ALEC - Destroying Democracy, One Meeting at a Time

Let me set the stage for this entry before we get to the guts of the material

ALEC meeting

ü      Secretive meetings – where government officials meet with corporate lobbyists representatives – outside of the eye of the government, outside of the eyes of government calendars – outside of the eyes of anyone who could or would scrutinize the proceedings that normally apply to meetings between government officials and  corporate lobbyists representatives.

ü      Secretive – the public does not know who belongs to this organization.  The members for the most part do not acknowledge their relationship with this horrendous organization.  Activist journalists are the only source of information regarding who all belongs to this nasty organization.

ü      Secretive – not open to the public or for the most part meida

ü      Secretive – if anyone outside of ALEC wants to know what is happening inside those meetings they have to infiltrate the meeting – like you would for a cult of some type.

ü      Secretive –right wingers (and dumb ass dems) who share an extremist political philosophy that most Americans do NOT support – meeting in secret – to do their work in secret –becausetheycan.

And once in awhile you will find something – from an ALEC member that just pisses you off to the very core of your being.  And here’s one of those things.

This is an update from an ALEC meeting from 2002.

It doesn’t really matter which ALEC corporate profit sector member wrote  it – the reports from ALEC profit sector members would probably all sound like this.

The update was sent out to the members of the Surety Corporation – an ALEC member.

It is in an aspx format – so like ALEC – secretive and not easily found.

It is not meant for the general public to find or read and up until now – most have not.

American Legislative Exchange Council – Annual Meeting

William B. Carmichael, President

American Surety Company

September 2002

Late last fall, I was nominated to serve a two year term as the State of Indiana’s Private Sector State Chair for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).   …  I serve in this capacity on behalf of the American Bail Coalition (ABC).

Our participation in ALEC continues to pay enormous dividends in establishing and enlarging mutually beneficial relationships with like-minded private industry members as well as various state legislators.

ABC members also had the opportunity to meet with various Federal Government employees on our ideas concerning Visa Bond requirements.

Private meetings were held with representatives of the Department of Homeland Security, The Justice Department, the national media and state legislators.

Opportunities were had to meet with many gubernatorial candidates (Kansas, Florida, as examples). These meetings allowed ABC members to collectively espouse the advantages of our industry over government funded programs,

At this year’s ALEC meeting, Jerry Watson, ABC’s President, was asked to serve on the Republican National Campaign Finance Committee.

I could fill this entire newsletter with anecdotal evidence of progress being made on behalf of our industry in the majority, if not all, of the states but space precludes it. Suffice it to say we weren’t sitting on our hands.

From its inception, our company has consistently chosen to participate in this process at a significant expense. These are dollars we have generated from our involvement in this business and which we feel an obligation to spend. We have consciously chosen to be an active player in our industry, not just a low-cost player