The Kochs' contributions to political candidates are often touted as the true indicator of what the family and their company really stand for. I'm not particularly fond of most of the politicians the Kochs have supported over the years, but it seems to me that this is precisely backwards. It's not only significant that the Kochs' contributions to actual politicians are dwarfed by gifts like the one they made to the ACLU, their spending to found and fund think tanks, and their contributions to non-political causes like the arts and medical research—this is precisely the point.
http://reason.com/blog/2011/02/25/the-koch-brothers-right-wing-c