October 11, 2015

Charles Koch is continuing his public relations push to deflect attention away from what he does on a daily basis with regard to dark money. Watch him dodge and feint questions from CBS Correspondent Anthony Mason, particularly on whether dark money is a good thing for the electoral process.

"Well first of all, what I give isn't dark. What I give politically, that's all reported. It's either to the PACs or to the candidates," Koch responded. Continuing, he said, "And what I give to my foundations is all public information, but a lot of our donors don't want to take the kind of abuse that I do. They don't want these attacks, they don't want the death threats. So they aren't going to participate if they have to have their names associated with it."

That's utter baloney. Anything Koch gives to his foundations flows through to other non-profits, but that doesn't equal disclosure. It's not disclosure when he drops millions into Donors Capital and Donors Trust donor-advised funds to funnel out to 501(c)(4) organizations with zero accountability. To sit there with a straight face and claim his donors don't want accountability for what they do to our political process while enjoying the same protection is just a flat-out lie.

But it gets better. When pressed on whether Koch thinks it's healthy for the system that so much money is coming from a small group of donors, Koch claimed, "Listen, if I didn't think it was healthy or fair I wouldn't do it, because what we're after is to fight against special interests."

Mason, to his credit, pointed out that some people -- most people, actually -- would say Koch was a special interest. But Koch had an answer for that, too.

"My interest is just as it's been in business, is what will help people improve their lives? And to get rid of these special interests, that's the whole thing that drives me," he repeated.

What special interests could Charles Koch be referring to? Environmentalists. People fighting for social justice. Those fighting for economic opportunity. People who need access to health care. Those are the so-called "special interests" Charles Koch is fighting.

Koch waffled about the Tea Party, too. That thing his dark dollars created.

"To the extent the Tea Party is working to keep us from having a financial disaster, then they're great," Koch declared. "If they're doing other things that are limiting people's choice and opportunity, then they're not."

You mean, like trying to kill Planned Parenthood? Like repealing Obamacare a zillion times so people like us will have no access to health care? Of course he doesn't mean that. Of course not. So what could he possibly mean by "limiting people's choice and opportunity?"

Koch further claimed he wants a system where there "isn't as much centralized power, where it's dispersed to the people."

That's baloney, too. He doesn't want democracy; he wants oligarchy. Dismantling the federal government is the first step toward establishing oligarchs as the real centralized power, and he knows it.

Charles Koch is well-coached, but his actions speak far louder than words. They scream. He whispers.

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