American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)

This was sent to me from a friend. A bit shocking to say the least

I didn’t know about the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) until about 8 weeks ago. Since that time it has basically consumed my life.  The fact that our State legislators are sitting at the table with companies such as Koch, WalMart and AT&T drafting, deliberating and approving “model legislation” for our states and our country - makes me sick.  The fact that our legislators think this is okay, is revolting to  me.
The fact that all the companies that belong to ALEC have the money to lobby our US government and in addition, have the ability to affect the legislation at the State level through ALEC state legislative members, makes me sick.  The fact that our legislators at the state and federal government condone this, is revolting to me.
Based on my research I have come to the opinion that ALEC is subverting American democracy and the democratic (small d) process, at all levels of the government, in the name of free markets and federalism (which in this case is a truly horrible thing).
Over the course of the past two months I have spent my nights and weekends trying to find out as much as I could about ALEC. I wanted to know who their members were.  I wanted to look at the legislation they were proposing.  I wanted to know exactly which of their “model legislation” was passed as law. I wanted to know what their “real” philosophy was.  I wanted to know what their “true” purpose was.  So I started doing research.  Doing research on ALEC is difficult as they “scrub of the web” quite often, now-a-days.
First it’s important to know that they do not post their full member lists for public review.  Second, with the exception of a few publications that contain actual ALEC “Model legislation” you cannot find samples of the legislation because it is in the “members only” are of their web page and requires a sign in and password.  Their member magazine will give one paragraph summaries of what “model legislation” is available - but you have to be a member to access it on their web page.  Nowhere do they expound their true philosophy or what their true purpose is – you have to be a member of their club to find that our.
I spent hours researching members of ALEC.  I found letters ALEC sent to Congress with member names as signatories. I searched their member publication (Inside ALEC) for names of members.  I searched the web. After all that research, I could come up with a list of only 340 names of past and current state legislators who are/were members. This is troubling because ALEC’s 2011 Media Kit claims a membership of over 1/3 of all state legislators, 7,382 elected members serve in the nation's 50 state legislatures which means their state legislator membership would be about 2,460.
In addition to state members, ALEC has United States Congress “alumni” which ALEC acknowledges publicly.  Their acknowledgement letter of November 10, 21010 identifies the names of 30 ALEC members who were “elevated to federal office”. Through research I was able to identify 117 “former ALEC members” in the United States House and Senate.   BUT, the question that begs to be answered is – Exactly how many United States House and Senate members are past members of ALEC?  The reason they are alumni is because they can no longer belong to ALEC – but it is important to note that these US congressional members have been “educated on public policy” by ALEC.  Even though the actual US House or Senate member no longer belongs to ALEC, that does not mean they have cut their ties with ALEC.  My research shows multiple instances of their chief of staff belonging to ALEC.  In addition, United States Congress “alumni”  can still participate with the organization as speakers at the ALEC meetings – which they do, frequently, showing their support for ALEC and indoctrinating the state legislators that are in attendance.
Someone posted that attendance to these meetings is “by scholarship”.  I think not – not totally.  I found a memo from about 10 years ago where members of the Montana legislature are approving the costs of attendance to an ALEC event.  A web entry about Tennessee legislators attending an ALEC meeting states that the taxpayers of Tennessee picked up a bill for those legislators of over $15,000.  My conclusion – I believe that as taxpayers, we are paying the majority of costs for state legislators to attend ALEC meetings and this has to stop.  We have to stop the expenditure of taxpayers money being spent on ALEC “Education” of our lawmakers.
ALEC’s level of hypocrisy, which is unbelievable in it’s scope, is evident in today’s activities in Wisconsin and across the United States.  In my research on ALEC, I have acquired many ALEC documents, going back to 1998.  Twenty nine of those ALEC documents have articles that discuss unions and union representation.  ALEC has historically vilified the unions.

In an ALEC Issue Analysis (2001) by the Evergreen Foundation it states, “The NEA provides paid staff to assist in local, state and federal campaigns and help carry out stealth political activities that circumvent disclosure and scrutiny.” (p. 2)

 

In their report “ Crisis in State Spending: A Guide for State Legislators” (2002), it states, “Members of labor unions are forced by union leaders into paying tribute to the union bosses, with much of the money going for political activity not supported by the rank and file.” (p. 11)

 

On the front cover of January 2011 edition of Inside ALEC, an article is noted named “Public Employee Unions: Pushing Government to Bankruptcy”.   In this article it is stated “To reduce the size of government and close budget gaps, legislators should limit the power of public employee unions.” (p. 10)

 ALEC believes it is acceptable practice for their 500 “private sector members” to sit with 2,700 state legislators drafting, deliberating and approving model legislation for our states and our country.  ALEC vilifies the unions for their perceived political power.  I have yet to see the unions of America sitting down with 2,700 state legislators drafting “model legislation”.   I am as liberal as you can get.  I believe in a multiple party system.  I believe in the concept of rank choice voting.  I do not believe in private corporations and the ultra-wealthy subverting our democracy by using organizations that are not forthright about their membership or their true mission and purpose.  To me what is happening is a bizarre and very scary 21st century remake of “The Birth of a Nation”, with ALEC being victorious over the downtrodden of United States of America.
Republican goons go after people like Professor Cronon, who is using his first amendment rights in a very subdued manner, but chose the wrong topic, ALEC.  If we let this organization continue to proliferate, I hate to see what the end result will be.
The American Legislative Exchange Council use to put this disclaimer on the inside cover of  the reports they disseminated to their members:

ALEC is classified by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) non-profit and public policy and educational organization. Individuals, philanthropic foundations, corporations, companies, or associations are eligible to support ALEC’s work through tax-deductible gifts. Nothing contained herein should be construed as necessarily reflecting the view of the American Legislative Exchange Council, its Board of Directors, or its membership, or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before the U.S. Congress or in any state legislatures.

In the ALEC 2010 “The State Legislators Guide to Prescription Drug Policy” they put this on the inside cover:

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, voluntary membership association of state legislators, with nearly 1,800 members across the nation. ALEC’s mission is to promote free markets, limited government, individual liberty, and federalism through its model legislation in the states. Guided by the principle that the best health care is patient-driven, not government-driven, ALEC’s Health and Human Services Task Force has been a national leader in promoting free-market, pro-patient health care reform at the state level. Since 2005, 22 states have enacted model legislation developed by ALEC’s Health and Human Services Task Force.

They believe they have won – they believe they do not need to use a disclaimer anymore. It’s time for us to show them – they have not won!