Dear John,

For over a decade, CMD has been exposing what the Koch network does with that money: influencing elections and bankrolling dark money groups responsible for anti-labor, anti-teacher, pro-corporate, and climate denial legislation and propaganda at the expense of ordinary Americans.

CMD is a reader-supported organization, and we count on readers like you to help us expose the Koch machine — so we’re asking for your help now.

This year, CMD exposed:

• Koch’s soaring assets. The assets of Koch-controlled organizations — nonprofit organizations, advocacy groups, and political action committees — skyrocketed to $8.1 billion, increasing more than five-fold between 2018 and 2022. 

• Targeting higher education. Koch injected nearly $500 million into hundreds of colleges and universities between 2018 and 2022, part of the long-term strategy of funding higher education as a means of educating young people on the benefits of free market capitalism.

• Koch’s efforts to stop Medicaid expansion. Koch-backed groups, including Americans for Prosperity (AFP), renewed their fight against Medicaid expansion, waging expensive lobbying campaigns in Kansas and Wisconsin that ultimately keep an estimated 170,000 residents between the two states from being eligible for coverage.

• Hurting local economies. Just three weeks after being ravaged by Hurricane Idalia, the small town of Perry, Florida, was hit by another disaster: the Koch-owned Georgia Pacific shuttered its cellulose mill, costing 500 jobs and $9.9 million a year in tax revenue paid by the company. “They ought to be ashamed,” Florida Republican representative Neal Dunn said.

• Favoring insurers over patients. Koch’s political network, long interested in kneecapping tort law, won a major state legislative victory after Iowa passed a bill that limits damages in medical malpractice lawsuits. In a major blow to families and boon to insurers, the Koch-backed bill — which came to a head following a $97 million malpractice suit over a botched delivery that resulted in severe brain damage — limits damages to $1 million.

Koch and his network of billionaires operate with resources that match or exceed spending by the major political parties and drown out the voices of the rest of us. They use that power to erode the integrity of our elections and sap taxpayer dollars away from investments in climate progress, public infrastructure, education, and healthcare to benefit narrow special interests and global corporations. And they’re going to shift into overdrive in 2025.

The Koch machine has $8.1 billion. But, thankfully, we have you — 
and we need you now more than ever!

Please help shine a light on Koch machine influence in 2025 by making your tax-deductible gift to CMD now!

And, as an extra incentive:

Thanks to a generous $50,000 match, your year-end gift will have twice the impact!

Donate Here!

Together we can stand up to the Koch machine and dark-money forces and win back a democracy of which we can all be proud!

Thank you for your support of CMD and all that you do,

Arn Pearson
Executive Director
Center for Media and Democracy

CMD could not have succeeded in exposing the Koch network for more than three decades without the loyal support of people like you.

Thank you!

Please help us reach our year-end goal of $150,000.

Your gift makes all the difference.

Donate Here!

Having trouble viewing this email? View it in your web browser