Duke Energy, Koch brother among top donors to Republican Governors Association

Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey and potential 2016 presidential candidate, chaired the Republican Governors Association from November 2013 to November 2014, helping raise $102 million for the political group dedicated to electing GOP governors.
 
Of the top 10 donors during that time, three were major Southern corporations and one was multibillionaire and conservative mega-donor David Koch, the New Jersey Spotlight reports.
 
Second on the list behind Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is Duke Energy, which gave the RGA $2.8 million during the one-year period. Facing South has reported on what Duke stood to gain from its big donations to the governors’ group, including reelection wins in South Carolina, Ohio and Florida by GOP governors hostile to renewable energy.
 
In seventh place among RGA donors is Florida Power & Light Company, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, also based in Florida. The company, which gave the RGA $1.6 million during Christie’s tenure as chair, operates gas, nuclear and solar power plants in Florida and is a partial owner of a coal plant in Georgia.
 
The ninth spot goes to Mountaire Corp., the Arkansas-based agribusiness giant chaired by Ronnie Cameron, a major player in conservative political giving. Mountaire, which gave $1.28 million to the RGA recently, also gave $3 million in 2014 to David and Charles Koch’s Freedom Partners Action Fund, which made $23 million in independent expenditures to help elect conservative candidates to the U.S. House and Senate.
 
Tied for fourth place with $2.5 million in donations to the RGA is David Koch, executive vice president of the Kansas-based Koch Industries oil and chemical conglomerate, which has extensive operations throughout the South. David Koch helps run the influential Koch political network with his brother, Charles.
 
As fundraising begins for the 2016 election cycle that will have more governors’ races on the ballot, expect to see more big donations from Southern companies to the RGA, now chaired by Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam.
 
By Alex Kotch