Scott Walker among signers of Koch-backed 'No Climate Tax Pledge'

[hue]

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/steven_elbow/scott-walker-among-signers-of-koch-backed-no-climate-tax/article_6b078010-1304-58a9-8e80-ea384a251c33.html

You’ve no doubt heard about Grover Norquist’s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge.” Well, there’s a new pledge in town, and several Wisconsin conservatives have signed on.

This pledge is called the “No Climate Tax Pledge,” but it might as well be called the “Koch Brothers Protection Pledge,” since it was devised by a group co-founded and backed by the billionaire brothers whose companies, according to the EPA, emitted over 24 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2011.

Signers of the pledge, now numbering 411, promise to "oppose any legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue” — in other words, no legislation on climate change without an equivalent amount of tax cuts. They include one U.S. senator from Wisconsin, three House members, four members of the state Senate, and four members of the Assembly — as well as Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch.

It's no surprise that Wisconsin lawmakers are well-represented on the pledge list. The Koch brothers and their oil industry bretheren have been avid Walker backers and supporters of Wisconsin tea party candidates, both for ideological reasons and because of the state's wealth of frac sand.

A quarter of U.S. senators and more than one-third of U.S. representatives have also singed on to the pledge, including the entire GOP House leadership.

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Here's some of the "behind closed doors" Re/TeaPuke activity....