Billionaire Charles Koch says he’s planning to campaign for criminal justice reform, according to news reports.
“Over the next year, we are going to be pushing the issues key to this, which need a lot of work in this country,” Koch was quoted as saying in a Dec. 26 CNN report. “And that would be freedom of speech, cronyism and how that relates to opportunities for the disadvantaged.”
Koch has a history of financially supporting Republican causes.
His chief attorney, Mark Holden, told the Wichita Eagle that the old tough-on-crime effort by lawmakers over the recent decades has disproportionately affected minorities.
“It definitely appears to have a racial angle, intended or not,” Holden said.
The newspaper said Koch’s interest in criminal justice reform started from a lengthy and expensive case defending his company, Koch Petroleum Group. The firm was charged with 97 felony violations of environmental laws in the 1990s. All but six of the charges were ultimately dropped, and the company paid a $10 million settlement, the newspaper reported.
Holden said Koch wants to address voting rights for former offenders and make it easier for nonviolent offenders to find employment once they complete their sentences.
“Koch’s comments might come as good news to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Okla.), who’s made sentencing reform a major part of his agenda while he tries to appeal to nontraditional GOP voters ahead of a likely presidential bid,” said the paper.
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey supports bail reform. Former governors Rick Perry of Texas, Jeb Bush of Florida and Mike Huckabee of Arkansas have been supportive of sentencing reform for nonviolent drug offenders.
