A Reporter at Large

Covert Operations

The billionaire brothers who are waging a war = against=20 Obama.

by Jane=20 Mayer August 30, 2010

Text Size:: Small=20 Text; Medium=20 Text; Large=20 Text

David H. Koch in 1996. He and his brother Charles are = lifelong=20 libertarians and have quietly given more than a hundred million dollars = to=20 right-wing causes.

Keywords: Charles=20 Koch;; David=20 Koch;; Koch=20 Industries;; Lib= ertarians;; Tea=20 Party Movement;; Rich=20 People;; Envi= ronment

On May 17th, a black-tie audience at the = Metropolitan Opera=20 House applauded as a tall, jovial-looking billionaire took the stage. It = was the=20 seventieth annual spring gala of American Ballet Theatre, and David H. = Koch was=20 being celebrated for his generosity as a member of the board of = trustees; he had=20 recently donated $2.5 million toward the company=92s upcoming season, = and had=20 given many millions before that. Koch received an award while flanked by = two of=20 the gala=92s co-chairs, Blaine Trump, in a peach-colored gown, and = Caroline=20 Kennedy Schlossberg, in emerald green. Kennedy=92s mother, Jacqueline = Kennedy=20 Onassis, had been a patron of the ballet and, coincidentally, the = previous owner=20 of a Fifth Avenue apartment that Koch had bought, in 1995, and then = sold, eleven=20 years later, for thirty-two million dollars, having found it too small. =

The gala marked the social ascent of Koch, who, at the age of = seventy, has=20 become one of the city=92s most prominent philanthropists. In 2008, he = donated a=20 hundred million dollars to modernize Lincoln Center=92s New York State = Theatre=20 building, which now bears his name. He has given twenty million to the = American=20 Museum of Natural History, whose dinosaur wing is named for him. This = spring,=20 after noticing the decrepit state of the fountains outside the = Metropolitan=20 Museum of Art, Koch pledged at least ten million dollars for their = renovation.=20 He is a trustee of the museum, perhaps the most coveted social prize in = the=20 city, and serves on the board of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, = where,=20 after he donated more than forty million dollars, an endowed chair and a = research center were named for him.

One dignitary was conspicuously absent from the gala: the event=92s = third=20 honorary co-chair, Michelle Obama. Her office said that a scheduling = conflict=20 had prevented her from attending. Yet had the First Lady shared the = stage with=20 Koch it might have created an awkward tableau. In Washington, Koch is = best known=20 as part of a family that has repeatedly funded stealth attacks on the = federal=20 government, and on the Obama Administration in particular.

With his brother Charles, who is seventy-four, David Koch owns = virtually all=20 of Koch Industries, a conglomerate, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, = whose=20 annual revenues are estimated to be a hundred billion dollars. The = company has=20 grown spectacularly since their father, Fred, died, in 1967, and the = brothers=20 took charge. The Kochs operate oil refineries in Alaska, Texas, and = Minnesota,=20 and control some four thousand miles of pipeline. Koch Industries owns = Brawny=20 paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Stainmaster carpet, = and Lycra,=20 among other products. Forbes ranks it as the second-largest = private=20 company in the country, after Cargill, and its consistent profitability = has made=20 David and Charles Koch=97who, years ago, bought out two other = brothers=97among the=20 richest men in America. Their combined fortune of thirty-five billion = dollars is=20 exceeded only by those of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower = personal=20 and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much = less=20 oversight of industry=97especially environmental regulation. These views = dovetail=20 with the brothers=92 corporate interests. In a study released this = spring, the=20 University of Massachusetts at Amherst=92s Political Economy Research = Institute=20 named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United = States. And=20 Greenpeace issued a report identifying the company as a =93kingpin of = climate=20 science denial.=94 The report showed that, from 2005 to 2008, the Kochs = vastly=20 outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation = related=20 to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think = tanks, and=20 political front groups. Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition = campaigns=20 against so many Obama Administration policies=97from health-care reform = to the=20 economic-stimulus program=97that, in political circles, their = ideological network=20 is known as the Kochtopus.

In a statement, Koch Industries said that the Greenpeace report = =93distorts the=20 environmental record of our companies.=94 And David Koch, in a recent, = admiring=20 article about him in New York, protested that the =93radical = press=94 had=20 turned his family into =93whipping boys,=94 and had exaggerated its = influence on=20 American politics. But Charles Lewis, the founder of the Center for = Public=20 Integrity, a nonpartisan watchdog group, said, =93The Kochs are on a = whole=20 different level. There=92s no one else who has spent this much money. = The sheer=20 dimension of it is what sets them apart. They have a pattern of = lawbreaking,=20 political manipulation, and obfuscation. I=92ve been in Washington since = Watergate, and I=92ve never seen anything like it. They are the Standard = Oil of=20 our times.=94

A few weeks after the Lincoln Center gala, the = advocacy wing=20 of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation=97an organization that David = Koch=20 started, in 2004=97held a different kind of gathering. Over the July 4th = weekend,=20 a summit called Texas Defending the American Dream took place in a = chilly hotel=20 ballroom in Austin. Though Koch freely promotes his philanthropic = ventures, he=20 did not attend the summit, and his name was not in evidence. And on this = occasion the audience was roused not by a dance performance but by a = series of=20 speakers denouncing President Barack Obama. Peggy Venable, the organizer = of the=20 summit, warned that Administration officials =93have a socialist vision = for this=20 country.=94

Five hundred people attended the summit, which served, in part, as a = training=20 session for Tea Party activists in Texas. An advertisement cast the = event as a=20 populist uprising against vested corporate power. =93Today, the voices = of average=20 Americans are being drowned out by lobbyists and special interests,=94 = it said.=20 =93But you can do something about it.=94 The pitch made no mention of = its corporate=20 funders. The White House has expressed frustration that such sponsors = have=20 largely eluded public notice. David Axelrod, Obama=92s senior adviser, = said, =93What=20 they don=92t say is that, in part, this is a grassroots citizens=92 = movement brought=20 to you by a bunch of oil billionaires.=94

In April, 2009, Melissa Cohlmia, a company spokesperson, denied that = the=20 Kochs had direct links to the Tea Party, saying that Americans for = Prosperity is=20 =93an independent organization and Koch companies do not in any way = direct their=20 activities.=94 Later, she issued a statement: =93No funding has been = provided by=20 Koch companies, the Koch foundations, or Charles Koch or David Koch = specifically=20 to support the tea parties.=94 David Koch told New York, = =93I=92ve never been=20 to a tea-party event. No one representing the tea party has ever even = approached=20 me.=94

At the lectern in Austin, however, Venable=97a longtime political = operative who=20 draws a salary from Americans for Prosperity, and who has worked for = Koch-funded=20 political groups since 1994=97spoke less warily. =93We love what the Tea = Parties are=20 doing, because that=92s how we=92re going to take back America!=94 she = declared, as=20 the crowd cheered. In a subsequent interview, she described herself as = an early=20 member of the movement, joking, =93I was part of the Tea Party before it = was=20 cool!=94 She explained that the role of Americans for Prosperity was to = help=20 =93educate=94 Tea Party activists on policy details, and to give them = =93next-step=20 training=94 after their rallies, so that their political energy could be = channelled =93more effectively.=94 And she noted that Americans for = Prosperity had=20 provided Tea Party activists with lists of elected officials to target. = She said=20 of the Kochs, =93They=92re certainly our people. David=92s the chairman = of our board.=20 I=92ve certainly met with them, and I=92m very appreciative of what they = do.=94

