Kochs accuse Obama camp of intimidation

WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- Billionaire conservatives Charles and David Koch said the president's re-election campaign is trying to intimidate people by demanding to see a donor list.

The list contains donors for the Kochs' activist group Americans for Prosperity.

The Hill newspaper said the Obama campaign and the Kochs group exchanged volleys of criticism after President Obama's campaign manager Jim Messina accused the Kochs of bankrolling "Tea Party extremism" and profiting from "jacking up the prices at the pump.

The chief of public affairs for the Koch Cos., Phillip Ellender, sent an open letter to Obama's camp last week.

In the letter, Ellender denied both allegations, and said AFP is funded by "tens of thousands of members and contributors from across the country."

Then the Obama camp told the group to prove Ellender's statements by releasing its donor list.

"While President Obama and Messina demand lists of our supporters so they can broaden their attacks to include more private American citizens, AFP protects the identity of donors precisely because of the type of intimidation, smears, and vindictive personal attacks repeatedly launched by the president's team on those who disagree with their big government agenda," AFP said in a news release.

An array of news stories report the Koch brothers were planning to spend more than $200 million on conservative activist groups, including AFP, all in an attempt to prevent Obama's re-election.

Koch Industries repeatedly has denied the purpose of AFP is to defeat the president, and the Obama campaign's attack on the Kochs is not "the way a free society should operate," The Hill said.