Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) was founded by Koch Industries executives David Koch and Richard Fink in 1984, and split in 2003 into Americans For Prosperity (formerly the CSE Foundation) and FreedomWorks (formerly CSE).
In addition to funds from Koch family foundations (see table below), researchers and reporters have found examples of large, undisclosed grants from Koch Industries and David Koch. This $4,978,000 sum is not included in the table below of Koch foundation spending:
- 1998: $750,000 from David Koch; $626,500 from Koch Industries. (Public Citizen, 2000)
- 2001: $1,000,000 from David Koch; $952,500 from Koch Industries (National Journal, 2013)
- CSE’s list of donors for the IRS indicates an additional $750,000 from Koch Industries, 2001
FreedomWorks is led by former U.S. Representative Dick Armey, with a mission of promoting a conservative agenda.
After its estrangement from the Koch family, Freedomworks opposed the need for climate legislation, declaring: “organizations pushing action on global warming – such as the United Nations, the environmental movement, and former Vice President Al Gore – have substantial institutional, ideological, and financial stakes in creating a restrictive new layer of global warming regulation.”
FreedomWorks participated in the echochamber around the “ClimateGate” story, a coordinated public relations effort to discredit several climate scientists.
