News flash: the Kochs are the most insidious examplars of dark money (hence the title of the Mayer book, and the conclusions of investigative journalism published in numerous other books and articles) which is the exact opposite of “spending money under your own name” and “refreshingly honest”. For a librarian, you appear to be astoundingly ignorant of current political realities in general, and specifically the history of how the Kochs have undermined the basic foundations of the American political system.
Wait, the Koch brothers were “refreshingly honest” in how they corrupted American government?
Seriously? The ones who were basically responsible for a Manhattan Project style initiative to weaponize dark money SuperPACs? Who may have given $1 billion to charity but have easily spent 10 times that in their pet political causes?
The Koch brothers may not be cartoon supervillains (they aren’t far off though), but there’s absolutely no need to feel some need to soften their legacies out of some misbegotten sense of ‘above it all’ nonpartisanship or offering unearned dignity in death.
If what they did and continue to do appears ‘honest’, it’s because of the work of diligent journalists bringing as much of this to light as possible. The Koch brothers themselves did all they could to keep a minimal paper trail. Giving them credit for being open about deliberately hiding their activities is some of the oddest Bizarro world whitewashing I’ve seen.
This could be quite a moneymaker for you, you should advertise your services.
No Number Twos? That would be a satisfying message.
It really isn’t refreshing or honest at all. Much of their stuff had to be revealed, they had preferred to keep a low profile for the longest of time. Over 100 million in a 20 year period was given to some 100 organizations by the Koch brothers to deny the climate was warming and that man was the main culprit.
And the billions of pounds of carcinogens that have been dumped into our water, air and land on a regular basis by the Koch brothers, makes the paltry one billion dollar contributions to philanthropy (or whatever the exact amount) pale in comparison to the lives that have been lost, health that has been deteriorated by their actions, along with the birth defects, that one billion wouldn’t begin to cover the health care costs of all of those affected, let alone the money or even a workable plan that could possibly clean up the kind of damage that has been done.
The Koch brothers are not alone in this, it’s par for the course for big corporations and industry with some exceptions, massive fortunes are at stake, but they are still certainly high up on the list, possibly at the top of it. I guess this is what most of this deregulation stuff is all about, letting them continue to pollute the planet with little and possibly zero consequences. The hundreds of millions they have been fined, is not even a drop in the bucket of the damage done.
I think your example is a little long in the tooth.
Regards,
Shodan
How do you know it’s long in the tooth? Are you looking a gift horse in the mouth?
I believe you are thinking of the eldest Koch brother, Frederick. He has stated many times that he is not homosexual. It is something that their very abusive father said of him because he enjoyed theater and the arts. David had a wife and three children, I think.
There are four brothers. Frederick is the eldest, then comes David, then the twins Charles and Billy (in that order.) Frederick and Billy couldn’t care less about the family business and care very little about politics. David and Charles were the power-hungry ones. David was the worst of the bunch, and the most like his Dad.
Frederick is very liberal, and you’ll find that most “Koch” related contributions to liberal causes come from him. He also doesn’t have nearly as much money as David and Charles did because those two tried their best to steal the family fortune after their father’s death. I think Billy ended up with about $150 million and Frederick even less.
Billy stays under the radar as much as possible, but has a good deal more empathy and conscience than David and Charles. He saw what happened to Frederick and learned to suppress it early. Their father was the poster child for toxic masculinity. (e.g. He used to make the boys put on boxing gloves and beat each other to a pulp.)
Charles is the one who provided some balance to David though. He stayed involved but pushed issues like LGBTQ rights. He also pushed any issue which stood to enrich him though, so he’s no saint. Still, the family fortune should be put to better use in future, and far better use once Charles is gone.
I don’t know anything about David’s heirs though.
What difference does it make? You’re not any more “classy” now than you were then.
Don’t be such a neigh-sayer.
Regards,
Shodan
I wonder how many people will cry at Shodan’s grave. Probably not many.
You’re probably wrong - I owe people money.
Regards,
Shodan
It bears repeating. I just wish you people would stop quoting him.
You forgot “and the horse you rode in on”.
Regards,
Shodan
Don’t try to blame the horse. 
You are naïve and ignorant.
China’s state owned coal industry, Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil, and Russia’s Gazprom are the largest polluting organizations. Koch Industries, doesn’t even make the top 100 organizations: Just 100 Companies Are Responsible for 71% of Global Carbon Emissions | Fortune
And the reason most of these organizations are on the list because they produce fossil fuels, that you, me, and everyone else in the world consumes to transport ourselves, the products we purchase, etc. So lump yourself in that category.
Your post is full of inaccuracies about the family.
Birth order of the brothers is Fred, Charles, and then twins David and Bill.
Fred and Bill and several other smaller cousin shareholders were bought out by the company for approx. $1 billion in the early 1980’s based upon a valuation prepared by Goldman Sachs, that was paid for by Bill and Fred. So they each received just slightly under $500 million at that time. This type of buyout is extremely common among companies owned by wealthy families as the second and third generations come into power, because the kids and grandkids can’t agree on the direction of the company, etc.
I’m curious what you think will happen once Charles passes away (he’s 83). That the company will be sold or put up for auction? Charles and David’s estates equally own about 84% of the company. David has a living spouse and 3 children. Charles has a living spouse, two children and 3 grandchildren.
Based on what I know of the families, they are happy to continue the businesses they are in in partnership with the 125,000 employees they have worldwide.
Oh yeah, suck that Koch, suck it good.
Honestly I struggle to imagine anything more fundamentally pathetic than trying to defend the legacy of David Koch. The fucker lived a charmed life - born rich, never poor, got basically everything he wanted except eternal life, and died knowing that he was one of the most influential people in the world. And what did he use that influence for? First and foremost, setting the planet on fire to ensure that he got to keep ever more of his obscene wealth and continue enriching himself and his family.
If you seriously want to defend him… I cannot even try to hide my unbridled contempt for you. If you agree with his beliefs, which in practice boiled down to “let the rich do whatever they want regardless of the consequences to the rest of us”, I cannot and will not hide my contempt for you, you disgusting fucking human parasite. You’re not even fun to mock. You’re just fucking depressing.
The rich are not dying fast enough. Here’s hoping his brother follows him damn soon.
Yeah but at least you’re not bitter about it, that’s the important thing.