Saturday, August 10, 2013

ALEC and You!



By Jeff Simpson

Wait a minute, sorry for the misleading headline.  It should read ALEC could care less about you!  

For those people who have been living under a rock lately, or too busy working three jobs and trying to take care of your kids after the George Bush recession and the Scott Walker forced pay cuts, there is a group that has been around for a long time but only recently have people been paying attention. 

They call themselves the American Legislative Exchange Council  or ALEC:  Our friends at the Center for Media and Democracy are the ones to thank for exposing this shado, clandestine, anti- American(more on this later) group to the public!  

ALEC is not a lobby; it is not a front group. It is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, behind closed doors, corporations hand state legislators the changes to the law they desire that directly benefit their bottom line. Along with legislators, corporations have membership in ALEC. Corporations sit on all nine ALEC task forces and vote with legislators to approve “model” bills. They have their own corporate governing board which meets jointly with the legislative board. (ALEC says that corporations do not vote on the board.) Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. Participating legislators, overwhelmingly conservative Republicans, then bring those proposals home and introduce them in statehouses across the land as their own brilliant ideas and important public policy innovations—without disclosing that corporations crafted and voted on the bills. ALEC boasts that it has over 1,000 of these bills introduced by legislative members every year, with one in every five of them enacted into law. ALEC describes itself as a “unique,” “unparalleled” and “unmatched” organization. We agree. It is as if a state legislature had been reconstituted, yet corporations had pushed the people out the door.

ALEC realized LONG ago that there is no need to waste money lobbying the federal level when buying state politicians was so much more cost effective!    While ALEC does buy bipartisan legislators, the vast vast vast majority of representatives they buy are republicans(I know surprise surprise).  In Wisconsin, ALEC is almost the sole driving force behind the extreme right wing agenda that has been forced through our state legislature.  

Just as Mark Pocan did last year, Future Governor Chris Taylor has done this year, attend the ALEC convention.    I admire the courage of an out gay man and a strong woman heading to a conference full of rich white men with 1920's attitudes!    Future Governor Taylor has chronicled her adventure here

One special interest lobbyist I spoke with advocated a convoluted constitutional amendment strategy to require that all federal agency regulations receive Congressional approval. When I responded that voters might not be that excited about changing the constitution for regulatory “reform,” he responded that you didn’t really need the consent of the people if you had Republican control of enough states and the corporate money that would surely fund such an initiative. In the ALEC universe, policies no longer have to be by the people or for the people.
More on ALEC here and here and if you have an hour watch this GREAT Bill Moyers show on the United States of ALEC (Special guest star - Wisconsin).  

Finally back to the Anti-American comment from above.  At their recent convention in Chicago, ALEC let Leah Vukmir present the (I sh*t you not) Thomas Jefferson award to OK Governor Fallin(aptly named).  



 OK Gov. Fallin receiving the Thomas Jefferson Award @ the American Legislative Exchange Council - so honored to present this award to a great leader and supporter of Jeffersonian principles!
Thomas Jefferson is rolling over in his grave after seeing this, I can not think of a worse way to honor his legacy!!

Speaking of "Jefferson principles" Leah:


“I hope we shall...crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and to bid defiance to the laws of our country.”
--Thomas Jefferson, letter to George Logan, November 12, 1816

D'OH!



30 comments:

  1. If they are so secretive why would they allow the opposition in?

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    1. Don't confuse Jeff with logical questions! ;) The answer of course is: ALEC is far from secret. In fact, it's bipartisan. That's why Pocan was able to join every bit as easily as his conservative counter parts. In fact, legislators, including Pocan, are given a discount on the membership fees.

      Secondly, ALEC offers legislative models. But they can't pass any legislation. That's up to politicians themselves.

      Bitching about ALEC is low hanging fruit- left to election losers.

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    2. Yes, it's up to the legislators -- ALEC's water carriers.

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    3. They let Rep. Taylor in (after she coughed up about a thousand bucks), but wouldn't provide her with an agenda and treated her like vermin. She wrote about her experiences recently in The Progressive.

