GOP DEBATE: Bridge Project Launches GOPKochProblem.com

Ahead of tonight’s GOP debate, Bridge Project is launching GOPKochProblem.com –– a new website that highlights how the billionaire Koch brothers are pulling the strings of the Republican presidential field. Every candidate on the stage tonight supports policies that will make the Koch brothers more money while hurting the middle class. The Republicans let the Koch brothers pull their strings so they can get invited to their secret donor conferences to beg for money and political support.

Bridge Project is also launching a digital buy to point debate viewers in Colorado and across the country who are engaging online to GOPKochProblem.com.

GOPKochProblem.com features a rundown of the top issues on the Koch agenda that the GOP supports. From jobs, taxes and the economy to the environment to education, the Kochs have one goal: improving their bottom line, no matter who it hurts.

On issue after issue, GOP candidates are happy to […]

Read more after the jump.

NEW REPORT: The Kochs’ Campaign To Privatize And Make More Money Off Our Public Lands

Bridge Project today releases a new report, “The Kochs’ Campaign to Privatize and Make More Money Off Our Public Lands,” exposing the Koch campaign to seize America’s national treasures and drain their resources — rinse and repeat.

The end of September saw the expiration of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). And, though it went less covered than the barely-avoided, GOP-advocated government shutdown, the potential implications of the program’s lapse are staggering. Millions of acres of land, from parks and trails, to wildlife refugees and forests, are protected by the LWCF — but that will all change should Congress fail to renew the program — if Charles and David Koch get their way.

The Koch brothers and their big-industry allies have for years had their sights on the development of federal public lands — where they currently face legal restrictions on exploration and leasing. ALEC, the Kochs’ lobbying vehicle for […]

Read more after the jump.

NEW REPORT: Koch Rush In The Silver State

It’s not just presidential candidates who are putting in more time in Nevada. As the Silver State’s political capital increases, so does the Koch brothers’ interest in investing. The billionaire brothers have long appeared to have money to burn, and what better place to strike it rich (again) than the home of Las Vegas? After all, the Kochs were never going to sit back and let Sheldon Adelson have all the fun — it’s not in their nature.

 

Today, Bridge Project is releasing a new report entitiled, “Koch Rush In The Silver State,” a deep dive into the Koch brothers’ efforts to gain political control of Nevada. The combined draw of natural resources and favorable tax policies brought Koch Industries to the state. Now, just as they’ve done in states across the country, the Kochs are using their massive wealth to rig Nevada in their favor. 

 

Through the State Policy Network’s Nevada […]

Read more after the jump.

NEW REPORT: A Koch Confessional

Or How The Kochs Have Attacked Pope Francis While Pushing A Self-Enriching Agenda That’s On The Wrong Side Of The Holy Father

As Pope Francis arrives in Washington, Bridge Project is releasing a new report titled, “A Koch Confessional, Or How The Kochs Have Attacked Pope Francis While Pushing A Self-Enriching Agenda That’s On The Wrong Side Of The Holy Father.”

The Kochs are terrified of the pope’s teachings because they threaten what the billionaire brothers worship most, their bank accounts. Bridge Project’s new report, reveals how the Koch network has attacked Pope Francis and targeted his teachings on the economy, immigration, climate change, fair pay, and more.

At the crux of the differences between the billionaire Koch brothers and Pope Francis is their starkly contrasting world views. While the pope has pleaded for his followers to reject the “trickle-down” policies championed by billionaires like the Kochs, and pushed immigration as a “hallmark for our society,” the Kochs have […]

Read more after the jump.

NEW REPORT: The Kochs’ Rocky Mountain High

David and Charles Koch are turning states across the country into their own political playgrounds, using their billions to influence policy to suit their business and personal needs, and Colorado, where they own an Aspen mansion, is one of the most prolific examples. Together with their network of dark money groups, the Koch brothers are fighting to impose policies that fit their agenda while hurting middle-class Colorado families.

Today, Bridge Project is releasing a new report titled, “The Kochs’ Rocky Mountain High,” a comprehensive look at the impact of the Kochs’ operations in Colorado.

The Kochs treat Colorado as a personal, political, and business playground, but the games they play challenge the ability of Coloradans to govern their own state, put at risk the livelihoods of the state’s residents, and jeopardize the natural beauty that defines Colorado.

The report delves into:

The Kochs’ private donor retreats in Aspen and Vail, where they discussed the “threat” of unions, climate regulations, […]

Read more after the jump.

The Koch Conspiracy To Cut Off Millions Of Americans’ Access To Healthcare

It’s Medicaid’s 50th birthday, and the Koch brothers planned something special: a death panel.

