"Koch Brothers Unveil New Strategy at Big Donor Retreat"

Koch Brothers Unveil New Strategy at Big Donor Retreat

by Peter Stone at the Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/13/koch-brothers-make-climate-activists-new-target.html

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In an April 1 missive, Gentry invited Freedom Partners members to join an upcoming conference call about a “significant new Freedom Partners initiative” which he touted as one that would “drive the national narrative around energy and the tremendous benefits of reliable affordable energy for all Americans, especially for the less fortunate.” The email indicated that discussions about the energy project began last summer at another Koch donor event in New Mexico, which drew outgoing House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Rep. Paul Ryan among others.

Gentry’s email stressed that liberal donors, led by hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer, have plans to spend as much as $100 million on climate change issues and ads to make it a top-tier issue in the election. He noted that environmental groups had recently run a $5 million “clean energy” ad blitz in Iowa, Michigan, and North Carolina, all of which are considered “focus” states for Freedom Partners and among the states where Americans for Prosperity has spent over $35 million on attack ads against Democratic Senate candidates on Obamacare.

In a chagrined-sounding PS, Gentry opined that the “new multi million dollar campaign by environmentalists is arguably an effort to distract from the failures of Obamacare. But you and I know energy is a critically important issue for the United States.”

The details and scope of the new energy initiative, which has not been announced, aren’t clear yet, but it’s expected to cost in the seven figures and be a topic at the Koch donor conference this weekend— especially in light of the Obama administration’s newly unveiled EPA regulations to curb carbon emissions from mostly coal fired power plants. Two sources familiar with Koch donor world told The Daily Beast that a new nonprofit group is being formed to help run the new energy initiative. Neither spokesmen for Freedom Partners or Koch Industries responded to requests for comment about the new initiative or fundraising efforts this year.

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