Thursday, July 9, 2015

PENCE’S DONOR HAS TIES TO KOCHS AND EDISON SCHOOLS

by Doug Martin at Hoosier School Heist
As Indy Star’s Tony Cook first reported a few days ago, one of Mike Pence’s newest funders is Republican donor John W. Childs, a chief official in the Club for Growth, a pro-business organization loosely aligned with the Koch Network.
In 2011, Childs was honored at a Koch Brothers’ retreat for giving at least $1 million to Koch causes.
private equity firm CEO and Mitch Daniels supporter, Childs was an early investor in Edison Schools, now named Edison Learning.
Edison Learning has operated Gary’s Roosevelt Career and Technical Center every since former Indiana supt. of public schools Tony Bennett turned the public school over to the for-profit operator.
major investor in Edison, Childs was a board member in the 90s alongside Democrat Reverend Floyd Flake–a main character in my book Hoosier School Heist–but it is unknown if Childs still has a financial interest in Edison.
Back in 1998, when Edison was taking off, Childs donated at least$100,000 to the Republican National State Elections Committee, according to Indiana campaign finance records.
John W. Childs was recently named by Business Insider as one of Wall Street’s top 16 political donors.
Whereas Childs gave Mike Pence just $50,000 for his reelection campaign, the Center for Responsive Politics finds that the private equity leader funneled over $4 million to outside funding groups in 2012 alone, with $1.1 million going to the Club for Growth, which proves what I have been saying for years—the Koch Brothers are only two of many people we have to be worried about in Indiana, and my book names many, many more.
BIO
Doug Martin is the author of Hoosier School Heist : How Corporations and Theocrats Stole Democracy From Public Education, a book being read in over 130 cities and towns and 78 Indiana counties, 23 states, and the District of Columbia.  A regular guest on national and Indiana radio talk shows such as Justin Oakley’s Just Let Me Teach and Amos Brown’s Afternoons with Amos, Dr. Martin’s research has been or will soon be featured in the Washington Post Answer Sheet , ABC’sNightline, and the Associated Press

Monday, July 6, 2015

KOCH BROTHERS’ FRIENDS FUNDING MIKE PENCE

By Doug Martin at Hoosier School Heist
(This is the first in a series of articles that will address the money behind Mike Pence’s quest to be reelected Governor of Indiana)
On June 25, just one day after the governor wrote a letter to president Obama saying Indiana would not comply with proposed Environmental Protection Agency rules against greenhouse omissions, Mike Pence’s campaign received a $10,000 gift from Marvin Gilliam of Bristol, Virginia.
Gilliam is the former VP of what was once one of the largest coal producers in America, Cumberland Resources, which was purchasedby Massey Energy in 2010.
In 2013, Gilliam and Koch Industries, along with other wealthy donors, financed the gubernatorial campaign of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II, a longtime Republican and anti-LGBT climate denier who “used his position to launch an inquisition against a former University of Virginia climate scientist.”
Owners of Koch Industries, a multinational oil and manufacturing corporation making money from toilet paper, fertilizer, and a long list of other things, the Koch Brothers are wealthy giants who have influenced everything from climate control to school board elections.
Marvin’s brother Richard, who founded Cumberland Resources and now directs the rare metals exploration company Endurance Gold Corp, gave Mike Pence’s campaign $25,000 in 2012.
Richard Gilliam is a major donor to Koch Brothers-supported groups and visited their secret retreat in June 2010 to discuss political strategy.
Richard and wife Leslie were listed as #33 in the top donors to Republican political campaigns, according to a study by the Center for Responsive Politics, spending over $520,000 in 2010 alone.
Richard Gilliam also handed money to Karl Rove’s American Crossroads super-PAC which spent over $104 million on the 2012 elections.
Another donor to Karl Rove’s PAC was Weaver Popcorn.  As I detail in Hoosier School Heist, Weaver Popcorn’s Mike Weaver was a chief Tony Bennet donor when the Republican ran for the Indiana supt. of public education slot in 2012.
BIO
Doug Martin is the author of Hoosier School Heist : How Corporations and Theocrats Stole Democracy From Public Education, a book being read in over 130 cities and towns and 78 Indiana counties, 23 states, and the District of Columbia.  A regular guest on national and Indiana radio talk shows such as Justin Oakley’s Just Let Me Teach and Amos Brown’s Afternoons with Amos, Dr. Martin’s research has been or will soon be featured in the Washington Post Answer Sheet , ABC’s Nightline, and theAssociated Press

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