Yesterday something posted that can NOT go ignored.
ALEC Tries to Salvage Brand as Members Exit to Protect Their Own
Group Chair Acknowledges 'Mission Creep'
It was interesting that ALEC National Chairman Frizzell would use the phrase “mission creep” – sounds like they have been in meetings with their new PR company Edleman.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is suddenly experiencing “mission creep” – nope.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a bunch of “omission creeps” – YES!
Whenever they open their mouth – it is what they don’t say that is instructive.
Anyway – to the blurb from yesterday.
For more than 30 years, the American Legislative Exchange Council has provided the nation's corporations with "model" legislation that would further their goals and access to hundreds of state lawmakers.
READ THAT AGAIN FOLKS!!!!
This is written by AdAge.com – not a leftie blog.
has provided the nation's corporations with "model" legislation that would further their goals
Yes – they have!!!!
And just as a really extensive reminder – so that no one will forget or be confused - corporations control the “model” legislation action at ALEC meetings – here’s some snips from the task force meeting documents that were posted by CommonCause to support their request to the IRS to remove ALEC’s 501c3 nonprofit tax-evasion status.
American Legislative Exchange Council
Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development Task Force
Annual Meeting
August 6, 2010
“Traffic Incident Quick Clearance Act” – by Ted Scott, American Trucking Association
Motion to adopt the model legislation as amended (Amendments 1-6 and 9-10); passed public sector, passed private sector. Bill Passed.
“The Share the Road Safety Act” – by Ted Scott, American Trucking Association
Motion to adopt the model legislation as amended; passed the public sector with one dissenting vote; passed the private sector unanimously. Bill Passed.
“A Resolution Concerning Tax Treatment of Affiliated Reinsurance” – by Alan Smith,
The Heartland Institute
Motion to adopt the model resolution; passed the public sector unanimously; passed the private sector unanimously. Resolution Passed.
“Electronic Pay Choice Act” – Paul Russinoff, VISA
Motion to untable the model legislation; passed public sector unanimously; passed private sector unanimously. Bill Untabled.
Motion to adopt the model legislation as amended; passed public sector with two dissenting votes; passed private sector unanimously. Bill Passed.
American Legislative Exchange Council
Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development Task Force
2010 States and Nation Policy Summit
December 3, 2010
“The Hurricane Mitigation Promotion Act”- by Mr. Alan Smith, The Heartland Institute
Motion to adopt the model legislation as amended (Amendments 1-3); passed public
sector; passed private sector. Bill Passed.
“Insurance Compact Enabling Act”- by Dr. Byron Schlomach and Mr. Nick Dranias,
Goldwater Institute – Withdrawn by Sponsors.
Commerce, Insurance & Economic Development Task Force
2011 Spring Task Force Summit
April 29, 2011
2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
“A Resolution in Support of the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act”
Mr. Geoff Segal, Macquarie Capital USA
“State Council on Competitive Government Act”
Mr. Leonard Gilroy, Reason Foundation
Commerce, Insurance & Economic Development Task Force
2011 Annual Meeting
Friday, August 5
2:30 pm – 5:30 pm
2. Model Legislation and Presentations
“Establishing a Public-Private Partnership (P3) Authority Act”
Mr. Geoff Segal, Macquarie Capital USA
“Resolution in Support of a National Infrastructure Bank”
Mr. Geoff Segal, Macquarie Capital USA
“Multiple Award Schedule Contracts Act”
Mr. Thom Iles, John Deere & Company
“Long Term Asset Management Act”
Mr. Butch Eley, AMOTIA
Amendments to the ALEC “Resolution on Franchise and Business Agreement Legislation”
Mr. Jeff Perry, General Motors
Mr. Troy Flanagan, International Franchise Association & Parquet Public Affairs
Frizzel is reported in the article as noting:
Mr. Frizzell called his organization a "caldron of ideas for legislators" and a place policy issue can be debated.
The good old ALEC lie – again.
This is NOT any innocuous "caldron of ideas for legislators" – this is a "caldron of corporate ideas for legislators to use" as noted in the meeting notes from Common Cause
ALEC ran into trouble last year when a lawsuit prompted the disclosure of information about the group's membership, relationship with lawmakers and hundreds of model bills the organization has drafted.
A lawsuit – really – nope!
ACTIVISTS prompted the disclosure of the secretive information about ALEC.
The suits may be taking credit for what has happened since then,
BUT - NO SUITS were involved initially – it was activists!!!!.
"It's obviously been a very difficult thing to go through," said ALEC National Chairman David Frizzell, a Republican member of the Indiana legislature, of the attacks on his organization.
Yep, a very difficult thing so far –
Corporations that have publicly cut ties to ALEC in recent weeks include Medtronic, Amazon.com, Scantron Corporation, Kaplan Higher Education, Procter & Gamble, YUM! Brands, Blue Cross Blue Shield, American Traffic Solutions, Reed Elsevier, Arizona Public Service, Mars, Wendy's, McDonald's, Intuit, Kraft Foods, PepsiCo, and Coca-Cola. The addition of Wal-Mart brings the total to 18. Four non-profits -- Lumina Foundation for Education, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), and the Gates Foundation -- and 54 state legislators have also cut ties with ALEC.
.
Let’s hope that we see much more of this in the future.
BTW reader – have you done your activism on this – have you sent a note to ALEC legislators to drop ALEC? Have you signed one of the many petitions to tell them to drop ALEC. You must be part of the solution – take action today and tomorrow and the day after that!!!
He said the bad publicity is based on "misconceptions and half-truths" about ALEC's goals, which are the promotion of a free market and a much smaller federal government.
