Another Foolish Project (Brought to Us by the Kochs)

We do our best to stay on top of everything. But jeez, how on earth did we miss this? Jon Ralston just took a trip to our archives!

So what did he find? Just this gem from October 2012 on the Koch backed AFP jumping into certain Nevada Legislature races.

Perhaps the SD 4 incident was just a "test run" meant to prepare AFP for what they're doing now. The doorhanger we found earlier this month attacked President Obama and Shelley Berkley on one side, then attacked John Oceguera and Joyce Woodhouse (the Democratic nominee for SD 5) on the other side. And now, AFP mailers are being caught attacking Justin Jones (the Democratic nominee in SD 9) and Sheila Leslie (the Democratic nominee in SD 15). It just looks too funny that, all of a sudden, AFP is playing in the very State Senate seats that Republicans must win in order to take control of the Nevada Senate. And we're still supposed to believe that AFP is some sort of "nonpartisan, educational, charitable foundation"? Yeah, right.

It's now looking quite clear as to what AFP Nevada is aiming to do. And no, it doesn't involve "charity" or "education". Rather, AFP is trying to tip several competitive federal and state level races into Republican hands. Yet in failing to file the appropriate paperwork as a political action committee (PAC) and disclose its donors, AFP may actually be violating state election law while trying to elect lawmakers! Surely, we can't be the only ones seeing the irony here?

In July 2012, AFP waded into a Democratic State Senate primary in North Las Vegas. For some reason, AFP attacked Kelvin Atkinson in a district where Republicans weren't even targeting. That really had us scratching our heads.

But when AFP sent a tour bus to Shelley Berkley's Congressional office, their actions started to make more sense (even if they still looked quite silly). It then tried to top that grandiose gesture with cheap gas. And for the grand finale of its 2012 campaign, it staged a "freedom concert" and dropped the wrong campaign literature in the wrong areas.

Oh, and did we mention AFP considers itself an "educational charity"? How on earth is any of this "educational" or "charitable"?

So why are we now talking about AFP? Take a look at how AFP operatives are boasting about themselves to Beltway media. They're essentially declaring their plan to defeat Senator Harry Reid (D) in 2016.

There's just a little problem with AFP's latest grandiose plan: It looks more like a delusion of grandeur. Ralston just aired out all of AFP Nevada's dirty laundry. And even though AFP just moved its Nevada headquarters to a new location, it took all its old dirty laundry with it. And to make matters even worse for the Koch-topus' loudest and longest reaching tentacle, AFP's chief just left the building.

Of course, AFP is still overflowing in Koch money. It just came off an outrageous Cliven Bundy love-fest. And it's preparing to make waves again in 2016.

But just because one makes waves doesn't mean those waves are beneficial. Just because one is loud and gregarious doesn't mean one is making friends and allies. Just because AFP has a ton of money to spend doesn't mean AFP is spending that money well. And just because AFP plans to carpet-bomb this state again to attack Senator Reid doesn't mean AFP won't undercut itself again in 2016 (like it did in 2010 and 2012).