Venable honored several Tea Party =93citizen leaders=94 at the = summit. The Texas=20 branch of Americans for Prosperity gave its Blogger of the Year Award to = a young=20 woman named Sibyl West. On June 14th, West, writing on her site, = described Obama=20 as the =93cokehead in chief.=94 In an online thread, West speculated = that the=20 President was exhibiting symptoms of =93demonic possession (aka = schizophrenia,=20 etc.).=94 The summit featured several paid speakers, including Janine = Turner, the=20 actress best known for her role on the television series =93Northern = Exposure.=94=20 She declared, =93They don=92t want our children to know about their = rights. They=20 don=92t want our children to know about a God!=94

During a catered lunch, Venable introduced Ted Cruz, a former = solicitor=20 general of Texas, who told the crowd that Obama was =93the most radical = President=20 ever to occupy the Oval Office,=94 and had hidden from voters a secret = agenda=97=93the=20 government taking over our economy and our lives.=94 Countering Obama, = Cruz=20 proclaimed, was =93the epic fight of our generation!=94 As the crowd = rose to its=20 feet and cheered, he quoted the defiant words of a Texan at the Alamo: = =93Victory,=20 or death!=94

Americans for Prosperity has worked closely with the Tea Party since = the=20 movement=92s inception. In the weeks before the first Tax Day protests, = in April,=20 2009, Americans for Prosperity hosted a Web site offering supporters = =93Tea Party=20 Talking Points.=94 The Arizona branch urged people to send tea bags to = Obama; the=20 Missouri branch urged members to sign up for =93Taxpayer Tea Party = Registration=94=20 and provided directions to nine protests. The group continues to stoke = the=20 rebellion. The North Carolina branch recently launched a =93Tea Party = Finder=94 Web=20 site, advertised as =93a hub for all the Tea Parties in North = Carolina.=94

The anti-government fervor infusing the 2010 elections represents a = political=20 triumph for the Kochs. By giving money to =93educate,=94 fund, and = organize Tea=20 Party protesters, they have helped turn their private agenda into a mass = movement. Bruce Bartlett, a conservative economist and a historian, who = once=20 worked at the National Center for Policy Analysis, a Dallas-based think = tank=20 that the Kochs fund, said, =93The problem with the whole libertarian = movement is=20 that it=92s been all chiefs and no Indians. There haven=92t been any = actual people,=20 like voters, who give a crap about it. So the problem for the Kochs has = been=20 trying to create a movement.=94 With the emergence of the Tea Party, he = said,=20 =93everyone suddenly sees that for the first time there are Indians out=20 there=97people who can provide real ideological power.=94 The Kochs, he = said, are=20 =93trying to shape and control and channel the populist uprising into = their own=20 policies.=94

A Republican campaign consultant who has done research on behalf of = Charles=20 and David Koch said of the Tea Party, =93The Koch brothers gave the = money that=20 founded it. It=92s like they put the seeds in the ground. Then the = rainstorm=20 comes, and the frogs come out of the mud=97and they=92re our = candidates!=94

The Kochs and their political operatives declined requests for = interviews.=20 Instead, a prominent New York public-relations executive who is close = with the=20 Kochs put forward two friends: George Pataki, the former governor of New = York,=20 and Mortimer Zuckerman, the publisher and real-estate magnate. Pataki, a = Republican who received campaign donations from David Koch, called him = =93a=20 patriot who cares deeply about his country.=94 Zuckerman praised = David=92s =93gentle=20 decency=94 and the =93range of his public interests.=94

The Republican campaign consultant said of the family=92s political = activities,=20 =93To call them under the radar is an understatement. They are = underground!=94=20 Another former Koch adviser said, =93They=92re smart. This right-wing, = redneck stuff=20 works for them. They see this as a way to get things done without = getting dirty=20 themselves.=94 Rob Stein, a Democratic political strategist who has = studied the=20 conservative movement=92s finances, said that the Kochs are =93at the = epicenter of=20 the anti-Obama movement. But it=92s not just about Obama. They would = have done the=20 same to Hillary Clinton. They did the same with Bill Clinton. They are = out to=20 destroy progressivism.=94

Oddly enough, the fiercely capitalist Koch family = owes part=20 of its fortune to Joseph Stalin. Fred Koch was the son of a Dutch = printer who=20 settled in Texas and ran a weekly newspaper. Fred attended M.I.T., where = he=20 earned a degree in chemical engineering. In 1927, he invented a more = efficient=20 process for converting oil into gasoline, but, according to family lore, = America=92s major oil companies regarded him as a threat and shut him = out of the=20 industry. Unable to succeed at home, Koch found work in the Soviet = Union. In the=20 nineteen-thirties, his company trained Bolshevik engineers and helped = Stalin=92s=20 regime set up fifteen modern oil refineries. Over time, however, Stalin = brutally=20 purged several of Koch=92s Soviet colleagues. Koch was deeply affected = by the=20 experience, and regretted his collaboration. He returned to the U.S. In = the=20 headquarters of his company, Rock Island Oil & Refining, in Wichita, = he kept=20 photographs aimed at proving that some of those Soviet refineries had = been=20 destroyed in the Second World War. Gus diZerega, a former friend of = Charles=20 Koch, recalled, =93As the Soviets became a stronger military power, Fred = felt a=20 certain amount of guilt at having helped build them up. I think it = bothered him=20 a lot.=94

In 1958, Fred Koch became one of the original members of the John = Birch=20 Society, the arch-conservative group known, in part, for a highly = skeptical view=20 of governance and for spreading fears of a Communist takeover. Members=20 considered President Dwight D. Eisenhower to be a Communist agent. In a=20 self-published broadside, Koch claimed that =93the Communists have = infiltrated=20 both the Democrat and Republican Parties.=94 He wrote admiringly of = Benito=20 Mussolini=92s suppression of Communists in Italy, and disparagingly of = the=20 American civil-rights movement. =93The colored man looms large in the = Communist=20 plan to take over America,=94 he warned. Welfare was a secret plot to = attract=20 rural blacks to cities, where they would foment =93a vicious race = war.=94 In a 1963=20 speech that prefigures the Tea Party=92s talk of a secret socialist = plot, Koch=20 predicted that Communists would =93infiltrate the highest offices of = government in=20 the U.S. until the President is a Communist, unknown to the rest of = us.=94

Koch married Mary Robinson, the daughter of a Missouri physician, and = they=20 had four sons: Freddie, Charles, and twins, David and William. John = Damgard, the=20 president of the Futures Industry Association, was David=92s schoolmate = and=20 friend. He recalled that Fred Koch was =93a real John Wayne type.=94 = Koch emphasized=20 rugged pursuits, taking his sons big-game hunting in Africa, and = requiring them=20 to do farm labor at the family ranch. The Kochs lived in a stone mansion = on a=20 large compound across from Wichita=92s country club; in the summer, the = boys could=20 hear their friends splashing in the pool, but they were not allowed to = join=20 them. =93By instilling a work ethic in me at an early age, my father did = me a big=20 favor, although it didn=92t seem like a favor back then,=94 Charles has = written. =93By=20 the time I was eight, he made sure work occupied most of my spare = time.=94 David=20 Koch recalled that his father also indoctrinated the boys politically. = =93He was=20 constantly speaking to us children about what was wrong with = government,=94 he=20 told Brian Doherty, an editor of the libertarian magazine Reason, = and the=20 author of =93Radicals for Capitalism,=94 a 2007 history of the = libertarian movement.=20 =93It=92s something I grew up with=97a fundamental point of view that = big government=20 was bad, and imposition of government controls on our lives and economic = fortunes was not good.=94

David attended Deerfield Academy, in Massachusetts, and Charles was = sent to=20 military school. Charles, David, and William all earned engineering = degrees at=20 their father=92s alma mater, M.I.T., and later joined the family = company. Charles=20 eventually assumed control, with David as his deputy; William=92s career = at the=20 company was less successful. Freddie went to Harvard and studied = playwriting at=20 the Yale School of Drama. His father reportedly disapproved of him, and = punished=20 him financially. (Freddie, through a spokesperson, denied this.)

