Conservative billionaire David Koch who helped fund climate denialism is dead. He was 79.
Here’s the New York Times to wax nostalgic on the guy:
Charles G. Koch announced the death in a statement, which provided no other details but noted that David Koch had been treated for prostate cancer in the past. “Twenty-seven years ago,” the statement said, “David was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer and given a grim prognosis of a few years to live. David liked to say that a combination of brilliant doctors, state of the art medications and his own stubbornness kept the cancer at bay.”
Hitching his star to the soaring ambitions of Charles, his older brother, David Koch (pronounced coke) became one of the world’s richest people, with assets of $42.2 billion in 2019 and a 42 percent stake in the global family enterprise, Koch Industries. He also became a nationally known philanthropist and the early public face of the Koch political ascendancy, as the Libertarian Party’s candidate for vice president in 1980.
Along with his brother Charles (who is arguably more hardline than David), the Koch Brothers have been responsible for funneling part of their massive wealth — roughly $42.2 billion as of 2019 — into movements that helped give rise to the far-right (such as the Tea Party) and industry that have played a crucial role in
Here’s a New York Times piece highlighting the Koch Brother’s efforts to get politicians elected who would essentially make it easier for fossil fuel companies to pollute as much as they see fit without any repercussion form the Federal Government.
Unshackled by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision and other related rulings, which ended corporate campaign finance restrictions, Koch Industries and Americans for Prosperity started an all-fronts campaign with television advertising, social media and cross-country events aimed at electing lawmakers who would ensure that the fossil fuel industry would not have to worry about new pollution regulations.
Their first target: unseating Democratic lawmakers such as Representatives Rick Boucher and Tom Perriello of Virginia, who had voted for the House cap-and-trade bill, and replacing them with Republicans who were seen as more in step with struggling Appalachia, and who pledged never to push climate change measures.
But Americans for Prosperity also wanted to send a message to Republicans.
And even as the Koch Brothers appeared to take up more liberal stances on social issues such as the reproductive rights of women, their businesses continued to give money to organizations whose purpose it was to take away those rights.
In the end (thankfully), the World managed to outlive the guy who tried to destroy it.
