We happened to catch a TV political attack ad on Sen. Sherrod Brown, not a rare intrusion into my program viewing these days. It was sponsored by American Commitment, one of those shadowy players whose name means so little to so many folks beyond the Potomac. What made this more interesting than the others, I discovered with a few minutes research, is its president, a guy named Phil Kerpen (pictured). He's listed on the web as a columnist on Fox News Opinion, chairman of the Internet Freedom Coalition and a former vice president of policy for Americans for Prosperity.
In other words, he's a lobbyist for generic conservative groups whose names normally promote starry patriotic themes like freedom, (from taxes) liberty (from taxes) and...American Commitment (to unseat Democrats who stand in the way of lowering taxes, fatter profits, and deregulation.)
You could go on and on about the things that keep these folks up at night, but the one group that stands out in Kerpen's resume is Americans for Prosperity.
That's the mega-funded juggernaut founded by David Koch, a billionaire who wants to rearrange American life to suit his own rich stake in the land . He and his brother are doing so by laying up tons of cash in House and Senate races, including Ohio's. You might wonder what a man of Koch's vast wealth is doing birthing organizations with prosperity in the title since he already has more dough than he needs to buy his own country.
But the intersection of Kerpen, Americans Commitment, Americans for Prosperity and the Kochs is a sweet deal for Brown's whizzy Republican opponent, Josh Mandel, who doesn't appear in the ad but you can bet the Statue of Liberty that Josh is well aware of it every waking moment of his day.
So factor into Mandel the name of David Koch, one of seveal of Josh's silent partners.
And so far, it hasn't worked despite the millions that the Mandel campaign is spending on attack ads. A late Quinnipiac poll has Brown about 11 pts. ahead with Josh settled in at 36.6 pct..
Monday, July 9, 2012
Mandel's $$$ buddies: Jot down the Koch Brothers
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AS part of the American Plutocracy, the Koch brothers are persistent from one election to the next in shoveling millions into the campaigns of "small government" conservatives bent on laying waste to federal programs that benefit the poor, the working stiffs, and the middle class, either by deregulating the corporate polluters and Wall Street swindlers or eliminating direct aid programs altogether. They will stoop to the lowest level of political slander to achieve their goal of electing their right-wing vassals or ousting incumbents who oppose their objectives. They are a menace to progressive democracy.
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