Koch Network, Charlie Baker and Transportation

Friday, November 8, 2019

Koch Network, Charlie Baker and Transportation

1. Charlie Baker was one of the founders of the Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based libertarian think tank. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Baker
2. Pioneer Institute Lies about MBTA. Transportation Union objects
3. The Politically-Driven, Koch-Backed Campaign to Undermine Boston Transit Baker inflates absenteeism. 
4. How the Koch Brothers Are Killing Public Transit Projects Around the Country “Americans for Prosperity (AFP), which is financed by the oil billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch .. “. They use a …”data service built by the Kochs, called i360, that helps them identify and rally voters ..”.  “Early polling …suggested that the $5.4 billion transit plan would easily pass.” In a few months AFP had defeated the plan. The Koch conglomerate is a large producer of gasoline and asphalt. They are pushing driverless vehicles, claiming they give Americans the freedom they want.
5. The Koch brothers hate public transit. But they can’t always stop projects in their tracks The Koch network focuses on conservative cities.
6. Uber and the Koch unite in their animosity towards Mass Transit. “rideshare corporations and oil tycoons share a financial interest in a car-centric future”. “Uber, together with its main competitor Lyft, boasted more lobbyists in 2016 than Amazon, Microsoft and Walmart combined”. 
7. Kochs Mobilize to Kill Public Transit Plans “Americans for Prosperity counters that public transit plans waste taxpayer money on unpopular, outdated technology like trains and buses just as the world is moving toward cleaner, driverless vehicles.” Americans for Prosperity is a Koch Network  “propaganda” machine.