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Show 11 Consider, then, that The Knowledge and Progress Fund gave a philanthropic group called DonorsTrust $3.2 million, which then gave nearly $7.7 million to AFP in 2010 (Bennett, 2012). The AFP then used the money, and money received from other political organizations and private foundations, to support political initiatives in Washington through television advertisements and nationally staged activities, including, but not limited to, groups such as the Tea Party. This carefully managed network has been "a lightning rod" for Koch critics (Bennett, 2012, para. 1), but it has nonetheless created political change. As Bennett (2012) suggests, the AFP "is often cited as the model that David and Charles Koch have in mind in their efforts to reshape the Cato Institute" (para. 2). The webs of Koch's political network are convoluted partly because unlike the Republican and Democratic parties, Koch is not required to reveal how much money it distributes to various political advocacy groups, making its contributions nearly untraceable. Consequently, the "Koch Network" legally launders money for political force through sundry nonprofit groups such as AFP, The Knowledge and Progress Fund, and DonorsTrust, but also Freedom Partners, The Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, and Concerned Veterans for America, that then advocate for political issues in public arenas. Any one of these organizations can create its own super PACs, allowing it to spend unlimited amounts of money to support and/or oppose specific candidates without violating Federal Election Commission regulations. Koch Industries has also used political groups and think tanks such as AFP, the Heritage Foundation, and even Cato, to control the Republican Party's climate change skepticism. As Jeffry Toobin (2014) of The New Yorker explains, Koch Industries, since |
