The Koch brothers have created a massive political infrastructure that rivals
that of the Republican party and we're only now beginning to see how extensive
it really is the latest piece of this puzzle shows that the Kochs have created
a network to spy on progressive organizations and I have Howard Nations
with me now to tell us what's happening
Howard we've known for a long time the Koch brothers they've put together just
this whole
essentially they are their own political party they've got the the voting database
they've got the list of registered voters they've got all kinds of
everything but now now we're starting to learn about some of the really really
creepy things that they are doing with this I guess you'd call it does Koch
intelligence network how did this begin I mean why are they now collecting
intelligence with what started all this well Farron this all began in 2012 when
the Koch brothers spent four hundred million dollars plus attacking policies
and attacking Democratic politicians and despite that Obama won a second term
Democrats kept the city kept the Senate they took losses pretty much across the
board they did a forensic audit and their forensic audit concluded that they
had gotten outwitted by the left on the airwaves in the data war and on the
ground so the Koch brothers response to create this competitive intelligence
team which is designed to infiltrate and spy on the left there what they've done
is they've added new level to the political structure we've always had
candidate research cat vs candid then you get party campaign committees then
you got in individual donor organizations but now we have a new
level which is a sub rosa intelligence level in basically it's the freedom
partners Chamber of Commerce which is Koch organization on the right and the
Democracy Alliance on the left well you know we've we've seen instances about
ten years ago we had the US Chamber of Commerce sending
you know intelligence groups out to spy on progressive journalists, bloggers our
good friend Brad Friedman was one of the people targeted by them they used a
company believes HBGary so now the Koch brothers have kind of taken that concept
and they've put it on steroids they say look we've gotta get out there and not
just watch what they're doing we need essentially we need a man on the inside
we gotta figure out their plans and so we can thrwart them before they even
have a chance to to enact them I mean this is it's comical because it seems
like something you'd see in a bad movie but this is real life I mean this is
happening right now isn't it
yes they have a staff of 25 people including a former CIA analyst and their
purpose is to thwart liberal groups and activists and and also to identify what
they regard as threats to the Koch brothers network their method is to
research their opponents they do deep diving into the data they discover plans
and methods for Democratic voter mobilization democratic canvassing and
democratic phone banking and they're concerned particularly by voter
registration and the success that labor unions and environmentalists had in
getting Democratic voters registered and to the polls so they've sought to access
technology and techniques of the Democratic field personnel that were
so successful in 2012 against them so this all started because they were I guess
just sore losers from the 2012 election that there you know four or five hundred
million dollars couldn't buy them every single election I mean they had success
across the board at the local level in 2012 and in 2014
so is it just never enough for them they always have to get
everything I mean is that what's happening
well they are literally doubling down because one purpose of the intelligence
team is so that the Koch brothers can determine how to best been eight hundred
and eighty nine
million on policies and politicians by the November 2016 elections so they're
trying to learn from 2012 but they're trying to double down by spending twice
as much money do we have any idea any particular groups or anything where
there you know targeting I guess right now or is this just kind of an across
the board were gonna learn everything about everybody well they're targeting
the their standard competition but their their targets targeting the
Democracy Alliance because what they've got and
Democracy Alliance has formed for the same reason that Koch brothers have
their organization they they don't have to follow the rules of political parties
there are no five-figure limits are no donor disclosure is there no campaign
finance laws are no party rules no concerned party leaders no media
scrutiny no allegiance to one candidate if they don't like the candidates they're
not doing well they just move over to another one but the the Koch brothers
are more concerned with policy than they are with candidates so they think that
unlimited cash with no donor disclosures and very few spending
restrictions are the key as long as the Democrats don't do it better and that's
the problem in the past is that the Democrats have always done it better well
you know and and the Democrats they do very well at campaigning they sometimes not as
well as they should I guess but we still we the Democratic Party does not have this
massive donor base that the Republicans do we don't have a pair of brothers
who say we're gonna put close to one billion dollars into the election so I
guess the question really is I mean they want to spend almost a billion dollars
they're gathering information on as many liberal groups as they possibly can
they've bought elections from the local level from dog catcher up to the white
house what are they so afraid of I mean what is their end-game here
well their end-game is really policy politicians are just a necessary evil
for them they're means to an end to them achieve to achieve their policy goals
David ran is for vice president as a libertarian their father was a John
Bircher in a recent interview David Koch expressed his disappointment at no
change in policy despite the millions of dollars that they'd spent and all the
local elections that they had won but they the Koch brothers policy goals first
to greatly reduce government to abolish corporate regulation particularly the
Koch brothers corporations and to lower taxes on businesses and they capture all
there they catch everything in terms of free enterprise but their biggest
regulatory concern is EPA in free enterprise they want to be free to
remain as well the world's largest polluters and the way they achieve their
goals is by opposing liberals particularly public sector unions as
they did in in Wisconsin for example the academics and the media elite but their
biggest single goal is to defeat the Democracy Alliance which is a
group of rich supporters of liberal causes who are not nearly as well funded
as you say that that whole Democracy Alliance is not nearly as well funded as
just the Koch Brothers themselves but this the target group of the Koch brothers
and their competitive intelligence well Howard you have spent your entire career one of the
most prominent trial lawyers in this country you've spent your whole career you
know fighting against corporations who just run over American consumers and you
said one of the goals of the Koch brothers obviously is massive deregulate
deregulation and targeting the EPA what have you seen from your career what
happens when corporations get that when they get the deregulation when they stop
having the government checking over their shoulders to make sure they're
cooperating with the law
what happens when they finally get their wish
well when they get their wish we see it on our side as to all of the abuses of the
system that are done they will not play inside the rules they don't want to
color inside the lines once they get control everything goes to hell frankly
and and we see the best interest of the public the best interests of the middle
class
everything out there aside from their own self-interest of couple of
corporations are just set aside and they they function solely for themselves now
you've got people on the other side in you know there's a clear choice here to
me this is could not possibly be clearer you got the Democratic Alliance Democracy
Alliance there goes our environmental protection reducing carbon emissions
income equality by reducing the role of money in politics
expanding voter access supporting choice in abortion supporting LGBT rights the
Koch brothers their battle lines are clearly drawn because they oppose every
single one of those things and the new normal is you know there's nothing new
in politics
spy opposition spying on your opposition reminds us of Watergate
where opposition research was carried to a felonious level there but
this is not some stupid break in this is the digital age we're much more is
possible and much more abuses possible but just to give you an example Farron
Hillary has already set up the American Bridge 21st Century so I think this may
be the new normal the purpose of that is they got three million dollars which is
peanuts compared to the Koch brothers but its three million dollars to spend
on research and tracking and attacking the Koch brothers so I think the bottom
line is both sides are gaming the system but there's a distinct difference the
Democracy Alliance is seeking to better the lives of the poor and the middle
class and the Koch brothers are seeking to increase their own personal power and
to continue to function above the law
Howard Nations thank you for telling us this story it is certainly terrifying
when you really understand what's happening
right now in our electoral process and in America in general but thank you very much
for talking with us today
my pleasure Farron thanks