Wednesday warns us about The American Legislative Exchange Council

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.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/opinion/krugman-lobbyists-guns-and-money.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

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.

http://www.npr.org/2011/07/21/138537515/how-alec-shapes-state-politics-behind-the-scenes

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.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/opinion/the-big-money-behind-state-laws.html

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.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-21/koch-exxon-mobil-among-corporations-helping-write-state-laws.html

So what does buying your way into the “DEMOCRATIC” legislative process allow you to do you say?  Well if you just happen to be in a business where it is profitable to ignore the SCIENCE of global warming (see http://cakeordemocracy.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-we-lost-our-focus-on-global-warming.html) then here’s what you get.

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.

http://www.parentsunited.org/news-events/2012-hot-topic/alec-education-agenda/

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.

For more information I recommend the website http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed