Billionaire Koch backs gay marriage
Posted by Joel Connelly, August 31, 2012
Billionaire conservative David Koch was a delegate to the Republican
National Convention, is spending millions to back GOP candidates, but
disagrees with his party and presidential nominee on same-sex marriage.
“I believe in gay marriage,” Koch told Ken Vogel of Politico outside a reception in Tampa.
Asked about nominee Mitt Romney’s opposition to marriage equality, Koch replied: “Well, I disagree with that.”
Romney spent much of the Republican primary season trying to appease the religious right on same-sex marriage. He backed the embattled Defense of Marriage Act, said he would support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution defining marriage as between a man and a woman, and appoint like-minded federal judges.
(Two federal courts have ruled against the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which denies spousal and survivor benefits to same-sex partners, and allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in neighboring states.)
The Republicans’ platform contains an endorsement of the Defense of Marriage Act, and defines “marriage as a union of one man and one woman.”
Koch and his brother Charles are expected to channel as much as $400 million into anti-Obama and pro-Republican advertising during the fall campaign. They are behind one of the major “SuperPACs” — Americans for Prosperity — that has been hitting the airwaves for months.
Asked if money is playing too great a role in politics, David Koch replied: “Well, it’s a free society and people can invest what they want..”
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“I believe in gay marriage,” Koch told Ken Vogel of Politico outside a reception in Tampa.
Asked about nominee Mitt Romney’s opposition to marriage equality, Koch replied: “Well, I disagree with that.”
Romney spent much of the Republican primary season trying to appease the religious right on same-sex marriage. He backed the embattled Defense of Marriage Act, said he would support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution defining marriage as between a man and a woman, and appoint like-minded federal judges.
(Two federal courts have ruled against the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which denies spousal and survivor benefits to same-sex partners, and allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in neighboring states.)
The Republicans’ platform contains an endorsement of the Defense of Marriage Act, and defines “marriage as a union of one man and one woman.”
Koch and his brother Charles are expected to channel as much as $400 million into anti-Obama and pro-Republican advertising during the fall campaign. They are behind one of the major “SuperPACs” — Americans for Prosperity — that has been hitting the airwaves for months.
Asked if money is playing too great a role in politics, David Koch replied: “Well, it’s a free society and people can invest what they want..”
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