With Environmental Rules at Stake, Dark Money Set To Flood 2016 U.S. Elections

January 28, 2015

Are megabucks from fossil fuels and other big industries corrupting the election of federal government officials? The U.S. public has little chance of knowing under current rules that are bringing "dark money" to ascendancy in American politics.

That lesson was underlined by the revelation January 26, 2015, that a shadowy donor network backed by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch aimed to spend $889 million on the 2016 presidential election. The revelation came at a private Rancho Mirage, California, meeting of donors and candidates organized by Freedom Partners, one of the arms of the Koch political money network.

Under current federal rules, the donors of the money do not have to be disclosed to the public.

Tracking that money might be of interest to environmental reporters and their audiences. The Koch brothers and their allies have organized support for Congressional efforts to block environmental regulations. Through another anonymous-donation entity, Donors Trust, they have funded efforts to undermine confidence in established science on manmade climate change.

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