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  2. I believe that when politicians enact ALEC's "model" legislation, it could be considered treason, and that such politicians are the "domestic" enemies referred to in the phrase "... supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic". ALEC, the enemy within.

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    1. Then you have no idea what treason means. But you're welcome to continue those beliefs.

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    2. Deliberately circumventing the people to pass a secret agenda is antithetical to everything this nation stands for, and is therefore treasonous.

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  3. If you would read the links....while they let "opposition" in. The yget granted hardly any access. As Future Governor Chris Taylor points out she tried over and over to get into the conference, eventually had to pay her own money and was never ever given the full agenda.

    So the answer is they have to grant some access to any lawmaker but the true answer is anon 2:55 is LYING to you. they are very secretive, if it wasnt for the great work Lisa Graves and her crew did we would have no idea who was even in ALEC.

    Yes they cant technically pass legislation themselves, but they give them to the legislators that they buy(like robin vos) who then submits them almost word for word and pass them. These are not "models" they are edicts.

    The question Anon is why would you defend such a thing? are you part of the group or do you just wish that you were?

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  4. Yes! Thank God for Lisa! Without her, neither of your readers would EVER have stumbled upon the hundreds of articles, blogs, news segments, videos, or photographs detailing ALEC! And it's not like "just anyone" could google these facts for themselves.

    Strange though...this "clandestine" group allows members to tweet pictures of events to the public? Bit careless isn't it? Are there a ton of CIA operatives documenting their day on twitter?

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    1. Try as you may, you can't downplay the pervasive, negative impact of ALEC on our legislative process and by extension, our country.

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  5. I think it is time that we be fair and not accuse ALEC of writing all legislation passed by Wisconsin Republicans.

    GTAC WROTE THE MINING BILL
    http://stellareport.blogspot.com/2013/07/who-wrote-mining-bill-gtac-wrote-mining.html

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  6. You got to love it! Jeff I describes the ALEC as "a conference full of rich white men" and there's a picture of Wisconsin Sen. Leah Vukmir presenting an award to Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin. Can't say our Lefty friends don't love them their stereotypes. Where's ol' Daddy Warbucks?

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    1. You're really going to point out someone else as making sweeping generalizations while doing the exact same thing? Projection is a sign of mental illness and instability.

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    2. I never said Jeff Simpson was mentally ill or unstable, just liberal.

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  7. We will let someone who was actually there explain it!

    http://www.slypodcasts.com/apps/blog/state-rep-chris-taylor-dark-tales-from

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  8. Wisconsin Republicans enacted Act 10 limits on public sector collective bargaining without any model legislation from ALEC. Funny how that works.

    Justice Brandeis called the states the laboratories of democracy. Does it make sense that that legislators might share best practices? If an idea is working in one state might it be recommended to other states? If liberals do not have an equivalent organization then why don't they?

    There's no mystery to the American Legislative Exchange Council. Nor doe sit take an intrepid Woodward, Bernstein & Taylor to penetrate the wall of secrecy -- because there is none. They've got a website. You can look up their model legislation on-line. It says upfront the organization is dedicated to limited government (thank you, Tom Jefferson), free markets (boo to tariffs), and federalism.

    See for yourself: http://www.alec.org/ -- unless you prefer your dark conspiracy theories.

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    1. My question to you is are you truly that misinformed to think that Walker wrote act10 or do you purposefully lie? What is the point of lying? do you get compensated for incompetence, the way Joe Knilans and Cynthia Archer do?

      Walker is a college drop out he isnt writing anything on his own. Everyone who pays attention knows that!

      http://scholarcitizen.williamcronon.net/2011/03/15/alec/


      Anyone paying attention, as The Future Governor Chris Taylor points out, dissent was not really allowed.

      There is not suggestions to legislation, they are mandates! That is why the repubs have gotten so lazy and scared that they just introduce them word for word. Would have to change anything that might effect the legislation and God forbid they think for themselves!

      The one thing that really bugs me about all of this though is how you guys mis represent and bastardize Thomas Jefferson;s legacy.

      I know you dont know this, but when Corporations got too powerful in the time of the Founders, they threw their products into the harbor.

