Andy Kroll

Reporter

Andy Kroll is Mother Jones' Dark Money reporter. He is based in the DC bureau. His work has also appeared at the Wall Street Journal, the Detroit News, Salon, and TomDispatch.com, where he's an associate editor. He can be reached at akroll (at) motherjones (dot) com. He tweets at @AndrewKroll.

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Wisconsin Democrats Handily Defeat GOP Recall Challengers

—By Andy Kroll

| Tue Aug. 16, 2011 9:10 PM PDT

Democratic state Sens. Bob Wirch and Jim Holperin defeated their Republican challengers in the final two recall elections of what has been the most heated, politically divisive summer in recent history in Wisconsin. Wirch defeated corporate attorney Jonathan Steitz 58 percent to 42 percent. Holperin, in the second recall of his career, led tea party darling Kim Simac 55 percent to 45 percent with 95 percent of precincts reporting. The Associated Press called the race for the veteran Democrat.

Wirch and Holperin's victories mean Democrats gained two Senate seats out of a total nine recall elections this summer. (Six of the recalls targeted Republicans, while three targeted Democrats.) Those two seats aren't enough to give Democrats the outright majority in the state Senate, but the gains create the possibility that a moderate Republican could act as a swing vote and potentially tip the Senate majority away from the Republican leadership and Gov. Scott Walker. Both parties declared themselves the winner of the recalls, with Democrats touting their two new seats and Republicans bragging about how they defended their Senate majority, which now stands at 17-16.

[Read more in the MoJo blog]

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John Boehner's Boys-Only Lobbyist Golfing Buddies

Want some face time with the speaker of the House? Try being a corporate lobbyist at one of America's most exclusive country clubs.

—By Andy Kroll

| Tue Aug. 16, 2011 3:00 AM PDT

House Speaker John Boehner on the golf course.

In 2005, Golf Digest magazine featured John Boehner—then a rising star among House Republicans, today the speaker of the House—as one of Congress' sharpest shooters on the links. Despite committee leadership positions, Boehner still found time to log 100 or more rounds a year, often mixing politics and the putting green. "If someone I've gotten to know on the golf course comes into my office with a good argument," he said, "I tend to want to listen."

A lobbyist looking to twist Boehner's arm could do worse than the Burning Tree Club outside Washington, DC, a male-only, hyper-exclusive country club that has counted presidents, Supreme Court justices, and powerful lawmakers—including Speaker Boehner—among its members. When it can, Burning Tree closely guards its member list, giving few clues about the men playing with the movers and shakers of Washington. But according to member information obtained by Political Correction, an affiliate of the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters for America, Burning Tree's regulars include lobbyists for some of the most powerful corporations in America—and that membership gives them access to the most powerful man in Congress.

[Read the full article]

The Big Money Behind Congress' New Super Committee

—By Andy Kroll

| Mon Aug. 15, 2011 10:18 AM PDT

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), a member of Congress' new Super Committee to reduce the federal deficit.

The names are in, the roster filled out: Last week, Congressional leaders announced the twelve members of a new bipartisan "super committee," created by the debt ceiling bill, to find another $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction. Those lawmakers are: Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), and Max Baucus (D-Mont.); and Reps. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Dave Camp (R-Mich.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), and Jim Clyburn (D-SC).

These 12 lawmakers cover the ideological gamut, from the most hawkish fiscal conservatives to deep blue liberal Democrats, but they all have this in common: Their careers have been greased by the money of powerful lobbies and political advocacy groups. Using data from the Center for Responsive Politics, the folks at MapLight, a group focusing on money in American politics, have calculated the biggest donors behind the Super Committee.

The heaviest hitters are no surprise: lawyers and law firms (who often top lists of political donations), big banks such as Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, and political outfits including the lefty EMILY's List and the conservative Club for Growth. As the Super Committee begins debating further spending cuts and (maybe) revenue increases as part of a deficit reduction package due by November, it's worth bearing in mind, as with any big debate in Washington, that there are big donors behind the lawmakers at the bargaining table.

