By 2015, Holt, 62, had made more than 150 political donations totaling nearly $70,000. All the money went to Republicans, including ultraconservatives such as Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri, and Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa. Holt also donated to Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign and to at least three 2016 presidential candidates: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
The Dylann Roof connection
Yahoo Finance set out to answer one basic question: Where did Holt get the $70,000 or so he donated? He’s certainly not in the ranks of megadonors who pony up millions to political candidates, but in five years’ time Holt gave more money to politicians than the typical American family earns in a year. Did he earn the money, inherit it, get it from donors to his nonprofit group or raise it from some other source?
A 'brainwashed' widow
“Many people say her deceased husband would be rolling over in his grave if he knew she was spending his money this way,” says Branden Johnson, president of the NAACP’s Longview chapter. “They feel Katherine has been brainwashed.”
Right-wing radio host, slumlord
Campaign donations
Tax returns for the Council of Conservative Citizens show something else that's curious. Returns for 2010 and 2011 list Katherine Holt as one of the organization’s several directors, suggesting she had hands-on involvement with the group. But she wasn’t listed as a director prior to that, when she was still married to Irving Falk, and there’s no known record of her involvement with the group before 2010. Nor was she listed as a director in 2012 or 2013. (The group’s 2014 tax return is not yet available.)