A case of mistaken identity has entangled a small family-owned Des Moines company in union protests and led to a death threat. Angry callers are mistaking Koch Brothers, a Des Moines office supply firm, with the brothers who own Koch Industries, the global energy conglomerate. Billionaires Charles and David Koch have fought Wisconsin unions, financed the tea party and opposed climate change rules.
Dutch Koch, president of the Des Moines company, wants everyone to know he’s not one of those Koch brothers, and he’s not politically active. “I initially thought it was humorous to be confused with a multibillionaire,†he said, but then a death threat was left on his answering machine. Koch reported the call to the FBI, which he said traced it to a California man.
The Koch Brothers employ 65 employees in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. Brothers George, William and Frank Koch founded the company in 1889 as a spinoff from the Des Moines Register and Leader’s job printing shop.
Koch Industries, based in Wichita, Kan., is the nation’s second-largest private corporation. It employs dozens of lobbyists and finances several conservative causes, including a group that has run TV advertising supporting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s standoff with public unions. A subsidiary, Flint Hills Resources, owns four ethanol plants in Iowa.
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