Kochs hire ex-Cantor aide to lobby against carbon tax

Charles and David Koch, to paraphrase the famous Raid bug spray slogan, want to kill carbon tax proposals dead.

Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC has contracted lobbyists including a former aide to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) to lobby on a House resolution that declares carbon taxes “detrimental to American families and businesses.”

Newly available lobby filings show that Koch has hired Shockey Scofield Solutions, LLC, to lobby on the anti-carbon tax resolution.

{mosads}Lobbyists working on the account include partner Mike Ference, a former senior policy aide to Cantor who announced in late 2012 he was stepping down to join Shockey Scofield Solutions.

Also listed in the filing are the firm’s other leaders, John Scofield and Jeff Shockey, who are both former top GOP aides on the House Appropriations Committee.

Carbon tax proposals floated by some Democrats face opposition from numerous conservative groups and GOP lawmakers, and have not gained political traction.

But an ad-hoc, left-right coalition of advocates is seeking to advance the idea, and opponents hope to ensure they don’t gather momentum.

Shockey Scofield Solutions is working on House Concurrent Resolution 24, a measure with nearly 150 co-sponsors introduced in March by Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), their lobby filing shows.

The House resolution declares that a carbon tax would raise prices for energy and other consumer goods, “fall hardest on the poor, the elderly, and those on fixed incomes,” and hurt the economy and U.S. competitiveness in several ways.

In addition to the carbon measure, the lobbyists will work for Koch on “issues related to the limiting the impact of the Renewable Fuels Standard,” according to the filing, referring to the national biofuels blending mandate that many refiners oppose.

The Koch brothers are major players in conservative politics and bankroll a number of advocacy groups in Washington.

— This story was updated at 10:24 a.m.