In my previous blog I expressed my concerns over the growing movement
to privatize prisons. A regular blog contributor
Medina64 commented and provided links to two NY Times
Op-Ed columns by Paul Klugman. Klugman’s
columns were about the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). “
ALEC
seems, however, to have a special interest in privatization — that is, on
turning the provision of public services, from schools to prisons, over to
for-profit corporations. And some of the most prominent beneficiaries of
privatization, such as the online education company K12 Inc. and the prison
operator Corrections Corporation of America, are, not surprisingly, very much
involved with the organization.”
Prompted by Medina
64’s links I started to look into ALEC. The more I read the more I thought of what Wednesday said in the movie "Addams Family Values" - "Be afraid, be very afraid"
I couldn't believe how many things ALEC was into and here’s how they go
about it.
According to a story on NPR. (John) Nichols, a political reporter for The Nation, recently wrote the
introduction and co-authored two in a series of articles about the relationship
that state-based legislators have with a group called the American Legislative
Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC is a group that brings together state legislators
and representatives of corporations to draft model bills that can then be introduced
at the state level of government. "All of those pieces of legislation and those resolutions [in the documents]
really err toward a goal, and that goal is the advancement of an agenda that
seems to be dictated at almost every turn by multinational corporations,"
Nichols tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "It's to clear the way for lower
taxes, less regulation, a lot of protection against lawsuits, [and] ALEC is
very, very active in [the] opening up of areas via privatization for
corporations to make more money, particularly in places you might not usually
expect like public education."
“Legislators in ALEC pay a minimal
fee to join the group, while corporations pay much more — up to $25,000,
Nichols says. "But once they're in,
they sit at the same table," he says. "On the board of ALEC, you have
an equal number of legislators and corporate members. ... They then set up task
forces to deal with topics like health care, education, election law, and you
have an equal number of legislators and corporate and/or interest groups [and]
think tanks in each grouping. They have to agree on any model bill or model
resolution."
What that means, Nichols says, is
that corporations can veto proposals and ideas that aren't to their liking —
and can also propose measures that are then written into model bills. Those
model bills, he says, are often introduced in multiple places — creating
consistent messages across the country.
 |
| the best politicians money can buy |
So now we have corporate members sitting with legislators and they are
setting up tasks forces and writing legislation. The corporate members wield as much power our
elected officials.
Starting to
get concerned? You should be.
From an editorial in the NY Times – “The Big Money Behind State Laws”
The study, by the liberal group
ProgressVA, found that ALEC had been involved in writing bills that would
Prohibit
penalizing residents for failing to obtain health insurance, undermining the
individual mandate in the reform law. The bill, which ALEC says has been
introduced in 38 states, was signed into law and became the basis for
Virginia’s legal challenge to heath care reform.
·
Require
voters to show a form of identification. Versions of this bill passed both
chambers this month.
·
Encourage
school districts to contract with private virtual-education companies. (One
such company was the corporate co-chair of ALEC’s education committee.) The
bill was signed into law.
·
Call for
a federal constitutional amendment to permit the repeal of any federal law on a
two-thirds vote of state legislatures. The bill failed.
·
Legalize
use of deadly force in defending one’s home. Bills to this effect, which
recently passed both houses, have been backed by the National Rifle
Association, a longtime member of ALEC.
In 2009, 826 ALEC bills were introduced across the nation;
115 became law,. Much of their
legislation is similar to what is presented above. Bills bent on making it harder for minorities
and other groups that support Democrats to vote, obstructing health care
reform, weakening environmental regulations and weakening public- and
private-sector unions.
Bloomburg News ran the story “Koch, Exxon Mobil Among Corporations
Helping Write State Laws”
Koch Industries Inc. and Exxon
Mobil Corp. (XOM) are among companies that would benefit from almost identical
energy legislation introduced in state capitals from Oregon to New Mexico to
New Hampshire -- and that’s by design. The
energy companies helped write the legislation at a meeting organized by a group
they finance, the American Legislative Exchange Council, a Washington-based
policy institute known as ALEC. The
corporations, both ALEC members, took a seat at the legislative drafting table
beside elected officials and policy analysts by paying a fee between $3,000 and
$10,000, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg News.
