/mlpol/ - David Koch, a billionare who has given millions to

David Koch, a billionare who has given millions to promote Fiscal conservatism and the American Republican Party, has stepped down from his business and from his political activities, allegedly because of an undisclosed illness.

>David H. Koch, the billionaire industrialist who combined his vast wealth and libertarian-tinged brand of conservatism to influence candidates and campaigns at all levels of American politics, is stepping away from his political and business interests because of declining health
>Mr. Koch’s brother, Charles, said… that David Koch’s health problems had made it impossible for him to continue working. “Unfortunately these issues have not been resolved and his health has continued to deteriorate,” the letter said. “We are deeply saddened by this.”
>The Koch family has been influential in conservative politics for generations, long before their name became synonymous with big money in the Republican Party. David Koch, in fact, was the vice-presidential nominee for the Libertarian Party in 1980. Fred Koch, the family patriarch and father of Charles and David, who founded Koch Industries, was a founding member of the far-right, anti-Communist John Birch Society.
>With millions of dollars in donations over the years, the Kochs’ contribution to today’s Republican Party has been seminal, helping to solidify doctrine that favored businesses and worked against stricter environmental regulations.
>Now, the absence of David Koch, 78, who was the more public and political of the brothers, will inevitably raise questions about whether the Kochs’ mission will shift further toward nonpolitical endeavors.
>The family’s network had already started to scale back its campaign work and focus more of its efforts on issues like criminal justice and sentencing reform as David Koch’s health worsened and he took on a smaller portfolio.
>over the last three years David Koch became a much less frequent presence in the social and political circles he once ran in at the highest levels.
>Koch Industries did not disclose the nature of his illness
>The Kochs have been a driving force behind the Republican Party’s gains over the last decade, not just at the federal level but also at the state and local level where they recognized and seized an opportunity to install conservative lawmakers while Democrats were far more focused on higher office.
>Using their powerful political group, Americans for Prosperity, they ramped up their political giving during the presidency of Barack Obama, whom Charles and David saw as seriously misguided and driven by a socialistic agenda that threatened the free-market, libertarian philosophy they espoused. The Obama administration’s approach to environmental and corporate regulation was, not incidentally, also a threat to their sprawling $100 billion-plus business, which involves everything from oil refining to manufacturing consumer products like Brawny paper towels and Stainmaster carpeting
>As the brothers’ political ambitions expanded and they created a larger coalition of Koch-affiliated groups aimed at mobilizing various constituencies — including Latinos, veterans and small-government conservatives — their network became almost a shadow political party with a sophisticated data-gathering operation and employees all over the country.

Unsurprisingly, they are opposed to Donald Trump
>The 2016 election, however, changed their outlook and caused them to dial back their political efforts. They would have preferred almost any candidate to Donald J. Trump, whom they viewed as unserious and unwedded to any principle beyond self-advancement, and worked to promote a number of his competitors for the Republican nomination, including Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin.

http://archive.is/eDhwq

/mlpol/ - My Little Politics

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