Maine’s Majority Executive Director Chris Korzen on Koch Brothers Exposed

Tomorrow evening, Maine’s Majority will host a screening of Koch Brothers Exposed to kick off their Portland Progressive Happy Hour series.

The screening will be held at 7:00pm at the Nickelodeon Patriot Cinemas. According the Maine’s Majority website, the film “explores the political influence of Charles and David Koch, two billionaire brothers who have bankrolled a vast network of organizations that work to undermine middle-class interests on issues ranging from Social Security to the environment to civil rights.”

I talked with Maine’s Majority Executive Director Chris Korzen about why they selected this film in particular.

Why should someone go and see this film, and why should they care about the Koch Brothers?

Mainers should care because the Koch Brothers are active here. Americans for Prosperity Maine is an affiliate of the Koch-founded group Americans for Prosperity. We also know of connections between Maine Heritage Policy Center and Koch. The Kochs also funded ALEC. Bloomberg had a nice piece about it a while ago:

What does all of this mean for the average Mainer?

Americans for Prosperity Maine and Maine Heritage Policy Center have backed some of the LePage Administration’s most egregious attempts to undermine working families. I’m talking about things like irresponsible tax cuts for the rich, the rate-hike bill, attempts to undermine unions and privatize schools, and efforts to make it more difficult for people to vote. In some cases, ALEC literally wrote the legislative components of this agenda.

We chose Koch Brothers Exposed because we want Maine’s citizens to be as informed as possible about how corporate and big-monied interests are working to take their voice away. We’re talking with some of our partners about doing screenings of [the film] elsewhere in the state in order to make sure we get the word out as far as possible.

What is next on your screening agenda?

If things go well Thursday, we’d like to do more of these films. Regardless, the Happy Hour will be a monthly event.

PHOTO CREDIT: Screenshot of Koch Brothers Exposed Trailer, via Salon

Alex Steed

About Alex Steed

Alex Steed has written about and engaged in politics since he was an insufferable teenager. He has run for the Statehouse and produced a successful web series. He now runs a content firm called Knack Factory with two guys who are a lot more talented than himself.