Above the Law: Who Are the Koch Brothers? // Bloomberg Details Illegal Dealings With Iran

Maryland Juice has previously discussed the large role the oil-rich Koch family has played in financing extremist politics in the United States. The recipients of their largesse include Tea Party politicians and global warming deniers. Their tentacles reach into Maryland (and practically every other state) through their financing of anti-immigrant lawsuits and think tanks like CATO, Heritage and dozens of others. Yesterday, Bloomberg News reported on new revelations about the Koch family's illegal dealings with Iran and other nations. The business-oriented (read: not liberal) outlet also appended their study to a long and detailed history of the Koch's criminal operations.

One Maryland-based think tank, the innocuously named Maryland Public Policy Institute (MPPI), previously took issue with my noting the simple fact that they (and others) received Koch money. They argued that a) they didn't actually know where their money came from (???), b) even if they did take Koch money, it wouldn't impact their position (note: I assume that is precisely why the Koch's donate -- because MPPI is predictably conservative in every response!), and c) Soros gives money to liberal groups (ie: isn't that how we all play?).

Liberal media watchdog group, Media Matters, issued an alert today highlighting key facts about the Koch family and how they play:

• New reports reveal that the Koch Brothers are running a corporate empire that secretly traded with Iran, falsified records of cancer-causing pollution, and gutted safety protections that left American children dead -- and these are just some of the "smoking guns" and "lawless behavior" that we know about.
• Americans for Prosperity, the political front group for oil giant Koch Industries, spent $45 million in the last election to help elect Republicans -- including 70% of the GOP freshman Members of Congress.
• The Tea Party owes its rise to the Koch Brothers, who stand to rake in more profits if Tea Party Republicans gut our regulations of Wall Street and the oil and gas industries.
• The Koch Brothers have pledged to spend nearly $100 million to beat President Obama and Democrats in 2012.
• Since 2006, Koch Industries has spent more than $50 million lobbying Washington politicians.

Granted, the Koch family also donates to museums and other spectrum-neutral non-profits (unless you are a rightwinger who thinks the arts are evil) -- but is it wrong for Maryland Juice to point out that the vast majority of conservative serpentheads are all drinking the Koch's tainted milk?