Are Kochs hiding their funding of Corbett behind Repub. Governors Ass.?

Last edited Mon Oct 20, 2014, 08:27 AM - Edit history (3)

If you look at official sources, Corbett's largest contributor for this election has been the Republican Governor's Association, which provided $5.9 million to him as of the last public filing. The question then arises: where is that money really coming from? Are frackers and other people with strong vested interests hiding behind the Association's name?

http://readingeagle.com/article/20141018/AP/310189657&template=mobileart

http://www.witf.org/news/2014/10/who-are-biggest-donors-in-gov-race.php

Excerpt:

"These types of large contributions are possible in Pennsylvania because it is one of 12 states that has no limits on how much individuals, state parties, or Political Action Committees (PACs) can give to candidates.

Nationwide, the RGA has raised more than $97 million during this election and more than $300 million since the start of 2009, according to The Center for Responsive Politics.

The RGA receives money from mega donors, large corporations and some of the richest people in the U.S. During the 2014 election cycle, the RGA’s top donors are David Koch, of Koch Industries, a manufacturing conglomerate; Sheldon Adelson, of Las Vegas Sands, a casino company; and Paul Singer, of Elliott Management, a hedge-fund management company."

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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/us/republicans-corporate-donors-governors.html?_r=0

"Sometimes, a simple coding mistake can lay bare documents and data that were supposed to be concealed from the prying eyes of the public.

"Such an error by the Republican Governors Association recently resulted in the disclosure of exactly the kind of information that political committees given tax-exempt status usually keep secret, namely their corporate donors and the size of their checks.

The most elite group, known as the Statesmen, whose members donated $250,000, included Aetna; Exxon Mobil; Koch Companies Public Sector, the lobbying arm of the highly political Koch Industries; Microsoft; Pfizer; UnitedHealth Group; and Walmart."

Other major donors on the leaked RGA documents include K12 Inc. (a charter company that has strong connections to many Corbett appointees) and Range Resources. For their donations, corporate officials were given closed door access to top government staff policy makers of many states, including Pennsylvania. "

Note - the $250,000 is a minimum annual amount, not an actual amount.
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Meanwhile, Wolf received 86 percent of his campaign funding from Pennsylvanians, who were proud to reveal their real names. Many are successful business-persons who personally know Wolf well.
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You may also remember earlier this year that Sheldon Adelson, who controls the one of the most successful casino complexes in PA, was caught laundering his $1 million campaign contributions to Corbett through the RGA. It is illegal under PA law for an owner of a PA casino to make campaign contributions to a PA. elected official. Adelson promised not to do it again.

http://articles.philly.com/2014-06-11/news/50482223_1_sheldon-adelson-the-rga-corbett
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The Koch's also funded a new group organized to split up Pennsylvania's Presidential electoral votes according to severely-gerrymandered US House district boundaries. That method could have easily resulted in most of PA's Presidential vote going to a different candidate than the person who won the statewide popular vote.

http://www.citizensforethics.org/blog/entry/koch-network-mysterious-group-pushing-shift-pennsylvania-electoral-votes
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Why do the Kochs care about PA and Corbett? Fracking.

http://www.republicreport.org/2012/koch-fracking/

Paraphrased Excerpt:

1. Koch Pipeline
2. Their Flint Hill Resources stores natural gas
3. Koch Supply & Trading trades energy commodities
4. Koch Chemical Technology Group processes natural gas
5. John Zink, a Koch Industries company, provides products for natural gas processing plants
6. Georgia Pacific, which was acquired by Koch Industries, produces resins used in the fracking process