By Hunter Walker 10/22/12 12:48pm

Garden State

A gas station sign displaying the reduced-price $1.84 gallon gas at the AFP event in Ohio earlier this month. (Photo: Facebook)

Koch-Funded Group Selling Cheap, Anti-Obama Gas in Jersey

Americans for Prosperity, the activist group founded by the billionaire Koch Brothers, is taking its “Obama’s Failing Agenda” bus tour to New Jersey this week where it will help purchase gas for motorists at the Holland Tunnel to “draw attention to President Obama’s failing energy policies.” On Thursday, AFP will set up shop at an Exxon Station near the entrance to the tunnel where it will be reducing gas prices to $1.84 a gallon, which a press release for the event said is “the cost of gas four years ago right around the time President Obama took office.”

“Our event will help New Jerseyans get around this week and remind them of the need for sound energy policies that create jobs and lower our energy prices,” AFP New Jersey Director Steve Lonegan said in a press release announcing the promotion. “We will educate Americans on the most harmful aspects of President Obama’s big-government agenda, and help put grassroots pressure on politicians to turn away from these destructive policies.” Read More

By Hunter Walker 9/20/12 1:26pm

Rumble in Rock Center

activist-group-founded-koch-brothers-takes-on-occupy-wall-street-in-midtown

Activist Group Founded by Koch Brothers Takes on Occupy Wall Street in Midtown

One year after it began, the Occupy movement appears to be waning, but Americans For Prosperity, the conservative economic activist group founded by the notorious Koch Brothers, held a rally near Rockefeller Plaza this morning to “stand up to Occupy Wall Street.” The event included comparisons between President Barack Obama and Fidel Castro, and several heated exchanges between the AFP contingent and Occupy Wall Street sympathizers who showed up to mock and infiltrate the rally. Read More

By Hunter Walker 3/30/12 9:10am

Past Lives

David Koch and his wife, Julia, at the 2011 Metropolitan Opera Season Opening Night. (Photo: Getty)

David Koch’s Ex: ‘I Was Just One of Many Girls’

David Koch, the billionaire conservative fundraiser who has become known as the “Tea Party’s wallet,” “liked having a lot of women around” in his younger days. However, he didn’t discuss politics with his many girlfriends, preferring to keep those conversations among his male buddies. Cindy Farkas Glanzrock told The Politicker she dated Mr. Koch in the late eighties and has remained an acquaintance of the infamous Tea Party backer ever since.

“I was just one of many girls that he had dates with. It wasn’t anything serious, it was just all lighthearted and fun, and dinners, and shows and things,” Ms. Glanzrock said. “He liked having a lot of women around.” Read More

By Hunter Walker 3/29/12 5:53pm

At The Movies

Robert Greenwald at a screening in 2004. (Photo: Getty)

Robert Greenwald Screens His Anti-Koch Brothers Documentary

Documentarian Robert Greenwald screened a portion of his upcoming documentary, Koch Brothers Exposed, at a lunch in midtown hosted by The Common Good today. In the documentary, Mr. Greenwald, who previously directed exposés about Fox News and Walmart, makes the case billionaire businessmen Charles and David Koch are having a “dire impact” on “core American values” through their political donations to conservative think tanks, activist groups and politicians.

“They fund ideas, which are think tanks, then they fund pundits who go out and talk about those ideas, then they fund grassroots groups,” Mr. Greenwald said at the screening adding that  these grassroots groups help give the impression there is popular support for these ideas. “And then and only then, they begin to fund the politicians who will impose their ideas from their scripts. It’s a very different model and a very important idea, I think, in terms of how they work. And to their credit, I don’t agree with them, but to their credit, very smart use of their dollars and a thoughtful use of their dollars that has resulted in significant impact.” Read More