Here are the top 10 industries that have donated to Super Committee members:

Industry	Total
Lawyers/Law Firms	$31,529,149
Securities & Investment	$11,221,416
Democratic/Liberal	$9,647,264
Health Professionals	$9,321,588
Real Estate	$8,793,350
Education	$8,568,460
Misc. Business	$7,902,021
Business Services	$6,563,524
Women's Issues	$6,396,728
Insurance	$5,693,595

Here are top ten political action committees or company employees who've given to Super Committee members:

Organization	Total
Club for Growth	$990,066
Microsoft Corp.	$810,100
University of California	$629,495
Goldman Sachs	$592,684
EMILY's List	$586,835
Citigroup Inc.	$561,081
JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$494,316
Bank of America	$349,566
Skadden, Arps, et al.	$347,356
General Electric	$340,935

How the Koch Brothers Backed Public-School Segregation

—By Andy Kroll

| Mon Aug. 15, 2011 3:00 AM PDT

[UDPATE: In an August 16 letter to Brave New Foundation Robert Greenwald, Dallas Woodhouse, Americans for Prosperity's North Carolina state director, attacked the premise of Greenwald's film, saying it "falsely claims" AFP was involved in the 2009 Wake County school board elections. Woodhouse asserts that AFP "did not spend a single dime on those elections" nor did it engage in any get-out-the-vote or voter education efforts. "AFP played no role in the 2009 WCPSS election," Woodhouse asserts. Read his full response.

In its response to AFP, Brave New Foundation stood by its story. BNF pointed to several statements of AFP-NC's in support of its claims, including a 2008 blog post of Woodhouse's saying AFP-NC "is on record as supporting the parents of WakeCARES, through significant financial contributions as well as other support." In the fall of 2009, WakeCARES endorsed the four school board candidates who opposed Wake County's busing policy, and a former AFP-NC director later credited WakeCARES with paving the way for the four candidates' victories. BNF alleged AFP "funneled" financial support to the candidates through Art Pope, a wealthy Raleigh businessman and an AFP national director, who gave more than $15,000 to the Wake GOP which in turn spent nearly all of its political donations in 2009 on backing the four conservative school board candidates. AFP-NC's Woodhouse also told Newsweek in January that his group did voter education and mobilized volunteers for the school board election.]

At first glance, the billionaire libertarian Koch brothers and the Wake County, North Carolina, school board couldn't be more disparate. Charles and David Koch, the brains behind the massive Koch Industries conglomerate and the funders of so many right-wing political causes, are national figures, credited with (or accused of, depending on your political persuasion) launching the tea party movement and waging war on the Obama administration and its agenda. The Wake County public school board is, well, just that.

In reality, there are deep connections between the Kochs and Wake County, and it's all about the money. The latest installment in the left-leaning Brave New Foundation's "Koch Brothers Exposed" video series claims that a Koch-founded and funded outfit, Americans for Prosperity, fueled a campaign to "resegregate" the schools of Wake County, a prosperous area in central North Carolina that's home to the cities of Raleigh and Cary, among others.

[Read more in the MoJo blog]

WI GOP Recall Challenger Can't Name One Bill She Supports or Opposes

—By Andy Kroll

| Fri Aug. 12, 2011 6:58 AM PDT

Wisconsin Republican Kim Simac has encountered plenty of problems in her bid to unseat Democratic State Senator Jim Holperin in one of the Badger's State final two recall elections on Tuesday. It emerged that she once compared public education in America to Nazism. And her 32-page children's book, "American Soldier Proud and Free," a self-published ode to patriotism, turned out to have been published in China.

But from a policy perspective, those gaffes pale in comparison to what Simac said—or failed to say—earlier this week. As part of a forum hosted by the WJRO radio station, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, Simac was asked what particular legislation she would support or challenge if elected to the State Senate. Amazingly, Simac could not name a single bill. Not one. Here was her response:

"Hmm, well, I think that...I guess I would have to say that with all of the things that I've been looking at, I think you just stumped me. All the things I've been looking at for all the last couple months here trying to get up on board as a new candidate, I've been trying to stay up with the issues, but I would have to say that I can't name you a single one right now."

Simac even admits that she can't name a single bill she would back or oppose; a basic question that even a political neophyte could expect has "stumped" her. Simac's excuse: she's been spending all her time talking to voters in Holperin's northeastern Wisconsin district. What it is that Simac is discussing with them is anyone's guess.