In 1967, after Fred Koch died, of a heart attack, Charles renamed the = business Koch Industries, in honor of his father. Fred Koch=92s will = made his sons=20 extraordinarily wealthy. David Koch joked about his good fortune in a = 2003=20 speech to alumni at Deerfield, where, after pledging twenty-five million = dollars, he was made the school=92s sole =93lifetime trustee.=94 He = said, =93You might=20 ask: How does David Koch happen to have the wealth to be so generous? = Well, let=20 me tell you a story. It all started when I was a little boy. One day, my = father=20 gave me an apple. I soon sold it for five dollars and bought two apples = and sold=20 them for ten. Then I bought four apples and sold them for twenty. Well, = this=20 went on day after day, week after week, month after month, year after = year,=20 until my father died and left me three hundred million dollars!=94

David and Charles had absorbed their father=92s conservative = politics, but they=20 did not share all his views, according to diZerega, who befriended = Charles in=20 the mid-sixties, after meeting him while browsing in a John Birch = Society=20 bookstore in Wichita. Charles eventually invited him to the Kochs=92 = mansion, to=20 participate in an informal political-discussion group. =93It was pretty = clear that=20 Charles thought some of the Birch Society was bullshit,=94 diZerega = recalled.

DiZerega, who has lost touch with Charles, eventually abandoned = right-wing=20 views, and became a political-science professor. He credits Charles with = opening=20 his mind to political philosophy, which set him on the path to academia; = Charles=20 is one of three people to whom he dedicated his first book. But diZerega = believes that the Koch brothers have followed a wayward intellectual = trajectory,=20 transferring their father=92s paranoia about Soviet Communism to a = distrust of the=20 U.S. government, and seeing its expansion, beginning with the New Deal, = as a=20 tyrannical threat to freedom. In an essay, posted on Beliefnet, diZerega = writes,=20 =93As state socialism failed . . . the target for many within these = organizations=20 shifted to any kind of regulation at all. =91Socialism=92 kept being = defined=20 downwards.=94

Members of the John Birch Society developed an interest in a school = of=20 Austrian economists who promoted free-market ideals. Charles and David = Koch were=20 particularly influenced by the work of Friedrich von Hayek, the author = of =93The=20 Road to Serfdom=94 (1944), which argued that centralized government = planning led,=20 inexorably, to totalitarianism. Hayek=92s belief in unfettered = capitalism has=20 proved inspirational to many conservatives, and to anti-Soviet = dissidents;=20 lately, Tea Party supporters have championed his work. In June, the = talk-radio=20 host Glenn Beck, who has supported the Tea Party rebellion, promoted = =93The Road=20 to Serfdom=94 on his show; the paperback soon became a No. 1 best-seller = on=20 Amazon. (Beck appears to be a fan of the Kochs; in the midst of a recent = on-air=20 parody of Al Gore, Beck said, without explanation, =93I want to thank = Charles Koch=20 for this information.=94 Beck declined to elaborate on the = relationship.)

Charles and David also became devotees of a more radical thinker, = Robert=20 LeFevre, who favored the abolition of the state but didn=92t like the = label=20 =93anarchist=94; he called himself an =93autarchist.=94 LeFevre liked to = say that=20 =93government is a disease masquerading as its own cure.=94 In 1956, he = opened an=20 institution called the Freedom School, in Colorado Springs. Brian = Doherty, of=20 Reason, told me that =93LeFevre was an anarchist figure who won = Charles=92s=20 heart,=94 and that the school was =93a tiny world of people who thought = the New Deal=20 was a horrible mistake.=94 According to diZerega, Charles supported the = school=20 financially, and even gave him money to take classes there.

Throughout the seventies, Charles and David continued to build Koch=20 Industries. In 1980, William, with assistance from Freddie, attempted to = take=20 over the company from Charles, who, they felt, had assumed autocratic = control.=20 In retaliation, the company=92s board, which answered to Charles, fired = William.=20 (=93Charles runs it all with an iron hand,=94 Bruce Bartlett, the = economist, told=20 me.) Lawsuits were filed, with William and Freddie on one side and = Charles and=20 David on the other. In 1983, Charles and David bought out their = brothers=92 share=20 in the company for nearly a billion dollars. But the antagonism = remained, and=20 litigation continued for seventeen more years, with the brothers hiring = rival=20 private investigators; in 1990, they walked past one another with stony=20 expressions at their mother=92s funeral. Eventually, Freddie moved to = Monaco,=20 which has no income tax. He bought historic estates in France, Austria, = and=20 elsewhere, filling them with art, antiques, opera scores, and literary=20 manuscripts. William founded his own energy company, Oxbow, and turned = to=20 yachting; he spent an estimated sixty-five million dollars to win the = America=92s=20 Cup, in 1992.

With Charles as the undisputed chairman and C.E.O., Koch Industries = expanded=20 rapidly. Roger Altman, who heads the investment-banking firm Evercore, = told me=20 that the company=92s performance has been =93beyond phenomenal.=94 = Charles remained in=20 Wichita, with his wife and two children, guarding his privacy while = supporting=20 community charities. David moved to New York City, where he is an = executive=20 vice-president of the company and the C.E.O. of its Chemical Technology = Group. A=20 financial expert who knows Koch Industries well told me, =93Charles = is the=20 company. Charles runs it.=94 David, described by associates as = =93affable=94 and =93a=20 bit of a lunk,=94 enjoyed for years the life of a wealthy bachelor. He = rented a=20 yacht in the South of France and bought a waterfront home in = Southampton, where=20 he threw parties that the Web site New York Social Diary likened to an = =93East=20 Coast version of Hugh Hefner=92s soir=E9es.=94 In 1996, he married Julia = Flesher, a=20 fashion assistant. They live in a nine-thousand-square-foot duplex at = 740 Park=20 Avenue, with their three children. Though David=92s manner is more = cosmopolitan,=20 and more genial, than that of Charles, Brian Doherty, who has = interviewed both=20 brothers, couldn=92t think of a single issue on which the brothers = disagreed.

As their fortunes grew, Charles and David Koch became the primary=20 underwriters of hard-line libertarian politics in America. Charles=92s = goal, as=20 Doherty described it, was to tear the government =93out at the root.=94 = The=20 brothers=92 first major public step came in 1979, when Charles persuaded = David,=20 then thirty-nine, to run for public office. They had become supporters = of the=20 Libertarian Party, and were backing its Presidential candidate, Ed = Clark, who=20 was running against Ronald Reagan from the right. Frustrated by the = legal limits=20 on campaign donations, they contrived to place David on the ticket, in = the=20 Vice-Presidential slot; upon becoming a candidate, he could lavish as = much of=20 his personal fortune as he wished on the campaign. The ticket=92s slogan = was =93The=20 Libertarian Party has only one source of funds: You.=94 In fact, its = primary=20 source of funds was David Koch, who spent more than two million dollars = on the=20 effort.

