Blart
03-10-2012, 02:47 AM
For the uninformed, The Cato Institute (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato_Institute) is Libertarian, and also one of the largest, best funded, and most-cited think tanks in the USA.
The Koch Brothers control 50% of Cato, but they want more. They want it so bad they're suing a widow for her dead husband's stake (http://wonkette.com/465419/koch-brothers-sue-their-own-crown-jewel-think-tank) in the organization.
According to the Cato people, the Kochs are seeking to,
“transform Cato into an intellectual ammo-shop for American for Prosperity and other allied (presumably, Koch-controlled) organizations.”
The result? All the libertarians are resigning from Cato.
For the past few years, the Kochs have been quietly stacking the Cato board with conservative wingnuts (anti-gay/pro-war types, fox news junkies, and other Koch suckers) to replace the honest libertarians they're dismissing. Here's a new Koch appointed senior fellow at Cato, for example:
John Hinderaker of the Powerline blog, whose firm counts Koch Industries as a client. Hinderaker has written, “It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can’t get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile.” Hinderaker supports the Patriot Act and the Iraq War and calls himself a neocon.
Here's a rant from a Senior Fellow at Cato threatening to resign,
Koch: We seek no ‘takeover,’ and this is not a hostile action.
This is at odds with both the words and deeds of the Koch brothers of late. Last year, they used their shares to place two of their operatives – Kevin Gentry and Nancy Pfotenhauer – on our board against the wishes of every single board member save for David Koch. Last Thursday, they used their shares to force another four new board members on us (the most that their shares would allow at any given meeting); Charles Koch, Ted Olson (hired council for Koch Industries), Preston Marshall (the largest shareholder of Koch Industries save for Charles and David), and Andrew Napolitano (a frequent speaker at Koch-sponsored events). Those four – who had not previously been involved with Cato either financially or organizationally – were likewise opposed by every member of our board save for Gentry, Pfotenhauer, and David Koch. To make room for these Koch operatives, we were forced to remove four long-time, active board members, two of whom were our biggest donors. At this moment, the Kochs now control seven of our 16 board seats, two short of outright control.
Why are they forcing out Cato board members, all strong, principled libertarians who have been heavily involved with Cato – financially and organizationally – for years? The answer was given in early November of last year when David Koch, Richard Fink (he of many Koch hats), and Kevin Gentry met with Cato board chairman Bob Levy. They told Bob that they intended to use their board majority to remove Ed Crane from Cato and transform our Institute into an intellectual ammo-shop for American for Prosperity and other allied (presumably, Koch-controlled) organizations. That statement of intent is certainly consistent with what we’ve been hearing from both Kevin Gentry and Nancy Pfotenauer. They’ve frequently complained during their short time on our board that Cato wasn’t doing enough to defeat President Obama in November and that we weren’t working closely enough with grass roots activists like those at AFP.The rest of the Cato fellow's rant, which further describes the nutballs the Kochs are hiring:
http://volokh.com/2012/03/03/koch-v-cato-a-view-from-cato/
This all really tickles me. It's fitting that Libertarian's intellectual stronghold is being destroyed by the billionaires they helped create.
Anyway, everyone is blogging about it:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/03/the_kochs_brothers_are_trying_to_seize_control_of_ the_libertarian_think_tank_cato_.single.html
http://reason.com/blog/2012/03/07/more-details-on-the-increasinly-bitter-k
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/why-would-the-koch-brothers-want-to-refine-cato-institute/2012/03/09/gIQAxKWe1R_blog.html
The Koch Brothers control 50% of Cato, but they want more. They want it so bad they're suing a widow for her dead husband's stake (http://wonkette.com/465419/koch-brothers-sue-their-own-crown-jewel-think-tank) in the organization.
According to the Cato people, the Kochs are seeking to,
“transform Cato into an intellectual ammo-shop for American for Prosperity and other allied (presumably, Koch-controlled) organizations.”
The result? All the libertarians are resigning from Cato.
For the past few years, the Kochs have been quietly stacking the Cato board with conservative wingnuts (anti-gay/pro-war types, fox news junkies, and other Koch suckers) to replace the honest libertarians they're dismissing. Here's a new Koch appointed senior fellow at Cato, for example:
John Hinderaker of the Powerline blog, whose firm counts Koch Industries as a client. Hinderaker has written, “It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can’t get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile.” Hinderaker supports the Patriot Act and the Iraq War and calls himself a neocon.
Here's a rant from a Senior Fellow at Cato threatening to resign,
Koch: We seek no ‘takeover,’ and this is not a hostile action.
This is at odds with both the words and deeds of the Koch brothers of late. Last year, they used their shares to place two of their operatives – Kevin Gentry and Nancy Pfotenhauer – on our board against the wishes of every single board member save for David Koch. Last Thursday, they used their shares to force another four new board members on us (the most that their shares would allow at any given meeting); Charles Koch, Ted Olson (hired council for Koch Industries), Preston Marshall (the largest shareholder of Koch Industries save for Charles and David), and Andrew Napolitano (a frequent speaker at Koch-sponsored events). Those four – who had not previously been involved with Cato either financially or organizationally – were likewise opposed by every member of our board save for Gentry, Pfotenhauer, and David Koch. To make room for these Koch operatives, we were forced to remove four long-time, active board members, two of whom were our biggest donors. At this moment, the Kochs now control seven of our 16 board seats, two short of outright control.
Why are they forcing out Cato board members, all strong, principled libertarians who have been heavily involved with Cato – financially and organizationally – for years? The answer was given in early November of last year when David Koch, Richard Fink (he of many Koch hats), and Kevin Gentry met with Cato board chairman Bob Levy. They told Bob that they intended to use their board majority to remove Ed Crane from Cato and transform our Institute into an intellectual ammo-shop for American for Prosperity and other allied (presumably, Koch-controlled) organizations. That statement of intent is certainly consistent with what we’ve been hearing from both Kevin Gentry and Nancy Pfotenauer. They’ve frequently complained during their short time on our board that Cato wasn’t doing enough to defeat President Obama in November and that we weren’t working closely enough with grass roots activists like those at AFP.The rest of the Cato fellow's rant, which further describes the nutballs the Kochs are hiring:
http://volokh.com/2012/03/03/koch-v-cato-a-view-from-cato/
This all really tickles me. It's fitting that Libertarian's intellectual stronghold is being destroyed by the billionaires they helped create.
Anyway, everyone is blogging about it:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/03/the_kochs_brothers_are_trying_to_seize_control_of_ the_libertarian_think_tank_cato_.single.html
http://reason.com/blog/2012/03/07/more-details-on-the-increasinly-bitter-k
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/why-would-the-koch-brothers-want-to-refine-cato-institute/2012/03/09/gIQAxKWe1R_blog.html