Fundamentally, she seems to be suggesting that it is that the brothers influence politics in order to pursue their own commercial interests. A careful reading of the book makes this clear. The more interesting question is the exact nature of Mayer’s objection to the Kochs. Her riposte is that the conservatives spend much more in the aggregate to influence the political process and they are more secretive. She also points to George Soros as an example of a billionaire who has supported many liberal causes. Mayer mentions that Barack Obama and the Clintons have received substantial financial backing from Wall Street titans. Although there is no doubt that the Kochs support conservative causes (at least if that term is misleadingly defined to include libertarianism) what about the wealthy backers of liberal movements (in the American sense)?ĭark Money addresses this objection several times but only in passing. It also outlines the numerous organisations and individuals through which the Koch brothers promote their world view.įor the non-partisan reader, the obvious question is likely to be one of double standards. It explores how the brothers moved from a position of keeping a distance from mainstream politics - in 1980, David stood as the Libertarian party candidate to be vice-president of the US - to close involvement. It outlines the family’s history including a guilt-by-association revelation that the brothers’ father Fred, the founder of the dynasty, had business links with Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union. In practice, this has meant supporting candidates who are on what could be defined as the radical right of the Republican party.ĭemonstrators in New York protested in 2014 against the Koch's Republican Party contributions © Gettyĭark Money is for those who want more detail.

In recent years, the brothers have come to play a more central role in influencing US electoral politics. Mayer dubs this network the “Kochtopus” to describe its many-tentacled approach. Indeed, in outline at least, much of it is uncontentious: the Koch brothers are fabulously wealthy (about $43bn each, according to the Forbes list of the world’s billionaires) they have long used part of their wealth to support think-tanks and they have close connections with like-minded billionaires. No doubt most if not all of what Mayer says is true.

Book dark money by jane mayer