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    2. “Wisconsin Republicans enacted Act 10 limits on public sector collective bargaining without any model legislation from ALEC. Funny how that works.”

      You’re correct in that Act 10 wasn’t a direct copy of any single ALEC model legislation. They didn’t just print out ALEC legislation and submit it, if that’s what you mean. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/01/1060715/-Florida-Republican-Submits-Anti-Corporate-Tax-Bill-Without-Removing-ALEC-Mission-Statement

      http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=47911

      That doesn’t mean that it wasn’t based on ALEC legislation or didn’t include any provisions of ALEC model legislation though. Most notably, the Public Employer Payroll Deduction Policy Act http://alecexposed.org/w/images/c/c9/1R9-Public_Employer_Payroll_Deduction_Policy_Act_Exposed.pdf

      And the Public Employee Freedom Act http://alecexposed.org/w/images/1/15/1R8-Public_Employee_Freedom_Act_Exposed.pdf

      The intent of both of these bills, as well as Act 10, was to cripple public sector unions, which has long been front and center on the ALEC corporate wish list. You can bury your head in the sand and pretend that Act 10 wasn’t based on ALEC legislation if you so choose, but that’s really just willful ignorance on your part, which harms only your credibility. Funny how that works.

      “Justice Brandeis called the states the laboratories of democracy. Does it make sense that that legislators might share best practices? If an idea is working in one state might it be recommended to other states?”

      Is that how you rationalize the wholesale sell out of our legislative process to corporate interests? As “best practices”? Yes, I’m sure if it’s working for corporate interests in one state, it would be great for the citizenry to import it to another without regard to its implications of the citizenry of those states. It’s great that there’s a cabal of sycophants and their sociopathic masters who can get together and share not only ideas, but direct legislation for how to fleece the citizenry for their own financial benefit. What’s even better, is that they have a willing lickspittle to go and fluff for them on blogs logic-defyingly referring to their efforts as “democracy”. No, you’re totally correct. The direct sellout of not just political allegiance, but actual legislation is beneficial to, and in no way is irreconcilable with democracy. How incredibly astute. My god, do you actually believe the crap you’re espousing or is this just an example of extreme cognitive dissonance and your unwillingness to admit that politicians you’ve supported have sold out the interests of your state to corporate profiteers?

      “If liberals do not have an equivalent organization then why don't they?”

      Probably because, and I can really only speak for myself here, liberals don’t value the pursuit of profit as the highest virtue in life. We don’t believe in selling out the interests of our families, neighbors, and communities so that some A-hole corporate executive can add 1.25% profit to their bottom line over last year at the expense of the entirety of the middle class. Possibly because liberals don’t get our values from a science fiction novel written by a hypocrite who peddled selfishness as the highest aspiration one can have. Maybe because liberals are able to critically examine things like history and reality and understand that corporations don’t have
      constituents’ best interests in mind. Likely because liberals understand that the purchasing of the democratic process necessarily corrupts it. Finally, definitely because liberals believe government should serve the people, and not a pack of corporate despots that are so myopic that they can’t even see that their policies will inevitably cause irrevocable harm, even to their own interests. In short, liberals don’t have an ALEC equivalent because we aren’t conservatives.

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    3. (contd)

      “There's no mystery to the American Legislative Exchange Council. Nor doe sit take an intrepid Woodward, Bernstein & Taylor to penetrate the wall of secrecy -- because there is none. They've got a website. You can look up their model legislation on-line.”

