Today, ProPublica’s Kim Barker and
Theodoric Meyer examine the Kochs’ network of “dark
money” groups that spend money on politics and the role of Sean Noble, a former
congressional aide, in shaping it. Read their investigation,
or browse below for more of the best reporting on the Koch brothers.
Did we miss any? Leave a link in the comments or tweet us
with #KochReads.
Covert Operations, The New Yorker, August 2010
Jane Mayer’s profile on the Koch brothers details the libertarian movement that
they’ve built and the extent of their influence on politics. From funding
climate change denial to opposition of the Obama administration’s policies,
Mayer describes how the brothers’ political views “dovetail with [their]
corporate interests.”
Koch-Backed Political Coalition, Designed to Shield Donors,
Raised $400 Million in 2012,
The Washington Post, January 2014
The Washington Post outlines the structure and internal operations of the Koch
network in the 2012 elections, including their strategies to protect donor identities
and obscure the flow of money.
Koch World 2014, Politico, January 2014 Politico details the Kochs’ plans to roll out “a
new, more integrated approach to politics” in 2014. Having learned from their 2012
election letdown, the Kochs are expanding and
reorganizing to improve in key areas, including “greater investments in
grassroots organizing, better use of voter data and more effective appeals to
young and Hispanic voters.”
Largest Dark-Money Donor Groups Share Funds, Hide
Links, OpenSecrets, September 2013Tax filings show how dark money groups tied to the Koch brothers have been
using “shadow money mailboxes” to obfuscate the identity of their donors. By
first funneling donations through subsidiary limited-liability companies, the
groups have been able to make it harder to figure out how the money is flowing.
A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning, The New York Times, October
2013Several groups with ties to the Koch brothers helped fund the 2013
congressional battle over Obamacare and the resulting
government shutdown. “The current budget brinkmanship is just the latest
development in a well-financed, broad-based assault on the health law,” the
Times reported. The groups paid for television ads and distributed scripts for
people to call members of Congress.
A Word from our Sponsor, The New Yorker, May 2013
The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer charts a public TV station’s treatment of two
documentaries that portrayed David Koch in a negative light. Concerned that one
of their major funders would back out, the station offered Koch a chance to
respond to the first documentary and aired it along with his comment. The
second documentary never aired. Filmmakers said it was because the station
began “to fear the reaction [their] film would provoke.”
Kochworld, Texas Observer, October 2012In Corpus Christi’s Hillcrest, where Koch Industries enjoys tax incentives
and lax environmental regulations, health problems abound. Despite having faced
federal indictments for polluting Corpus Christi’s air and waterways, the Kochs have continued to make millions off of their
refineries and have plans to expand. Meanwhile, Hillcrest residents living in
the shadow of the Koch refineries are “mired in illness and poverty.”
Inside the Koch Brothers’ Secret Seminar (Audio), Mother Jones, September 2011
In 2011, Mother Jones obtained recordings from the top-secret meeting that the
Koch brothers hold twice a year for their wealthy donors. In the recording, the
brothers name 32 individuals and families who’d donated over a million dollars — contributions
that had previously been secret.
Karl Rove Vs. the Koch Brothers, Politico, October 2011
Up until 2010,Karl Rove and the
Koch brothers worked together in spending millions on conservative endeavors.
But by 2011, they were at loggerheads as Rove’s advocacy groups pushed for an
increase in the debt ceiling as Koch groups opposed raising it. In this
article, Politico compares strategies used by Rove and the Kochs
to gain political advantages.
