Wisconsin showed up tonight on the Shock Doctrine radar. While everyone is in a panic about collective bargaining rights, the state is being prepped for sale to... wait for it... Koch Industries!
Also found in the Death to Unions Bill:
16.896 Sale or contractual operation of state-owned heating, cooling, and power plants. (1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state-owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b).
[[[previous attempts at emphasis overwritten]]]
It's like a highlight reel of all of the high-flying slam dunks of neo-Gilded Age corporatism: privatization, no-bid contracts, deregulation, and naked cronyism. Extra bonus points for the explicit effort to legally redefine the term "public interest" as "whatever the energy industry lobbyists we appoint to these unelected bureaucratic positions say it is."
link. h/t Eric @ via. pdf.
Where, exactly, does Koch come in at this very moment?
They've opened a lobbying shop in Madison
Koch brothers quietly open lobbying office in downtown Madison
The billionaire brothers whose political action committee gave Gov. Scott Walker $43,000 and helped fund a multi-million dollar attack ad campaign against his opponent during the 2010 gubernatorial election have quietly opened a lobbying office in Madison just off the Capitol Square...
The lobbyists for Koch Companies Public Sector registered with the state on January 5, two days after Walker's inauguration...
The expanded lobbying effort by the Koch brothers in Wisconsin raises red flags in particular because of a little discussed provision in Walker's repair bill that would allow Koch Industries and other private companies to purchase state-owned power plants in no-bid contracts...
link. [edited by Pam at [via]].
It's worked in broad daylight for so long, they didn't even consider hiding the lobbying outfit with a technical-sounding name:
Koch Companies Public Sector LLC
Hello. We're from the energy industry and we're here to take possession of your public sector.
Bonus points for Koch Industries being at the center of too many government-subsidized industries to count.