In 2006, Koch Industries owner Charles Koch revealed to the Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore that he coordinates the funding of the conservative infrastructure of front groups, political campaigns, think tanks, media outlets and other anti-government efforts through a twice annual meeting of wealthy right-wing donors. He also confided to Moore, who is funded through several of Koch’s ventures, that his true goal is to strengthen the “culture of prosperity” by eliminating “90%” of all laws and government regulations. Although it is difficult to quantify the exact amount Koch alone has funneled to right-wing fronts, some studies have pointed toward $50 million he has given alone to anti-environmental groups. Recently, fronts funded by Charles and his brother David have received scrutiny because they have played a pivotal role in the organizing of the anti-Obama Tea Parties and the promotion of virulent far right lawmakers like Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC). (David Koch praised DeMint and gave him a “Washington Award” shortly after the senator promised to “break” Obama by making health reform his “Waterloo.”)
While the Koch brothers — each worth over $21.5 billion — have certainly underwritten much of the right, their hidden coordination with other big business money has gone largely unnoticed. ThinkProgress has obtained a memo outlining the details of the last Koch gathering held in June of this year. The memo, along with an attendee list of about 210 people, shows the titans of industry — from health insurance companies, oil executives, Wall Street investors, and real estate tycoons — working together with conservative journalists and Republican operatives to plan the 2010 election, as well as ongoing conservative efforts through 2012. According to the memo, David Chavern, the number two at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Fox News hate-talker Glenn Beck also met with these representatives of the corporate elite. In an election season with the most undisclosed secret corporate giving since the Watergate-era, the memo sheds light on the symbiotic relationship between extremely profitable, multi-billion dollar corporations and much of the conservative infrastructure. The memo describes the prospective corporate donors as “investors,” and it makes clear that many of the Republican operatives managing shadowy, undisclosed fronts running attack ads against Democrats were involved in the Koch’s election-planning event:
– Corporate “investors” at the Koch meeting included businesses with a strong profit motive in rolling back President Obama’s enacted reforms. Several companies impacted by health reform, including Allan Hubbard of A & E Industries, a manufacturer of medical devices and Judson Green, a board member of health insurance conglomerate Aon, were present at the meeting. Other businessmen at the meeting, like Omaha Burger King franchiser Mike Simmonds, are owners of fast food stores which have fought efforts to provide health insurance to their employees. Many corporate attendees of the meeting represent the financial industry impacted by Wall Street reform. For instance, attendee Bill Cooper is the CEO of TCF Financial, a corporation involved in the mortgage banking industry. Cooper recently filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Wall Street reform. Other financial industry players in the meeting hail from firms ranging from Bank of America, JLM Investment, Allied Capital Corp, AMG National Trust, the Blackstone Group and Citadel Investment. Annie Dickerson, a representative of Paul Singer, a powerful hedge fund manager who also gives tens of millions to Republican causes, was present. In addition, Koch Industries itself has a hedge fund and other financial derivative products in its portfolio of interests, which include oil pipelines, coal shipping, asphalt, refineries, consumer goods, timber, ranching, and chemicals.
– Corporate “investors” at the Koch meeting included businesses with a strong profit motive in preventing progressive reforms promised by President Obama. Several executives at the meeting have an incentive to stop Democrats and President Obama from addressing climate change and enacting clean energy reform. The meeting included oil executives from Aspect Energy, Murfin Drilling, Anschutz Company, GeoPark Holdings, Smoky Oil, and several members of Koch’s various subsidiaries. The meeting documents explicitly state that funding efforts to curb “climate change alarmism” were discussed.
– Fred Malek, Karl Rove’s top fundraiser for his $56 million attack ad campaign against Democrats, attended the meeting, along with leaders of other secret attack groups. Heather Higgins, who leads the Independent Women’s Forum, a shadowy group that has spent millions of dollars in attack ads on health reform, attended the meeting. So did Gretchen Hamel, a former Bush flak who now runs an attack ad group called “Public Notice,” which denounces spending programs.
