Romney Supported The Ryan Budget Cutting Funding For Alternative Energy And Maintaining Tax Breaks And Subsidies For The Oil Industry
Romney Endorsed The FY2013 Ryan Plan Which Would Slash Funding For Energy Research And Eliminate Federal Subsidies For Alternative Energy Firms. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Last week, Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) unveiled a new Republican budget proposal that Romney and other GOP candidates quickly endorsed. Ryan’s budget would eliminate federal subsidies and tax breaks for alternative energy firms and would slash funding for energy research.” [Los Angeles Times, 3/25/12]
Ryan Plan Would Expand Oil And Gas Drilling, Limit The EPA’s Reach And Kill The Energy Department’s Clean Energy Loan Program. According to Politico, “…what greens hate about Ryan, the GOP loves. The Wisconsin Republican has been an outspoken critic of President Barack Obama’s clean energy agenda, offering a fiscal plan earlier this year that neatly mirrors the GOP’s policy priorities. The plan would expand oil and gas drilling, limit the reach of the EPA and kill the Energy Department’s clean energy loan program. The plan even earned a high-profile rebuke from Obama, something that many Republicans would wear as a badge of honor. ‘If some politicians had their way, there won’t be any more public investment in solar energy,’ the president said during a March speech at a solar plant in Colorado.” [Politico, 8/12/12]
- Budget Plan Would Not Cut Tax Breaks For Oil Companies. According to the New York Times, “Other energy incentives may go unchallenged, however. Questioned on Fox News on Sunday by Chris Wallace on whether multibillion-dollar subsidies for oil and gas companies would also be eliminated, Mr. Ryan did not give a direct answer. ‘Do you eliminate tax breaks?’ Mr. Wallace asked. ‘Do you bring in new revenue by eliminating, for instance, tax breaks for oil companies?’ ‘The problem with our deficit is not because Americans are taxed too little — the problem with our deficit is because Washington spends too much money,’ Mr. Ryan responded. ‘So we’re not going to go down the path of raising taxes on people.’” [New York Times, 4/6/11]
Newsweek: Ryan Plan Protects Tax Breaks For The Oil Industry. According to an article by Newsweek’s White House Correspondent Daniel Stone, “When House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan unveiled the GOP blueprint for cutting government spending, he asked Americans to make sacrifices on everything from Medicare to education, while preserving lucrative tax subsidies for the booming oil, mining and energy industries.” [Newsweek/The Daily Beast, 6/17/11]
Center For American Progress: Ryan’s Budget Retained $40 Billion In Tax Breaks For Oil. According to the Center for American Progress, “American families have been plagued by higher oil and gasoline prices over the past several years despite a significant increase in domestic oil production and rigs, and decline in consumption. But while high prices threaten the economy and family budgets, they enrich American oil companies with huge profits. Yet it appears that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) proposed FY 2013 budget resolution would retain a decade’s worth of oil tax breaks worth $40 billion. And his budget would cut billions of dollars from investments to develop alternative fuels and clean energy technologies that would serve as substitutes for oil and help protect middle-class families from volatile energy prices as well as create jobs. In short, the Ryan budget compounds the cost of high oil and gasoline prices on the middle class.” [Center for American Progress, Issues, 3/20/12]
Opposed Alternative Energy
Romney Criticized Obama For Focusing On Alternative Energy. According to Newsmax, “Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney says President Barack Obama’s concentration on alternative energy has neglected the plentiful resources available within the United States and has led to skyrocketing prices at the pump. […] ‘This president has only a love for solar and wind — and we all like solar and wind — but they’re just not going to get our cars to run and they don’t begin to provide the energy America needs. He’s held off on deep sea oil drilling — he’s held off on gas and resources in this country, national gas — he’s made it very hard to mine for coal or to use coal,’ Romney said. ‘It’s time to have an energy policy that takes advantage of our energy resources, including by the way, bringing in a pipeline from Canada — the Keystone Pipeline. He failed about the only no-brainer I can think that anybody could pass but him.’” [Newsmax, 02/28/12]
Romney Opposed Wind Energy Tax Credit Benefitting Iowan Farmers
