family money. What's that about George Soros guys?

$34,000? You're in the World's Top 1%. Congratulations from the Charles Koch Foundation. Insulted yet?

This Koch brothers ad is so offensive that...well, I don't know what to say, except this might just change a lot minds. It's called Economic Freedom 101. Really. The Charles Koch Foundation had to compare our wages to the "World's" wages, to come up with this one. There's really nothing like this and never will be. Are the teabillies watching....:

Here are a few of the comments...the last one is my favorite:

1. You're so damn lucky to be poor -- now make me another hamburger! Love, Papa Koch

2. You neglected to mention that it's things like excessive CEO pay and a low minimum wage that have reduced the US's ranking.

3. Anyone have an idea why this guy hates poor people so much?

4. Fascist Propaganda bar none

5. You end poverty... by giving people less money for their work? Did you guys fail basic math?

6. Talk about moving the fucking goalposts: So because the poors of, say, Singapore, have more money than the poor in Zimbabwe, they are not poor, worked to death, or deprived of civil liberties? This foundation is a disgrace to all thinking people.

7.Charles Koch is a super villain. 

Walker, Kleefisch, Johnson, Duffy, Sensenbrenner, Darling, Grothman, Lazich, Kooyenga, Ott, Kramer, Pridemore, Ribble take Koch Brothers Pledge on Energy. Real Leaders?

What “rugged individual” exercising their liberty and freedom would want to run around making pledges to every right wing crazy group that comes along? Kinda blows their cover, doesn’t it?

Here’s part of a great article by Cap Times reporter Steve Elbow:

You’ve no doubt heard about Grover Norquist’s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge.” Well, there’s a new pledge in town, and several Wisconsin conservatives have signed on.

This pledge is called the “No Climate Tax Pledge,” but it might as well be called the “Koch Brothers Protection Pledge” … Signers of the pledge, now numbering 411, promise to "oppose any legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue” — in other words, no legislation on climate change without an equivalent amount of tax cuts. They include one U.S. senator from Wisconsin, three House members, four members of the state Senate, and four members of the Assembly — as well as Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch.

The Koch brothers and their oil industry bretheren have been avid Walker backers and supporters of Wisconsin tea party candidates, both for ideological reasons and because of the state's wealth of frac sand. 

The little-known pledge was highlighted Monday with the release of a two-year study by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, which documents Charles and David Koch's extensive influencing of politicians, news media, elections and academia through think tanks, lobbyists, non-profits, and oodles of cash.  (Here's a good story from The New Yorker on the report.)

Wisconsin signers of the pledge, all Republicans, are U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, U.S. Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner, Sean Duffy and Reid Ribble, state Sens. Leah Vukmir, Alberta Darling, Glenn Grothman and Mary Lazich, and state Reps. Dale Kooyenga, Don Pridemore, Jim Ott and Bill Kramer.

How bad and embarrassing is our partisan “Red” state now?

Since we're all fond of comparing Wisconsin with Minnesota, a demographically similar state that outperforms Wisconsin on several economic fronts, it merits noting that the only politicians from that state to sign the pledge are retiring U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann and Minnesota state Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen.

Koch Funded Americans for Prosperity direct political link to Tea Party Losers.

The documentary AstroTurf Wars connects the big corporate money to the tax exempt groups we know as the tea party.

"....exposes how front groups like the Kochs’ Americans for Prosperity, Energy Citizens, and Blankenship’s Friends of America have taken populist discontent during a Democratic presidency and redirected it to their radical right-wing corporate agenda of global warming pollution, regressive taxation, and health-care profiteering. In (Astro)Turf Wars, Australian filmmaker Taki Oldham journeys from Philadelphia to West Virginia, interviewing angry grassroots conservatives and the corporate public relations experts who are manipulating them. Going undercover at several Tea Party rallies, Oldham has exclusive coverage of how corporate profiteers are attempting to bring the United States government back under their thumb.

504(c)(4) is exclusively for "social welfare" organizations. After watching this, the IRS blunder might just be the thing that changes this corporate con job. We can hope anyway:



Here's another trailer that's just as insulting, as teabillies put words to their stupidity:

Out-of-State Americans for Prosperity pushing Vouchers in Wisconsin.