Many of the ideas propounded in the 1980 campaign presaged the Tea = Party=20 movement. Ed Clark told The Nation that libertarians were getting = ready=20 to stage =93a very big tea party,=94 because people were =93sick to = death=94 of taxes.=20 The Libertarian Party platform called for the abolition of the F.B.I. = and the=20 C.I.A., as well as of federal regulatory agencies, such as the = Securities and=20 Exchange Commission and the Department of Energy. The Party wanted to = end Social=20 Security, minimum-wage laws, gun control, and all personal and corporate = income=20 taxes; it proposed the legalization of prostitution, recreational drugs, = and=20 suicide. Government should be reduced to only one function: the = protection of=20 individual rights. William F. Buckley, Jr., a more traditional = conservative,=20 called the movement =93Anarcho-Totalitarianism.=94

That November, the Libertarian ticket received only one per cent of = the vote.=20 The brothers realized that their brand of politics didn=92t sell at the = ballot=20 box. Charles Koch became openly scornful of conventional politics. =93It = tends to=20 be a nasty, corrupting business,=94 he told a reporter at the time. = =93I=92m=20 interested in advancing libertarian ideas.=94 According to Doherty=92s = book, the=20 Kochs came to regard elected politicians as merely =93actors playing out = a=20 script.=94 A longtime confidant of the Kochs told Doherty that the = brothers wanted=20 to =93supply the themes and words for the scripts.=94 In order to alter = the=20 direction of America, they had to =93influence the areas where policy = ideas=20 percolate from: academia and think tanks.=94

After the 1980 election, Charles and David Koch = receded from=20 the public arena. But they poured more than a hundred million dollars = into=20 dozens of seemingly independent organizations. Tax records indicate that = in 2008=20 the three main Koch family foundations gave money to thirty-four = political and=20 policy organizations, three of which they founded, and several of which = they=20 direct. The Kochs and their company have given additional millions to = political=20 campaigns, advocacy groups, and lobbyists. The family=92s subterranean = financial=20 role has fuelled suspicion on the left; Lee Fang, of the liberal blog=20 ThinkProgress, has called the Kochs =93the billionaires behind the = hate.=94

Only the Kochs know precisely how much they have spent on politics. = Public=20 tax records show that between 1998 and 2008 the Charles G. Koch = Charitable=20 Foundation spent more than forty-eight million dollars. The Claude R. = Lambe=20 Charitable Foundation, which is controlled by Charles Koch and his wife, = along=20 with two company employees and an accountant, spent more than = twenty-eight=20 million. The David H. Koch Charitable Foundation spent more than a = hundred and=20 twenty million. Meanwhile, since 1998 Koch Industries has spent more = than fifty=20 million dollars on lobbying. Separately, the company=92s = political-action=20 committee, KochPAC, has donated some = eight million=20 dollars to political campaigns, more than eighty per cent of it to = Republicans.=20 So far in 2010, Koch Industries leads all other energy companies in = political=20 contributions, as it has since 2006. In addition, during the past dozen = years=20 the Kochs and other family members have personally spent more than two = million=20 dollars on political contributions. In the second quarter of 2010, David = Koch=20 was the biggest individual contributor to the Republican Governors = Association,=20 with a million-dollar donation. Other gifts by the Kochs may be = untraceable;=20 federal tax law permits anonymous personal donations to politically = active=20 nonprofit groups.

In recent decades, members of several industrial dynasties have spent = parts=20 of their fortunes on a conservative agenda. In the nineteen-eighties, = the Olin=20 family, which owns a chemicals-and-manufacturing conglomerate, became = known for=20 funding right-leaning thinking in academia, particularly in law schools. = And=20 during the nineties Richard Mellon Scaife, a descendant of Andrew = Mellon, spent=20 millions attempting to discredit President Bill Clinton. Ari Rabin-Havt, = a=20 vice-president at the Democratic-leaning Web site Media Matters, said = that the=20 Kochs=92 effort is unusual, in its marshalling of corporate and personal = funds:=20 =93Their role, in terms of financial commitments, is staggering.=94

Of course, Democrats give money, too. Their most prominent donor, the = financier George Soros, runs a foundation, the Open Society Institute, = that has=20 spent as much as a hundred million dollars a year in America. Soros has = also=20 made generous private contributions to various Democratic campaigns, = including=20 Obama=92s. But Michael Vachon, his spokesman, argued that Soros=92s = giving is=20 transparent, and that =93none of his contributions are in the service of = his own=20 economic interests.=94 The Kochs have given millions of dollars to = nonprofit=20 groups that criticize environmental regulation and support lower taxes = for=20 industry. Gus diZerega, the former friend, suggested that the Kochs=92 = youthful=20 idealism about libertarianism had largely devolved into a rationale for=20 corporate self-interest. He said of Charles, =93Perhaps he has confused = making=20 money with freedom.=94

Some critics have suggested that the Kochs=92 approach has subverted = the=20 purpose of tax-exempt giving. By law, charitable foundations must = conduct=20 exclusively nonpartisan activities that promote the public welfare. A = 2004=20 report by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, a watchdog = group,=20 described the Kochs=92 foundations as being self-serving, concluding, = =93These=20 foundations give money to nonprofit organizations that do research and = advocacy=20 on issues that impact the profit margin of Koch Industries.=94

The Kochs have gone well beyond their immediate self-interest, = however,=20 funding organizations that aim to push the country in a libertarian = direction.=20 Among the institutions that they have subsidized are the Institute for = Justice,=20 which files lawsuits opposing state and federal regulations; the = Institute for=20 Humane Studies, which underwrites libertarian academics; and the Bill of = Rights=20 Institute, which promotes a conservative slant on the Constitution. Many = of the=20 organizations funded by the Kochs employ specialists who write position = papers=20 that are subsequently quoted by politicians and pundits. David Koch has=20 acknowledged that the family exerts tight ideological control. =93If = we=92re going=20 to give a lot of money, we=92ll make darn sure they spend it in a way = that goes=20 along with our intent,=94 he told Doherty. =93And if they make a wrong = turn and=20 start doing things we don=92t agree with, we withdraw funding.=94

The Kochs=92 subsidization of a pro-corporate = movement=20 fulfills, in many ways, the vision laid out in a secret 1971 memo that = Lewis=20 Powell, then a Virginia attorney, wrote two months before he was = nominated to=20 the Supreme Court. The antiwar movement had turned its anger on defense=20 contractors, such as Dow Chemical, and Ralph Nader was leading a = public-interest=20 crusade against corporations. Powell, writing a report for the U.S. = Chamber of=20 Commerce, urged American companies to fight back. The greatest threat to = free=20 enterprise, he warned, was not Communism or the New Left but, rather,=20 =93respectable elements of society=94=97intellectuals, journalists, and = scientists. To=20 defeat them, he wrote, business leaders needed to wage a long-term, = unified=20 campaign to change public opinion.

Charles Koch seems to have approached both business and politics with = the=20 deliberation of an engineer. =93To bring about social change,=94 he told = Doherty,=20 requires =93a strategy=94 that is =93vertically and horizontally = integrated,=94 spanning=20 =93from idea creation to policy development to education to grassroots=20 organizations to lobbying to litigation to political action.=94 The = project, he=20 admitted, was extremely ambitious. =93We have a radical philosophy,=94 = he said.

