How the Koch brothers secretly spent $236 million in 2012

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last updated 8 January 2015

The 2012 election broke all sorts of records for money in politics. And now, Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei at Politico have found another $236 million spent by Freedom Partners, "an Arlington, Va.-based conservative group, whose existence until now was unknown to almost everyone in politics." The group, which Politico dubs "the Koch brothers' secret bank," has raised at least $256 million since its formation in November 2011, from "about 200 donors, paying at least $100,000 each in annual dues."

Allen and VandeHei know this because the group's president, longtime GOP operative Marc Short, gave them a soon-to-be-public IRS document. The 38-page filing, they write, "amounts to the Rosetta Stone of the vast web of conservative groups — some prominent, some obscure — that spend time, money and resources to influence public debate, especially over ObamaCare." Almost half the money, $115 million, went to the ObamaCare-fighting group the Center to Protect Patient Rights. Here's an excerpt from Politico's report: