I first heard the term Kochsucker from my friend and fellow OG NOLA blogger Bruce Editilla Biles. It mocks those who follow the Koch Brothers’ extreme libertarian line or are seduced by their money. Clarence the Grifter is all about the money.
ProPublica is at it again with another Thomas expose. The title sums it up neatly: Clarence Thomas Participated In Koch Network Donor Events.
It’s a long article and I’m feeling lazy, so I’ll let TPM’s David Kurtz sum up the major findings in the story:
“The details of this particular Thomas entanglement echo the other reporting by the relentless ProPublica on his cozy relationship with the billionaire conservative donor class:
- Thomas flew to and from the Koch conference aboard a private Gulfstream G200, but he didn’t report the trip on his financial disclosure form and it’s not clear who paid for the flight. The Koch network said it didn’t pay for it.
- Leonard Leo, who was at the time of the 2018 conference still a top official at the Federalist Society (a big recipient of Koch network money), was the “conduit” between Thomas and the Koch network.
<SNIP>
Perhaps the sharpest edge of the new ProPublica report is in how it ties the Koch brothers’ decades long effort to overturn the 1980s Chevron case to Thomas’ own change of heart on whether that case remains good precedent. Chevron, which is a legal cornerstone of what conservatives derisively call the “administrative state,” has been a white whale of conservative legal activists on par with Roe and stacking the Supreme Court. Thomas was not on board originally, but eventually came around. (Read all the way to the bottom of the ProPublica piece for a wonderful kicker on this point.)”
That’s why I call him Clarence the Grifter.
He richly deserves a new derisive moniker, Clarence Thomas: Kochsucker.
The last word goes to Dusty Springfield:
