From The Nation: Exclusive: Inside the Koch Brothers’ Secret Billionaire Summit | The Nation.
As you know, I call these “secret billionaire summit[s]” Neu Wannsee Conferences.
Apart from the politicians who attended the conference − the usual suspects, most of whom most of us can’t vote directly for − the Nation helpfully names a few more billionaires we can add to the don’t-buy-their-products list:
The official conference lasted two days, Sunday and Monday, but several events for top donors occurred on Saturday. According to conference documents, Representatives Tom Cotton and Jim Jordan were to join a group of top donors for a post-golf lunch discussion. A special dinner was scheduled at La Casa Pacifica—the former home of President Richard Nixon that has come to be known as “The Western White House”—with Rich DeVos, the Amway co-founder, owner of the Orlando Magic and frequent Koch collaborator. The menu offered “oven roasted Angus natural filet mignon served in a fresh green peppercorn sauce served with braised fennel with truffle, asparagus tips, vegetable and mint quinoa” among other dishes prepared by Master Chef Maurice Brazier.
La Casa Pacifica is currently owned by Gavin Herbert, the founder of the pharmaceutical company Allergan and a Republican heavyweight. Herbert is a GOP donor and former Nixon confidant, and Allergan is a major funder of the American Legislative Exchange Council, the conservative powerhouse behind model legislation that would bust unions, repeal environmental protections, require voter ID and increase access to guns and justify their use in Stand Your Ground cases.
My bolding. For a long time I’ve heard weird stories about Amway − is it a kind of pyramid scheme? − so have never bought or used their products. Allergan, though, makes contact lens cleaner (as well as Botox, which I’m happy to say I’ve never had applied). It’s been quite a while since I used Allergan and now will never use it again.