Model Legislation

Jan 18, 2016

ALEC and OREGON PROTESTERS

Most of us are now aware of the ongoing takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy and dozens of followers. Ammon and Ryan Bundy are sons of rancher Cliven Bundy, who notably took part in an armed standoff with the federal Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, in Nevada in 2014.

The protesters cite convictions in a local arson case against ranchers for burning more than 130 acres of federal land in 2 separate fires as being the initial cause for the occupation of the refuge. Rancher brothers, Dwight and Steven Hammond were convicted in 2012 and after losing an appeal, were sentenced and to turn themselves in the week of the takeover. The Bundys demand that the two Hammonds be released from custody as their first demand.

A second and more important demand being made by these protesters as they continue to occupy the buildings and grounds of this federal reserve, is a demand that Washington return federally owned land back to the states. Ryan Bundy laid out the militants’ demands: that the surrounding federal lands be ceded to local control.

This reflects a decades-old dispute over land rights in the United States, where local communities have increasingly sought to take back federal land.

According to the Congressional Research Service, in Nevada the U.S. owned more than 81 percent of the land in the state in 2010. In Oregon, that number hovered right around half — 53 percent of the land, more than 30 million acres of which were administered by either the BLM or the U.S. Forest Service.

The federal government owns, maintains and cares for millions of acres nationwide. Over the past two decades the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has pushed for the federal government to turn over much of this land to the individual states. Once transferred, the use of such land becomes the responsibility of the states.

ALEC’s model legislation pertaining to pursuit of taking federal land began back in 1995 and was titled the “Sagebrush Rebellion Act”.

Today, you’ll find no reference to this model legislation at ALEC’s web site because of the exposure it and other proposed “model” legislation has been given upon the “ALEC Exposed” website. ALEC has scrubbed much of their model bills following publication of their entire stash of proposed legislation in 2011.

I urge everyone to read the Sagebrush Rebellion Act to understand exactly what this conservative organization was attempting to accomplish with this proposed state legislation. At a minimum, it proposes to transfer ownership of tens of millions of acres of land to each state and allow them to continue existing leases, grazing, ranching and other income generating pursuits, with the income transferring to the states as well.

Included is the transfer of all mineral, water, oil and similar rights to the states to do with as they please….including leasing the rights to private companies, individuals and/or corporations.

“…to permit ranching, mining and timber production and the development, production and transmission of energy and other public utility services under principles of multiple use which provide the greatest benefit to the people of this state“.

As I indicated previously, ALEC has erased all traces of this model legislation from their website of model bills. However ALEC Exposed retains a copy of the legislation as does the Heartland Institute (linked to above).

However, ALEC is still pursuing a takeover of federal lands today. They’ve simply changed the model legislation to a Policy Statement entitled “Public Policy Statement on Transfer of Public Lands.“

ALEC’s “policy” on the takeover of federal land was approved in January of last year. Below is an excerpt of that document, showing admission that though you won’t find any model legislation pertaining to this issue upon their website, they advise current legislation does exist:

“This Draft Model Policy, ratified by unanimous consent on October 9, 2014 at American Lands Council (ALC) Multi-State Workshop convened in Salt Lake City, UT and on October 20, 2014 by ALC Board of Directors, resulted from that summit. This statement is supported by existing ALEC model policy and calls for the restoration to the western states their most basic right – control over their land with important exemptions for national parks, Congressionally-designated wilderness area, Indian reservations and military installations.”

They provide several uses of the land once transferred all of which ensure economic productivity. Section X provides:

“x. GENERATE SELF-SUPPORTING FINANCE: Foster compatible economic productivity to support essential government services such as local roads, utilities, emergency services, public health and safety, education, justice, and other civic functions while reducing tax burdens on citizens nationally and offsetting federal Payment in Lieu of Taxes and Secure Rural Schools funds“.

The ALEC Board of Directors approved this public policy on January 9, 2015.

Essentially our friends at ALEC are working to cut federal income generated off these tens of million acres of land. I find this attempt at reducing federal income consistent with their pursuits of lowering corporate and high income taxes. Both the transfer of federal land and reducing taxes cuts off income to the government. With less income, the federal government would have difficulty paying down the national debt, maintaining federal employee workforce and consequently, less of an ability to function. This would allow for a louder hue and cry from the Conservative political right about our government being unable to function and meet budget requirements.

If this sounds far-fetched to you…consider what’s happened to the U.S. Post Office (USPS) since 2005 as ALEC pursued privatization of that federal agency. In 1995 ALEC proposed privatizing the USPS. Then as now, Fed Ex and UPS were members of ALEC with representatives holding positions upon ALEC’s various task forces. Both of these private companies then (and now) complain that the USPS’s first class mail and parcel post contracts are a monopoly owned by the “government” and seek access to both. Fed Ex and UPS argue that back when the USPS was enacted, there were no private companies available or willing to take on the task of delivering mail and packages…but today there are private companies willing and demanding they be allowed to deliver both at a profit.

By 2005 through ALEC they were successful in getting legislation passed by Congress to make the USPS fund retirement and healthcare for workers for the next 75 years! In 2006 the legislation passed and became known as the “Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act”.

Since then the USPS has been forced to set aside billions every year to fund healthcare and projected retirement benefits for workers who haven’t even been born yet. This diversion of income has caused the USPS to be unable to modernize facilities, close many facilities, lay off workers and to defend themselves against the onset of emails to replace “snail mail”.

Once the income was diverted in the manner I described above, ALEC’s Republican Alumni in Congress began expressing their views that the USPS was failing, unable to properly fund themselves or operate. They started the pursuit of privatizing the post office.

Unfortunately this is how ALEC and their Koch funded and backed politicians operate…cut off funding, tax revenue and then offer up a solution of privatization or the selling off of assets – such as federal lands and all the mineral rights.

Today it’s an armed “militia” taking over a federal facility in a remote part of Oregon demanding the federal government release convicted criminals and hand over publicly owned land to the states. It isn’t a stretch of fact to realize that the Bundy boys and their supporters are conservative believers following the proposed legislation and acting upon the ideology provided by ALEC and their conservative state members and Congressional alumni.

For a full comprehensive expose on ALEC’s attacks upon the federal level, please take a few minutes and review VLTP’s “American Legislative Exchange Council – Federal Government and Corrupt Practices” article published in 2011. In this document the chronological attack upon the USPS is laid out beginning on page 24.

Yesterday it was the USPS, today it’s the acquisition of federally owned public land. One can only wonder where ALEC’s next attack will be and when.

By Bob Sloan ALEC, ALEC Corporate Members, Center for Media and Democracy, Conservative Dogma, conservative think tanks, corporate behavior, Ethics in Government, exploitation and manipulation, Federal Forum, Heartland Institute, Koch brothers, Nevada, PRWatch, The Cabal, U.S. Congress, USPS No comments Tags: ALEC, ALEC alumni, American Legislative Exchange Council, bundy, Center for Media and Democracy, Charles and David Koch, FedEx, Koch, Koch Brothers, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Model Legislation, oregon takeover, postal service, transparency, USPS

Oct 12, 2015

More Controversies at Nevada DOC – Director Cox Resigns

In mid-September Nevada Governor, Brian Sandoval asked for the resignation of Gregg Cox, Director of the state Department of Corrections. The action was taken by the Governor because a report about prisoner shootings and abuses by staff in the state’s prisons was late.

