Secretive Republican Donors Are Planning Ahead

[Conscientious]

It appears the "nuts" weren't so nutty after all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/us...1&ref=politics

Secretive Republican Donors Are Planning Ahead
By KATE ZERNIKE
Published: October 19, 2010

A secretive network of Republican donors is heading to the Palm Springs area for a long weekend in January, but it will not be to relax after a hard-fought election — it will be to plan for the next one.

(An invitation to an event in January that is being held by Koch Industries’ network of donors.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...CH-1-popup.jpg )

Koch Industries, an energy and manufacturing conglomerate run by the billionaire brothers Charles, left, and David Koch operates a foundation that finances political advocacy groups, but is protected from having to disclose much about what they do.

Koch Industries, the longtime underwriter of libertarian causes from the Cato Institute in Washington to the ballot initiative that would suspend California’s landmark law capping greenhouse gases, is planning a confidential meeting at the Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa to, as an invitation says, “develop strategies to counter the most severe threats facing our free society and outline a vision of how we can foster a renewal of American free enterprise and prosperity.”

The invitation, sent to potential new participants, offers a rare peek at the Koch network of the ultrawealthy and the politically well-connected, its far-reaching agenda to enlist ordinary Americans to its cause, and its desire for the utmost secrecy.

Koch Industries, a Wichita-based energy and manufacturing conglomerate run by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, operates a foundation that finances political advocacy groups, but tax law protects those groups from having to disclose much about what they do and who contributes.

With a personalized letter signed by Charles Koch, the invitation to the four-day Rancho Mirage meeting opens with a grand call to action: “If not us, who? If not now, when?”

The Koch network meets twice a year to plan and expand its efforts — as the letter says, “to review strategies for combating the multitude of public policies that threaten to destroy America as we know it.”

Those efforts, the letter makes clear, include countering “climate change alarmism and the move to socialized health care,” as well as “the regulatory assault on energy,” and making donations to higher education and philanthropic organizations to advance the Koch agenda.

The Kochs also seek to cultivate Americans’ growing concern about the growth of government: at the most recent meeting, in Aspen, Colo., in June, some of the wealthiest people in America listened to a presentation on “a vision of how we can retain the moral high ground and make the new case for liberty and smaller government that appeals to all Americans, rich and poor.”

The goals for the twice-yearly meetings, the brochure says, include attracting more investors to the cause, but also building institutions “to identify, educate and mobilize citizens” and “fashioning the message and building the education channels to re-establish widespread belief in the benefits of a free and prosperous society.”

Charles Koch, whose wealth Forbes magazine calculates at about $21.5 billion, argues in his letter that “prosperity is under attack by the current administration and many of our elected officials.” He repeatedly warns about the “internal assault” and “unrelenting attacks” on freedom and prosperity. A brochure with the invitation underscores that to the Koch network, “freedom” means freedom from taxes and government regulation. Mr. Koch warns of policies that “threaten to erode our economic freedom and transfer vast sums of money to the state.”

The Kochs insist on strict confidentiality surrounding the California meetings, which are entitled “Understanding and Addressing Threats to American Free Enterprise and Prosperity.” The letter advises participants that it is closed to the public, including the news media, and admonishes them not to post updates or information about the meeting on the Web, blogs, social media or traditional media, and to “be mindful of the security and confidentiality of your meeting notes and materials.”

Invited participants are told they must wear nametags for all meeting functions. And, ensuring that no one tries to gain access by posing as a participant, the invitation says that reservations will be handled through Koch Industries’ office in Washington: “Please do not contact the Rancho Las Palmas directly to place a reservation.”

(Page 2 of 2)

To give prospective participants a sense of what to expect, Mr. Koch’s letter enclosed a brochure from the group’s meeting at the St. Regis Resort in Aspen, including a list of the roughly 200 participants — a confab of hedge fund executives, Republican donors, free-market evangelists and prominent members of the New York social circuit.

They listened to a presentations on “microtargeting” to identify like-minded voters, as well as a discussion about voter mobilization featuring Tim Phillips of Americans for Prosperity, the political action group founded by the Kochs in 2004, which campaigned against the health care legislation passed in March and is helping Tea Party groups set up get-out-the-vote operations.

Other sessions discussed the opportunities in the presidential election of 2012 to address threats to free enterprise and “how supporters of economic freedom might start planning today.”

Impressed by the Koch efforts for the midterms, the invitation cover letter says, Aspen participants “committed to an unprecedented level of support.”

“However,” it adds, “even if these efforts succeed, other serious threats demand action.”

The participants in Aspen dined under the stars at the top of the gondola run on Aspen Mountain, and listened to Glenn Beck of Fox News in a session titled, “Is America on the Road to Serfdom?” (The title refers to a classic of Austrian economic thought that informs libertarian ideology, popularized by Mr. Beck on his show.)The participants included some of the nation’s wealthiest families and biggest names in finance: private equity and hedge fund executives like John Childs, Cliff Asness, Steve Schwarzman and Ken Griffin; Phil Anschutz, the entertainment and media mogul ranked by Forbes as the 34th-richest person in the country; Rich DeVos, the co-founder of Amway; Steve Bechtel of the giant construction firm; and Kenneth Langone of Home Depot.

The group also included longtime Republican donors and officials, including Foster Friess, Fred Malek and former Attorney General Edwin Meese III.

Participants listened to presentations from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as well as people who played leading roles in John McCain’s presidential campaign in 2008, like Nancy Pfotenhauer and Annie Dickerson, who also runs a foundation for Paul Singer, a hedge fund executive who like the Kochs is active in promoting libertarian causes.

To encourage new participants, Mr. Koch offers to waive the $1,500 registration fee. And he notes that previous guests have included Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court, Gov. Haley Barbour and Gov. Bobby Jindal, Senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn, and Representatives Mike Pence, Tom Price and Paul D. Ryan.

Mr. Koch also notes the beautiful setting. But he advises against thinking of this as a vacation.

“Our ultimate goal is not ‘fun in the sun,’ ” he concludes. “This is a gathering of doers who are willing to engage in the hard work necessary to advance our shared principles. Success in this endeavor will require all the help we can muster.”

