Koch Industries , the massive petroleum-based conglomerate and perennial political heavy weight, continued to expand its role in the political arena, filling the coffers of federal candidates in September and spending more than $2 million on federal lobbying efforts during the year’s third quarter.

Last month, the company distributed $534,000 among federal candidates and other political groups, according to a Center for Responsive Politics review of the company’s latest campaign finance documents, which were filed Wednesday.

The company, in the news of late for its ties to Republican candidates and conservative causes, helped bankroll many GOP candidates currently battling in some of the tightest and most high-profile races of the 2010 election cycle.

These include a crop of former business leaders now vying for seats in the Senate.

Ron Johnson, the Republican businessman from Wisconsin who is now trying to unseat Democrat and three-term U.S. Senate incumbent Russ Feingold , received $5,000 — the maximum amount a PAC can distribute during the general election.

Fortune magazine’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business for her work at Hewlett-Packard, also received Koch cash. Fiorina is now locked in a tight U.S. Senate race against Democratic incumbent Sen. So did Dino Rossi, a businessman and former state senator from Washington state, in his bid against Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray . Carly Fiorina, the California Republican who once sat atopmagazine’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business for her work at Hewlett-Packard, also received Koch cash. Fiorina is now locked in a tight U.S. Senate race against Democratic incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer

New Yorker, which traced their personal and corporate ties to the Tea Party, a rising political force in U.S. politics. Billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch have been drawn reluctantly into the headlines recently, following Jane Meyer’s piece in the, which traced their personal and corporate ties to the Tea Party, a rising political force in U.S. politics.

For years, Koch Industries has been funding the Americans for Prosperity Foundation and Americans for Prosperity, which has supported many Tea Party efforts. They’ve also been directly solicited by Tea Party groups more recently, the Wall Street Journal reported At least one notable Tea Party candidate received Koch cash in September: Ken Buck, the Republican Senate candidate for Colorado, who rode a wave of Tea Party support to the party nomination earlier this year. Buck received $10,000 from the company’s PAC. (Koch Industries gave Buck $5,000 for the general election, and another $5,000 to help retire his primary debt.)

The company has already contributed to the candidacies of other Tea Party-oriented Senate hopefuls, including Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Pat Toomey.

Since January of this year, Koch Industries’ PAC has contributed $1.2 million to federal candidates and committees.

Before this most recent filing, the PAC had distributed $192,500 to Republican U.S. Senate candidates, compared to just $25,000 to Democratic Senate candidates. A gap also existed in giving to House candidates: Republicans have received $489,000 to the Democrats $76,000.

In September, Koch Industries’ PAC raised $93,300 to add to the $1.1 million it had previously raised. The company ended September with $603,800 cash on hand.

According the a Center for Responsive Politics review of the company’s latest lobbying disclosure reports, also filed Wednesday, Koch Industries invested $2.1 million in federal lobbying between July and September. This is a slight increase from the $1.95 million it has spent during each of the previous quarters this year.

The company spent September lobbying significantly on energy and the environment, among issues.

Though the election seems to have disrupted Democratic plans for comprehensive energy legislation, Koch still made several bills a priority, including the House-approved American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, otherwise known as the Waxman-Markey “cap-and-trade” biil, and the Carbon Limits and Energy for America’s Renewal (CLEAR) Act , another version of the clean energy legislation that Democrats tried to put forward in the Senate, which used a “cap-and-dividend” approach.

Other sources of lobbying activity included the Clean Air Act, homeland security and financial security issues.

Since January, Koch Industries has spent $6 million on lobbying — a figure that puts it roughly on pace with the $6.05 million it spent on federal lobbying between January and September of last year. (Update 10/29: Last year, Flint Hills Resources, a Koch Industries subsidiary, spent an additional $2.5 million on lobbying between January and September, but that company terminated all its lobbying contracts at the end of 2009 and has not lobbied at all this year.)



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