[UPDATE: Is there a Koch brothers connection to controversial mega-pipeline?]
I guess this makes it official.
According to Wisconsin's Capital Times reporter, Judith Davidoff, Koch Industries has opened a lobbying office that's just a toilet-paper roll's throw from the state capital in Madison. (If you didn't get the reference, Koch's Georgia-Pacific runs several paper manufacturing facilities in Wisconsin.)
Koch's lobbying arm (Koch Companies Public Sector) actually set the ball rolling two days after newly-elected Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker was inaugurated. But, the controversial billionaire Koch brothers (Charles and David) are no newcomers to this (tea)party. Koch was the single largest corporate contributor to Walker's campaign -- and even that contribution was chump-change compared to the aid given Walker by Kochs' PAC and their "grassroots" organization, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), according to a recent article in Mother Jones magazine.
The Koch's PAC also helped Walker via a familiar and much-used politicial maneuver designed to allow donors to skirt campaign finance limits. The PAC gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, which in turn spent $65,000 on independent expenditures to support Walker. The RGA also spent a whopping $3.4 million on TV ads and mailers attacking Walker's opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.
AFP's help includes organizing pro-Walker rallies (and busing-in supporters), a Stand With Walker website, and policy advice. The New York Times reports today that AFP brass "worked behind the scenes to try to encourage a union showdown," and cites AFP president Tim Phillips as their source.
A union showdown is exactly what's going on now in what could be called the Battle of Wisconsin, as Governor Walker seeks to end collective bargaining for public employee unions. It's a goal near and dear to the brothers Koch.
The billionaire brothers whose political action committee gave Gov. Scott Walker $43,000 and helped fund a multi-million dollar attack ad campaign against his opponent during the 2010 gubernatorial election have quietly opened a lobbying office in Madison just off the Capitol Square.
via Koch brothers quietly open lobbying office in downtown Madison.
