KochPAC, the political action committee of billionaire investors Charles and David Koch, notched a record month of political donations in June, giving $262,000 to dozens of politicians, political parties and other PACs, according to the latest Federal Election Commission records.
The record donations in a non-election year increase the Kochs’ total giving for the year to more than $559,000. They’ve donated roughly $62 million since 2008, according to a recent report by the Center for Public Integrity.
The voices of the wealthiest Americans are amplified by the ongoing work of conservative political candidates and think tanks like the American Legislative Executive Council. which has introduced 117 bills in 2013, including a bevy of proposals that critics believe will help promote a “race to the bottom in wages, benefits, and worker rights.”
Koch Industries’ political giving
Koch Industries, an oil refining company based in Kansas, is the second-largest privately held company in the U.S., boasting annual revenue averaging $100 billion. Charles and David Koch have become some of the wealthiest people in the U.S., tied for fourth on the Forbes list of richest Americans with $31 billion each.
What sets the Koch brothers apart from some other wealthy Americans is their extensive history of political donations and conservative activism stretching back at least to 1986.
This is made possible by current campaign finance laws, including the controversial 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision. The ruling declared that corporations are “people” endowed with the same rights as living, breathing U.S. citizens, including the right to donate money to a political candidate or party.
Among the 111 separate political donations KochPAC made during the month of June are a $5,000 donation to the Michigan Republican Party, a $10,000 donation to Rep. John Carter (R-Texas) and $7,500 to Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.). Enzi will square off against Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, in the state’s Republican primary.
Just what do critics find so reprehensible about the work of the Koch brothers? For one, they have worked hand in hand with major oil corporations to draft laws that help their companies avoid paying pollution fines.
Bloomberg News reported in 2011 that Exxon Mobil and Koch Industries helped draft legislation in Oregon, New Mexico and New Hampshire by working through the American Legislative Executive Council. Both paid $25,000 to sit with policy analysts and elected officials to help draft legislation.
The New York Times reports that Exxon is one of several oil companies that was hit with a lawsuit Wednesday when Louisiana officials filed a legal action arguing they should pay for decades of damage to coastal wetlands that help buffer the effects of hurricanes on the region.
“This protective buffer took 6,000 years to form,” the state board that oversees flood-protection efforts for much of the New Orleans area argued in court filings. “It has been brought to the brink of destruction over the course of a single human lifetime.”
Critics also charge that the Kochs’ extensive political giving affects the outcome of elections, subverting the democratic process.
The influence of political contributions
Does political giving really influence the outcome of elections? While both Republicans and Democrats receive major funding from corporations and special interests, a funding edge usually plays a decisive role in congressional races.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog group, the candidate who spent the most money on his campaign won 93 percent of the time in House races and 83 percent of the time in the Senate from 2000-2010.
Members of Congress acknowledge the importance of fundraising simply by the amount of time devoted to gathering funds for an upcoming campaign. The Huffington Post reports that the average member of Congress spends up to four hours of each working day reaching out to donors during what is called “call time.”
There are other factors that play into a candidate’s victory, including name recognition, political history and the makeup of a district. The donations by the Kochs seem to have helped secure victories for a more than a few prominent candidates, including Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.). Several former elected officials no longer serving in Congress, including Reps. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) and Rick Berg (R-N.D.), also received Koch funding.
It’s been far from a perfect record for the Koch Industries, as many of their candidates have lost their races — including, most notably, 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Romney was the first presidential candidate that the Koch Industries backed, giving $81,850 to support his campaign.
But big spending isn’t limited to conservative donors like the Kochs and Sheldon Adelson.
George Soros, a billionaire investor, gave $1.74 million to federal candidates, parties and political action committees from 1989 to 2010. Additionally, he gave $32.5 million to “527” organizations from 2001-2010. A 527 organization is dedicated to “democracy promotion” and “get out the vote” campaigns.
A record year for ALEC
The influence of Koch Industries’ spending has been made easier with groups like the American Legislative Executive Council. ALEC, which received at least $150,000 in funding from the Koch brothers, has used its funding to push legislation that cuts collective bargaining rights for unions.
Like the Koch brothers, ALEC has been busy this summer as it prepares for its annual meeting next month in Chicago. The publishers of the watchdog group ALEC Exposed report that the group has helped to introduce 117 bills in 2013 to “fuel a race to the bottom in wages, benefits, and worker rights.” After analyzing the content of the bills introduced at the state and national level, researchers report that they resemble “model” bills written and promoted by ALEC.
Among those bills are “right to work” laws that ALEC helped to write and pass in 24 states. These bills limit the collective bargaining rights for unions — most notably in Wisconsin, where Act 10 eliminated collective bargaining rights for 380,000 public employees, according to one report by the AFL-CIO.
It didn’t end there, as ALEC helped to introduce right-to-work proposals in Pennsylvania, Oregon and Ohio. What effect do these laws have? One study by the Economic Policy Institute found that in addition to cutting collective bargaining rights, right-to work laws help to lower wages for all workers.
“Right to work laws lower wages for union and nonunion workers by an average of $1,500 a year and decrease the likelihood employees will get health insurance or pensions through their jobs,” EPI found in 2011.
“ALEC corporations, right-wing think tanks, and monied interests like the Koch brothers are pushing legislation throughout the country designed to drive down wages; limit health care, pensions, and other benefits; and cripple working families’ participation in the political and legislative process,” write Mary Bottari and Rebekah Wilce of PR Watch.