[hnpuff]

> Kudos to him for speaking out and standing his ground

Come on. Koch is literally paying him. How is it brave to write a letter endorsing the person that is paying for you to run your charities? How is this not a paid endorsement?

[daeken]

1) Unless he was paid on the condition of posting this (which seems tremendously out of line with his character), this isn't a paid endorsement. That's the definition -- an endorsement for which one is paid -- and no amount of linguistic gymnastics will change that.

2) It's brave because the Koch brothers aren't the only people he cares about, whether for money or otherwise. Posts in support of "bad" figures run a risk of losing credibility, support, funding, and partnerships; I strongly doubt that the check to his foundation was large enough to compensate for that.