As we get ready to spend time with friends and families over the summer - we should consider that it would be a good time to educate them on ALEC.
As we hopefully activate friends and family to help us with our on-going exposure of ALEC - let’s review a little bit of what we know so far.
What is ALEC?
The American Legislative Exchange Council is an partisan, extremist, ultra-conservative, right-wing organization
that focuses on the promotion and nationwide distribution of specific political
policies and issues. ALEC facilitates
the writing of pro-corporate “model legislation” and holds meetings to educate ALEC
legislators on how to introduce and promote the “model legislation”. At
the meetings and in ALEC distributed
publications, ALEC gives their members the talking points to help them
sponsor
and promote ALEC “model legislation”. In addition, the ALEC staff
provides one-on-one assistance to legislators who are having trouble
introducing or passing ALEC "model legislation".
Who are members of
ALEC?
Corporations
State legislators
Federal legislators
City, county and other local public servants
State unelected and appointed public servants
Federal unelected and appointed public servants
District, state, and federal judges
Does ALEC share its
member lists with the public?
No
Do ALEC members
disclose their membership in ALEC?
Most of them do NOT.
Is ALEC a bi-partisan
organization like NCSL?
No.
Almost 100% of the members are Republicans.
Currently 100% of the public task force co-chairs are Republicans
Historically – 100% of the ALEC Board Chairs have been
Republican
How much does it cost
to become a member?
For Legislators; $25
or $50 per year
For Corporations:
$2,500 to $50,000 per year
Really rich legislators can buy a lifetime membership to
ALEC known as a “legacy” membership that costs $5,000. Some have used campaign funds donated by
their supporters to buy this $5,000 membership.
What areas do the
“Model Legislation” focus on?
Climate Denial
De-regulation
Privatization of government goods and services
Privatization of public schools
Sale
of publicly owned assets
Sale
of the commons
Elimination of consumer protections
Destruction of the working class through elimination of
unions and elimination of the minimum wage and the living wage
Tenther legislation to promote state sovereignty
What happens at ALEC
meetings?
The ALEC meetings function for four main purposes
To introduce and preliminarily pass pro-corporate ALEC legislation in task
force meetings. ALEC task force documents posted by Common Cause show that most of the legislation is written by corporations.
To hear presentations that that support the key points and concepts of ALEC
legislation
To give corporations “an equal voice and vote” on legislation
that will be introduced in the state and federal legislatures
To give corporate representatives (aka lobbyists) private,
closed door access to state and federal legislators
Who belongs to ALEC
task forces?
Corporate representative (most are registered lobbyists)
State legislators - preference is given to those who have sponsored ALEC legislation
Public servants at the state and federal level who serve as
members or advisers
US Congressional members who serve as advisers
Who writes the “model
legislation” introduced in the task forces?
Mostly, corporations
Does a corporation
have to pay additional fees, over and above their membership dues, to ALEC?
Yes.
Corporations pay from $2,500 to $10,000 to be a member on an
ALEC task force in order to draft, introduce, debate, and vote on ALEC “model
legislation”
Corporations pay up to $150,000 to sponsor events at ALEC
meetings
Corporations pay up to $15,000 to be on ALEC task forces where they can introduce legislation and then vote on ALEC "model legislation"
Corporations can pay from $25,000 - $40,000 to sponsor a workshop at an ALEC meeting - which would educate ALEC legislators on specific talking points needed for proposing and promoting ALEC legislation.
Corporations can pay up to $40,000 to sponsor ALEC reports that describe and propose legislation that could benefit their industry
Corporations can pay up to $80,000 to sponsor an ALEC 2-day academy in your state to educate legislators on ALEC legislation that they want introduced.
Corporations can pay up to $15,000 to sponsor an ALEC "State Factor" which is a topic specific short article that supports legislation that ALEC is proposing.
Corporations can pay up to $5,000 to sponsor an ALEC "Issue Briefing" which is a topic specific short article that supports legislation that ALEC is proposing.
Corporations pay up to $15,000 to be on ALEC task forces where they can introduce legislation and then vote on ALEC "model legislation"
Corporations can pay from $25,000 - $40,000 to sponsor a workshop at an ALEC meeting - which would educate ALEC legislators on specific talking points needed for proposing and promoting ALEC legislation.
Corporations can pay up to $40,000 to sponsor ALEC reports that describe and propose legislation that could benefit their industry
Corporations can pay up to $80,000 to sponsor an ALEC 2-day academy in your state to educate legislators on ALEC legislation that they want introduced.
Corporations can pay up to $15,000 to sponsor an ALEC "State Factor" which is a topic specific short article that supports legislation that ALEC is proposing.
Corporations can pay up to $5,000 to sponsor an ALEC "Issue Briefing" which is a topic specific short article that supports legislation that ALEC is proposing.
Corporations pay for scholarships for legislators to attend
ALEC meetings to meet with corporate representatives. Scholarship funding is given out to state
legislators with preference given to ALEC task force members >>>>> who have
sponsored or supported<<<<< ALEC “model legislation” in their state legislature
Are ALEC meetings
open to the public?
Since ALEC introduces and passes pro-corporate “model legislation” at
their meetings are these meetings open to the public – since this legislation
will affect the public?
NO
Do I know what
legislation introduced in our state and federal government is written at ALEC
meetings?
