See this on David Koch.
http://www.potomac-inc.org/seduclft.html
Michael Pugliese
Libertarians don't like to talk about how David Koch came to be their
party's vice-presidential nominee, and you can't blame them. To be blunt
about it, Koch bought the nomination; it cost him a half-million dollars.
There is no law against selling a slot on the national ticket to the highest
bidder, and in the Libertarians' case , it made a good deal of financial
sense. Still, it's not the kind of thing they like to talk about.
"I was disturbed by it," admits Robert Poole, editor of Reason, a California
magazine that is the voice of the Libertarian movement's right wind. Several
weeks before the Libertarian party staged its national convention in Los
Angeles last September, David Koch sent a letter to the delegates announcing
that he would contribute several hundred thousand dollars to the 1890
campaign if he were nominated. In Los Angeles he upped the ante to a
half-million. "David Koch has not been active in the party, "concedes Poole,
"But everyone made the calculations, and they were explicit about it in
their speeches, He was a Libertarian, he agreed with us, he was offering
money we couldn't otherwise get.." (Federal campaign laws limit the amount
individual may contribute to a presidential campaign, but places no
restrictions on a candidate's spending in his own race.) The vote was never
in doubt. "There was no good reason not to nominate him," Poole said.
Koch's name is not a household word, not even to the delegates who voted for
him, and if he has his way, it won't become one any time soon: he is
conducting what one prominent Libertarian calls a "front porch campaign."
But the party did not sell its nomination to a total stranger, David Koch,
39, head of Koch Engineering, is the brother of Charles Koch, 44,
chairperson and chief executive officer of Koch Industries. Charles Koch is
also the Friedrich Engels of Libertarianism. More than any other single
factor, it is his money that has transformed the Libertarian movement from a
doughty band of true believers into a political force that is on the verge
of becoming the first party since the Socialists to offer a serious
challenge to the "Republocrat" monopoly.
You have probably never heard of the Libertarian party, but thanks to Koch's
money, that will have changed by the end of the election campaign. The
party's presidential candidate, Ed Clark, is a 49-year old antitrust lawyer
for the Atlantic-Richfield oil company, with be on the ballot in some 4-odd
states, and his campaign strategists are hoping to raise $3 million to buy
newspapers, radio and television ads in major media markets, including 60
five-minute spots on network TV. The Libertarians' message will be a simple
one: the only way to solve the nation's problems is to get rid of
government.
<snip>
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Perelman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2001 12:00 PM
Subject: [PEN-L:11182] Re: The contradictions of methodological individual
ism
> While the Kochs do not pay taxes, they exercize their social
> responsibility by donating hefty amounts to Cato and Heritage.
>
> On Thu, May 03, 2001 at 12:45:58PM -0400, Brown, Martin (NCI) wrote:
> > This same company was convicted of cheating the federal government and
> > American Indian tribes of oil royalties by systematically un-reporting
the
> > amount of oil that they were pumping from these properties. The fraud
was
> > in the hundreds of millions of dollars, I believe.
> > My brother, a computer engineer, worked for a company that was started
by
> > the Koch brother who blew the whistle on the rest of the family in
regard to
> > this. He was making super-computers at a time when the market for these
> > technological dinasours was disappearing. So he went around the country
> > passing out grants to University departments who, in turn, used the
money to
> > buy the machines. The hope was that this would build market reputation
and
> > eventually additional customers would materialize and they would
actually
> > start to sell machines for a profit. This never happened and after a
few
> > years my brother had to find a new job. (He has now outlived half a
dozen
> > companies and works for a temp consulting firm). And this was the HONEST
> > Koch brother!
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Ian Murray [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2001 12:23 PM
> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Cc: Lbo-Talk@Lists. Panix. Com
> > Subject: [PEN-L:11170] The contradictions of methodological
> > individualism
> >
> >
> > [this is fascinating even from a Whitehead-Russel "logical types"
> > perspective]
> >
> > Published on Wednesday, May 2, 2001
> > Ari & I
> > White House Press Briefing with Ari Fleischer
> > May 2, 2001, 2:00 p.m.