– Participants collaborated with infamous consultants who specialize in generating fake grassroots movements, as well as experts on how corporations should take advantage of Citizens United. One session, about how to “mobilize citizens for November,” involved a discussion with Republican strategists Tim Phillips and Sean Noble, anti-union leader Mark Mix, and longtime Koch operative Karl Crow. Phillips — a veteran astroturf lobbyist who previously managed a deceptive grassroots lobbying campaign to help the Hong Kong-based Tan family maintain their forced abortion sweatshops in the Mariana Islands — now leads the day-to-day operations of Americans for Prosperity, the group ThinkProgress first reported to have helped organize many of the initial Tea Party rallies against Obama. Americans for Prosperity, founded and financed by David Koch, has a field team of over 80 campaign staffers spread out around the country, and additionally plans to spend $45 million dollars worth of attack ads against Democrats. Shortly before the planning meeting, Crow authored a campaign finance memo explaining that because of the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling, he advised specifically that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s 501(c)(6) and Americans for Prosperity’s 501(c)(4) can “now use general treasury funds to produce communications materials opposing or supporting specific candidates” and corporations can aggressively pressure their employees to vote a certain way.
The memo notes that participants in the 2010 election planning meeting “committed to an unprecedented level of support.”
Interestingly, the Koch meetings are managed by Kevin Gentry, an executive who doubles as a staffer in the Koch Industries lobbying office in Washington and as the key point person who helps deliver Koch charitable foundation grants. As ThinkProgress has documented, Koch Industries has dramatically boosted its own profits by using conservative front groups to manipulate public policy. The fusion between the “intellectual” conservative movement and big businesses opposed to regulations and accountability has a history in America dating back to the New Deal. During the thirties, the Du Pont family and other wealthy interests organized an assortment of “Liberty League” front groups to try to defeat New Deal agenda items and repeal President Roosevelt’s Social Security program. Now, corporations fund groups like the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute — both had representatives at the Koch meeting — to further their lobbying agenda. The American Enterprise Institute even changed its name from the New Deal-era American Enterprise Association to try to dispel the notion that they were nothing more than a glorified business trade association.
As the memo states, Beck has addressed this regular gathering of conservative corporate executives in previous years. Past Koch meetings have included various Republican lawmakers, including DeMint, and Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia as speakers.
After ThinkProgess published its exclusive investigation of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce revealing that the Chamber has been actively fundraising from foreign corporations for its 501(c)(6) account used to run a $75 million attack ad campaign, Chamber lobbyists found common cause with Beck and many of the conservative talking heads. Shortly after our investigation, Beck hosted an on-air fundraiser, asking his audience to give to the Chamber. Casual observers might have been surprised by the Chamber’s swift alliance with Beck (Chamber executives appeared on the Beck radio program and sung Beck’s praises on the Chamber blog), who has compared Obama to Adolf Hitler and called the President a “racist” who has a “deep-seated hatred for white people.” By telling his listeners to give money to the Chamber, Beck, who owns a media company worth more than $32 million dollars and an experimental Mercedes Benz, essentially told his working class viewers to give their wages back to their employers. However, Beck never disclosed his long working history of discussing political strategy with America’s largest corporations. The Koch memo clearly shows that Beck has been collaborating with the Chamber, as well as other titans of industry, for years. In his latest appeal for support to the Chamber’s foreign-funded trade association, which already counts JP Morgan and ExxonMobil as dues-paying members, Beck yesterday told his audience that the Chamber simply “defends the little guy.”