The report completed by the Association of State Correctional Administrators was to be presented by Cox at a Tuesday meeting of the Board of Prison Commissioners, which the Governor is a part of.

“The governor felt that it was time to move the department in a new direction,” according to a statement from Gov. Brian Sandoval’s office on the departure of Greg Cox. The corrections department is facing several lawsuits due to prison shootings in the past few years.

One incident at High Desert State Prison left inmate Carlos Manuel Perez Jr. dead. Sources say Perez was handcuffed when he was shot and killed, and accuse prison guards of creating a “gladiator-like scenario” by allowing inmate fights to go on before firing into the fray. It wasn’t revealed until four months afterward that Perez died from gunfire.

Earlier in 2013 Cox’s department came under fire for allowing the DOC’s prison industry program to be used by a private company, Alpine Steel and company owner, Randy Bulloch to use inmate labor – without paying them wages.

Alpine Steel owner, Randy Bulloch

Alpine had been able to avoid paying rent, utilities, inmate or staff labor wages for more than a year, running up a tab of nearly $500,000 – while Deputy Director Brian Connett of the NDOC Prison Industry, (Silver State Industries) – turned a blind eye upon the climbing debt, allowing Bulloch’s steel fabrication operation to continue virtually free of overhead, at taxpayer expense. Connett went so far as to approve Alpines new contract with the NDOC, failing to report the back debt owed while reporting Alpine had fulfilled all requirements under the expiring contract.

The facts surrounding the Alpine case began to emerge in late 2012 when steel companies started protesting to NDOC and legislative authorities arguing they were being unfairly forced to compete against a local company using inmate labor. Business owners asserted they had lost bids on projects and thus were unable to expand their businesses or hire more workers due to interference from Nevada’s prison industry operations.

Governor Sandoval eventually stepped in and ordered the closure of the Alpine operation following those complaints. The challenges centered upon unfair competition by a private company using inmate labor to reduce labor costs and thus underbid complainants for lucrative state and private contracts involving fabricated steel materials.

Alpine quickly paid over $78,000 in back wages owed to inmate workers. The NDOC entered into an agreement with Alpine to repay the state the remaining money owed for staff wages, utilities and lease of prison facilities. Surprisingly the agreement had no provision for Mr. Bulloch to be personally responsible for any of the accrued debt owed.

Within months Bulloch defaulted on the terms of the agreement and the state secured a judgment against Alpine for more than $400,000. Alpine also incurred state and federal tax liens for non-payment of income taxes. These totaled more than an additional $680,000.

“The taxpayers have been left holding the bag…. As a result of this I think there is going to be a lot more oversight,” Nevada Assemblyman James Ohrenschall said in an interview on Vegas Inc. September 21, 2013. Mr. Ohrenschall is the former chairman of the Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee on Industrial Programs. At the time of that interview, the IFC Committee was meeting to investigate facts related to Alpine Steel that prompted his concerns.

Unfortunately Mr. Ohrenschall was too optimistic in his assessment of oversight, but his claim of “taxpayers have been left holding the bag” is still accurate. To date the state has been unable or unwilling to pursue collection of the nearly half million dollar debt owed to taxpayers by Bulloch and his company.

Though Bulloch voluntarily surrendered his contracting license to the Nevada Contractors Board in October 2013, saying he was closing down his business…Alpine Steel’a website remains open for business while the company owner continues to avoid paying the state any of the money owed taxpayers under the court ordered judgment. Additionally, along with the Alpine website still showing it is an active business, Mr. Bulloch is now selling structural steel and fabricated components as Hunt Steel, also in Las Vegas. Links to fabrication, etc. on the Alpine site, takes visitors to Bulloch’s Hunt Steel site.

Director Cox managed to retain his position after the Legislature enacted new revisions to existing Nevada law to prevent potential or new industry operators from starting up without posting a surety bond to guarantee payment of leases and utilities owed to the state. Known as Senate bill 478, this law also provides that the public be notified of any potential new prison industry proposals, to date there has been no such notice given to the public or possible competitors though there have been new industries proposed to the Interim Finance Committee on Industrial Programs.

Just prior to Cox taking over as Director in 2011 he was a Deputy Director when the prison industries “wrote off” more than $800,000 in outstanding noncollectable debt owed to the Prison Industry Program. With Alpine’s additional $428,000, Nevada taxpayers have lost more than $1.2 million dollars. The now pending lawsuits against the NDOC, it’s staff and officers, could result in another $1 million or more needed to settle inmate abuse and shooting claims and/or court judgments.

It appears Director Cox avoided one serious controversy involving a lack of transparency only to succumb to another controversy involving transparency before the same Board of Prison Commissioners that again, included Governor Sandoval.

By Bob Sloan Consumer exploitation, corporate behavior, exploitation and manipulation, inmate labor, Jobs, Labor, Nevada, organized labor, PIECP, Prison Industries, Prison Industry, prison labor, Privatized Prison System, slave labor, Unions No comments Tags: Alpine Steel LLC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Brian Connett, greg cox, hunt steel, inmate labor, Model Legislation, NDOC, Nevada Department of Corrections, prison labor, privatized prison system, randy bulloch, transparency, U.S. Department of Justice

Apr 19, 2015

Koch, ALEC Cabal In The News 3-15 to 4-15, 2015

News on ALEC and the Koch’s activities for March. Click on links to read full article or story.

Of special note this month is the recent Indiana controversy involving the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Pushed through the Indiana legislature and quickly signed in private by Governor Pence, it has caused an eruption of protests, demonstrations and push-back by the LGBT community in Indiana joined by thousands of supporters from across the U.S. While ALEC denies any responsibility for the RFRA legislation, several of ALEC’s Indiana legislative members sponsored the legislation:

“A Source Watch report on the legislative authors of Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) shows many are also on the ALEC Indiana membership list. Three of the bill’s co-authors are also ALEC Task Force committee chairs, including Indiana state Sen. Carlin J. Yoder (R) of District 12, Sen. Jean Leising (R) of District 42, and Sen. Jim Buck (R) of District 21, according to Source Watch.”

This is similar to the Stand Your Ground Law situation that evolved out of Florida. ALEC members in Florida introduced that legislation originally and once passed, it was taken back to ALEC and adopted as “model legislation” and circulated nationwide…

‘Bill mill’ behind proposed Nevada laws: Letter

March 2015 headline: Wall St. bonuses rise to $28.5 billion Hasn’t Wall Street hurt Nevada families enough already? Nope, apparently not. If you have a dime to your name, Wall Street is now using your state legislators to pass bills to pick that dime from your pocket and put it into their corporate coffers.

But why would Nevada legislators write, introduce and pass bills that devastate Nevada’s middle-class families? The answer is, Nevada legislators did not write these anti-middle-class bills: ALEC did…

…ALEC’s supporters include Nevada legislators Don Gustavson, Joe Hardy, Ben Kieckhefer, Randy Kirner, Pat Hickey and Jill Dickman, among others, who have sponsored ALEC bills in this legislative session.

