Americans for Prosperity

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Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a conservative US interest group based in Arlington , Virginia . It is financed by the Koch brothers ( Koch Industries ) and, through Astroturfing campaigns, played an important role in the formation of the Tea Party movement , which turned to the organized climate change denial movement and the Republican Party took over the House of Representatives in 2010. AFP was valid also as one of the most influential organizations in the 2012 presidential election in the United States , in which it sought to prevent Barack Obama's re-election .

background

In 1984 the industrialist Charles G. Koch (Koch Industries) founded the non-profit organization Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE, "Citizens for a Healthy Economy"). It followed the concept of appearing as an alleged " grassroots movement " with numerous members, while it was actually controlled by Charles Koch and his brother David H. Koch and funded by corporations such as Koch Industries, ExxonMobil and Microsoft and represented their interests. For this the name " Astroturfing " (after the artificial turf brand AstroTurf ) was used later .

CSE successfully opposed Bill Clinton's plan to tax fossil fuels in 1993 . This included an advertising campaign, organized demonstrations with what appeared to be "grassroots" character in front of the Capitol to impress the parliamentarians there, and targeted attacks on advocates of the law. This was followed by a campaign against Clinton's plans to raise taxes on high incomes, with CSE spreading misinformation that the law was directed against the middle class. In both cases, it was not known at the time who was behind the campaigns.

Americans for Prosperity was formed in 2004 when CSE split into FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity. Dick Armey , who was chairman of CSE at the time, became chairman of FreedomWorks, while David Koch became chairman of the AFP Foundation.

Structure and leadership

Like the predecessor organization Citizens for a Sound Economy and similar advocacy groups, AFP consists of two non-profit organizations: Americans for Prosperity, a 501 (c) (4) organization, and the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, a 501 (c) ( 3) organization. Donations to the Foundation ( foundation ) are tax deductible, but the Foundation is not allowed to be politically active. AFP itself is allowed to take part in election campaigns as long as this is not its main activity; However, donations to this organization are not deductible. In both cases, the origin of the donations does not have to be disclosed.

AFP's headquarters in Arlington, Virginia is in close proximity to the capital Washington . 36 regional associations are administered from there. The president is Tim Phillips . At present (2017) the organization has around 500 employees, during the election campaign for the 2016 presidential election there were around 650 employees.

financing

In its 2007 tax return, AFP reported revenues of $ 5.7 million. The expenses were put at 6.8 million USD. In 2010 AFP and the AFP Foundation had a cumulative budget of $ 40 million.

activities

As representatives of libertarianism, with the help of AFP, the Koch brothers specifically support those Republican candidates for public office who represent particularly radical market positions and are among the main financiers of the libertarian-conservative tea party movement.

Taxes

One of AFP's first projects in 2004 was the Taxpayer Bill of Rights , which opposed taxes of any kind and a. demanded that every tax increase be confirmed by a referendum. The first actions took place in the state of Kansas - where Koch Industries is based - because a decision on a possible tax increase was pending there. By spending large sums of money on television commercials, AFP helped prevent the tax hike.

Economic policy

When Barack Obama announced a Keynesian legislative package after taking office in 2009 that would boost the economy with $ 800 billion ( American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ), the Americans for Prosperity began organizing nationwide rallies against this stimulus measure. This was followed by media appearances by Republican Senator Jim DeMint sponsored by AFP, the creation of a website, television commercials and a signature collection that reportedly garnered 500,000 signatures.

Climate protection

Americans for Prosperity is one of the most important players in the organized climate change denial scene . In total, the organization spent hundreds of millions of dollars supporting politicians who fight human-made climate change .

In 2008, after the EPA's Supreme Court allowed the EPA to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, Americans for Prosperity created the “No Climate Tax” pledge. In doing so, they made congressmen swear to vote against any form of carbon taxation in the House of Representatives, unless this was accompanied by a similarly large reduction in government spending, which was unlikely. In early 2011, 156 members of the 112th United States Congress had made the pledge. These included many members of the Energy and Trade Committee, including a. nine of the twelve Republican committee members.

In 2009, Phillips organized a "Hot Air Tour" through the USA to raise awareness against President Barack Obama's planned reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Renowned climate researchers were targeted and their results were called into question. Phillips spread the claim that in the future the popular barbecuing at events should be banned for climate protection reasons. He also sent troublemakers to events organized by politicians who saw climate change as proven, had the insults filmed and then used the footage for propaganda against the politicians concerned. "After Americans for Prosperity had spent many millions of dollars carrying out such activities," said journalist Kerstin Kohlenberg , "it was clear to every Republican that addressing climate change was the end of his career."

Health policy

AfP President Phillips was also active in the run-up to Obama's health care reform (“ Obamacare ”) in 2009 by organizing over 300 demonstrations at which pictures of the bodies of the Dachau concentration camp were shown and a Democratic congressman was symbolically hanged. When Donald Trump wanted to abolish Obamacare in 2017 , Phillips threatened Republican congressmen to prevent their re-election in 2018 with opposing candidates and a lot of money if they voted for the first, relatively moderate version of the law in question. In fact, a sharper version was finally adopted.

