Charles Koch

SACRAMENTO - California legislative leaders and 10 public employee unions announced opposition Wednesday to any sale of the Los Angeles Times and other Tribune Co. newspapers to a pair of wealthy brothers who fund conservative causes. In a letter dated Tuesday to Bruce Karsh, president of Oaktree Capital Management, the largest shareholder in Tribune Co., and chairman of its board of directors, the unions said David and Charles Koch are "anti-labor, anti-environment, anti-public education and anti-immigrant.

SACRAMENTO - California legislative leaders and 10 public employee unions announced opposition Wednesday to any sale of the Los Angeles Times and other Tribune Co. newspapers to a pair of wealthy brothers who fund conservative causes. In a letter dated Tuesday to Bruce Karsh, president of Oaktree Capital Management, the largest shareholder in Tribune Co., and chairman of its board of directors, the unions said David and Charles Koch are "anti-labor, anti-environment, anti-public education and anti-immigrant.

The Koch brothers' attempted takeover of the libertarian Cato Institute has come to an end, at least for now.  Charles and David Koch - the Kansas billionaires at the center of a network of conservative financial and intellectual influence sometimes derisively called “the Kochtopus” - have reached an agreement that changes the structure of the Cato Institute in exchange for its current chief executive, Ed Crane, stepping down. So ends one phase of a power grab that had tossed one of the most famous think tanks in Washington into confusion.

The Koch brothers' attempted takeover of the libertarian Cato Institute has come to an end, at least for now.  Charles and David Koch - the Kansas billionaires at the center of a network of conservative financial and intellectual influence sometimes derisively called “the Kochtopus” - have reached an agreement that changes the structure of the Cato Institute in exchange for its current chief executive, Ed Crane, stepping down. So ends one phase of a power grab that had tossed one of the most famous think tanks in Washington into confusion.

More than 40% of the funds behind California's proposition to limit congressional terms is coming from a secretive group in Washington that has ties to major figures in the Libertarian movement. The organization, U.S. Term Limits, has spent $678,000 in California so far, including $455,000 in the past nine days, to push Proposition 164, a measure championed by former Los Angeles County Supervisor Pete Schabarum.

Two out-of-state billionaire brothers known for their extreme anti-government views have links to the California ballot measure to limit congressional terms, even though they continue to deny they are involved in Proposition 164, The Times has learned.

California, birthplace of the modern environmental movement, remains one of the greenest of blue states, even while it struggles to cope with levels of unemployment unseen since the Depression. That makes the budding relationship between Republican senatorial candidate Carly Fiorina and billionaire industrialists David and Charles Koch all the odder. The Kochs own and run America's second-largest privately held company, Koch Industries — an amalgam of oil, gas, pipeline, chemical, fertilizer and wood products companies, including Georgia-Pacific.

The billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch no longer sit outside Washington's political establishment, isolated by their uncompromising conservatism. Instead, they are now at the center of Republican power, a change most evident in the new makeup of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Wichita-based Koch Industries and its employees formed the largest single oil and gas donor to members of the panel, ahead of giants like Exxon Mobil, contributing $279,500 to 22 of the committee's 31 Republicans, and $32,000 to five Democrats.

Rene Verdon: In the Feb. 10 LATExtra section, the obituary of Rene Verdon, who in 1961 became the first professional chef to work in the White House, included a photo caption that gave an incorrect name for the restaurant he later opened in San Francisco. It was Le Trianon, as the article noted, not La Trianon. Koch brothers: A Feb. 6 Section A article about the political influence of billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch said Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), who represents the home district of their company Koch Industries, launched an aerospace company with investment help from a Koch subsidiary.

The markets can't solve everything: Billionaire brothers and libertarian icons Charles and David Koch are taking to the courts to solve an ownership dispute involving the Cato Institute. The president of the institute, a longtime pillar of free-market thinking in Washington -- calls the move an attempt “to transform Cato from an independent, nonpartisan research organization into a political entity” with a “partisan agenda.” The oil-rich Kochs -  champions for the business-minded right and reviled by the left - have donated hundreds of millions to charitable causes but are better known for backing tea party groups and influencing battles over climate change and federal regulation.

California, birthplace of the modern environmental movement, remains one of the greenest of blue states, even while it struggles to cope with levels of unemployment unseen since the Depression. That makes the budding relationship between Republican senatorial candidate Carly Fiorina and billionaire industrialists David and Charles Koch all the odder. The Kochs own and run America's second-largest privately held company, Koch Industries — an amalgam of oil, gas, pipeline, chemical, fertilizer and wood products companies, including Georgia-Pacific.

Two out-of-state billionaire brothers known for their extreme anti-government views have links to the California ballot measure to limit congressional terms, even though they continue to deny they are involved in Proposition 164, The Times has learned.

More than 40% of the funds behind California's proposition to limit congressional terms is coming from a secretive group in Washington that has ties to major figures in the Libertarian movement. The organization, U.S. Term Limits, has spent $678,000 in California so far, including $455,000 in the past nine days, to push Proposition 164, a measure championed by former Los Angeles County Supervisor Pete Schabarum.

A top official of Koch Industries is sending letters to Capitol Hill on Wednesday urging opposition to energy legislation that would boost the use of natural gas, a proposal backed by energy billionaire T. Boone Pickens. The amiable relationship that David and Charles Koch, who own Koch Industries, once had with Pickens has soured in recent months over legislation backed by Pickens that would provide a federal subsidy for the development of vehicles fueled by natural gas. While Pickens and others in the natural gas industry favor the proposal as a way to reduce dependence on foreign oil and encourage use of cleaner burning gas, the Kochs are urging members to oppose the Pickens-backed legislation, saying they believe government subsidies distort the economy and create inefficiencies.