ALEC: learn this acronym well. It stands for American Legislative Exchange Council.
ALEC is classified as a a 501(c)(3) company, which allows it to hide most of its financial information from the public. In other words, financial information on little things like “grants” from corporations, foundations, and private donors are perfectly protected by law. They don’t have to open their books, nor do politicians have to explain their activities with this corporate organization.
This corporate organization has found a lobbying loophole which allows them to wine and dine high-ranking politicians and call it “education.” They have been tied to numerous Republican bills. Here are a few examples:
- Altria/Philip Morris USA benefits from ALEC’s newest tobacco legislation — an extremely narrow tax break for moist tobacco that would make fruit flavored tobacco products cheaper and more attractive to youngsters.
- Health insurance companies such as Humana and Golden Rule Insurance (United Healthcare), benefit directly from ALEC model bills, such as the Health Savings Account bill that just passed in Wisconsin.
- Tobacco firms such as Reynolds and pharmaceutical firms such as Bayer benefit directly from ALEC tort reform measures that make it harder for Americans to sue when injured by dangerous products.
- Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) benefits directly from the anti-immigrant legislation introduced in Arizona and other states that requires expanded incarceration and housing of immigrants, along with other bills from ALEC’s crime task force. (While CCA has stated that it left ALEC in late 2010 after years of membership on the Criminal Justice Task Force and even co-chairing it, its prison privatization bills remain ALEC “models.”)
- Connections Academy, a large online education corporation and co-chair of the Education Task Force, benefits from ALEC measures to privatize public education and promote private on-line schools.
Read more below.
In case you haven’t guessed, the politicians are mostly Republican. In fact this corporate organization has given awards to numerous Republican politicians. Here is a list of politicians who received rewards…err I mean awards from ALEC. This list is from the website alecexposed.org.
Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, George H.W. Bush, Charles and David Koch, Richard de Vos, Tommy Thompson, Gov. John Kasich, Gov. Rick Perry, Congressman Mark Foley (intern sex scandal), and Congressman Billy Tauzin. ALEC alumni include: Speaker of the House John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Congressman Joe Wilson, (who called President Obama a ?liar? during the State of the Union address), former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, former House Speaker Tom DeLay, Andrew Card, Donald Rumsfeld (1985 Chair of ALEC’s Business Policy Board), Governor Scott Walker, Governor Jan Brewer, and more. Featured speakers have included: Milton Friedman, Newt Gingrich, Dick Cheney, Dan Quayle, George Allen, Jessie Helms, Pete Coors, Governor Mitch Daniels and more.
In the video below we can also see local law enforcement being pimped out by ALEC to remove any pesky reporters who might annoy them with silly questions, like “are there laws being passed in there?” or “are you lobbyist?”?These officers are probably very well paid, and more than likely considered “good cops.”
The problem I have is that these officers could not care less about who they are protecting, and so that gives them a negative image. If ALEC had armed gang members protecting them, it could give you a very bad impression of gang members if you didn’t already have one. So what makes law enforcement think they would be viewed any differently? Blue lives do matter, but so does public perception and trust.
If you protect those who pervert our government, twist it to suit their agenda and not the American people’s will, then many people are going to see you as henchmen for the corporate elite. Until the police can figure out how to become a part of the communities they serve rather than just look to collect paychecks for “doing the job,” then they will always be viewed with suspicion and resentment.
Here’s the video of a local Atlanta news station exposing ALEC activities within their state. The saddest part about this report is that most people can watch it, maybe get angry, but in the end they will shrug their shoulders and accept it. Corporate groups like ALEC are not hiding, and they are not worried about you. Those two facts should scare the hell out of you; it certainly scares me.
