COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. The Koch Network should be celebrating. The Republican Party , whose ideas and candidates the network has spent hundreds of millions of dollars promoting, is in total power at the federal level and in control of a majority of the nations states.
This dominance grew out of the Kochs work: They built a political operation rivaling the Republican National Committee in influence. They seeded the tea party movement in 2010, spent $400 million trying to help Republicans win the presidency in 2012, and spent tens of millions helping the GOP win and retain control of the Senate in 2014 and 2016.
But the networks officials spent much of their annual summer confab at the luxurious Broadmoor Resort warning the 500 donors in attendance all of whom have pledged at least $100,000 to the networks efforts to shape educational institutions, nonprofits and the nations political scene about the dangers of protectionism, condemning the White Houses divisive rhetoric and distancing themselves from President Donald Trump and the GOP. They promised to look for ways to work with Democrats , and announced they wouldnt support the GOP candidate in North Dakotas critical Senate race.
Theyre discovering one-party control of Washington isnt enough to help them achieve their goals, which theyve always insisted go beyond electoral politics.
The manner in which people engage public policy matters, Brian Hooks, the co-chair of the Seminar Network, the umbrella group that hosts the gatherings, told reporters. And its gone way beyond tone, way beyond tactic. The divisiveness of this White House is causing long-term damage. When in order to win on an issue, someone else has to lose, it makes it very difficult to unite people and solve the problems in this country.
In other words, the Trump administrations focus on owning the libs doesnt help pass criminal justice or immigration reform, or any of the groups other major priorities.
The shift one donor said the network is reinventing themselves comes as the libertarian-leaning Koch brothers network, long invoked in countless Democratic fundraising emails as big-spending boogeymen, is undergoing a series of changes that could sever its hand-in-hand tie with the modern GOP, or at least loosen the grip.
For one thing, theyre not the Koch brothers anymore.
In June, David Koch, the younger of the two brothers, announced he was leaving his roles at the family conglomerate, Koch Industries, and at Americans for Prosperity, one of the major Koch-funded political groups, because of health concerns. Since then, there has been just a lone Koch brother leading the network: 82-year-old Charles Koch, the man who first assembled the conservative donors more than a decade ago. The two brothers, who turned their family conglomerate into the nations second-largest privately held company, are each worth around $50 billion, according to media estimates.
The networks officials and operatives promise Davids retirement wont change much, and the older Koch made sure to boast of his strength Im not getting weak in the knees when addressing donors Saturday night on the Broadmoors magnificently manicured lawn.
And Charles, in a rare on-the-record briefing with reporters, suggested they may decrease their direct spending on politics, citing his disappointment with Republicans he has backed in the past. While the party has delivered for the Kochs with judicial appointments, massive tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks across the government, the Kochs have been disappointed with Trumps rhetoric on trade and congressional gridlock on immigration and criminal justice reform.
What I regret are some of the ones we have supported, Koch said of past candidates. Were going to be much stricter, when they say they are going to be for those principles... Were going to more directly deal with that and hold people responsible for their commitments.
If this were 2016, we likely would have gone ahead and endorsed him. But were raising the bar.
- Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips, on the groups decision not to back GOP Rep. Kevin Cramer in North Dakotas Senate race.
HuffPost and other news organizations were invited to attend the gathering after accepting ground rules set by the Koch Network, including not identifying donors unless they agree to an interview.
The biggest sign the Kochs may actually pull back from politics was their decision, announced Monday, that they wouldnt support Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) in North Dakotas Senate race because of his votes for the omnibus, the farm bill and the export-import bank all of which the Koch officials derided as corporate welfare and cronyism.
That makes it hard to support him, Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips told donors, arguing Republicans would only embrace the Kochs policy priorities if the networks support wasnt guaranteed. If this were 2016, we likely would have gone ahead and endorsed him. But were raising the bar.
The network then laid out a relatively limited political map for 2018. They say they plan to get involved in just seven contests: Floridas gubernatorial and Senate races, governors races in Michigan and Nevada, and Senate races in Wisconsin, Missouri and Tennessee. (Network officials cautioned they could get involved in more races.)
There are at least $10 million worth of reasons for Democrats to greet these proclamations with skepticism. Thats how much three Koch-affiliated groups Americans for Prosperity, the Freedom Partners Action Fund and Concerned Veterans for America have already spent attacking vulnerable Democratic senators this cycle. And the quickest way for a Democrat to earn praise from the Koch camp is to break with their party.
Koch officials repeatedly brought up their decision to attack Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) for supporting the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending package which Hooks told donors was the most fiscally irresponsible budget in the history of our country and to praise Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) for standing up to Elizabeth Warren and voting to roll back Dodd-Frank protections.
I know this is uncomfortable, Emily Seidel, a top official at Americans for Prosperity, told the collected donors on Sunday morning. Its uncomfortable for me, too.
But the attack on Barletta came in the form of a mailer, while Heitkamp received a digital ad boosting her. Those are both small investments compared to what the Kochs typically spend to help the GOP win Senate races. Not long before the digital ad praising Heitkamps vote on the Dodd-Frank rollback, the group spent more than $400,000 on television ads blasting her for voting against tax reform.
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