In 1977, the Kochs provided the funds to launch the nation=92s first=20 libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute. According to the Center for = Public=20 Integrity, between 1986 and 1993 the Koch family gave eleven million = dollars to=20 the institute. Today, Cato has more than a hundred full-time employees, = and its=20 experts and policy papers are widely quoted and respected by the = mainstream=20 media. It describes itself as nonpartisan, and its scholars have at = times been=20 critical of both parties. But it has consistently pushed for corporate = tax cuts,=20 reductions in social services, and laissez-faire environmental policies. =

When President Obama, in a 2008 speech, described the science on = global=20 warming as =93beyond dispute,=94 the Cato Institute took out a full-page = ad in the=20 Times to contradict him. Cato=92s resident scholars have = relentlessly=20 criticized political attempts to stop global warming as expensive, = ineffective,=20 and unnecessary. Ed Crane, the Cato Institute=92s founder and president, = told me=20 that =93global-warming theories give the government more control of the=20 economy.=94

Cato scholars have been particularly energetic in promoting the = Climategate=20 scandal. Last year, private e-mails of climate scientists at the = University of=20 East Anglia, in England, were mysteriously leaked, and their exchanges = appeared=20 to suggest a willingness to falsify data in order to buttress the idea = that=20 global warming is real. In the two weeks after the e-mails went public, = one Cato=20 scholar gave more than twenty media interviews trumpeting the alleged = scandal.=20 But five independent inquiries have since exonerated the researchers, = and=20 nothing was found in their e-mails or data to discredit the scientific = consensus=20 on global warming.

Nevertheless, the controversy succeeded in spreading skepticism about = climate=20 change. Even though the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration = recently=20 issued a report concluding that the evidence for global warming is = unequivocal,=20 more Americans are convinced than at any time since 1997 that scientists = have=20 exaggerated the seriousness of global warming. The Kochs promote this = statistic=20 on their company=92s Web site but do not mention the role that their = funding has=20 played in fostering such doubt.

In a 2002 memo, the Republican political consultant Frank Luntz wrote = that so=20 long as =93voters believe there is no consensus about global warming = within the=20 scientific community=94 the status quo would prevail. The key for = opponents of=20 environmental reform, he said, was to question the science=97a = public-relations=20 strategy that the tobacco industry used effectively for years to = forestall=20 regulation. The Kochs have funded many sources of environmental = skepticism, such=20 as the Heritage Foundation, which has argued that =93scientific facts = gathered in=20 the past 10 years do not support the notion of catastrophic human-made = warming.=94=20 The brothers have given money to more obscure groups, too, such as the=20 Independent Women=92s Forum, which opposes the presentation of global = warming as a=20 scientific fact in American public schools. Until 2008, the group was = run by=20 Nancy Pfotenhauer, a former lobbyist for Koch Industries. Mary Beth = Jarvis, a=20 vice-president of a Koch subsidiary, is on the group=92s board.

Naomi Oreskes, a professor of history and science studies at the = University=20 of California, San Diego, is the co-author of =93Merchants of Doubt,=94 = a new book=20 that chronicles various attempts by American industry to manipulate = public=20 opinion on science. She noted that the Kochs, as the heads of =93a = company with=20 refineries and pipelines,=94 have =93a lot at stake.=94 She added, =93If = the answer is=20 to phase out fossil fuels, a different group of people are going to be = making=20 money, so we shouldn=92t be surprised that they=92re fighting tooth and = nail.=94

David Koch told New York that he was unconvinced that global = warming=20 has been caused by human activity. Even if it has been, he said, the = heating of=20 the planet will be beneficial, resulting in longer growing seasons in = the=20 Northern Hemisphere. =93The Earth will be able to support enormously = more people=20 because far greater land area will be available to produce food,=94 he = said.

In the mid-eighties, the Kochs provided millions of = dollars=20 to George Mason University, in Arlington, Virginia, to set up another = think=20 tank. Now known as the Mercatus Center, it promotes itself as =93the = world=92s=20 premier university source for market-oriented ideas=97bridging the gap = between=20 academic ideas and real-world problems.=94 Financial records show that = the Koch=20 family foundations have contributed more than thirty million dollars to = George=20 Mason, much of which has gone to the Mercatus Center, a nonprofit = organization.=20 =93It=92s ground zero for deregulation policy in Washington,=94 Rob = Stein, the=20 Democratic strategist, said. It is an unusual arrangement. =93George = Mason is a=20 public university, and receives public funds,=94 Stein noted. = =93Virginia is hosting=20 an institution that the Kochs practically control.=94

The founder of the Mercatus Center is Richard Fink, formerly an = economist.=20 Fink heads Koch Industries=92 lobbying operation in Washington. In = addition, he is=20 the president of the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, the = president of the=20 Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, a director of the Fred C. and = Mary R.=20 Koch Foundation, and a director and co-founder, with David Koch, of the=20 Americans for Prosperity Foundation.

Fink, with his many titles, has become the central nervous system of = the=20 Kochtopus. He appears to have supplanted Ed Crane, the head of the Cato=20 Institute, as the brothers=92 main political lieutenant. Though David = remains on=20 the board at Cato, Charles Koch has fallen out with Crane. Associates = suggested=20 to me that Crane had been insufficiently respectful of Charles=92s = management=20 philosophy, which he distilled into a book called =93The Science of = Success,=94 and=20 trademarked under the name Market-Based Management, or M.B.M. In the = book,=20 Charles recommends instilling a company=92s corporate culture with the=20 competitiveness of the marketplace. Koch describes M.B.M. as a = =93holistic system=94=20 containing =93five dimensions: vision, virtue and talents, knowledge = processes,=20 decision rights and incentives.=94 A top Cato Institute official told me = that=20 Charles =93thinks he=92s a genius. He=92s the emperor, and he=92s = convinced he=92s wearing=20 clothes.=94 Fink, by contrast, has been far more embracing of = Charles=92s ideas.=20 (Fink, like the Kochs, declined to be interviewed.)

At a 1995 conference for philanthropists, Fink adopted the language = of=20 economics when speaking about the Mercatus Center=92s purpose. He said = that=20 grant-makers should use think tanks and political-action groups to = convert=20 intellectual raw materials into policy =93products.=94

The Wall Street Journal has called the Mercatus Center =93the = most=20 important think tank you=92ve never heard of,=94 and noted that fourteen = of the=20 twenty-three regulations that President George W. Bush placed on a = =93hit list=94=20 had been suggested first by Mercatus scholars. Fink told the paper that = the=20 Kochs have =93other means of fighting [their] battles,=94 and that the = Mercatus=20 Center does not actively promote the company=92s private interests. But = Thomas=20 McGarity, a law professor at the University of Texas, who specializes in = environmental issues, told me that =93Koch has been constantly in = trouble with the=20 E.P.A., and Mercatus has constantly hammered on the agency.=94 An = environmental=20 lawyer who has clashed with the Mercatus Center called it =93a means of = laundering=20 economic aims.=94 The lawyer explained the strategy: =93You take = corporate money and=20 give it to a neutral-sounding think tank,=94 which =93hires people with = pedigrees=20 and academic degrees who put out credible-seeming studies. But they all = coincide=20 perfectly with the economic interests of their funders.=94

In 1997, for instance, the E.P.A. moved to reduce surface ozone, a = form of=20 pollution caused, in part, by emissions from oil refineries. Susan = Dudley, an=20 economist who became a top official at the Mercatus Center, criticized = the=20 proposed rule. The E.P.A., she argued, had not taken into account that = smog-free=20 skies would result in more cases of skin cancer. She projected that if = pollution=20 were controlled it would cause up to eleven thousand additional cases of = skin=20 cancer each year.

In 1999, the District of Columbia Circuit Court took up Dudley=92s = smog=20 argument. Evaluating the E.P.A. rule, the court found that the E.P.A. = had=20 =93explicitly disregarded=94 the =93possible health benefits of = ozone.=94 In another=20 part of the opinion, the court ruled, 2-1, that the E.P.A. had = overstepped its=20 authority in calibrating standards for ozone emissions. As the = Constitutional=20 Accountability Center, a think tank, revealed, the judges in the = majority had=20 previously attended legal junkets, on a Montana ranch, that were = arranged by the=20 Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment=97a group = funded by Koch=20 family foundations. The judges have claimed that the ruling was = unaffected by=20 their attendance.

