WHAT THEYRE BUILDING: Teresa Oelke, spending Koch money, is building a Republican legislative majority in Arkansas.

  • WHAT THEY’RE BUILDING: Teresa Oelke, spending Koch money, is building a Republican legislative majority in Arkansas.

Teresa Oelke of Rogers, who’s the paid head of Americans for Prosperity, the Koch billionaires-funded political lobby, filed a lobbyist expense report this week that reveals just a tiny bit of what the Kochs are spending to win a corporate-friendly Republican majority in the Arkansas legislature.

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Here’s the report filed Oct. 16.

It shows she spent almost $104,000 on printing and postage. This, presumably, is for some of the mailers attacking Democratic candidates that have been stuffing mailboxes. It doesn’t include her bus tours, her payments for gasoline of people who line up at her convenience store political stops or for broadcast advertising that has emerged in the Koch-funded effort to take over Arkansas. The reports don’t disclose, of course, who gave how much to the pass-through from which Oelke writes her checks. Nor is she required to disclose exactly where she spends that money.

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Oelke has admitted to the Washington Post plans to spend at least $1 million in the legislative takeover. This is the equivalent of a nickel tip, or less, at the coffee shop for the Koch boys. It’s cheap to own a legislature. The sum could be more. This $104,000 in mail costs is just a starter. Wonder if the new Republican majority will encourage more reporting on lobbyist expenditures and fuller campaign spending transparency? Don’t hold your breath.

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