Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Koch Brothers Open Lobbying Office in Wisconsin (With 7 Lobbyists)

The Cap Times reports:
Koch Companies Public Sector LLC occupies a seventh-floor suite at 10 E. Doty St. [in Madison, Wisconsin]. According to an unidentified tenant there, the lobbying group moved in two weeks before [Scott Walker] was elected governor on November 2. Jeffrey Schoepke, the company's regional manager, did not return a phone call seeking more information on the
According to the Government Accountability Board's website, the firm has seven lobbyists who "represent various Koch Industries Inc. companies on public affairs matters, including Flint Hills Resources, LP, an energy purchaser and refiner & transporter of petroleum and Georgia-Pacific, LLC a manufacturer of paper, wood products and building materials." The group's lobbying interests are listed as "the environment, energy, taxation, business, policy and other areas affecting Koch Industries, Inc. companies."
CT also reports:
Koch Industries, which owns the Georgia-Pacific Corporation and the Koch Pipeline Company, operates gasoline supply terminals and a toilet paper factory in Wisconsin.
CP then speculated on what might be going on:
The expanded lobbying effort by the Koch brothers in Wisconsin raises red flags in particular because of a little discussed provision in Walker's repair bill that would allow Koch Industries and other private companies to purchase state-owned power plants in no-bid contracts.

"It's curious that the Kochs have apparently expanded their lobbying presence just as Walker was sworn into office and immediately before a budget was unveiled that would allow the executive branch unilateral power to sell off public utilities in this state in no-bid contracts," says Lisa Graves, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy

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