From TPM Muckraker, posted before our national celebration of Freedom:
A Luxembourg-based subsidiary of Koch Industries has admitted to making illegal campaign contributions to political candidates and committees.For me, the news (and puzzle) is not that they did it, but that they self-reported it. Note that the action is: (a) pre-Citizens United; (b) inadvertent (because the employees of the foreign company "did not know" they were working for a foreign company); and (c) some Koch internal watchdog entity fessed up.
INVISTA is a limited liability company involved in the textile manufacturing business that is organized in Luxembourg but headquartered in Kansas. They admitted in a filing with the Federal Election Commission that was disclosed this week that they made 12 contributions totally $26,800 to various political committees between Nov. 2005 and Oct. 2009.
INVESTA voluntarily disclosed the violations to the FEC in Aug. 2010 after an investigation by Koch Companies Public Sector (KCPA), which represents Koch Industries and their affiliates, and outside counsel. Their investigation revealed that the employees involved with making the donation decisions did not know INVESTA was a foreign entity and did not know that foreign corporations could not contribute to state elections like corporations could.
The fine is "$4,700 for violating the law" under an "conciliation agreement" plus an agreement get the money returned. The effect is to appear to confirm the foreign donations ban, but I'm wondering why KCPA came forward.
But something's going on that's not being reported. Why did they fess up? Businesses don't usually fess up about anything. They always make the feds prove it, even for minor stuff like perfectly clean sawdust in milk.
Yet on this story, there's nothing but silence on that aspect. For instance, here's the same tale from HuffPost (my emphasis):
INVISTA's contributions were disclosed to the FEC after lawyers for Koch Industries discovered the illegal contributions and relayed the information to the FEC for review.All very voluntary, and no digging for causes.
If I'm managing this strategically from atop the Olympian clouds at Koch Brothers Central, I'd work the response more cleverly into my geo-political grand schemata. After all, I want all election contribution restrictions overturned, don't I. So is this minor event a bit of hyper-clever mis-direction by the Koch Olympians, or a mistake by a corporate underling working in a sub-office of a subsidiary (in this case, the Koch internal watchdog group)?
Could be either, but I suspect that this was handled too quickly and at too low a level for Olympian eyeballs, by relatively honest people who were hired to do non-geo-political wrangling — i.e., keeping the numerous acquired toilet-paper and textile companies in that giant Kochish octopus on the right side of basic and mundane law.
Pushing the Citizens United envelope is not mundane, however. So if I'm right, you may not see that kind of compliant response again. But in any case, expect a challenge to the foreign corp limitation from somewhere. After all, the Chinese would love a piece of the purchase-a-politico game, assuming they don't already have their own set of retainers under contract. It's going to happen.
But for now, kudos to Koch lower-downs for (inadvertently?) doing the right thing. Hope you have a backup plan in case the bosses aren't pleased.
GP
I sat down not half hour ago to watch a replay of Raw. For the third week in a row, I have watched a full WWE show in order to see one man. A man who in the last month has become the "saviour" of wrestling for some fans and a mainstream publicity magnet for the WWE. The most impressive thing, it seems, is that he's only unleashed it now, a month before he leaves the company.
When the news first broke that CM Punk was planning to leave the WWE after his contract expired, I wasn't surprised. I honestly didn't and still wouldn't blame him. Not only because of the backstage stories of his poor treatment; from being buried in developmental, to his nickname as the "King of the Indies" (1).
Not only because it seems Punk has never been considered a member of the "Youth Movement", or as an established main eventer like Cena or Orton for sometime now. Leaving him essential in no man's land. Not only because Punk, a three time WWE world champion (four time if including the ECW world title), has been used for a while now to only advance Vince's home-grown talent.
But because he has never been truly valued as a WWE superstar. That was until now it seems.
While others like Chris Jericho and Batista left the WWE having been buried, Punk has used his last month in the WWE it seems to show Vince why and how he can draw money. He's taken the unlimited potential which guys like Paul Heyman and Steve Austin (3) have noted in him and used it to punch Vince right in his giant grapefruit's.
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