That tension rippled behind the scenes this weekend as about 400 donors met in Colorado Springs at a luxury resort encircling a man-made lake, where white swans paddled in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. Between panels extolling free speech and conservative state-policy victories, Koch and his top deputies heard out donors worried about the network’s decision to sit on the sidelines.
“I told him that it was very important that Hillary Clinton not get elected,” said Minnesota media mogul Stanley Hubbard, who said his biggest concern is how she would reshape the Supreme Court…
“A lot of donors are saying, ‘Why are we spending money on Senate candidates and not trying to beat Hillary?’ ” said one well-connected Republican familiar with the views of major-party financiers, who requested anonymity to describe private conversations.
Network officials sought to defuse some of the frustration by announcing that Koch-backed groups would feature the Democratic presidential nominee, Clinton, in Senate campaign ads, tying her policy stances to those of Democratic contenders in battlegrounds states such as Ohio.
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