美国国家公共电台 NPR David Koch Dies; Conservative Billionaire Helped Reshape U.S. Politics

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NOEL KING, HOST:

Philanthropist and political activist¹ David Koch has died. He and his brother Charles were worth tens of billions of dollars apiece. They transformed American politics by creating a network of secretly funded organizations that attacked Democrats² and promoted conservative causes. David Koch was 79 years old. NPR's Peter Overby reports.

PETER OVERBY, BYLINE³: David Koch helped his brother Charles build Koch Industries into one of America's largest private businesses Its brands include Georgia Pacific plywood and Lycra fabric⁴. The two brothers also created the Koch political network, famous for its secret funding and fiercely negative advertising⁵ when Barack Obama was president.

(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #1: Tell President Obama American workers aren't pawns⁶ in your political games.

UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #2: Earl Pomeroy cast his vote. Tell him North Dakotans won't forget.

UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #3: Tell Mike McIntyre his policies are killing⁷ jobs. Americans for Prosperity is responsible for the content of this advertising.

OVERBY: Americans for Prosperity boosted the Tea Party movement. The Koch brothers funded AFP with money from themselves and other rich donors⁸ they recruited. Here's David Koch at a gathering⁹ in 2010, the year AFP rallied Tea Party voters to elect record numbers of Republicans to Congress.

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DAVID KOCH: Five years ago, my brother Charles and I provided the funds to start the Americans for Prosperity. And its beyond my wildest dreams how this - AFP has grown into this enormous organization.

OVERBY: Besides AFP, the Koch network had groups aimed at veterans, women, seniors and Latinos. Ostensibly non-political, the groups exploited the lack of transparency, weak enforcement by the IRS and Supreme¹⁰ Court decisions. The system was tagged dark money by its critics.

The Koch network amassed¹¹ as much clout¹² as the Republican National Committee, maybe even more - this even though David Koch was not a doctrinaire¹³ Republican. In 1980, he was the Libertarian nominee¹⁴ for vice¹⁵ president. He supported abortion¹⁶ rights and gay rights, while the network backed conservative lawmakers opposed to both. In 2014, he explained it this way to Barbara Walters of ABC News.

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KOCH: I'm very worried that if the budget is not balanced that inflation could occur and the economy of our country could suffer terribly.

OVERBY: David Koch and his three brothers grew up in Wichita, Kan., the sons of oil industry tycoon¹⁷ Fred Koch. Charles and David eventually became co-owners of Koch Industries. Charles ran the company, and David stayed involved even after he moved to New York City.

DANIEL SCHULMAN: David Koch has always been the Robin¹⁸ to Charles Koch's Batman - more or less the sidekick.

OVERBY: Daniel Schulman wrote the book "Sons Of Wichita: How The Koch Brothers Became America's Most Powerful And Private Dynasty." He said, in the network, Charles Koch was the strategist, and David Koch was the front man.

SCHULMAN: Up unto his late 40s, maybe even early 50s, he was kind of living this New York socialite, playboy lifestyle. And he loved that sort of thing.

OVERBY: But in 1991, Koch was in an airliner¹⁹ that collided with another plane on a runway. Thirty-five people died. He barely escaped. As he later told Barbara Walters...

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THIS WEEK")

KOCH: I felt that the good Lord was sitting on my shoulder.

OVERBY: The year following the crash, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He turned to philanthropy, giving mainly to causes he was familiar with - medical research, the arts and museums. In 2011, he recounted persuading his alma mater, MIT, to build a center to research prostate cancer.

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KOCH: With tears running down my face, I begged the MIT Corporation to commit to this essential project. I was treated to a standing²⁰ ovation²¹.

OVERBY: The generosity²² often had a personal touch. John Damgard and David Koch were teammates on their prep school basketball team. Decades later, Damgard needed heart surgery.

JOHN DAMGARD: David just says, I'm able to do this, so don't worry about it.

OVERBY: Damgard went to New York.

DAMGARD: I had the best surgeon. People waited years or at least months to get Carl to do the work. Carl said, you're a friend of Mr. Koch's? I said, I am. I'm a very good friend of Mr. Koch. He said, you name the time.

OVERBY: Koch left politics and Koch Industries in 2018. The explanation was unspecified health issues. His legacy²³ includes entrepreneurial success and substantial donations to charitable causes. Also, he anonymously²⁴ funded attack ads that helped to polarize American politics. Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.