In Wichita, Koch Name Means Giving as Well as Politics

The political controversy surrounding Charles and David Koch and their financing of conservative causes and candidates means little to many people in their home town of Wichita, Kansas, where the billionaire brothers’ economic and philanthropic impact runs deep, writes The New York Times.

Wichita-based Koch Industries employs 3,500 people, and organizations affiliated with the family or the company have donated $50-million to local and state nonprofit groups. Diverse facilities such as a habitat for orangutans and chimpanzees at the Sedgwick County Zoo and the Wichita State University basketball arena bear the Koch name.

Such community involvement generates much positive local sentiment toward the Kochs, who have become political bogeymen for national Democratic leaders and liberal groups. But some in Wichita criticize the brothers’ libertarian, limited-government activism and say their largesse is aimed at buying local goodwill.

Mark V. Holden, a senior vice president at Koch Industries, dismissed the notion of the Kochs’ giving as “protection money.” “It is not just about the business doing well,” he said. “We are trying to get involved in issues and in places, particularly in this, our home town, where we can make a difference.”