Koch is serving as a delegate to the Republican National Convention. | AP Photo Koch breaks from GOP on gay unions

TAMPA, Fla. – Billionaire industrialist David Koch, who is helping steer millions of dollars to elect Mitt Romney and congressional Republicans, on Thursday told POLITICO he disagrees with the GOP’s stance on gay marriage and believes the U.S. needs to consider raising taxes to balance the budget.

Koch, who is serving as a delegate to the Republican National Convention from New York, spoke to POLITICO after delivering brief remarks at a reception held in his honor by Americans for Prosperity, the political advocacy group he chairs and has helped fund.


The 1980 vice presidential nominee for the socially liberal — but fiscally conservative — Libertarian Party, Koch told POLITICO “I believe in gay marriage” when asked about the GOP’s stance on gay rights.

( Also on POLITICO: Ad: Some GOPers back gay marriage)

Romney opposes gay marriage, as do most Republicans, and when that was pointed out to Koch, he said “Well, I disagree with that.”

Koch said he thinks the U.S. military should withdraw from the Middle East and said the government should consider defense spending cuts, as well as possible tax increases to get its fiscal house in order — a stance anathema to many in the Republican Party.

“I think it’s essential to be able to achieve spending reductions and maybe it’s going to require some tax increases,” he said. “We got to come close to balancing the budget; otherwise, we’re in a terrible deep problem.”

As for whether military spending cuts should be on the table, Koch said, “I think to balance the budget, probably every federal department has to take cuts in my opinion. We have to spread it around.”

He stressed, though, that “I’m a big fan of the military” and said “I think we’ve got to preserve our military, no question about it. And I’m not exactly an expert on how much military we need, so I have to yield to [Mitt Romney’s opinion].

“I’m more interested in economic issues than how much military we need,” he added. “But I think we should gradually withdraw from the Middle East, you know, from Afghanistan and Iraq, so I believe in that. But I’m not an expert in that, so my opinion probably doesn’t count for very much.”

Despite a wave of scrutiny from the press and criticism from liberals up to and including President Barack Obama, Koch said Thursday he plans to continue his big-money political activism regardless of the results of the 2012 election.

“Yeah, we’re in this for the long haul, you know?” he told POLITICO when asked if he intended to continue being politically active if Romney loses the 2012 presidential race to Obama.

Koch also said he now considers himself a Republican first and foremost — rather than a Libertarian or a nonpartisan supporter of free enterprise — despite a background in Libertarian politics and some views that are out of step with the GOP orthodoxy.

“The Libertarian Party is a great concept. I love the ideals, but it got too far off the deep end, and so I dropped out,” Koch said. “I think the Republican Party has a great chance of being successful and that’s why I support it,” he said, adding “but I believe in the libertarian principles.”

After his speech in a rented office near the arena hosting the convention to about 200 activists and politicians — including Sens. Ron Johnson, Jon Kyl and John Boozman — Koch mingled and posed for photos with a stream of well-wishers.

He asked former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, now being bolstered in his Senate campaign by Americans for Prosperity ads, how the electoral landscape looked in the Badger State. And when one woman thanked him “for what you do for America,” he responded, “We’re going to try to do even more.”

Koch declined to comment on a POLITICO report that he and his older brother, Charles, plan to steer nearly $400 million ahead of the 2012 election to conservative groups, including Americans for Prosperity, which has aired millions of dollars in attack ads against Obama and his congressional allies.

He also brushed off a question about whether there’s too much money in American politics, saying, “Well, it’s a free society. And people can invest what they want.”