ALEC: Bringing the vast rightwing corporate conspiracy to a legislature near you

[highplainsdem]

And, not surprisingly, the Koch brothers are involved.

I'm talking about the American Legislative Exchange Council.

I don't recall even hearing of this group till I read about its model legislation to disenfranchise many voters, including students, which I posted about in another topic:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x590917

It's likely I did hear of it before but the name of the group, and its attempts to change legislation across the country, didn't register as much as they should have.

If I had been more aware of it, I might not have been wondering, as I'd found myself wondering in recent days, just who was coordinating the very similar rightwing legislation that was being pushed in so many legislatures across the country. Rightwing legislators often don't seem very bright, and this nationwide attempt to change so many policies, so quickly, just seemed too well crafted not to be coordinated. Tonight I found out that it is, and which group is providing the model legislation.

Since other DUers might also be unaware of ALEC, I made the subject line of this OP attention-getting.

I think most DUers are aware there is a real basis for Hillary Clinton's often-derided comment about the "vast rightwing conspiracy" -- and it has everything to do with billionaires who met decades ago to plan how to shove American to the right and limit taxes and government regulation of their businesses.

The same group, basically, that's funding ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council.

This is their website

http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home

and this is their Model Legislation section

http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Model_Legislation1

which provides rightwing legislators with model legislation in these areas:

Civil Justice
Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development
Education
Energy, Environment, and Agriculture
Health and Human Services
International Relations
Public Safety and Elections
Tax and Fiscal Policy
Telecommunications and Information Technology


From the Wikipedia article on ALEC:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Legislative_Exchange_Council

More than thirty years ago, a small group of state legislators and conservative policy advocates met in Chicago to implement a vision: A nonpartisan membership association for state lawmakers who shared a common belief in limited government, free markets, federalism, and individual liberty. Their vision and initiative resulted in the creation of a voluntary membership association for people who believed that government closest to the people was fundamentally more effective, more just, and a better guarantor of freedom than the distant, bloated federal government in Washington, D.C.<3>

At that meeting in September 1973, state legislators, including then Illinois State Representative Henry Hyde, activist Paul Weyrich, and Lou Barnett, a veteran of then Gov. Ronald Reagan's 1968 presidential campaign, together with a handful of others, launched the American Legislative Exchange Council. Among those who were involved with ALEC in its formative years were: Bob Kasten and Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin; John Engler of Michigan; Terry Branstad of Iowa, and John Kasich of Ohio, all of whom moved on to become governors or Members of Congress. Congressional members who were active during this same period included Senators John Buckley of New York and Jesse Helms of North Carolina, as well as Congressmen Phil Crane of Illinois and Jack Kemp of New York.<3>

-snip-

ALEC has approximately three hundred private sector members including corporations, state and national think tanks, and trade associations. Some corporations and trade groups that have supported ALEC include: American Nuclear Energy Council, American Petroleum Institute, Coors Brewing Company, Texaco, Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, VISA, Exxon Mobil, the National Rifle Association, Amway, Koch Industries, and others. Groups critical of ALEC claim that the organization is controlled by the entities that fund it, subsequently promoting donors' agendas and goals, along with attempting to advance legislation that favors their interests.<11><12> NPR reported that the Corrections Corporation of America was present at meetings when legislators were introduced to model immigration laws, used for example as the template for Arizona SB 1070, passed in 2010.<13> The report suggested that the group could be used to avoid state laws requiring legislators to disclose meetings with and gifts from politically unpopular corporations.<14> Shortly after the report was published, ALEC released a response statement addressing some of NPR's accusations.<15>

People for the American Way, the self-proclaimed left-wing advocacy group, refers to ALEC as "a right-wing public policy organization with strong ties to major corporations, trade associations and right-wing politicians" with an agenda that includes "challenging government restrictions on corporate pollution, limiting government regulations of commerce, privatizing public services, and representing the interests of the corporations that make up its supporters." <16>

This 1999 Washington Post story says Richard Mellon Scaife kept ALEC going in its early years:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/scaifegraf050299.htm

ALEC makes a mark with its model legislation. The last time it counted (1995-96), 132 ALEC bills were enacted in various states, from charter school legislation to pro-business bills on environmental and regulatory topics. Many states used its version of welfare reform legislation.

ALEC is unabashedly pro-business. Its expert task forces, which write the model legislation, are composed of legislators and business representatives. About two-thirds of ALEC's $6 million budget comes from corporate contributions.

Scaife has given ALEC more than $2 million since 1975, keeping the group alive in its early years. Now his donations ($75,000 last year) are an insignificant part of its budget.

ALEC prefers to stay under the radar. I suppose they realize voters would be turned off if they knew how much Republican legislation came from model bills drafted by corporations.

This 2010 article from Physician for a National Health Program explains how ALEC was operating in Arizona:

http://pnhp.org/blog/2010/03/16/in-arizona-conservatives-target-single-payer-health-reform-with-deceptive-referendum/

Another article on ALEC, this one from 2005:

http://campusprogress.org/articles/corporations_got_a_problem_call_alec/

Even the politically aware can be forgiven for their ignorance about this conservative ghostbuster. ALEC – the American Legislative Exchange Council – does its best to appear innocuous and fly beneath the radar. In fact, it bills itself as “the nation’s largest bipartisan, individual membership organization of state legislators” that seeks to “advance…Jeffersonian principles.”

Of course, when ALEC says bipartisan, it is referring to the award it recently gave Senator Zell Miller. And by Jeffersonian principles, ALEC apparently means turning legislators into corporate whores. Less than 1% of ALEC’s funding comes from legislator members. The bulk comes from large corporate donors.

That corporate money buys access, and lots of it. ALEC’s “Private Enterprise Board” – a second Board of Directors for the organization – reads like a who’s who of America’s most powerful lobbies: pharmaceuticals, tobacco, the oil industry, and insurance companies are all well represented. There are over 300 corporate sponsors of ALEC, including Coors, Phillip Morris, Shell, Texaco, American Nuclear Energy Council, and many more. The “tort reform” crowd, medical interests, and anti-environmental crowd have gotten what they paid for, too.

-snip-

Additionally, each corporate member of ALEC has the opportunity to pony up a few thousand additional dollars (the actual number is an ALEC secret) for the right to sit on public policy task forces comprised of state legislators and as many corporate representatives as there are corporations willing to pay to play (that’s right, you can, literally, buy votes in ALEC). And where your typical Americans might see conflicts of interest, ALEC sees only opportunity, which might explain how industry representatives end up crafting model legislation that goes under ALEC’s banner, including proposals to allow for-profit private businesses to take over many critical public services including schools, prisons, public transportation and various social services.

More on ALEC, from Progressivestates.org:

http://www.progressivestates.org/content/57/governing-the-nation-from-the-statehouses