Romney Opposed Renewing Wind Energy Tax Credits Set To Expire Despite Program’s Popularity In Iowa. According to Talking Points Memo, “The Romney campaign on Monday signaled the Republican nominee is against renewing a tax break for wind energy, a potentially dangerous position since the program is popular in the swing state of Iowa, reports the Des Moines Register. The position distinguishes Romney from President Obama who wishes to extend the tax credit and says it has saved jobs in Iowa. It also puts Romney at odds with some Iowa Republicans who support the tax break. ‘He will allow the wind credit to expire, end the stimulus boondoggles, and create a level playing field on which all sources of energy can compete on their merits,’ Shawn McCoy, a spokesman for Romney’s Iowa campaign, told the Register Monday. ‘Wind energy will thrive wherever it is economically competitive, and wherever private sector competitors with far more experience than the president believe the investment will produce results.’” [Talking Points Memo, 7/31/12]
Gov. Branstad Said Wind Energy Tax Credits Proceeded Obama And The Stimulus And Made A Difference. According to Radio Iowa, “The Romney campaign is running a TV ad in Iowa which suggests part of the 2009 economic stimulus package sent taxpayer dollars to ‘windmills from China.’ ‘I understand why they are very critical of the whole thing that was done by the Obama Administration with regard to the stimulus and some of the money that was wasted on Solyndra and some of these green energy projects didn’t make sense,’ Branstad said. ‘The tax credit, however, is a much different thing and it way proceeded Obama and it was actually something that Senator Grassley authored and has made a real difference over time.’” [Radio Iowa, 8/2/12]
Romney Criticized Solar And Wind Energy
Romney Said Obama Focused On “An Imaginary World” Where Wind And Solar Energy Could Power The Economy. According to The Columbus Dispatch, Romney wrote in an op-ed, “In place of real energy, Obama has focused on an imaginary world where government-subsidized windmills and solar panels could power the economy. This vision has failed. His promise of 5 million green jobs vanished as fast as the $500 million he gave to his campaign donors at now-bankrupt Solyndra. His goal of 1 million electric cars went up in flames alongside the Chevy Volt batteries that prompted a recall of all 8,000 sold so far.” [The Columbus Dispatch, 03/05/12]
Romney: “You Can’t Drive A Car With A Windmill On It.” According to Think Progress, “Romney attacked administration commitments to clean energy that reduce U.S. dependence on oil and fight climate change. To illustrate his point, Romney told his Ohio audience, ‘you can’t drive a car with a windmill on it’: ‘We all like wind and solar, but you can’t drive a car with a windmill on it,’” Romney said. [Think Progress, 03/06/12]
Romney Said Wind And Solar Energy Plants Failed To Become Economically Viable. According to Romney For President, “Government has a role to play in innovation in the energy industry. History shows that the United States has moved forward in astonishing ways thanks to national investment in basic research and advanced technology. However, we should not be in the business of steering investment toward particular politically favored approaches. That is a recipe for both time and money wasted on projects that do not bring us dividends. The failure of windmills and solar plants to become economically viable or make a significant contribution to our energy supply is a prime example.” [Romney For President, 09/06/11]
Romney Said Wind And Solar Energy “Made Sense Only For The Companies Reaping Profits.” According to USA Today, “As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney created a fund to invest in green energy, said alternative energy could generate jobs and approved bills allowing cities to build fields of solar panels. […] This year, Romney’s pitch has changed. ‘To begin with, wind and solar power, two of the most ballyhooed forms of alternative fuel, remain sharply uncompetitive on their own with conventional resources such as oil and natural gas in most applications,’ Romney’s job plan says. ‘Indeed, at current prices, these technologies make little sense for the consuming public but great sense only for the companies reaping profits from taxpayer subsidies.’” [USA Today, 09/08/11]
The Romney Ryan Ticket Is Fueled By Oil And Gas Interests
