The Center for Responsive Politics and Mother Jones has compiled a list of secret donors to Koch brothers’ organization.
Audio recordings obtained by the investigative news organization captured Charles and David Koch at a tightly guarded fund-raiser in June thanking 32 of the “great partners” who donated more than $1 million to the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, which, by law, isn’t required to publicly disclose its funders. Those individuals have also been among the biggest spenders in Washington.
A few of the notable supporters of the Koch organization include:
- The DeVos family, who have donated $2.82 million to political campaigns since the 1990 election cycle. Rich DeVos is owner of the NBA’s Orlando Magic and cofounder of Amway.
- Dick Farmer, the CEO of the Cintas Corporation, who, along with his wife, donated more than $1.1 million to Republicans during the 2002 election cycle alone. He also served as a bundler for Republican John McCain’s 2008 presidential bid.
- Joe Craft, who is head of the coal company Alliance Resource Partners, which gave $2.43 million to outside spending groups during the 2010 election cycle.
The Mother Jones article, “The Koch Brothers’ Million-Dollar Donor Club” contains a full list. It is a must read.
The Koch brothers are well-known for their astroturfing efforts through their front organization “Americans for Prosperity.”
As a recent example, according to the Institute for Southern Studies, the Koch brothers have played a part in the ongoing fight over the re-segregation of public schools in one North Carolina community is the focus of a new video from Brave New Foundation, a progressive media organization based in California.
From Brave New Foundation:
The video delves into a 2009 school board election in Wake County, N.C., where conservative activists with help from Koch-funded groups organized to bring an end to the public school system’s lauded diversity policy. It’s the latest installment in Brave New Foundation’s “Koch Brothers Exposed” series, which critically examines the political advocacy work of David and Charles Koch of Koch Industries, a private energy conglomerate based in Kansas. The Koch family foundations are among the largest sources of funding for the U.S. conservative movement and promote an agenda of education privatization.
“The Koch brothers have more than $42 billion to make public policy out of their anti-government ideology,” says Robert Greenwald, founder of Brave New Foundation. “Their assault against public education epitomizes their tactics to remake our nation.”
This is the well-oiled, well-funded Republican machinery that we’re up against, folks.
See also: ALEC and Its Tea Party Sugar Daddies
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