The new super PAC is an evolution for billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch. | AP Photos Kochs launch new super PAC

During a closed-door gathering of major donors in Southern California on Monday, the political operation spearheaded by the Koch brothers unveiled a significant new weapon in its rapidly expanding arsenal — a super PAC called Freedom Partners Action Fund.

The new group aims to spend more than $15 million in the 2014 midterm campaigns — part of a much larger spending effort expected to total $290 million, sources told POLITICO.,


It’s an evolution for billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch. The vast network of political nonprofit groups they helped build has mostly funneled its unprecedented political spending into issue-based campaigns that usually slam Democrats for supporting big government but seldom explicitly ask voters to support GOP candidates.

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That’s expected to change under Freedom Partners Action Fund, according to Marc Short, president of Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, an increasingly powerful force in the Koch network that will operate in association with the new super PAC.

“The Freedom Partners Action Fund will support candidates who share our vision of free markets and a free society and oppose candidates who support intrusive government policies that push the American Dream out of reach for the American people,” Short told POLITICO after a presentation to donors at the St. Regis Monarch Beach resort in Dana Point, California.

The gathering is the latest in a series of twice-annual so-called seminars that the Kochs started holding in 2003 to raise cash from wealthy donors after treating them to a series of slickly produced presentations from handpicked politicians, conservative media stars and operatives from Koch-backed groups.

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Freedom Partners, which was created in 2011, now organizes and hosts the seminars. The theme of the St. Regis seminar — “American Courage; Our commitment to a free society” — was printed on massive posters evoking an idyllic turn-of-the-century immigration motif. The posters, which depicted an immigrant family gazing in awe at the Statue of Liberty in the distance, were displayed throughout the St. Regis. A photo of one was provided upon request to POLITICO by Freedom Partners spokesman James Davis, who explained that the purpose of the seminar was “continued discussions about advancing a free society with the theme of American Courage.”

Among the dignitaries who was scheduled to address the crowd was Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), whose office declined to comment on his appearance. It was initially reported by the Daily Beast, which also first reported the $290 million overall spending goal.

Democrats are sure to seize on the new Freedom Partners super PAC as yet more fodder in their mounting campaign to caricature the brothers as evil puppeteers manipulating Republicans. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent a fundraising missive Sunday declaring the Daily Beast’s report “AWFUL NEWS” and pleading “if we can’t start closing this gap TODAY, the Koch brothers WILL buy the election for John Boehner and the GOP.”

A spokesman for Koch Industries, the Koch brothers’ privately held industrial conglomerate, referred all questions to Freedom Partners. A Koch Industries website entry posted before Freedom Partners took over responsibility for the seminars describes them as an opportunity for “America’s greatest philanthropists and most successful business leaders” to “discuss solutions to our most pressing issues and strategies to promote policies that will help grow our economy, foster free enterprise and create American jobs.”

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The events are typically held under extremely tight security and attendees are warned not to divulge the proceedings. They typically conclude with pledge sessions that have almost a revival-type feel where it’s not unusual for donors to promise six- and seven-figure checks into the political cash pool that is now administered by Freedom Partners. Since most of the groups in the network don’t disclose individual donations, the names of the donors are often kept secret.

The new super PAC, by contrast, will be obligated to disclose its donors, which makes it unique in Koch World and seems to be part of a move by Freedom Partners to introduce some transparency into the network’s activities.

Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, unlike the super PAC, is registered as a 501(c)6 trade association, a section of the Tax Code that allows groups to shield donors’ names. It initially acted as something of a bank for the Koch network, mostly writing grants to other groups to air ads or mobilize activists around small-government, free-market issues. But Freedom Partners, which doled out $236 million in grants in 2012, is playing an increasingly larger role, including airing its own ads, as the Koch network moves to centralize its political operations.

During breakout sessions Sunday at the St. Regis, Freedom Partners research director Karen Steward joined veteran Koch aide Nancy Pfotenhauer , now a senior adviser to the group, to talk about its expanded spending on energy-related issues, which is expected to include more than $13 million in spending ahead of the midterms.

The energy initiative is seen by Koch Kremlinologists as emblematic of Freedom Partners’ growth. Whereas in 2012, the group donated $1.5 million to American Energy Alliance, a nonprofit group that aired $ 3.6 million of ads attacking President Barack Obama over rising gas prices, now Freedom Partners is increasingly also taking on such campaigns itself.

AEA president Tom Pyle welcomed Freedom Partners’ expanded footprint, which he cast as important in winning an increasingly contentious debate around energy issues and greenhouse gas emissions that has drawn big-spending by deep-pocketed environmental groups and liberal donors. The retired San Francisco hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer is planning to underwrite a $ 100-million campaign to elect candidates who support aggressive efforts to combat climate change. Steyer has sought cash for his political effort from rich donors who attend secretive gatherings of the liberal Democracy Alliance club, which bears some similarities to the Koch network and its meetings.

“The fact that the Freedom Partners network has recognized this and is throwing their hat into the ring on energy and environmental issues is welcoming news,” said Pyle. “We’re pleased that they are joining the fight to promote free market energy policies that will improve the lives of millions of Americans.”

The Koch network raised $70 million at its first donor seminar of the 2014 election cycle in April 2013, as revealed in the new book, “ Big Money: 2.5 Billion Dollars, One Suspicious Vehicle, and a Pimp — on the Trail of the Ultra-Rich Hijacking American Politics.” And the Daily Beast reported that the network collected nearly $170 million in pledges at its January seminar, making $290 million a seemingly attainable goal.

The projected tally underscores the migration of power and money away from the political party committees to major donors and outside groups, generally, and the Koch network specifically. In 2012, the biggest spending party congressional campaign arm — Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — spent only $183 million.