Last Call: Obama, Republicans Celebrate Kennedy, Dedicate the Lion’s New Den

Hoosier Inhospitality: After igniting a brush fire of boycotts by signing a new law critics say legalizes anti-gay discrimination, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, a Republican, and the GOP-dominated state legislature are scrambling to stomp out the flames with a fine mist of gasoline. Rather than repeal the law, admit defeat and go back to the homophobic drawing board, Pence and his cohorts are attempting to “clarify” legislation the state probably didn’t need – and its businesses certainly didn’t want. But the fire exposed the shadowy hand of ALEC: the American Legislative Exchange Council, a so-called “bill mill” that churns out model laws for red-state legislatures. While ALEC denied it was involved, the Christian Science Monitor reports that some of the religious conservatives driving the Indiana religious-freedom bill also belong to ALEC.

Barbara Burczyk: Only voices heard in Wisconsin is ALEC’s

Dear Editor: The recent state budget and right-to-work-for-less bill are direct attacks against the people of Wisconsin.

It’s obvious that these actions are not based upon the needs and concerns of most Wisconsin citizens. Instead, they are taken from scripts crafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which is a national membership group that drafts and pushes model legislation that furthers their agenda.

Walker and his lackeys in the Legislature are following the orders of their big corporate bosses who fund ALEC’s operations. It’s very clear that they don’t care about the damage they’re doing to the people, wildlife, environment, economy and reputation of our state.

Walker’s outrageous comment comparing protesters in Wisconsin to ISIS terrorists further shows his utter contempt and disregard for the people of his own state, no matter how he tried to spin his comment later.

It now seems to be a sad fact that, unless your name is ALEC, you no longer have a voice in Wisconsin.

Barbara Burczy

Right To Work: Growing National Momentum Highlighted In New Mexico Senate Hearing

New Mexico is the latest state to consider going to “right to work” — that is, prohibiting unions from collecting fees from all the workers they represent. On Sunday, the state’s Senate Public Affairs Committee held a contentious hearing on proposed legislation that would do just that…

…GOP electoral sweeps explain the wave in the Midwest. And last November, Republicans won control of the New Mexico state House for the first time since 1953. In West Virginia, too, the new GOP majority has flirted with the possibility of passing right to work. And in Illinois, newly elected Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner wants to create “right-to-work zones” on the county and municipal levels. He also tried to unilaterally implement such measures for state employees, but that plan has run into legal trouble.

The cause has some well-endowed — and well-connected — benefactors. Its top lobby shop, the National Right To Work Committee, receives funding from billionaire conservative-activist brothers Charles and David Koch and works with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which pushes conservative policies in state legislatures.

By Bob Sloan ALEC, ALEC Corporate Members, Center for Media and Democracy, civil rights, Conservative Dogma, conservative think tanks, Consumer exploitation, corporate behavior, Environment, Ethics in Government, fracking, Legislators with ALEC Ties No comments Tags: ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Americans For Prosperity, Center for Media and Democracy, Charles and David Koch, Education, environment, Koch, Koch Brothers, Koch Industries, Model Legislation, privatization, transparency, voter suppression

Mar 7, 2015

CABAL (ALEC, Koch, AEI, AFP) News for February…

Click on headline to read full story/article…

John M. Crisp: Ideology must not trump educationn

‘…Thus, if you want to help the 14.7 million American children who are growing up poor, it serves your cause to point out that, according to the Children’s Defense Fund, the $77 billion that it would cost to reduce child poverty is much less than the $500 billion that poor children cost our nation every year.

And, thus, if you want to promote “school choice” over public education, your first and most prominent means of attack depends on promoting the economic benefits of getting more students out of public schools and into private schools.

That’s what’s happening in Texas right now. A bill has been filed in the Texas Senate that would establish a Taxpayer Savings Grant Program, which would divert public funds to vouchers that could be used to pay for private schools.

But the issue is national. The Texas bill is cobbled together from boilerplate supplied by the American Legislative Exchange Council (“Limited Government Free Markets Federalism”), a nonprofit organization headquartered in Arlington, Va. ALEC is dedicated to the promotion of conservative values and legislation. It provides an extensive menu of model bills suitable for sponsorship in every state, on issues ranging from climate change to “stand your ground” laws.

In the Texas version of ALEC’s vision for American education, vouchers for 60 percent of Texas’ per-student expenditure would be issued to parents who wish to transfer their children out of public schools.

War on Renewables Claims Victory in West Virginia

West Virginia lowered the bar on renewable energy this week when Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed into law Tuesday the repeal of its Alternative and Renewable Energy Portfolio, enacted in 2009.

In doing so, West Virginia became the first state of the 29 that currently have renewable energy targets to completely eliminate previously passed standards. The previous low bar was set in Ohio last July, when its legislature passed and Governor John Kasich signed into law a two-year freeze of its standards. It too is looking at revoking them permanently; the legislature has convened a panel, loaded with fossil-fuel advocates, to ponder whether to move ahead on this…
….“This whole thing is a charade,” West Virginia citizen-activist Bill Howley told Inside Climate News.”The Republicans had made it a big issue in the elections and they want to be able to say, ‘See, we told you we were going to do something about it and look, here it is.’”

A nationwide push is underway to repeal standards in the states that have them, according to an AP story, which identified the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the far-right fossil-fuel dominated Heartland Institute, as primarily drivers in rejecting renewable energy standards. ALEC has been coordinating the effort to repeal these standards for several years with its “model bill” dubbed the “Electricity Freedom Act.”

Conservative Lobbying Group ALEC Said The Supreme Court Case Trying To Gut Obamacare Is Wrong

The central premise of King v. Burwell, a lawsuit asking the justices to gut much of the Affordable Care Act and take health insurance away from at least 8 million people, is that a seemingly innocuous choice made by many states actually has devastating consequences for the people in those states. In 2011, however, a leading conservative lobbying group rejected this central premise in a proposed legislative resolution offered to state lawmakers.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is among the most influential conservative advocacy groups in the country. ALEC crafts model legislation that can be introduced by conservative state lawmakers, much of which has gone on to become the law in several states. The “Stand Your Ground” legislation which permits people in many states to shoot others and get away with it, for example, was pushed by ALEC. So are state laws making it harder to vote, keeping workers’ wages low, and blocking paid sick leave for workers.

In October of 2011, ALEC’s board of directors approved a model resolution that state lawmakers could pass, which asserted that “it is not in the best interest of the state for any state official to participate in planning or establishing health insurance exchanges as provided for in the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.” Significantly, however, the resolution also disagreed with the central premise of King v. Burwell, the lawsuit attacking the Affordable Care Act.

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner Proposes Local Right-to-Work Zones, Ban On Political Spending By Public Sector Unions

Illinois’ new Republican governor, Bruce Rauner, and organized labor have never gotten along. Now the relationship is souring even more. In his first State of the State address since taking office in January, Rauner voiced support for two proposals that are anathema to U.S. organized labor: so-called right-to-work zones and a ban on political spending by public sector unions.