=93Ideas don=92t happen on their own,=94 Matt = Kibbe, the president=20 of FreedomWorks, a Tea Party advocacy group, told me. =93Throughout = history, ideas=20 need patrons.=94 The Koch brothers, after helping to create Cato and = Mercatus,=20 concluded that think tanks alone were not enough to effect change. They = needed a=20 mechanism to deliver those ideas to the street, and to attract the = public=92s=20 support. In 1984, David Koch and Richard Fink created yet another = organization,=20 and Kibbe joined them. The group, Citizens for a Sound Economy, seemed = like a=20 grassroots movement, but according to the Center for Public Integrity it = was=20 sponsored principally by the Kochs, who provided $7.9 million between = 1986 and=20 1993. Its mission, Kibbe said, =93was to take these heavy ideas and = translate them=20 for mass America. . . . We read the same literature Obama did about = nonviolent=20 revolutions=97Saul Alinsky, Gandhi, Martin Luther King. We studied the = idea of the=20 Boston Tea Party as an example of nonviolent social change. We learned = we needed=20 boots on the ground to sell ideas, not candidates.=94 Within a few = years, the=20 group had mobilized fifty paid field workers, in twenty-six states, to = rally=20 voters behind the Kochs=92 agenda. David and Charles, according to one=20 participant, were =93very controlling, very top down. You can=92t build = an=20 organization with them. They run it.=94

Around this time, the brothers faced a political crisis. In 1989, the = Senate=20 Select Committee on Indian Affairs investigated their business and = released a=20 scathing report accusing Koch Oil of =93a widespread and sophisticated = scheme to=20 steal crude oil from Indians and others through fraudulent = mismeasuring.=94 The=20 Kochs admitted that they had improperly taken thirty-one million = dollars=92 worth=20 of crude oil, but said that it had been accidental. Charles Koch told = committee=20 investigators that oil measurement is =93a very uncertain art.=94

To defend its reputation, Koch Industries hired Robert Strauss, then = a=20 premier Washington lobbyist; the company soon opened an office in the = city. A=20 grand jury was convened to investigate the allegations, but it = eventually=20 disbanded, without issuing criminal charges. According to the Senate = report,=20 after the committee hearings Koch operatives delved into the personal = lives of=20 committee staffers, even questioning an ex-wife. Senate investigators = were upset=20 by the Kochs=92 tactics. Kenneth Ballen, the counsel to the Senate = committee,=20 said, =93These people have amassed such unaccountable power!=94

By 1993, when Bill Clinton became President, Citizens for a Sound = Economy had=20 become a prototype for the kind of corporate-backed opposition campaigns = that=20 have proliferated during the Obama era. The group waged a successful = assault on=20 Clinton=92s proposed B.T.U. tax on energy, for instance, running = advertisements,=20 staging media events, and targeting opponents. And it mobilized anti-tax = rallies=20 outside the Capitol=97rallies that NPR described as =93designed to = strike fear into=20 the hearts of wavering Democrats.=94 Dan Glickman, a former Democratic = congressman=20 from Wichita, who supported the B.T.U. tax, recalled, =93I=92d been in = Congress=20 eighteen years. The Kochs actually engaged against me and funded my = opponent.=20 They used a lot of resources and effort=97their employees, too.=94 = Glickman suffered=20 a surprise defeat. =93I can=92t prove it, but I think I was probably = their victim,=94=20 he said.

The Kochs continued to disperse their money, creating slippery = organizations=20 with generic-sounding names, and this made it difficult to ascertain the = extent=20 of their influence in Washington. In 1990, Citizens for a Sound Economy = created=20 a spinoff group, Citizens for the Environment, which called acid rain = and other=20 environmental problems =93myths.=94 When the Pittsburgh = Post-Gazette=20 investigated the matter, it discovered that the spinoff group had =93no = citizen=20 membership of its own.=94

In 1997, another Senate investigation began looking into what a = minority=20 report called =93an audacious plan to pour millions of dollars in = contributions=20 into Republican campaigns nationwide without disclosing the amount or = source,=94=20 in order to evade campaign-finance laws. A shell corporation, Triad = Management,=20 had paid more than three million dollars for attack ads in twenty-six = House=20 races and three Senate races. More than half of the advertising money = came from=20 an obscure nonprofit group, the Economic Education Trust. The Senate = committee=92s=20 minority report suggested that =93the trust was financed in whole or in = part by=20 Charles and David Koch of Wichita, Kansas.=94 The brothers were = suspected of=20 having secretly paid for the attack ads, most of which aired in states = where=20 Koch Industries did business. In Kansas, where Triad Management was = especially=20 active, the funds may have played a decisive role in four of six federal = races.=20 The Kochs, when asked by reporters if they had given the money, refused = to=20 comment. In 1998, however, the Wall Street Journal confirmed that = a=20 consultant on the Kochs=92 payroll had been involved in the scheme. = Charles Lewis,=20 of the Center for Public Integrity, described the scandal as = =93historic. Triad=20 was the first time a major corporation used a cutout=94=97a front = operation=97=93in a=20 threatening way. Koch Industries was the poster child of a company run = amok.=94=20

During the Clinton Administration, the energy = industry faced=20 increased scrutiny and regulation. In the mid-nineties, the Justice = Department=20 filed two lawsuits against Koch Industries, claiming that it was = responsible for=20 more than three hundred oil spills, which had released an estimated = three=20 million gallons of oil into lakes and rivers. The penalty was = potentially as=20 high as two hundred and fourteen million dollars. In a = settlement, Koch=20 Industries paid a record thirty-million-dollar civil fine, and agreed to = spend=20 five million dollars on environmental projects.

In 1999, a jury found Koch Industries guilty of negligence and malice = in the=20 deaths of two Texas teen-agers in an explosion that resulted from a = leaky=20 underground butane pipeline. (In 2001, the company paid an undisclosed=20 settlement.) And in the final months of the Clinton Presidency the = Justice=20 Department levelled a ninety-seven-count indictment against the company, = for=20 covering up the discharge of ninety-one tons of benzene, a carcinogen, = from its=20 refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas. The company was liable for three = hundred and=20 fifty million dollars in fines, and four Koch employees faced up to = thirty-five=20 years in prison. The Koch Petroleum Group eventually pleaded guilty to = one=20 criminal charge of covering up environmental violations, including the=20 falsification of documents, and paid a twenty-million-dollar fine. David = Uhlmann, a career prosecutor who, at the time, headed the = environmental-crimes=20 section at the Justice Department, described the suit as =93one of the = most=20 significant cases ever brought under the Clean Air Act.=94 He added,=20 =93Environmental crimes are almost always motivated by economics and = arrogance,=20 and in the Koch case there was a healthy dose of both.=94

During the 2000 election campaign, Koch Industries spent some nine = hundred=20 thousand dollars to support the candidacies of George W. Bush and other=20 Republicans. During the Bush years, Koch Industries and other = fossil-fuel=20 companies enjoyed remarkable prosperity. The 2005 energy bill, which = Hillary=20 Clinton dubbed the Dick Cheney Lobbyist Energy Bill, offered enormous = subsidies=20 and tax breaks for energy companies. The Kochs have cast themselves as = deficit=20 hawks, but, according to a study by Media Matters, their companies have=20 benefitted from nearly a hundred million dollars in government contracts = since=20 2000.

In 2004, Citizens for a Sound Economy was accused of illegitimately = throwing=20 its weight behind Bush=92s re=EBlection. The group=92s Oregon branch had = attempted to=20 get Ralph Nader on the Presidential ballot, in order to dilute = Democratic=20 support for John Kerry. Critics argued that it was illegal for a = tax-exempt=20 nonprofit organization to donate its services for partisan political = purposes.=20 (A complaint was filed with the Federal Election Commission; it was=20 dismissed.)

