I know the obvious answer is Charles and David Koch fund it, but I read an article once that said the Koch brothers aren’t even the main funders. Supposedly they have a large list of funders`they organize.
So who funds the Koch brother political machine? Is it a group of a dozen or two wealthy individuals and powerful corporations? What do they spend per year? 200 million? I’m sure it varies based on what is happening that year (presidential years get more funding than midterms, which get more funding than odd years like 2017 or 2019). But does it average out to 200 million a year or so?
Also I’m talking about the entire network so their donations to politicians and ads, their support of think tanks, their lobbying to pass laws on the state and federal level, etc.
I assume this is a factual question and not a debate.
Read Jane Mayer’s “Dark Money”. I read maybe 1/3 of it but was so nauseated I couldn’t go on, but she answers such questions. I just don’t recall and I won’t speculate.
I can’t answer where other funding comes up but the Kochs were tied for 11th richest person in the world before David died last month. Between them they had over $100 billion so plenty of money to provide their own funding.
The Kochs primary political group is Americans for Prosperity. Its spending peaked in 2012 with 115–122 million dollars. In 2016 they spent 64 million.
Its predecessor Americans for a Sound Economy was funded 84% by the Kochs and the rest by various corporations and family foundations.
Those numbers alone don’t even begin to describe the political influence of the Kochs, which Jane Mayer first described in this New Yorker article and later expanded into the Dark Money book. The fact of the matter is that they contribute to and/or control dozens of both overt and covert advocacy organizations and are masters at raising anonymous contributions from fellow billionaires, such as at the famous secretive and closely guarded gatherings that they periodically organize. The reality is that no one really knows how much the Kochs have contributed to political influence and how much they control through secretive donor organizations, except that investigative reporters like Jane Mayer, Daniel Schulman, and Ari Rabin-Havt have concluded that it’s been absolutely massive. Some of the book titles alone suggest as much: Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right and Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America’s Most Powerful and Private Dynasty. As Mayer said in that article, quoting Rabin-Havt speaking of Charles and David Koch, “their role, in terms of financial commitments, is staggering.”