# Roger Stone says Koch gave Romney $100 million to name Ryan **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 25, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620 "2012-08-25T17:08:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/1 "2012-08-25T17:08:22Z")
> **[GOP Consultant: Koch Brothers Bought Ryan’s Nomination With $100 Million Promise](https://www.nationalmemo.com/gop-consultant-koch-brothers-bought-ryans-nomination-with-100-million-promise)** > > Veteran Republican political consultant, unrepentant dirty trickster, and recently reborn libertarian Roger Stone yesterday published a startling accusation against Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney on his personal website, The Stone Zone. According to... Someone had to bring this up here. Any legs to this story? > [@](#): > > Veteran Republican political consultant, unrepentant dirty trickster, and recently reborn libertarian Roger Stone yesterday published a startling accusation against Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney on his personal website, The Stone Zone. According to Stone, the billionaire Koch brothers purchased the Republican vice presidential nomination for Ryan from Romney in late July by promising to fork over an additional $100 million toward “independent expenditure” campaigning for the GOP ticket. I saw several stories, including Reuters, but I think there is only one source. > **[Roger Stone - StoneZone - Official Website](https://stonezone.com/)** > > Roger Stone, a veteran of ten national presidential campaigns, senior campaign aide to Republican presidents: Nixon, Reagan, and Trump. > [@](#): > > I’ve known Roger personally for years and always considered him intelligent and amusing; also extremely dangerous and even erratic. Sometimes I’ve been surprised by how much he knows about the inner-most workings of his party – even when he is clearly persona non grata among the current power elite. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/2 "2012-08-25T17:28:17Z")
Seeing how the law is set now, it is not likely that we would find direct evidence of that amount, that Ryan was/is a favorite of the Kochs is not a secret. [http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/02/02/142061/paul-ryan-koch/](http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/02/02/142061/paul-ryan-koch/) > [@](#): > > Last October, ThinkProgress helped break the story about secret political strategy meetings, convened by polluter billionaires Charles and David Koch of Koch Industries, to coordinate the funding and direction of the conservative movement. Previous meetings have included Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia, top hedge fund managers like Cliff Asness, business executives, Republican strategists, and various other political operatives. > [@](#): > > ThinkProgress has now learned of another attendee addressing the Koch meeting: House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). Ryan’s office confirmed his attendance this afternoon to ThinkProgress. Ryan, who has a long record of flying off to junkets for groups of bankers like the Club for Growth, is pushing forward with radical cuts to Medicare and Social Security in his “Roadmap for America’s Future.” In line with Koch’s peculiar supply-side side ideology of soaking the the poor, Ryan’s budget idea also calls for increasing taxes on the middle class, while cutting them for the rich. > **[Why Paul Ryan Irks Environmentalists](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/climate-change-and-paul-ryan_n_1768171?utm_hp_ref=elections-2012)** > > Why Paul Ryan Irks Environmentalists > [@](#): > > The Sierra Club raised similar concerns, with Executive Director Michael Brune stating in a press release: “There is a reason big polluters have given Paul Ryan hundreds of thousands of dollars and why the Koch Brothers are one of his top donors – he’s tried to turn their wildest fantasies into law. From rejecting the reality of climate disruption to attacking good-paying clean energy jobs to trying to gut the EPA’s ability to protect our air, our water, and the health of our families, Ryan operates out of the dirty energy playbook." ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/3 "2012-08-25T18:13:31Z")
Why, were they trying to sabotage the campaign? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/4 "2012-08-26T01:01:29Z")
Doesn’t seem very plausible. In order to offer a _quid pro quo_, the other person has to believe you won’t do the thing your offering otherwise. Does anyone believe the Koch brothers weren’t going to support GOP super-PACs regardless of Romney’s VP pick? So implausible story from unreliable source. Doesn’t seem worth considering further. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/5 "2012-08-26T01:27:58Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Doesn’t seem very plausible. In order to offer a _quid pro quo_, the other person has to believe you won’t do the thing your offering otherwise. Does anyone believe the Koch brothers weren’t going to support GOP super-PACs regardless of Romney’s VP pick? > > So implausible story from unreliable source. Doesn’t seem worth considering further. Your wildest imaginings of what may go on in the realm of buying access are probably not even close to the reality. The Kochs are evil incarnate and represent the worst of what is wrong with American politics. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/6 "2012-08-26T02:01:02Z")
I would be surprised if the Kochs would risk going to prison over the selection of a _VP_ candidate, especially in an uncertain election. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/7 "2012-08-26T02:13:16Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I would be surprised if the Kochs would risk going to prison over the selection of a _VP_ candidate, especially in an uncertain election. Uh, would that be illegal? As the blog reports they only told Romney that their purses would open if their candidate was chosen. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/8 "2012-08-26T16:32:17Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I would be surprised if the Kochs would risk going to prison over the selection of a _VP_ candidate, especially in an uncertain election. Like billionaires ever worry about going to prison… ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/9 "2012-08-26T17:28:07Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > Like billionaires ever worry about going to prison… And anyway, it would be a Club Fed, not FPMITAP, which already has its quota of Koch Brothers. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/10 "2012-08-26T18:20:15Z")