In 2018, Americans for Prosperity lobbied for a budget cut for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , an agency of the Department of Health that is particularly concerned with infectious diseases . AfP cited the $ 1 billion budget cut to "reduce the burden on all taxpayers of spending too much". In March 2020, as US states began temporarily closing non-essential economic sectors and only maintaining basic services during the COVID-19 pandemic , Americans for Prosperity urged companies not to close. All areas of the economy are necessary. AfP directly contradicted the advice of health experts, who on their part named the greatest possible social isolation as the most promising solution to the corona crisis. In this context, media attention was given to the fact that AfP, despite the demand to maintain normal economic conditions, sent its own employees to the home office for their own protection. In These Times, Americans for Prosperity, along with the cook-financed organizations Heritage Foundation and American Legislative Exchange Council, is one of the conservative and right-wing think tanks and front organizations that create the loudest mood for the reopening of the economy and accept deadly dangers for workers.

Transport policy

In transport policy, Americans for Prosperity u. a. for the abolition of tax privileges for electric cars . As early as 2016, it became known that Koch Industries had teamed up with a former lobbyist for the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers to start a campaign for gasoline propulsion and against electric cars, which has an annual budget of 10 million dollars. In 2018 it became known that Americans for Prosperity was also fighting against projects for local public transport on behalf of the Kochs . The organization argues that the use of local public transport would contradict the American idea of ​​freedom. Are fought u. a. Projects for new roads and rail systems , the expansion of public bus routes, but also the construction of tunnels, the existing traffic problems would be reduced.

criticism

In August 2010, the Democratic Party and the Obama administration argued that AFP and the AFP Foundation were de facto a Political Action Committee and therefore tax exemption as a non-profit organization was not justified. Obama said: “Right now there are groups all over the country with harmless sounding names like Americans for Prosperity broadcasting millions of dollars' worth of advertising against Democratic candidates all over the country. And they don't have to say who exactly these 'Americans for Prosperity' are. You don't know if it's a foreign company. You don't know if it's a big oil company or a big bank. ”The administration later referred to AFP as a“ front line organization run by the multi-billion dollar Koch brothers, ”who“ are obsessed with making Barack Obama a president to make only one term ”. In response, Tim Phillips, director of AFP, described the idea that AFP would accept funds from foreign sources as "ridiculous." He also noted that AFP has seen an increase in donations following the president’s testimony because “[the donors] know that if the President of the United States attacks you for contradicting his agenda, you are probably doing something, that is effective ".

The American journalist Jane Mayer said in an interview: "The Kochs are excellent at getting workers to vote against their own economic interests by demonizing 'big government' and idolizing the free market in return."

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Cato Institute Is Caught in a Rift Over Its Direction. In: New York Times , March 6, 2012.
  2. ↑ Behind the Cato-Koch Kerfuffle. In: Slate , March 1, 2012.
  3. ↑ Jane Mayer: Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. Doubleday, New York 2016, ISBN 978-0-385-53559-5 , pp. 159 f.
  4. ↑ Jane Mayer: Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. Doubleday, New York 2016. pp. 161f.
  5. ↑ Jane Mayer: Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. Doubleday, New York 2016. p. 163.
  6. ↑ Koch brothers orchestrate grassroot effort to lower corporate taxes, documents show. In: The Intercept . July 26, 2017. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  7. ^ A b Charles Koch Network Pushed $ 1 Billion Cut to CDC, Now Attacks Shelter-in-Place Policies for Harming Business . In: The Intercept , March 26, 2020. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  8. ^ Nonprofit Report for Americans for Prosperity Foundation . In: GuideStar . Retrieved May 8, 2012.
  9. ↑ Markus Grill: Revolution from above . In: Der Spiegel . No. 44 , 2014, p. 97 f . ( online ).
  10. ↑ Jane Mayer: Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. Doubleday, New York 2016, p. 178.
  11. ↑ Jane Mayer: Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. Doubleday, New York 2016. p. 170.
  12. ^ Riley E. Dunlap, Aaron M. McCright: Organized Climate Change Denial. In: John S. Dryzek, Richard B. Norgaard, David Schlosberg (Eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society. Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 144-160, esp. 154.
  13. ↑ Michael E. Mann , Tom Toles: Deniers club: Meet the people clouding the climate change debate . In: Washington Post , September 16, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
  14. ↑ Jane Mayer: Dark Money . Scribe Verlag 2016, pp. 273f.
  15. ↑ a b c Kerstin Kohlenberg: Money doesn't stink ... it rules . In: Die Zeit , No. 24/2017, p. 2 f.
  16. ↑ Koch-funded think tanks Are Lobbying to Send Workers to Their Deaths . In: In These Times , April 26, 2020. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  17. ^ Behind the Quiet State-by-State Fight Over Electric Vehicles . In: The New York Times , March 11, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  18. ↑ The trolling of Elon Musk: how US conservatives are attacking green tech . In: The Guardian , December 4, 2016. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  19. ^ How the Koch Brothers Are Killing Public Transit Projects Around the Country . In: The New York Times , June 19, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  20. ↑ How two brothers destroy rail projects in the USA . Spiegel Online , July 31, 2018; accessed on July 31, 2018
  21. ^ Remarks by the President at a DNC Finance Event in Austin, Texas .
  22. ↑ Felicia Sonmez: Who is “Americans for Prosperity”? . In: Washington Post , August 26, 2010. 
  23. ^ Robert Pear: White House Works to Shape Debate Over Health Law . In: New York Times , March 9, 2012. 
  24. ↑ a b Alex Pappas: Americans for Prosperity cashing in on Obama attacks on them . In: Daily Caller . Yahoo! Retrieved June 24, 2014.