"misconceptions and half-truths" - NOPE
What a crock – the majority of us on the left actually substantiate what we report with FACTS.
"misconceptions and half-truths" was/is the ALEC way of doing business before ACTIVISTS brought their business out of the closet and into the light.
"misconceptions and half-truths" is what ALEC members feed to the media.
Interesting new phrase here in that statement also
and a much smaller federal government.
I thought ALEC was a group that was formed to “educate” state legislators.
Evidently brainwashing poor old neglected state legislators is no longer enough for ALEC.
A new ALEC “talking point”?
A new ALEC focus?
A "doing things differently" ALEC??
The federal government – eh????
Frizzell – maybe you should stick to the talking points.
Throw it out there - free markets - ta da! . Magic - the reporter shuts up!
No one will question it - no one knows what the hell ALEC members are talking about - yet they keep repeating it. Free market, free market, free market
When is a reporter going to ask - What is your free market philosophy - please explain in detail, exactly what the hell you mean by the ALEC free market philosophy.
Mr. Frizzell said about half of the corporations that have left ALEC have done so for reasons other than the criticism by what he calls hostile liberal groups.
"It's unfair to say they were unhappy with us," he said
OOPS!!!!
Some have been unhappy with you for quite some time and told you so!!!
Wal-Mart, which joined ALEC in 1993, had previously declined to cut ties with ALEC, telling the Washington Examiner in April, "Our membership in any organization does not affirm our agreement with each policy created by the broader group."
Sans told Reuters, "Previously, we expressed our concerns about ALEC's decision to weigh in on issues that stray from its core mission 'to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets.'"
Mr. Frizzell also said the Common Cause whistle-blower suit is baseless because ALEC is registered with the IRS as a "501(h)," which allows a nonprofit to spend up to $1 million a year on lobbying.
Q: What is the American Legislative Exchange Council?
A: The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. It provides a constructive forum for state legislators and private sector leaders to discuss and exchange practical, state-level public policy issues.
ALEC operates as a nonprofit, tax-exempt §501(c)(3) organization that, as permitted by the Internal Revenue Code and regulations, provides member-approved, nonpartisan research, analysis and model legislation addressing important public policy issues.
As noted in ALEC latest propaganda to state legislators – to destroy the constitution
ALEC is classified by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, public policy and educational organization. Individuals, philanthropic foundations, corporations, companies, or associations are eligible to support ALEC’s work through tax-deductible gifts.
501(h) – since when?
REALLY?????
Is that 501h paperwork hidden in some secret Koch/ALEC vault?
501h - REALLY?????????
Then why is ALEC not registered as a lobbyist in ANY of the states?
Is that 501h paperwork hidden in some secret Koch/ALEC vault?
501h - REALLY?????????
Then why is ALEC not registered as a lobbyist in ANY of the states?
Just because you may talking about becoming a 501h – does NOT mean you are a 501h.
ALEC is a 501c3 – tax evading nonprofit.
Donations made to ALEC are tax-evading donations because of ALEC’s 501c3 status.
But he [ALEC National Chairman David Frizzell] said his group may have been a victim of "mission creep" that distracted it from core values.
A VICTIM?
Really – ALEC is a VICTIM?
Oh, god – what a bunch of a$$holes.
First the lefties are bullying them – and now they are a victim of “mission creep”.
Victims – bullshit!
ALEC says what they mean and mean what they say – they knew exactly what they were doing.
EVERY ALEC member knew what ALEC was doing.
VICTIM???? BULLSHIT!
He said ALEC is looking at doing some things differently and may abandon its work on some legislation, like the stand-your-ground bills.
"It may be better for some other organizations to deal with that," Mr. Frizzell said.
LOOKING AT DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY
MAY ABANDON ITS WORK
MAY BE BETTER FOR SOME OTHER
"It may be better for some other organizations to deal with that," Mr. Frizzell said.
So……………..
ALEC’s going to "do things differently" – huh?
Wants the Walton's money back – huh?
Wal-Mart, which joined ALEC in 1993, had previously declined to cut ties with ALEC, telling the Washington Examiner in April, "Our membership in any organization does not affirm our agreement with each policy created by the broader group."
Sans told Reuters, "Previously, we expressed our concerns about ALEC's decision to weigh in on issues that stray from its core mission 'to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets.'"
Does this mean that Wal-Mart will un-suspend their membership?
We had better keep an eye on them and their ALEC involvement!!!!!
I don’t think the WalMart-ALEC story has ended –
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)
all of the sudden
in the past six months or a year
experiencing “mission creep”
HELL NO
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)
all of the sudden
in the past six months or a year
experiencing “mission creep”
HELL NO
UPDATE Thursday – June 14, 2012
Common Cause is calling on the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to square longstanding claims that it does not lobby with its president’s apparent admission last week that it does just that.
“Through President David Frizzell, ALEC is now acknowledging the obvious – that the organization has long engaged in profit-driven lobbying while claiming to operate as a charity,” said Common Cause President Bob Edgar. “It’s curious that a group that touts its devotion to private enterprise expects the public to subsidize its lobbying with a tax exemption.”
In an interview with Advertising Age magazine, Frizzell last week criticized a tax “whistleblower” complaint filed against ALEC in April by Common Cause. The ALEC leader appeared to back away from years of tax filings – submitted under oath – asserting that ALEC does not lobby; instead Frizzell said the group operates under a section of tax law, 501(h), that he claimed would permit it to spend up to $1 million annually on lobbying.
“Mr. Frizzell has some explaining to do to the IRS,” Edgar said. “For years, ALEC has tried to justify its tax exemption by arguing that it does not lobby; now it claims an exemption under a section of the law that permits it to lobby but which it spurned as recently as 2010.”
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