Jim Hightower: Dark-money (GOP) donors unmasked (Coca-Cola, Comcast, WalMart, Aetna, others) [View all]

[Miles Archer]

Dark-money donors unmasked
LowDown
By Jim Hightower

October 15, 2014

http://www.csindy.com/coloradosprings/dark-money-donors-unmasked/Content?oid=2952824

These are chieftains of brand-name corporate giants who have secretly funneled millions of their shareholders' dollars into the "dark money" vault of the Republican Governors Association. In turn, the RGA channels the political cash into the campaigns of assorted right-wing governors.

...

But — oops! — in September, the RGA made a coding error in its database of dark-money donors, exposing the names of a mess of the GOP's secret-money corporations.

Suddenly, the chieftains were buck-naked in front of customers, employees, stockholders and others who were startled and angered to learn that the companies they supported were working against their interests. Here are some of the corporate dreamers that were pulling the wool over our eyes: Aetna, Aflac, Blue Cross, Coca-Cola, Comcast, Exxon Mobil, Hewlett-Packard, Koch Industries, Microsoft, Novartis, Pfizer, Shell Oil, United Health, Verizon, Walgreens and Walmart.

Fred Wertheimer, a lifelong champion of political-money reform, noted that the RGA's boo-boo offers "a classic example of how corporations are trying to use secret money hidden from the American people, to buy influence, and how the Governors Association is selling it."