Koch Brothers Quietly Seek To Ban New Mass Transit In Tennessee

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6. Koch brothers group works to stop Nashville Amp

The movement to stop a Nashville mass transit plan has gotten an extra boost of horsepower from an unexpected source: the Koch brothers, out-of-state billionaires with a knack for riling America's liberal masses.

The Tennessee office of Americans for Prosperity, a lobbying organization founded and funded by Charles and David Koch, played a big role in passage of state Senate legislation that would stop the $174 million bus rapid transit project known as the Amp. The bill, which is different from the House's version, would make it illegal for buses to pick up or drop off passengers in the center lane of a state road.

StopAmp.org Inc., the leading opposition group, thanked AFP in a news release Thursday, and Andrew Ogles, AFP's state director, said that the group didn't back the effort financially but that the bill grew out of a conversation he had had with Sen. Jim Tracy, the sponsor.

Charles and David Koch live in Kansas and New York, respectively. Their interest in a Nashville transit project doesn't sit well with its supporters.

more at:

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2014/03/31/koch-brothers-group-works-stop-nashville-amp/7100469/