Investigating Power
Charles Koch contributed $52.6 million in grants to colleges and universities through his Charles Koch Foundation in 2022, an analysis of the personal foundation’s latest IRS filing obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy found.
On October 11, St. James Parish in Louisiana approved giving Koch Industries an 80% property tax break on a $150-million expansion of its local methanol plant, which will save the company $5.9 million over the next decade.
On September 13, 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) fined Georgia-Pacific, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, $1.2 million for abandoning a natural gas pipeline without notifying federal regulators and lying about work already completed once it did notify them.
The American Legislative Exchange Council is where corporations and far-right groups go to buy government policy.
A senior operative in Leonard Leo’s influence network now holds a seat on the Energy, Environment and Agriculture task force of the American Legislative Exchange Council—a task force that is increasingly dominated by anti-woke warriors and leaders in the fossil fuel industry.
At last week’s annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a fossil fuel industry consultant teamed up with a right-wing culture warrior to lobby ALEC lawmakers to move legislation that punishes companies embracing sustainable business practices.
One of Leonard Leo’s funding vehicles is once again the top contributor to the Republican Attorneys General Association, according to an analysis of the group’s latest 2023 IRS filing by the Center for Media and Democracy.
Republican state lawmakers, corporate lobbyists, and right-wing operatives are descending on Orlando this week for the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council ready to fight “woke capitalism,” extend a lifeline to big polluters, ban ranked-choice voting, attack bodily autonomy, and consider an array of other model policies.
A review of hundreds of tax filings by the Center for Media and Democracy has uncovered 39%—or $16.4 million—of the $41.7 million ALEC received in contributions between 2017 and 2021.
Even before the Justice Department announced the federal indictment of former President Trump last week, the super PAC for Charles Koch’s political operation, Americans for Prosperity Action (AFP Action), had spent $347,022 in May to discredit his presidential bid in 2024.