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Chart o' the day: Koch Spends More Than Double Top Ten Unions Combined
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Peacetrain
(22,880 posts)We are up to our ears in Koch money in Iowa..
JEB
(4,748 posts)in American politics.
Wilms
(26,795 posts)Omaha Steve
(99,780 posts)That gives VOLUNTARILY to the political fund.
http://www.afscme.org/members/afscme-people
Fighting for Candidates Who Will Fight for Us
For public employees, the people we elect determine the quality of our lives and our livelihood. Our wages, benefits, working conditions, health and safety, and even whether we have jobs at all, are in the hands of officials who influence our future. Unless, that is, we hold them accountable. Our activism in politics is incredibly important.
Through PEOPLE we help elect candidates who stand for what matters to AFSCME members:
Strong contracts
No contracting out
Affordable health care
Retirement security
No cuts to vital public services
Politics is part of AFSCME's DNA. Federal election law and some state laws prohibit using dues for campaign contributions and other political activities. AFSCME PEOPLE enables our union to be strong politically and help enact legislative programs that protect our jobs.
tofuandbeer
(1,314 posts)2 of the creepiest men alive on this planet.
ErikJ
(6,335 posts)classykaren
(769 posts)First it destroys the rights talking point that unions are dead in this country.
Martin Eden
(12,879 posts)WillyT
(72,631 posts)tclambert
(11,087 posts)That's the heart of the Citizens United ruling--that big corporate money won't corrupt our elected representatives. After all, our Congresspeople are too morally upright to let millions of dollars unduly influence them. Right? Well, five Supreme Court justices think so, anyway.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)All those threats to the nation over all those years and yet it only took five corrupt supreme court justices to bring the nation down.
liam_laddie
(1,321 posts)ErikJ
(6,335 posts)Light thrown on world of 'dark money' and the Kochtopus
........................
"It's not like you'll find a direct link there," says ProPublica reporter Kim Barker. "If you do that would be a huge story. But you definitely can find that these outside groups will support a particular candidate."
Since 2010 a flood of hard-to-trace money has all but torpedoed transparency and accountability, hallmarks of open democracy.
Between mid-2011 and October 2012 two organisations, TC4 Trust and Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, "handed out almost US$264 million" to some 30 nonprofits, part of "a constellation of dark money groups", ProPublica revealed. One Koch operative, Sean Noble, divvied out some US$137 million in 2012 alone via the Centre to Protect Patient Rights, run from a Phoenix, Arizona, post box.
The Kochtopus allows politicians to stay pure while nonprofits sling mud at opponents, either directly or via issues campaigns, says Sheila Krumholz, director of the Centre for Responsive Politics. "Wisconsin is a natural target for a national network like the Koch brothers. Because it was such a rare opportunity to have a friendly politician like Scott Walker willing to take on the unions. It created a lot of excitement on the right. And it might engender a national campaign for Walker."
During the 2012 election the left proved adept at raising direct money, via street teams and the internet. The right focused on dark money, contributed anonymously. "In the 2012 election 85 per cent of the so-called dark money came from the conservative side," says Barker. "Liberals had only 15 per cent."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/international-politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503226&objectid=11216035
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Angel Soft
Dixie
Quilted Northern
Sparkle
Brawny
Vanity Fair
caledesi
(11,903 posts)not any more...generic all the way.
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)representing each group's interests.
Hmmm, who is represented more here?
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)stevenleser
(32,886 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)sense test.
SunSeeker
(51,745 posts)niyad
(113,612 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)I'll tell ya, I'm not prone to violence, but some jerks, ya just have to work very hard to resist the desire to want to punch those two assclowns square in their shitty, porcelain dentures....I'd really like to rip 'em outta their mouths and use 'em to bite them in their own noses!
Of course, that would be wrong....but the thought warms my heart.
Craven hypocrites!!!!!
Another great flyer, EarlG!
It's all about attitude dealing with the likes.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)are lying scumbags.
Overturn Citizens United!
Cha
(297,799 posts)elzenmahn
(904 posts)...and just keep on smilin, Chuck and David.
Fascist Pigs.
caledesi
(11,903 posts)Iliyah
(25,111 posts)a safe place when the earth truly rebels against them from all the trash their companies put upon earth but alas even all the monies, gems, and media won't save them - climate change
Meanwhile we suffer as well. Let's stop them!
Junkdrawer
(27,993 posts)My father was a man-of-power whom everyone obeyed.
So come on all you criminals! I've got to put you straight
just like I did with my old man twenty years too late.
Your bread and water's going cold.
Your hair is too short and neat.
I'll judge you all and make damn sure that no-one judges me."
Ian Anderson
Life imitating art
LynneSin
(95,337 posts)All that money wasted when it could be used to help people. I understand the only way the Unions can fight back is to spend that money but hell the Koch brothers could just accept the fact there are unions and spend that $400mill giving their employees decent salaries and creating more jobs to boot. Then maybe the Unions could do the same with their $125mill.