Reid triples-down: Who exactly is ahead of the ‘un-American’ Koch brothers
March 6, 2014News
One thing both his political friends and foes may agree on – Harry Reid plays for keeps. Case in point wold be his tripling-down on his very public attacks on the pro-conservative, deep-pocketed Koch brothers, as reported by the news portal The Hill on Mar. 4, 2014.
For the third time in the past week, the Nevada senator launching into a tirade against the Kochs from the floor of the US Senate.
Initially Reid referred to the industrialist brothers as “evil,” then levied the accusation of “un-American,” and most recently that they have violated the “Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, citing a 2011 report by Bloomberg Markets magazine.”
These are the same brothers whose company, according to a Bloomberg investigation, paid bribes and kickbacks to win contracts in Africa, India and the Middle East.
These are the same brothers who, according to the same report, used foreign subsidiaries to sell millions of dollars of equipment to Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism.
However, not only have lawyers for the Koch brothers cited that the accusations have already been investigated and subsequently found to be false, but Patrick Pexton, the former ombudsman for The Washington Post has also hammered the Bloomberg article because it “lacked context, was tendentious and was unfair…”
As cited by the non-partisan Open Secrets, Koch Industries was rated #59 of the top political donors.
Of the 58 entities ahead of the Koch brothers, 48 have been rated anywhere between “sitting on the fence” to “solidly Democrat.”
Of those 58 ahead of the Kochs, the following organizations are trade unions that were and still are overwhelmingly favoring the Democratic Party:
2.) American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees $60,667,379
4.) National Education Assn $53,594,488
7.) Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $44,478,789
8.) United Auto Workers $41,667,858
9.) Carpenters & Joiners Union $39,260,371
10.) Service Employees International Union $38,395,690
11.) Laborers Union $37,494,010
12.) American Federation of Teachers $36,713,325
13.) Communications Workers of America $36,188,135
14.) Teamsters Union $36,123,209
16.) United Food & Commercial Workers Union $33,756,550
20.) Machinists & Aerospace Workers Union $31,313,097
23.) AFL-CIO $30,938,977
32.) National Assn of Letter Carriers $26,106,359
39.) Plumbers & Pipefitters Union $23,886,248
42.) Operating Engineers Union $23,036,848
43.) International Assn of Fire Fighters $22,963,260
46.) Sheet Metal Workers Union $22,372,978
#1 on the list is ActBlue, a hard-left leaning Political Action Committee (PAC) which has ponied up a total of $97,192,340 – 99% of which went to the Democrats, and 0% to the GOP.
Koch Industries is cited as donating $$18,083,948 – 8% to the Dems, 90% to the Republican Party.
Far from a stranger to ad hominem attacks, Reid made headlines when he publically accused Mitt Romney of a decade’s worth of tax evasion.
The non-partisan PolitiFact.com noted Reid, again tripling-down, accused of Romney:
So the word is out that he has not paid any taxes for 10 years. Let him prove he has paid taxes, because he has not.
PolitiFact.com concluded:
Reid has said Romney paid no taxes for 10 years. It was no slip of the tongue. He repeated the claim on at least two more occasions, at one point saying that ‘the word is out’ when in fact it was only Reid who put that ‘word’ out.
Reid has produced no evidence to back up his claim other than attribution to a shadowy anonymous source. Romney has denied the claim, and tax experts back him up, saying that the nature of Romney’s investments in Bain make it highly unlikely he would have been able to avoid paying taxes altogether — especially for 10 years.
Reid has made an extreme claim with nothing solid to back it up. Pants on Fire!
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