In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of Medicaid, Bridge Project today released a new report, “The Koch-Backed Effort to Kill Medicaid,” highlighting the Koch brothers ongoing assault on Medicaid, which they would give just about anything — hundreds of millions of dollars, anyway — to destroy.

And unlike some of their other, more subversive campaigns of destruction that prioritize their profit margins over the interests of the American public, the Kochs haven’t been too subtle on this one: the Kochs and Koch-funded groups have explicitly spoken out against Medicaid, advocated Medicaid-crippling budgets, and even attacked Republicans (!) for not supporting their Medicaid-destroying agenda.

This time, the Kochs are all-in. All-in to block state-level Medicaid expansions that would extend healthcare access to millions of Americans. All-in to strip healthcare from the millions who already benefit from the program […]

Read more after the jump.

MEMO: Sunny California, Dark Money: Walker, Cruz, Huckabee Cozy Up To Kochs, ALEC

TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Eddie Vale
RE: Sunny California, Dark Money: Walker, Cruz, Huckabee Cozy Up To Kochs, ALEC
DATE: July 22nd, 2015

After last weekend’s Trumped-up circus in Iowa, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, and Ted Cruz are taking the Republican cattle call circuit behind closed doors in sunny San Diego, California.  Unfortunately for the middle class, this isn’t your ordinary speech-a-thon:  it’s the American Legislative Exchange Council, a Koch-powered bill mill where corporate interests meet policymakers in secret to find ways to warp the public interest in favor of bigger profits.

The Kochs have been involved in ALEC for “decades” and donated an “untold amount” of money along with chairing the board.  After years of building influence and padding their bottom line, ALEC is reaping the benefits of being part of the Koch primary and hosting Scott Walker, Ted Cruz, and Mike Huckabee this week as they seek to boost […]

Read more after the jump.

Koch-Backed Concerned Veterans of America Launches Attacks Against Rep. Tim Walz

The shady group called Concerned Veterans of America is launching a six figure attack ad campaign against three Members of Congress including Representative Tim Walz (MN). But who is CVA and what do they stand for?

Enter Bridge Project and VoteVets.org, who have teamed up to expose the political agenda of Concerned Veterans of America with the recently released report titled, “The Vets Group That Fights Against Veterans.”

CVA promotes extreme right-wing policies that stand in opposition to nearly every other veterans group, as reported in the Military Times.

From pushing a plan to privatize the VA healthcare system to proposing a transition from the current military retirement system to a private 401(k)-like plan, CVA follows the radical conservatism of the Koch brothers, working to advance the billionaires’ self-interest at the expense of veterans.

​Bridge Project will be working with partners to hold CVA and the Koch brothers accountable as they plan to spend millions propping up GOP candidates and trying to buy elections.

Read about CVA attacking Rep. Walz here:

 

Read more after the jump.

Bridge Project Digital Ads Targeting NCLR Conference Reveal Truth Of Koch-Backed LIBRE Initiative

Bridge Project today announced it is running digital ads targeting attendees of the National Council of La Raza’s Annual Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, highlighting the truth behind the subversive motives of the Koch-funded LIBRE Initiative — a Koch brothers Latino-outreach front group, whose political motivations run counter to those of the Hispanic community.

One of the ads will target the group’s executive director, Daniel Garza, whose past comments reveal the LIBRE Initiative’s true agenda. Garza has expressed outrage over DACA, the executive order protecting DREAMers, denouncing it as “pandering” and “dangerous,” and called DAPA — which would extend those protections to members of DREAMers’ families — “executive overreach.” A second ad will highlight a LIBRE Initiative spokesperson’s unabashedly offensive characterization of undocumented immigrants as “illegals.”

The truth is LIBRE Initiative’s sole mission is to promote the Koch agenda above all else — and it shamelessly does so at the expense of Hispanics, by actively campaigning […]

Read more after the jump.

What The Kochs Consider “Common Sense” Means More Health Risks For Americans

Increased risk of asthma attack, bronchitis, cardiovascular disease and, yes, premature death: These are some of the adverse health effects that the EPA cites in their call for mercury emissions regulations. But the Kochs continually disregard health risks to protect their profits.

In 2012, according to the U.S. Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act Database, Koch Companies Public Sector – the lobbying arm of the brothers’ corporate empire – spent three out of four quarters lobbying on a resolution for the Senate to formally disapprove of the EPA’s MATS standards. So it comes as no surprise that the Koch-allied think tank, the Cato Institute, spiked the proverbial football after the Supreme Court ruled against the EPA’s MATS emission regulations in State of Michigan vs. EPA today.

In their press release Cato says the Supreme Court’s decision is a “clear victory for common sense.” How convenient that “common sense” rules in favor of their billionaire benefactors as well as the amicus brief that Cato submitted on Michigan’s behalf.

Read more after the jump.