The billionaire brothers behind Koch Industries, the Wichita, Kansas-based conglomerate that owns refining and chemical company Flint Hills Resources, have been backing conservative political causes for years behind a network of nonprofits that weren’t required to reveal their donors.
Now, Charles and David Koch have formed a super PAC that can buy ads directly for specific candidates, but the organization also has to play by a new set of rules — when Freedom Action Partners Fund filed a quarterly report with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday, it was also required to reveal its backers.
On the list of about 85 donors, about half a dozen, besides the Kochs themselves who gave $2 million each, had ties to the oil and gas industry. Among these donors, Robert Rowling, one of the richest people in the United States with a net worth of $5.4 billion, gave the most at $200,000. Rowling and his father owned Tana Oil and Gas before it was sold to Texaco in 1989 for $500 million; he now owns a hotel, resort and gym empire.
Other big givers were Edward Diefenthal, president and CEO of the Woodvine Group LLC, and Stephen Chazen, the president of Occidental Petroleum Corp. Dienfenthal gave $150,000 and Chazen gave $125,000.
Energy industry spending on the 2014 elections, $73 million, has only been half what it was in the 2012 elections, when the industry spent its highest amount ever in a single election cycle at $143 million, according to OpenSecrets. There are still a few weeks left until polls close in early November, so the spending total could still eclipse previous cycles in 2008 and 2006, when $78 million and $83 million were spent.
But Texas energy political spenders have still been active this cycle. Through a combination of super PAC contributions and individual contributions from employees, Exxon Mobil ($1.5 million), Marathon Petroleum ($1 million) and Occidental Petroluem ($600,000) gave among the most in the industry.
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