skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Sunday, December 22, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Government shutdown looms after Trump-backed bill fails; Environmental groups sue CA Air Resources Board over biogas credits; NY elected officials work to electrify municipal buildings; Need a mental health boost? Talking hot dog is here.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

President-elect Trump repeats his threats to jail Jan. 6th committee members, while also putting a stop-gap spending plan in jeopardy. A court removes Fani Willis from Trump's Georgia election interference case. The FAA restricts drones in New Jersey, and a Federal Reserve rate cut shakes markets.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural folks could soon be shut out of loans for natural disasters if Project 2025 has its way, Taos, New Mexico weighs options for its housing shortage, and the top states providing America's Christmas trees revealed.

Oil Billionaires’ ‘Dark Money’ Pouring Into WV Race

play audio
Play

Thursday, December 12, 2013   

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Groups founded by oil billionaires Charles and David Koch are spending tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, a Democrat from West Virginia.

Campaign finance watchers say much of it is so-called dark money – secretive, out-of-state funding.

Mike Beckel, a reporter for the Center for Public Integrity, says since a U.S. Supreme Court decision giving corporations the right to buy unlimited political speech, Koch groups such as Americans for Prosperity and the American Energy Alliance have taken huge anonymous national donations and funneled money into mudslinging.

"Dark money often does the dirty work,” he maintains. “These are groups that have proliferated after Citizens United, and in this district in West Virginia they are airing advertisements to frame the race and get voters riled up."

The Koch brothers rarely take questions from the press. The groups say they are using the dark money to promote conservative messages that support economic growth.

Neither group reportedly has a good record for sticking to the truth. Pulitzer-winning fact-checkers at Politifact.com found none of the statements they looked at by either group was true or even mostly true. Several were false or rated "pants on fire."

But Beckel says the groups have the capacity to flood the air with attack ads. And he says it's very difficult to even figure out who is paying for them, although links have been found to big tobacco and big oil.

"Here and there, we've been able to find a major trade association or a major corporate interest – Reynolds American, or the American Petroleum Institute,” Beckel says. “But there's a lot of money that's unaccounted for."

According to Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, the outside groups are targeting West Virginia's 3rd district because they want to control Congress and think attacking Rahall will help them do that.

She says the floodgates have been opened for what she describes as a dark-money mudslide pouring out of the media onto local voters. She says it will be very hard for ordinary citizens to know when big players with a secret motive are lying to them.

"Behemoths, national organizations that have no real presence in the state or district,” she says. “And the really scary thing from the voters' perspective is they don't know how to judge the credibility of the messenger."





get more stories like this via email

more stories
A survey from the American Heart Association revealed 79% of respondents neglect their health during the holidays. Many say they find this time of year more stressful than income tax season.
(deagreez/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Holiday travel is in full swing and for many, so is the stress. The American Heart Association of Missouri has health tips for anyone with heart …


Health and Wellness

play sound

By Amy Felegy for Arts Midwest.Broadcast version by Mike Moen for Minnesota News Connection reporting for the Arts Midwest-Public News Service Collabo…

Health and Wellness

play sound

With Christmas less than a week away, experts are giving advice on how seniors and the community can fight against social isolation. A United Health …


A new University of Miami study has found buildings in Sunny Isles Beach and Surfside have been sinking by 2-8 centimeters between 2016 and 2023. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

When the Champlain Towers South collapsed in Surfside in 2021 taking 98 lives, it sent shock waves across South Florida. The tragedy has left …

Environment

play sound

Rural communities across Massachusetts are benefiting from state grants aimed at strengthening the local food supply and building climate resilience…

Dairy digesters remove methane from liquified animal waste. The gas can then be used to generate power. (Lance Cheung/USDA)

Environment

play sound

Three environmental nonprofits filed suit Wednesday against the California Air Resources Board to oppose the expansion of a program allowing oil and g…

Environment

play sound

New York lawmakers are focusing on electrifying municipal buildings. Buildings statewide make up 32% of New York's greenhouse gas emissions and …

Social Issues

play sound

North Dakota is expected to rejoin the debate over whether all school children, regardless of their family income, should have access to no-cost …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021