To: Reporters, Bloggers, Interested Parties
From: Public Campaign
Date: April 13, 2011
RE: Tomorrow’s House Oversight Committee Hearing Brought to You By the Billionaire Koch Brothers

Introduction

Billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch have come under intense public scrutiny for their role in financing conservative organizations and political candidates. The brothers, who own and run the conglomerate Koch Industries, are influential players in conservative philanthropic circles, and have poured literally tens of millions into an anti-government, pro-free market infrastructure and political operation.

On Thursday, April 14, 2011, the House Government Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is holding a hearing regarding state budget deficits featuring Wisconsin’s controversial Governor, Scott Walker. Gov. Walker was infamously “pranked” by a caller earlier this year who Walker thought to be David Koch.

But Gov. Walker won’t be the only one in the committee hearing with a Koch connection. In fact, 14 members of the committee have received campaign contributions from Koch Industries’ PAC. In addition, three other people testifying in front of the committee have benefited from Koch funding or have attended private retreats with the Kochs.

The Koch Industries PAC contributed $111,500 to members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in recent years.1

Committee hearing witnesses include proponents of anti-worker policies and privatization who also happen to be beneficiaries of financing by Charles and David Koch.

• Gov. Walker, whose campaign was heavily financed by billionaires Charles and David Koch, has worked hard to put in place anti-worker and anti-union policies supported by the Kochs. Walker’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign received $43,000 from the Koch Industries PAC3 and benefited from the Republican Governors Association and Republican State Leadership Committee, both of which received hefty contributions from the Koch PAC. Revealing the high level of access the Kochs have to him, Walker took a call from a David Koch impersonator during the Wisconsin budget battle in which he appeared to suggest political coordination with a political donor.

• Mark Mix, President of the National Right To Work Committee and the National Right To Work Legal Defense Fund, both of which work to reduce worker access to collective representation, has worked closely with Koch organizations. Mix was a presenter at a secret, private Koch political conference where he spoke on coordinated electoral strategies.4

• Andrew Biggs is Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and an advocate for scaling back and privatizing Social Security. AEI recently received $150,000 from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation.5 Biggs has also worked for the Cato Institute, an organization founded and funded by the Kochs.

• Desmond Lachman is a Resident Fellow, also at AEI. His papers on international finance include a study of Sweden’s problems caused by mounting public sector budget deficits.6 As mentioned above, AEI received $150,000 from a Koch family foundation.