David W. Hanna

Follow the money in the Koch wiki.

David William Hanna is the chair and CEO of FHP Wireless Inc., chair and CEO of Hanna Ventures LLC, and chair and secretary of Hanna Capital Management. He formerly served as CEO of Sage Software and has served on the board of directors of numerous software companies.

Hanna has been a major donor to Republican and political organizations and has been a participant in several right-wing organizations. In 2014 Hanna was also revealed to have made a previously unknown $50,000 contribution during the 2011-2012 Wisconsin recall elections to Wisconsin Club for Growth, which is a target of a long-running investigation into potentially illegal campaign coordination with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's electoral campaign.

Political Activity

Hanna has been a major donor to Republican candidates and political organizations and has been a participant in several right-wing organizations.

Hanna was a top individual contributor to political candidates and campaigns in 2014, according to data analyzed by the Center for Responsive Politics. Hanna and his wife, Virginia Hanna, reported $328,300 in contributions with 100 percent going to Republicans, ranking 94th in the country in individual spending.

Hanna signed an open letter related to immigration reform produced by Crossroads GPS in 2013, which was published in the Wall Street Journal and other news sources as part of a $100,000 ad blitz by the organization. The ad called for "an immigration system that works," naming "tough and transparent border security" and "a new guest workers system" as specific policies.

Ties to the Koch Brothers

Koch Wiki

The Koch brothers -- David and Charles -- are the right-wing billionaire co-owners of Koch Industries. As two of the richest people in the world, they are key funders of the right-wing infrastructure, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN). In SourceWatch, key articles on the Kochs include: Koch Brothers, Koch Industries, Americans for Prosperity, American Encore, and Freedom Partners.

In the early 2000s Hanna served on the board of directors of Empower America, which merged with the Koch brothers-founded Citizens for a Sound Economy in 2004 to form FreedomWorks, a key player in the rise of the Tea Party movement.

Ties to Scott Walker and Wisconsin Club for Growth

Summary of supporting exhibits from case documents filed August 22, 2014.

Hanna made an undisclosed contribution of $50,000 in February 2012 to Wisconsin Club for Growth (WiCFG), a Wisconsin-based organization that spent at least $9.1 million during the recall elections, and funneled at least $10 million more to other politically-active groups like Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, while reporting that it spent $0 on politics to the IRS. The contribution only became public in August 2014, when documents related to a "John Doe" investigation into potentially illegal campaign coordination between Walker's campaign, WiCFG, WMC, and possibly other groups were briefly unsealed. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the documents suggest that Walker was advised to personally solicit funds from wealthy contributors for WiCFG:

"The records include example after example of Walker or his aides encouraging donors to give money to the Wisconsin Club for Growth.

"In September 2011, Doner sent an email to Walker and others with brainstorming ideas for raising money for the Wisconsin Club for Growth. Among them: "Take Koch's money," "Get on a plane to Vegas and sit down with Sheldon Adelson," and "Go heavy after (corporations) to give."

"The documents also show the club received large checks from donors soon after Walker was advised to solicit funds from them for the group. Those included $250,000 from hedge fund CEO Paul Singer, $100,000 from manufacturer Maclean-Fogg Co., $50,000 donation from Atlanticus Holdings CEO David Hanna's trust, $50,000 from hedge fund chairman Bruce Kovner, $50,000 from natural gas and oil producer Devon Energy, $15,000 from Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone and $15,000 from Trump" (emphasis added).

(The Journal Sentinel appears to have confused David William Hanna with David G. Hanna, the CEO of Atlanticus. The prosecutors' documents clearly refer to David William Hanna.)

Case documents filed by the prosecutors include the following supporting exhibits related to Hanna:

[Id. at ¶ 51; Exhibits 42, 100] A February 23, 2012 itinerary of Walker that reflects a conference call with David Hanna. On February 27, 2012, the WiCFG bank account reflected a wire transfer of $50,000 from the account of the David William Hanna Trust.

For more information, see the pages Scott Walker, Wisconsin Club for Growth, Scott Walker John Doe Documents, and The Campaign to Legalize Coordination in Wisconsin and Nationwide.

Affiliations

As of May 2015:

• FHP Wireless Inc., Chair and CEO
• Hanna Ventures LLC, Chair and CEO
• Hanna Capital Management, Chair and Secretary
• MITEM Corporation, Board of Directors
• PeopleLinx, LLC, Board of Directors
• CacheFlow, Board of Directors, Former President
• Handmark, Board of Directors
• Internet America, Inc, Chair of the Board
• Blue Coat Systems (acquired by Thoma Bravo), Chair of the Board
• Tropos Networks (acquired by ABB)
• Sage Software, Former CEO
• Empower America, Former Board Member
• Infogain Corp., Former Board Member
• IBM, Former Vice President
• Tropos Networks Inc., Former CEO
• Grid Systems, Former President
• Altos, Former President
• State of the Art, Former President
• Versatec, Former President
• NetFRAME, Former President
• Emulex Systems, Former President
• Ventura Software, Former President
• Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Irvine, Director's Board
• George W. Bush Presidential Campaign, Southern California Advisory High-Tech Council

Contact Information

FHP Wireless Inc.
620 Newport Center Drive
Newport Beach, California 92660