Why Obama May Be About to Give a Giant Handout Out to the Billionaire Koch Brothers | Environment
October 20, 2011 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. Here's a unique political strategy for you: in the lead up to a crucial election, as anti-corporate sentiment is sweeping the nation, consider giving a huge handout to a major corporation that happens to be your biggest political enemy and is already spending hundreds of millions to defeat you and your agenda. If that seems too crazy to believe, welcome to the Obama 2012 campaign. Right now, President Obama is faced with the most crucial environmental decisions he is going to face before the 2012 election: whether or not to approve the permit for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, a 1,700 mile fuse to the largest carbon bomb on the continent, the Canadian tar sands. As you might expect, Upton was completely wrong. Which brings us back to Obama. President Obama can deny the permit, right now, and shut down this flow of cash to the Kochs.
Koch family
Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch — the two brothers still with Koch Industries — are affiliated with the Koch family foundations.[5] Family members[edit] Non-profit organizations[edit] The Koch family foundations are a related group of non-profit organizations that began with the establishment of the Fred and Mary Koch Foundation in 1953, and now includes the Charles Koch Foundation, the David H. Political activities[edit] Members of the Koch family have given to conservative and libertarian policy and advocacy groups in the United States,[13] including think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute, and more recently Americans for Prosperity.[14] Americans for Prosperity, founded by David Koch, is one of the main nonprofit groups assisting the Tea Party movement, according to Kenneth Vogel of Politico. See also[edit] References[edit]
Biz Beat: Wisconsin & Southern buyer calls Koch its largest customer
The Kansas-based new owners of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co. want to make one thing perfectly clear: Their purchase is a railroad deal, pure and simple. "We're poised to help the economy of Wisconsin take off," says Ed McKechnie, spokesman for Watco Transportation Services. Watco announced earlier this week it had acquired controlling ownership of Wisconsin & Southern (WSOR). But given the political activity of WSOR founder Bill Gardner — who has admitted to $70,000 in illegal and excessive campaign contributions to Gov. "There's certainly been a lot of speculation," says Frank Huntington of the Wisconsin DOT's railroad division. And a quick Google search reveals a link between Watco and Koch Industries, the Wichita-based natural resources conglomerate: Koch is the largest customer of Watco and the Koch brothers have been big Walker supporters. So is there more to the story? "They have no more relationship with us than a wheat farmer in Kansas, a potato farmer in Idaho or U.S.
Koch Industries: Summary
The second-largest private company in the United States, Koch Industries is also a conglomerate, whose subsidiary businesses operate in some of the world's most profitable markets. Given such a diverse portfolio, it's no surprise that the company has spent millions of dollars lobbying the federal government this past decade on a range of issues, from defense appropriations to financial regulatory reform. Koch's biggest industry, however, is petroleum refining -- OpenSecrets.org houses the company under the oil and gas industry -- and the bulk of their lobbying is related to energy issues. The company's lobbying totals skyrocketed in the two years since Democrats swept power in 2008, bringing with them a packed reform agenda that included legislation to establish a market based on carbon emissions. Koch is also one of the Republican Party's most reliable donors. Profile for 2014 Election Cycle $2,397,855ranks 12 of 13,457 $10,430,000(2013)ranks 31 of 4,126 in 2013 Top Recipients
Koch Brothers Flout Law Getting Richer With Secret Iran Sales
In May 2008, a unit of Koch Industries Inc., one of the world’s largest privately held companies, sent Ludmila Egorova-Farines, its newly hired compliance officer and ethics manager, to investigate the management of a subsidiary in Arles in southern France. In less than a week, she discovered that the company had paid bribes to win contracts. “I uncovered the practices within a few days,” Egorova- Farines says. “They were not hidden at all.” She immediately notified her supervisors in the U.S. A week later, Wichita, Kansas-based Koch Industries dispatched an investigative team to look into her findings, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its November issue. By September of that year, the researchers had found evidence of improper payments to secure contracts in six countries dating back to 2002, authorized by the business director of the company’s Koch-Glitsch affiliate in France. Egorova-Farines wasn’t rewarded for bringing the illicit payments to the company’s attention. The U.S.
by raviii Mar 13