That year, internal rivalries at Citizens for a Sound Economy caused = the=20 organization to split apart. David Koch and Fink started a new group, = Americans=20 for Prosperity, and they hired Tim Phillips to run it. Phillips was a = political=20 veteran who had worked with Ralph Reed, the evangelical leader and = Republican=20 activist, co-founding Century Strategies, a campaign-consulting company = that=20 became notorious for its ties to the disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.=20 Phillips=92s online biography describes him as an expert in = =93grasstops=94 and=20 =93grassroots=94 political organizing. The Kochs=92 choice of Phillips = signalled an=20 even greater toughness. The conservative operative Grover Norquist, who = is known=20 for praising =93throat slitters=94 in politics, called Phillips =93a = grownup who can=20 make things happen.=94

Last year, Phillips told the Financial Times that Americans = for=20 Prosperity had only eight thousand registered members. Currently, its = Web site=20 claims that the group has =931.2 million activists.=94 Whatever its = size, the Kochs=92=20 political involvement has been intense; a former employee of the Cato = Institute=20 told me that Americans for Prosperity =93was micromanaged by the = Kochs.=94 And the=20 brothers=92 investment may well have paid off: Americans for Prosperity, = in=20 concert with the family=92s other organizations, has been instrumental = in=20 disrupting the Obama Presidency.

In January, 2008, Charles Koch wrote in his company newsletter that = America=20 could be on the verge of =93the greatest loss of liberty and prosperity = since the=20 1930s.=94 That October, Americans for Prosperity held a conference of = conservative=20 operatives at a Marriott hotel outside Washington. Erick Erickson, the=20 editor-in-chief of the conservative blog RedState.com, took the lectern, = thanked=20 David Koch, and vowed to =93unite and fight . . . the armies of the = left!=94 Soon=20 after Obama assumed office, Americans for Prosperity launched = =93Porkulus=94 rallies=20 against Obama=92s stimulus-spending measures. Then the Mercatus Center = released a=20 report claiming that stimulus funds had been directed disproportionately = toward=20 Democratic districts; eventually, the author was forced to correct the = report,=20 but not before Rush Limbaugh, citing the paper, had labelled Obama=92s = program =93a=20 slush fund,=94 and Fox News and other conservative outlets had echoed = the=20 sentiment. (Phil Kerpen, the vice-president for policy at Americans for=20 Prosperity, is a contributor to the Fox News Web site. Another officer = at=20 Americans for Prosperity, Walter Williams, often guest-hosts for = Limbaugh.)

Americans for Prosperity also created an offshoot, Patients United = Now, which=20 organized what Phillips has estimated to be more than three hundred = rallies=20 against health-care reform. At one rally, an effigy of a Democratic = congressman=20 was hung; at another, protesters unfurled a banner depicting corpses = from=20 Dachau. The group also helped organize the =93Kill the Bill=94 protests = outside the=20 Capitol, in March, where Democratic supporters of health-care reform = alleged=20 that they were spat on and cursed at. Phillips was a featured speaker. =

Americans for Prosperity has held at least eighty events targeting=20 cap-and-trade legislation, which is aimed at making industries pay for = the air=20 pollution that they create. Speakers for the group claimed, with = exaggeration,=20 that even back-yard barbecues and kitchen stoves would be taxed. The = group was=20 also involved in the attacks on Obama=92s =93green jobs=94 czar, Van = Jones, and waged=20 a crusade against international climate talks. Casting his group as a = champion=20 of ordinary workers who would be hurt by environmentalists, Phillips = went to=20 Copenhagen last year and staged a protest outside the United Nations = conference=20 on climate change, declaring, =93We=92re a grassroots organization. . . = . I think=20 it=92s unfortunate when wealthy children of wealthy families . . . want = to send=20 unemployment rates in the United States up to twenty per cent.=94

Grover Norquist, who holds a weekly meeting for conservative leaders = in=20 Washington, including representatives from Americans for Prosperity, = told me=20 that last summer=92s raucous rallies were pivotal in undermining = Obama=92s agenda.=20 The Republican leadership in Congress, he said, =93couldn=92t have done = it without=20 August, when people went out on the streets. It discouraged=20 deal-makers=94=97Republicans who might otherwise have worked = constructively with=20 Obama. Moreover, the appearance of growing public opposition to Obama = affected=20 corporate donors on K Street. =93K Street is a three-billion-dollar = weathervane,=94=20 Norquist said. =93When Obama was strong, the Chamber of Commerce said, = =91We can=20 work with the Obama Administration.=92 But that changed when thousands = of people=20 went into the street and =91terrorized=92 congressmen. August is what = changed it.=20 Now that Obama is weak, people are getting tough.=94

As the first anniversary of Obama=92s election approached, David Koch = came to=20 the Washington area to attend a triumphant Americans for Prosperity = gathering.=20 Obama=92s poll numbers were falling fast. Not a single Republican = senator was=20 working with the Administration on health care, or much else. Pundits = were=20 writing about Obama=92s political ineptitude, and Tea Party groups were = accusing=20 the President of initiating =93a government takeover.=94 In a speech, = Koch said,=20 =93Days like today bring to reality the vision of our board of directors = when we=20 started this organization, five years ago.=94 He went on, =93We = envisioned a mass=20 movement, a state-based one, but national in scope, of hundreds of = thousands of=20 American citizens from all walks of life standing up and fighting for = the=20 economic freedoms that made our nation the most prosperous society in = history. .=20 . . Thankfully, the stirrings from California to Virginia, and from = Texas to=20 Michigan, show that more and more of our fellow-citizens are beginning = to see=20 the same truths as we do.=94

While Koch didn=92t explicitly embrace the Tea Party movement that = day, more=20 recently he has come close to doing so, praising it for demonstrating = the=20 =93powerful visceral hostility in the body politic against the massive = increase in=20 government power, the massive efforts to socialize this country.=94 = Charles Koch,=20 in a newsletter sent to his seventy thousand employees, compared the = Obama=20 Administration to the regime of the Venezuelan strongman Hugo Ch=E1vez. = The Kochs=92=20 sense of imperilment is somewhat puzzling. Income inequality in America = is=20 greater than it has been since the nineteen-twenties, and since the = seventies=20 the tax rates of the wealthiest have fallen more than those of the = middle class.=20 Yet the brothers=92 message has evidently resonated with voters: a = recent poll=20 found that fifty-five per cent of Americans agreed that Obama is a=20 socialist.

