Koch brothers bring top GOP presidential candidates to Southern California

Some of the GOP presidential hopefuls gathered in Orange County Saturday and Sunday for a weekend of policy discussions.

This biannual private event, put on by the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, brought together several hundred of the nation’s wealthiest conservatives.

The group founded by billionaire conservative activists Charles and David Koch invited presidential hopefuls former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Gov. Scott Walker, Carly Fiorina and U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

In an effort to pull back the curtain on these secretive meetings, Freedom Partners allowed media to view a live web stream of the weekend’s events.

KESQ and CBS Local 2 were not allowed to ask questions but it was an interesting conversation to listen in on.

Politico’s chief White House correspondent, Mike Allen, moderated and went in depth on a number of issues.

Each of the candidates had 25 minutes to win over deep-pocketed audience members.

Set against a nondescript black backdrop, some of the top gop presidential candidates met on the grand lawn of the St. Regis hotel in Dana Point to talk policy.

The theme of the weekend’s meeting: “Unleashing a Free Society: Expanding Opportunity for all Americans.”

Almost immediately discussions with Carly Fiorina, the only woman running for the Republican nomination, turned toward concerns over Hillary Clinton’s time as secretary of state.

“She got China wrong, she got Iran wrong, so it’s one in a long list and oh by the way, as we all know, she lied about Bengazi and Lybia is now a failed state and a haven for terrorists,” Fiorina said.

Another subject of discussion, the money in politics.

“In the end money doesn’t win elections, ideas do,” Walker said.

But money does make a difference, earlier this year the Freedom Partners meeting raised about $900 million to advance the groups conservative agenda.

Both Rubio and Walker expressed concern over the Planned Parenthood organization.

Others in attendance agreed big government needs to be cut down to size.

“People could see we took money out of the hands of big government and put it firmly in the hands of hard working tax payers,” Walker said.

As the current GOP front runner, Donald Trump wasn’t invited. But that doesn’t mean his presence wasn’t felt.

“People are tired of sanitized sound bites, they’re tired of bumper sticker rhetoric, they’re tired of fancy speeches and no results, they’re tired of a lot of talk and no action,” said Fiorina in reference to Trump’s success.

In the end there was one thing on each of these candidates minds, who will make it in the top ten for this week’s debates.

The Freedom Partners held a similar meeting this past January in Palm Springs.

That meeting drew about 450 of the country’s most successful business and philanthropic leaders, the media was also not allowed to ask questions at the event.