Click below to view a letter inviting corporate executives to attend the next Koch meeting in January, along with a list of the sessions held by Koch for the last meeting in June of 2010. An attendee list of the June, 2010 meeting is attached at the bottom of the document:
Some of the donors at the Koch meeting were longtime Bush fundraisers, like Cintas Corporation CEO Dick Farmer and wholesale executive Art Pope. However, many names appear to be relatively new to conservative movement “investment.” Click below for a listing of the attendees
| Name(s) | Industry | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Jack and Rose Marie Anderson | Finance | Culver Corp, Rose Marie and Jack R. Anderson Foundation- Financial Advisor |
| Neil Anderson and Amy Fisher-Smith | Runs Rose Marie and Jack R. Anderson Foundation | |
| Phil and Nancy Anschutz | Investment | Industrialist, Owner, Weekly Standard, Examiner newspapers |
| Cliff Asness | Investment | AQR Capital Management |
| Nate and Lynda Bachman | Finance | The Bachman Group-Financial Advisor |
| Whitney Ball | Think Tank | Owner of a firm that helps corporations give anonymous gifts to front groups |
| Michael Barone | Media | Fox News |
| Frank and Kathy Baxter | Banking | Ambassador Frank E. Baxter is Chairman Emeritus of Jefferies and Company, Inc., a global investment bank focusing on mid-cap companies. |
| Steve and Betty Bechtel | Engineering | Owns the Bechtel Group (Corporation), Largest engineering company in United States |
| Glenn Beck | Media | Fox News |
| Bernard and Margaret Blasingame | Manufacturing | President and owner of Aqua Dynamics Systems, Inc |
| Alan and Lisa Boeckmann | Oil | CEO Fluor Corporation |
| Boysie Bollinger | Shipping/Commerce | Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Bollinger Shipyards |
| Patrick and Paula Broe | Real Estate | Founder and CEO of Denver-based real estate asset management firm, The Broe Group |
| Arthur Brooks | Think Tank | President, American Enterprise Institute |
| David and Ann Brown | Think Tank | Heritage Foundation |
| John Bryan | ||
| Bob and Martha Buford | Oil | C. Robert Buford has been President and owner of Zenith Drilling Corporation |
| Tim Busch | ||
| Shelby and Nell Bush | Energy | Vice President, Legal and Administration – Hillwood Energy |
| Tim Carney | Media | Political Columnist, Washington Examiner |
| Charlies and Marla Chandler | ||
| David Chavern | Lobbyist | Executive Vice President and COO at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce |
| John Childs | Insurance | Chairman and CEO of J.W. Childs and Associates |
| Paul and Lea Clifton | Runs Robert and Marie Hansen Family Foundation | |
| Susie Coelhoe | Media | founder and CEO of Susie Coelho Enterprises Inc. |
| Bill Cooper and Kristin Tollefson | Finance/Banking | CEO of TCF Financial |
| Dino and Joan Cortopassi | ||
| Joe Craft | Coal | Joseph W. Craft III is president, chief executive officer and director of Alliance Resource Partners LP |
| Alex Cranberg | Energy | Aspect Holdings, LLC – Chairman |
| Jeff Crank | Americans For Prosperity / Radio Pundit | AFP State Director |
| Karl Crow | Policy Analyst | Capital Research Center |
| Eric Crown and Isabella King | Technology Sales | Sell Technology Equipment |
| Kevin Crutchfield | Coal | Kevin S. Crutchfield serves as Chief Executive Officer of Alpha Coal Sales Co., LLC. |
| Ravenell and Beth Curry | ||
| Jim and Shirley Dannenbaum | Engineering | Mr. Dannenbaum, Chairman of Dannenbaum Engineering Corporation |
| Veronique de Rugy | Think Tank | Senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center |
| Rich and Helen DeVos | Business | Founder and CEO of Amway |
| Annie Dickerson | Business | CBRE analyst |
| Ned and Nancy Diefenthal | ||
| Jim and Dorothy Patterson | Oil | Gulf Stream Petroleum |
| Dan and Kellie Peters | Non-for Profit | Daniel S. Peters is president of the Ruth and Lovett Peters Foundation in Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Tom Petrie | Banking | Co-founder of BofA Merrill Lynch Petrie Divestiture Advisors |
| Dixon and Carol Doll | Technology | Co-Founder and General Partner of DCM |
| Karl and Stevie Eller | Advertising | |
| Ron and Kris Erickson | Retail | Ronald A. Erickson is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Holiday Companies |
| Melvyn and Suellen Estrin | Natural Gas | Director of WGL Holdings INC |
| Dick Farmer | ||
| Peter Farrell | Biomed | Founder of Resmed |
| Bob Kohlhepp | Manufacturing/Services | Vice Chairman, Cintas Corp. |
| Charles Krauthammer | Media | Washington Post |
| Jim and Zibbie Ferrell | Fuel Oil | Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. engages in the distribution and sale of propane and related equipment primarily in the United States. |
