Koch donors have trouble picking a candidate
DANA POINT, Calif. -- The wealthy contributors to billionaire industrialist Charles Koch’s expansive political network wrapped up their annual summer conclave Monday without aligning behind a single presidential candidate, but pledging to spread their free-market activism beyond a hard-core conservative base.
“Right now, I’m dating but not ready to get married for 2016,” said Pete Snyder, an Alexandria, Va., investor who was one of a record 450 contributors who attended the summit at a swank resort overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
“This is the deepest bench that I’ve seen in my lifetime,” said Snyder, who ran unsuccessfully for Virginia lieutenant governor in 2013 and attended the summit for the first time. “There’s tons of talent out there, lots of folks who have the chops to be a great president.”
A select group of five GOP presidential contenders — former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina — made their cases to donors over two days in question-and-answer sessions that probed their positions on topics ranging from climate change to billionaire developer Donald Trump’s swift ascension in the polls.
North Carolina retail magnate Art Pope, a long-time Koch ally and one of his state’s most influential Republicans, told USA TODAY that he’s “truly undecided and uncommitted” in the nomination battle but has made up his mind about one aspect of the race: “I personally do not support Donald Trump. I don’t think he’s qualified to be president.”
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At a final luncheon, donors followed a tradition: Standing one at a time to make a specific financial pledge. That's how the group intends to collect nearly $900 million to underwrite a mix of electoral politics, policy issues and grant-making through the end of 2016. The organization was on track to meet that goal, said James Davis, a spokesman for Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the nonprofit trade group that oversees the fast-growing political empire launched by Charles Koch and his brother, David Koch.
The event marked the first time journalists covered one of the twice-yearly summits. Reporters faced restrictions on their activity, however. Journalists, for instance, were barred from reporting on donors’ identities without their consent and could not attend the closed-door sessions where attendees worked out their strategy.
During the portions open to reporters, Koch largely steered clear of politics. Instead, he decried corporate welfare and highlighted the network’s commitment to the disadvantaged, at one point citing Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr.’s activism as models for attendees. At one session, Michael Lomax, the head of the United Negro College Fund, made a fundraising pitch to donors to support historically black colleges. Another focused on Koch Industries' work to overhaul the criminal-justice system.
The network’s leaders are pushing to win over a broader group of supporters, beyond the Tea Party and small-government activists with whom they found common cause during the intense battles over President Obama’s 2010 health care law.
“If we cannot unite the majority of Americans behind us, then we’re done for,” Koch told the donors Sunday. “We’ve got to do a much better job of understanding what matters most to people and then … demonstrate that a free society gives them the best opportunity to achieve that.”
Frayda Levin, a long-time donor who sits on the board of the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity, said the group is “trying to go beyond our natural base” by hosting classes on budgeting and how to use coupons to save money.
To that end, Americans for Prosperity is opening an office in Levin’s hometown of Mountain Lakes, N.J., where community groups can host events, she said.
“It will be open to home schoolers, Boy Scouts, Rotary Clubs, any kind of organization,” Levin said, “but when they come, we hope to sort of say, ‘Look, we want you to understand how free markets help you achieve what you want.’ ”
For all the focus on helping the poor, the event underscored the influence of a wealthy few on elections. Bush, who raised a record $103 million for his super PAC, made no apologies for his enormous haul, which included two dozen, seven-figure contributions.
“I’m playing by the rules of the game, the way it’s laid out,” he told the group. “And if people don’t like it, that’s just tough luck.”
Six U.S. senators and seven sitting governors converged on the event. Several acknowledged the donors' role in funding the advertising and grass-roots activity that helped Republicans capture the Senate majority in last year’s midterm elections.
Looking out at a crowded ballroom Sunday afternoon, Cruz said: “The men and woman in this room spilled gallons of blood, spent your fortunes retaking the Senate.”