Koch Brothers Pump More Money To Scott Brown

Original Link: http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/03/17/koch-scott-brown-february/

By Brad Johnson

The Koch petrochemical billionaires are continuing to bankroll Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), the Tea Party Republican who won Sen. Edward Kennedy’s seat in a special election last year, campaign disclosure forms reveal. The Koch Industries political action committee dropped $2500 on Brown in February, according to their March filing. Before Brown’s election in 2010, the Kochs had directed $50,400 to his campaign. Brown directly expressed his gratitude to the Kochs at the March opening of the David H. Koch Integrative Cancer Institute.
The exchange “belied Brown’s claims that he won’t be politicking until next year,” the Globe’s Glen Johnson notes. Brown “may spend $25 million on his campaign.”

Other recipients of the Kochs’ carbon cash in February include the PACs of Sen. Jim DeMint ($5000), Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) ($5000), Rep. Steve Roskam (R-IL) ($2500), and Sen. Mitch McConnell ($2500), and the campaigns of Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) ($5000), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) ($3000), Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) ($2500), Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL) ($2500), Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) ($2500), Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR) ($2000), Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK) ($2000), Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) ($1000), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) ($1000), Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) ($1000), and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) ($1500).

Ross, Rogers, Kinzinger, and Burgess are all part of the “Committee From Koch” — the members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce who voted this week to overturn the scientific finding that global warming is a threat and block EPA rules against climate pollution.