Protesters in Wisconsin have now turned their focus on a powerful ally of Governor Scott Walker, Koch Industries. Protesters have been resisting a bill ostensibly designed to save the state of Wisconsin money. The bill also includes a provision to weaken the state employees’ union by taking away from them the right to negotiate benefits, and only salary. The bill has other provisions aimed at the state employees’ union.
Koch Industries owns several industries in Wisconsin, including Georgia Pacific paper. The company was also a major contributor to Governor Scott Walker’s campaign. Walker had a phone call with someone he believed was one of the two brothers who own the company. In that phone call, he discussed political strategy over this bill. The call was really that of a blogger, who writes a blog called The Buffalo Beast, who recorded and posted the conversation. The phone call, while a fake, pointed the light on the relationship between Walker and Koch industries, which has opened a lobbying offense on the square that surrounds the state capitol building. It was at this facility where protesters focused some of their energy recently.
Protesting Against Koch
On February 24, 2011 protesters filled both sides of the street where the Koch lobbying office sites. One of the protesters, Jane Pedersen held a sign that she had carried to the earlier protests that said, “Walker: Bought By The Koch Brothers (David and Charles) ??.” At the most recent protest, she crossed out the question marks and told a Capital Times reporter, "Now, it's a fact. There's a connection between Walker and the Koch brothers." She said, referencing the phone conversation.
Though it has become a major employer in the state, Koch does have a checkered past in Wisconsin. In the 1990s, a fuel pipeline owned by Koch which traverses the central part of the state ruptured twice in consecutive years.
But Koch Industries is defiant about supporting who they will in Wisconsin.
Koch's Reply
Koch has not expressed themselves in any Wisconsin news media outlet about their relationship to Walker. They have however expressed its opinions to the National Review. Koch lashed out a variety of targets in a blog post by Robert Costa,
“This is part of an orchestrated campaign that has been going on for many months. It involves the Obama administration, the Center for American Progress, aligned left-wing groups, and their friends in the media. This is just the latest salvo in their attacks on the Koch brothers and Koch Industries.”
That statement came from Executive Vice President Richard Fink.
Koch appears to have no qualms about doing business, or supporting Governor Walker. As long as that relationship remains, the protesters in Wisconsin will continue to call attention to that relationship.
Jon Pike - Pike is a Ph.D. in communication and writes about activism and popular culture topics for Suite101.
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