The Truth About Koch Industries in North Carolina
The Koch brothers, now infamous with nearly half of Americans for the trail of dark money they use to influence elections, are spending heavily in contested Senate races this year. In North Carolina in particular, the Kochs have targeted Senator Kay Hagan with $7 million in attack ads - more money than they've spent on any other race in the country. So what does the Koch agenda look like in the Tar Heel state? As recently as last year, a Koch subsidiary laid off 100 workers from a Wilmington, North Carolina, chemical plant. Other Koch subsidiaries have done the same in North Carolina, including one subsidiary that laid off over 500 workers from two local lumber plants, and one that laid of hundreds of workers from two industrial polyester plants. North Carolina voters should take a hard look at the Koch agenda - and their clear record in the state - before casting their ballots in this critical election.
Bridge President Brad Woodhouse on Koch Brothers: Dark Money Fueling a Dark Agenda
Nearly half of Americans are now familiar with the infamous conservative donors the Koch brothers. Their trail of dark money funds a broad and complex political network that has one goal in mind: driving a conservative agenda that enriches the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the middle and working class. This agenda is nothing new. Charles and David Koch's political activism and their attacks on programs that support and bolster the middle class date back to a failed 1980 vice presidential run by David Koch on the Libertarian ticket, running to the right of conservatives' now revered icon Ronald Reagan. The brothers' policy agenda -- attacking Social Security, Medicare and the minimum wage, and protecting corporate tax breaks -- has barely changed since. Its newest addition: efforts to take America back to the days of insurance companies making decisions about patient care. Americans for Prosperity, the centerpiece of the Koch machine, spent $122 million in 2012, as detailed in Bridge Project's recent report on "Conservative Transparency," including a whopping $33.5 million on their failed effort to defeat President Obama. This cycle, AFP has already spent more than $30 million in states with competitive Senate races. As the Kochs work to advance their self-serving agenda, voters should keep a keen eye on the true motives behind their attacks.
Brown Can’t Hide From His People’s Pledge
Much as he may try, Scott Brown just can't hide from the people's pledge he devised and signed in his 2012 campaign for Senate in Massachusetts. Despite claiming in a recent radio interview that people in New Hampshire have only been asking him about "things that matter," Brown was asked about the pledge twice last weekend at a forum of College Republicans at Plymouth State University, and again at an event at a hospital in Rochester, NH, last week. In February, Brown himself talked up his past pledge during a speech at Cornell University. Sure sounds like Brown thought it was a thing that matters. Watch American Bridge's new video:
Scott dodges questions on his no good, very bad week
It hasn't been a very good week for Rick Scott. His top fundraiser/campaign co-chair quit and accusations that Scott's staff made racially insensitive comments soon swirled, further fueling his continued problems with Latino voters. At a photo op yesterday where Scott must have expected a reprieve from this week's drama, he was instead greeted by a barrage of questions about the scandal, none of which he wanted to answer. Watch Rick Scott dodge questions about his campaign scandal at an event in Davie yesterday:
A Million Bucks For This?
The report to exonerate Chris Christie in Bridgegate, for which he spent $1 million of New Jersey taxpayer dollars, dominated local news coverage in New Jersey yesterday. The general sentiment - we spent a million bucks for this? - comes as no surprise given Christie's taxpayer-funded attorneys did not even interview key players in the scandal, took the governor's claims at face value, and failed to release all of the evidence they reviewed for their report. See for yourself here in American Bridge's new video: https://youtu.be/n9ybvAzq8ck
Leaps of faith, unanswered questions
The press conference today and accompanying report supposedly exonerating Chris Christie of any wrongdoing in the Bridgegate scandal make quite a few leaps of faith when it comes to accepting Christie's self defense at face value, and leaves even more questions unanswered. Given that no original documents were released along with the report, and despite the $1 million price tag for New Jersey taxpayers of this investigation, we're left with few answers and only more questions about Chris Christie's involvement in this scandal. Here are our top five: 1) Attorney Randy Mastro asserted that Christie had no reason to remember discussions of bridge lane closings and resulting traffic with David Wildstein on September 11, 2013, but he also started that "people lie, documents don't." Why is Chris Christie any less likely to lie than David Wildstein? 2) Port Authority Chairman David Samson did not cooperate with this internal Bridgegate investigation. Will Chris Christie hold him accountable for refusing to follow Christie's own directive that members of his administration would cooperate? 3) Why were questions about the Christie/Samson meeting in August 2013 ignored by Attorney Randy Mastro? When asked, Mastro responded, “If you give me your name and number, I’ll get back to you.” 4) Christie attorney Randy Mastro claimed he examined Christie's phone logs and text messages, but he never discussed whether any messages from August and September 2013 were recovered. Does this mean there is evidence that Christie selectively deleted portions of his text message history? 5) When will the Christie administration publicly release all of the documentation they handed over to their attorneys for this sham investigation? Will the evidence provided for this investigation be turned over to the legislative committee investigating Bridegate?