[Riverwind]

To encourage new participants, Mr. Koch offers to waive the $1,500 registration fee. And he notes that previous guests have included Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court, Gov. Haley Barbour and Gov. Bobby Jindal, Senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn, and Representatives Mike Pence, Tom Price and Paul D. Ryan.

Would this not make the two judges on the supreme court who voted to get rid of finance reform bought and paid for by the Koch brothers? So who are they really working for? The Constitution of the United States or the Koch Brothers?

Should there be an investigation of the Supreme Court and there actions? They are not above the law nobody is.

River

[seriously curious]

Ever take on city hall? Try investigating the Supreme Court and see how far you get. There isn’t a chance in hell the Justice Department would ever do such a thing, for one thing it’s far too politically charged, secondly how would the U.S. Justice System be affected by such a scandal. Would all of the Justices need to “Retire” due to the lack of trust and faith in the Justice System?

I personally don't like Scalia, and as far as Thomas goes he never says anything anyway. He’s the true personification of “Loose lips sinks ships.”
To investigate the Supreme Court would cause the U.S. to lose face around the world it would show that the supposed incorruptible are corrupt and that’s certainly not good for business. So “Don” keep tilting at windmills you may eventually get one to fall!

[Conscientious]

David Koch makes it very clear who their charity recipients are working for at least.

http://www.historycommons.org/entity...h_industries_1

1981-2010: Oil Billionaires Spend ‘Staggering’ Amounts of Money Financing Right-Wing Organizations

After their stinging loss during the November 1980 presidential campaign, the billionaire Koch brothers, Charles and David, decide that they need to work to inculcate their brand of hard-right libertarianism into the electorate through indirect means (see 1979-1980). Therefore, they begin spending vast amounts of their personal fortunes on what purport to be independent think tanks and other political or ideological organizations. At the same time, the brothers become political recluses, rarely speaking in public and rarely acknowledging the breadth or the direction of their donations. It is hard to know exactly how much the Kochs spend and where they spend it, though public records give some of the picture. Between 1998 and 2008, Charles Koch’s foundation spends over $48 million on political funding. The Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, controlled by Charles and his wife, spends over $28 million. David Koch’s foundation spends over $120 million. Koch Industries, controlled primarily by Charles, spends over $50 million on lobbying efforts. Their political action committee, KochPAC, donates around $8 million, almost all of it going to Republicans. In 2010, as in other years, Koch Industries leads all other energy companies in political donations. The brothers spend over $2 million of their personal fortunes on political donations, almost all of it going to Republicans. Ari Rabin-Havt of the progressive media watchdog organization Media Matters will say that the Kochs’ effort is unusual in its marshalling of corporate and personal funds: “Their role, in terms of financial commitments, is staggering.” Lee Fang, writing for the liberal blog ThinkProgress (an arm of the Center for American Progress), calls the Kochs “the billionaires behind the hate.” Some believe that the Kochs have either skirted, or outright broken, laws controlling tax-exempt giving. Charitable foundations must conduct exclusively nonpartisan activities that promote the public welfare. But in 2004, a report by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, a watchdog group, describes the Kochs’ foundations as being self-serving, and concludes, “These foundations give money to nonprofit organizations that do research and advocacy on issues that impact the profit margin of Koch Industries.” The Kochs also use their charitable foundations to fund hard-right political organizations that, according to reporter Jane Mayer, “aim to push the country in a libertarian direction,” including: the Institute for Justice, which files lawsuits opposing state and federal regulations; the Institute for Humane Studies, which underwrites libertarian academics; and the Bill of Rights Institute, which promotes a conservative interpretation of the Constitution. David Koch acknowledges that the family exerts tight ideological control. “If we’re going to give a lot of money, we’ll make darn sure they spend it in a way that goes along with our intent,” he tells a reporter. “And if they make a wrong turn and start doing things we don’t agree with, we withdraw funding.” [New Yorker, 8/30/2010]

[A-1]

How about a similar article with a LIST of attendees at the end?

Health Insurance, Banking, Oil Industries Met With Koch, Chamber, Glenn Beck To Plot 2010 Election

In 2006, Koch Industries owner Charles Koch revealed to the Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore that he coordinates the funding of the conservative infrastructure of front groups, political campaigns, think tanks, media outlets and other anti-government efforts through a twice annual meeting of wealthy right-wing donors. He also confided to Moore, who is funded through several of Koch’s ventures, that his true goal is to strengthen the “culture of prosperity” by eliminating “90%” of all laws and government regulations. Although it is difficult to quantify the exact amount Koch alone has funneled to right-wing fronts, some studies have pointed toward $50 million he has given alone to anti-environmental groups. Recently, fronts funded by Charles and his brother David have received scrutiny because they have played a pivotal role in the organizing of the anti-Obama Tea Parties and the promotion of virulent far right lawmakers like Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC). (David Koch praised DeMint and gave him a “Washington Award” shortly after the senator promised to “break” Obama by making health reform his “Waterloo.”)

While the Koch brothers — each worth over $21.5 billion — have certainly underwritten much of the right, their hidden coordination with other big business money has gone largely unnoticed. ThinkProgress has obtained a memo outlining the details of the last Koch gathering held in June of this year. The memo, along with an attendee list of about 210 people, shows the titans of industry — from health insurance companies, oil executives, Wall Street investors, and real estate tycoons — working together with conservative journalists and Republican operatives to plan the 2010 election, as well as ongoing conservative efforts through 2012. According to the memo, David Chavern, the number two at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Fox News hate-talker Glenn Beck also met with these representatives of the corporate elite. In an election season with the most undisclosed secret corporate giving since the Watergate-era, the memo sheds light on the symbiotic relationship between extremely profitable, multi-billion dollar corporations and much of the conservative infrastructure. The memo describes the prospective corporate donors as “investors,” and it makes clear that many of the Republican operatives managing shadowy, undisclosed fronts running attack ads against Democrats were involved in the Koch’s election-planning event:

– Corporate “investors” at the Koch meeting included businesses with a strong profit motive in rolling back President Obama’s enacted reforms. Several companies impacted by health reform, including Allan Hubbard of A & E Industries, a manufacturer of medical devices and Judson Green, a board member of health insurance conglomerate Aon, were present at the meeting. Other businessmen at the meeting, like Omaha Burger King franchiser Mike Simmonds, are owners of fast food stores which have fought efforts to provide health insurance to their employees. Many corporate attendees of the meeting represent the financial industry impacted by Wall Street reform. For instance, attendee Bill Cooper is the CEO of TCF Financial, a corporation involved in the mortgage banking industry. Cooper recently filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Wall Street reform. Other financial industry players in the meeting hail from firms ranging from Bank of America, JLM Investment, Allied Capital Corp, AMG National Trust, the Blackstone Group and Citadel Investment. Annie Dickerson, a representative of Paul Singer, a powerful hedge fund manager who also gives tens of millions to Republican causes, was present. In addition, Koch Industries itself has a hedge fund and other financial derivative products in its portfolio of interests, which include oil pipelines, coal shipping, asphalt, refineries, consumer goods, timber, ranching, and chemicals.

