PRESS
RELEASE from AFPF
November 5, 2011
AFPF
Statement on Attack by “Occupy” Movement
Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFPF) issued the following
statement today:
“While we support the right to free speech and to peaceably
assemble, it is saddening and unacceptable that the “occupy” group
launched an attack on our own peaceable assembly and expression of free
speech,” said AFPF Executive Vice President Tracy Henke.
Henke continued, “There is a deep divide in our fundamental vision
for America. We at AFPF advocate for individual freedom and
responsibility, ideas that enrich and empower society as a whole.”
Rather than inciting class warfare, our leaders need to focus on
creating an environment that will enable American businesses to create
jobs and economic growth--and they need to condemn these increasingly
violent protests.
In hundreds of AFPF events, there has never been an arrest or
reported act of violence by our members.
PRESS
RELEASE
from
HCAN
As the 1% Dine on the
Kochs’ Dime, the 99% Protest Billionaire Brothers’ Assault on the
American Dream: ‘Occupy the Kochs Guerrilla Drive-In’ Plays in DC After
Cain, Romney Kiss the Kochs’ Rings at Americans for Prosperity Meeting
Nov. 4, 2011
Contact: Avram Goldstein
Washington, DC – Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the advocacy
group The Other 98%
and numerous progressive organizations (see list below) teamed up today
to protest the billionaire Koch Brothers’ corruption of the American
political system at an unusual outdoor film festival in the nation’s
capital. The “Occupy the Kochs Guerrilla
Drive-In” runs tonight at the Washington Convention Center, where the
Kochs’ front group, Americans for Prosperity, is hosting a gala dinner
as part of a two-day conference featuring speeches by GOP presidential
candidates Herman Cain and Mitt Romney.
Americans for Prosperity, which spends millions advancing its
right-wing political agenda with the financial support of billionaire
industrialists Charles and David Koch and their companies, is holding
the “Defend the American Dream” event to celebrate efforts to protect
the richest people and corporations from paying their fair share in
taxes and to eliminate important programs like Medicare, Medicaid and
Social Security.
Protesters will gather at the Guerrilla Drive-In to enjoy
popcorn, good food and political satire videos highlighting the Kochs’
efforts to destroy the American Dream, shrink the middle class,
increase America's growing income inequality, preserve tax breaks for
special interests like Big Oil and strip workers of their rights.
Several co-sponsors of Occupy the Kochs said the protest tonight shows
that Americans are not going to accept a corporate takeover of our
country.
“The Kochs and their front groups are trying to steal our democracy
to make the 1% even richer,” said HCAN
Executive Director Ethan Rome. “They and their cronies have purchased
the Republican Party to destroy America's middle class, including
taking away health care and stripping workers of the right to bargain
for a better life. Across the country people are raising their voices
in protest because they're fed up with a system stacked in favor of the
richest 1%.”
"The Koch brothers are not just the 1% -- they are the .00001%,”
said John Sellers, co-founder of The Other 98%.
“They are the poster children for the hostile corporate takeover of our
democracy, and it's about time they heard from the rest of us."
“The Koch brothers are trying to create an America that
works better for millionaires and billionaires and worse for the rest
of us,” said Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America’s
Future.
“Their American Dream is an American nightmare of continued income
inequality with little or no government to protect the people.”
“The Koch brothers' idea of a working democracy is one that
works for them and their bottom line, not for everyday Americans,” said
Nick Nyhart, president and CEO of Public Campaign. “They should have no
more say over what Congress does than any of the rest of us."
“We’re Occupying the Kochs tonight because Americans are
angry about the corporate takeover of our democracy,” said Robert
Weissman, president of Public Citizen. “Democracy is
rule by the people, not rule by corporations. There’s no role for the
global warming-denying Koch Brothers in our electoral politics, or for
other giant corporations. We need major campaign finance reforms,
including a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United v. FEC,
to reclaim our democracy.”
Occupy the Kochs comes as
progressives across the country have been speaking out to put Americans
back to work, tax the 1% and pressure the Super Committee not to make a
bad deal for the 99%. For more than a month, Americans of all ages and
backgrounds have been on the streets expressing their rejection of
corporate money in politics at Occupy events and other movement
protests across the U.S., and Occupy the Kochs demonstrates that the
momentum for change is building.
WHAT: Occupy the Kochs Guerrilla Drive-In at the gala dinner
of the Koch Brothers’ front group, Americans for Prosperity
WHERE: 1025 Seventh Street NW (corner of L Street), 1 block south
of Mt. Vernon/Convention Center Metro station
WHEN: Friday, November 4, from 6:00 to 8:15 p.m. (Media should
arrive by 6:45 p.m.)
SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS: Campaign for America’s Future,
Campaign for Community Change, Common Cause, Health Care for America
Now, Justice Through Music, Oil Change International, The Other 98%,
Public Campaign, Public Citizen, Rebuild the Dream, Tar Sands Action,
True Majority, USAction, and Velvet Revolution. They will be joined by
hundreds of people opposed to health insurers, Big Oil and Wall Street
taking over our political process and destroying the middle class.
For more information, click here.
To follow the event on Twitter, go to #OccupyTheKochs. You can also
text @GuerrillaTeamDC to 23559.