Randy Kendrick will have none of your guff on dark money, peons!

Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

Photo: Arizona Republic

Terry Goddard has made “dark money” the signature issue of his Secretary of State campaign and Arizona news people are raising the alarm over millions of anonymously raised dollars being poured into races from Governor down to the state legislature. Charles and David Koch are the source of much of this money and, boy, do they have a friend in Randy Kendrick, who serves on the board of the Goldwater Institute and is married to Ken Kendrick, co-owner of the AZ Diamondbacks (the Diamondbacks organization has a history of funding Republicans and right wing causes).

Here’s Randy’s letter to the AZ Republic editor on Tuesday (annotated by yours truly):

LEFT GIVES MORE THAN THE RIGHT

Regarding ” ‘Dark money’ begins to sully campaigns” (Editorial, Saturday):

I appreciate that you were honest enough to point out that “of the top 20 organizations contributing to political campaigns over the past 25 years, 15 of them contribute overwhelmingly to Democratic candidates liberal causes (And I was rocking the stone washed jeans in 1989 but, more recently, conservative spending has been swamping liberal) . However only now do you say that dark money “begins to sully campaigns.”

Since far-left and liberal “dark money” has overwhelmed conservative money for decades (You poor dears could simply never catch a break), why is it that media groups like yours have only started making it a debate topic now when a very few of us on the economic-freedom side of the intellectual world have joined the race? (Oh, I dunno, maybe it’s because there are very few of you and you guys want to have a whole lotta power over the government.) Only now do you focus like a daily drumbeat on private campaign donations as if they were a sin? (Or maybe we’d just like to know who the donors are so that we could, you know, determine for ourselves what possible motivations they might have.)

I love my right to contribute privately (duly noted), and I am a huge fan of Charles Koch (tells me everything I need to know about you, Randy). He has provided jobs and work to millions through his entrepreneurial abilities (AKA “inheriting an oil fortune from your father”), brought prosperity to our country and others and realizes what policies and ideas help create prosperity for the poor and lift them into the middle class (I’m not sure how ending the minimum wage would ever lift a single person out of poverty). I am proud of my association with these efforts to help the poverty-stricken with great jobs and a chance to rise. And no matter what name you give to our efforts (“dark money” seems to work), I am proud of my association with Charles Koch.

Please quit calling me for comment (duly noted). Quit with the intimidation! (Okay! Gosh, you must be so afraid to leave the house!) Quit making other donors afraid to associate and give to great causes (haven’t noticed that). Quit sullying the practice of private and anonymous free speech, which dates to the anonymously written and published “Federalist Papers” and the right of the NAACP to keep its donors private during the civil-rights era. (Impressive equating of Charles Koch and your rich self with civil rights activists of the 60s, truly.)

I have seen death threats against the Koch family due to their strength to stand up for the ideals of the America that I love. (Death threats? Stop that! Mockery is so much more effective!) Probably we will get those now that I’ve spoken out. (Seriously, Randy Kendrick making these tone-deaf “47 percent” statements does waaay more to help the left.) At least my children are gone to college (I’m glad for them too).

Stop with the name calling and start talking about the truth. The left and unions give anonymously more than the right ever has. (Not even close to true anymore, and even if it were, voters can easily guess what the “United Auto Workers” are after with their contributions. The vaguely-named “Americans For Prosperity”? Not so easy.)

I am proud to join the battle to fight for the kinds of policies that have lifted untold billions of people out of poverty (citation?).

—Randy Kendrick, Paradise Valley (obviously)

I’m honestly surprised she didn’t mention George Soros in that screed. Kendrick is yet another example of a rich person who is every bit the crackpot that the stereotypical “toothless redneck” Tea Party activist is. Except that she truly thinks she is better than the rest of us peons, while acting as though we’re victimizing her.