MS NAACP Releases New Report on ALEC

The Mississippi NAACP has released an excellent  new report on ALEC that is well worth the read – in EVERY state.

As we are well aware of what is happening in Mississippi – is or will happen in all ALEC states across the US.

I strongly recommend reading the whole report.

ALEC HELPS WRITE MS LAW 

Did you know? Corporate Front Group Writes MS Law

Below are a few snips from the report that apply to all in the US when it comes to ALEC.

AS I noted above – don’t let the fact that it was written in Mississippi stop you from reading the whole thing – it is important.

January 7, 2013 – Jackson, MS -­‐ Legislators say a corporate front group, the American Legislative Exchange Council, is bypassing voters and writing law in Mississippi. "I've tried to point out on the floor of the House this past session that a lot of what was going on in the House came from ALEC," said Rep. Rufus Straughter, D-­‐Belzoni. "For all I know an ALEC representative was up in the House speaker's office this year giving him directions. You'd think ALEC was voting us in office rather than the voters, the way these politicians here follow their orders."

No – unfortunately it is the voters who are putting ALEC members in office.  But it is because they don’t realize that ALEC exists and it is through reports like this that people learn and hopefully, will change the way they vote.

And they bring out this fact that is important for others to know.

The idea of an American-­‐based organization seeking to put Americans out of work seems unbelievable. However, a considerable number of ALEC's corporate members, like Sony Corp. and Takeda Pharmaceutical, are corporations from other countries. Of course, even global "American" companies frequently enrich their CEOs by shipping labor to slave-­‐wage societies overseas and pocketing the savings. Membership in the job-­‐killing International Relations Task Force costs $10,000.

Unfortunately – it is not unbelievable – it is true.

This is what happens when corporations and state legislators meet behind closed doors in private meetings.

Evidently – not only is ALEC doing “copy and paste legislation” – they are doing “copy and paste press releases” for their members as shown in the new report:

The above ALEC press release was basically canned food: just heat and serve.

Sadly, there's no mistaking the similarities between the two documents above, no more than there is hope of telling the difference between ALEC's hand-­‐written bill proposals and the actual bills that Republican legislators all over the South are feeding into their respective committees.

And the NAACP doesn’t mince their words:

Although ALEC is good at tossing aside blacks, Latinos, and poor people at the polls, the group’s top priority is actually protecting its corporate financiers. One of the best ways to do that is to make those corporate financiers immune to lawsuits when they trample rights or hurt people. For that, ALEC must target states' chief policing agents.

And here’s something that vltp.net and I have been trying to warn people about - the impact of ALEC at the international level:

Sen. Deborah Dawkins (D-­‐Pass Christian) said she remains furious at Senate legislators bragging about their ALEC trips. "They're flying folks all over the place. Not just in the United States. I'm talking all over the world," Dawkins said. "You hear little snippets like 'remember that time we were in Jackson Hole, Wyoming for a week,' and things like that. This is the poorest state in the union. We have no business having people spend all this money on trips so people can rub elbows with the affluent. I mean, they pay for them to go everywhere, and I've no idea if they report it, or ALEC has to report it, but if anybody needs to be reported to the IRS, it's those guys."

Trust me - very few people are reporting it - that's why it has worked so well to this point.

Every ALEC member makes out financially from their affiliation with ALEC.

 

Mississippi – ALEC-ers past and present:

Noel Akins

Brian D Aldridge

Mark Baker

Jim C.  Barnett

Charles Jim Beckett

Richard B Bennett

Sid  Bondurant

Scott Bounds

Terry W Brown

Nicky Reed Browning

Fredie Videt Carmichael

Lester Carpenter

Mike Chaney

Lydia Chassaniol

Gary A Chism

Eugene  Clarke

Dorothy  Cole

Becky  Currie

Doug E Davis

William C Denny

Mike Eakes

Jim  Ellington

Harvey A Fillingane

Joey E Fillingane

Ted Foster

Merle Flowers

Timothy A Ford

Mark Formby

Herbert D Freierson

Thomas Gollott

Walter "Pud" Graham

Jeffrey  Guice

Mike Gunn

Phillip A Gunn

David Halbrook

William  Hewes

Steve Holland

Briggs Hopson

Bobby B Howell

Mike Huddleston

Robert G Huggins

Roger Ishee

Michael Janus

Thomas E King

Dean Kirby

Perry Lee

Brad Lott

Kevin McGee

Walter Michel

Tommy Moffat

Rita R Martinson

W T  Mayhall, Jr

Alex  Monsour

Alan  Nunnelee

Steve Palazzo

Randall Patterson

Stacey Pickering

Lynn Posey

Tommy Robertson

Margaret Ellis Rogers

Charlie Ross

James C "Jim" Simpson

Cindy Hyde-Smith

Rob Smith

Elton Gregory Snowden

Gary  Staples

Mary Ann Stevens

Joseph Stogner

Amy Tuck

Jerry R Turner

Jessica Upshaw

Giles Ward

Charles E Waldrup

Michael Watson

Roger Wicker

Liles Williams

Tommy Woods

Lee Yancy

Henry Zuber