ALEC Legislators Appropriating Your $$$ to Fund ALEC

"Appropriating " Taxpayer Dollars to Fund ALEC
A better word might be STEALING


A post of of South Dakota should be a wakeup call to every American.

While your state legislature is cutting funds to schools and other social programs - how much are they budgeting to spend on ALEC?

Is this happening in YOUR state - and you just don't know about it, cause you haven't bothered to check?

Note the following:

Today the Executive Board of the South Dakota Legislature decided to spend some of that money on sending members to the entirely pro-corporate, anti-democratic meetings of the American Legislative Exchange Council. The E-Board also apparently wants to pay dues to ALEC for every member of the Legislature. $100 a head, 105 legislators, $10,500 trickling up the corporate ladder.

"for every member of the Legislature. $100 a head,"

EVERY MEMBER - including the Dems

   Dems who don't want to be members of ALEC

$100 a head - that is a two year membership   

It was documented two years ago that Iowa pays for EVERY member of the legislature to belong to ALEC - I wonder if Iowa has stopped doing that?

ALEC state legislators nefariously stealing taxpayer dollars to fund the extremist, pro-corporate, ultraconservative ALEC through bogus memberships.

The Republican-controlled legislature hiked its own budget $5,000 per lawmaker last session, and today (Tuesday) they began to spend the money by voting themselves more out-of-state travel, including trips to the controversial ALEC conventions where conservative lawmakers mingle with corporate special interests.

"trips to the controversial ALEC conventions"

Why are states budgeting for travel to ALEC conventions?

WHY?

ALEC provides corporate funded scholarships to ALEC legislators to attend ALEC meetings.
Scholarships that typically pay for their travel expenses, registration and lodging.

There should be  NO state taxpayer $$ budgeted for "ALEC travel"

AND here's a sample of an ALEC legislator begging for his ALEC scholarship money - from ALEC.  Note the address is Washington DC - he is actually asking ALEC for the corporate scholarship money - major point there.

Did this ALEC legislator get money from the state to go to the ALEC meeting?

Did this ALEC legislator take money from thier campaign funds to go to the ALEC meeting?

Did this legislator get reimbursed for this ALEC trip by ALEC, AND by the state AND by taking funds out of their campaign funds?
Inquiring minds SHOULD want to know!!!!  In every state in the United States.

The only way we know the answer to that question is if YOU do the research and file the appropriate complaints.

AND here is a 157 page report from CMD describing the scholarship process and showing how many scholarships have been historically distributed to ALEC legislators, and some of the corporations that paid for legislators to go to attend an ALEC meeting.

AND BTW - South Dakota legislators received a boatload of ALEC Corporate sponsored scholarships if you take the time to look at the report.
 

There should be  NO state taxpayer $$ budgeted for "ALEC travel"

And then you have this:

Conservative group’s dues will be covered by SD treasury for all legislators

Posted: Tuesday, April 23, 2013 11:14 pm

By Bob Mercer State Capitol Bureau | 0 comments

PIERRE, S.D. — The Legislature’s Executive Board fully embraced the American Legislative Exchange Council for the first time Tuesday.

The Republican-dominated board decided the state treasury should pay for the $100 memberships for all 105 South Dakota lawmakers and for unlimited out-of-state trips to ALEC meetings by legislators who are members of ALEC committees.

ALEC is largely a privately funded conservative and pro-business political organization. Each of its committees is co-chaired by a business person and a legislator. ALEC committees frequently develop model legislation that is introduced by state lawmakers..

SNIP 

Less than two hours after the Executive Board’s 10-4 vote Tuesday, House Democratic leader Bernie Hunhoff of Yankton issued a news release criticizing the decision and labeling ALEC as “extremist.”

Trips to ALEC meetings by South Dakota legislators have been paid at various times in the past decade. But the memberships weren’t paid.

My emphasis

SNIP 

Peters is one of the ALEC leaders in South Dakota.

“This isn’t unheard of. The state of Iowa already does it this way,” she said.

An ALEC member CONFIRMING what I sated above about the state of Iowa.

Peters didn’t prepare an estimate of how much the new policy might cost. She said the amount depends on how many legislators go to ALEC meetings.

RINSE AND REPEAT

Corporate scholarships pay for legislators to attend ALEC meetings!!

There should be NO state taxpayer $$ budgeted for "ALEC travel"

What does it take to wake up the electorate that this is a slimy organization and take action - what?
Or do we just wait and hope that ALEC has totally destroyed our representative democratic government and then - wish we had done something.

Wake up people!!!!  This group is not the YMCA - as they like to claim when hiding their membership list.

Is this happening in YOUR state 

- and you just don't know about it, 

cause you haven't bothered to check?  

How much of your state taxpayer dollars are being used to fund the extremist, ultraconservative, right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council?