A Republican legislator says Koch Industries privately tried to ensure that he vote to repeal renewable energy standards and arranged for the Kansas Chamber of Commerce to pull its endorsement of him because he questioned the company's lobbying methods.

Rep. Scott Schwab, R-Olathe, said a testy confrontation with Koch Industries executives led to him losing the Kansas Chamber’s support in the 2014 election despite meeting an 80 percent pro-Chamber voting record threshold in each of the past 12 years.

Schwab sent an email to supporters June 12 questioning whether the Kansas Chamber — one of the Statehouse’s most influential lobbying groups — is representing the interests of its member businesses or being used as revenge tool by Koch Industries representatives.

"The implications of such decision making are too numerous to name here," Schwab wrote. "However, the largest is the integrity of the organization. The personal interests of one are jeopardizing the goodwill of the Kansas business community."

Confrontation?

Mike O’Neal, president and CEO of the Kansas Chamber, said via email "the recent Chamber PAC endorsements reflect the judgment of the PAC committee as to who will be receiving a campaign contribution in the balance of the primary cycle," and noted Schwab received a campaign donation from the Chamber after the run-in Schwab cited with the Koch officials.

"Rep. Schwab received a campaign contribution from Chamber PAC as recently as December and he is aware of the reasons he will not receive additional funds in this current cycle," O’Neal wrote. "We are sorry and disappointed that he feels he should receive more funds than he has already received."

Schwab’s campaign had almost $29,000 in cash on hand at the beginning of the year, according to the latest campaign finance filings. John H. Wilson, Schwab’s Republican primary opponent, had $50.

Schwab is on his fifth House term, is chairman of the House Elections Committee and was previously chairman of the Johnson County Republican Party. He ran for Congress in 2006.

According to Schwab's email, his troubles with the state’s "Renewable Portfolio Standards" started last year when a Koch Industries lobbyist approached him after a hearing on repealing the standards. During the hearing, Schwab had commented on the fact that only think tanks and no Kansas businesses testified in favor of repeal.

"After the meeting, Jonathan Small asked if I was supportive of the bill," Schwab wrote. "I responded by asking who was pushing it, and he admitted it was Koch Industries. I told him if he wanted me to vote for the bill, then we needed some Kansas businesses to advocate it, because right now it looked as an anti-business vote. He told me at the time only Koch wanted the measure. I recommended that Koch testify then. Jon said if they did that, people would not like them. My response was that people don't like them anyway, so just be honest."

A call to Schwab went unanswered, and a message was left at Small’s office Monday morning.

Koch Industries’ activities

Koch Industries hasn’t publicly testified on the bills to repeal the renewable standards that have appeared in the past two years.

But last year Small, the company’s Statehouse lobbyist, had private conversations about it with Rep. Dennis Hedke, R-Wichita, the chairman of the House Energy and Environment Committee.

Koch Industries is also active in the American Legislative Exchange Council, and Schwab wrote that his clash with the company came to a head last year at an ALEC conference in Topeka.

According to Schwab, Mike Morgan, Koch’s director of public and government affairs and Mark Nichols, the company’s vice president of the same division, confronted him at the conference about the renewable energy hearings.

Schwab wrote that Nichols "took his business card, shoved it into my ribs on the left side and said from now on, if I wanted to talk to Jon Small, I needed to call him first for permission" and Morgan "aggressively let me know how horrible I was for not voting for the RPS bill (which I did vote for)."

Schwab said he told Morgan that he needed some Kansas businesses to publicly say they wanted the renewable standards repealed, but Morgan wasn’t mollified.

"He then said that I would vote to keep hookers working in Kansas if it meant no businesses ask for it," Schwab wrote. "To which I said, ‘Are you equating yourself to hookers?’ Needless to say, Mike's tone spiraled."

An email seeking comment from Morgan and Nichols was sent Monday to Koch Industries’ director of corporate communications.

Aftermath

Schwab wrote that he believes the conversation with Nichols and Morgan lost him the Kansas Chamber’s endorsement. He said he has gotten no explanation from the chamber’s lobbyist and legislative liaison, except that his "attitude is not right."

O’Neal, in his email, didn’t state why Schwab lost the endorsement, but said it wasn’t because of the conversation with Nichols and Morgan.

"Given the support he received in December, his reference to an admittedly non-Chamber related matter that supposedly occurred last year is without merit," O’Neal wrote.

Rep. Tom Moxley, R-Council Grove, who serves with Schwab on the energy committee, called Schwab an "independent thinker" and said Schwab’s independence appears to have "been his downfall" in this case.

Moxley, who has voted against repealing the renewable standards, said he read Schwab’s email and found it insightful.

"It just lifts the covers off the Wizard of Oz so we know the Koch family is pulling the strings in the Kansas Chamber," Moxley said.