– Corporate “investors” at the Koch meeting included businesses with a strong profit motive in preventing progressive reforms promised by President Obama. Several executives at the meeting have an incentive to stop Democrats and President Obama from addressing climate change and enacting clean energy reform. The meeting included oil executives from Aspect Energy, Murfin Drilling, Anschutz Company, GeoPark Holdings, Smoky Oil, and several members of Koch’s various subsidiaries. The meeting documents explicitly state that funding efforts to curb “climate change alarmism” were discussed.

– Fred Malek, Karl Rove’s top fundraiser for his $56 million attack ad campaign against Democrats, attended the meeting, along with leaders of other secret attack groups. Heather Higgins, who leads the Independent Women’s Forum, a shadowy group that has spent millions of dollars in attack ads on health reform, attended the meeting. So did Gretchen Hamel, a former Bush flak who now runs an attack ad group called “Public Notice,” which denounces spending programs.

– Participants collaborated with infamous consultants who specialize in generating fake grassroots movements, as well as experts on how corporations should take advantage of Citizens United. One session, about how to “mobilize citizens for November,” involved a discussion with Republican strategists Tim Phillips and Sean Noble, anti-union leader Mark Mix, and longtime Koch operative Karl Crow. Phillips — a veteran astroturf lobbyist who previously managed a deceptive grassroots lobbying campaign to help the Hong Kong-based Tan family maintain their forced abortion sweatshops in the Mariana Islands — now leads the day-to-day operations of Americans for Prosperity, the group ThinkProgress first reported to have helped organize many of the initial Tea Party rallies against Obama. Americans for Prosperity, founded and financed by David Koch, has a field team of over 80 campaign staffers spread out around the country, and additionally plans to spend $45 million dollars worth of attack ads against Democrats. Shortly before the planning meeting, Crow authored a campaign finance memo explaining that because of the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling, he advised specifically that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s 501(c)(6) and Americans for Prosperity’s 501(c)(4) can “now use general treasury funds to produce communications materials opposing or supporting specific candidates” and corporations can aggressively pressure their employees to vote a certain way.

The memo notes that participants in the 2010 election planning meeting “committed to an unprecedented level of support.”

Interestingly, the Koch meetings are managed by Kevin Gentry, an executive who doubles as a staffer in the Koch Industries lobbying office in Washington and as the key point person who helps deliver Koch charitable foundation grants. As ThinkProgress has documented, Koch Industries has dramatically boosted its own profits by using conservative front groups to manipulate public policy. The fusion between the “intellectual” conservative movement and big businesses opposed to regulations and accountability has a history in America dating back to the New Deal. During the thirties, the Du Pont family and other wealthy interests organized an assortment of “Liberty League” front groups to try to defeat New Deal agenda items and repeal President Roosevelt’s Social Security program. Now, corporations fund groups like the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute — both had representatives at the Koch meeting — to further their lobbying agenda. The American Enterprise Institute even changed its name from the New Deal-era American Enterprise Association to try to dispel the notion that they were nothing more than a glorified business trade association.

As the memo states, Beck has addressed this regular gathering of conservative corporate executives in previous years. Past Koch meetings have included various Republican lawmakers, including DeMint, and Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia as speakers.

After ThinkProgess published its exclusive investigation of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce revealing that the Chamber has been actively fundraising from foreign corporations for its 501(c)(6) account used to run a $75 million attack ad campaign, Chamber lobbyists found common cause with Beck and many of the conservative talking heads. Shortly after our investigation, Beck hosted an on-air fundraiser, asking his audience to give to the Chamber. Casual observers might have been surprised by the Chamber’s swift alliance with Beck (Chamber executives appeared on the Beck radio program and sung Beck’s praises on the Chamber blog), who has compared Obama to Adolf Hitler and called the President a “racist” who has a “deep-seated hatred for white people.” By telling his listeners to give money to the Chamber, Beck, who owns a media company worth more than $32 million dollars and an experimental Mercedes Benz, essentially told his working class viewers to give their wages back to their employers. However, Beck never disclosed his long working history of discussing political strategy with America’s largest corporations. The Koch memo clearly shows that Beck has been collaborating with the Chamber, as well as other titans of industry, for years. In his latest appeal for support to the Chamber’s foreign-funded trade association, which already counts JP Morgan and ExxonMobil as dues-paying members, Beck yesterday told his audience that the Chamber simply “defends the little guy.”

Click below to view a letter inviting corporate executives to attend the next Koch meeting in January, along with a list of the sessions held by Koch for the last meeting in June of 2010. An attendee list of the June, 2010 meeting is attached at the bottom of the document:

CAPAF interns Salvatore Colleluori, Riley Waggaman, and Ben Kaldunski contributed to this post.