Rick Scott's Latino Outreach: March Edition
It's no secret that Rick Scott, like many Republicans, is struggling to reach out to young and Latino voters. Last month, Scott attempted to up his Latino outreach with what appeared to be an awfully convenient election-year change of heart to "consider" giving in-state tuition to DREAMers. Now? Mike Fernandez, Scott's finance co-chair, has quit and emails from Fernandez have surfaced claiming that "his Hispanic business partner was subjected to “cultural insensitivity” by campaign aides on their way to a Mexican restaurant." Check out American Bridge's new video on the Scott Campaign's Latino Outreach - March Edition: https://youtu.be/BFaA1XAIzDE
What You Need to Know Before Chris Christie "Clears" Himself
To: Interested Parties From: Brad Woodhouse, President of American Bridge Subject: What You Need to Know Before Chris Christie "Clears" Himself Date: Thursday, March 27, 2014 Governor Chris Christie's taxpayer-funded attorneys today will release a report that supposedly "clears" Christie of any wrongdoing in the scandal known as Bridgegate. This report, which was conducted by a firm with close ties to Christie, involved analysis of documents the Christie administration failed to provide to the state legislative committee investigating the scandal. In other words, Christie's defense team gave themselves a first look at everything - and now, they are continuing to keep those documents shielded from public view. The firm that conducted the investigation has close ties to Christie. One of their attorneys even received a lucrative contract from Christie’s office as U.S. Attorney as part of a deferred prosecution agreement. Christie’s use of deferred prosecution agreements has come under fire in the past as a tool he used to reward allies. What's more, this self-investigation failed to interview key players whom we know to be involved the scandal – Bridget Anne Kelly, Bill Stepien, and David Wildstein. Without those interviews, any exoneration is suspect. But the most egregious piece of Christie's bogus self-exoneration is that it has come at a cost of $1 million of taxpayer money. The Star Ledger has called on Christie to return the taxpayer funds that were used for this farce, and I think most New Jerseyans would agree that their hard earned money could be put to much better use than "clearing" Christie in a scandal created by his own administration.
Ed Gillespie & Mitt Romney's 47% Problem
As Ed Gillespie prepares to campaign with Mitt Romney in New York City this evening, Virginia voters should take a look at Gillespie's record as a surrogate for Romney's losing presidential campaign in 2012. When Romney's infamous "47 percent" comments came to light, disparaging millions of Americans like seniors who rely on Social Security and veterans who receive benefits from their service to the country, Ed Gillespie came to Romney's defense. Gillespie backed up Romney's comments when asked about it during an appearance on the Today Show, saying: "that's political analysis, that's not a governing philosophy."
What do Rick Scott and Mitt Romney have in common?
As billionaire Florida Governor Rick Scott prepares to campaign with fellow out-of-touch rich guy Mitt Romney this evening, Floridians should take a close look at what else Scott and Romney have in common: Rick Scott ran a company that paid a record fine for committing Medicare fraud, while Mitt Romney was director of a company that stole millions from Medicare. Rick Scott's record is bad for Florida seniors and bad for the middle class.