The ALEC 5!

Common Cause and the Center for Media & Democracy have been following and exposing ALEC's activities in Wisconsin.  They have done Yeoman's work on this important issue!  Such good work that 5 of Wisconsin's republican assemblymen tried to break the law to keep their association with ALEC private.  

  

"Please send ALL ALEC material to the Representative's PERSONAL email . . . from now on," says a June email to ALEC sent from Jeremy Thiesfeldt's state account.

The good folks at CC and CMD did not give up though and took these five to court, and of course, easily won.   Now the fact that these five "fiscal conservative" republican's tried to govern in private, it ended up costing the taxpayers of Wisconsin $2520 in court costs and fees.   There are plenty of places that could use that money right now!  

Five Wisconsin state legislators have agreed to turn over any correspondence and documents with or related to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and held on their personal email accounts; the action settles a lawsuit brought by the Center for Media and Democracy and Common Cause.

The Attorney General’s office will conduct the agreed-upon document search.

"As part of the settlement agreement, the five legislators admitted that ALEC-related records were held on their personal email accounts and are covered by the Open Records Law," said Center for Media and Democracy Staff Counsel Brendan Fischer, who filed the complaint. "They are finally complying with the law and agreeing to release those records to the public."

The five legislators -- Representatives Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R-Fond du Lac), Tyler August (R-Lake Geneva), Dan Knodl (R-Germantown), Tom Larson (R-Colfax), and Pat Strachota (R-West Bend) -- also acknowledged they have a duty as elected officials to fully comply with records requests from the public. They will pay $2,520 in court costs and attorney’s fees involved in bringing the lawsuit.

 "This agreement should put to rest Rep. Pat Strachota’s ridiculous assertion to the press that the suit was a 'political witch hunt,' and ALEC’s absurd claim that seeking its communications with lawmakers was 'abusing' the open records law," said Lisa Graves, Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy, which publishes PRWatch.org and ALECexposed.org.

However I doubt it will put to rest Stachota's ridiculousness or ALEC's desire to remain secret.   I also doubt it will mean that republicans will agree to open government in the future.  Remember this is the group that signed "secrecy agreements" during the redistricting process!   

For those of you who care about transparency, open government, not ceding responsibility to shadow organizations and wasting valuable taxpayer money should take a look at these legislators who stand for all of these things and their races!   

1.   Jeremy Thiesfeldt of the 52nd Assembly district.  To change from the tea party extreme to join the ranks of the rest of Wisconsin, Paul Czisny will represent you!  Check his website out here and his facebook page here! 

2.  Tyler August of the 32nd Assembly District.   If you understand that to move WI Forward to the future and job creation, you do NOT cut $1.6 Billion from education, then support and vote for Kim Peterson!  Her website is here and her facebook page is here!

3.  Dan Knodl of the 24th Assembly District.  If you are sick of wild partisan conspiracy theories and blatant dishonesty in advertising and want to be represented by a moderate intelligent skilled thoughtful representative, then Shan Haqqi is the one to vote for.  Check out Shan's website here and his facebook page here! 

4.   Tom Larson of the 67th Assembly District.  If you realize that the health care system in our country and state is broken and needs fixing and want someone with real world experience and ideas to do so, the support and vote for Deb Bieging!  Her website is here and her facebook page is here!

5.  Pat Strachota of the 58th Assembly District.  Unfortunately, Strachota is running unopposed.  If you want to know why the Wisconsin Democratic Party would allow an extremist who completely disregards open government like Strachota to run unopposed please contact the Wisconsin Democratic Party - infor@wisdems.org and (608) 255-5172

Let's show a message to all politicians and let them know that shadow private government behind closed doors and private email accounts is not something we will tolerate in WI!  

Wisconsin Needs Some Koch Blockers

The Center for Media and Democracy has a big piece showing how ALEC had their filthy fascist fingers in the creation of Stand Your Ground laws and Castle Doctrine laws.