Giving up the disguise of using local groups for cover, and going right for the throat of public education, the Koch brothers Americans for Prosperity bused themselves into the state on a quest to sell vouchers to Beloit and Kenosha parents who don't want them.

 Again, Americans for Prosperity is now openly peddling its out-of-state agenda in Wisconsin.

Amazing!!! Rock Valley Educational Professionals hopes the truth about vouchers, as explained the in the Channel3000 story below, short circuits the AFP message of division and privatization.

More Employee threats to vote Republican, from Koch Industries this time.

The employee threats continue to pour out of corporate America’s one big chance to swoop in and own us lock stock and barrel. The human commodity.

I would link to all the other stories, but what the heck, this movement isn’t about to slow down anytime soon.

Cap Times-Mike Ivey: In These Times reported that Koch Industries has sent a “voter information packet” to some 45,000 employees at its Georgia Pacific division, which includes the former Fort Howard paper plant in Green Bay.

Included in the packet is a letter from Koch Industries President Dave Robertson cautioning that “many of our more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors may suffer the consequences” of voting for "candidates who want to spend hundreds of billions in borrowed money on costly new subsidies for a few favored cronies, put unprecedented regulatory burdens on businesses, prevent or delay important new construction projects, and excessively hinder free trade ..."

Of course Koch Industries didn’t really mean to send out a veiled threat of retaliation to their employees, but the letter had absolutely nothing to do with politics, right?

Koch Industries has denied any political angle to the voter information, noting in a statement issued Sunday that both Koch companies and Koch PAC, described as an "employee political action committee," support candidates “based on their support for market-based policies and economic freedom” and not party affiliation. “We support both Republicans and Democrats who support market-based policies and solutions,” the statement says.

Oddly, only Republicans have that extreme free market ideological belief. Coincidence?  

But as Forbes notes in this story, Koch money has gone almost exclusively to Republicans, especially in more recent elections.

 Check out the story link here, for an amazing inside look at Charles Koch from his wife's perspective.

Employee intimidation extends beyond the work place too:

Investorvillage: Their fear comes not only from the mailing, but also from a new Georgia Pacific social media policy implemented earlier this year that warns, “Even if your social media conduct is outside of the workplace and/or non-work related, it must not reflect negatively on GP’s reputation, its products, or its brands.” Given the policy, the workers were scared to appear next to a candidate the Kochs do not support with the plant in the background.

The Koch Cancer spreads to Cato Institute.

Isn’t it ironic that David Koch, a big supporter of cancer research, has seen his brand of politics turn into the cancer that even conservative groups fear will kill them?

I’d like to see Scott Walker supporters defend the poor picked on Koch brothers now:

NY Times: From its perch in a spacious brand-new headquarters blocks from the White House, the Cato Institute has built on its reputation as a venerable libertarian research center unafraid to cross party lines. Now, however, a rift with one of its founding members — the billionaire conservative Charles Koch — is threatening the institute’s identity and independence, its leaders say, and is exposing fault lines over Mr. Koch’s aggressive and well-financed brand of Republican politics.

While Democrats have been criticized for claiming the Koch’s were putting in place lackey politicians and phony tea party organizations to kill public education and green energy, the Koch’s were also doing the same thing at the libertarian Cato Institute:

The rift has its roots, Cato officials said, in a long-simmering feud over efforts by Mr. Koch and his brother David Koch to install their own people on the institute’s 16-member board and to establish a more direct pipeline between Cato and the family’s Republican political outlets, including groups that Democrats complain have mounted a multimillion-dollar assault on President Obama. Tensions reached a new level with a lawsuit filed last week by the Kochs against Cato over its governing structure. “We can’t be perceived as a mouthpiece of special interests,” Robert A. Levy, chairman of Cato’s board, said in an interview. “The Cato Institute as we know it would be destroyed.”

Of course the Koch's have their familiar denial, the one they've given over and over again:

 “We support Cato and its work,” Mr. Koch said in a statement. “We are not acting in a partisan manner, we seek no ‘takeover,’ and this is not a hostile action.”

Of course not. They're not helping Scott Walker win the recall election either. It’s starting to look like Koch “conservatism” has become a raging cancer that may just kill its host, the Republican Party.

“This is an effort by the Kochs to turn the Cato Institute into some sort of auxiliary for the G.O.P.,” said Edward H. Crane, who is president of Cato and co-founded it with Charles Koch.