Rich's National Network of Financiers


Since 2006, Howard Rich has tapped a national network of associates to help finance his private school voucher and tax credit agenda. Several of these funders are avowed opponents of public education.


Patrick Byrne: CEO of Overstock.com, Byrne spent millions in 2006 in an effort to pass vouchers in his home state of Utah, after “[v]oucher groups, primarily funded by the heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune and the founder of Amway, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars helping to elect pro-voucher candidates to the Utah Legislature,” according to the Associated Press. Utah voters defeated vouchers 62% - 38%. Like Howard Rich, Byrne is a director of the pro-voucher Friedman Foundation.

John Kirtley:
John Kirtley is a Tampa venture capitalist “whose $100,000 donation to the Republican Party in 2000 sparked the passage of the corporate tax credit voucher law the following spring” in Florida, according to the Palm Beach Post.

Kevin Spillane: Kevin Spillane of Sacramento was the campaign consultant for California’s failed Proposition 90, for which Howard Rich-affiliated groups provided 87% of the funding in 2006, according to the National Institute for Money in State Politics.

Paul Farago: Farago is a licensed acupuncturist in Ashville, North Carolina, and a director of Howard Rich’s Americans for Limited Government. Mr. Farago is also a signatory of the pledge of the Alliance for Separation of School and State: "I proclaim publicly that I favor ending government involvement in education."

Michael Dokupil: Dokupil is a Houston, Texas investor and a director of Howard Rich's Americans for Limited Government.

Marshall Stocker:
Stocker is a Hanover, Massachusetts investor and of former member of the Ithica (NY) Libertarians. According to the Buffalo News, Stocker was "a spokesman for New Yorkers to Change Albany," which received "$100,000 from a real estate firm run by Howard Rich, a New York landlord."

Robert Gelfond: Gelfond, of New York City, "has been a professional trader for over 25 years with a focus on global macro trading," according to the website RealClearMarkets. Gelfond is director of the "Foundation for Freedom and Justice," a contributor to Howard Rich's US Term Limits organization.

Guy Calvert: Calvert, of Palo Alto, California, is a co-director with Howard Rich of the “Center for Independent Thought,” located at Rich’s 73 Spring Street, NYC address. He is a signatory of the pledge of the Alliance for the Separation of School and State: “I proclaim publicly that I favor ending government involvement in education.

Eric O'Keefe:
O’Keefe, of Spring Green, Wisconsin, is a co-director with Howard Rich of the “Center for Independent Thought,” located at Rich’s 73 Spring Street, NYC address. He is a signatory of the pledge of the Alliance for the Separation of School and State: “I proclaim publicly that I favor ending government involvement in education.

Robert Costello:
Costello, of Evanston, IL, is a co-director of Howard Rich’s “Americans for Limited Government” and former director of Rich’s “Legislative Education Action Drive.” Costello is a signatory of the pledge of the Alliance for the Separation of School and State: “I proclaim publicly that I favor ending government involvement in education.