Some of the donors at the Koch meeting were longtime Bush fundraisers, like Cintas Corporation CEO Dick Farmer and wholesale executive Art Pope. However, many names appear to be relatively new to conservative movement “investment.” Click below for a listing of the attendees





Jack and Rose Marie Anderson Finance Culver Corp, Rose Marie and Jack R. Anderson Foundation- Financial Advisor
Neil Anderson and Amy Fisher-Smith Runs Rose Marie and Jack R. Anderson Foundation
Phil and Nancy Anschutz Investment Industrialist, Owner, Weekly Standard, Examiner newspapers
Cliff Asness Investment AQR Capital Management
Nate and Lynda Bachman Finance The Bachman Group-Financial Advisor
Whitney Ball Think Tank Owner of a firm that helps corporations give anonymous gifts to front groups
Michael Barone Media Fox News
Frank and Kathy Baxter Banking Ambassador Frank E. Baxter is Chairman Emeritus of Jefferies and Company, Inc., a global investment bank focusing on mid-cap companies.
Steve and Betty Bechtel Engineering Owns the Bechtel Group (Corporation), Largest engineering company in United States
Glenn Beck Media Fox News
Bernard and Margaret Blasingame Manufacturing President and owner of Aqua Dynamics Systems, Inc
Alan and Lisa Boeckmann Oil CEO Fluor Corporation
Boysie Bollinger Shipping/Commerce Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Bollinger Shipyards
Patrick and Paula Broe Real Estate Founder and CEO of Denver-based real estate asset management firm, The Broe Group
Arthur Brooks Think Tank President, American Enterprise Institute
David and Ann Brown Think Tank Heritage Foundation
John Bryan
Bob and Martha Buford Oil C. Robert Buford has been President and owner of Zenith Drilling Corporation
Tim Busch
Shelby and Nell Bush Energy Vice President, Legal and Administration – Hillwood Energy
Tim Carney Media Political Columnist, Washington Examiner
Charlies and Marla Chandler
David Chavern Lobbyist Executive Vice President and COO at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
John Childs Insurance Chairman and CEO of J.W. Childs and Associates
Paul and Lea Clifton Runs Robert and Marie Hansen Family Foundation
Susie Coelhoe Media founder and CEO of Susie Coelho Enterprises Inc.
Bill Cooper and Kristin Tollefson Finance/Banking CEO of TCF Financial
Dino and Joan Cortopassi
Joe Craft Coal Joseph W. Craft III is president, chief executive officer and director of Alliance Resource Partners LP
Alex Cranberg Energy Aspect Holdings, LLC – Chairman
Jeff Crank Americans For Prosperity / Radio Pundit AFP State Director
Karl Crow Policy Analyst Capital Research Center
Eric Crown and Isabella King Technology Sales Sell Technology Equipment
Kevin Crutchfield Coal Kevin S. Crutchfield serves as Chief Executive Officer of Alpha Coal Sales Co., LLC.
Ravenell and Beth Curry
Jim and Shirley Dannenbaum Engineering Mr. Dannenbaum, Chairman of Dannenbaum Engineering Corporation
Veronique de Rugy Think Tank Senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center
Rich and Helen DeVos Business Founder and CEO of Amway
Annie Dickerson Business CBRE analyst
Ned and Nancy Diefenthal
Jim and Dorothy Patterson Oil Gulf Stream Petroleum
Dan and Kellie Peters Non-for Profit Daniel S. Peters is president of the Ruth and Lovett Peters Foundation in Cincinnati, Ohio
Tom Petrie Banking Co-founder of BofA Merrill Lynch Petrie Divestiture Advisors
Dixon and Carol Doll Technology Co-Founder and General Partner of DCM
Karl and Stevie Eller Advertising
Ron and Kris Erickson Retail Ronald A. Erickson is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Holiday Companies
Melvyn and Suellen Estrin Natural Gas Director of WGL Holdings INC
Dick Farmer
Peter Farrell Biomed Founder of Resmed
Bob Kohlhepp Manufacturing/Services Vice Chairman, Cintas Corp.
Charles Krauthammer Media Washington Post
Jim and Zibbie Ferrell Fuel Oil Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. engages in the distribution and sale of propane and related equipment primarily in the United States.
Dave Fettig Natural Gas Tank Craft, Duracraft Fuel energy
Bob Fettig Natural Gas Tank Craft, Duracraft Fuel energy
Steve Fettig Natural Gas Tank Craft, Duracraft Fuel energy
Jerry and Nanette Finger Banking Managing Partner, Finger Interests LTD
Richard Fink Koch Industries Director of Georgia-Pacific, EVP of Koch Industries
Budd and Lauri Florkiewicz Manufacturing Foam Fabricators
Charlie and Kaye Lynn Fote Finance Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Fotec Group LLC
Randy and Jean Foutch Oil Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Laredo Petroleum, Inc.
Foster Friess Investment Mr. Foster Stephen Friess is the Founder and Chairman of Friess Associates, LLC
Steve and Polly Friess
Jerry and Leah Fullinwider Energy/Petroleum Vice Chairman, Hillwood International Energy, L.P.
Richard and Leslie Gilliam Coal Richard Gilliam has been President of Cumberland Resources Corporation since 1993.
Susan Gore Think Tank Founder, Wyoming Liberty Group
Oliver and Carolyn Grace Jr. Med and Telecom President and chief executive officer of Anderson Group, Inc.,
Judson and Joyce Green Energy and Med Mr. Judson C. Green is the President and Chief Executive Officer of NAVTEQ Corp.
Ken and Anne Griffin Investment Banking Founder and CEO of Citadel Investment Group
Gretchen Hamel
Fred and Jane Hamilton Oil Mr. Frederic C. Hamilton served as the President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of BHP Petroleum, Hamilton Oil Company and various Hamilton Oil Corporation subsidiaries and affiliates
Bob and Mary Sue Hawk Communications President of Hawk Communications
Dick and Ethie Haworth Retail Head of Haworth Furniture, Multi-national corporation, 3rd largest corporate furniture company in US
Robin and Barbara Hayes Government Former NC Congressman
Dan and Carolyn Heard Manufacturing Executive Officer of John H. Carter Co.,
Diane Hendricks Manufacturing Husband of Ken Hendricks
Steve and Regina Hennessy Auto Sales Auto Sales
James and Heather Higgins Think Tank Independent Women’s Forum
Paul Hill Oil Paul J. Hill serves as the Chief Executive Officer and has been President of Harvard Developments Inc. since 1978. Mr. Hill serves as the Chief Executive Officer and President of The Hill Companies.
