Defending Chris Christie’s CPAC Defense of the Koch Brothers
By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Governor Chris Christie’s CPAC speech attracted the ire of liberals when the New Jersey Republicans offered a full-throated defense of the Koch Brothers, blasting Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for “rail[ing] against two American entrepreneurs who have built a business, created jobs, and created wealth and philanthropy in this country.”
It’s not hard to understand why Charles and David Koch are liberal boogeymen, Save Jerseyans.
They’ve already dumped in the neighborhood of $30 million into the 2014 midterm cycle to help Republicans pick up gubernatorial, House, and yes, Senate seats, the latter goal being responsible for putting Senator Reid’s panties in a twist. David Koch also contributed $3 million to Christie’s RGA over the past two cycles.
We can debate the First Amendment in the campaign finance context until we’re blue in the face, folks. That’s a secondary consideration relative to the theme of this post.
The ironic aspect of liberal anti-Koch angst?
The industrialist siblings’ political giving is really just a drop in the proverbial bucket in the larger, historical scheme of things.
A look at the top all-time political donor organizations of the past 25 years reveals a very different narrative than the one our Democratic Koch-hating friends would like you to hear.
Koch Industries donated 91% of its $18,139,448 political donations through present day to Republicans. Not chump change. Until, of course, you consider that they’re only #59 on the “heavy-hitters” list. Then it does truly look like pennies on the dollar. Consider how only 3 of the top 15 donating organizations gave more cash to Republicans than Democrats. The leader remains ActBlue, responsible for $97,433,753 in donations to Democratic candidates. The National Education Association is #3 at $58,587,238.
A slew of Big Labor groups including the UAW, CWA, Teamsters and other teachers’ unions occupy the top ranked slots. They’ve raised and donated, combined, hundreds of millions of dollars more to American politicians than the Koch Family.
The OpenSecrets list does not include Super PAC spending but fear not, liberals: you’ve doing just fine on that front. Powered by billionaires like Michael Bloomberg and George Soros who are as rich as the Koch Brothers but primarily support left-of-center causes and organizations, liberals are creaming conservatives in terms of raw dollars in the current post-Citizens United environment.
But Matt, what about AFP? A group linked to the Koch Brothers?
OpenSecrets also catalogs so-called “dark money” groups for which it’s harder to figure out who is donating; neither side of the fence has an advantage when all is told.
Look no further than your own state to see liberal campaign finance hypocrisy in action. The NJEA, long a major force in state politics to the detriment of everyone but its fat cat leadership, crapped $3.3 million into lobbying expenditures in 2013. Contrast that to only $951,000 from Americans for Prosperity.
My advice, Save Jerseyans?
Bookmark this post on your browser for future reference. Pull it out and smack your favorite obnoxious liberal with its logic the next time he or she open their mouths to denigrate David or Charles Koch. Money talks (see above). Liberal B.S. walks.
Act Blue represents literally millions of small Democratic donors … Koch Brothers represent… two (2) people! That is like comparing an overgrown squash on steroids with a pomegranate seed! Nice try!
Here’s the difference. Koch brothers are evil parasites that gives your wives and daughters cancer, whereas NJEA is donating for the well-being of our children and better education. Haven’t you got the message? Who cares if our kids suck at math and natural science, and don’t know squat about the Constitution? It’s much more important for them to learn being special, tolerant, and diverse. Oh, and forget about voting your local school budget down – the unionized royalty will just charge you for the overtime spent to stuff ballot boxes.
My kids did well in math and science and my granddaughter and her partner got 1st place in a county science project. what’s the probelm? that being said I’m no fan of the NJEA, having been bullied by them years ago and actually cheered CC for putting them down. So now we have a bigger bully and more $$ going to consultants instead of to the classroom! This is not an answer! the kids still lose
The kids will continue to lose and suffer until we kill tenure and allow districts to pay good teachers more and fire bad teachers at will. Shoveling more money into unionized schools is like paying for a BMW but letting someone else choose a Gremlin for you. I had high hopes for Christie in ’09 and he failed me on every single count, including school choice.