Under Illinois law, unions are permitted to collect dues from all the workers they are legally certified to represent in a given workplace. The idea is to prevent nonmembers from “free-riding,” that is, receiving the benefits of a union contract without paying for the costs of negotiation and administration. “Right-to-work” laws prevent unions from making membership automatic and collecting fees from nonmembers.

In his speech to the legislature Wednesday afternoon, Rauner argued in favor of local-level right-to-work laws — which he termed “employee empowerment zones” — as a form of economic stimulus…

“…Gov. Rauner’s right-to-work-for-less scheme would cause wages to significantly drop for all working families while decimating the middle class,” Tom Balanoff, Illinois State Council president of the Service Employees International Union, said in a statement. “Right to work for less is not economic development. It is not empowerment. It is economic regression.”

Rauner’s support for local right-to-work comes on the heels of a push from conservative groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council and the Heritage Foundation to pass such measures in cities, towns and counties across the country. These groups say such laws promote economic growth by attracting employers who would otherwise be put off by a strong union presence. Since last December, five counties in Kentucky have approved right-to-work ordinances.

ALEC’s Legislative Bawdy House

Do you know Alec? You probably do, even though you never heard of it.

Yes, “it.” Not a person, ALEC is the acronym for a secretive, corporate-funded, state policy front group: American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC’s “exchange” is very straightforward – it takes about $6 million a year from corporate powers in exchange for linking them directly to hundreds of right-wing state legislators. Like a speed-dating service, ALEC convenes two-to-three dozen private confabs each year, putting corporate executives face to face with lawmakers. In these closed-door sessions, the special needs of corporations are matched with eager-to-please legislators who go back home to push the corporate agenda into state law.

If your legislature is suddenly trying to take away workers’ bargaining rights, outlaw citizen lawsuits against abusive corporations, privatize public schools, reduce corporate income taxes while raising taxes on retirees, and otherwise advance extremist, special-interest notions that go against the public will and the common good – chances are you have lawmakers who’re carrying bills handed to them in one of ALEC’s backroom tête-à-têtes…

Associated Press Hides Dirty Energy Interests Behind Anti-Renewables Campaign

“The Associated Press reported that national groups including the Heartland Institute and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) are heralding the repeal of West Virginia’s alternative energy mandate as a lynchpin to repeal stronger renewable energy standards in other states. But the AP identified the Heartland Institute and ALEC only as “national small government groups,” ignoring their significant ties to the fossil fuel industry…
“…As The Washington Post has noted, “In many cases, the groups involved [in efforts to undermine renewable energy standards and other environmental initiatives] accept money from oil, gas and coal companies that compete against renewable energy suppliers.” The anti-renewables campaign by Heartland and ALEC is a case in point.

“The Heartland Institute, infamous for its annual climate denial conferences, received over $700,000 from Exxon Mobil between 1998 and 2006. Heartland has also received significant funding from organizations with ties to the oil billionaire Koch Brothers, including the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation and DonorsTrust, which has been partially funded by the David Koch-chaired Americans for Prosperity Foundation…”

ALEC Helps Philip Morris Block Plain Packaging Tobacco Rules

“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” featured a segment Sunday on how Philip Morris and other tobacco companies are suing countries around the world to limit ways the government can alert the public about the life-threatening risks of smoking. Oliver–who awarded the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) the honorary title of “Associate Producer of Creating Horrifying Things for Us to Talk About” of his show last season–detailed how Big Tobacco has been lobbying to limit graphic warnings on cigarettes. He did not mention how ALEC has helped the tobacco companies, with whom it has a long shared history and from whom it receives significant funding, push their anti-regulatory agenda globally.

Jeb Bush in ‘95: We need more for-profit prisons

Jeb Bush began his political career as a firebrand soldier of the Republican Revolution.

Although he’s now widely known as the moderate Republican choice for 2016, Bush ran multiple campaigns for Florida governor while promoting the “deinvention of government” through broad privatization and the rapid shrinking of the public sector—including the transformation of the state’s prison system into a for-profit industry.

Now a national candidate facing a public much more skeptical of private prisons and harsh sentencing, Bush currently supports relatively liberal criminal justice reforms and lighter sentencing laws. In the 1990s, however, he played the conservative tough-on-crime issue at top volume.

“People now cannot walk on their streets without fear of crime!” Bush said during his 1993 gubernatorial campaign. “The simple fact is we are not safe. Not in our homes, not anywhere.”

While Florida crime had just begun a 20-year decline that continues to this day, Bush spent much of the 1990s pushing to build more for-profit prisons in the Sunshine State and around the country, with the stated dual-goals of putting as many criminals in jail as possible and saving taxpayer money at the same time.

“Our criminal justice system is also an obvious target for privatization,” Bush wrote in a 1995 essay in Imprimis, an influential conservative publication. “Our prison population has doubled in recent years, and we are spending billions of dollars on prison construction and operation each year. But, according to a number of independent estimates, partial privatization could save an incredible sum—as much as 10-20 percent.”

In fact, Florida’s private prisons have notoriously had trouble reaching even the state-mandated 7 percent savings at several institutions…

Letter: EPA regulations needed to fight warming

EDITOR: In a recent column, MacIver Institute director Brett Healy predicted economic disaster for Wisconsin due to coming Environmental Protection Agency regulations designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. A check on sourcewatch.org reveals Healy’s organization is allied with the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council. We can thank ALEC and friends for the recent fixed-rate increase just to bring electricity to our meters.

Healy totally ignored the fact that our planet is heating up, due largely to record levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Healy clearly has an agenda. You and I may or may not agree with it.

I do understand his distaste for governmental regulations that often hamper the flow of the competitive marketplace. Still, regulations like the EPA’s exist to solve serious problems in the absence of effective legislative solutions. Our planet is undeniably heating up, and our oceans are undeniably rising. If we don’t reduce our carbon dioxide and methane emissions, our future is certainly imperiled.

The Citizens Climate Lobby proposes a legislative solution that Republican legislators like U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, and Democrats like U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin all should support. This proposal puts a long overdue, annually increasing fee on carbon dioxide and methane emissions, and returns all the money collected to you and me. As the price of coal, oil and gas rises, as renewable technologies improve and prices drop, we will make marketplace choices that ultimately save our planet. Your legislators need to hear from you.

Dan Barth,

Mosinee

ALEC’s Latest Scam Is Sending Public School Dollars to Corporate Owned Private Schools

It never ceases to amaze that as Republicans trumpet America’s greatness and exceptionalism, they paint a deplorable picture of the nation and in typical conservative fashion lay all the blame on government and particularly the waste of money on its social programs. The truth is their main complaint is using government funds to support any program that does not funnel taxpayer dollars to corporations and the wealthy, and they have particularly focused on what they call an obscene waste of money on public education that in their corporatist libertarian philosophy is better spent on for-profit private and religious schools. To bolster their contention that public education is failing miserably, they cite the deplorable performance of students enrolled in the public school systems, and they have had valuable assistance from corporate-owned media and the Koch brothers American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) who want to send taxpayer dollars earmarked for public schools to corporate-owned private schools and religious programs…

Ed Hughes: Scott

Walker’s plan for charter schools outdoes ALEC in privatizing education
Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to privatize authority over charter schools is a trifecta of bad public policy, “untested, excessive, and irresponsible,” Madison School Board member Ed Hughes on his blog.