Romney’s Top Energy Donors Were From Fossil Fuel Companies “Pouring” Hundreds Of Millions Into Defeating President Obama. According to The Los Angeles Times, “Romney’s top energy donors are from fossil fuel companies. Oil, coal and natural gas interests are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into defeating Obama. And the Republican base is not shy about speaking out on global warming or oil drilling. ‘He’s sort of been all over the map on many of these issues, and clearly there’s always a concern that we won’t get the market-based energy policies we’d want,’ said Wayne Brough, chief economist with FreedomWorks, a tea party group. ‘The way you resolve those concerns about his past is for him to hear our activism, to hear from the tea party, ‘This is where we want to go.’ […] The state climate action plan issued in 2004, for instance, ‘is consistent with what he’s saying now,’ said Oren Cass, Romney’s domestic policy advisor. ‘He’s a supporter of renewable energy, as long as it’s anything that would be economically competitive. He doesn’t know the extent to which climate change is occurring or that human activity is causing it.’ Cass added: ‘What you won’t see are mandates or taxes or regulations that interfere with economic activity.’” [The Los Angeles Times, 6/13/12]
Romney’s Campaign And Restore Our Future PAC Received “Hefty” Contributions From The Oil And Gas Industry. According to PolitiFact, “In addition to Romney’s vague public statements, the Sierra Club also points to the hefty campaign contributions Romney has received from oil and gas — more than $750,000 according to the Center for Responsive Politics — and the pro-Romney Restore Our Future PAC has received almost $1 million. Also, Romney’s chief energy adviser is billionaire oil executive Harold Hamm, who has urged Congress to maintain the tax breaks. ‘Thousands of American jobs they create will be lost if 30 to 40 percent of the capital for drilling is eliminated through the loss of tax provisions,’ Hamm wrote in 2011.” [PolitiFact, 4/9/12]
Romney Planned To Hold A Fundraiser At The Home Of Oil Billionaire And Energy Adviser Harold Hamm. According to Politico, “Mitt Romney will hold a fundraiser tomorrow night at the Oklahoma home of oil billionaire Harold Hamm, his chief energy adviser on his campaign and an executive who, according to Forbes, sees his profits rise as the per-barrel price of oil tops $50 a barrel. Hamm, a well-known oil official, has been critical of President Obama’s administration over oil production.” [Burns & Haberman On 2012, Politico, 05/08/12]
Romney And “Restore Our Future” Accepted Millions In Contributions From Green Donors. According to Politico, “Romney and his super PAC have taken millions from funders with strong green streaks — despite the fact that the former Massachusetts governor has run to the right in the primary, proclaiming doubts about global-warming science and trashing President Barack Obama’s greenhouse gas emissions policies. Julian Robertson, founder of the Tiger Management hedge fund, helped put cap-and-trade legislation on the map with $60 million in contributions over the past decade to the Environmental Defense Fund. Now, Robertson has given $1.25 million to Romney’s Restore our Future super PAC, plus the maximum $2,500 to the Romney campaign. Other green-minded financial backers may not be giving as much as Robertson, but they still share the view that climate-change science and a solid environmental agenda wouldn’t be a lost cause if Romney won the White House. […]Among the other green Romney donors is Texas businessman and philanthropist Trammell S. Crow, founder of Earth Day Dallas and winner of the Republicans for Environmental Protection’s Green Elephant Award in 2007. Crow and his family have given $71,000 this cycle to Republicans, including $15,000 to the Republican National Committee and $5,000 to Romney, according to donation data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. ‘I am voting for Mitt Romney and I believe in global warming,’ Crow said in a statement to POLITICO.” [Politico, 03/05/12]
- Other Donors Pushed Romney In The Opposite Direction On Energy. According to Politico, “Of course, for every green-minded GOP donor, there’s a large segment of supporters pushing Romney in another direction on energy issues. Campaigning Thursday in North Dakota, Romney tapped Harold Hamm, an Oklahoma oil billionaire and a major GOP contributor, to head his campaign’s energy advisory panel. There’s also William Koch, founder of Oxbow Corp., a West Palm Beach, Fla.-based energy firm that’s given $1 million to Romney’s super PAC.” [Politico, 03/05/12]
Harold Hamm Called Alternative Energy A “Cruel Hoax” And A “Magical Fantasy.” According to Politico, “In the same op-ed, Hamm lambasted Obama, saying there was fear in the industry that he would use chaos in the Mideast as ‘evidence that we must end our dependency on fossil fuels, and will attempt to drive us headlong into the magical fantasy of ‘alternative and renewable energy.’’ At another point, he described calls for ‘fossil fuel substitution in the beginning age of alternative fuel development’ as ‘worse than premature. It is a cruel hoax played upon the American public. Presently, there are simply no viable alternatives, merely supplements.’” [Politico, 05/08/12]