Americans for Prosperity, meanwhile, has announced that it will spend = an=20 additional forty-five million dollars before the midterm elections, in = November.=20 Although the group is legally prohibited from directly endorsing = candidates, it=20 nonetheless plans to target some fifty House races and half a dozen = Senate=20 races, staging rallies, organizing door-to-door canvassing, and running = ads=20 aimed at =93educating voters about where candidates stand.=94

Though the Kochs have slowed Obama=92s momentum, their larger = political battle=20 is far from won. Richard Fink, interviewed by FrumForum.com this spring, = said,=20 =93If you look at where we=92ve gone from the year 2000 to now, with the = expansion=20 of government spending and a debt burden that threatens to bankrupt the = country,=20 it doesn=92t look very good at all.=94 He went on, =93It looks like the = infrastructure=20 that was built and nurtured has not carried the day.=94 He suggested = that the=20 Kochs needed =93to get more into the practical, day-to-day issues of=20 governing.=94

In 1991, David Koch was badly injured in a plane = crash in Los=20 Angeles. He was the sole passenger in first class to survive. As he was=20 recovering, a routine physical exam led to the discovery of prostate = cancer.=20 Koch received treatment, settled down, started a family, and = reconsidered his=20 life. As he told Portfolio, =93When you=92re the only one who = survived in the=20 front of the plane and everyone else died=97yeah, you think, =91My God, = the good=20 Lord spared me for some greater purpose.=92 My joke is that I=92ve been = busy ever=20 since, doing all the good work I can think of, so He can have confidence = in=20 me.=94

Koch began giving spectacularly large donations to the arts and = sciences. And=20 he became a patron of cancer research, focussing on prostate cancer. In = addition=20 to his gifts to Sloan-Kettering, he gave fifteen million dollars to New=20 York-Presbyterian Hospital, a hundred and twenty-five million to M.I.T. = for=20 cancer research, twenty million to Johns Hopkins University, and = twenty-five=20 million to the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston. In response to = his=20 generosity, Sloan-Kettering gave Koch its Excellence in Corporate = Leadership=20 Award. In 2004, President Bush named him to the National Cancer Advisory = Board,=20 which guides the National Cancer Institute.

Koch=92s corporate and political roles, however, may pose conflicts = of=20 interest. For example, at the same time that David Koch has been casting = himself=20 as a champion in the fight against cancer, Koch Industries has been = lobbying to=20 prevent the E.P.A. from classifying formaldehyde, which the company = produces in=20 great quantities, as a =93known carcinogen=94 in humans.

Scientists have long known that formaldehyde causes cancer in rats, = and=20 several major scientific studies have concluded that formaldehyde causes = cancer=20 in human beings=97including one published last year by the National = Cancer=20 Institute, on whose advisory board Koch sits. The study tracked = twenty-five=20 thousand patients for an average of forty years; subjects exposed to = higher=20 amounts of formaldehyde had significantly higher rates of leukemia. = These=20 results helped lead an expert panel within the National Institutes of = Health to=20 conclude that formaldehyde should be categorized as a known carcinogen, = and be=20 strictly controlled by the government. Corporations have resisted = regulations on=20 formaldehyde for decades, however, and Koch Industries has been a large = funder=20 of members of Congress who have stymied the E.P.A., requiring it to = defer new=20 regulations until more studies are completed.

Koch Industries became a major producer of the chemical in 2005, = after it=20 bought Georgia-Pacific, the paper and wood-products company, for = twenty-one=20 billion dollars. Georgia-Pacific manufactures formaldehyde in its = chemical=20 division, and uses it to produce various wood products, such as plywood = and=20 laminates. Its annual production capacity for formaldehyde is 2.2 = billion=20 pounds. Last December, Traylor Champion, Georgia-Pacific=92s = vice-president of=20 environmental affairs, sent a formal letter of protest to federal health = authorities. He wrote that the company =93strongly disagrees=94 with the = N.I.H.=20 panel=92s conclusion that formaldehyde should be treated as a known = human=20 carcinogen. David Koch did not recuse himself from the National Cancer = Advisory=20 Board, or divest himself of company stock, while his company was = directly=20 lobbying the government to keep formaldehyde on the market. (A board=20 spokesperson said that the issue of formaldehyde had not come up.)

James Huff, an associate director at the National Institute for = Environmental=20 Health Sciences, a division of the N.I.H., told me that it was = =93disgusting=94 for=20 Koch to be serving on the National Cancer Advisory Board: =93It=92s just = not good=20 for public health. Vested interests should not be on the board.=94 He = went on,=20 =93Those boards are very important. They=92re very influential as to = whether N.C.I.=20 goes into formaldehyde or not. Billions of dollars are involved in=20 formaldehyde.=94

Harold Varmus, the director of the National Cancer Institute, knows = David=20 Koch from Memorial Sloan-Kettering, which he used to run. He said that, = at=20 Sloan-Kettering, =93a lot of people who gave to us had large business = interests.=20 The one thing we wouldn=92t tolerate in our board members is tobacco.=94 = When told=20 of Koch Industries=92 stance on formaldehyde, Varmus said that he was = =93surprised.=94=20

The David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins, at the = Smithsonian=92s=20 National Museum of Natural History, is a multimedia exploration of the = theory=20 that mankind evolved in response to climate change. At the main = entrance,=20 viewers are confronted with a giant graph charting the Earth=92s = temperature over=20 the past ten million years, which notes that it is far cooler now than = it was=20 ten thousand years ago. Overhead, the text reads, =93HUMANS=20 EVOLVED IN RESPONSE TO A CHANGING WORLD.=94 The message, as = amplified by=20 the exhibit=92s Web site, is that =93key human adaptations evolved in = response to=20 environmental instability.=94 Only at the end of the exhibit, under the = headline=20 =93OUR SURVIVAL CHALLENGE,=94 is it noted = that levels=20 of carbon dioxide are higher now than they have ever been, and that they = are=20 projected to increase dramatically in the next century. No cause is = given for=20 this development; no mention is made of any possible role played by = fossil=20 fuels. The exhibit makes it seem part of a natural continuum. The = accompanying=20 text says, =93During the period in which humans evolved, Earth=92s = temperature and=20 the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere fluctuated together.=94 = An=20 interactive game in the exhibit suggests that humans will continue to = adapt to=20 climate change in the future. People may build =93underground cities,=94 = developing=20 =93short, compact bodies=94 or =93curved spines,=94 so that =93moving = around in tight=20 spaces will be no problem.=94

Such ideas uncannily echo the Koch message. The company=92s January = newsletter=20 to employees, for instance, argues that =93fluctuations in the earth=92s = climate=20 predate humanity,=94 and concludes, =93Since we can=92t control Mother = Nature, let=92s=20 figure out how to get along with her changes.=94 Joseph Romm, a = physicist who runs=20 the Web site ClimateProgress.org, is infuriated by the Smithsonian=92s=20 presentation. =93The whole exhibit whitewashes the modern climate = issue,=94 he said.=20 =93I think the Kochs wanted to be seen as some sort of high-minded = company,=20 associated with the greatest natural-history and science museum in the = country.=20 But the truth is, the exhibit is underwritten by big-time polluters, who = are=20 underground funders of action to stop efforts to deal with this threat = to=20 humanity. I think the Smithsonian should have drawn the line.=94

Cristi=E1n Samper, the museum=92s director, said that the exhibit is = not about=20 climate change, and described Koch as =93one of the best donors we=92ve = had, in my=20 tenure here, because he=92s very interested in the content, but = completely hands=20 off.=94 He noted, =93I don=92t know all the details of his involvement = in other=20 issues.=94

The Kochs have long depended on the public=92s not knowing all the = details=20 about them. They have been content to operate what David Koch has called = =93the=20 largest company that you=92ve never heard of.=94 But with the growing = prominence of=20 the Tea Party, and with increased awareness of the Kochs=92 ties to the = movement,=20 the brothers may find it harder to deflect scrutiny. Recently, President = Obama=20 took aim at the Kochs=92 political network. Speaking at a Democratic = National=20 Committee fund-raiser, in Austin, he warned supporters that the Supreme = Court=92s=20 recent ruling in the Citizens United case=97which struck down laws = prohibiting=20 direct corporate spending on campaigns=97had made it even easier for big = companies=20 to hide behind =93groups with harmless-sounding names like Americans for = Prosperity.=94 Obama said, =93They don=92t have to say who, exactly, = Americans for=20 Prosperity are. You don=92t know if it=92s a foreign-controlled = corporation=94=97or=20 even, he added, =93a big oil company.=94 ♦

PHOTOGRAPH: RICHARD SCHULMAN/CORBIS

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