Walker’s plan, as laid out in his 2016-2017 budget proposal, would privatize and politicize charter schools beyond what is being done anywhere else in the country, Hughes wrote.

The bill calls for the creation of a new state panel of political appointees that, instead of considering charter school applications itself, would review applications by nonprofit organizations to become charter school authorizers that could, in turn, enter into contracts with charter school operators for an unlimited number of charter schools…

…As specified in model legislation by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, state authorities would be charged to assure that members of Walker’s proposed state board on charter authorization are “geographically diverse and have experience and expertise in governing public and nonprofit organizations; in management and finance; in public school leadership, assessment, and curriculum and instruction; and in education law; and understand and are committed to the use of charter schools to strengthen public education.”

Wisconsin Lawmakers’ Economic Development Proposal Seems To Be From ALEC’s Playbook

In late January, two Republican Wisconsin lawmakers representing Milwaukee’s suburbs released an economic development plan for the city’s poorest neighborhoods that seems to draw straight from the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) playbook.

The “New Opportunities for Milwaukee” plan, proposed by Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield) and Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), details what the lawmakers say will be solutions for the city’s chronically impoverished economy…

…The proposals outlined include “right-to-work” legislation, zero percent corporate tax laws, the repeal of minimum wage laws, and the creation of for-profit charter schools instead of public schools.

Canadian Supreme Court: Public workers have the right to strike

(“Radical” ALEC modeled legislation on RTW spills over into Canada and is defeated…)

OTTAWA, Ont. – In a ruling that points up the differences – in workers’ favor – between Canada and the U.S., the Canadian Supreme Court has ruled that public workers there have a constitutional right to strike.

The 5-2 decision on Feb. 4 in a case from Saskatchewan, is grounded in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms-its constitution-the justices said. But it also reflects the fact that Canadian labor law, province by province, is more pro-worker than U.S. labor law. Many U.S. public workers, including all federal workers, lack the right to strike.

The Right-Wing Canadian federal government, which has a slim parliamentary majority, has been making noises about trying to override provincial labor laws and curb worker rights. It’s considering schemes crafted by the secretive Radical Right corporate American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in the U.S., which several GOP-run states have approved.

Senate Doozies: Big Votes on Common Core, Special Needs, Car Stickers

…With a 29-18 vote, the Senate passed SB 2389, which is more or less a symbol that enacts a compact for a balanced budget. Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, introduced the bill, saying that it essentially just sends a message to the federal government, urging them to limit their spending.

#Democrats pressed Fillingane, worried that the bill would prevent Mississippi from getting needed federal dollars.

#Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, noted that SB 2389 is an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) bill, considering that it is nearly identical to a bill ALEC drafted.

#When Blount asked why Mississippi would need to take measures to balance the federal budget instead of letting the U.S. Speaker of the House handle it, Fillingane said, “We all need encouragement.”

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By Bob Sloan ALEC, ALEC Corporate Members, ALEC International, Center for Media and Democracy, civil rights, Conservative Dogma, conservative think tanks, Consumer exploitation, corporate behavior, Disgusting New Laws, Environment, Environment, Ethics in Government, exploitation and manipulation, Heartland Institute, Heritage Foundation, International Relations, Koch brothers, Labor, Legislators with ALEC Ties, lobbying, Privatized Education System, Privatized Utilities, PRWatch, Public Educaion, Public Utilities, The Cabal No comments Tags: ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Americans For Prosperity, Center for Media and Democracy, Charles and David Koch, dirty energy, Disenfranchisement, Education, environment, Koch, Koch Brothers, Model Legislation, Ohio, privatization, transparency

Jan 17, 2015

Another former ALEC member to Head (AAPCA)

by Bob Sloan

For years VLTP, Center for Media and Democracy, PRWatch, Common Cause and other organizations have reported upon alumni of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) taking positions of authority in state and federal agencies. In these articles/reports we have shown how easily and surreptitiously ALEC’s agenda can be pursued at all levels of government. The below Ohio/Kasich/Snitchler case is just one of many involving ALEC alumni in key positions advancing ALEC’s ultra-conservative agenda while enriching corporate members.

In Ohio ALEC alum Governor Kasich appointed state Representative and ALEC member Todd Snitchler to head that state’s Public Utility Commission in 2011.

As the new Chairman, Snitchler immediately increased rate hikes for ALEC corporate members, Duke Energy and American Electric Power (both ALEC members). Immediately following the increases, Snitchler and PUCO had to reverse themselves and throw out the rate increases that cost commercial and residential customers huge power increases.

Today 87 ALEC alumni are U.S. Congressional members. Historically ALEC’s congressional alumni have successfully pursued many of ALEC’s initiatives at the federal level as we again reported in 2012. Many ALEC alum moved on to positions within the U.S. Department of Justice (or were recruited from there) or staff for Cabinet Secretaries.

This week E & E Publishing, Inc. reported that an organization had been formed – the Association of Air Pollution Control Agencies (AAPCA) – . The stated goal of the AAPCA appears to be to thwart federal air regulations pursued by the 34 year old non-profit, National Association of Clean Air Agencies, or NACA. The article announced the AAPCA had chosen a new Executive Director. He is Clint Woods…again an ALEC alum that moved on to the U.S. House and became a member of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment. He also was a staff member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology through the first quarter of 2014.

in 2011 Woods, serving as ALEC’s Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Director, wrote an article titled “Combating the EPA Regulatory Train Wreck” in ALEC’s April “Inside ALEC” edition under the heading: “EPA’s Reglatory Train Wreck, Strategies For State Legislators”: .

In the article Woods writes:

In response to the growing morass of regulations
proposed by the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), the American
Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)
released EPA’s Regulatory Train Wreck: Strategies
for State Legislators. The report serves
as a toolkit for states to use in understanding
and combating these regulations,
which both burdens finite state resources
and impedes on the states’ role in our system
of government.”

In may of last year, Greenpeace reported Woods as being an activist for ALEC in an article titled: “CASE STUDY: Koch Front Groups Attack RGGI – the Northeast Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative“ writing:

Koch-funded front groups – led by Americans for Prosperity (AFP) — joined right wing mouthpieces like Glenn Beck and others who labeled RGGI a “cap and tax” initiative. Conservative activist Clint Woods of the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) stated that RGGI and other regional cap-and-trade regimes had become the “new battlefield” since federal climate legislation was defeated…”

“…This strategy was confirmed in September, 2010 by conservative activist Clint Woods of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), who said RGGI and other regional cap-and-trade regimes have become the “new battlefield” since federal climate legislation was derailed. ALEC, which has created template legislation for state lawmakers to use as a way to back out of regional climate accords, received $125,000 from the Koch brothers’ Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation in 2009 and has received donations totaling $533,000 from the Koch foundations since 1997. Koch Industries consultant and former executive Mike Morgan sits on ALEC’s Private Enterprise Board, and Wall Street Journal editorial board member Stephen Moore, who has attended the Koch brother’s political strategy meetings, is on ALEC’s Board of Scholars.

