Wisconsin-Report

Foundation, and Grover Norquist’s powerful antitax group, Americans for Tax Reform, which declared, ‘Paul Ryan’s budget is
what a REAL conservative budget looks like!’ Many other nonprofit advocacy groups, like Public Notice, the 60 Plus
Association, the Independent Women’s Forum, and American Commitment, also chimed in for the drastic spending cuts. The
clamor seemed multitudinous, but beneath the surface each of these groups shared a common aquifer—the pool of cash
contributed by the Koch donor network.” [Jane Mayer - Dark Money, 295]
THE KOCH NETWORK PUSHED TO POPULARIZE THE RYAN BUDGET
Koch Political Consultant Sean Noble Suggested That The Koch Network Should Focus On Helping Paul
Ryan. According to Dark Money by Jane Mayer, “First, though, there was a lot of discussion about how they could help the
Republicans in the House, now that the GOP had the majority. Sean Noble, who continued as a contract political consultant
to the Kochs, was pushing hard for them to start by helping Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin congressman who was the incoming
chairman of the House Budget Committee.” [Jane Mayer - Dark Money, 285]
“To Popularize” Paul Ryan’s “Radical Budget Plan” Noble Suggested Koch Donors “Pay For Expensive Private
Polling And Market Testing To Help Ryan Fine-Tune His Pitch” As Well As An Astroturf Campaign Of Fake
Public Support. According to Dark Money by Jane Mayer, “To popularize his radical budget plan, Ryan would need help,
and Noble soon came up with a way for the donors to deliver it. He suggested they pay for expensive private polling and
market testing to help Ryan fine-tune his pitch, as well as a campaign by ‘Astroturf’ groups to create a drumbeat of public
support. It was an intriguing idea, but it teetered on the edge of impropriety. Drafting the government’s annual budget was a
core congressional function” [Jane Mayer - Dark Money, 287]
Koch Money Began Flowing To Market-Test And Advertise Ryan’s Budget Ideas Via TC4 Trust And Public
Notice. According to Dark Money by Jane Mayer, “At first, in the beginning of 2011, the donors were unenthused about the
idea. Having already paid for an expensive election, they didn’t understand why they now also needed to pay for polling and
focus groups about government policy. But in the following months, this changed, and mysterious money from the Koch
network started flowing. Much of it moved from the donors to a 501(c)(4) ‘social welfare’ group cryptically called the TC4
Trust, working closely with a subgroup focused on budget issues called Public Notice. The TC4 Trust was little more than a
UPS box in Alexandria, Virginia, but between 2009 and 2011 it reported revenue to the IRS of approximately $46 million and
gave away some $37 million to other conservative nonprofit groups. It defined itself as a free- market advocacy group and
filed papers with the IRS proclaiming that ‘the grant funds shall not be used for political activity.’ But it soon was paying for
polling and a public advocacy campaign aimed at shaping and selling the Republican budget.” [Jane Mayer - Dark Money, 287]
A Pollster Working On The Project Confirmed That Public Notice Was A Koch Group And Said The Project With
Ryan “Wasn’t About Developing Policy…It Was About Selling It.” According to Dark Money by Jane Mayer, “Ed
Goeas, the president of the Tarrance Group, a Republican polling company that worked on the budget project, said that the
challenge was to minimize political damage from cuts to entitlement spending. ‘It wasn’t about developing policy,’ Goeas said,
‘it was about selling it.’ The solution, it appears, was to avoid the frank use of the word ‘cut’ when talking about Medicare or
Social Security. ‘There was discussion that you could deal with it as ‘getting your money’s worth out of the government,’’ said
Goeas. ‘You could talk about it as ‘more effective’—but not as cutting it. It had to be more about ‘efficiencies.’ That was a
large part of it,’ he said. Public Notice, which paid for the research, also mounted a public advocacy campaign describing the
deficit as a looming catastrophe. ‘Public Notice was one of the Koch Brothers’ groups,’ Goeas confirmed, adding that his firm
worked ‘for it for three or four years’ while simultaneously advising Ryan.” [Jane Mayer - Dark Money, 287]
The Ryan Budget Passed The House, Losing Only Four Republican Votes. According to Dark Money by Jane Mayer,
“Against this backdrop, on April 15, 2011, Ryan’s budget plan, now packaged as ‘The Path to Prosperity,’ came up for a vote
in the House of Representatives. In the past, its prospects had been uncertain at best. Not just Democrats but many
Republicans had deemed previous versions too harsh. A year earlier, Speaker of the House John Boehner had given it only
lukewarm support. But by then the Republican caucus had moved far to the right, and the proposal had been repackaged. It
now passed easily in the House 235– 193, losing only four Republican votes but not attracting a single Democrat.” [Jane
Mayer - Dark Money, 293-294]
RYAN CONSISTENTLY ALIGNED WITH KOCH POLICIES
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