Pro-Clinton "super PAC" American Bridge is preparing a relentless campaign to tie Republican candidates to the Koch brothers, the right-leaning philanthropy barons and advocates for immigration reform and criminal justice reform. The New York Times reports:
Their ambitious plan will involve a surgical focus on statements, interviews and activities related to Koch Industries and to their political activities, including the Libre Initiative, which is focused on Hispanic voters.
The American Bridge plan, which has a budget of roughly $4 million, includes hiring 10 more opposition researchers and a press person focused solely on this topic in a "war room"-style campaign, as well as extensive polling and focus groups.
The effort is as much about picking at the Koch operations as it is getting in their heads – Bridge officials proudly talk about how they tracked down information from David Koch’s unsuccessful run for president as a libertarian in 1980.
A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton did not comment on the effort. But two people privy to her thinking said she approves broadly of Democrats highlighting the Kochs and tethering them to a policy agenda that critics argue is anti-environment and flows from pools of so-called "dark money."
Bashing the Koch brothers isn't exactly a new strategy (or a successful one) for Democrats. At the same time, opposing criminal justice reforms of the kind the Koch brothers support is in line with Hillary Clinton's previous statements on the issue:
As first lady in the 1990s, Clinton was a cheerleader for the "tough on crime" policies that produced the "era of mass incarceration" she now condemns. "We need more police," she said in a 1994 speech. "We need more and tougher prison sentences for repeat offenders. The 'three strikes and you're out' for violent offenders has to be part of the plan. We need more prisons to keep violent offenders for as long as it takes to keep them off the streets." The Clinton administration gave us all that and more, bragging about building more prisons, locking up more people (including nonviolent offenders) for longer stretches, opposing parole, expanding the death penalty, putting more cops on the street, and implementing a "comprehensive anti-drug strategy."
The move is particularly surprisingly given American Bridge founder David Brock's alleged history of dabbling in illicit drugs and illegal firearms. One imagines that he would be more sympathetic to the Koch brothers' efforts to reform our broken criminal justice system.
So why is the Clinton political machine adopting a strategy (Koch rage) that has thus far failed to translate into political success for Democrats? New York Times campaign finance reporter Nick Confessore has a compelling theory:
Possible reasons for Dems to double down on Koch strategy, in reverse order of likelihood. 1) It works really well. (cont'd.)
— Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) June 22, 2015
2) No better options at this stage of campaign and gotta do something. 3) Need a totalizing bad guy in lieu of GOP incumbent president
— Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) June 22, 2015
4) Pleasing to lefty donor constituency and thus something they can raise money against. — Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) June 22, 2015
Because nothing says "get money out of politics" like "give me more money [or the Kochs will poison you]." And there are few things liberals hate more than the Koch brothers. For example, when David Koch gave $100 million to a New York City hospital, liberals took to the streets in protest.
Here's a video American Bridge made about the Kochs in 2014: