Koch brothers $1M dollar club revealed

Original Link: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/62732.html

By MACKENZIE WEINGER

The billionaire Koch brothers can count dozens of corporate executives and philanthropists among their million-dollar donor club, according to a new report that revealed the big givers.

Charles and David Koch hold retreats twice per year to court donations for their conservative and libertarian causes, and Mother Jones obtained audio recordings from the June retreat near Vail, Colorado.

At one speech at the unpublicized retreat, Charles Koch thanks a list of donors who gave more than $1 million. They include a number of CEOs, philanthropists and well-known GOP money men.

Rich DeVos, who cofounded Amway and owns the NBA’s Orlando Magic, and his wife, Helen, are conservative donors and repeat Koch retreat attendees.

The Marshall family — best known for oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall, who served on the Koch Industries board before his death and who famously married Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith when he was 89 — was also thanked during the speech.

The Kochs named hedge fund power couple Ken and Anne Dias Griffin to their $1 million club. Ken is the founder and CEO of Citadel and bundled money for President Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain in 2008, and Anne founded Aragon Global Management.

Mother Jones also reported a number of people who were thanked by Koch but whose names didn’t appear on the attendees’ list. They include:

Charles Schwab, the founder and chair of the U.S.’s largest independent brokerage firm Charles Schwab Corporation, along with a number of other corporate powerhouses such as hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer of Elliott Management.

John “Jack” Templeton, Jr. and his wife doled out enough to make it into the donor club. Templeton heads the conservative, evangelical Christian Jack Templeton Foundation started by his father, a mutual fund billionaire.

Mother Jones also names the following people who turned up on both the 2010 and 2011 retreat lists: JW Childs Associates CEO and founder John Childs; philanthropists Dean “Dino” Cortopassis and his wife Joan; president, CEO and chair of Alliance Resource Partners Joe Craft; founder and former CEO of Cintas Corporation Dick Farmer and his wife Joyce; Friess Associates founders Foster and Lynn; Vice chair of Hillwood International Energy Jerry Fullinwider and his wife Leah; coal mining company Cumberland Resources Corporation founder Richard Gilliam and his wife Leslie; and former CEO and chair emeritus of international office-interiors manufacturer Haworth Richard “Dick” Haworth and his wife Ethie.

Also mentioned: billionaire former head of ABC Supply roofing company Diane Hendricks; Chair of the board of Tamko Building Products Ethelmae Humphreys and her son David, Tamko’s CEO; Jacobs Levy equity management firm cofounder Kenneth Levy and his wife Frayda, a national director for the Kochs’ Americans for Prosperity; millionaire Republican booster Art Pope and his wife Kathy; CEO and chair of Natural Resource Partners Corbin Robertson and his wife Barbara; founder and CEO of the philanthropy group the Ariel Foundation Karen Wright and the foundation’s vice president of marketing and engineering Tom Rastin; and Services Group of America CEO Peter Smith.

The names Mother Jones includes in its second breakdown of donors - those not on the 2010 list - are: Mountaire Corporation head Ron Cameron; Continental Resources CEO Harold Hamm and his wife Sue Ann; former Peacock Engineering head Jerry Hayden and his wife Marilyn; investor Virginia James; Menards hardware company founder John Menard; and former chair of international holding company Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corporation John Moran.