Kochs Fund $5.6 Million Ad Campaign in Ohio [1]
Submitted by Anne Landman [2] on
Billionaires Charles [3] and David Koch [4] of Koch Industries [5] are funneling $5.6 million through the astroturf [6] group FreedomWorks [7] for an Ohio TV ad campaign starting March 18, 2011 that continues the attack on labor unions that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker [8] started in February. FreedomWorks [7], a non-profit group heavily involved with organizing the Tea Party [9], does not disclose its corporate donors. The 30-second TV ad focuses on Ohio, but features discredited Fox News [10] footage taken of an out-of-state protest [11], inserted in the ad order to depict Wisconsin union protesters as being aggressive. The ad blames unions for what it claims is a debt "crisis" in Ohio. It says, "We won in Wisconsin, but the fight must go on," and urges viewers to call a phone number to "Thank Governor Kasich for leading the fight against Union corruption in Ohio."The ad doesn't mention that a Wisconsin judge temporarily blocked implementation of Governor Walker's anti-union bill over a potential violation of open meetings laws incurred in the way the highly-contentious bill was pushed through Wisconsin's legislature.