| Dave Fettig | Natural Gas | Tank Craft, Duracraft Fuel energy |
| Bob Fettig | Natural Gas | Tank Craft, Duracraft Fuel energy |
| Steve Fettig | Natural Gas | Tank Craft, Duracraft Fuel energy |
| Jerry and Nanette Finger | Banking | Managing Partner, Finger Interests LTD |
| Richard Fink | Koch Industries | Director of Georgia-Pacific, EVP of Koch Industries |
| Budd and Lauri Florkiewicz | Manufacturing | Foam Fabricators |
| Charlie and Kaye Lynn Fote | Finance | Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Fotec Group LLC |
| Randy and Jean Foutch | Oil | Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Laredo Petroleum, Inc. |
| Foster Friess | Investment | Mr. Foster Stephen Friess is the Founder and Chairman of Friess Associates, LLC |
| Steve and Polly Friess | ||
| Jerry and Leah Fullinwider | Energy/Petroleum | Vice Chairman, Hillwood International Energy, L.P. |
| Richard and Leslie Gilliam | Coal | Richard Gilliam has been President of Cumberland Resources Corporation since 1993. |
| Susan Gore | Think Tank | Founder, Wyoming Liberty Group |
| Oliver and Carolyn Grace Jr. | Med and Telecom | President and chief executive officer of Anderson Group, Inc., |
| Judson and Joyce Green | Energy and Med | Mr. Judson C. Green is the President and Chief Executive Officer of NAVTEQ Corp. |
| Ken and Anne Griffin | Investment Banking | Founder and CEO of Citadel Investment Group |
| Gretchen Hamel | ||
| Fred and Jane Hamilton | Oil | Mr. Frederic C. Hamilton served as the President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of BHP Petroleum, Hamilton Oil Company and various Hamilton Oil Corporation subsidiaries and affiliates |
| Bob and Mary Sue Hawk | Communications | President of Hawk Communications |
| Dick and Ethie Haworth | Retail | Head of Haworth Furniture, Multi-national corporation, 3rd largest corporate furniture company in US |
| Robin and Barbara Hayes | Government | Former NC Congressman |
| Dan and Carolyn Heard | Manufacturing | Executive Officer of John H. Carter Co., |
| Diane Hendricks | Manufacturing | Husband of Ken Hendricks |
| Steve and Regina Hennessy | Auto Sales | Auto Sales |
| James and Heather Higgins | Think Tank | Independent Women’s Forum |
| Paul Hill | Oil | Paul J. Hill serves as the Chief Executive Officer and has been President of Harvard Developments Inc. since 1978. Mr. Hill serves as the Chief Executive Officer and President of The Hill Companies. |
| John and Joan Hotchkis | Education | Board of Directors for Teach for America UC Berkley |
| Allan and Kathy Hubbard | Chemicals and Manufacturing | Founder and Chief Executive Officer, E & A Industries, Inc. |
| Stan and Karen Hubbard | Communications | Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. |
| Ethelmae Humphreys | Think Tank | Cato Institute |
| Manley and Mary Johnson | Political Consultant | |
| Merritt Johnson | ||
| Gerry and Priscilla O’Shaughnessy | Oil | Gerald Eugene O’Shaughnessy Co-founded Geopark Holding Limited in 2002. |
| Michael O’Shaunessy | Technology | Petters Consumer Brands, LLC develops consumer electronics and appliances. |
| Tim O’Shaughnessy | Media | Hungry Machine, Inc., doing business as LivingSocial.com, is a social discovery and cataloging network. |
| Marshall Johnson | ||
| Kyle and Kirsten Johnstone | ||
| Mike and Beth Kasser | Real Estate | President, Holualoa Inc |
| Ken and Randy Kendrick | Education/Technology | Chairman, Datatel |
| Phil and Joanna Kerpen | Advocacy Group/Think Tank | VP of Policy, Americans for Prosperity |
| Gerry and Kathryn Kingen | Restauranteur | Red Robin, Happy Guests Int’ll |
| Scott Kirkpatrick | Investor | Teton Capital |
| Charles and Liz Koch | Koch Industries | |
| Chase and Annie Koch | Koch Industries | |
| David and Julia Koch | Koch Industries | |
| Elizabeth Koch | Koch Industries | |
| Bob and Cindy Koch | Koch Industries | |
| Bob Kohlhepp | Manufacturing/Services | Vice Chairman, Cintas Corp. |
| Dennis Kuester | Banking | Retired CEO of M&I Bank |
| Andrew Kupersmith | Consultant | MD, Cardiology Consultants |
| Andre Lacy | Investment | Chairman, Lacy Diversified Industries |
| Ken and Elaine Langone | Retail | Invemed, Home Depot |
| Jay and Sally Lapeyre | Services | Laitram Corp |
| Ken and Frayda Levy | Investment | JLM Investment Mgmt |
| Tom Love | Retail | CEO, President, Love’s Country Stores |
| Bob Luddy | Manufacturing | President, Captive Aire Systems |
| Fred and Marlene Malek | Investment Management | Thayer Capital Partners |
| Elaine Marshall | Homemaker | |
| Pierce Marshall | Administrative Management | MAROPCO |
| Preston Marshall | ||
| Bill Mayer | Health Care | MD, Mayer & Cope Family Practice |