But there is a part of their article that really raised the hackles on the back of my neck (emphasis mine):

At that meeting in the nation’s capitol a few months earlier, Mark Braden of the law firm Baker Hostedler kicked off the task force with his presentation on redistricting, that is, how to revise electoral maps after the census, a top priority for the new ALEC majorities in several states. As the Center for Media and Democracy’s (CMD’s) PRWatch has documented, Braden—the former Chief Counsel to the Republican National Committee—also advised ALEC’s Republican members in Wisconsin on remapping legislative districts in the spring of 2011.

Other ALEC business in the minutes referenced included opposition to “Pay to Play Legislation,” meaning opposing bills that would ban government contractors from donating to political campaigns. The “model” resolution opposing such a ban was spearheaded by right-winger Bradley Smith’s special interest outfit, the “Center for Competitive Politics” (CCP), through its then-president Sean Parnell (who is also an “expert” for the Heartland Institute, which been funded by Koch money). CCP does not reveal which corporations, CEOs, or family foundations fund its operations, which focus on advancing the notions that money is speech and that corporations and CEOs should be able to spend unlimited money influencing elections. CCP even opposed new disclosure rules after Citizens United in the DISCLOSE Act, just as ALEC opposed new disclosure in response to that U.S. Supreme Court decision.

We already have seen how Walker and WISGOP is in the back pockets of Big Business and would have already turned Wisconsin into a right-to-work-for-less corporate state if we had not crippled them by recalling the two Republican Senators last year.

The fact that they are still working at finalizing their plans to corrupt the state should make you afraid and a little more than pissed off. That is not what Wisconsin is about and that is not who its people are.

Kinda puts even more of a sense of urgency for the June 5th elections, doesn't it?

ALEC Exposed Brings Koch Bros Exposed Film to Madison!

From the old inbox:

Walk the red carpet at the Barrymore Theatre! The Center for Media and Democracy/ALEC Exposed, in partnership with the Brave New Foundation, presents a Robert Greenwald film: Koch Brothers Exposed, a film screening followed by a discussion on the billionaire Koch brothers' attack on democracy. Watch the trailer here.

WHAT: The Madison premiere of the new Greenwald Film: Koch Brother's Exposed! The film features interviews with Bernie Sanders, Jim Hightower, Van Jones, Katrina vanden Heuevel, Bill McKibben, Ben Jealous, Larry Lessig, John Nichols and Lisa Graves, and more.

WHEN: Thursday, April 26 at 7:30 pm and Friday, April 27 at 7:30 pm

WHERE: The Barrymore Theatre, 2090 Atwood Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin

WHO: The film will be followed by a discussion of the role the Koch's have played in funding ALEC and meddling in Wisconsin.

THURSDAY NIGHT CMD'S Lisa Graves, John Nichols of The Nation Magazine/Capital Times and Rep. Mark Pocan.

FRIDAY NIGHT CMD'S Mary Bottari, John Nichols, Rep. Mark Pocan, UW Professors Joel Rogers and Julie Underwood.

TICKETS: Tickets are $8.00 in advance or $10.00 the day of show. Ticket sales will benefit CMD's future investigative reporting on the Koch's and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Advance tickets are available online at www.barrymorelive.com and by phone at (608) 241-8633.

GET THE DVD: If you can't make it to Madison, or if you want your own copy of the movie, you can order the movie here. CMD will get $5 for every movie purchased through this specific link. Thank you for your support!

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS: Go to the Facebook event page and invite your friends!

ALEC Feels The Heat, Kochs Come To The Rescue

The folks at The Center for Media and Democracy's PRWatch having been working overtime.

They're pointing out a report that Yum Brand - that's Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC - have dropped their support for ALEC.

The Koch Brother front group, Americans for Prosperity, are jumping in to offer their support for this hateful group.

And in a futile effort to improve their image, ALEC has announced that they will no longer focus on social issues, like stand your ground legislation, but will concentrate their efforts on union busting, stealing pensions and stopping health care coverage from being a benefit for anyone.

Apparently, these Koch Brothers/Bradley Foundation/Sam Adams Alliance groups have actually started believing the news they pay MacIver/Media Trackers/Wisconsin Reporter to write.