Already the AAPCA claims 17 state members: Ohio, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, North Dakota, Texas — that have already left the NACAA – and 11 states that joined but retain NACAA memberships: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming. If you see that member states are those with Republican controlled state legislatures and/or Governors, we see that as well.

This demonstrates how ALEC (through the funding of Koch controlled foundations and ALEC’s corporate member funding) is able to advance each of key initiatives beneficial to their corporate members without the government or public becoming aware of ALEC’s involvement or real legislative controls. Recently several major corporate members of ALEC withdrew from the organization citing opposition to ALEC’s position regarding climate change and renewable energies.

VLTP would urge readers to do a small amount of research into ALEC connections in your key state agencies. You may be surprised how simple it is to cross reference the name of heads of state agencies with the American Legislative Exchange Council to determine any relationship or ties. Right now energy resources and pollution are key issues being fought at all levels of government. You can rest assured ALEC is in the midst of each skirmish, issue and overall war over climate change, support of the views of big oil, gas and coal corporations.

ALEC has shown they are able to “stack the deck” when it comes to issues important to their corporate members. It is up to us to ferret out these ALEC “sleepers” and remove them from their positions of influence. The AAPCA is another “non-profit” formed and funded with money originating from conservative organizations and donors. It needs to be added to the list of known ALEC affiliates. We can’t close them down…but they are deserving of our close attention to their activities and the names of all members who climb on board as the months pass.

By Bob Sloan ALEC, ALEC Corporate Members, Center for Media and Democracy, coal, Conservative Dogma, conservative think tanks, Consumer exploitation, corporate behavior, Environment, Environment, Ethics in Government, exploitation and manipulation, Federal Forum, Koch brothers, Legislators with ALEC Ties, lobbying, Missouri, PRWatch, Public Utilities, The Cabal No comments Tags: ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Americans For Prosperity, Center for Media and Democracy, Charles and David Koch, environment, federal corrupt practices, Greenpeace, Model Legislation, Ohio, transparency, U.S. Department of Justice

Sep 24, 2014

ALEC’s Corporate Membership Exodus Continues

by bob sloan

The past month has been one of great disappointment to the American Legislative Exchange Council – commonly referred to as “ALEC”. Since late August corporate giants, Microsoft, Google, Facebook and YELP have each announced they have already left or are soon dropping their membership in ALEC.

These latest desertions of the conservative bill mill are due to the “Council’s” position on renewable energies, model legislation to reduce government oversight of renewable energy standards and denial of climate change. Each of these huge multi-national companies now support renewable energy sources and have dedicated huge sums to that goal. ALEC’s position regarding energy is exactly opposite that of these corporations, presenting corporate administrators with the dilemma of belonging to and helping fund an organization which openly conflicts with their publicly stated goals.

The issue of renewable energy has resulted in these newest withdrawals from ALEC in a similar manner to what happened regarding the pursuit of “Stand Your Ground” laws by ALEC. With the death of Trayvon Martin and the exposure of ALEC pursuing proposals of similar laws nationwide, corporations and legislators alike began to leave ALEC in ever larger groups back in 2012.

This brings the total number of corporate members ALEC has lost over the past 36 months to 80 -/+. It isn’t just the loss of a member that impacts upon ALEC, it is the loss of revenue from such desertions. In addition to the $7,000 to $25,000 annual membership fees these individual companies fork out, there is an additional price paid to “sit” upon one of ALEC’s nine Task Forces. Each seat is expensive and companies can purchase more than one seat, enabling them to have a larger “voice” and more votes upon proposed legislation. A seat upon the International Relations task force runs as much as $10,000 each and again, companies with an eye upon international influence can purchase as many seats as it can afford.

In addition to the foregoing costs to corporations, there are additional expenses incurred…such as hosting events at one or more of ALEC’s annual meetings, seminars or “summits”. Sponsorship for such events sometimes can cost each “sponsor” up to $50,000 – $75,000. There is also a legislative “slush fund” companies are expected to “donate” or “contribute” to annually. This account is known as ALEC’s “Scholarship Fund” with that money going toward paying travel, meals, housing and similar expenses incurred by state lawmakers attending the various ALEC events. At those events the same “sponsors” wine and dine the legislators with additional funds. This “Scholarship” scheme allows corporations to directly contribute without knowing specifically which lawmaker their “contribution” benefited.

VLTP has continuously called on activists and ALEC critics to concentrate their efforts upon ALEC FIRST…eliminate the enabler of Koch and their ilk and prevent any more “model bills” coming forth from ALEC before going after the brothers Koch. This energy issue demonstrates once again that all of this horrible, single ideological designed legislation emanates from ALEC and will continue to be introduced in our state legislatures until they are stopped. First stand your ground, now energy…and many seem to have forgotten that voter suppression, voter ID, SB 1070 and dozens of other single issue “bills”…originated within ALEC and will continue to do so until they are shut down entirely. Once that is done, the Koch cabal can “wish in one hand and”…well you know the rest of that saying.

Now is the time to put the pressure upon your state lawmakers, favorite companies and others to withdraw from ALEC if members, and help encourage others to quit if they aren’t. Write to your congressmen and women and ask them to investigate ALEC for their lobbying and involvement in crafting state laws. Encourage the IRS to continue to investigate ALEC’s non-profit filing status to help us shut them down.

With the continuing loss of corporate memberships (which currently provide ALEC with more than 90% of their annual income), ALEC has had to begin cutting corners. Their usual three day events have begun lasting only two days…four day events three or less, etc. Less money available to pay for lawmaker attendance results in fewer Legislators attending each of ALEC’s functions. At every event protesters and activists now attend and demonstrate against ALEC and their lobbying our lawmakers and ask companies to leave them.

We can only hope the exodus continues and other companies, corporations, foundations and non-profits we have been asking to leave ALEC will finally do just that. Outfits such as: State Farm Insurance, PhRMA, AT&T, Eli Lilly, Chamber of Commerce…and hundreds of others.

Once ALEC ceases to exist as a bill mill proposing legislation for radical conservative ideologies. we can then truly concentrate on going after the giant financials funding those efforts…and the hired gun non-profits doing their work…like the Koch family foundations and their controlled organizations: Americans For Prosperity, the Institute for Humane Studies, Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Institute for Justice, George Mason University (provides free seminars for teaching judges), Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment (FREE – also provides all expense paid seminars for judges and state officials), Federalist Society, Reason Foundation and dozens of others.

Of all the organizations, foundations, institutes and non-profits owned, directed and/or funded by the Kochs, ALEC provides some of the best returns for brothers Charles and David by giving them a way to make their brand of free-market fundamentalism legally binding. Help us close this important avenue to the Koch’s and their huge cabal.

ALEC’s days of hiding in the shadows are long gone. We all now know who they are, what they are and why they are such a danger to our way of democracy…and that they are owned lock, stock and law by the Koch brothers.

