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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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GW ranks No. 10 among colleges receiving Koch brothers cash

Not all spending by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch is funneled into mobilizing conservative voters or pushing out attack ads against Democrats.

The Koch brothers, the heirs to the nation’s second-largest private company, have injected hundreds of millions of dollars into organizations that tout free-market, libertarian values. But they’ve also poured cash into nonpolitical causes – including $12.7 million at universities across the country in 2012.

GW ranked No. 10 among the 163 universities that received Koch cash, according to a report by the Center for Public Integrity on Thursday. The University received $116,000, more than any other private college, according to 2012 tax filings.

George Mason University received the most cash overall, collecting $8.6 million for its market-oriented Mercatus Center and its personal freedom-focused Institute for Humane Studies. Every other college received less than $300,000.

The Koch brothers – still far from household names, according to a GW Battleground poll this week – boast a political network that amassed $400 million during the last election – beating out even the conservative super PAC American Crossroads.

While GW employees largely lean liberal – donating nearly $100,000 to President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012 – it also comprised the largest support for Republican nominee Mitt Romney out of any other D.C. college, a total of $25,000.

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