Koch: I'm Not the Tea Party's Secret Sugar Daddy

Jane Mayer’s New Yorker piece accusing David and Charles Koch of secretly funding the Tea Party and loads of other shadowy conservative groups has created lots of buzz, but David Koch says it’s all hogwash. “If what I and my brother believe in, and advocate for, is secret, it’s the worst covert operation in history,” Koch tells the Daily Beast. Asked if he’s funding the Tea Party, he replies, “Oh, please.”

Koch notes that he doesn’t just fund conservatives; KochPAC has donated $196,000 to Democrats this cycle, and he’s personally donated $74,900 to Andrew Cuomo. But he’s especially outraged over the accusation that his spot on the National Cancer Institute board represents a “conflict of interest” because Koch Industries has lobbied to prevent formaldehyde from being labeled a carcinogen. “I can’t ignore that allegation,” says Koch, who has prostate cancer. “The money that I give for cancer research" (more than $200 million to date) "is one of the most important aspects of my life.” (More David Koch stories.)