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Cato Institute Is Caught in a Rift Over Its Direction
WASHINGTON From its perch in a spacious brand-new headquarters blocks from the White House, the Cato Institute has built on its reputation as a venerable libertarian research center unafraid to cross party lines.
Now, however, a rift with one of its founding members the billionaire conservative Charles Koch is threatening the institutes identity and independence, its leaders say, and is exposing fault lines over Mr. Kochs aggressive and well-financed brand of Republican politics.
The rift has its roots, Cato officials said, in a long-simmering feud over efforts by Mr. Koch and his brother David Koch to install their own people on the institutes 16-member board and to establish a more direct pipeline between Cato and the familys Republican political outlets, including groups that Democrats complain have mounted a multimillion-dollar assault on President Obama. Tensions reached a new level with a lawsuit filed last week by the Kochs against Cato over its governing structure.
We cant be perceived as a mouthpiece of special interests, Robert A. Levy, chairman of Catos board, said in an interview. The Cato Institute as we know it would be destroyed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/us/cato-institute-and-koch-in-rift-over-independence.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print
malaise
(269,157 posts)Power by any means necessary - they do not give a flying fuck if they destroy America as long as their agenda is promoted.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)pronouced koo dey-tah; Fr. koo dey-ta
noun, plural coups d'é·tat koo dey-tahz; Fr. koo dey-ta
a sudden and decisive action in politics, especially one resulting in a change of government illegally or by force.
Origin: 164050; < French: literally, stroke concerning the state
Synonyms
overthrow, rebellion, revolution, uprising.
KharmaTrain
(31,706 posts)...this ties up a lot of Kochroach brothers time and money for the next 6 months...
... "mouthpiece for special interests" is CATO's raison d'etre, apparently unknown to them up until this point