The Koch brothers have invited three potential Republican candidates for president in 2016 to participate in a forum at their annual event in Palm Springs, which is attended by hundreds of potential donors.
The American Recovery Policy Forum will feature Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, spokesman for Charles and David Koch's political group, the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce,
told Politico.
Topics of discussion will include the economy, energy, healthcare, improving the free-market brand, and outreach.
"We hope that this panel will give each participant the opportunity to lay out their vision of free markets and the role of government," said James Davis, Freedom Partners spokesman.
"Our goal in 2015 is to help inform the national debate around key domestic economic issues, and this forum is the beginning of that conversation," Davis said.
ABC News' White House correspondent, Jon Karl, will be moderating the forum with the three Republican senators. Neither the press nor the public will be able to attend the event, but a video of the forum will be released.
Publicizing the event by releasing a video may be an effort by the group to make itself more transparent and get ahead of similar liberal donor groups such as the Democracy Alliance, which has neither announced its gatherings or release videos, Politico noted.
Freedom Partners was established in 2011 to be the central group for the Koch network, taking advantage of a section of the Tax Code, which allows the names of its donors from being disclosed. However, the group created a super PAC before the November midterms, which does require that names, dates and contribution amounts be disclosed.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will also make an appearance at the event in a separate session.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.