Two days this week in the news for this ALEC member.
He must want to win the American Legislative Exchange Council
(ALEC)“Legislator of the Year” award.
But good for us – because we have a reporter who actually did their job.
When Brien
(RI-ALEC) made this statement:
But Brien points out that ALEC
isn't the only organization for which membership is funded with taxpayer's
dollars. The National Council of State
Legislators, he said, also has many corporate sponsors and puts together model
legislation.
The reporter went on to note this information:
Membership dues for NCLS are
funded with taxpayer money, to the tune of $122,536 for the entire state
legislature for 2012.
BUT, the reporter went on to get more information - they didn't just accept the lies that come out of the mouths of ALEC members.
The information the reporter went out and got - and cited to the source - directly kills one of the most common
meme of the ALEC members when they are interviewed .
Most reporters just eat it up and report it – but kudos
to Sandy Phaneuf, Valley Breeze Staff Writer for not being taken in by the ALEC
meme.
DIRECT FRON NCSL – the excuse of all ALEC members trying
to lie to the public – here’s the scoop.
Meagan Dorsch, spokeswoman forNCSL, however, pointed out several
important distinctions between the two organizations. Corporations,
for example, cannot vote on policy or be part of committees at NCLS. In
fact, sponsors subscribe to a entirely separate entity known as the NCLS
Foundation. Platinum sponsors that have donated more than $25,000 include CVS
Caremark, Visa, Comcast Cable Communications, and Walmart.
Also, Dorsch said, her organization is more of a warehouse of
data providing information to legislators in all 50 states.
"Policy positions are very, very rare," Dorsch said. The president of NCSL switches between a Republican and Democrat
each year and state dues make
up 35 percent of the group's funding.
About 98 percent of the funding
for ALEC comes from sources other than legislative dues,
Well – ALEC members – this Rhode Island reporter just
nailed your lying butts to the wall.
Sandy Phaneuf, Valley Breeze Staff Writer - good on you!!!!
Thanks for this. I was searching for info on NCSL and wondered how politicized they might be.
ReplyDelete