Sorry Dr. Wehby -- most NW 'locals' are just not that into corporate carpet-baggers promoting their own agenda, in our state's Senate contest.
(Dr. Monica Wehby a virtual unknown, was being funded -- WAS -- by a virtually unseen Koch-Pac, to take-down Oregon Senate Jeff Merkely ... at least until the good Senator pointed out this behind-the-scenes funding-fact.)
PAC drops Senate ad effort
The Virginia organization linked to the Koch brothers pulls out of a campaign for Monica Wehby
by Saul Hubbard, The Register-Guard, registerguard.com -- Sept. 6, 2014
Freedom Partners’ super PAC, the Virginia-based group affiliated with oil and gas magnates Charles and David Koch, confirmed Friday that it has canceled all the television ad time it had reserved in October to influence Oregon’s U.S. Senate race.
Freedom Partners’ nonprofit affiliate has strongly criticized incumbent Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley in TV ads throughout August, providing a big outside boost to the campaign of GOP challenger Monica Wehby.
[...]
Freedom Partners is still committed to a $1.6 million television ad campaign in a number of Oregon media markets this month. Its latest commercial points to the $7 trillion increase in the federal debt during Merkley’s time in U.S. Congress.
[...]
Freedom Partners --
wikipedia.org
Freedom Partners is a nonprofit 501(c)(6) organization in Arlington, Virginia. The organization was founded under the name Association for American Innovation in 2011. Its stated purpose is to promote "the benefits of free markets and a free society".[3]
Activities
Freedom Partners is structured as a chamber of commerce and is composed of around 200 members, each paying a minimum US$100,000 in annual dues. In 2012, the organization raised $256 million.[4]
The organization, which has ties with the Koch Brothers,[5] awards grants to advocacy organizations with the goal of raising public awareness about "important societal and economic issues".[3] Freedom Partners gave grants worth a total of $236 million to conservative organizations including Tea Party groups like the Tea Party Patriots and organizations which opposed the Affordable Care Act prior to the 2012 election. A majority of Freedom Partners board is made up of long time employees of the Koch brothers.[6][7][8] In 2012, Freedom Partners made a grant of $115 million to the Center to Protect Patient Rights.[1]
[...]
Revenue $255,674,218 (FY 2011)
Website freedompartners.org
Formerly called Association for American Innovation
Founded November 2011
Type Chamber of commerce 501(c)(6)
Members 200
Annual Membership Dues:
$100,000 --
Minimum!
You know what they say:
You get the {cough} "Democracy" -- you're willing to pay for ...
Just ask
Freedom Partners. Just ask Charles and David. Just ask the conservative activists ruling us all, from the lofty heights of the Supreme Court.
Freedom Partners
Center for Media & Democracy -- sourcewatch.org
Freedom Partners, formally known as the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce (and previously the Association for American Innovation), describes itself as a "nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c)(6) chamber of commerce that promotes the benefits of free markets and a free society."[1] Koch Industries issued a press release stating that Freedom Partners is legally separate from the corporation.[2] Politico describes the group as "the Koch brothers secret bank."[3][4] Additionally, a document discovered after the winter 2014 donor meeting revealed extensive one-on-one meetings between donors and "representatives of the political, corporate, and philanthropic wings of Kochworld."[5]
Raising $256 million during the 2012 election cycle, it served as a "de facto bank" in the $400 million Koch network by "feeding money to groups downstream."[6] It is run by former top AFP strategist Alan Cobb and wages "a behind-the-scenes push in state capitols for reforms consistent with the brothers’ small-government, free-enterprise philosophy, including possibly curbing union power and abolishing income taxes."[7]
[...]
Exclusive: The Koch brothers' secret bank
by Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei -- Behind the Curtain, politico.com -- 9/11/13
[...]
The 38-page IRS filing amounts to the Rosetta Stone of the vast web of conservative groups -- some prominent, some obscure -- that spend time, money and resources to influence public debate, especially over Obamacare.
The filing offers a rare tour of the conservative movement and how it gets its funds:
• Center to Protect Patient Rights, a group that vehemently opposes Obamacare: a total of $115 million, from three grants.
• Americans for Prosperity, an organizing and advocacy group that is courted by Republican presidential candidates: $32.3 million.
[...]
• American Future Fund, an Iowa group that spent a lot of money on ads in 2012, many for Mitt Romney: $13.6 million.
[...]
• Themis Trust, a Koch-based voter database that is made available to other conservative organizations: $5.8 million.
[...]
• The LIBRE Initiative, which targets a free-market message to Hispanic immigrants: $3.1 million.
• The National Rifle Association: $3.5 million.
• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce: $2 million.
• American Energy Alliance: $1.5 million.
[... to list just a few of their back-water well-funded 'stepping stones' ...]
[ Image Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Partners ]
Elections matter. Votes matter. Issues matter. Dark (undisclosed) Money matters.
Letting everyone easily vote should not be a matter of ongoing contention and shocking (Christie) consternation.
But you know what they say:
We get the {cough} "Democracy" -- THEY are willing to pay for ...
Just ask
Freedom Partners. Just ask Charles and David. Just ask the conservative activists ruling us all, from
their lofty heights of the Supreme Court.
As they just keep that corporate spigot of undisclosed cash -- flowing
... greasing the Electorate Airways somewhere near you too, given the time, the opportunity, and the endless tsunami of Billionaire Bucks.