LaRoque (NC-ALEC) - Loved Taxpayer Handouts

Rep. Stephen A. LaRoque (R-10), ALEC Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force Member, attended ALEC 2011 Annual Meeting[4] (lost the GOP primary election May 8, 2012)

And I imagine that was not a one time occurrence.

LaRoque, 48, first joined the House in 2003 and served four years. He then returned to the House in 2011, serving a district that included Greene County

Remember that ALEC meetings provide state legislators

              an opportunity for state legislators “to discuss issues and develop policy"

Hah!

Guess he got a hell of an education learning how to "develop policy".

Important to remember, going forward

ALEC is a 501c3 nonprofit

Being a 501c3 nonprofit means that they don't pay taxes and the donations that ALEC corporate members give to ALEC are tax-deductible.

And per ALEC's webpage

 ...   works to advance the fundamental principles of free-market enterprise, limited government,

Limited government - unless tax payer dollars benefits an ALEC member 

- ALEC Corporate member OR ALEC legislative member.

The American Legislative Exchange Council is an extremist organization that believes that tax dollars are best spent to increase corporate profits.

La Roque appears to have learned that ALEC philosophy well.

(My emphasis)

Criminal trial set to begin for Ex-NC Rep. LaRoque

Published: May 20, 2013

By MICHAEL BIESECKER — Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. — As a powerful member of the Republican leadership in the N.C. House, Rep. Stephen A. LaRoque railed for years against big government and those who take taxpayer handouts.

The former Kinston lawmaker was set to go on trial Monday on a dozen felony charges stemming from a pair of government-funded non-profit corporations federal prosecutors allege he used as personal piggy banks.

According to a 77-page federal indictment, LaRoque scammed taxpayers to finance a lavish lifestyle that included a six-figure salary and $300,000 in interest-free personal loans used to buy a house, new cars, an ice-skating rink and a collection of jewel-encrusted Fabergé eggs.

LaRoque, 49, faces four counts of theft from programs receiving federal funds, four counts of transactions in criminally derived property, a count of cover-up by scheme or device, a count of fictitious and fraudulent representation, and two counts of making false tax returns.

  

"Theft is taking funds without authority," Cheshire argued in an unsuccessful motion seeking to have a federal judge dismiss charges. "Here, Mr. LaRoque had authority. Therefore, there was no theft."

Records show LaRoque appointed his wife, brother and close friends to the small boards overseeing the non-profit entities. Typically meeting at a local country club, the board members then approved what prosecutors allege were outsized compensation packages for LaRoque, some of them taking effect retroactively to give him raises paid for past years.

All told, LaRoque was paid more than $2.1 million in salary, bonuses and expense payments between 1999 and 2012. Nearly $338,000 of that came in just one year, despite having a relatively modest portfolio of loans to supervise.

Oh, my ...............

YOU willingly let your state legislators participate in ALEC.

YOU willingly let your state pay for your legislators to participate in ALEC.

YOU keep re-electing ALEC members - over and over and over again.