      Yes, that’s true. ALEC does list some of it’s model legislation online, since March of this year that is. That is a result of a nearly two year push by public interest groups to be more transparent. I guess you left out that minor, insignificant detail. It wasn’t until July of 2011 that we really knew anything about ALEC’s model bills. That only happened as a result of a whistleblower with access to the bills provided copies of the model legislation to CMD. http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposedhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/15/alec-model-legislation_n_2885570.html

      So, in actuality, it did, “take an intrepid Woodward, Bernstein & Taylor to penetrate the wall of secrecy”. It's actually a remarkably apt comparison. Not that that wall has been completely pierced mind you. Since you claim there isn’t any secrecy, perhaps you could tell us the names of ALEC's legislative members and corporate sponsors, as well as the names of the individuals representing corporations on ALEC committees? Surely you can provide that information as there is no wall of secrecy according to you. It shouldn’t be too hard with an organization as benevolent, transparent, and such an unparalleled dedication to democracy as ALEC. Furthermore, since elected legislators are attending the meetings as pubic representatives, often on the public dime, discussion potential public policy, shouldn’t the task force meetings at which bills are discussed and voted on be made public? It is disingenuous at best to suggest that regarding ALEC and secrecy, “there is none”. You cannot possibly be that daft.

      How sad it is to see an average American citizen, one with a forum to reach others no less, actively defending the selling out the interests of his fellow citizens as some sort of expansion of democracy . It’s one thing to cheerlead your team. It’s not uncommon to see current events filtered through a lens of personal bias, we all have it. It’s human, and inescapable. It's healthy to have an exchange of differing ideas, based on their merits. That's healthy and necessary for democracy.It’s another thing entirely to see an obvious, egregiously harmful organization, and to willfully misrepresent its intent, effects, and actions because its actors are largely members of your perceived political team. ALEC hurts the legislative process, it corrupts it by its very nature. It actively harms our states and communities, if not by design then as a byproduct of its self serving goals. It threatens democracy, it doesn’t strengthen it. Your willingness to suggest otherwise screams volumes about you as a person. It doesn't make you a patriot. It doesn't make you a concerned citizen. It doesn't demonstrate your dedication to the principles of freedom or any other such abstract, esoteric nonsense. Putting the interests of global corporations, and a political party, ahead of and at odds with the well being of the country does fit one definition though. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/treason
      By all means, keep toadying for the corporate oligarchy. They may even shake your hand and thank you, but they’re not going to invite you to join their little club. You can continue fluffing for them, just remember to swallow when they finally blow their load.

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    4. Game Set and Match....that was the ULTIMATE takedown....

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  9. Pitiful, Jeff. Just pitiful.

    You stoop to name-calling (I am a "liar"?) You accuse me of being on the take. (I GIVE money to Scott Walker, I do not take it.) You disparage Walker's intelligence by pointing out he did not take a college degree (but then, neither did Steve Jobs) -- and you still couldn't beat him?

    If Walker and his legislative sponsors did not write Act 10, please divulge your journalistic scoop for the world to see. Who dunnit? As far as dissent not being allowed, how many dissenters did Graeme Zielinski expel from the last Democrat(ic) state convention? That was a liberal conclave; ALEC is a conservative/libertarian get-together.

    "Anyone paying attention ..." is another of your meaningless verbal tics. It actually means: "Anyone who agrees with me ...: (It adds nothing to the argument.)

    Whatever do you mean by "not suggestions [but] mandates." What happens to Sen. Vukmir if she does not introduce the ALEC 'mandated' legislation? Broken thumbs?

    Finally, some history: Corporations in Thomas Jefferson's time were royal grants of monopoly. Think: East India Company, Hudson Bay Co., etc. There's a reason the libertarians call themselves Tea Partiers, Jeff. It was a tax protest!

    Here is Wikipedia: "The Boston Tea Party ... was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston ... against the tax policy of the British government and the East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies."

    But then, everybody who's paying attention knows that!

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  10. Shane, name the members of One Wisconsin Now. Name the members of People for the American Way. Name the members of Russ Feingold's new 401(c)3. BTW: small correction: Graeme Zielinski expelled journalists from the last Demo convo.

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    1. "Shane, name the members of One Wisconsin Now. Name the members of People for the American Way."

      Actually, those are both 501(c)(4) non-profit, issue advocacy groups, and as such, can actively attempt to influence legislation and lobby, and are subject to certain taxes.

      "Name the members of Russ Feingold's new 401(c)3."

