Ann Ravel, the Federal Election Commissioner official making headlines today with her claims of threats after she tried to regulate conservative websites like the Drudge Report, sparked a wave of “horrific” death threats on the Koch Brothers while a top California elections official, according to a court filing.
As the former chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission, she and other liberals focused on the political money Koch Industries was spending in elections and a Koch lawyer said that the commission’s action led to the threats.
Examples of death threats sent to the Koch brothers.
Mark V. Holden, the general counsel for Koch Industries, in 2014 submitted a declaration describing the threats to the Kochs and their political group, Americans for Prosperity Foundation.
The threats followed a move by the state’s attorney general probe the group’s donors.
Ravel, later appointed to the FEC where she has served as chairwoman, used her California post to go after the Kochs, winning a 2013 fine against two nonprofits the FPPC said was linked to the Koch political network. At the time she was chair of the FPPC.
“This case highlights the nationwide scourge of dark money non-profit networks hiding the identities of their contributors,” said FPPC Chair Ann Ravel. “The FPPC is aggressively litigating to get disclosure and working on laws and regulations to put a stop to these practices in California,” she said in a release.
In his memo to the court, Holden cited that action and added, “the former Chair of the FPPC later admitted that there was no evidence that showed a connection between the groups’ activities or funding at issue in California and David and Charles Koch.”
Holden said the result of the politically charged California case were threats on the Kochs. “The threats are serious and often horrific, ranging from threats to kill David and Charles, to threats of violence against their families, to threats to firebomb company facilities or disrupt company activities, to threats to injure David and Charles in other ways,” he wrote.
The memo included images of Twitter and email death threats.
Earlier Tuesday, the Drudge Report picked up a story from the Center for Public Integrity in which Ravel detailed email threats following her efforts to regulate conservatives.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