The Energy And Natural Resources Sector Gave Romney’s Campaign $312,300. The Center for Responsive Politics reported that “…the energy and natural resources sector has given Romney about $312,300, or about 1.5 percent of his overall war chest.” [Center For Responsive Politics, 8/30/11]
Koch Brothers
Koch and Romney
Although Twins William And David Koch Have Spent Decades Battling, They Both Have Personal Relationships With Mitt Romney. According to Salon.com, “But there’s another Koch story that’s far less well known: The tortured story of the Koch twins and one of the few things they have in common — Mitt Romney. While Charles and David get all the attention, there are actually four Koch brothers. Split into two warring pairs, the brothers have fought a decades-long battle of biblical proportions over billions of dollars and control of Koch Industries, the petrochemical giant founded by their father, Fred. On one side were Charles and David, who have controlled the company since 1983 when they bought out William (David’s fraternal twin) and Fred Jr., who later alleged that Charles and David cheated them out of $2.3 billion in the sale. … Yet David and Bill have found common ground in becoming two of Romney’s most valuable supporters. … But there’s one thing that the twin brothers [William and David Koch] can agree on, despite their Romulus and Remus-like quarreling: Mitt Romney. Both have held numerous fundraisers for the presumed GOP nominee, and both have apparent personal relationships with the candidate.” [Salon.com, 07/10/12]
Bill Koch Hired Bain & Co. In The Early 80’s To Do Koch Industries’ Official Valuation; Although There Is No Evidence Romney Had A Role, He Was Still At Bain & Co. At The Time. According to Salon.com, “Bill [Koch] and Romney go way back: ‘He has a personal relationship with Mitt, that goes back to when Bill Koch was in Massachusetts, and that was back in the ‘80s,‘ Bill’s spokesperson Brad Goldstein told a Florida radio station in May. Indeed, in one connection between the Koch family and Romney’s world that has apparently gone unnoticed until now, Bill and Fred hired Romney’s then-employer Bain & Co. to do consulting work for their suit against their brothers. One court document from 1997 mentions Bain 35 times. ‘William did in fact employ Bain & Co. at his first meeting with that firm on July 19, 1982,’ the document states, detailing numerous meetings between Bill and Bain employees. Bill hired the company to help value Koch Industries… As Bill testified of the company’s official valuation, which he doubted: ‘I thought their values were low and I thought there was a good rationale for a higher value, a higher objective value based upon all the work that Bain had done as well as all the work that other investment bankers had done and based upon the information that we knew at that time.’ There’s no evidence that Romney personally had anything to do with the Koch affair (the court records only mention two Bain employees by name, William Bennett and Fred Coles), but Romney was with Bain & Co. at the time. He left to start Bain Capital in 1984.” [Salon.com, 07/10/12]
Bill Koch Has Donated At Least $2 Million To Romney’s Super Pac And Has Held A Number Of Fundraisers For Him. According to Salon.com, “More recently, Bill, through his company, the oil and gas distributor Oxbow Carbon, gave at least $2 million to Restore Our Future, the super PAC backing Mitt Romney, making him the third-largest corporate contributor as of late May to the organization that was critical to Romney’s primary success. Last year, Bill also hosted a fundraiser for Romney at his Cape Cod, Mass., mansion, and another one at the Palm Beach, Fla., house. This year, he co-hosted a third fundraiser at a friend’s house in Florida.” [Salon.com, 07/10/12]
David Koch Has Held A Number Of Fundraising Events For Romney – Including One In July 2012 That Was Expected To Bring In At Least $1 Million. According to Salon.com, “Meanwhile, David Koch held his fundraiser for the presumed GOP nominee at his mansion in the Hamptons last weekend. The event cost $50,000 a plate and was expected to bring in at least $1 million. But it was not the first. David has held a number of other events for Romney, including one of the candidate’s first fundraising events at the critical early stages of the campaign way back in August 2010.” [Salon.com, 07/10/12]
