Koch network pushes donors for leniency for reformed criminals
The powerful network helmed by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch is urging its donors to make their hiring practices more sympathetic to job applicants with criminal records.
Top Koch network official Mark Holden, who has been working closely with the Obama administration on criminal justice reform, on Monday sent a letter to the network’s donors asking them to consider an initiative known as “banning the box.”
{mosads}It means employers would delay asking job applicants whether they have a criminal record until later in the recruitment and interview process.
Koch Industries, the multibillion-dollar private company run by the Koch brothers, has scrapped the criminal record question entirely from its own hiring practices.
“By delaying this question, applicants are less likely to be rejected before their qualifications are considered,” Holden wrote in the letter to donors.
“We have employed this approach for many years at Koch Industries where I work as general counsel, and we removed the question from all of our applications last year.
“This has worked well for Koch Industries and has led to the hiring of individuals who are hungry, productive, and dedicated employees.”
The Koch network is viewed by many on the left as an unlikely, even suspicious, partner in criminal justice reform.
The brothers have been in many ways public enemy number one for Democrats and the Obama administration. They’ve marshaled tens of millions of dollars to oppose much of Obama’s agenda, including his signature healthcare law.
The blowback has been so hot that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has even taken to the Senate floor to describe the Koch brothers as “un-American.”
But on their criminal justice work — where they’ve found a shared goal of wanting to lower sentences for non-violent offenders and reduce the scope of the police state — Obama has singled out the Kochs for praise.
Together with the White House, the Koch network is lobbying Congress to take up bipartisan legislation that would further their criminal justice agenda.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has pledged to bring bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation to the floor in September.
Holden’s letter will be received by some of the most influential conservative business leaders in the country, including North Carolina retail magnate Art Pope and the billionaire Wisconsin roofer Diane Hendricks.
Many of the Koch donors do not reveal their identities. But asked about the scope of their businesses, Koch network spokesman James Davis replied, “Nearly 2 million employees in a wide range of industries including manufacturing, energy, finance and retail, among others.”
Holden’s mission to change criminal justice laws is personal.
He first saw the unfairness of the criminal justice system when, as a young man, he worked as a prison guard.
As part of his campaign, Holden, who has said he strongly rejects Donald Trump’s vision of “law and order,” appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday with his partner in pursuing criminal justice reform, Weldon Angelos.
In his early twenties, Angelos was sentenced to 55 years in federal prison for selling marijuana. He was released from prison in May — the Koch network fought for his release — after serving nearly 13 years.
In the letter he sent Monday, Holden told the Koch donors, “We believe that capable and qualified individuals who want to work hard and contribute to their communities should not be rejected at the very beginning of the hiring process.
“Nor should anyone be judged forever solely on what happened on their worst day.”
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