The Kochs are already seeing a return on their $900 million investment in the 2016 presidential election. This weekend at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, the Kochs got the GOP to support one of their longstanding demands: lifting the the crude oil export ban.
Lifting the crude oil export ban has been been a key priority of the Kochs. More than thirty years ago, David Koch bought a spot as the vice presidential candidate on a long-shot Libertarian Party ticket. The genesis of the Koch takeover of the libertarian party has its roots in opposition to federal energy policy– such as the repeal of the crude oil export ban. According to a fundraising letter for the Libertarian Party penned by Charles Koch, he attacked President Ford for enacting the oil export ban in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975, calling it “One of many demonstrations of the bankruptcy of the Republican alternative to Democratic interventionism.”
In the Kochs’ shadow primary, the crop of GOP presidential contestants are jumping through hoops to win the financial backing of the Koch electorate. The Kochs have confirmed that they are hedging their bets by picking a couple of their top picks for president in 2016. Americans for Prosperity, the Kochs’ political arm, placed the repeal of the ban at the top of their 2015 wish list. So it’s not surprising that most of the GOP field has already called for an end to the ban, including Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum, and Chris Christie — especially since the Kochs have already admitted their endorsement will likely go to whoever can best cater to Koch priorities.
The competition is on! Who can convince the Kochs that they will overturn the export ban first?