By Bob Sloan ALEC, ALEC Corporate Members, ALEC International, Center for Media and Democracy, conservative think tanks, corporate behavior, Ethics in Government, exploitation and manipulation, Federal Forum, Heartland Institute, Heritage Foundation, International Relations, Judiciary - inc. SCOTUS, Legislators with ALEC Ties, PRWatch, The Cabal, Uncategorized 1 Comment Tags: ALEC, ALEC alumni, ALEC insurgency, American Legislative Exchange Council, Americans For Prosperity, CATO Institute, Center for Media and Democracy, Charles and David Koch, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Disenfranchisement, Education, George Mason University, Institute for Humane Studies, Institute for Justice, Koch, Koch Brothers, Koch Industries, Model Legislation, Reason Foundation, transparency

Aug 9, 2014

Why ALEC is Ultra-Important & Irreplaceable to the Koch Cabal

by Bob Sloan

Pursuing Charles and David Koch and their funding of the far right and an ultra-conservative agenda is important. Identifying the “charitable” organizations they launder money through – which is then passed onto other organizations (along with credits), is also important. Exposing the various billionaire families (DeVos, Coors, Bradley, etc.) that contribute to the goals of the Kochs’ and their cabal, is likewise important.

However, what those actively pursuing and exposing the Koch Cabal must understand is that once an integral part of the cabal is exposed, the duties that particular organization was responsible for, is transferred to one or more of the Koch’s vast network – and the agenda continues to move along smoothly without any real interruption. The cabal can afford to “lose” one or more of the network’s controlled “charities” and continue to function without missing a beat.

The one “tool” available to the Kochs’ and their vast network that they simply cannot function without…cannot shift the duties of or advance an agenda without…is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC is the “enabler” for the entire cabal’s vast network. Through ALEC legislation is developed that directly benefits that network in one form or another (lower corporate taxes, deregulation of government oversight(s), voter restrictions, tort “reforms” that limit compensation available to consumers, limiting the authority of government agencies such as the DOJ and EPA).

ALEC is what allows corporate interests to be written into laws the general public are made to live by. An example of such laws are seen everywhere today: criminal justice privatization…private prisons, privatized prisoner healthcare, phone services, banking and industries where prisoner labor manufactures goods for private companies; pursuit of privatizing the U.S. Post Office (FedEx and UPS are long time members of ALEC); Stand Your Ground; relaxation of renewable energy mandates and deregulation involving emission standards; privatizing our public school systems, authorization of Charter Schools…and the list goes on with hundreds of laws written to benefit business and corporations adopted by ALEC and sent out nationwide via nearly 2,000 state lawmakers holding ALEC membership and loyalty.

Without ALEC the overall Koch cabal/network would be unable to advance their conservative agenda through “model legislation” presented in all 50 states by ALEC controlled state lawmakers. Without the ability to craft legislation and get it introduced in our states, the entire network would cease to function as a viable political entity – as it has since 1973.

The entire landscape of our laws over the past 40 years has been affected by ALEC. Drug laws, mandatory minimum sentences, truth in sentencing, abolishing parole…all of the hundreds of laws used to incarcerate millions of Americans for victim-less crimes and hold them for years as a vast labor force available to private manufacturers, were written and disseminated by ALEC. Private prison contractors, Geo Group and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) were members of ALEC when the laws authorizing prison privatization were written and passed state by state.

Some of the companies that have capitalized from these laws and this slave-styled work force include; Boeing, Microsoft, McDonalds, Victoria’s Secret, JC Penney, WalMart, Starbucks, Lockheed Martin, Berkshire Hathaway, Honeywell, Revlon, IBM, Lucent Technologies, AT&T Wireless. Intel, Siemens, etc. Good jobs were taken from American labor markets and turned over to low wage prisoners due to ALEC’s “Prison Industries” legislation.

Conservative politicians have fought against jobs bills and legislation because they’ve spent decades working to lower wages through the insourcing of labor; taking jobs from the public sector and placing them in the hands of a captive workforce.

Today as the GOP struggles to remain a viable political party, American voters have begun to wake up and vote against their extreme agenda. This has resulted in the pursuit of gerrymandering precincts and districts by Republicans as well as introduction and passage of legislation to reduce voter participation through “voter ID” and “voter suppression” laws. These are designed specifically to impact upon minority voters who predominately vote democratic.

The current attack upon voters is not coincidental. ALEC co-founder Paul Weyrich famously stated in 1980 that he did not want everyone to vote because “our leverage in elections goes up as the voting populace goes down“. In 1999 after the election of George W. Bush, a disciple of Weyrich, Eric Heubeck published a “treatise” based upon the teachings of Weyrich, titled “The Integration of Theory and Practice: A Program for the New Traditionalist Movement“.

In this manifesto styled treatise Heubeck put forth the guidelines for conservatives to follow that would allow entirely changing the political landscape, advancing a conservative and evangelical agenda to assume domination over progressive and liberal ideologies. The instructions quite candidly have worked. A reading of this document and comparison to the instructions provided against actual activities, actions and events that have taken place over the past 14 years reveals conservatives (and ALEC) have followed the guidelines religiously.

The Koch agenda is funded by Charles, David and a handful of select rich business owners and corporate executives, many of which sit upon ALEC’s Private Enterprise Advisory Council or are represented by CEO’s, CFO’s or other executives. This “advisory” council has direct access to all of ALEC’s 2,000 legislative members and alumni (many of which are now members of Congress, 82 Representatives and 10 Senators). Of the alumni, several names are associated with today’s gridlock in Congress; Manchin, Inhofe, Graham, Rubio, Shelby, Enzi, Bachus, Blackburn, Boehner, Cantor, Gingrey, Price and King. Again, these alumni and the pursuit of the cabal’s agenda through them is not coincidental. These elected officials have a loyalty to the cabal members, ALEC and campaign donors such as the Kochs and many of the corporations holding membership in ALEC.

Laws must be designed, written and crafted based upon constituent needs and desires – not based upon what fattens the bottom line of some corporation or powerful business owners. Doing it that way has led us to where we are today with a handful of people holding the majority of assets and the middle class existing off the crumbs of the rich.

When you hear philosophy, economics or corporate rights issues discussed by the likes of Steven Moore, Art Laffer or Victor Schwartz upon the airwaves or in the newspapers, keep in mind they are all members of ALEC’s “Board of Scholars”. They along with Congressmen such as Graham, Boehner and Cantor speak on behalf of ALEC, Charles and David Koch and the other cabal members.

As clearly demonstrated by the foregoing, without ALEC and that organization’s ability to advance laws sought by their corporate members and donors, the cabal would be unable to function as a powerful and direct influence upon state and federal legislation. Which leads to the conclusion that ALEC must be abolished – at all costs. They and their considerable influence must be removed from all legislative involvement. The cabal must be denied the ability to draft model legislation favored by them and pass it along to state legislatures through ALEC’s legislative membership.

Once ALEC loses the ability to put legislators and corporations at the same table and write legislation such as they have done for years – the cabal will collapse upon itself. Without the ability to advance legislation the cabal is without the means necessary to control our legislatures and laws. Alec truly is the entity that enables the agenda…and must be eliminated. Until then, the beneficial corporate crafted legislation will continue to flow to every state, year after year until they succeed in passing them into law. Attempts at voter suppression will continue, government oversight will be weakened as the planet’s resources are consumed by hungry corporations without regard for future generations or the impact upon the globe.

