WELCOME to the debut of “The Truth Is!”, a blog of reporting and commentary that aims to be informative, thoughtful and provocative. At least initially, the blog will have a strong heartland flavor by virtue of the connection of a number of us to Cowles family journalism. I am former editor of the Des Moines Register’s opinion pages. Another contributor, Michael Gartner, is former editor of the paper; he later served as president of NBC News. Another former Register editor who has agreed to contribute, Geneva Overholser, is director of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg school of journalism. Followers of the blog will have access also to the work of Herbert Strentz of Des Moines, a close Register and other newspaper watcher who once headed Drake University’s journalism school. Bill Leonard, a longtime Register editorial writer, will add insights.

“The Truth Is!” will be supervised by my daughter, Marcia Wolff, a communications lawyer for 20 years with Arnold and Porter (Washington, D.C.). Invaluable technical assistance in assembling and maintaining the blog is provided by my grandsons Julian Cranberg, a college first-year, and Daniel Wolff, a high school senior.

If you detect a whiff of nepotism in this operation, so be it. All of it is strictly a labor of love. —Gil Cranberg

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Gilbert Cranberg: THE KOCHS AND THE COMMUNISTS

Charles and David Koch
Remember the term “Communist Front Organization”? It was so common in the 1950s that Congress ordered any group deemed to be one to register and disclose its membership. The idea behind the fronts was that the Communist Party could do its work more effectively by taking over existing organizations or creating new ones while disguising their Communist connections.

Guess who is practicing this Communist tactic nowadays? None other than the brothers Koch, Charles and David, who are spreading their money around to a web of organizations, none of which is named Koch, but all of which are dedicated to furthering the conservative agenda of the brothers.

The Koch fronts use names such as Citizens for a Sound Economy, Freedom Works, Americans for Prosperity, Citizens for the Environment, Patients United Now, Competitive Enterprise Institute, and the like.

It’s almost hilarious that the exemplars of right-wing capitalism should be so closely following the playbook of the U.S. Communist Party in their reliance on front groups.

The Communist Party and their fronts were widely regarded as mouthpieces for the Soviet Union and seen as undermining the U.S. in its ongoing cold war against the Russians. For that, membership in a front organization was risky, if not dangerous. People were persecuted and lost their livelihoods because of it, and some were driven to suicide.

Communist fronts were reviled chiefly, but not solely, because they were seen as in the service of a foreign power. The fronts were in the doghouse, also, because of the fundamental dishonesty of hiding their true identity.

Thus far, there is very little in the way of negative feeling towards the sneaky way in which the Kochs operate. Perhaps that’s because the press has not done a good job of exposing it. The brothers have every right to influence public policy and public opinion, but they ought to be upfront about it. The press should do more to acquaint Americans with the Kochs’ Communist-inspired tactics.

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