_Vice_-President? Why would they care? Or is the theory that the Koch’s would then have Romney assassinated soon after his election? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/11 "2012-08-26T18:41:14Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > _Vice_-President? Why would they care? Or is the theory that the Koch’s would then have Romney assassinated soon after his election? No need to go that extreme, in a close election like this one the Senate is also at play and chances are that we will get an almost evenly split senate, suddenly the tie breaker vote of the vice president becomes very important, particularly when legislation that could affect the energy companies comes to the floor. ---
**Author:** ![glilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/48db29/32.png) [@glilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glilly)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/12 "2012-08-26T19:13:33Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > No need to go that extreme, in a close election like this one the Senate is also at play and chances are that we will get an almost evenly split senate, suddenly the tie breaker vote of the vice president becomes very important, particularly when legislation that could affect the energy companies comes to the floor. Wouldn’t almost any republican could be counted on in that situation? Why pay that much for what you’d probably get anyway? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/13 "2012-08-26T20:18:14Z")
> [@glilly](#): > > Wouldn’t almost any republican could be counted on in that situation? Why pay that much for what you’d probably get anyway? I already said that I dismiss much of what the OP said, I do not think the Kochs are paying that much, but it is still a huge amount, as usual, it is not that they buy politicians, they fund the ones that think like they do. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/14 "2012-08-26T20:38:40Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > it is not that they buy politicians, they fund the ones that think like they do. . . . which is just SUCH a terrible thing, I guess? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/15 "2012-08-26T20:50:57Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > . . . which is just SUCH a terrible thing, I guess? 😕 Not from some perspectives, but horrible in the sense that the most profitable enterprises of the Kochs are in fossil fuels. It is essential for them to help elect people who are deniers of the science that tell us that we can not use the atmosphere as a sewer without consequences. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/16 "2012-08-26T21:27:49Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Your wildest imaginings of what may go on in the realm of buying access are probably not even close to the reality. The Kochs are evil incarnate and represent the worst of what is wrong with American politics. Excuse me? The Kochs are great Americans who have directly created almost 100,000 jobs at their company alone. I love that on this board, great american heroes are denigrated because they exercise their first amendment rights, while men like Barack Obama that traffic in lies and false promises to sell the American people policies they don’t want and don’t need are held up as paragons of virtue. Business leaders deserve almost 100% of all credit for why America became the most powerful and wealthiest country in the world. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/17 "2012-08-26T21:34:18Z")
And the fact that they are funding people that will make the future harder for almost all enterprises thanks to them voting for inaction should be ignored… ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/18 "2012-08-26T21:39:03Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > Excuse me? The Kochs are great Americans who have directly created almost 100,000 jobs at their company alone. I love that on this board, great american heroes are denigrated because they exercise their first amendment rights, while men like Barack Obama that traffic in lies and false promises to sell the American people policies they don’t want and don’t need are held up as paragons of virtue. > > Business leaders deserve almost 100% of all credit for why America became the most powerful and wealthiest country in the world. they might deserve the “credit” for the wealth and power of the very very tiny minority - how that makes the entire country great and wealthy, I fail to see. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/19 "2012-08-26T21:40:17Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > . . . which is just SUCH a terrible thing, I guess? 😕 That they **can,** yes. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620/20 "2012-08-26T21:42:08Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > Excuse me? The Kochs are great Americans who have directly created almost 100,000 jobs at their company alone. I love that on this board, great american heroes are denigrated because they exercise their first amendment rights, while men like Barack Obama that traffic in lies and false promises to sell the American people policies they don’t want and don’t need are held up as paragons of virtue. > > Business leaders deserve almost 100% of all credit for why America became the most powerful and wealthiest country in the world. One thing I find heroic is when someone sacrifices his own interests to see to someone else’s. Even if the Koch’s did create 100,000 jobs, it has been in the service of enriching themselves. There’s nothing noble about it. Real heroes don’t line their own pockets. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roger-stone-says-koch-gave-romney-100-million-to-name-ryan/632620.md?page=2)