Dear Commons Community,

The New York Times is reporting that Charles Koch, a Cato Institute founder, is threatening the Institute’s  reputation for independent research.

“A rift with one of its founding members — the billionaire conservative Charles Koch — is threatening the institute’s identity and independence, its leaders say, and is exposing fault lines over Mr. Koch’s 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 institute’s 16-member board and to establish a more direct pipeline between Cato and the family’s 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.”

This is sad but typical of the Koch Brothers.  It is unfortunate for the Cato Institute but if you play in the mud, you get dirty.

Tony