October 24 – California Exposes the Koch Brothers’ Dark Money; Senator Cruz Makes a Stand for Billionaires’ Dark Money; Fallout in Mexico from NSA Spying

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the California Fair Political Practices Commission’s announcement of its largest campaign-reporting fine of $15 million levied against two out-of-state front groups named as “part of the Koch Brothers Network of dark money political non-profit corporations”. Derek Cressman, the Former Vice President for California Operations of Common Cause joins us to discuss the end of an investigation of a murky multi-billion dollar money trail that ends up on the Koch brother’s doorstep.

Part 2

Then we examine another Koch brothers-related story that is the sub-text for Senator Ted Cruz’s brazen hold on the nomination of the new head of the FCC because Cruz wants to protect the anonymity of the Koch’s and other billionaires who pour dark money into political campaigns. Timothy Karr, the Senior Director of Strategy for Free Press joins us to discuss the latest obstruction by the junior Senator from Texas who is shamelessly shilling for the Kochs to ensure that tons of dark money will pour into Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Part 3

Then we look into the political fallout in Mexico from recent revelations by Edward Snowden that the NSA had captured the emails of the former and current presidents of Mexico. An expert on Mexico, George Grayson, a professor of comparative politics at the College of William and Mary, joins us to discuss the genuine outrage from former Mexican president Felipe Calderon and the more politically calculated outrage from the current president Enrique Pena Nieto.