This is a big weekend in Southern California for Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz and some other top Republican presidential hopefuls – they’re all going to try to gain support from the Koch brothers, two of the GOP’s top contributors.
A private gathering of the two siblings – they are beloved by conservatives but controversial and derided by Democrats – and some others among the nation’s wealthiest conservatives features appearances by five Republican presidential candidates. The meeting is being held at a luxury resort in Dana Point Saturday and Sunday.
The Freedom Partners summer meeting is being held at the St. Regis Monarch Beach resort, according to campaign officials for various candidates set to appear at the event.
The group, a free-market advocacy nonprofit founded by billionaire conservative activists Charles and David Koch, indicated that this summer meeting will feature policy discussions with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; former Florida Governor Jeb Bush; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; former Hewlett- Packard chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina; and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida.
While Freedom Partners has invited the media to view a live webcast of the event in an effort to pull back the curtain on the secretive gatherings, the organization does has not usually disclosed the locations of its meetings, nor its members or donors. Nevertheless, locations usually become known and the gatherings in the past have attracted vocal protestors usually kept physically some distance from the sites by local authorities.
This weekend’s meeting, themed “Unleashing A Free Society: Expanding Opportunity for All Americans,” will be moderated by Politico’s chief White House correspondent, Mike Allen.
He will host a 25-minute policy discussion with each of the invited presidential hopefuls, with Fiorina and Walker appearing Saturday and Bush, Cruz and Rubio on Sunday.
Cruz was also scheduled to speak at a Beverly Hills synagogue Saturday.
— City News Service