John Salazar (D?-Pueblo/Gunnison), brother of Colorado's semi-beloved, former Senator and current Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, has been recently found to be aiding and abetting a land swap deal for one of the Koch Brothers up here in Colorado.
[S]ome staffers at the Bureau of Land Management worry that Koch will be getting land with much higher value because of its potential for energy development. They also complain that there was very little opportunity for public input and scrutiny of the deal. There were no public hearings specifically devoted to gathering public comment, as there are with most proposed government land swaps.
"I'm not very pleased about it. It doesn't look like a very good deal for me or other people in this area," said Tony Prendergast, a former Forest Service ranger.
John Salazar wouldn't push a deal that doesn't follow normal procedure just because Koch is his largest donor, would he?
The trade was initiated more than two years ago by Koch - the world's 316th richest man, according to Forbes, and Salazar's most generous campaign contributor.
The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry - especially environmental regulation.
Is that the type of citizen John Salazar should be going out of his way to support? Does the petty fact that his campaign relies on Koch cash override his duty and responsibility to all his district's citizens, and the amazing natural resources therein?
These views dovetail with the brothers' corporate interests. In a study released this spring, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United States. And Greenpeace issued a report identifying the company as a "kingpin of climate science denial." The report showed that, from 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups. Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many Obama Administration policies-from health-care reform to the economic-stimulus program-that, in political circles, their ideological network is known as the Kochtopus.
I'm too old to think that a congressman couldn't be swayed by some campaign cash and overlook the hideous history of the man he's doing favors for.
But am I too naive to believe he'd even forget he was a Democrat one day when Mike Stark happened to have a video camera rolling:
Make sure you watch the whole video so you can compare John Salazar's commitment to fiscal conservatism and those like Koch, and his wishy washy words about whether he was a Blue Dog and a Democrat. I hope Koch Empire Cash didn't pay for his little bout of forgetfulness.
