On the recordSeptember 9, 2014
I agree with the Republican leader's defense of the First Amendment, but the constitutional amendment before us is not about limiting free speech. My Democratic colleagues and I are trying to address the special interest money that threatens to create a government of elected officials who are beholden to a few wealthy individuals. As the respected Justice John Paul Stevens recently told us, money is not speech. Of course it isn't, and we know that. Last week there was a recorded speech given at the Koch brothers' secret meeting place in San Diego or thereabouts. It was a secret meeting on their political strategy. They called it a summit. They had security guards. They cleared everybody who could come. It was very delicate. You had to be the right person or they would not let you into the meeting. However, there was one person who was able to record what went on at that meeting. One of the speakers who was recorded--no others--was a man by the name of Richard Fink, who is vice president of Koch Industries. He is a big shot with the Koch brothers. Of course the Koch brothers were there listening to his speech. He said some pretty terrible and vicious things about unemployed Americans. He basically called them lazy. He went on to say that the minimum wage leads to fascism. I am not making this up. That is what he said--fascism. He even compared minimum wage with tactics utilized by Nazi Germany and modern-day suicide bombers.…





