Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is an astroturf front group started by oil billioniare David Koch and Richard Fink. AFP rallies and misinformation campaigns were pivotal in undermining cap-and-trade.
Because cap-and-trade makes corporations pay for the pollution they produce, Koch Industries is vehemently opposed to the any legislation including the measure.
Misinformation is the primary means used by the AFP to discredit the Democrat’s legislative agenda. AFP has held at least eighty events targeting cap-and-trade legislation. Speakers for the group deliberately misled people into believing that even “back-yard barbecues and kitchen stoves“ would be taxed. The truth is the measure would only apply to large companies, neither small businesses nor private citizens would be directly subject to the energy tax.
AFP was also involved in the attacks that successfully brought down Obama’s “green jobs” czar, Van Jones. Like a wolf in sheeps clothing, the AFP went to Copenhagen last year and protested outside the UN conference on climate change. They mislead people into believing that their group was a champion of ordinary workers who would be hurt by environmentalists.
The AFP is part of the reason why we did not see energy and climate legislation in the last two years, it is also part of the reason why cap-and-trade is very unpopular. By staging protests, Americans for Prosperity have dissuaded Republicans who might otherwise have worked constructively with Obama.
The Kochs’ dirty oil money funds Americans for Prosperity, which in turn fuels Republican obstructionism in Congress.
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