Koch brothers build a ground game

Americans for Prosperity has more than 500 workers in 35 states - Big presence in Florida.

The organization has more than 500 paid workers in 35 states and has become one of the conservative movement's best organized, most powerful outside groups. Building on the community-based approach President Barack Obama used successfully in 2008 and 2012, it now has a political footprint unmatched among GOP-affiliated operations and is racking up legislative victories.

The group scuttled efforts to raise taxes to build a downtown campus for the well-regarded zoo in Columbus, Ohio, and derailed plans in Florida's Legislature to subsidize improvements to the Miami Dolphins' football stadium. It helped fend off a recall effort against Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wis., and pushed pro-business (right to work for less wages) workplace laws in Michigan and Indiana.

It didn't shy away from going after traditional allies, as was the case when Gov. Rick Scott, R-Fla., briefly considered expanding Medicaid, a core component of Obama's health care law. Americans for Prosperity mobilized supporters, the Republican-led Legislature quickly rejected the idea and Scott dropped his proposal.

Tim Phillips, the group's president, said Americans for Prosperity had helped usher in “a once-in-a-generation renaissance for economic freedom policies,” and was poised to keep financial issues prominent in 2016.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20141011/NEWS02/141019736