When Asked About His Lack Of Transparency, Romney Pointed To Fast And Furious Then Claimed He Has Disclosed More Information Than Is Required By Law. According to CBS News, “CRAWFORD: … Are you worried people will think you’re hiding something, are you worried about kind of this perceived lack of transparency? GOV. ROMNEY: Well you know the lack of transparency that I think we saw from the White House in the last couple of weeks has really been quite disturbing, where the president exercised executive privilege to say that documents associated with the Fast and Furious program are not going to be provided to Congress. Talk about a lack of transparency. And then of course there was this promise during the campaign that matters related to health care would be discussed in the open and would be seen on CNN and on cables. That didn’t happen. The President has not shown the kind of transparency in leading the country that is necessary. With regards to my own transparency, I’ve disclosed all the information required by law. Also provided income tax returns which are not required by law and if anyone wants to know what I did in 1999, they can just look at the papers in Salt Lake City and they can see I was running the Olympic games. I think people know that. And so these kinds of attacks are just not only ridiculous, but so far beneath the dignity of the president’s responsibility and leadership that I think people have to shake their head and wonder why won’t this man focus on getting Americans to work and getting incomes rising in America again?” [CBS News, 07/13/12]
Romney Claimed That He Will Be Releasing “The Same Type Of Information That Was Provided By Senator McCain And His Campaign. According to CBS News, “CRAWFORD: Governor you mentioned the tax returns. You’ve released one year of your tax returns. A lot of people are saying you should release more, you’ve got to go back to the early 1980s for a Republican – or a presidential candidate who has only released one year of tax returns. Are you going to be releasing more tax returns? GOV. ROMNEY: Yes, I’ll be releasing this year’s tax returns as soon as they’re available. And uh – But I know, by the way, you can never satisfy the opposition research team of the Obama organization. They’ll always want more. And the answer is they’ll have this year’s and last year’s and that’s the information that, by the way, is not required by law. It’s the same type of information that was provided by Senator McCain and his campaign. It gives people a full review of my income and my expenses and that kind of matter. I’ll tell ya, it’s quite a process running for president. You obviously provide all the information you can about yourself and then you have all the opposition team say some pretty outrageous things which I think are very, very disappointing on their part.” [CBS News, 07/13/12]
Romney Attended Fundraiser Thrown By David Koch That Cost $75,000 Per Couple To Attend. According to Los Angeles Times, “The price to hobnob with Mitt Romney in the Hamptons was steep. At Romney’s luncheon with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor at the Creeks, supporters were asked to contribute or raise $25,000 per person for a VIP photo reception. (Among the co-hosts were lobbyist Wayne Berman, a former bundler for George W. Bush, as well as financiers Lew Eisenberg and Daniel Loeb). At the evening fundraiser at the estate of Julia and David Koch on Meadow Lane in Southampton, the suggested contribution was $75,000 per couple — with funds going to Romney’s campaign, the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee.” [Los Angeles Times, 7/8/12]
Bill Koch, Brother Of Conservative Activists David And Charles Koch, Was Scheduled To Host A Fundraiser For Romney. The Boston Herald reported “Romney, who has continued fund-raising throughout the country as he campaigns, sent out an e-mail this week alerting supporters to three high-priced events on the Cape and Islands. Billionaire Bill Koch, brother of conservative activists David and Charles Koch, is hosting an event at his Osterville home Aug. 14. Romney has an event in Nantucket on the same day.” [The Boston Herald, 7/28/11 ]
Romney Held A Meet And Greet Event With 150 Prominent Republican Donors At The Hamptons Home Of David Koch And His Wife. “Mitt Romney had a major event in the Hamptons yesterday at the home of mega-businessman David Koch and his wife, I’m told by several sources. About 150 people attended, I’m told, and the host list was a wide array of Republican donors — including Lew Eisenberg, Woody Johnson, former McCain 2008 backer Wayne Berman, Related Companies’ Stephen Ross, and financier Donald Marron. It’s an impressive group of bigwigs for Romney, who’s aggressively raising for his PAC. UPDATE: One source says there was no money ask, and it was a meet-and-greet event. Either way, it’s a crowd of prominent names.” [Politico, 8/16/10]
Romney Has Received Commitments From Woody Johnson And David Koch To Fundraise For Him. According to The New York Times, “Over the summer, Mr. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, invited top bundlers of campaign checks from key states to his vacation home in New Hampshire on several occasions to help firm up their commitments. Mr. Romney has already lined up an array of prominent supporters, including a billionaire, David Koch, who has donated heavily to conservative causes over the years, and Robert Wood Johnson IV, the billionaire owner of the New York Jets and one of the party’s most coveted fund-raisers.” [New York Times, 11/12/10]
