The Koch brothers' takeover of the entire Republican part is nearly complete. They've pretty much already taken over
the voter file so they will hold the national database of who is a Republican. They're building that now, in the states that have tight Senate races this year, with an army of—get this—"nonpartisan" field workers paid by Americans for Prosperity, a
permanent ground force.
“All we’re going to do is get bigger,” said Mark Lucas, an AFP regional director who oversees operations in Iowa and 10 other states. “After 2014, we’re not shutting down our offices. You’re going to see all these guys pack up the day after the election, but we’re going to stay open.” […]
“We’ve got to get to the point where we’re a deeper part of a community, and the left has done that for a lot longer, with a much bigger footprint,” said Tim Phillips, the group’s national president. “It’s about building a brand in a community. Then when the attacks come, ‘Oh, you’re just part of a Koch network or some national network,’ it doesn’t really ring true with what people are seeing.”
Clearly, you can see in Phillips' defensiveness that being part of the Koch network is a problem for AFP, and that's a damaged brand. But they remain undeterred, and because of our deeply flawed campaign finance system, can continue to get away with this:
A few streets over, [AFP employee Denise] Bubeck made a similar inquiry of Jasmina Pandur, a 28-year-old bank employee. Pandur, a registered Democrat, said she did not have strong opinions about Braley, because she had not been following the race. "Are you with his campaign?" she asked Bubeck. No, the AFP staffer responded, explaining that she was with a nonpartisan organization.
A nonpartisan organization making very partisan,
direct attacks against Democrats. Not to mention
dirty tricks like sending out hundreds of thousands of bogus voter registration mailings in North Carolina.
Fighting the Kochs is going to be a very long-term project, just as long term as what they're doing in creating this army. They need to be pushed back, hard, in 2014.
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