Billionaire Koch brothers plan secret convention here

Written by Diane Bell
4:15 p.m., June 20, 2012

The political web world is abuzz with the so-called “secret” summit to be convened by oil industry billionaires Charles and David Koch in San Diego Saturday.

The brothers, who run Kansas-based Koch Industries, for the past decade have held hush-hush biannual meetings attended by like-minded tycoons to raise money for conservative causes they champion.

Charles Koch is a frequent visitor to Southern California, where he owns a vacation home in the ultraexclusive Vintage Club, a private Indian Wells country club. He and his brother tied for fourth place in Forbes’ 2012 list of the richest Americans, with fortunes pegged at $25 billion each.

Their 2012 fundraising goal, reports online Politico’s Kenneth Vogel, is to reach $395 million, or more, to be parceled out to groups aligned with their philosophy: conservative think tanks such as American Enterprise Institute, The Heritage Foundation and The Federalist Society, along with advocacy groups, including Americans for Prosperity founded by David Koch.

The guest list is a closely guarded secret, as is the meeting location, although one local past attendee indicated guests have to pony up $100,000 just to attend this year’s event, which features political VIPs and election strategists.

A meeting in Indian Wells earlier this year raised more than $150 million and one in Rancho Mirage last year raised $49 million, Vogel reports.

Billionaire Koch brothers plan secret convention here | UTSanDiego.com