John and Joan Hotchkis Education Board of Directors for Teach for America UC Berkley
Allan and Kathy Hubbard Chemicals and Manufacturing Founder and Chief Executive Officer, E & A Industries, Inc.
Stan and Karen Hubbard Communications Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc.
Ethelmae Humphreys Think Tank Cato Institute
Manley and Mary Johnson Political Consultant
Merritt Johnson
Gerry and Priscilla O’Shaughnessy Oil Gerald Eugene O’Shaughnessy Co-founded Geopark Holding Limited in 2002.
Michael O’Shaunessy Technology Petters Consumer Brands, LLC develops consumer electronics and appliances.
Tim O’Shaughnessy Media Hungry Machine, Inc., doing business as LivingSocial.com, is a social discovery and cataloging network.
Marshall Johnson
Kyle and Kirsten Johnstone
Mike and Beth Kasser Real Estate President, Holualoa Inc
Ken and Randy Kendrick Education/Technology Chairman, Datatel
Phil and Joanna Kerpen Advocacy Group/Think Tank VP of Policy, Americans for Prosperity
Gerry and Kathryn Kingen Restauranteur Red Robin, Happy Guests Int’ll
Scott Kirkpatrick Investor Teton Capital
Charles and Liz Koch Koch Industries
Chase and Annie Koch Koch Industries
David and Julia Koch Koch Industries
Elizabeth Koch Koch Industries
Bob and Cindy Koch Koch Industries
Bob Kohlhepp Manufacturing/Services Vice Chairman, Cintas Corp.
Dennis Kuester Banking Retired CEO of M&I Bank
Andrew Kupersmith Consultant MD, Cardiology Consultants
Andre Lacy Investment Chairman, Lacy Diversified Industries
Ken and Elaine Langone Retail Invemed, Home Depot
Jay and Sally Lapeyre Services Laitram Corp
Ken and Frayda Levy Investment JLM Investment Mgmt
Tom Love Retail CEO, President, Love’s Country Stores
Bob Luddy Manufacturing President, Captive Aire Systems
Fred and Marlene Malek Investment Management Thayer Capital Partners
Elaine Marshall Homemaker
Pierce Marshall Administrative Management MAROPCO
Preston Marshall
Bill Mayer Health Care MD, Mayer & Cope Family Practice
Glen and Diane Meakem Business Solutions CEO, Freemarkets Inc.
Ed Meese Think Tank Heritage Foundation
Lew and Suzy Meibergen Goods/Services President, Johnston Enterprises/WG Johnston Grain Co
Don and Deede Meyers Attorney Self Employed
Jerry and Caroline Milbank Investment Management CEO/Principal, Milbank Winthrop & Co.
Jack and Goldie Miller Retail CEO/President, Quill Corp.
Mark Mix Advocacy Group President, National Right to Work Committee
Joe and Mary Moeller Koch Industries Vice Chairman
Steve Moore Media member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board
David Murfin Energy President, Murfin Drilling Co.
Walter and Suzette Negley
Mina Nguyen
Larry and Polly Nichols Energy Executive Chairman, Devon Energy Corp
Sean Noble Front Group Americans for Prosperity
Tim and Teresa Oelke Advocacy Group/Construction Teresa – State Director of Americans for Prosperity, Tim – Crossland Construction Corp
Eric O’Keefe Front Group Sam Adams Alliance
Kurt and Nancy Pfotenhauer Media President of MediaSpeak Strategies/former political commentator on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC and former Senior Policy Advisor and National Spokesperson with the 2008 John McCain presidential campaign
Tim Phillips Advocacy Group president, Americans for Prosperity
Ramesh Ponnuru Media National Review magazine
Art and Kathy Pope Goods/Services Senior Exec, Variety Wholesaler
Russ Roberts Attorney Roberts, Ashby & Parrish
Corbin and Barbara Robertson Energy President, Quintana Minerals Corp
Richard Roder and Karin Hsu Construction Management CEO, Cmt-Construction Management
Gary and Kathleen Rogers Goods Former CEO, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream
Durk Rorie Manufacturing United Air Specialists
Chris Rufer Goods/Manufacturing Morningstar Company
Peter Schiff and Martha O’Brien Investor Schiff: Euro Pacific Capital Inc.,
Steve and Christine Schwarzman Financial Services CEO/founder, Blackstone Group
Rick and Sherry Sharp Retail Former CEO, Circuit City
Mike and Lin Simmonds Services CEO, Simmonds Restaurant Mgmt
Peter Smith Services CEO, Service Group of America
Dick Strong Investment Services Strong/Corneliuson Capital Mgmt
Michael Sullivan Investment Services CR Intrinsic Investors
Ray and Ladeline Thompson Manufacturing President/CEO, Semitool
Lynn Tilton Investment Management CEO, Patriarch Partners LLC
Dave and Melanie True Oil Partner
Steve Twist Consultant Rose & Allyn PR Consultants
Jim and Gayla Von Ehr Research/Development CEO, Zyvex Corp
Rick and Debra Waller Manufacturing Owner, Rollmeister Inc
Peter Wallison Think Tank Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Bill and Sarah Walton Real Estate Allied Capital Corp
Lew and Myra Ward Oil Ward Petroleum Corporation owns and operates wells. It engages in oil and gas exploration and production. The company was founded in 1963 and is based in Enid, Oklahoma.
Dick Weekley Real Estate Weekley Properties
Fred and Susie Wehba Real Estate Bentley Forbes Real Estate
Nestor Weigand and Darcy Buehler Real Estate JP Weigand & Sons Real Estate
Dick and Mary Beth Weiss Life Insurance Wells Fargo, Hawthorne Rances
Howard and Rhonda Wilkins Insurance Diversified Insurance
Don and Sue Wills Oil
Bob Kohlhepp Manufacturing/Services Vice Chairman, Cintas Corp.
Bob Kohlhepp Manufacturing/Services Vice Chairman, Cintas Corp.
Larry and Lorraine Winnerman Real Estate Win Win Enterprises
Joe Woodford
Earl Wright Finance AMG Natinal Trust
Karen Wright and Tom Rastin Energy/Manufacturing Tom Rastin, vice president of marketing and engineering, Ariel Corp – Karen Wright, Ariel CEO
Cliff and Susan Yonce Investment Banking Goldman Sachs
Fred and Sandra Young Services Diversified Search, LLC provides senior-level executive and corporate board search services in the United States and internationally. It provides recruitment services for various organizations in consumer and industrial, education, not-for-profit, arts and culture, financial and professional services, business, healthcare and human services, life sciences, media and entertainment, sports and leisure, energy and utilities, private equity, retail, and technology and communications industries.

