According to N.Y. Times columnist [[Paul Krugman]]: "The state of Wisconsin owns a number of plants supplying heating, cooling, and electricity to state-run facilities (like the [[University of Wisconsin]]). The language in the budget bill would, in effect, let the governor privatize any or all of these facilities at whim. Not only that, he could sell them, without taking bids, to anyone he chooses. And note that any such sale would, by definition, be 'considered to be in the public interest.'” There is speculation that Koch Industries would be sold the plants.<ref name=pk/>
===Group Anonymous targets Koch in retaliation===
On February 27, 2011, [[Wikileaks]] supporter [[Anonymous]] announced an attack on [[Koch Industries]]<ref>http://www.scribd.com/doc/49513260/OpWisconsin</ref> as a response to the Wisconsin protests. Between 1997 and 2008, [[David Koch|David]] and [[Charles Koch]] collectively gave more than $17 million to groups lobbying against unions<ref>http://www.npr.org/2011/02/25/134040226/in-wis-union-battle-focus-on-billionaire-brothers</ref>; the Kochs are one of (Republican) Governor Walker's largest corporate supporters.<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/us/22koch.html?_r=1</ref> Anonymous accused the brothers of attempting "to usurp American Democracy" and called for a boycott of all Koch Industries products.<ref>http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/27/anonymous-targets-the-brothers-koch-claiming-attempts-to-usurp-american-democracy/</ref><ref>http://www.care2.com/causes/politics/blog/anonymous-joins-madison-protests-takes-down-koch-bros-website/</ref>
Under "Operation Wisconsin," Anonymous members took down the website of the Koch-funded group [[Americans for Prosperity]] with a distributed denial of service attack on Feb. 27, 2011. In a press release, Anonymous wrote:<ref>[http://gawker.com/#!5771854/anonymous-attacks-the-koch-brothers-to-support-wisconsin-protests "Anonymous Attacks Koch Brothers to Support Wisconsin Protests"] Gawker, Feb. 27, 2011.</ref>
"Koch Industries, and oligarchs like them, have most recently started to manipulate the political agenda in Wisconsin. Governor Walker's union-busting budget plan contains a clause that went nearly unnoticed. This clause would allow the sale of publicly owned utility plants in Wisconsin to private parties (specifically, Koch Industries) at any price, no matter how low, without a public bidding process. The Koch's have helped to fuel the unrest in Wisconsin and the drive behind the bill to eliminate the collective bargaining power of unions in a bid to gain a monopoly over the state's power supplies."
==Legislative issues==