INSTITUTE INDEX: The money behind Americans for Prosperity
Amount that the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and its affiliated foundation spent over the last two years attacking Democratic candidates and initiatives including the new health care law and climate legislation: $90 million
Amount that AFP received in 2010 from the John William Pope Foundation, headed by North Carolina discount-retail magnate and conservative benefactor Art Pope, who is one of AFP's four directors: $1.6 million
Amount that the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, which promotes laissez-faire capitalism and on whose board Art Pope also sits, gave AFP that year: $520,000
Year in which Harry Bradley helped found the far-right John Birch Society with Fred Koch, the father of Charles and David Koch, billionaire owners of the Koch Industries oil and chemical conglomerate: 1958
Year in which Fred Koch published a book in which he declared, "The colored man looms large in the Communist plan to take over America": 1960
Year in which David Koch and Richard Fink, a Koch Industries director, founded Americans for Prosperity: 2003
Amount that the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, one of the Koch Family Foundations, gave AFP in 2010: $150,000
Amount that AFP received that year from the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry trade group: $25,000
Amount the AFP Foundation got in 2010 from Donors Trust, a conservative 501(c)(3) conduit group that anonymizes individuals' donations: $7.65 million
Rank of that donation among the largest to AFP that year: 1
Year in which Donors Trust was established to "ensure the intent of donors who are dedicated to the ideals of limited government, personal responsibility, and free enterprise": 1999
Amount the AFP Foundation got from a similar but more regional conduit for donors, the Virginia-based Community Foundation: $350,000
Of the two recent Americans for Prosperity statements evaluated by the Tampa Bay Times' Pulitzer Prize-winning Politifact.com, number that were rated "mostly false": 1
Number that were rated "pants on fire," meaning the statement was not accurate and made a ridiculous claim: 1
Number of legislative districts in Wisconsin where AFP, which supports Republican Gov. Scott Walker, sent absentee ballots to Democrats with instructions to return them when the election was over: 2
Amount the Kochs have pledged to spend through AFP to defeat President Obama in November: $200 million
Date on which a group of Democratic Senators wrote to the IRS asking if it plans to investigate the political activity of 501(c)(4) "social welfare" nonprofits like AFP: 2/16/2012
Date on which the Obama campaign called on Americans for Prosperity to reveal its donors: 2/29/2012
(Click on figure to go to source. Photo by Peter Patau, a writer and photographer in Madison, Wis., used with permission; please visit his photoblog online at PeterPatau.com.)
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Sue Sturgis
Sue is the former editorial director of Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies.