Reid says the Koch brothers' AFP is more powerful than the official GOP campaign arm. | AP Photos Reid continues battle with Kochs

Harry Reid is leading a concerted election-year strategy by Democrats to demonize the Koch brothers, starting on the Senate floor.

The Senate majority leader again lit into Charles and David Koch on Tuesday, showing little regard for GOP criticisms of his previous attacks on the billionaire brothers. Reid refused to back away from his previous assessment that the brothers are “un-American,” deeming their philosophy one “that benefits billionaires at the expense of the middle class.”


“The oil baron Koch brothers are very good at protecting and growing their prodigious future and fortune. There’s nothing un-American about that. But what is un-American is when shadowy billionaires pour unlimited money into our democracy to rig the system to benefit themselves and the wealthiest one percent,” Reid said.

( Also on POLITICO: Reid tempers Koch criticism)

Reid is no stranger to using the Senate floor to attack his political opponents — see his fixation with Mitt Romney’s tax returns — and his Koch rhetoric serves to spearhead a party-wide strategy aimed at highlighting the political influence of the brothers and the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee repeatedly warns in fundraising solicitations that the Kochs’ influence could tip the balance of the Senate as AFP pours millions into battleground states to pound Democrats.

Reid said that at this point, AFP has become even more powerful than Senate Republicans’ official campaign arm.

“Senate Republicans hardly need the NRSC anymore, which decade after decade was their main funding tool for the Republican Senate. Not any longer. The Koch brothers take care of that,” the Democratic leader said.

Democrats nationwide are joining Reid in taking on the Kochs. Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), a Senate candidate, has aggressively fought AFP’s ads in Michigan and asked the organization to document its claims. Vulnerable Democratic incumbents are pushing back against the Kochs in campaign rhetoric and fundraising requests, with Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) warning that people “are not going to let the billionaire Koch brothers buy this seat.”

( Also on POLITICO: Dem groups counter Koch brothers)

Koch Industries’ PAC has given money to Democratic senators in the past, including the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, but its campaign contributions tilt sharply toward the GOP this election cycle. One exception: A PAC affiliated with Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) received $5,000 from the Koch Industries PAC in 2013, according to FEC filings.

On Tuesday morning, AFP dropped another ad against Peters that accused him of trying to “silence” a constituent. In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, AFP President Tim Phillips said “Americans know better than to take lessons in civic virtue from Senator Reid” and that “these attacks from the left don’t change the facts about ObamaCare.”

“David and Charles create more jobs, more prosperity, and more well-being for Americans in a single year than Senator Reid and his big government policies will in a lifetime,” Phillips said.

“Senator Reid is attacking private citizens rather than the problems facing this nation. It is no wonder that Americans have lost faith in Congress,” said Philip Ellender, a Koch spokesman.

During Tuesday’s floor speech, Reid also lashed out at the GOP responses elicited by his previous Koch broadsides, accusing Republican senators who howled at his previous attacks of being “addicted to Koch.”

“Republican senators have come to the floor to defend the Koch brothers’ attempt to buy our democracy,” Reid said. “Anyone that’s turned on Fox News lately knows that I have gotten under their skin. But I will continue to shine the light on their subversion of democracy.”

( Also on POLITICO: Steyer vs. Koch cage fight)

After Reid’ 15-minute diatribe, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) noted that Reid failed to mention Tom Steyer, a California billionaire who is planning to pour millions into the midterm races benefiting environmentally-friendly candidates. Reid was among the attendees at a Steyer fundraising for the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm in February.

“It strikes me as curious that if we are going to demonize people for exercising their constitutional rights to go out and speak and participate in the political process, we would just pick out the people that are opposed to us and leave out the people who are in favor of us,” McConnell said.

Reid had already left the floor at that point, but Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) responded that any spending from Steyer “pales in comparison” to the spending of those that oppose more environmental regulations.

Tuesday’s remarks were just the latest barrage in Reid’s onslaught against the Koch brothers and affiliated organizations. After McConnell said in January that the Obama administration’s proposed changes to IRS rules amounted to a war on “free speech itself,” Reid responded with an off-the-cuff response that accused the Kochs of “trying to buy the country.”

Reid’s criticism became harsher last week, as he first alleged the ads that AFP is running in battleground states are “all” untrue. Several hours later Reid tempered that assessment and said the “vast, vast majority” of the ads are untrue. He then called the Kochs “about as un-American as anyone that I can imagine.”

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said Reid’s statements about the Kochs being “un-American” smacked of McCarthyism and Republicans ran with his remarks about the ads being untrue all week, asking Reid to apologize for dismissing legitimate Obamacare complaints.

“I have received thousands, thousands, multiple thousands of calls, emails and person-to-person feedback from Hoosiers all across the State of Indiana. These are not falsified,” said Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) in an interview last week.

This article tagged under: Harry Reid

Koch Brothers