The influence of Charles and David Koch on conservative politics and elections is growing at an ambitious clip as election season heats up, placing them on track to eclipse their goal of raising $395 million to help remove President Barack Obama from the White House,
Politico reported.
Later this month, Politico reported, the Koch brothers will host a summit in San Diego comprising Republican political stars and potential donors and expect to rake in tens of millions to help conservative think tanks and causes. At a similar conference in Indian Wells, Calif. in the winter, the brothers raised more than $150 million and last year’s summit in the summer at Rancho Mirage, Calif., drew $49 million in support.
Politico reported that these figures, plus the results of one summit in between, in Beaver Creek, Colo., put the Kochs close to their $395 million goal.
“They ask for support — and they get it because we all love our country and we have a different vision than do the liberals,” Stanley Hubbard, a Minnesota television station owner, told Politico. Hubbard has attended past donor summits and plans to be in San Diego for this month’s meeting. “I’ve gotten friends to be involved, and I think others have, too, so I would guess, yes, that’s expanding.”
Koch summits in recent years have been attended by big names in conservative politics such as Eric Cantor, Chris Christie, Bob McDonnell, Rick Perry, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
The summits, which are part of an expansion of the Koch brothers’ political operation, have a “revival-like feel,” and most of the cash raised at the summits goes to nonprofit groups that do not disclose their donors.
Groups attending the summits give a hint as to the recipients of the donations, and include The Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute and The Federalist Society, the 60 Plus Association, National Right to Work, the Club for Growth, and Americans for Prosperity.
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