Mitch McConnell Paid For Koch Group Meeting Shortly Before Blitz Of Pro-GOP Senate Ads
WASHINGTON -- In June, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) took a break from the campaign trail to address a conference held in Dana Point, California, for donors to the political network operated by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.
Two months later, on Aug. 25, McConnell's campaign reported spending about $237 for catering at the offices of Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce in Arlington, Virginia. Neither the McConnell campaign nor the Freedom Partners nonprofit responded to requests for comment on whether this was a fundraising event or a strategy session. The expense was reported in McConnell's October quarterly campaign filing with the Federal Election Commission.
McConnell's campaign already reports renting offices in Washington from two different lobbyists. This makes it all the more likely that the use of the Freedom Partners office was not for want of convenient space, but because it was occupied by the Koch-linked group.
McConnell's campaign and the outside groups funded by the Koch brothers are forbidden by law from getting together to coordinate campaign strategy for his own race. Moreover, none of the Koch-linked groups have reported spending in support of McConnell or opposition to Grimes to the FEC.
But since McConnell's campaign held that meeting at Freedom Partners' office, an affiliated super PAC, Freedom Partners Action Fund, has launched a blitz of nearly $16 million in spending aimed at the races that Republicans need to win in order to take control of the Senate and lift McConnell up to Senate majority leader. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Freedom Partners Action Fund has spent more than $3 million in the Arkansas, Iowa and Kansas Senate races, more than $2 million in Colorado, and more than $1 million in Alaska, North Carolina and Oregon.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/30/mitch-mcconnell-koch-brothers_n_6076746.html
