Politico Magazine has a new profile out on Richard Fink. It's titled Charles Koch's Brain.
Long-time Koch brothers' observers have known for a very long time that Fink is the top political operative at Kochtopus. But he generally stays way under the radar. In fact, the last time I remember Fink emerging from the shadows was sometime in the late 1980s.
He appeared on a C-Span call-in show. He was spouting a pretty much beltarian line. At one point, he said something completely in contradiction to basic libertarian/Austrian economics principle (I think it was about taxes, but I don't remember for sure). I said to my then wife, who was watching the show with me, "He's full of it. He knows full well that wouldn't work. He is just protecting a Koch brothers interest."
Within a couple of minutes of his comment, a caller came on the line and asked him a question about the comment, and the question was phrased in a way that let Fink know the question was coming from someone who knew Austrian economics and knew that Fink knew full well that his original comment was not true. This insider element to the question went over the head of the host, and certainly most of the television audience, but it was a delicious moment for pure libertarians. Fink being called out on national television.
About a week later, I met Murray Rothbard for lunch, one of only a couple of times I met with him. I told him about Fink's C-Span appearance and what occurred. I am happy to report that Murray had one of his trademark laughs over that one.
In the Politico article, Fink seems to take credit for moving Charles Koch towards advancing the thought of Friedrich Hayek and ditching the more consistent libertarian perspectives of Rothbard and Ludwig von Mises. This, may or may not be the case, some insiders that understand the Kochtopus, better than I do, believe other players were involved.
That said, Fink is a very shrewd operator, who understands his role is to protect the Koch brothers and advance their opportunistic brand of libertarianism. He does that very well and gets paid very well to do so.
Which brings me to the 2014 Liberty Political Action Conference, which is a Campaign for Liberty event. Many of the sponsors are Koch brothers related organizations, including, The Charles Koch Institute, Reason Magazine, Americans for Prosperity, etc.
It's hard to see how the calculating Fink is going to allow the Koch brothers to be linked to Campaign for Liberty events in the future. C4L is a Ron Paul Inc. operation and names listed on a recent subpoena match up with some C4L past and present staffers, including Jesse Benton, who, in a way, can be considered Ron Paul Inc's brain.
Rand Paul is scheduled to speak at 2014 Liberty Political Action Conference, but this would link him closer to C4L and the recent subpoena that went out in relation to the Kent Sorenson payoff scandal.
It appears that Rand is already ducking questions about Benton, does he really want to appear at an event sponsored by an organization that Benton was once a key part of? Does he really want to give the news media even more reasons to ask him about Benton? Does he really want to link himself more closely to C4L, when there is a possibility that the current investigations may spread to include C4L?
It's bad enough for Rand that some would consider Benton, as a beloved family member, the nephew of Rand.
Some Rand watchers put the odds very high that, although he is scheduled to speak at 2014 Liberty Political Action Conference, he will be a no show.
-RW
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