Koch Iran Ties Cause New York Candidate to Send Contributions to Charity
By Kristin Jensen - Oct 19, 2011 9:51 AM ET .
Dan Maffei, a New York congressional candidate and former member of the U.S. House, said he is giving $3,500 in political donations from Koch Industries Inc. to charity because the company profited from business in Iran.
“I not only will never take another cent from them, but I am giving their past donations away to charity,” said Maffei, a Democrat, in a statement e-mailed by his campaign yesterday. He said he would donate the funds from Koch’s political action committee to the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund, which helps families of the victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Maffei cited a report this month in Bloomberg Markets that Koch sold millions of dollars of petrochemical equipment to Iran, considered by the U.S. to be a sponsor of global terrorism. Internal company documents show that Wichita, Kansas- based Koch, one of the world’s largest closely held companies, used foreign subsidiaries to make the sales, getting around a U.S. ban on domestic companies selling materials to Iran.
Democrats have been criticizing Republicans who took money from the company’s political action committee. While the company and top executives David and Charles Koch mostly give to Republicans, Koch’s PAC has also contributed to Democrats. The PAC gave $30,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in each of the previous two elections
more:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-18/koch-iran-link-causes-candidate-to-send-contributions-to-charity.html
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