[Riverwind]

I disagree, a good scandal often clears the air, if the FBI came out with an investigation and leaked it to the left wing press, as the saying goes, 'never let a crisis go to waste' rahm emanuel.

River

[Conscientious]

Thank you for that article A-1.

I'd like to add that the meeting invitation and agenda uses the same rhetoric Bush used to sell his war on terror only this time referring to the Obama administration. There is an "internal assault" that "threatens to destroy America, as we know it". Using their own logic these meeting hosts and participants are subversive terrorists.

Last month the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response, a non-profit security and surveillance corporation contracted by Homeland Security, was busted for compiling bulletins on a number of activists groups as potential terrorist threats and "anarchist and Black Power radicals" in Pennsylvania. This included religious festivals, a public school rally, gay and lesbian festivals and of course environmentalist and natural gas drilling protesters and more. No bulletin warned of corporate sponsored Tea Party activists.

Institute of Terrorism Research and Response Embarrasses Pennsylvania Governor
http://www.thirdage.com/news/institu...rnor_9-15-2010

Anti-drilling activists: you are being watched
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gy...id=oid%3A85038

Terror institute holds 2nd contract in Pennsylvania
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt.../s_704551.html

An article about how this relates to Koch Industries
Who ELSE had ITRR on their payroll?
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gy...id=oid%3A85532

BTW who was that said they wished they could "sew dissenters mouths shut"?

"It's not terrorism when we do it!"

[Conscientious]

Someone else has picked up on your question Riverwind

(italics included in the original article)

http://technorati.com/politics/artic...-were-supreme/

A Citizens United Conspiracy – Were Supreme Court Justices Involved?

Author: Jimmy Zuma
Published: October 22, 2010 at 5:35 am

It’s time to demand answers to the most troubling questions since the Nixon Era.

The New York Times is reporting that the billionaire Koch Brothers (pronounced like the soft drink) regularly convene secret conclaves of industrialists aiming to prevent government from regulating business. That wouldn’t be unusual, or even unexpected. But the attendees also include two Supreme Court justices, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, and three news agencies which never report on the meetings.

In 2009, the Supreme Court found that a video demonizing candidate Hillary Clinton was protected speech – and also ruled that corporate political donations were protected, private, and unlimited. The court – by a vote of five to four – gutted the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law. Justices Scalia and Thomas voted with the bare majority. Thomas even wrote that the ruling didn’t go far enough. Arguably, no decision in modern times has given such a big political advantage to the rich. Now that we know Supreme Court justices attended Koch’s political planning meetings, it is time to ask some important questions…

What if the purpose of Citizens United’s video wasn’t to damage Clinton, as claimed by the producers, but to give a conservative Supreme Court the opportunity to overturn campaign finance reform and open the floodgates to unlimited, secret funding in time for the 2010 election?

And what if the funders of Citizens United knew that the conclusion of the SCOTUS was reasonably forgone, because they had been privately told how at least two Justices would vote on such a case?

Sounds crazy right? But these are just some of the questions raised by revelations that the Koch Brothers hosted industrialists, media types, US Chamber of Commerce reps, and Supreme Court justices to “review strategies for combating the multitude of public policies that threaten to destroy America as we know it” and “change the balance of power in Congress this November.”

Why would two Supreme Court Justices attend meetings aiming to subvert public policy?

And what if a conspiracy was planned? Would it then be possible to engineer a court case on which those two justices could influence a desired outcome?

For a long time now, Charles and David Koch, America’s third and fourth richest men, have been at the center of funding right wing causes, from fighting universal health care to the funding Tea Party puppet-master Dick Armey. They’ve denied association with the Tea Party but there is video to prove otherwise.

The Koch fortune comes from the company they inherited, Koch Industries, which specializes in dirty industries like oil, mining, fertilizers and ranching. They also own the logging company Georgia Pacific. They founded the Cato Institute, a conservative marketing firm masquerading as a think tank. Their father (with others) founded and funded the John Birch Society, itself a secretive anti-government cabal – it runs in the family. It’s likely that the Kochs had at least a funding role in Citizens United although no proof yet exists due to the ruling itself.

In Jane Mayer‘s New Yorker profile, she describes the Kochs' 1979 attempt to subvert campaign finance laws. They “were backing its Presidential candidate, Ed Clark, who was running against Ronald Reagan from the right. Frustrated by the legal limits on campaign donations, they contrived to place David [Koch] on the ticket, in the Vice-Presidential slot; upon becoming a candidate, he could lavish as much of his personal fortune as he wished on the campaign. The ticket’s slogan was “The Libertarian Party has only one source of funds: You.” In fact, its primary source of funds was David Koch, who spent more than two million dollars on the effort. “

Who funded the creation of the Hillary video and why?

The New York Times is reporting that Fox News, The Washington Examiner and The National Review were also represented at the meetings. They didn’t report on them.

Why were these media outlets in attendance?

If they were not there to cover the events, what was their role?

But the real smoking gun might be the attendance of Clarence Thomas. Justice Thomas’ wife is now a right-wing operative running a group named “Liberty Central.” Another Koch attendee, Karl Crow, had this to say about the Citizen’s United ruling:

“A host of new conservative and libertarian groups have been formed since Citizens United was announced. Liberty Central, whose president is Ginni Thomas, wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, hired its first staffers and plans to be an online resource for energizing citizens around America’s founding principles. It will be a 501(c)(4) grassroots non-profit.”

Is Ginni Thomas’ nonprofit funded by the Koch Brothers?

How much does she make for heading the group enabled by her husband?

Liberty Central did not respond to two requests for comment on whether Justice Thomas’ court decision enabled the founding of Liberty Central. They also failed to disclose Ginni Thomas’ compensation or the group’s spending. In 2009 the organization brought in 550,000, spent about $30,000 and sat on the rest. One secret donation was for $500,000 according to the Washington Post, a fairly rarified donor level. At the very least, a Koch donation seems plausible since Justice Thomas has a relationship with the Kochs and his wife’s goals exactly match the Koch agenda. Her husband’s Supreme Court ruling prevents us from actually knowing.