> > by Russell Mokhiber
> >
> > Mokhiber: Ari, last month, Koch Industries, one of the nation's largest
oil
> > companies, pled guilty to a felony environmental crime. The Washington
Post
> > reported,
> > also last month, that the company and its employees gave $30,000 to
> > President Bush
> > during the Presidential race and a similar amount in 1995 as Governor of
> > Texas when
> > he was running.
> >
> > Mokhiber: -- is the President now willing to give the money back because
the
> > company
> > has been convicted of a felony? And does the President have a policy of
> > accepting
> > campaign contributions from convicted felons?
> >
> > Ari Fleischer: Can you give me a list of who the individuals were who
gave
> > the
> > campaign contributions?
> >
> > Mokhiber: David Koch --
> >
> > Fleischer: And were these individuals convicted, or was it just the
company?
> >
> > Mokhiber: The company was convicted --
> >
> > Fleischer: So, it was not the individuals --
> >
> > Mokhiber: But the company also gave --
> >
> > Fleischer: So, it was not the individuals.
> >
> > Mokhiber: The company was convicted of a felony and the company gave
money
> > to the --
> >
> > Fleischer: And therefore every employee of the company is a felon?
> >
> > Mokhiber: Now, wait, wait, wait, wait -- if I could follow up. The
company
> > was
> > convicted of a felony. The company gave money to the campaign.
> >
> > Fleischer: The company gave money to the campaign?
> >
> > Mokhiber: According to the Post, Bush received more than $30,000 from
Koch
> > Industries
> > and its employees in the Presidential race and received a similar amount
> > since 1995
> > as Governor of Texas.
> >
> > Fleischer: As you are aware, it is illegal to accept corporate
contributions
> > in
> > federal campaigns, so therefore, any contributions came from
individuals.
> > So, unless
> > you are prepared to say that a company that has a conviction means that
all
> > of its
> > employees are felons -- I'd be careful there.
> >
> > Mokhiber: Let me just ask one further follow-up. Does the President have
a
> > policy of
> > accepting money from executives of corporate felons?
> >
> > Fleischer: Again, individuals are free to give money in their own
capacity.
> > And it is
> > illegal to accept money from corporations, as you know.
> >
> > [Note to readers: On April 10, 2001, the Washington Post's Dan Eggen
("Oil
> > Company
> > Agrees to Pay $20 Million in Fines, Koch Allegedly Hid Releases of
Benzene")
> > reported
> > the following:
> >
> > "The company and its employees donated $800,000 to GOP candidates and
> > organizations
> > during the last election cycle, half of which came from David H. Koch,
the
> > firm's
> > executive vice president, according to campaign finance records. Bush
> > received more
> > than $30,000 from Koch Industries and its employees in the presidential
race
> > and had
> > received a similar amount since 1995 as governor of Texas, campaign
records
> > show."
> > Fleischer said "it is illegal to accept corporate contributions in
federal
> > campaigns,
> > so therefore, any contributions came from individuals."
> >
> > True and false. It is true that it is illegal for a corporation to write
a
> > check out
> > of its general treasury to a federal candidate.
> >
> > But a corporation's political action committee (PAC) can give money. And
in
> > this
> > case, Koch Industries PAC gave $5,000 to Bush during the last election.
> >
> > I rang up Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive
> > Politics.
> > Noble said that Fleischer was engaged in a "diversion" and that it
reminded
> > him of
> > Clinton saying it depends on what the definition of "is" is.
> >
> > "The PAC is run by the company, it is a separate account within the
> > company," Noble
> > said. "The company decides who the PAC gives money to."
> >
> > And most often, the individual Koch executives who give money to the
Bush
> > campaign
> > often give at about the same time - as they did here - indicating that a
> > fundraiser
> > from the company was in progress.
> >
> > "It's a distinction without a difference," Noble said of Fleischer's
> > parsing.]
> >
> > -Thanks to Russell Mokhiber
> >
> > Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime
> > Reporter.
> >
>
> --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
