BILL BERKOWITZ FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
The Koch Brothers, who have pledged to spend at least $100 billion dollars between now and the 2016 elections, first appeared to be building the Good Ship Scott Walker, and now … that may not be putting away their construction gear. At a recent fundraiser for the New York State Republican Party, David Koch told donors that he and his brother were thinking that the Wisconsin’s Governor could be a winning candidate. “We will support whoever the candidate is,” David Koch said, “but it should be Scott Walker,” according to an account in The New York Times.
While Koch fell short of a full-throated endorsement of Walker, several attendees at the fundraiser told The New York Times that the billionaire brothers seemed to have picked their man. “Scott Walker is terrific and I really wish him all the best,” Koch said. “He’s a tremendous candidate to be the nominee in my opinion.” He later added that he wasn’t “endorsing or supporting any candidate for president at this point in time.”
A day later, Charles Koch moonwalked his brother’s remarks, telling USA Today that there were four other candidates the brothers were paying close attention to: former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida. “Those are the ones we have talked to the most and who seem to be the possible leaders,” he said.
“What we’ve told them all is that right now, we’re not supporting anyone,” Koch said. “We’re telling them that if they want our support, one way to get it is articulating a good message to help Americans get a better understanding and a better appreciation of how certain policies … will benefit them and will benefit all America.”
What seemed like a stunning and significant development for Team Walker, now appears to have been a bit premature.
If Walker does get the full financial backing of the Koch brothers, it will not be the first time. According to the Wisconsin-based Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), Walker has received “at least $11.6 million in support for Walker from the Kochs and their affiliated groups, plus millions more in indirect funding.”
In February 2011, Lisa Graves, the executive director of CMD, reported that the Koch Brothers had found their man in Wisconsin and that man was Scott Walker.
Brendan Fischer recently reported at PR Watch (a CMD project), that “In his first months after taking office, Walker — a star alumnus of the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) — signed 19 ALEC bills into law, which went after unions, enacted voter ID restrictions, and made it harder to hold corporations accountable in the courts. In many ways, the new pat-on-the-back by two of the biggest moneymen in the game is an astonishing affirmation of deep ties forged years ago at ALEC.
Walker agenda demonstrations by thousands at the Wisconsin state house and ultimately resulted in a 2012 recall election. According to Fischer, the Koch Brothers “came to his rescue.”
“During the 2012 recall elections, David Koch’s Americans for Prosperity spent $10 million supporting Walker, which included at least 70 paid staffers flown into Wisconsin, plus bus tours, rallies, town hall meetings, phone banks, and canvassers, not to mention the months of TV ads.”
As if that spending wasn’t enough, Fischer reported that “A mysterious group called ‘Coalition for American Values’ poured $400,000 into a barrage of last-minute ads that made a unique appeal: instead of promoting Governor Scott Walker or attacking his opponent, the ads attacked the premise of the recall itself.”
To the surprise of many, Walker prevailed. “CMD discovered that all of Coalition for American Values’ known contributions came the Koch-tied Freedom Partners.”
“We’re helping him, as we should. We’ve gotten pretty good at this over the years,” David Koch told the Palm Beach Post in early 2012. “We’ve spent a lot of money in Wisconsin. We’re going to spend more . . . What Scott Walker is doing with the public unions in Wisconsin is critically important. He’s an impressive guy and he’s very courageous.”
“The Kochs have been on a kick to portray themselves as socially liberal, pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, pro-immigration, and pro-criminal justice reform,” Brendan Fischer, General Counsel for The Center on Media and Democracy told me in an email. However, “their support for Walker is further proof that they are more than willing to bankroll elected officials who actively oppose all of those issues as long as the politicians cut taxes and deregulate.”
At this point, however, it remains to be seen if Walker will be the Koch Brothers’ love child. If he is, despite his gaffes, his unwillingness to directly answer questions from the press, his relative unpopularity at home, and most recently, his ridiculously awkward statements about legal immigration, he will be back in the Koch’s financial catbird seat. If he can’t get the love, he won’t get the money. And that will spell the end of Walker’s dream of leaving Madison.
olddogthoughts 