This figure should knock your socks off, but consider it American democracy in action in the century of Citizens United: the Koch Brothers backed conservative network of advocacy groups is planning to spend $889 billion in the 2016 presidential election alone, more than twice what it put out in 2012! For comparison, in 1998, the money from all sources that went into the full election (presidential and congressional) was $1.6 billion. Call it genuine American progress. Tom A network of conservative advocacy groups backed by Charles and David Koch aims to spend a staggering $889 million in advance of the next White House election, part of an expansive strategy to build on its 2014 victories that may involve jumping into the Republican primaries. The massive financial goal was revealed to donors here Monday during an annual winter meeting hosted by Freedom Partners, the tax-exempt business lobby that serves as the hub of the Koch-backed political operation, according to an attendee. The amount is more than double the $407 million that 17 allied groups in the network raised during the 2012 campaign. The figure comes close to the $1 billion that each of the two major parties’ presidential nominees are expected to spend in 2016, and it cements the network’s standing as one of the country’s most potent political forces. With its resources and capabilities — including a national field operation and cutting-edge technology — it is challenging the primacy of the official parties. In the 2012 elections, the Republican National Committee spent $404 million, while the Democratic National Committee shelled out $319 million. washingtonpost/politics/koch-backed-network-aims-to-spend-nearly-1-billion-on-2016-elections/2015/01/26/77a44654-a513-11e4-a06b-9df2002b86a0_story.html?hpid=z1
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 14:30:01 +0000
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