Thursday, February 9, 2012

The Koch Connection Behind Rick Santorum

NYT has an important piece on Foster Freiss and his role in the recent primary wins by Rick Santorum. NYT reports:
Many more Republicans are taking Mr. Santorum seriously now, thanks to his victories in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado on Tuesday — and perhaps none more than Mr. Romney, for whom Mr. Santorum’s unexpected rise poses another threat from the right.

Few people played a more pivotal role in Tuesday’s turn of events than Mr. Friess. An investor who made millions in mutual funds and now lives in Wyoming, he is the chief backer of a “super PAC” that has helped keep Mr. Santorum’s candidacy alive by running television advertisements on his behalf...

Mr. Friess’s chosen outlet, called the Red, White and Blue Fund, provided critical support for Mr. Santorum as he successfully sought to resuscitate his campaign with victories in Tuesday’s contests. At a time when Mr. Santorum could not afford to pay for a single commercial of his own, the Red, White and Blue Fund focused in particular on Minnesota, where the super PAC supporting Mr. Romney, Restore Our Future, broadcast a last-minute blitz of advertising against him, according to an analysis from Kantar Media/CMAG.

But Mr. Friess’s help could prove even more vital in the weeks ahead, as Mr. Santorum tries to capitalize on his upset victories on Tuesday to mount a more assertive challenge to Mr. Romney and to Newt Gingrich, who has an even more deep-pocketed supporter in the billionaire casino executive Sheldon Adelson, one of the richest men in country.
So who is Foster Freiss? According to his web site:.in 1974, Foster and his wife Lynn launched Friess Associates, a money management firm. The firm’s flagship was the Brandywine Fund.

Freiss eventually sold out for $247 million and now maintains only a 10% stake in the firm.

A year ago, he made a $3 million  investment in the Daily Caller to help get that news site, led by a senior fellow of the Koch-funded Cato Institute, Tucker Carlson, off the ground.

He was acknowledged at the privately held Koch seminar in June 2011 in Vail, Colorado for donating at least $1 million to Koch-related causes.

3 comments:

  1. So the First Amendment... is working, correct?

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  2. I'm shocked!! Shocked, I tell you!

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  3. Giving juice to Sanitorium takes momentum away from RomneyCare and brings Ron Paul more opportunity and support...let the slugfest continue unabated!

    ReplyDelete