NO
There is no public disclosure which legislation being
introduced in your state was written by ALEC members.
How is this different
than other organizations that legislators belong to?
ALEC is the only organization that your legislators belong
to where corporations actually write, discuss and vote on the “model
legislation”. That corporate written legislation is then brought to the state and federal legislatures by ALEC legislators.
ALEC is the only organization that your legislators belong
to that is funded by corporations– up to 98% of ALEC revenue comes from
corporations.
How is this different
from regular types of lobbying.
Through ALEC, corporate representatives (mostly registered lobbyists)
can meet privately and out of the eye of the public in closed settings.
Through ALEC, corporations can pay unlimited amounts of
money directly to ALEC for the opportunity to privately influence state and federal legislators.
Through ALEC, corporations can write legislation.
Through ALEC, corporations can write legislation.
Isn’t this wrong?
Most would say yes.
But, ALEC legislators have passed statutes and laws in their states that allow them to participate in ALEC meetings.
But, ALEC legislators have passed statutes and laws in their states that allow them to participate in ALEC meetings.
Even though ALEC publicly states they are bi-partisan, ALEC
members use “close door caucus” types of statutes to protect the secrecy of ALEC
meetings. Caucus closed door meeting laws
are normally reserved for meetings of members of only the Democratic party or only
of Republican party when they need to talk specific political party policy. The caucus closed meeting statutes are also
used to protect the content of ALEC meetings.
What can I do?
As a citizen activist there isn't much you can do to stop "ALEC".
BUT - to stop ALEC extremist policies, you must stop ALEC legislators.
ALEC legislators ARE ALEC. ALEC can not exist without YOUR state and federal legislators.
ALEC legislators introduce the extremist ALEC bills and policies.
ALEC legislators must be exposed to the public in your state - they must be identified as "ALEC" and they must be removed from office - one by one - at the ballot box.
BUT - to stop ALEC extremist policies, you must stop ALEC legislators.
ALEC legislators ARE ALEC. ALEC can not exist without YOUR state and federal legislators.
ALEC legislators introduce the extremist ALEC bills and policies.
ALEC legislators must be exposed to the public in your state - they must be identified as "ALEC" and they must be removed from office - one by one - at the ballot box.
SO
What you are saying is
ALEC is a
politically active organization
That brings
legislation into our legislatures
Written and voted
on by corporations
And the authorship
of this legislation is hid from the public
And ALEC meetings
are closed to the public
And ALEC members
are hidden from the public
And ALEC is behind
some of the nasty legislation
we are seeing
introduced in many states at the same time??
Basically, yes.
Is there anything else I should know?
Yes
ALEC is a registered 501c3 charitable organization, ALEC pays not taxes.
ALL monies paid to ALEC by the corporations are written
off as tax deduction against their income when the corporations are calculating
and report their income to the US
and state governments. Therefore, lower
taxes are collected from the corporations because of their participation in
ALEC.
IF this is true – why
haven’t I heard about this in the mainstream media?
Oh – it is TRUE!!
Why the mainstream media is not covering ALEC is a mystery
to all who know about ALEC. It could
range from ignorance, reluctance to do the necessary investigations, fear of
litigation, corporate control, etc – who knows???
Should I be really worried about ALEC?
EVERY state that does not currently have ALEC's Right-to-Work (for Less) must live in constant vigilance and FEAR - awaiting the onslaught of ALEC legislation that will destroy their way of life and the economy in their state.
Should I be really worried about ALEC?
Without
the orchestration of legislators and legislation, BY ALEC, none of the
horrendous legislation we are seeing would proliferate
the way it has. We can see it over and
over and over again – in state after state after state – “model
legislation” after
“model legislation”. And there is only
ONE, only ONE factor that is the cause of this – ALEC.
No other extremist right wing organization has the ability to - pass legislation. No other extremist right wing organization has access to
state legislators. No other extremist right wing organization has “model legislation” to supply to the legislators - to
introduce & enact, EXCEPT ALEC.
We need to start placing responsibility and blame, when applicable, on ALEC for their political agenda. BLAME for the ongoing weakening and
destruction of historically acceptable and viable systems and processes of our
country - caused by ALEC “model
legislation”, ALEC legislators - devastation caused by the American Legislative
Exchange Council.
EVERY state that does not currently have ALEC's Right-to-Work (for Less) must live in constant vigilance and FEAR - awaiting the onslaught of ALEC legislation that will destroy their way of life and the economy in their state.
I can’t believe that this horrible thing is happening in the USA!!!
I would like to
believe that what you are telling me is not true.
Do you have other
resources I can check?
YES, just follow the links below:
Bill Moyers’ 30 minute Expose’ on
ALEC
A 18 minute Radio Interview about
ALEC
Just click >>>LISTEN TO THIS
SEGMENT<<< on the page to just hear only the interview about ALEC.
ALEC Model Legislation showing
Corporate Authors
A partial list of ALEC Corporate
members
(remember most memberships are hidden/secret)
Investigative research on ALEC’s
agenda – nationally and internationally
Investigative reporting identifying
and exposing ALEC members and others affiliated with ALEC
(remember most memberships are hidden/secret)
Introductory series of six specific
articles on ALEC
And last – but not least …
A wide range of original ALEC
documents, state specific reports on ALEC and award winning reporting on ALEC
from the investigative reporting group at the
Center for Media and Democracy
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