The confidential spreadsheet contains a who’s who of far-right, mega-rich donors.
A new document providing rare insight into the political machine of the Koch Brothers has surfaced revealing the names of up to 40 donors, as well as senior Koch officials, Washington Post reported.
The list, published by Mother Jones, was mistakenly left behind at a donor conference and includes various corporate executives, real-estate and hedge fund billionaires and GOP financiers.
The list also includes Papa John pizza chain founder and hard-core Republican John Schnatter, Kenneth Griffin, the chief executive of Citadel, Silicon Valley real estate investor Carl Berg (worth $1.1 billion) and owner of Omni Hotels and Gold’s Gym.
What’s more, it appears Charles Koch was scheduled to hold private meetings with at least nine of the contributors including private equity investor John Childs and TRT Holding co-founder Robert Rowling who is worth around $4.9 billion.
Those in attendance also contributed to American Crossroads, the super PAC co-founded by Karl Rove, with Rowling directing $3.5 million to the cause.
Officials from Freedom Partners, a tax-exempt business league funding AFP was also scheduled at the meetings.
The Koch Brothers have fought hard to protect the identity of its financial backers and shield its money-making schemes by operating through tax-exempt groups and LLCs.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.