firstlook | After investing a sizable fortune into building a political machine that now rivals
the size and budgets of both major political parties, the conservative
billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch are seeing some of their top
operatives take jobs with the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.
The fact that many of Trump’s political positions are at odds with those of the Koch brothers does not seem to be a factor.
Take Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager, who spent many
years of his career working for the Koch political network, first as an assistant at
the Koch-led group Citizens for a Sound Economy in 1997 and from 2008
through earlier this year as a senior staff member to the Koch’s primary
grassroots group, Americans for Prosperity. Over the last seven years,
Lewandowski helped the Koch network organize Tea Party events and get-out-the-vote efforts for Republican candidates for office.
Alan Cobb, a strategic consultant for Trump, is the former director of Kansas public affairs for Koch Industries and also worked for years as a vice president at Americans for Prosperity.
Trump is being counseled by
lawyer Donald F. McGahn, the former Federal Election Commission chair
who just months ago represented the Koch political network during
hearings with the FEC. McGahn is listed as affiliated with Freedom Partners Action Fund, the Super PAC set up by the Koch brothers and their lobbyists.
In New Hampshire, Trump’s state director is Matt Ciepielowski, the
former New Hampshire state field director for Americans for
Prosperity. As National Journal reported,
as Trump works to develop a team to win the New Hampshire primary, he
has hired multiple AFP staff, and even leased a campaign headquarters in
the same office building as AFP’s office in Manchester.
