Arizona Gets Screwed (Again) - By Implementing ALEC Policy

In the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Report “Show Me The Money: Budget-Cutting Strategies for Cash-Strapped States” dated 2002 they advocate that state governments should:

Turn Capital Assets into Financial Assets: Sell or Lease Government Assets and Enterprises Over the past two decades, hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of state-owned enterprises and assets have been sold or leased to the private sector worldwide. These assets have included airports, stadiums, ports, utilities, liquor operations, buildings, land, and gas and electric utilities.  

Well – evidently ALEC Alumni Jan Brewer – did exactly what she was told at the ALEC meetings and now Arizona has a mess – but I bet some ALEC corporate sector members are going to make a bundle of money on this.

From Mother Jones Magazine (and there are other sources) (MY emphasis)

Arizona Wants to Buy Back State Capitol It Inexplicably Sold 

State governments have taken a number of different steps to balance their books in recent years. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (remember him?) proposed a new tax on strip clubs, for example, and a Utah state rep. suggested saving $60 million per year by abolishing the 12th grade. But no proposal struck as much metaphorical gold as Arizona's decision to sell off the state capitol (and a whole bunch of other state properties, such as maximum security prisons) for $735 million in 2009.

The move will cost the state $105 million out of its current budget surplus. Brewer press aide Matthew Benson said the state has the cash.

Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed off on the deal, and the state now leases the House and Senate chambers from a private real estate company at a considerable long-term cost.  Benson acknowledged the state actually got only $81 million for the state House, the Senate and the nine-story executive tower that includes Brewer's office when it negotiated a "sale-leaseback" arrangement in 2010... 

"Most of our Capitol complex, including the building we gather in today, is not ours,'' Brewer said in her State of the State speech delivered in the House building. "So ... to make all of our Capitol truly ours once again, I'm asking that you send me a bill by Statehood Day that allows me to buy back the Capitol.''

And I bet they are paying full retail circa 2001 to buy it back - not the depressed real estate rates that we have now.

Must be nice to be in the bunch of gifted few - ALEC members and alumni that can screw their citizens by cutting every social/educational program available - but help out their ALEC corporate buddies take in more money, make more revenue, increase their profits!!!!

Somebody needs to start looking at the connections of ALEC members and the private deals they do (including Kasich’s deal with ALEC member GEO Group) – there’s money being moved around at tax payer expense because of ALEC and we have to put a stop to this and we need to investigate it and if need be prosecute it.

ALEC MUST BE DESTROYED!

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ALEC members and those affiliated with ALEC in any manner

MUST NOT BE RE-ELECTED or receive our support in any means or manner!

Without state and federal legislators ALEC will cease to exist and it will implode.

For more information on ALEC –

Please read this or this or this

or this series of six articles.

This is what ALEC is About  - An Interview with Mark Pocan about the ALEC Annual Meeting.

And watch this news video  from North Carolina on how other ALEC "model legislation" is going to screw the citizens of North Carolina - legislation introduced by ALEC legislators.

Do your own act of education!
Send the links shown above to friends and family and educate them about ALEC.
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