Charles Koch say his network offers 'vision' for a divided nation
WASHINGTON – Conservative billionaire Charles Koch and his allies celebrated Republicans retaining their grip on Congress this week and signaled that his powerful political network plans to play a larger role in policy as the nation prepares for a GOP-controlled capital.
In a letter sent Thursday to donors and network staffers, Koch touted wins by "pro-freedom" candidates in the Senate and in state legislatures around the country and said rolling "back harmful policies" and advancing "positive ones" in Washington would be among the group's top objectives.
The election demonstrated voters are angry about a "rigged economy" and searching for "something to unite behind, a substantive vision of a brighter future," Koch wrote, adding that his network "offers that vision."
Network officials say they will aggressively fight efforts in Washington to increase government spending, even if the push comes from the nation’s most powerful Republican himself, President-elect Donald Trump.
“We can’t keep growing government and expect that government will be the solution to the challenges of society,” said James Davis, the spokesman for the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce. Freedom Partners is the umbrella organization for the collection of policy and political groups that Koch, his brother David, and several hundred like-minded wealthy donors fund to advance their free-market views.
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Davis said the network will seize on opportunities to work with the Trump administration and Republican leaders on common goals, such as repealing President Obama’s Affordable Care Act — long a target of Koch groups. “But there are other things where we will be in opposition,” he said. “We will hold true to our principles.”
In Koch’s worldview, government’s size and its role in business should be sharply limited, and possible flashpoints with Trump range from the newly elected president’s plan to mandate six weeks of paid maternity leave to a $1 trillion infrastructure plan that Trump says could create 13 million jobs. (Trump has said the plan would be revenue-neutral and will provide tax breaks to investors willing to lend money to local and state governments for these projects.)
Koch supports free trade, while Trump had slammed international trade deals, such as the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, as hurting American workers.
The network and other free-market groups in Washington, such as the Club for Growth, might not have much sway in a Trump administration. Koch, who runs the nation’s second largest private company, refused to back the New York businessman’s candidacy, and the Club actively campaigned against him during the GOP primaries.
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But Koch’s network deployed big sums in Senate races and saw Republicans win in all but one —Nevada — of eight targeted states. In all, the network spent about $250 million on its political and policy programs this year, including $42.1 million in advertising to shape Senate contests in states.
Activists and staffers knocked on four million doors, made 33 million calls and sent out 37 million pieces of mail to sway voters in key states, Davis said Thursday. The network regularly touts its standing force of 2.8 million activists who are willing to engage in policy fights even in non-election years.
If senators veer “off course,” Davis said, “we can hold them accountable and turn up the heat from the people to change the policy.”
New Jersey activist and donor Frayda Levin who sits on the boards of Club for Growth and the Koch-aligned Americans for Prosperity, sounded a similar theme.
“Hopefully, the Republicans who were elected will understand they were elected to support free trade and free markets,” she said. “Their job will be to work with Trump and get that kind of legislation passed.”