What exactly is Nicholas Kristof’s relationship with now divorced Bill and Melinda Gates? It’s a question worth asking as the former longtime New York Times columnist starts his run for governor of Oregon.

According to campaign finance disclosures, Kristof easily out-fundraised his rivals for the Democratic primary, raking in $1 million after only a month. Of that total, $50,000 came from Melinda Gates, one of only three individuals to have been so generous to Kristof, and the largest single donation recorded so far.

Bill and Melinda Gates are not quite the image of cuddly, progressive billionaires they’ve worked hard to cultivate. He’s a ruthless monopolist and tax evader who, together with her, used the famous charitable foundation they cochaired to not just avoid paying the government but to funnel that untaxed hoard into corporations their foundation was invested in. The charter school enthusiasts gobbled up so much arable land they became the country’s largest owners of farmland and, true to their vision of trickle-down charity, pushed highly questionable chemical and biotech solutions onto the problem of African hunger. That’s alongside Bill’s personal long-standing obsession with overpopulation in the continent and his uncompromising support for drug patents, which has shaped the Global North’s lackluster response to the pandemic in poorer countries.