CHARLES KOCH
Chairman & CEO of Koch Industries (billionaire)

Name
Born
Education
Category
Affiliation
Charles de Ganahl Koch
November 1, 1935 (age 85)
M.I.T. (BS, MS, MS)
Large Donor
Republican, Far-Right
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In an op-ed, Koch said, "EPA officials have commended (Koch Industries) for our ‘commitment to a cleaner environment’ and called us a model for other companies.’" This was rated FALSE by Politifact. [1]
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In an op-ed, Koch said his political engagement began "only in the last decade". This was rated FALSE by Politifact. [1]
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Koch supported the Tea Party movement, saying "the way it's grown, the passion, and the intensity, was beyond what I had anticipated," he told an interviewer. [1]
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In a manifesto he wrote for the Libertarian Review in the 1970s, titled “The Business Community: Resisting Regulation,” Charles lays out the principles that largely gird today’s Tea Party movement. Referring to regulation as “totalitarian,” he claimed business leaders had been “hoodwinked” by the notion that regulation is “in the public interest.” He advocated the “barest possible obedience” to regulation and implored, “Do not cooperate voluntarily, instead, resist whenever and to whatever extent you legally can in the name of justice.” [1]
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"The easy way to make money is to get special political privilege. From the beginning of time, business has cozied up to government and gotten restrictions on competition and subsidies and stuff." [1]
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"Hubris, arrogance, is just one step ahead of loss of integrity, because if you think you're better than other people, you know more, then you're going to think, as many leaders have, that the rules don't apply to them - so they lose their integrity." [1]
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"Far too many businesses have been all too eager to lobby for maintaining and increasing subsidies and mandates paid by taxpayers and consumers. This growing partnership between business and government is a destructive force, undermining not just our economy and our political system, but the very foundations of culture." [1]
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"Crony capitalism is much easier than competing in an open market. But it erodes our overall standard of living and stifles entrepreneurs by rewarding the politically favored rather than those who provide what consumers want." [1]
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"The role of business is to provide products and services that make peoples lives better - while using fewer resources - and to act lawfully and with integrity." [1]
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"You pass a program and get people dependent on it, making it brutal to get rid of. The key is not letting it get started." [1]
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"Any of the social changes in American history are because people thought there was injustice. We have to show that this corporate welfare and cronyism is unjust - and that it's not only rigging the system so people get wealthy who don't deserve to get wealthy." [1]
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"Many businesses with unpopular products or inefficient production find it much easier to curry the favor of a few influential politicians or a government agency than to compete in the open market." [1]
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