Grover Norquist's Budget Is Largely Financed by Just Two Billionaire-Backed Nonprofits

Source: The Nation

Grover Norquist’s iron grip over much of the Republican Party is somewhat puzzling. Why should Senators and other lawmakers listen to a guy caught laundering money for Jack Abramoff?

But consider Norquist’s tax pledge and political power another way: that he’s just a proxy for the powerful interest groups that finance him. In the nineties, it was big tobacco that used Norquist’s tax pledge as a cover to lobby lawmakers against cigarette taxes (Norquist still uses an e-mail system donated to him by Altria to send out Tea Party action alerts against tobacco taxes). Now, big PhRMA and other industry groups provide grants to Norquist while his foundation endorses other giveaways, like protectionist support against importing cheaper drugs from Canada and the classification of tax subsidies to refineries as “tax cuts” that must not be cut.

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The disclosures show that only two billionaire-backed groups have provided over 66 percent of Norquist’s funding:

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The Center to Protect Patients Rights is the foundation used by the billionaire clique led by the Koch brothers to distribute grants to allied groups. In 2010, wealthy moguls like Steve Bechtel of Bechtel Corporation and Steve Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group met behind closed doors to help lend money to these types of efforts.

Crossroads GPS is the undisclosed group run by Karl Rove. The only known donors are folks like Paul Singer, the “vulture” hedge fund king who benefits enormously from tax strategies like the carried interest loophole. Norquist’s pledge largely benefits billionaires like Singer and Schwarzman, who pay almost nothing in payroll taxes and likely pay a lower rate than their secretaries.


Read more: http://www.thenation.com/blog/171475/analysis-grover-norquists-budget-largely-financed-just-two-billionaire-backed-nonprofits#

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The mainstream media helps perpetuate Grover Norquist's influence by ignoring the fact that he is merely a conduit for corporate money and billionaires like the Koch brothers to control the Republican party. Norquist provides cover for billioniares and corporate interests to threaten Republicans who may even consider straying from anti-tax orthodoxy because Norquist's threats are back by millions in corporate campaign contributions. If you stray, Crossroads GPS will dump millions into a primary challenge.