Right now, there are more questions than answers about Koch tentacles. Some of the questions sound pretty far-fetched. But back in the Nixon era, it seemed crazy that a President – even Nixon – would try to rig an election. It’s a lot easier to believe a band of industrialists might; especially the Koch brothers, who seem to have tried it at least once before.

[bobover3]

From today's NY Times, a story about equal-opportunity corruption -

Democrats Back Third Parties to Siphon Votes
By JIM RUTENBERG

ORLANDO, Fla. — Seeking any advantage in their effort to retain control of Congress, Democrats are working behind the scenes in a number of tight races to bolster long-shot third-party candidates who have platforms at odds with the Democratic agenda but hold the promise of siphoning Republican votes.

The efforts are taking place across the country with varying degrees of stealth. And in many cases, they seem to hold as much risk as potential reward for Democrats, prompting accusations of hypocrisy and dirty tricks from Republicans and the third-party movements that are on the receiving end of the unlikely, and sometimes unwelcome, support.

In California, Republicans have received recorded phone calls from a professed but unidentified “registered Republican” who says she is voting for the American Independent Party’s candidate for a House seat, Bill Lussenheide, not for the incumbent Republican, Mary Bono Mack.

The caller says she is voting that way because “it’s time we show Washington what a true conservative looks like.”

The recording was openly paid for by the Democratic candidate for the seat, Mayor Steve Pougnet of Palm Springs.

In Pennsylvania, the Democratic candidate for a suburban Philadelphia House seat, Bryan Lentz, admitted this week that his volunteers helped Jim Schneller — a prominent skeptic of President Obama’s citizenship — collect petitions to run against Mr. Lentz and his Republican opponent, Pat Meehan.

In Nevada, conservative radio listeners have heard an advertisement promoting the Senate campaign of a “Tea Party of Nevada” candidate, Scott Ashjian. The ads criticize Sharron Angle, the Republican nominee and favored candidate of the actual Tea Party movement in the race against Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader.

The ad was sponsored by a group backed by unions and casino and mining companies supporting Mr. Reid.

Nevada is one of several states, including Florida, where “Tea Party” political committees have appeared on ballot lines without the knowledge or support of leading Tea Party activists, who have generally chosen not to support third-party candidacies. In most of those cases, local bloggers, reporters and lawyers have traced connections to local Democrats, drawing lawsuits, complaints and, in a couple of cases, admissions of involvement.

“It is one of the dirtiest moves,” said Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, a vice chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. “It’s not as though the Democrats are playing to compete against the third party — they’re helping to build the third party up to make those votes not count.”

Calling it “a concerted effort,” Mr. McCarthy added, “In Congressional races, it could steer the tide for the majority.”

In response to questions about whether the efforts were being coordinated on a national level, the Democratic National Committee said in a statement, “Republicans have no one to blame but their own ideological intolerance for the bloody civil war on their side.”

Stealth support for third-party candidates who have the potential to cut into the other side’s votes is a time-tested political tradition for both parties.

But this year’s efforts are striking for the potency of the grass-roots movement that Democrats are trying to use to their advantage — that is, the Tea Party — and for the sometimes brazen nature of the attempts.

Mr. Pougnet, the Democrat running for Ms. Bono Mack’s House seat in Palm Springs, openly discloses his sponsorship of the telephone calls and mailings he is directing to conservative voters labeling Mr. Lussenheide as “the Tea Party candidate” and Ms. Bono Mack as a “raging liberal” by comparison.

“It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen,” Ms. Bono Mack said. “It’s desperate, and I think the voters see right through it.”

Mr. Pougnet’s campaign manager, Jordan Marks, said, “There’s nothing wrong with pointing out to voters who are more conservative that there’s a more conservative alternative on the ballot.”

In other efforts, Democrats have tried to keep a lower profile, though they have not always succeeded.

In Michigan, local Republicans and Tea Party activists were immediately suspicious when a “Tea Party” ballot line appeared with candidates running for two competitive House seats and several state offices. The ballot line was thrown out on a technicality last month, but only after a series of blog and newspaper reports uncovered the hidden hand of two Oakland County Democratic officials. Both men resigned.

Mr. Lentz’s admission this week that his supporters had a role in placing Mr. Schneller on the ballot in the Pennsylvania House race followed months of suspicion that Mr. Lentz was somehow involved. He had avoided questions until this week, when he told the editorial board of The Delaware County Daily Times, “If somebody’s already made the decision to run, I didn’t think that ‘helping’ with the process of signature petitions was improper.”

Here in Florida, local Republicans and grass-roots Tea Party activists continue to press the case that “Tea Party” candidates on the ballot are stalking horses for Democrats, an assertion denied by Democrats.

Polls and independent analysts suggest that the incumbent Democrat in Orlando, Representative Alan Grayson, a firebrand liberal whose defeat is eagerly sought by conservatives, faces an uphill fight to keep his seat in what has been a bitterly fought campaign against his Republican rival, Daniel Webster. But the candidate running on the “Tea Party” ballot line in Orlando, Peg Dunmire, could prove pivotal if Mr. Grayson is to pull off a squeaker.

The “Tea Party” in Florida was formed and registered with the state in 2009 by an Orlando-area lawyer, Frederic B. O’Neal, with help from a longtime client, Doug Guetzloe, an activist, radio host and Republican operative in a running feud with his party, who has earned a reputation as a political trickster. (On Friday, Mr. Guetzloe was sentenced to 60 days in prison for a misdemeanor campaign violation relating to an anonymous political flier he sent four years ago, but his sentence does not start until after the election.)

Tea Party activists in the state said they were flabbergasted to learn of the existence of a “Tea Party” ballot line and Mr. Guetzloe’s involvement with it.

“I didn’t know who the heck these people were,” said Everett Wilkinson, a grass-roots activist who has tangled with Mr. Guetzloe and Mr. O’Neal in separate lawsuits.

The grass-roots Tea Party activists and state Republicans, have homed in on a number of connections between Mr. Grayson and Mr. Guetzloe that have become fodder in the local news media, especially in reports on the CBS affiliate, WKMG-TV.

