ALEC Influence Leads to Decline of NC

A few snips from a Daily Kos diary – don’t feel like re-inventing the wheel this morning.

Despite being shunned by many of its members amid controversy a year ago, ALEC continues to exert substantial influence in North Carolina. House Speaker Thom Tillis is a national board member, and former Rep. Fred Steen, the past state ALEC chairman, is Gov. Pat McCrory’s legislative lobbyist.

A handful of measures sponsored by North Carolina lawmakers this session include language identical to ALEC’s template legislation. At least two dozen more bills match the organization’s priorities and intent, if not its exact language – everything from requiring voter ID at the polls and allowing private school vouchers to repealing the federal health care law and prioritizing energy exploration.

The story, which also ran in the Charlotte Observer, mentions several ALEC-inspired bills that have made it onto the General Assembly docket.  Among them:

•     A bill that would shield Crown Holdings of Philadelphia
      from asbestos-related litigation
•     A bill that would shield companies from obesity lawsuits
•     A right-to-work amendment to the state constitution
•     A tenther-oriented statement of state sovereignty

ALEC continues to exert substantial influence in North Carolina.

ALEC continues to exert substantial influence in North Carolina.

ALEC continues to exert substantial influence in North Carolina.

And you have this

Yesterday in the New York Times

The Decline of North Carolina

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Published: July 9, 2013 516 Comments

Every Monday since April, thousands of North Carolina residents have gathered at the State Capitol to protest the grotesque damage that a new Republican majority has been doing to a tradition of caring for the least fortunate. Nearly 700 people have been arrested in the “Moral Monday” demonstrations, as they are known. But the bad news keeps on coming from the Legislature, and pretty soon a single day of the week may not be enough to contain the outrage.

SNIP

North Carolina was once considered a beacon of farsightedness in the South, an exception in a region of poor education, intolerance and tightfistedness. In a few short months, Republicans have begun to dismantle a reputation that took years to build.

Even though the Times does not connect the dots to the - the combination of both articles does.

The extremist policies of the American Legislative Exchange Council may have damaged the great state of North Carolina for decades – maybe forever.