June 28, 2011 04:00 PM UTC

Un-Vailing the Koch Brothers

• 8 Comments
• by: StrongColorado

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

POLS UPDATE #2: Washington Post, add Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a lead plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging federal health care reform, to the Koch list:

He spoke at a breakfast about federalism and touted his office’s role in lawsuits against the federal government involving health care and the Environmental Protection Agency, Cuccinelli’s political director, Noah Wall, said.

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POLS UPDATE: Word is getting out about more and more A-list attendees of this weekend’s Koch brothers conference near Vail. The Austin American-Statesman reports:

Gov. Rick Perry spoke Sunday at a summit hosted by the billionaire Koch brothers near Vail, Colorado.

Perry spokesman Mark Miner described the Colorado summit as a “private gathering of business leaders” and said it was not related to a possible presidential campaign…

It’s not entirely clear how Perry got to Colorado, but a plane owned by aircraft dealer Goldsmith Team LLC flew from Aspen to Georgetown on Sunday, flight records show.

Security!

And the Palm Beach New Times reports, Gov. Rick Scott of Florida slipped into Colorado unannounced for the Koch party–apparently, dodging the press is not a new thing for him. That said, how could you miss this guy (right)?

We finally have an answer as to where Gov. Rick Scott was this weekend, and it confirms our suspicion: At the billionaire Koch brothers’ secret conference outside Vail, Colorado.

St. Petersburg Times reporter Alex Leary got the information out of him, a day after the governor’s spokesman wouldn’t confirm nor deny whether Scott was there.

We haven’t heard yet about any Colorado attendees, but it’s just a matter of time…

The Austin paper employed a novel method of tracking down Gov. Rick Perry, tracing a plane owned by a wealthy campaign contributor’s flight plan from Texas to Aspen. Some of our readers with time on their hands today might find this slick FlightAware website, in particular flights out of Eagle County (EGE) or Aspen (KASE), you know, worth cross-referencing in all the wonderful ways the internets allow. Original post follows.

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What could be better than spending a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in Vail protesting against the corporate money buying right-wing political influence?

Billionaire brothers David & Charles Koch (pronounced Coke) were hosting a gathering in Vail of other “wealthies” to help fund the Tea Party, extreme right-wing candidates and think tanks that make up science to debunk climate change. A similar event in Palm Springs last January raised $88 million.

The fundraiser had been kept under wraps until Thursday, when the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that Virginia’s Gov. Bob McDonnell would be attending the gala event.

Common Cause led the protest at Nottingham Lake Park, just below the Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch Spa near Vail (where the Koch gathering is reportedly being held). About fifty protestors from Eagle County, Crowley County, Colorado Springs, Glenwood Springs and Denver carried signs that read “Keep Your Hands Off Our Elections,” “Frack You Koch Brothers,” “GOP Addicted to Koch,” among others. Unions, ProgressNow Colorado, Campaign for a Strong Colorado and other progressive groups were represented at the rally.

“It’s important for average Americans to know who’s funding extreme organizations like Americans for Prosperity, the CATO Institute and the host of negative campaign ads in opposition to candidates who stand up for the middle class,” said Jenny Flanagan, director of Colorado Common Cause.

No word on who was on the Kochs’ guest list. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia have attended past gatherings. But whoever joined the Kochs wasn’t roughing it!