As the Koch brothers continue construction of a massive expansion at their Flint Hills Resources refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, they are also making political investments in that city.
An October 20, 2016, Federal Elections Committee (FEC) filing from the Koch Industries, Inc., Political Action Committee (KochPAC) shows that the Kochs are backing seven candidates at different levels of government in the city: a candidate for Mayor, five candidates for City Council, and one for the Nueces County Commissioner Court.
In 2000, a federal grand jury issued a 97-count indictment of Koch Industries, subsidiaries, and employees for an array of environmental crimes. After the Kochs backed George W. Bush in the presidential election that year, Bush’s U.S. Department of Justice allowed a Koch subsidiary to plead guilty to a single count of concealing violations of wastewater testing laws at the Kochs’ Corpus Christi refinery. Koch paid $20 million in fines despite evidence the corporation had released more than 90 metric tons of the cancer-causing toxic benzene into the city’s water and air.
Now, the Kochs have a refinery expansion, called Project Eagle Ford, underway to process more oil. The project will cost around $600 million, according to the Kochs’ Flint Hills operation.
The Kochs’ backing of so many local candidates in a single city is noteworthy because the right-wing billionaire brothers are better known for massive spending in state and federal races via KochPAC, David Koch’s Americans for Prosperity, and large donations to other political committees, such as the Republican Governor’s Association. This year, the Kochs’ made news with their decision to stay out of the presidential race, sending Koch cash down ballot.
There is no other city in the U.S. where the Kochs, through KochPAC, are spending to try to win as many seats as Corpus Christi. Though the amounts are small compared to the Koch fortune and other parts of the electoral spending through their Freedom Partners efforts, such donations have a bigger impact in local races and also help create an alliance between the beneficiaries and the Kochs.
Texas is also a major target of the KochPAC. As of November 1, the Kochs are backing 74 candidates running for political office in Texas, which is a larger number than any other state in the country.
Here are the Koch-backed candidates in Corpus Christi:
Mayor of Corpus Christi
- Incumbent Mayor Nelda Martinez received $1,000 from KochPAC to her campaign for reelection.
Corpus Christi City Council
- Incumbent Carolyn Vaughn (District 1) received $1,000 from KochPAC to Elect Carolyn Vaughn.
- Incumbent Rudy Garza (District 5) received $1,000 from KochPAC to Elect Rudy Garza.
- Incumbent Chad Magill (At Large) received $1,000 from KochPAC to his Chad Magill for City Council.
- Incumbent Michael Hunter (At Large) received $1,000 from KochPAC to his Elect Michael Hunter.
KochPAC reported donating $1,000 to candidate for the District 4 seat, Greg Smith; however, Greg Smith has contacted CMD to state that he was “offered a contribution from Koch Industries and did not accept it.”
The Kochs did not contribute to a candidate in the races for the District 2 or District 3 race.
Nueces County Commissioner Court
- Mike Pusley (Precinct-1) received $1,000 from KochPAC to his campaign for reelection.
View a complete list of all the candidates the Kochs have contributed to in the 2016 election cycle on CMD’s SourceWatch site here.
We the voters and property owners are fed up with high taxes. We need to pay lower taxes and the refineries need to pay there far share.
The Koch Brothers give money to influence Corpus Christi’s elections, yet they pay nothing to the city in property taxes, even though their refinery lies only blocks from our city’s lowest achieving public schools, our worst city streets and blighted neighborhoods. The Port of Corpus Christi is literally “across the fence” from many neighborhoods in Corpus, yet the Port property itself has been conveniently deemed by city leaders to fall “outside” the city limits. As a result, the billion-dollar oil industries that use our fresh water and pollute the air we breathe operate in our city without being a real part of the community – without paying taxes. As a result, the taxpayers of Corpus Christi are forced to pay to repair the streets that trucks coming in and out of the port use every day and forced to breathe the toxic air that the oil refineries pollute.
Instead of annexing the Port, the City Council has reached far past our city limits to the south and annexed 16 square miles of private ranch land in an effort to tax a clean-energy wind farm that was proposed for construction there. All the annexation did was move the wind farm farther away and put an even heavier burden on taxpayers to stretch infrastructure farther south. Annexing the Port instead would bring in millions of dollars in property taxes every year and ensure that the industries calling our city “home” pay their fair share for a change.
David,
Thanks for editing your article to reflect that Greg Smith did not take the Koch donation. I know Greg well and he is an honorable person which is a trait that is much needed on the Corpus Christi City Council.
It is sad it’s not costing them much
I was offered a contribution from Koch Industries and did not accept it. I do not take contributions from PAC’s, vendors doing business with the City of Corpus Christi or amounts over $500.00 from anybody.
Greg Smith
Mr. Greg Smith,
I took note of your comment and edited my article to reflect your comment.
I have talked to elected officials in Corpus Christi about this issue for the last five years–to no avail. The most important issue facing our nation right now is the undue influence large donors have over elected officials. Numerous issues (climate change, food labeling, gun regulation, immigration reform, prison reform, education reform, short-term lending regulation, healthcare reform, banking regulation, TPP) remain vexing problems primarily due to corporations’ ability to curry favor with elected officials. The corrupting influence of money in our political system is undermining our democratic traditions and discouraging Americans from voting and/or running for office. This ominous development may well end our experiment in representative democracy unless we alter this decades-long trend. For the sake of the republic, we must amend the US Constitution to state that corporations are not people (and do not have constitutional rights) and money is not speech (and thus can be regulated by state and/or federal campaign finance laws). Short of accomplishing this, no other reform of significance will be achieved. The moneyed interests will turn any reform to their benefit, often at the expense of the nation as a whole.
Hear Hear!!
Thank you for your research and passing it on.
The article above is incorrect, Carolyn Vaughn didn’t accept any contributions from Koch.
According to the Federal Election Commission, on September 21, 2016 Carolyn Vaughn received $1,000 from KochPAC to “Elect Carolyn Vaughn.” Here is the link to the FEC filing: https://projects.propublica.org/itemizer/filing/1111347/schedule/sb