This morning a piece out of Michigan that has some
information in it that I have emphasized.
I have not seen the legislation – so I can’t verify the statement – but at
this point why would we question it?
Just verified the statement:
Just verified the statement:
from a trusted course – CMD’s Lisa Graves
who put out a new op-ed this morning entitled: ALEC's So-Called "Right to Work" Bill as Political Revenge in Michigan
At issue is a bill spearheaded by
ALEC legislators so beholden to their corporate benefactors that they think
it's legitimate to vote in secret as equals with corporate lobbyists on model
bills like RTW through ALEC "task forces," as the Center for Media and
Democracy's PRWatch/ALECexposed has previously reported. Key provisions of the Michigan RTW bills (for instance, HB 4054) are
taken almost verbatim from the ALEC template.
December 11, 2012 |
A narrative gaining currency among
Rick Snyder's defenders explains his flip-flop on right-to-work legislation as
a reluctant response to labor unions who put Proposal 2 on the November ballot
over the governor's objections, then refused to bargain with good faith with
him afterward.
But the truth? Snyder hasn't
gotten much respect from the groups backing right-to-work, either.
Americans For Prosperity, founded
by billionaire tea party titans David and Charles Koch, is heralding Michigan's
imminent passage of right-to-work legislation laws in Michigan as "the
shot heard around the world" in the fight to weaken unions.
But the group was also a
significant financial backer of Proposal 5, an effort to amend the Michigan
Constitution to bar tax increases without a two-thirds legislative
supermajority.
So why would Snyder turn from
labor unions to a group that was behind a constitutional amendment he described
as "bad public policy"?
The answer may lie in another
Koch-funded group, the American Legislative Exchange Council, which promotes a
radical right-wing agenda in states across the country, supplying "model
legislation" to sympathetic lawmakers.
The organization boasts more than
2,000 legislative members. It also has corporate members, who weigh in on the
model legislation before it's approved by the group's public-sector committee,
the group's national chairman said in an interview he gave after dozens of
pieces of ALEC-written model legislation were leaked last year in a joint
project by The Nation and the Center for Media and Democracy.
Michigan's proposed right-to-work bills mirror the ALEC language
practically word-for-word.
Copy and paste – still working for mentally challenged
ALEC legislative members.
It's unclear how many Michigan
lawmakers are members of ALEC; the group doesn't make its membership rolls
public. But at least one of the lawmakers who introduced Michigan's
right-to-work legislation has been associated with ALEC.
Well, let me try to help a bit:
Michigan ALEC-ers (past and present) include (but are not limited to - because the American Legislative Exchange Council hides it's member list):
Frank Accavitti
Dave Agema
Jason E. Allen
Tim Alley
Justin Amash
Fran Ams
Richard A Badstra
James A Barcia
Robert Bender
Patricia (Patty) Birkholz
Mike Bishop
Beverly Bodem
Darwin Booher
Cameran Brown
Bill Bullard, Jr.
David Camp
Bruce Caswell
Bill Caul
Floyd Clack
Allen Cropsey
Craig M DeRoche
Leon Drolet
Barbara Dobb
Mat J. Dunaskis
Kevin Elsenheimer
Joanne Emmons
John Engler
David Farhat
Valde Garcia
John Gardfield
Ed Gaffney
Judson Gilbert
Donald H Gilmer
Mike Goshka
Mike Green
Gail Haines
Beverly Hammerstrom
Goeff Hansen
Thomas Hickner
Dave Hildenbrand
Alvin Hoekman
Philip E. Hoffmann
Ken Horn
Bill Huizenga
John Jamian
Rick V. Johnson
Rick Jones
Jerry O Kooiman
Eileen Kowall
Mike Kowall
Wayne Kuipers
Kenneth Kurtz
Phillip J LaJoy
Matthew Lori
Peter Lund
Allen Lowe
Tom McMillin
Jim Marleau
William Martin
Michelle McManus
Arlan B Meekhoff
Kimberly Meltzer
James M Middaugh
Mary Ann Middaugh
John Moolenar
Tim Moore
Leslie Mortimer
Aric Nesbitt
Gary Newell
Mike Nofs
David Palsrok
Bruce Patterson
Tom Pearce
Dick Posthumus
Amanda Price
John M Proos IV
Gary Randall
Randy Richardville
Dave Robertson
Bill Rogers
Mike Rogers
Tonya Schuitmaker
John Schwarz
Rick Shaffer
Fulton Sheen
Mike Shirkey
Kent Sikkema
Nick Smith
John Stahl
John Stakoe
Glenn Steil, Jr.
Susan Tabor
William Van Regenmorter
Barb Vander Veen
Tim Walberg
Christopher C Ward
Paul Wartner
What have ALEC's sponsors done for
Michigan, and how did a governor who seemed dedicated to the middle path throw
end up in bed with them?
Snyder says right-to-work was put
on his agenda.
I guess we could restate that to say
What have ALEC's sponsors done to the United States,
and how did a Republican Party who seemed dedicated
to the middle path throw, end up in bed with them?
The Republicans say right-to-work was put on its agenda.
Put on its agenda.
ALEC wrote the legislation.
Which ALEC Corporate Profit Sector member is paying for
it to be on the agenda and paying/subsidizing/scholarshipping ALEC legislators to move the ALEC "model legislation" forward?
The logical conclusion is in the editorial.
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