Being a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council
is and should be a campaign issue.
This past week, a PAC released letters identifying ALEC
members in various states, and ALEC HQ blew a gasket and released a presser –
that is, as usual full of inaccuracies and misleading statements.
Regardless of whether its dark money or not
THANK YOU to the Patriot Majority for the robocalls and mailers on ALEC legislators.
To ALEC members all I can say is
Too bad, so sad
You made your ALEC bed, now lie in it
Oh, how I hope America
will
#VoteNo2ALEC
And kick your extremist, conservative, pro-corporate ALEC butts
out of office
On to the real purpose of this entry, ALEC’s response to becoming a
campaign issue.
This week, robocalls and letters dropped in Florida, North Carolina,
Ohio, Michigan
and Maine,
targeting state lawmakers who are members of ALEC. The attack letters call ALEC
a secretive “corporate special interest” group that buys politicians with
”lavish, all-expenses-paid vacations.”
ALEC information
is not secret: financials, policy, draft proposals
and publications are
available online
Meetings are not
closed: anyone can register
Journalists come
to meetings
ALEC meetings are
held in convention center hotels, such as the
Marriott in Kansas
City and Oklahoma City
There are some major issues with these misleading statements made by ALEC.
Best get to it.
First
ALEC never disputes the statement
"corporate special interest” group that buys politicians
with
”lavish, all-expenses-paid vacations.”
Cause it’s true.
Second
It's important for you to realize that only the information that ALEC wants the public to see is on
its webpages.
On its webpage you will not find
The ALEC Voter ID bill
The ALEC Stand Your Ground Bill
There are many horrific pieces of legislation that ALEC has pushed that are intentionally not posted on the ALEC
webpage.
Instead of taking credit for the evil they produce – ALEC distances
itself from its role in these horrific pieces of legislature by basically saying
“If its not on our webpage, we didn’t do it”,
A blatant lie used against activists that
have exposed its legislation.
Third
“Meetings” are not open – “meetings” are closed
The “conference” is open – anyone can register – if you want
to give ALEC your money to go to a few lunches with keynote speakers and maybe
some parties
if ALEC doesn't kick you out first.
The "meetings" are restricted.
From the 2014 ALEC Task Force Operating Procedures
IV. MEMBERSHIP AND MEMBER RESPONSIBILITIES
A. The membership of
a Task Force consists of legislators
who are members in good standing of ALEC and
are duly appointed to the Task
Force, in accordance with Section VI (A)
and private sector organizations that
are full members of ALEC,
contribute to the assessment for the Task Force
operating budget,
and are duly appointed to the Task Force, in accordance with
Section VI (B).
Fourth
Notice how they state
“Journalists come to meetings.”
"come to meetings.”
No - they come to the "conference"
Journalists do show up at the "conference"– but that does NOT mean they get to go into
the “meetings”.
They can go to keynote speeches – but NOT the “meetings”.
In addition – ALEC media rulings state
ALEC does not allow journalists to register as media for the
purpose of writing a personal blog, or for persons whose news outlet is funded
by an individual; political candidate or party; nonprofit; or activist/lobbying
organization.
AND
ALEC staff interprets that ruling very broadly.
2011
“
my [media] application would be denied on the grounds that the Center for Media
and Democracy was an "advocacy organization." -
Beau Hodai, a staff writer for the print magazine In
These Times, was denied credentials after writing stories critical of ALEC.
Olivia Ward, an investigative reporter with the Toronto
Star, who was told she could not observe an ALEC meeting about budget policies
even though she had press credentials issued by ALEC for the meeting. -
Al Jazeera America
was also denied press credentials in New
Orleans. –
2013
There were dozens of press credentials laid out on ALEC conference's
check-in table when I arrived Thursday morning. Mother Jones' was not
among them. ALEC's board of directors had refused my request for credentials,
according to spokesman Bill Meierling.
When asked why I'd been turned away, Meierling pointed to our previous
coverage of ALEC and said it's clear that Mother Jones
"fundamentally hates" ALEC.
Nuff said
History of not being friendly to press.
Fifth and last.
ALEC meetings are held in convention center hotels
Depends on how you define that.
They push the "Marriott" but don't mention these
2011 – Annual
Meeting Salt
Lake City
Salt Lake City's Grand
America Hotel, the only AAA Five Diamond hotel in Salt Lake City.
 |
| www.grandamerica.com/ |
lavish
2011 Winter Meeting - Scottsdale
 |
| kierlandresort.com/ |
lavish
2012 Annual Meeting - Chicago
The Palmer House Hotel is a famous and historic hotel in Chicago in the city's Loop
area. It currently operates under the full name Palmer House - A Hilton Hotel.
 |
| www.palmerhouse.hilton.com |
2013 Annual Meeting - Dallas
the hotel features a unique Asian-designed atrium lobby
complemented by reflecting pools, greenery and comfortable seating areas.
Hilton Anatole is home to one of the largest Asian art collections in the
world, with more than 1,000 pieces of fine art on display throughout the hotel.
Spend time browsing this Dallas hotel’s valuable collection
of over 1,000 fine art pieces and antiques dating back as early as 500 BC
lavish
Going back to where we started
First
ALEC never disputes the statement
corporate special interest” group that buys politicians
with
”lavish, all-expenses-paid vacations.”
Cause it’s true.
You have
$3,000 state dinners for legislators
paid for by lobbyists.
lavish
LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES
for stupid people willing to believe.
#VoteNo2ALEC
