North Carolina is apparently becoming the poster child for how self-serving billionaires can protect their profits by buying a state’s elections. The New Yorker has a gruesome profile of the ramped-up manipulation of West Virginia’s people and politics by the energy/chemical industry after a disastrous spill ruined the drinking water for hundreds of thousands of residents. This is the industry at the core of the Koch brothers’ fortune, so they have decided to increase their investment in WV’s elections, building on the model of their joint success with Art Pope in North Carolina. Says the article:
In February, Americans for Prosperity, the political-advocacy group funded heavily by the Koch brothers, established a chapter in West Virginia. A state Republican consultant told me, “You can do things here incredibly, incredibly cheaply. For instance, A.F.P., the Koch brothers, went and did North Carolina last time. Well, a legislative seat here is about one-fourth the size of a legislative seat in North Carolina. So there’s bang for your buck.” In any given district, he said, “You can go in for twenty grand, and probably fix a problem.” He also noted, “People are just showing up with pockets full of money, saying, ‘We want to help you out.’ ”
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