      Unless Russ Feingold recently started an organization that focuses on pension plans and profit sharing, http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-08-40.pdf

      I assume you mean Progressives United http://www.progressivesunited.org/ Which as you can see, is also a 501(c)(4). You can see their spending information, etc. here- http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00279901

      ALEC is organized as a 501 (c)(3), which has significantly more limitations. ALEC flaunts these laws though, and claims its activities are not lobbying. I suggest you take a bit of time to familiarize yourself with the structure of an organization before you run around advocating for it.

      The organizations you named don't have members in the same manner that ALEC does. They do not have elected legislators as dues paying members. They do not directly write legislation for puppet legislators to submit. So please, stop with the false equivalencies.

      Now, I'm all for the elimination of PACs, lobbyists, and 501 (c)(anything), as it relates to political influence. It all corrupts by its very nature. Somehow though, I suspect that isn't what you were referring to.

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  11. One last thing:

    name the members of One Wisconsin Now. Name the members of People for the American Way. Name the members of Russ Feingold's new 401(c)3.

    Show me the time where any of these groups had a retreat with dem legislators where they handed them actual legislation to pass? Sow me the time where a dem legislator tried to pass word for word, a model piece of legislation written by any of these groups.

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    1. That's right. I forgot, One Wisconsin, Progs United, and People for the American Way don't influence legislation. RIGHT! False distinctions, people.

      One more thing, whether it's Robin Vos or Scott Fitzgerald, their legislation is out in the open where everyone can see it. They conduct public hearings (26 hours worth on Act 10) and roll call votes. Voters can turn them out of office or return them to office. It's something called democracy. Your problem is that you're working on a pretty good State of Wisconsin losing streak.

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    2. "That's right. I forgot, One Wisconsin, Progs United, and People for the American Way don't influence legislation. RIGHT! False distinctions, people. "

      Uh huh, yup, straight for the straw man I see. Go ahead, beat that straw man to death. It only further serves to underscore how ridiculously untenable your position is. Good for you!

      "They conduct public hearings (26 hours worth on Act 10) and roll call votes. Voters can turn them out of office or return them to office. It's something called democracy."

      So let me get this straight. And please, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. To you, democracy consists of a group of out of state corporate sponsors financing the campaigns of legislators. Once elected, those legislators sit down with those same corporate sponsors and receive legislation that is written specifically for the interest of those corporate sponsors. The legislators return to their respective branches of government and submit that legislation and press for it to become law, without disclosing to the voting public who wrote it. That, in your brilliant estimation, is how democracy works? Yeah, if I close my eyes I can almost hear Jefferson making those same statements. I guess assembly Republicans cutting off debate and public hearings while there were still people waiting to testify, (you know, actual people. State residents. Constituents of those same assemblymen and women) is a resounding win for democracy. I guess in your version of democracy their voices don't matter as they aren't backed up by large campaign contributions. No, in your little fantasy world, removing the budgetary provisions after telling the entirety of the state that the whole reason for the repair bill was so urgent was to fix the budget, so it could be voted on in the dead of night with under two hours notice and no input from the public is a model of democracy? Seriously, that's your idea of how the democratic process works?

      Wow, you're either delusional, blatantly intellectually dishonest, or legally retarded.

      "Your problem is that you're working on a pretty good State of Wisconsin losing streak. "

      Guess what genius, if you live in Wisconsin, it's your problem too. We, as citizens of the state, are losing. We're losing to corporate interests. We're losing to the politicians who would sell our interests for campaign donations. We're losing to out of state money whose only concern is pillaging the resources of our state for financial gain. Here's the real kicker, we're losing, largely because of the willful ignorance of people like you. You can pretend that your interests lie not with ours, as citizens living in the state, but with those corporate entities that you embarrasingly prostrate yourself in front of. You're only fooling yourself though. The rest of us are just laughing at you for your inability to come to terms with reality, while wishing your delusion was only an act. I sincerely hope that it is. My god what a transparent joke you are.

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  12. Right - which is why they sign secrecy agreements, break open meetings laws and will never ever meet with anyone who is not a donor/lobbyist.

    yes I see Vos and Fitzgerald and they just scream open government and transparency.

    Granted if your a married woman you can get a meeting with either of them but no one else can.

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