VA GOP - AFP - JBS Links Explored

New Generation Virginia GOP: Talkin' John Birch Paranoia Blues. . . and there ain't nothing wrong with this song.

The Family Tree of Right-Wing Extremists

Frederick Chase Koch (pronounced 'coke') is the founder of Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately owned company in the United States with an annual revenue stream of approximately $90 billion. Koch, Sr.'s sons now run the company: Charles Koch serves as chairman of the board and the company's chief executive officer, David Koch is the company's executive vice president. Koch Industries, Inc., is one of the most closely-held private corporations in the country. The Koch brothers have used their significant financial resources to fund far-right, radically anti-environmentalist fringe groups like Americans for Prosperity.

Frederick Koch was heavily involved in the spread of the radical, extremist agenda of the John Birch Society after becoming a member in 1958. Though it has been sanitized and repackaged as a legitimate conservative organization, the John Birch Society has been on FBI watch-lists for its organized opposition to immigrants-rights as well as the rights of African-Americans and their hard-fought efforts to pass civil rights legislation in the mid 1960's.
The Koch brothers, Frederick's sons, are founding members of the far-right, anti-environmentalist group Americans for Prosperity. Many pundits argue that the AFP represents an extension of the agenda of the John Birch Society re-imagined for the 21st century. Sources indicate that there is some overlap in membership between Americans for Prosperity and the Council of Conservative Citizens, a late-20th century outgrowth of the Ku Klux Klan. The Koch brothers often funnel their contributions to groups like the aforementioned through Triad Management Services, an organization connected to former US Representative Tom DeLay (R).

The Koch brothers and their financial ties to Virginia politicians

Koch Industries, Inc., has several holdings in Virginia, including Georgia-Pacific and INVISTA. Apparently, few politicians from the right and, perhaps, the left are immune from the influence of this highly visible, but curiously secretive company. Governor Kaine's inaugural committee received a $5000 donation from an INVISTA subsidiary in North Carolina. We have outlined the connections between the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and its financial ties via Georgia-Pacific, the Dominion Leadership Trust, and the VA Conservative Action PAC to Republicans like Jeff Frederick and Ben Cline.

Additionally, the Harbinger has already documented the special-interest group Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and its efforts to roll back environmental legislation and its denial of climate change evidence as well as its attempts to undermine the financial integrity of publicly funded education. An extremely busy organization, AFP has been hard at work trying to convince Congress that credit companies and financial institutions should be given preference over Americans whose homes are facing foreclosure. As recently as February 15, 2008, according to the National Association of Manufacturers, AFP has advocated against greater ozone restrictions under consideration by the EPA.

Environmental offenders tied to Dominion Leadership Trust, Frederick, Cline, AFP, and the VA Conservative Action PAC

In 2005, the Koch brothers acquired Georgia-Pacific and Koch Industries, Inc., became the largest privately owned company in the United States. According to Media Transparency,

   [d]uring the late 1980s and early 1990s, Congress investigated their company over allegations that they had stolen over $30 million worth of oil from Indian tribes in Oklahoma. In January 2000, the Environmental Protection Agency leveled "the largest civil fine ever imposed on a company under any federal environmental law to resolve claims related to more than 300 oil spills from its pipelines and oil facilities in six states," according to Justice Department press release; the fine was severely reduced after John Ashcroft became Attorney General.

In 1989, a US Senate Committee on Investigations concluded that "Koch Oil, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, is the most dramatic example of an oil company stealing by deliberate mis-measurement and fraudulent reporting." The case at issue, a finding that a Koch Industries affiliate poured approximately 90 metric tons of cancer-causing benzene near a Koch refinery around Corpus Christi, Texas. Eventually, Koch officials faced a ninety-seven count indictment. The Koch brothers covered themselves by donating nearly $800, 000 to George W. Bush's 2000 campaign. When President Bush took office, the fine was reduced to $20 million, jail time was taken off the table and Koch Industries pleaded guilty to falsifying documents.

As a final matter, conspiracy groups have strong opinions about the clandestine activities of the Koch brothers. Some even go so far as to accuse the Koch brothers of recklessness and murder. Notwithstanding the unlikeliness of these outlandish claims, there are plenty of legitimate reasons to deplore the connections between the Koch brother's Americans for Prosperity and Virginia politicians. Their influence over the next generation of Virginia GOP leaders, like Frederick and Cline, cannot be denied. (In fact, Ben Cline serves as the AFP's Western Chairman for the Commonwealth of Virginia.)

Republicans have a clear choice on May 30th

This weekend, Virginia Republicans will choose the future leadership of the Virginia GOP. They have a choice between a lesser-known set of young Republicans with ties to shady organizations like Americans for Prosperity and Koch Industries, Inc., and the moderate Old Guard represented by current state GOP chairman John Hager.

It will be interesting to see which direction Virginia's Grand Old Party choses to go.

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