Koch brothers’ influence in Minnesota reaches beyond just campaigns
A series of college appearances by a Minneapolis improv theater company. Opposition to a ban on flavored tobacco sales at Duluth convenience stores. Funding for St. Cloud State University’s Economics Reading Group. A reinterpretation of the federal law governing mining leases near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. State legislation making it easier to hold protest organizers liable for damage.
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Koch groups are airing TV ads in Wisconsin against Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and have long supported Republican Gov. Scott Walker. “Walker, in some fundamental way, doesn’t run Wisconsin,” said Matt Rothschild of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonprofit that promotes openness in government. “Wisconsin is run by the Koch brothers.”
Americans for Prosperity, a tax-exempt nonprofit with chapters in 36 states, is the highest-profile Koch political entity in Minnesota. Since AFP began operations here in 2011, it has become “clearly a new force in Minnesota,” said Chris Conry of TakeAction Minnesota, a progressive group. “It’s a sophisticated effort.”
