Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, congresswoman from Hawaii and 2020 presidential candidate, is an unconventional politician. While she is identified with the political left, her meetings with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and Indian Prime Minister Modi, a brutal dictator and a Hindu nationalist respectively have drawn criticism.
Now Sludge, the investigative site, reports that Gabbard
is one of 12 advisors of a foreign policy center at the Washington, D.C.-based Catholic University of America. The Center for the Study of Statesmanship (CSS) was founded in 2017 with a $2.65 million grant from the Charles Koch Foundation, which gives tens of millions of dollars to American colleges and universities each year, usually to fund ideological, free-market academic programs.
Sludge’s comment:
for a Democrat—especially a 2016 Bernie Sanders surrogate who has progressive views on campaign finance reform and single-payer health care—to accept a position at a think tank funded by Koch and staffed with several Koch-linked individuals is unusual.
A Gabbard Spokesman responded.
“As a soldier and veteran of two Middle East deployments, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has been a leading voice for ending costly, counterproductive regime change wars, working to end the new Cold War and nuclear arms race, and taking the trillions of dollars being spent on these wars and using them to serve the needs of our people on things like healthcare, affordable housing, and infrastructure. The mission of CSS is aligned with the work that she has dedicated herself to, which is why she agreed to serve on their Council of Advisors.”
Source: Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Advises Koch-Funded University Center – Sludge
