Kansas-based Koch Industries is the "largest private company in the United States" and, as Wonk Room's Lee Fang recently explained, a prolific patron of right-wing lobbying efforts in D.C.:

Koch Industries, the oil and gas behemoth, bankrolls the astroturf groups Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks. These groups were instrumental in orchestrating the anti-Obama tea party protests, where thousands gathered to display racist signs directed at the President, absurd calls for an impeachment, and more recently, protesters hanging Democratic leaders in effigy. In addition to the anti-Obama protests, these groups provide a useful front for industries as they hire dozens of field staff to spread misinformation about clean energy and bus people around the country to create the guise of public distrust of global warming. Koch has funneled its money not only to these astroturf efforts, but has been a prolific leader in all the aforementioned strategies that industries pursue (Charles Koch even founded the Cato Institute, a leader of global warming skepticism and has spent nearly $4 million in lobbying this year alone). 

Here in Illinois, one particular Republican congressman has benefited from Koch's deep pockets: hardcore climate change skeptic John Shimkus.

During the 2008 election cycle, the downstate representative received $10,000 from the company's PAC.  And according to the committee's most recent FEC filings, Shimkus has so far received $3,500 this year, despite no evidence of a strong Democratic challenge to his seat (this includes a $1,000 check on February 27 and a $2,500 donation on July 27).  Apparently, when it comes to making friends in the oil industry, it pays to put on this sort of display: