The Rightwing Koch Brothers Fund the DLC

[IndianaGreen]

From an old post at democrats.com:

The Rightwing Koch Brothers Fund the DLC

Submitted by Ted Kahl on February 9, 2006 - 10:44pm

Do deep-pocketed "philanthropists" necessarily control the organizations they fund? That has certainly been the contention of those who truck in conspiracy theories about the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations funding liberal and neo-liberal organizations. As for the rightwing, journalists such as Joe Conason and Gene Lyons uncovered that the "vast right wing conspiracy" -- or the New Right network of think tanks, media outlets and pressure groups -- was marshalled under rightwing billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife for his Get-Clinton campaign. Prior to the work of Conason and Lyons, Russ Bellant extensively documented in "The Coors Connection" how the Coors Family, Scaife and other wealthy rightwingers have funded the New Right movement since the early '70's. Among these rightwing benefactors are the Koch brothers. But the Kochs have been working both sides of the fence. As Bill Berkowitz writes, the Koch brothers have also been funding the Democratic Leadership Council.

According to SourceWatch, a project of the Center for Media & Democracy, the brothers are "leading contributors to the Koch family foundations, which supports a network of Conservative organizations and think tanks, including Citizens for a Sound Economy, the Manhattan Institute the Heartland Institute, and the Democratic Leadership Council."

Charles Koch co-founded the Cato Institute in 1977, while David helped launch Citizens for a Sound Economy in 1986.

This is no less stunning than if Scaife or the Coors family were funding the DLC. So do the Kochs just throw money at the DLC -- as long as the Council supports a free-market" (i.e. unrestricted/unregulated corporate power) agenda that the Kochs generally agree with. Or is it more than just that -- does this really buttress what Greens and other disaffected liberals contend -- that the DNC has just become a party of "Republicrats", thanks especially to the DLC? They would say that corporate backers like the rightwing/libertarian Kochs have co-opted the Democratic establishment -- a hostile takeover of (what was once) the opposition.

http://www.democrats.com/node/7789

Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 14:29:03 -0500
From: [email protected] (New Democrats Online)
Subject: Important DLC Strategy Session
< http://www.ndol.org & http://www.ppionline.org >

Special Event Invitation:
Please join DLC Chairman Evan Bayh in Indianapolis next month
for an important gathering of New Democrat elected officials and
community leaders:
The DLC's 5th Annual National Conversation
July 15-17, 2001
Westin Indianapolis Hotel
Indianapolis, Indiana


The interesting thing about this event is that it is actually
touting the fact that it is funded by Koch Industries of Kansas.
This company is one of the anchors of the CONSERVATIVE movement,
and is a major contributor to the Bush campaign. To be fair, Koch
is only one of more than a dozen sponsors. Here is the list
of event sponsors, straight from the DLC web site at
http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=3397&subid=166&kaid=126 :

Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield
Baker & Daniels / Sagamore Associates
Barnes & Thornburg
Steven & Phoebe Crane
Dominion
Eli Lilly & Company
Emmis Communications
Indianapolis Colts
International Association of Fire Fighters
Koch Industries Inc.
PSComm, LLC
Sallie Mae
Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA)
United Water

http://lists.democracygroups.org/pipermail/rightwatch/2001q2/000103.html

[diane in sf]

1. Very good--you ought to run this as its own topic