The Kochs Win Some and Lose Some in 2013 Elections [1]
Submitted by Mary Bottari [2] on
The Kochs had a hand in numerous local and state races in yesterday's elections. Because the Kochs fund so many entities and because many types of spending are not required to be disclosed, a full accounting of their activities may not be possible. Below CMD runs down some of the known spending, races, and results influenced by the Koch brothers or Koch-funded entities such as David Koch's Americans for Prosperity (AFP).
Koch Loss - Coralville Mayor and City Council, Iowa
Coralville rejected a raft of Koch-supported candidates last night, prompting a call from Vice President Joe Biden to mayor-elect John Lundell and reelected City Council member Tom Gill. Lundell told the local paper [3] that Biden called, "to congratulate Coralville for smashing Americans for Prosperity, and he was really proud of our city."
AFP weighed-in on this nonpartisan race in a small town of 20,000, focusing on the town's economic development policies and debt that had been accrued to build a Marriott Hotel and Convention Center. Local residents say they have never experienced this type of outside spending in a local race. The New York Times reports [4] that the AFP campaign included fliers, newspaper ads, calling voters and knocking on doors, but the amount of money spent is not yet known.
Koch Win - Douglas County School District, Colorado
Four Koch-backed school board candidates appear to have held onto their seats in Douglas County School district in Colorado, according to unofficial results. [5]
Americans for Prosperity [6] told Politico it would spend an eye-popping $350,000 in the local race, largely on five TV ads touting the "It's Working [7]" theme formerly spotted in AFP's campaign [8] during Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's recall race. Douglas County School District "has gone further than any district in the nation to reshape public education into a competitive, free-market enterprise," reports Politico. [9] "The board launched the first voucher program in the U.S. to subsidize private and parochial school tuition for wealthy families in a top-ranked public school district."
In 2009, AFP worked to defeat school board candidates on the Wake County School Board in North Carolina, a race profiled in Robert Greenwald's film Koch Brothers Exposed [10].
Koch Loss - Mayor's Race, New York City
The richest New Yorker, David Koch, spent big in the New York mayor's race in a hopeless effort to defeat progressive democrat Bill DeBlasio. DeBlasio, formerly the city's public advocate, trounced Joe Lhota with a 45 point margin according to unofficial results. DeBlasio focused on a "tale of two cities" message regarding rich and poor New Yorkers that resonated in the Democratic town which has elected out-sized Republican mayoral personalities for the past 20 years. Koch contributed $200,000 [11] to the New York Progress and Protection PAC, a Super PAC supporting Lhota, shortly after a court decision striking down the city's contribution limits. Koch and his wife Julia each donated $175,000 to another committee, New Yorkers for Proven Leadership [12], which also backed Lhota.
Koch Loss - Governor's Race, Virginia
In the most competitive and closely watched race in the swing state of Virginia, the Kochs suffered a set back when former DNC chair Terry McAuliffe beat former State Senator and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli 47.9 to 45.5 according to unofficial results. David Koch gave Cucinelli $50,000 directly [13].
In addition, the Koch-backed Republican Governors Association gave Cuccinelli some $8.1 million -- more than 40 percent of funds raised by his campaign since January 1, reports the Center for Public Integrity [14]. One of the RGA's biggest 2013 donors was David Koch who gave them $1 million. When he was a state legislator Cuccinelli was a member of [15] the American Legislative Exchange Council [16], also funded by the Kochs.
If you know of other races where Americans for Prosperity or other Koch-funded entities played a role, let us know at editor@PRwatch.org