Indiana

Where Each State Stands on Medicaid Expansion

Where Each State Stands on Medicaid Expansion

The Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) allowed states to opt out of the law’s Medicaid expansion, leaving each state’s decision to participate in the hands of the nation’s governors and state leaders. A roundup of what each state’s leadership has said about their Medicaid plans February 27, 2013 Text last updated on Feb. 26, [...]

Richard Fink: The Koch Brothers’ Big Tobacco Man Behind the Kochtopus Curtain

Richard Fink has long been one of the Koch Brothers’ inner circle, playing the role of both political strategist and close confidante. Some say the Koch Empire wouldn’t have been nearly as successful without Fink. Without him and his ideas, what is now pejoratively known as the “Kochtopus” probably would not have branched so far [...]

What I learned from the ALEC 2012 Spring Task Force Summit

editor’s note:  This is a fascinating article, a first person account by a conservative ALEC member from New Hampshire.  As a conservative, he was involved in the meetings, as opposed to the way ALEC has treated Marc Pocan–keep him away from everything. This is a very significant article for the information and insights into conservative [...]

Privatizing Government Services in the Era of ALEC and the Great Recession – Part IV – Unions and Collective Bargaining

IV.   UNIONS AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING Many ALEC bills target teachers and collective bargaining, and laws that are similar to those bills have been enacted in the aftermath of the Republican victories in 2010.  For example, in Indiana, where Republicans had a 60-40 House majority and a 37-13 Senate super-majority, the Senate labor committee chair coupled [...]

Privatizing Government Services in the Era of ALEC and The Great Recession – Section 1, Introduction

PRIVATIZING GOVERNMENT SERVICES IN THE ERA OF ALEC AND THE GREAT RECESSION by Ellen Dannin 1 I. INTRODUCTION In Max Barry’s 2003 novel, Jennifer Government,2 there is no public sector:  The world is run by American corporations; there are no taxes; employees take the last names of the companies they work for; the Police and [...]

The (F)Law of the Land — Why RTW Laws are Bad for State Economies

Michigan leaders, like moths, are mindlessly being drawn to the destructive Right-to-work flame, soon making them the 24th state to enact a bad law which every qualified economist who has seriously studied the subject finds to be destructive to a state’s economy and workforce, while being little more than a short-term political lever at best. The state will join the ranks of: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, [...]

Coalition letter to DNC: Tell Duke Energy to Dump ALEC!

Today, Greenpeace and the Coalition to March on Wall Street South sent a letter to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee, highlighting the DNC’s connection to the American Legislative Exchange Council through Duke Energy. In May, Duke gave ALEC $50,000 for its meeting in Charlotte, NC and has consistently offered staff [...]

Duke Energy Uses ALEC to Attack Climate and Clean Energy Laws in Pay-to-Play Politics

Duke Energy is heavily invested in ALEC in several ways. Duke sponsors ALEC’s meetings, dedicates its staff to help oversee ALEC’s state operations, and consistently operates in ALEC’s anti-environmental task force, a who’s-who of polluters and apologists attacking clean energy legislation that Duke purportedly supports. Here’s an overview of Duke’s notable role in ALEC: Duke [...]

Violations of the Internal Revenue Laws by the American Legislative Exchange Council

This article is written by Marcus S. Owens,  Director, Exempt Organizations Division, Internal Revenue Service, 1990-2000 Please click here to see Mr. Owens’ c.v. which establishes him incontrovertibly as an expert in this matter. Now, let’s release Mr. Owens’ smoking gun report about ALEC’s 501(c)3 status, which Common Cause is challenging. The information in this [...]

GOP Front Group Suing States To Force Voter Purges

A Tea Party group is suing states to try to purge their voter rolls before November’s election. True the Vote, an arm of the King Street Patriots, has filed a suit against the state of Indiana, alleging that the state has poor “list maintenance” of its voters. [nice of them to do the dirty work [...]