Florida voter purge official linked to Koch-funded efforts to defeat Obama

President Obama touring the Port of Tampa (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) If there were any lingering questions that Gov. Rick Scott's motivation for purging voters, this should put it to rest. Former Secretary of State Kurt Browning, who worked with Scott on cooking up the purge (and is no stranger to voter suppression, having kicked minority and Democratic voters off the lists in 2008), has close ties to an astroturf group funded by, you guessed it, David and Charles Koch. The guys who have committed hundreds of millions to defeat Barack Obama in November.

Just before Browning was selected in 2011 by Scott as Secretary of State, Browning led a group called 'Protect Your Vote Inc,' which was set up to oppose fair redistricting. One of the biggest checks to Browning's organization came from the Center to Protect Patients' Rights, which gave $100,000 in 2010. At the time of the donation, the source of the money was shrouded in secrecy. [...]

But as Republic Report exclusively reported last month, the Center to Protect Patients' Rights is part of a universe of front groups financed by David and Charles Koch, the petrochemical billionaires, as well as several other billionaires, as part of an election-influencing effort. New reports this week about the brothers' strategy indicate that they will now use this constellation of front groups to finance $400 million of a $1 billion campaign in outside money to defeat President Obama and congressional Democrats. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Mitt Romney's Super PAC, and several nonprofits controlled by Karl Rove, will furnish the other $600 million.

Vast right-wing conspiracy to win a presidential election by any means possible. You bet. Even when those means are as illegal as this purge is.