Investigating Power
Last August, an investment arm of Koch, Inc. bought shares reflecting 16.1% of the value of the retail shopping app Ibotta, Inc., becoming the company’s largest public shareholder.
Colorado’s Democratic Governor Jared Polis vetoed a bill on May 16 that would have removed a major impediment to union organizing and representation in the state.
Charles Koch’s fleet of organizations spent a combined net total of $833 million in 2023 to influence public policy, elections, and certain charitable causes — marking its highest spending total to date.
Despite his long history of union opposition, billionaire businessman Charles Koch recently learned that you can’t build hotels and casinos on the Las Vegas Strip without triggering union membership drives.
Schimel’s record on environmental issues is clear. When he served as attorney general between 2015 and 2019, he repeatedly sided with major polluters and worked to undermine environmental protections.
In launching a $20-million campaign last month to persuade Congress to extend President Trump’s first-term Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Charles Koch’s astroturf group, Americans for Prosperity, boasted about making the largest investment of any other conservative group in support of Trump’s second-term legislative agenda.
Schimel, a Republican, previously served as Wisconsin’s attorney general from 2015–19. He has held close associations with several right-wing organizations and taken far-right positions on hot-button issues from abortion to guns, health care, and the J6 rioters who attacked the Capitol.
A constellation of donor vehicles established by Charles Koch poured $90.8 million into 127 university and college recipients in 2023 to promote his business and policy interests, a Center for Media and Democracy analysis has found.
Flint Hills Resources, a refining subsidiary of the industrial and petrochemical giant Koch, has been hit with a civil suit brought by commercial fishermen and shrimpers.
While leaders of both major parties were either celebrating their victories or mourning their losses after the November 5 elections, billionaire Charles Koch racked up a big win in Louisiana when Republican Governor Jeff Landry convened a special session of the state legislature on November 6 — the very next day — to overhaul the state’s tax system.