Koch brothers’ influence in Minnesota reaches beyond just campaigns

Posted June 11, 2018

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.”… Continue reading »

Our MN Future: Convention Training Webinar 2

Posted February 21, 2018

Minnesotans are getting together to support each other through the political convention process. We will boldly share our dreams and challenges, pushing each other and candidates to create a new kind of democracy in our state, one marked by compassion, everybody in, and deep relationships that make more possible in our communities.
Join the training via computer or phone… Continue reading »

Our MN Future: Convention Training Webinar 1

Posted

Minnesotans are getting together to support each other through the political convention process. We will boldly share our dreams and challenges, pushing each other and candidates to create a new kind of democracy in our state, one marked by compassion, everybody in, and deep relationships that make more possible in our communities.
Join the training via computer or phone… Continue reading »

Pro-business Minnesota Jobs Coalition dumped $140,000 into Minneapolis campaign before city election

Posted February 2, 2018

The pro-business political committee Minnesota Jobs Coalition dumped $140,000 into a Minneapolis fund set up to elect a more business-friendly City Council, but it did so too late to be included in pre-election campaign finance reports.

The specter of the Minnesota Jobs Coalition — a statewide conservative pro-business PAC  — influencing city elections had been raised by activists in the months and weeks leading up to Election Day. But because the funding didn’t show up in pre-election campaign finance reports, the level of its involvement was left open to speculation.

Before the election, the founders of Minneapolis Works had invited donors to give either to the new committee or to Minnesota Jobs Coalition, yet no money from the Jobs Coalition showed up in campaign finance disclosures as of late October. It wasn’t until year-end reports were finally filed this week that the public was able to see that money from the Jobs Coalition did flow into Minneapolis Works, though only after the last reporting deadline of 2017 so as not to become a campaign issue.

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Local progressive organizations, led by TakeAction Minnesota, tried to raise concerns about outside business money coming into the Minneapolis election. Because the Jobs Coalition has in the past received money from national conservative funders the Koch Brothers, TakeAction alleged that they were trying to buy the City Council.… Continue reading »

Defining what makes a candidate a true progressive

Posted November 4, 2017

“The bedrock of Minnesota’s Democratic voter base will head to the polls next week. As voters in Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth prepare to cast ballots in their local elections, we’ve seen a progressive arms race break out.

Candidates with all sorts of different policy positions and political ideologies are vying to be “the progressive.” Even Minneapolis Works, a right-wing political action committee of downtown business leaders, promotes its candidates as progressive. The silly season has arrived.”  Read more… Continue reading »