Records show that Tom Garrett has taken $5,000 from the Koch Industries PAC, another $5,000 from their astroturf group, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and $5,000 from Dominion Power, a utility he voted to deregulate in the Virginia General Assembly just last year.
The right-wing “Congressional Leadership Fund” Super PAC has pumped one million dollars of dark money to salvage our opponent’s faltering campaign. We can’t track any of that money, but the remaining $493,489 that he’s raised is available for public review from the Federal Election Commission.
Source: FEC.gov, accessed 11-02-2016
Roughly 40 percent of his total contributions comes from Political Action Committees (compared with fewer than 10 percent of Jane’s).
Records show that he’s taken $5,000 from the Koch Industries PAC and another $5,000 from their astroturf group, the National Federation of Independent Businesses.
Tom Garrett accepted $5,000 from Dominion Power, a utility he voted to deregulate in the General Assembly last year. American Electric Power ($1,000) and Verizon Communications ($2,000) also chipped in to join the Corporate Monopolies For Garrett coalition.
Earlier this year, manufacturing company Timken announced a plant closing in Altavista that will cost our district 125 jobs as they consolidate operations into a North Carolina facility. What did they do with the cost savings? They gave $1,000 to Tom Garrett.
I’m proud that our campaign has been supported by individuals who believe in Jane’s experience and ability to solve problems in our District. We have hundreds of volunteers ready to make phone calls and knock on doors in this final weekend before Election Day. Thousands of you have contributed time and money to help us get the word out.
Senate majority leader Harry Reid gave a hell of a speech in Congress about the agenda of the billionaire Koch brothers, carbon barons who are the prime beneficiaries of Citizens United, the Supreme Court case that ruled that corporate persons had the free speech right to engage in unlimited campaign finance spending.
“Documents and interviews unearthed in recent months by Brave New Foundation researchers illustrate a $28.4m Koch business that has manufactured 297 commentaries, 200 reports, 56 studies and six books distorting social security’s effectiveness and purpose.” Read more.
“A labyrinth of tax-exempt groups and limited-liability companies helps mask the sources of the money, much of which went to voter mobilization and television ads attacking President Obama and congressional Democrats, according to tax filings and campaign finance reports.” Read more.
“In Louisiana, the Koch brother’s Americans for Prosperity was blasted for running anti-Obamacare ads featuring paid actors to play Louisiana residents telling “their” stories about how Obamacare had harmed them.” Read more.
“IWF-affiliated writers have argued that the gender gap in income exists because of women’s greater demand for flexibility, fewer hours, and less travel in their careers, rather than because of sexism.” Read more.
“They are known for bankrolling conservative, Libertarian and Tea Party causes and became poster boys for corporate tax reform last year when an Obama Administration official suggested Koch is organized as an S Corp. and so pays no corporate level taxes.” Read more.
“Internal company records show that Koch Industries used its foreign subsidiary to sidestep a U.S. trade ban barring American companies from selling materials to Iran. Koch-Glitsch offices in Germany and Italy continued selling to Iran until as recently as 2007, the records show.” Read more.
“A prominent philanthropist, cancer survivor, and American businessman, David Koch, has given millions to the cause of cancer research, while his company—Koch Industries—has lobbied against formal recognition of formaldehyde as a carcinogen, The New Yorker reported in a piece published today.” Read more.
“Charles Koch seems to have approached both business and politics with the deliberation of an engineer. ‘To bring about social change,’ he told Doherty, requires ‘a strategy’ that is ‘vertically and horizontally integrated,’ spanning ‘from idea creation to policy development to education to grassroots organizations to lobbying to litigation to political action.’ The project, he admitted, was extremely ambitious. ‘We have a radical philosophy,’ he said.” Read more.
Protesters attend a rally and march demanding Los Angeles Times not be sold to the Koch Brothers, portraits of which are held, May 23, 2013 in Beverly Hills, California. Charles and Bill Koch have... Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a secretly negotiated trade agreement let by the USA. Though the text is secret, enough drafts have leaked to make it clear that one of its goals is to ensure that foreign corporations can sue governments over laws that impact their profits, especially when it comes to the environment.
The US Trade Representative and the Obama administration have asked Congress to “fast track” the treaty, passing it without any debate or revisions. Naturally, Congress wants to know what the treaty is likely to say before they agree to this.
The Obama administration’s top trade official angered some House Democrats last month by privately backtracking from public vows to ensure strong environmental protections in a major trade pact
So in a hearing on Jan 28, Rep Mark Pocan (D-WI) asked Michael Froman — the US Trade Rep running the TPP show — about the environmental standards in TPP. Froman listed four areas in TPP that were “absolutely non-negotiable from a US standpoint,” including “tough new environmental standards.”
When the meeting ended, Pocan asked “So does that mean that if we give you fast track, you won’t send us a deal that doesn’t have that stuff in it?’ At which point, we learned that the US Trade Rep uses a highly specialized meaning for the phrase “absolutely non-negotiable,” meaning “totally up for grabs,” because he immediately said, “I didn’t say that.”
The corporate and political leaders of the Pacific Rim nations are meeting in cities across America such as Chicago, Dallas, San Diego, and Leesburg to turn the Pacific Ocean and its peoples into a giant privatized corporate lake characterized by non-union workers, Wal-Mart supply chain feeders, poisoned, landless agricultural laborers, a dying biodiversity, and rising, drowning sea levels. We cannot and will not let this happen.
Congressman Alan Grayson is one of the most outspoken critics of Fast Track Authority. Tonight he will discuss what’s at stake now, what to expect from the Fast Track legislation recently introduced (HR 3830 and S 1900) as well as what we can and should be doing in the upcoming days to defeat it:
Date: Sunday, January 26th Time: 4:30 pm PDT, 5:30 PM MDT, 6:30 PM CDT, 7:30 PM EDT Number: (559) 726-1300; Access Code: 536655# Back-up Call-in numbers: If you have problems (connection or static) use the back-up call-in number and follow instructions to connect to this conference call 951-262-7373
805-360-1075 Meeting Room: http://www.anymeeting.com/moveforjustice1