http://network.nationalpost.com/NP/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2010/05/...
May 11, 2010, 08:15:00 | NP Editor Charles and David Koch are the left's equivalent of George Soros - wealthy figures who spend their money supporting ideas they agree with, and who Democrats love to hate. But while frequently linked to the Tea Party movement, in a rare interview they try to distance themselves from the Tea Partiers and stress the need to build a more governance-minded form of conservatism. David and Charles Koch; their company, Koch Industries; and their non- profit organizations, known collectively as the Koch Foundations, together represent a polarizing brand. They're viewed as generous conservative benefactors on the one hand, and taciturn funders of hate and climate denialism on the other. So which version is it? Are they gracious philanthropists or the evil founders of the tea party movement? The first thing one is confronted with when looking at the Koch groups is the staggering magnitude of their holdings. Koch Industries had revenues of $98 billion in 2009. Combined, the Koch brothers are worth close to $40 billion. The Koch family's foundations have given millions upon millions to right-of-center organizations like the Heritage Foundation, Americans for Prosperity, and the Mercatus Center. Despite the public nature of their funding activities, the Koch groups have traditionally been quite secretive. As a series of private organizations, they engage with the press only on rare occasions. As such, Koch approached the idea of an interview with a good deal of corporate apprehension - so much so that one of the Koch brothers took time away from running the firm (which makes about $186,329 a minute) to personally look over the quotes. --- Koch Industries, a conglomerate with major petroleum and natural gas holdings that is the second largest privately held company (after Cargill) in the United States. Geez, I wonder why Fox News and Bill OLielly never mentions all the money they give to Conservatives? Oh that's right, they're Fairly Unbalanced. -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
