KOCH INDUSTRIES in FLORIDA Georgia-Pacific
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FLORIDA MAN BUYS STATE: KOCH IMPACTS IN THE SUNSHINE STATE Through their decades in business and politics, Charles and David Koch have honed their methods for rigging the system in their favor, both through their national operations and activities. Their history in Florida is indicative of this overall multifaceted strategy, which includes lobbying and raising funds for politicians, using their advocacy network to sway public policy, and leveraging financial donations to universities to buy professors who promote their worldview. Time and time again, the Koch brothers’ self-interested actions proved to be beneficial to their bottom line at the expense of hardworking Floridians. Since our first Florida report, the Kochs’ influence has only grown. The Koch network has expanded their political spending, mobilizing a seven figure spending effort behind Marco Rubio as they fight to protect his senate seat. They have also expanded their ground game as they prepare to exert their influence on the 2016 elections. A cornerstone of the Kochs’ Florida strategy is cultivating and maintaining relationships with high-profile politicians who are sympathetic to their message and willing to carry out their policy goals. Chief among the Kochs’ Florida puppet politicians is Senator Marco Rubio. Marco Rubio is one of only a handful of Senators to receive a lifetime rating of A+ from the Kochs signature advocacy group Americans for Prosperity. The Kochs have even personally detailed how they line up with Rubio on most issues and have expressly thanked him for his leadership. Naturally, Rubio was a Koch network favorite for the 2016 presidential race and he likewise gushed that he had “tremendous admiration” for the Kochs and “would love to win [their] support.” But as Donald Trump dashed Senator Rubio’s presidential dreams, the Kochs were quick to rally seven-figure support for his ultimate senate reelection bid. Similarly, Florida Governor Rick Scott can boast of strong ties with the Koch network. In 2011, Gov. Scott attended a secret invitation-only Koch meeting outside of Vail, Colorado and, in 2013, spoke at the same summit in Orlando as Sen. Rubio. Americans for Prosperity organized rallies to support Gov. Scott’s agenda during his term and used their intensive field operations in Florida to boost his reelection campaign in 2014. After securing Scott’s reelection, Americans for Prosperity’s support has remained strong; their Florida Director Chris Hudson even recently asserted that Scott would be a wise vice presidential pick. To fully furnish their policy agenda in the Sunshine State, the Kochs have backed their puppet candidates with an extensive organization of their astroturf advocacy organizations. Americans for Prosperity along with Concerned Veterans for America, Generation Opportunity and LIBRE have a combined 16 Florida field offices and 165 field staffers. Their presence in Florida is so large that it rivals the state’s Republican Party. Though this network alone is baffling, the Koch’s Florida policy agenda has also been lent additional support from the Koch’s senior front group, the 60 Plus Association, and the Koch-funded James Madison Institute. Using their vast resources, the Kochs have attempted to push a selfish policy agenda harmful to Floridians. For example, AFP and 60 Plus supported Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget that proposed voucherizing Medicare, a plan particularly impactful to Florida. A 2012 Kaiser Family Foundation study of Ryan’s budget found that in Florida “at least nine in 10 beneficiaries…would face higher premiums in their current plan.” If undermining seniors’ healthcare was not bad enough, Generation Opportunity has begun an extensive campaign against Social Security, a system 1 in 5 Floridians depend on that keeps over 1 million Floridians out of poverty. Meanwhile, Americans for Prosperity celebrated sabotaging health care for all Floridians as they blocked Medicaid expansion, keeping over 1 million Floridians from accessing healthcare. Finally, not leaving out a single age group, Americans for Prosperity and the James Madison Institute have “thrown their considerable weight behind” school voucherization and privatization efforts. The Koch Brothers are so singularly dedicated to their bottom line that AFP and 60 Plus even drew the ire of other conservative groups by opposing a proposed ballot initiative with broad support that would open Florida up to the solar industry, a move that would threaten Koch’s oil and gas operations. Conservatives for Energy Freedom co-founder Debby Dooley criticized AFP and 60 Plus’s efforts, labeling them a “campaign of deception” and saying, “You don’t throw your principles out the window to benefit your corporate benefactors.” To round out their outsized influence in Florida, the Koch brothers have infiltrated higher education as a part of a “fully integrated” strategy to promote their “free market” visions. Though attempting to sell these donations as pure charity, Koch academic grants do not come without strings attached. The Koch Foundation has donated over $7 million to Florida schools 1 and have mandated that their funding “go towards hiring professors, building economic research centers that promote capitalism or supporting research about libertarian politics.” Perhaps no case of Koch academic funding is more infamous than Florida State University, where, in exchange for a $6.5 million dollar donation, the Kochs were able to secure a direct role in the hiring and firing of faculty and in shaping the curriculum of the university’s economics department. The Koch brothers have used their vast fortune to advance their own self-interest in the Sunshine State. From polluting the environment, to attacking Social Security and Medicare, to undermining public universities, everything they do is about making more money for themselves. Without proper checks and balances on the Koch network, they’ll continue to assert their oversized influence in Florida and across the country. 2 Contents Florida Man Buys State: Koch Impacts In The Sunshine State .............................................. 1 Koch Industries In Florida ........................................................................................................ 6 Georgia-Pacific ............................................................................................................................................. 6 Georgia-Pacific In Florida: Facilities Overview .................................................................................................................................. 6 Georgia-Pacific Palatka’s Pollution And Multiple Violations Of The Clean Air & Clean Water Acts ...................................... 6 Georgia-Pacific Foley Cellulose’s Pipeline Dispute ......................................................................................................................... 11 Georgia-Pacific Plants And Pollution In Nearby Florida Schools ................................................................................................ 13 Transparent Efforts To Save Face With The Community While Simultaneously Push Their Corporate Agenda ............... 17 Safety Violations..................................................................................................................................................................................... 18 Georgia-Pacific’s Florida Economic Impacts And Worker Layoffs ............................................................................................. 19 Molex .......................................................................................................................................................... 24 OSHA Violations ................................................................................................................................................................................... 25 Flint Hills Resources .................................................................................................................................. 25 Price Gouging Complaints After Hurricane Katrina ....................................................................................................................... 25 Koch Industries Nitrogen Interests............................................................................................................ 26 Koch Industries Had A Stake In Fertilizers & Nitrogen ................................................................................................................. 26 The Kochs Advanced Their Fertilizer Interests Through The Fertilizer Institute ..................................................................... 29 The Fertilizer Institute Opposed The EPA Implementation Of The Numeric Nutrient Standards In Florida .................... 29 The Fertilizer Institute Contributed To Marco Rubio’s Senate Campaigns ................................................................................. 31 Rubio Opposed EPA Implementation Of Numeric Nutrient Standards ..................................................................................... 31 Koch Lobbyists In Florida .......................................................................................................................... 33 Fearington and Smith ............................................................................................................................................................................ 33 Fearington and Smith Merged With Southern Strategy Group .....................................................................................................