| Glen and Diane Meakem | Business Solutions | CEO, Freemarkets Inc. |
| Ed Meese | Think Tank | Heritage Foundation |
| Lew and Suzy Meibergen | Goods/Services | President, Johnston Enterprises/WG Johnston Grain Co |
| Don and Deede Meyers | Attorney | Self Employed |
| Jerry and Caroline Milbank | Investment Management | CEO/Principal, Milbank Winthrop & Co. |
| Jack and Goldie Miller | Retail | CEO/President, Quill Corp. |
| Mark Mix | Advocacy Group | President, National Right to Work Committee |
| Joe and Mary Moeller | Koch Industries | Vice Chairman |
| Steve Moore | Media | member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board |
| David Murfin | Energy | President, Murfin Drilling Co. |
| Walter and Suzette Negley | ||
| Mina Nguyen | ||
| Larry and Polly Nichols | Energy | Executive Chairman, Devon Energy Corp |
| Sean Noble | Front Group | Americans for Prosperity |
| Tim and Teresa Oelke | Advocacy Group/Construction | Teresa – State Director of Americans for Prosperity, Tim – Crossland Construction Corp |
| Eric O’Keefe | Front Group | Sam Adams Alliance |
| Kurt and Nancy Pfotenhauer | Media | President of MediaSpeak Strategies/former political commentator on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC and former Senior Policy Advisor and National Spokesperson with the 2008 John McCain presidential campaign |
| Tim Phillips | Advocacy Group | president, Americans for Prosperity |
| Ramesh Ponnuru | Media | National Review magazine |
| Art and Kathy Pope | Goods/Services | Senior Exec, Variety Wholesaler |
| Russ Roberts | Attorney | Roberts, Ashby & Parrish |
| Corbin and Barbara Robertson | Energy | President, Quintana Minerals Corp |
| Richard Roder and Karin Hsu | Construction Management | CEO, Cmt-Construction Management |
| Gary and Kathleen Rogers | Goods | Former CEO, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream |
| Durk Rorie | Manufacturing | United Air Specialists |
| Chris Rufer | Goods/Manufacturing | Morningstar Company |
| Peter Schiff and Martha O’Brien | Investor | Schiff: Euro Pacific Capital Inc., |
| Steve and Christine Schwarzman | Financial Services | CEO/founder, Blackstone Group |
| Rick and Sherry Sharp | Retail | Former CEO, Circuit City |
| Mike and Lin Simmonds | Services | CEO, Simmonds Restaurant Mgmt |
| Peter Smith | Services | CEO, Service Group of America |
| Dick Strong | Investment Services | Strong/Corneliuson Capital Mgmt |
| Michael Sullivan | Investment Services | CR Intrinsic Investors |
| Ray and Ladeline Thompson | Manufacturing | President/CEO, Semitool |
| Lynn Tilton | Investment Management | CEO, Patriarch Partners LLC |
| Dave and Melanie True | Oil | Partner |
| Steve Twist | Consultant | Rose & Allyn PR Consultants |
| Jim and Gayla Von Ehr | Research/Development | CEO, Zyvex Corp |
| Rick and Debra Waller | Manufacturing | Owner, Rollmeister Inc |
| Peter Wallison | Think Tank | Fellow, American Enterprise Institute |
| Bill and Sarah Walton | Real Estate | Allied Capital Corp |
| Lew and Myra Ward | Oil | Ward Petroleum Corporation owns and operates wells. It engages in oil and gas exploration and production. The company was founded in 1963 and is based in Enid, Oklahoma. |
| Dick Weekley | Real Estate | Weekley Properties |
| Fred and Susie Wehba | Real Estate | Bentley Forbes Real Estate |
| Nestor Weigand and Darcy Buehler | Real Estate | JP Weigand & Sons Real Estate |
| Dick and Mary Beth Weiss | Life Insurance | Wells Fargo, Hawthorne Rances |
| Howard and Rhonda Wilkins | Insurance | Diversified Insurance |
| Don and Sue Wills | Oil | |
| Bob Kohlhepp | Manufacturing/Services | Vice Chairman, Cintas Corp. |
| Bob Kohlhepp | Manufacturing/Services | Vice Chairman, Cintas Corp. |
| Larry and Lorraine Winnerman | Real Estate | Win Win Enterprises |
| Joe Woodford | ||
| Earl Wright | Finance | AMG Natinal Trust |
| Karen Wright and Tom Rastin | Energy/Manufacturing | Tom Rastin, vice president of marketing and engineering, Ariel Corp – Karen Wright, Ariel CEO |
| Cliff and Susan Yonce | Investment Banking | Goldman Sachs |
| Fred and Sandra Young | Services | Diversified Search, LLC provides senior-level executive and corporate board search services in the United States and internationally. It provides recruitment services for various organizations in consumer and industrial, education, not-for-profit, arts and culture, financial and professional services, business, healthcare and human services, life sciences, media and entertainment, sports and leisure, energy and utilities, private equity, retail, and technology and communications industries. |
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