Romney Has Lined Up Commitments From Donors David Koch And His Wife, Lewis Eisenberg, Woody Johnson, And Wayne Berman. According to Politico, “This year’s early favorite appears to be Mitt Romney, donor sources confirmed to POLITICO, who has already lined up quiet commitments from more than a dozen top names, among them billionaire David Koch and his wife, Julia, financier and former Goldman Sachs partner Lewis Eisenberg, New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and Ogilvy Government Relations Chairman Wayne Berman.” [Politico, 10/23/10]
Koch and Ryan
New York Times: Ryan Could Provide Romney With “Critical” Bridge To Far Right Establishment Represented By The Kochs. According to the New York Times, “He has appeared for years at rallies, town hall meetings, and donor briefings for groups like the Club for Growth, which spends millions to defeat Republicans deemed squishy on taxes and spending, and Americans for Prosperity, a grass-roots group focused on economic and budget issues that is now trying to channel Tea Party energy into a permanent electoral force. Its fourth chapter was founded in Mr. Ryan’s home state, Wisconsin. Now Mr. Ryan could provide Mr. Romney with a critical political and intellectual bridge to the rising conservative counterestablishment represented by the Kochs and their allies, who are planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars and deploy thousands of volunteers to defeat Mr. Obama. Should Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan win in November, a constituency that has for years fulminated against the failure of Republicans to live up to their own principles could soon have a close — and powerful — friend in the White House.” [New York Times, 8/13/12]
Ryan Was One Of Few Elected Officials Who Attended The Kochs’ Biannual Conferences. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Ryan is one of a very few elected officials who have attended the Kochs’ biannual conferences, where wealthy donors sit in on seminars on runaway government spending and the myths of climate change.” [New York Times, 8/13/12]
Center For Responsive Politics: Ryan Received $65,500 In Contributions From A PAC And Individuals Associated With Koch Industries. According to Politico, “The Center for Responsive Politics says that Ryan received $65,500 in donations from a PAC and individuals associated with Koch Industries.” [Politico, 8/12/12]
Koch Industries PAC Donated Over $100,000 To Ryan’s Campaign And His Leadership PAC. According to the New York Times, “In Congress, he emerged as a skeptic of mainstream climate change theory — opposition to which has been a top priority of Koch-affiliated activists and research groups — and a reliable vote against energy efficiency standards, including a House vote to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases. The relationship helped Mr. Ryan’s campaign coffers as well as his career: the Koch Industries PAC has donated more than $100,000 to Mr. Ryan’s campaigns and his leadership PAC, more than has any other corporate PAC, according to a New York Times analysis of campaign records.” [New York Times, 8/13/12]
Ryan Appeared At Rallies And Meetings For Americans For Prosperity And Club For Growth. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Ryan has also developed relationships with other people in the Koch orbit, like Mr. Asness, a libertarian-minded financier known for his open letters blasting Mr. Obama, and Kenneth Griffin, a Chicago hedge-fund executive: wealthy donors whose taste for number-crunching and policy minutiae match Mr. Ryan’s own. Mr. Griffin and his wife, Anne, introduced Mr. Ryan to Chicago’s deep-pocketed Republican donor circle — he has raised more money there this campaign than any other city — and promoted his budget proposals, including arranging a speech last year at the Economic Club of Chicago.” [New York Times, 8/13/12]
Koch Executives Were Top Donors To Ryan’s Campaign Committee And Leadership Pac. According to the New York Times, “Executives working for Charles and David Koch, the billionaire conservative philanthropists, are now among the top donors to Mr. Ryan’s campaign committee and leadership PAC, as are employees of the hedge fund founded by the conservative billionaire Paul Singer.” [New York Times, 8/13/12]
2011: Koch Industries Has Donated At Least $60,000 To Ryan. According to the Manitowoc Herald Times reported, “Koch Industries executives and employees also donated $10,000 to help Duffy win retiring Democrat Dave Obey’s seat and $5,000 to Lawrence Republican Reid Ribble’s campaign to defeat Democrat Steve Kagen. The PAC gave $25,400 to Oshkosh businessman Ron Johnson’s campaign to oust Democrat Russ Feingold from the Senate and has contributed $60,000 to Republican Rep. Paul Ryan since 1989.” [Manitowoc Herald Times, 2/24/11]
Published: Aug 23, 2012