The Koch Brothers' super-PAC that is controlled by the donor network raised almost $11 million in the latter half of 2015, as per the Federal Election Committee documents, which brought up the total amount to a whopping $14.8 million.
The entire sum of $11 million came from a mere 20 donors. Of this amount, nearly half was contributed by founder Charles Koch and a couple of other wealthy stalwarts. According to The Hill, Charles Koch donated $3 million from his personal trust. Diane Hendricks, owner of leading roofing company in Wisconsin, made a contribution of $2 million. Another $2 million check came from billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, a staunch supporter of Senator Marco Rubio, while some more funds poured in from the DeVos family, one of the major bankrollers of Republican politicians, who gave $500,000. The Texan tycoon Darwin Deason also wrote out a check of $200,000 in favor of the network.
Additionally, as per Equilibrio Informativo, the total sum also included $10,000 from Hobby Lobby, the closely held retail store that was known for a Supreme Court challenge in 2014 to a provision in the Affordable Care Act requiring employers to include contraception for female workers in their health plans.
However, even though the super-PAC accumulated a huge fund, it did not spend as much as was expected of them. The Freedom Partners Action Fund spent only over $200,000 since June and just $260,000 in 2015. This $260,000 was mostly used for credit card fees, legal fees, bookkeeping, and grants to its counterpart, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce.
As NBC News represents, this fund seems quite insignificant when compared to the money spent by the Koch brothers - Charles and David - in 2015. The duo spent almost thirty times the current amount, which comes to a mind-boggling $400 million. This extraordinary sum of money was channelized through different groups operating under a specific tax component that does not require the donors to disclose their identities. These groups were mainly focused on supporting key constituencies, pushing volunteers towards bending the policies, shaping future political candidates, and providing financial aid to similar such groups.
The first biannual Koch donor event will be held on Sunday as the "seminar" near Palm Springs, California. It is being said that this is the biggest conference held so far, with almost 500 attendees. Of them, almost one-third will be participating in this program for the first time and will have to shell out $100,000 as the entry fee to become a member.
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