Perry, Scott AWOL at Kochfest during state emergencies

Hard to imagine that a governor would abandon a state during a disaster. Even harder to imagine that a governor would do it to attend a fundraiser by  union-busting, oil-speculating, thieving billionaires in order to figure out new ways to attack the middle class.

But that's exactly what Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Florida Gov. Rick Scott did last weekend. ThinkProgress has the story:

As Texas faced some of the worst wildfires in its history and a severe drought crisis that has caused the federal government to declare the entire state a disaster area, its governor was schmoozing with well-heeled conservative donors in Vail, Colorado at a retreat organized by the right-wing industrialist Koch brothers. Gov. Rick Perry (R) left his state without notifying constituents or the press and dodged inquiries into his whereabouts....Perry has spent the past two months complaining that the Obama administration has not been paying enough attention to his state’s fires.

Meanwhile, in Florida, days after declaring a state of emergency for his state’s own climate crisis, Gov. Rick Scott (R) disappeared over the weekend, failing to disclose his whereabouts in his public schedule and refusing to respond to numerous press inquiries. Yesterday, Scott finally admitted he left the state without informing his constituents to attend the the Koch summit. Florida press spent most of the past few days trying to track down the rogue governor while more than 300 wildfires continue to burn in the state...

That's leadership for you.

No arrests at Kochapalooza

Here are the 50 patriotic Americans who protested Koch brothers corruption outside of the latest Kochtopus confab in Vail, Colo.

@ProgressNowCO tweets:

Could there be a more beautiful place to protest Koch Bros corruption? CO represents. 

And:

Colorado Progressives to Koch Brothers: End Your War on the Middle Class

@APkristenwyat tweets:

Common Cause Colo. reports Koch protest over, about 50 people attended, no arrests or problems.

Progress Now Colorado gives us this report on the last-minute protest at Beaver Creek:

Progressives from around Colorado gathered today near a top strategy meeting of conservative funders, officials, and opinion makers near Vail, Colorado organized by the billionaire Koch brothers, to demand an end to recent attacks on Medicare and Social Security, and other institutions vital to the middle class in America.

"The billionaire Koch brothers are leading funders of the Tea Party, and the countless unnamed groups who appear on TV every election spreading misinformation," said Kjersten Forseth, executive director of ProgressNow Colorado. "Their agenda is simple: they want to dismantle Medicare and Social Security, cut education and every other source of public funding beneficial to America's middle class, while giving the wealthy and big corporations even more tax breaks."

"This secret conference is where they plot the next steps," said Forseth.

Secret VIDEO: Kasich thanks Koch front group

Whoa. Here's corporate stooge Ohio Gov. John Kasich posted a secret video on youtube thanking the Kochtopus group Americans for Prosperity (the Tea Party). He tells them

 "... in the four months that I've been Governor, we've accomplished a lot in Ohio... in all of these efforts the strong support of Americans for Prosperity has made a really big difference...

Progress Ohio reports Kasich recorded the video using state resources. Funny, we thought the Tea Party was against Big Government.

Kasich calls the Koch acolytes "Fighters for Freedom" and says,

...it's so important that Ohio's fighters for freedom, the grassroots leaders of Americans for Prosperity, continue to lend their support to the effort to get Ohio back on track."

(NOTE: We do need to know whether Kasich plans to fly to Vail for the Kochapalooza that starts today.)
 
The video is secret because it's unlisted. That means only people who have the link can see it. Well, here's the link.