Kochs gear up for more anti-worker attacks
Charles and David Koch – the wealthy brothers who have spent millions supporting anti-union candidates and causes – are out to establish a beachhead in state capitols, including in Illinois.
While the Koch brothers had little success on the national scene in 2012 – they spent aggressively in a failed effort to defeat President Obama and return the U.S. Senate to Republican hands – they’re not spending much time licking their wounds.
According to a new report in Politico, the Kochs are preparing to launch a new group, the Association for American Innovation. Like other Koch-funded groups – such as Americans for Prosperity – the innocent-sounding name hides a darker purpose. This new Koch-funded group will reportedly “wage a behind-the-scenes push in state capitols for reforms consistent with the brothers’ small-government, free-enterprise philosophy, including possibly curbing union power and abolishing income taxes.”
To see the damage the Kochs can cause on a statewide level, Illinoisans need only look up north to Wisconsin. Koch dollars fueled the rise of Scott Walker to become the state’s governor. The Kochs were the most ardent defenders of Walker’s plan to strip collective bargaining rights from public employees. And Koch money played a major role in allowing Walker to survive a recall attempt in 2012.
The Kochs have already made some inroads into Illinois politics through organizations like the Illinois Policy Institute. (To learn more about these groups – and the money that fuels them – look for the next issue of On The Move in your mailbox later this month.)
Defeating the Kochs and others like them will require a massive effort by AFSCME members and other working people.
The Kochs and others who want to take political power from the middle class know that labor unions are their most potent organized opposition, which is why they’re already preparing the next steps in their fight to implement an anti-worker agenda across the nation.
AFSCME is prepared to fight back – not only to stop these attacks, but to win back what’s been taken away. However, it can’t happen unless AFSCME members are prepared to stand on the front lines.
Stay tuned for more about the attacks on unions and working people – and how we’re going to stop them from happening.