Michael Mechanic

Illustration: Victor Juhasz

On a gorgeous weekend last June, hundreds of America's wealthiest conservatives descended on the Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch, outside Vail, Colo. The head of a 14-point elk watched impassively from atop a stone fireplace as the guests made their way into a lobby framed by massive wood beams and appointed with plush leather sofas. The entire four-star, 180-room alpine resort was theirs for the weekend, booked in advance by the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch for the brothers' hush-hush strategy "seminar" and fundraiser.

The guests' name tags bore monikers that would be familiar to anyone involved in political fundraising. Though the Vail guest list is a jealously guarded secret, the Koch network includes Rich DeVos, cofounder of Amway, owner of the Orlando Magic, and a prolific donor to Focus on the Family and other conservative causes; John Childs, a "notoriously media-shy" Boston private-equity guy who's worth an estimated $1.2 billion and last year doled out $750,000 to outside expenditure groups like Karl Rove's American Crossroads; Diane Hendricks, a billionaire roofing-supply magnate who joined the Kochs in supporting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's recent attacks on public-sector unions; and Charles "Talk to Chuck" Schwab, who along with his wife, Helen, has given more than $330,000 to the Republican Party and its candidates since March 2010—and not a penny to the Democrats. The sort of people who would see nothing amiss about paying $9.05 for a hard-boiled egg from room service.

Flitting among such masters of the universe was a quartet of GOP governors drawn by the sweet smell of campaign cash. Of the four—Chris Christie of New Jersey, Bob McDonnell of Virginia, Rick Perry of Texas, and Rick Scott of Florida—only McDonnell saw fit to disclose the trip on his public calendar.

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