Dear David Koch,

We, the scientists, deeply appreciate your generous gift supporting cancer research. Even though it's not my area of biomedical science, your philanthropy is a tremendous accomplishment that all of us are excited about.

However, given that we, the scientists, heavily depend on NIH funding, including those working in the institute that bears your name; and given that you yourself admitted that this funding is in jeopardy during the opening ceremony of your institute last week; and given that that funding is in jeopardy because of the budgetary decisions politicians you financially supported are making right now, wouldn't it be a good idea to make your subsequent political philanthropy dependent upon whether these politicians support the NIH budget when they come 'round asking you for more money?

I realize that your goals in supporting politicians are primarily focussed on things that I don't support, like tax cuts and limited pollution regulations, and that is your right to do with your money as you choose. But by asking those politicians to support NIH funding that does not lead to a mass exodus of highly trained biomedical scientists out of science--and a $1.6 billion cut will certainly have that effect!--you'll actually get more bang for your philanthropy buck.

Sincerely,

Coeruleus