Daily Kos 100-30-2014: Joan McCarter: Koch Brothers Freak Out In Response To Rolling Stone Expose. David Koch, executive vice president of Koch Industries, attends an Economic Club of New York event in New York, December 10, 2012. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid (UNITED STATES - Tags: BUSINESS POLITICS) - RTR3BFKF David Koch, not holding up well under scrutiny. Goal Thermometer Tim Dickinsons fantastic expose of the Koch brothers in the latest issue of Rolling Stone has gotten plenty of attention. For very good reason: its a well-sourced, deep dive into the very toxic—literally toxic—business that earned the Kochs enough money to buy up an entire political party. That and the wrongful death judgement, six felony and numerous misdemeanor convictions, the tens of millions of dollars in fines, and the trading with Iran are all included in the story, well worth your time. No one has given it more attention, it seems, than the notoriously thin-skinned Kochs. In typical Koch fashion, they dont argue the facts of Dickinsons story. They attack Dickinson, who responds here. Heres the nut of his detailed response. Koch, in particular, takes umbrage with my reporting practices. For the record: In the weeks prior to publication, beginning September 4th, Rolling Stone attempted to engage Koch Industries in a robust discussion of the issues raised in our reporting. Rolling Stone requested to interview CEO Charles Koch about his companys philosophy of Market Based Management; Ilia Bouchouev, who heads Kochs derivatives trading operations, about the companys trading practices; and top Koch lawyer Mark Holden about the companys significant legal and regulatory history. The requests to speak to Charles Koch and Bouchouev were simply ignored. Ultimately, only Holden responded on the record, only via e-mail and only after Holden baselessly insinuated that I had been given an opposition research document dump from the liberal activist David Brock. (This is false.) From my perspective as a reporter, Koch Industries is the most hostile and paranoid organization Ive ever engaged with—and Ive reported on Fox News. In a breach of ethics, Koch has also chosen to publish email correspondence characterizing the content of a telephone conversation that was, by Kochs own insistence, strictly off the record. […] [I]n the main, the Koch responses attempt to re-litigate closed cases — incidents where judges, juries, and, in one case, a Senate Select Committee, have already had a final say. They only muddy waters that have been clarified by a considered legal process. (BILLIONAIRES ALWAYS SEEM TO LIKE DEALING IN TOXIC DERIVATIVES. I WOULD ENJOYED THE INTERVIEW AND THOUGHT IT WAS FAIR.!!
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 14:32:56 +0000
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