Mr. Guetzloe serves on two business advisory boards set up by Mr. Grayson. A son of Mr. Guetzloe worked as an intern in Mr. Grayson’s Congressional office last year. Federal Election Commission filings show that Mr. Grayson has paid nearly $50,000 to a polling firm that was incorporated in late 2008 by an on-and-off employee of Mr. Guetzloe, Victoria Torres, who is now herself running as a state candidate on the “Tea Party” ballot line that Mr. Guetzloe helped create.

In his most recent campaigns, Mr. Grayson advertised on Mr. Guetzloe’s local radio program before it was canceled this year, with some proceeds going directly to Mr. Guetzloe’s company, including, at least in June, a modest commission, station records show.

Mr. Guetzloe played down his connections to Mr. Grayson, saying that he is one of scores of people on Mr. Grayson’s advisory panels and that his son secured his internship at Mr. Grayson’s office through his school.

“This has nothing to do with the Democratic Party; it has nothing to do with Alan Grayson,” said Mr. Guetzloe in an interview.

In an interview outside his house, Mr. Grayson dismissed as “conspiracy theories” suggestions that he had any contact with Mr. Guetzloe regarding the “Tea Party” ballot line. “The Republican Party of Florida wants people to think that there’s something here,” he said. “The old saying where there’s smoke there’s fire? Here there’s not even any smoke.”

Late last month, in a legal battle between Mr. Guetzloe and grass-roots Tea Party activists who accuse him of hijacking their movement, Wade C. Vose, a local election lawyer representing them, issued a subpoena for Mr. Grayson to sit for a deposition. Mr. Grayson was also ordered to share all written or electronic communications he had had with Mr. Guetzloe, members of the registered “Tea Party” and others. That deposition was to take place on Thursday.

Last week, however, Mr. Guetzloe dropped his defamation suit, filed in May, citing procedural wrangling with Mr. Vose — scuttling the order for Mr. Grayson to answer questions.

[Conscientious]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/23/us...cs/23dems.html Link to the above article.

Bobover, do you not think that the wealthy corporations meeting to act as puppeteers of government for their own benefit is an important topic? I've read your speech about the pot calling the kettle black and how this is a ploy to distract the less informed from unpopular policies. But isn't this is beyond scandalous? To clarify I'm not of the position that Democrats are not equally guilty and we could come up with a much better example of this than the one you just gave. Preferably on another thread.

"An eye for an eye leads to more blindness" Margaret Atwood

[bobover3]

I agree that this is an important question.

Everyone has a right, and even a duty, to advocate their views in a democracy. It's no surprise that people's views are commonly aligned with their interests. The problem, according to some, is that people are unwilling to set their own interests aside in favor of the complainers' interests. That's called liberty.

I feel no more threatened by the Koch brothers than I do by Soros. The reason is that I do not share the belief that voters are so easily manipulated that the bigger ad budget automatically wins an election. A campaign needs enough money to communicate its message. After that, there are diminishing returns. So long as voters know who a candidate is, and what he stands for, they'll vote their interests.

The idea of "buying elections" appeals to those with a fundamental distrust of the electorate. They'll try to buy elections when they can (was there any hand-wringing over the size of Obama's 2008 campaign?), and they'll complain elections are being bought when they can't. The people are smarter than they think.

[seriously curious]

I agree that this is an important question. The idea of "buying elections" appeals to those with a fundamental distrust of the electorate. They'll try to buy elections when they can (was there any hand-wringing over the size of Obama's 2008 campaign?), and they'll complain elections are being bought when they can't. The people are smarter than they think.

If Rick Scott wins the Govenors seat in Florida he will have effectively bought the election. He's already spent 54 million of his own money to obtain a job that pays 170K.

I you think the Republicans hands and arms aren't just as filthy as the Democrats. Then could you send some of that pixie dust your sniffing my way because I'd love to see the world thru your eyes. PLEASE!!!!!!

[Conscientious]

Bobover, I absolutely agree that this is not just a Republican issue. Concerns about corruption on both sides should not be limited party preference. But this is not just about election campaign funding. Let's talk about David Koch's statement that he uses his donations to control government and his secretly meeting with other donors to discuss government policy. Wasn't the war on terror in Iraq about oil interests? Isn't voting Republican really voting for the interests of an oil company? Or the oil and natural gas company funded Tea Party for that matter?

Conversely I'd appreciate your opinion on who's interest the Democrats are voting for. Similarly are people actually voting for Soros and his involvement with wall street as has been claimed?

[bobover3]

Koch and Soros may dream of controlling government. That doesn't mean they do, or can. The fantasies of megalomaniacs are of interest to psychiatry, not politics.

Here are two examples of the limited power of money in politics: Meg Whitman's campaign for Governor in California, where she's outspent Jerry Brown by tens of millions, but is still 8% behind in the latest polls; the senatorial race in Colorado, where both sides have spent hugely, to no avail. Elections are not being bought. Politicians desperately want to buy elections, but that's not the same thing. To repeat, campaigns need to spend enough to make their candidates' personality and policies known. After that, there's diminishing returns from bigger budgets.

The same principle holds for many things besides politics. People assume that the way to get better results is to spend more money, but that's only true up to a point. Once you've bought everything money can buy, the rest becomes waste, and just lines someone's pockets. That's so of government and business programs; it's even so of consumer spending. I only need a certain size PC. Give me the budget to buy a supercomputer, and my solitaire games wouldn't go any better.

A lot of government waste stems from this one bad idea - if you want improvement, just spend more money. That excuses a lack of critical thinking or innovation, and leads us to turn small mistakes into big mistakes.

[Riverwind]

The last time I checked the judges on the supreme court were not running for office, you do what you always do, try to change the subject, NOT THIS TIME.

WHAT WERE TWO SUPREME COURT JUSTICES DOING AT THAT MEETING? WHY WERE THEY THERE?

WHY were two Supreme Court justices, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, at that meeting with the billionaire Koch Brothers?

I don't care who or what there about, OUR SUPREME COURT MUST BE ABOVE ALL SUSPICION OF WRONG DOING and this smells.

There needs to be a full on investigation of this by not only congress but the FBI.

We can never allow any justice to sit on the highest court of our country who answers to anything other then the Constitution.

River