Billionaire plans to target GOP presidential hopefuls

WASHINGTON – Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer's political aides unveiled a campaign Monday to target the 2016 Republican presidential field on climate-change issues in battleground states.

At the center of Steyer's strategy: linking the candidates to the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, whose network has committed to spend nearly $900 million to advance its free-market agenda before the 2016 presidential election.

"The Kochs and their allies are creating the new Koch Republican Party, the party of Big Oil," Chris Lehane, Steyer's top political strategist, said Monday as he announced the new effort to put GOP White House hopefuls on what Steyers' team called the climate-change "hot seat."

Steyer, a retired hedge fund founder worth about $1.6 billion, poured more than $70 million of his fortune into 2014 races to help like-minded Democrats. He emerged as the biggest single super PAC donor of the midterm elections. His NextGen Climate Action super PAC prevailed in two of the four Senate races in which it was active.

Republicans ended up seizing control of the Senate last year, despite an aggressive push by top Democrats to publicly denounce the Kochs' political activism.

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Lehane would not disclose the 2016 budget but said Steyer "will spend what it takes" to make global warming a top political issue.

"We need to act now," Lehane said. "Whoever is the next president really, in our view, represents the last, best shot to avoid a climate disaster for our children."

James Davis, a spokesman for Koch-aligned Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, said his group "will remain focused on advancing free-market principles and a free society."

"Tom Steyer and Chris Lehane have already spent millions of dollars trying to divide America by demonizing job creators, and they've had little return on investment," he said.

The launch of the NextGen campaign comes before a slew of presidential campaign announcements. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is set to kick off his campaign Tuesday in Louisville. . Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., plans an announcement about his political future April 13. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz became the first major Republican candidate to join the race, announcing his bid last month.

Steyer's team is known for its unorthodox campaign tactics, such as hiring an impersonator to mock Republican Ken Cuccinelli during the 2013 Virginia governor's race. In the 2016 presidential battle, Lehane promises more "disruptive" activity, including challenging Paul to take a lie-detector test on global warming this week.

Paul spokesman Sergio Gor said the attention demonstrates that liberals are "worried" about Paul's "appeal to conservatives, independents and even Democrats."

NextGen's target states include Iowa, New Hampshire, Colorado, Florida, Michigan and Florida as it seeks to engage voters, particularly college students and young adults, on environmental issues, Lehane said. He said the campaign plan announced Monday is the first in a series that Steyer's team will roll out before 2016.

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