The Bloomburg News story continues detailing an eight paragraph
resolution from ALEC’s website which states “there has been no credible
economic analysis of the costs associated with carbon reduction mandates” and
“a tremendous amount of economic growth would be sacrificed for a reduction in
carbon emissions that would have no appreciable impact on global concentrations
of carbon dioxide.” The group drafting and endorsing it included
13 legislators from states including Texas, Kansas and Indiana and 21 private
sector members representing companies such as Exxon Mobil, Koch Industries and
BP Plc (BP/), and trade groups including American Electric Power, the American
Petroleum Institute and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy. Koch, a conglomerate that includes oil
refineries, pipelines, chemical producers and paper products, questions the
role of carbon in global warming and opposes efforts to put a price on carbon
emissions.
ALEC published
a report called “ EPA’s Regulatory Train
Wreck: Strategies for State Legislators” which amongst other things claims
to tell the true story of America’s modern clean air and water successes. I knew things weren’t going to go well for them
when they began one chapter “Looking Up:
America’s Untold Clean Air & Water Success Story” with the following
quote.”
“There are laws aimed at pollution
abatement, but they cannot bring clean air and water… it is invention and
development, not legislation or regulation, that has proved our most reliable
instrument of progress.”
-Henry B. du
Pont, 1952
 |
| How's that working for you China? |
So let me get this straight Henry, you’re okay with me calling your
Henry right?. It wasn’t legislation that
brought us clean air and water it was industry practices?? Like the practices that brought us the Love
Canal or the Cuyahoga river starting on fire or maybe Bhopal India. Look at the emerging
industrial nations like China and India?
Oh and by the way China is home to 20 of the world’s 30 most polluted
cities.
The ALEC’s
report urges state lawmakers to adopt resolutions asking their members of
Congress to stop EPA from regulating greenhouse gases “by any means necessary.”
ALEC has also turned its attention to public education. Below is a list of bills ALEC has championed
• Prohibit
penalizing residents for failing to obtain health insurance, undermining the
individual mandate in the reform law. The bill, which ALEC says has been
introduced in 38 states, was signed into law and became the basis for
Virginia’s legal challenge to heath care reform.
• Require
voters to show a form of identification. Versions of this bill passed both
chambers this month.
• Encourage
school districts to contract with private virtual-education companies. (One
such company was the corporate co-chair of ALEC’s education committee.) The
bill was signed into law.
• Call for a
federal constitutional amendment to permit the repeal of any federal law on a
two-thirds vote of state legislatures. The bill failed.
• Legalize
use of deadly force in defending one’s home. Bills to this effect, which
recently passed both houses, have been backed by the National Rifle
Association, a longtime member of ALEC.
So far we
have ALEC involved in targeting education, lobbying for more prisons and
attacking the EPA. We haven’t even
covered their support for the “Stand your ground” laws that are currently under
scrutiny in the Trayvor Martin shooting.
I don’t know who’s scarier ALEC or Alec Baldwin talking to his kid?
So what does it all mean?
According to said Jeremy Kalin, a former Democratic Minnesota state
representative “Corporations are paying
for an opportunity to connect directly with legislators. It’s an end-run around
transparency and disclosure laws. Corporate interests that would otherwise be
required to register as lobbyists are writing legislation behind closed doors.”
Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause, a Washington-based group that
advocates for limits on money in politics said “This is just another hidden way for corporations to buy their way into
the legislative process,”
By ignoring the threat of organizations like ALEC we may end up like Amanda Buckman who in "Addams Family Values" unknowingly cast herself to be a lifelong victim. Gary, the camp councilor, asked for someone to be the drowning victim during first aid training. Amanda shouts "I'll be the victim" and Wednesday astutely replies "All your life". We must not let that happen.
