The Koch Brothers and their big money allies are seeking new ways to to make their tsunami of political money even more anonymous and less transparent.
How the Koch brothers hide their big money donations
By Kim Barker and Theodoric Meyer, PROPUBLICA
Libertarian billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch were among the first to grasp the political potential of social welfare groups and trade associations — nonprofits that can spend money to influence elections but don’t have to name their donors.
The Kochs and their allies have built up a complex network of such organizations, which spent more than $383 million in the run-up to the 2012 election alone.
Documents released in recent months show the Kochs have added wrinkles to their network that even experts well versed in tax law and campaign finance say they’ve never seen before — wrinkles that could make it harder to discern who controls each nonprofit in the web and how it disperses its money.
A review of 2012 tax returns filed by Koch network groups shows that most have been set up as nonprofit trusts rather than not-for-profit corporations, an unusual step that reduces their public reporting requirements.
It sounds complicated and arcane because it is.
The Koch Brothers and their allies have become the 800 pound Gorillas even among big political donors. The Koch Brothers have become the GOP's largest benefactors. The Republican Party is rapidly becoming a subsidiary of Koch Industries. The Koch Brothers need to obscure that ugly reality from the American People and from the Republican Party's easily propagandized base.
The Kocktoctopus is squirting more ink into the public's perception to obscure their role.