All paths to and from the Cabal go through ALEC…

ALEC the enabler must be forced into extinction…

By Bob Sloan ALEC, ALEC Corporate Members, Center for Media and Democracy, civil rights, conservative think tanks, Consumer exploitation, corporate behavior, Education, Environment, Environment, Ethics in Government, exploitation and manipulation, Federal Forum, Heartland Institute, Human Rights, inmate labor, Koch brothers, Labor, Legislators with ALEC Ties, lobbying, organized labor, PIECP, Prison Industry, prison labor, Privatized Education System, Privatized Prison System, PRWatch, Public Educaion, slave labor, The Cabal, Trayvon Martin - "Stand Your Ground" Laws, Uncategorized, WalMart No comments Tags: ALEC, ALEC alumni, American Legislative Exchange Council, Castle Doctrine, Center for Media and Democracy, Charles and David Koch, Education, environment, federal corrupt practices, FedEx, inmate labor, Koch Industries, Model Legislation, prison labor, privatization, privatized prison system, transparency, Trayvon Martin, Voter ID Legislation, voter suppression

Jun 9, 2014

ALEC Activities, Actions and Articles in Opposition for May 15 – June 8

by Bob Sloan

I apologize for the scarcity of posting over the past 30 days. Hope to get everyone caught up with everything ALEC that has transpired since my last post.

An important aspect of the ALEC story and saga that everyone MUST keep in mind: is the intertwining of ideology and funding that enables ALEC and which originates from the brothers Koch, Charles and David, disseminated and then supported from Koch run or controlled “non-profit” affiliated organizations such as; Mackinac Center. Cato Institute, American’s for Prosperity, Manhattan Institute, Reason Foundation, the Institute for Humane Studies, Mercatus Center and many more.

Without Koch’s support and funding ALEC would not be the organization it is today…and without ALEC, the Koch’s and their ideological agenda would not be able to influence our society and government absent the legislation ALEC provides at the state and federal levels to advance that agenda. The Koch/ALEC relationship has created an evil cabal over the past 4 decades that that prey upon citizen and elected officials alike.

Sadly many fail to realize the symbiotic relationship involving Koch, ALEC and the supporting organizations and corporations that together make up the cabal. Researchers and reporters continue to look at the various activities of each as separate rather than as coordinated and organized attacks waged by a single entity operating at the direction of the billionaire brothers Koch.

Click on the links in headlines to open new window and read entire article or document.

The Kochs’ 30+ Year Extreme, Self-Serving Agenda (many important Koch documents provided here)

“Over the past forty years, one thing about the Kochs has not changed: their willingness to spend their fortune to drive their extreme, self-serving agenda.

Whether it’s the $125 million their organization Americans for Prosperity has committed to spend in this year’s mid-term elections or the massive funds they spent on David Koch’s 1980 Libertarian campaign for Vice President, the Kochs are committed to seeing through their self-serving agenda.

“In 1980, that agenda involved attacking Social Security and the minimum wage, and defending tax breaks for big oil.

“The 1980 Koch-Clark campaign called Social Security “the most serious threat to the future stability of our society next to the threat of nuclear war” and called for phasing out the program, in addition to proposing to abolish ALL minimum wage laws. What’s more, the 1980 Koch-Clark ticket proposed cutting capital gains tax rates in half and eliminating the “windfall profits” tax on oil companies.

“These revelations came from previously unreleased primary source documents discovered by American Bridge…”

Quixotic ’80 Campaign Gave Birth to Kochs’ Powerful Network

“He backed the full legalization of abortion and the repeal of laws that criminalized drug use, prostitution and homosexuality. He attacked campaign donation limits and assailed the Republican star Ronald Reagan as a hypocrite who represented “no change whatsoever from Jimmy Carter and the Democrats.”

“It was 1980, and the candidate was David H. Koch, a 40-year-old bachelor living in a rent-stabilized apartment in New York City. Mr. Koch, the vice-presidential nominee for the Libertarian Party, and his older brother Charles, one of the party’s leading funders, were mounting a long-shot assault on the fracturing American political establishment.

“The Kochs had invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in the burgeoning libertarian movement. In the waning days of the 1970s, in the wake of Watergate, Vietnam and a counterculture challenging traditional social mores, they set out to test just how many Americans would embrace what was then a radical brand of politics…”

“It was the first and only bid for high office by a Koch family member. But much of what occurred in that quixotic campaign shaped what the Kochs have become today — a formidable political and ideological force determined to remake American politics, driven by opposition to government power and hostility to restrictions on money in campaigns…”

“That election also handed the Kochs their first political setback, driving them to rethink their approach to libertarian ideas. Since then, they have built a powerful network of political nonprofit groups that is exempt from most campaign reporting requirements and contribution limits but will spend tens of millions of dollars to influence the 2014 election. They have exerted enormous influence on American politics, battling government regulation and casting doubt on the urgency of climate change. Instead of replacing the Republican Party, they have helped to profoundly reshape it.,,”

The Republican War on Workers’ Rights

“Midterm elections are like fancy software: Experts love them, end-users couldn’t care less. But if the 2010 elections are any indication, we might not want to doze off as we head into the summer months before November. Midterm elections at the state level can have tremendous consequences, especially for low-wage workers. What you don’t know can hurt you — or them.

“In 2010, the Republicans won control of the executive and legislative branches in 11 states (there are now more than 20 such states). Inspired by business groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers (all ALEC members of affiliates), they proceeded to rewrite the rules of work, passing legislation designed to enhance the position of employers at the expense of employees…”

On Our Radar – Who’s Your Choice For Most Despicable Politician In America?

“Least Scrupulous – Virginia House Speaker William Howell

“Bill Howell is a shill for ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, bringing the Koch Brothers legislative agenda to a Republican legislature near you. He is a former national chairman of that group and the Virginia legislature has considered more than fifty ALEC-model bills in the last few years. But what is truly aggravating is that Virginia taxpayers have spent more than $230,000 sending their legislators to ALEC conferences…”

Google lobbying disclosure backed by CT pensioners defeated

“A shareholder proposal that would have required Google to disclose further details about its lobbying expenditures was defeated by a more than 10-to-1 margin this week.

“The Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, which has approximately $59 million invested in Google, backed the proposal alongside Walden Asset Management and other institutional investors.

“In a statement released Thursday, State Treasurer Denise Nappier called the vote a “strong showing,” given that the company’s executive officers and board members own more than 60 percent of the voting power.

“The proposal would have required the search-engine giant to prepare an annual report to describe its policies and procedures on direct and indirect lobbying activity and grassroots communications; disclose each payment and recipient; and disclose the company’s membership in and payments to any tax-exempt organization, such as the American Legislative Exchange Council, that crafts and endorses model legislation.

“The proposal received 60.5 million votes in favor, 642.7 million against and 43 million abstentions at Google’s annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday.”

Three New Ways the Koch Brothers Are Screwing America

“They are truly cowards in the worst way,” says filmmaker Robert Greenwald, of the notorious billionaires Charles and David Koch. And he should know. After he released his 2012 documentary, “The Koch Brothers Exposed,” Koch-funded organizations took out ads trying to discredit Greenwald and his work, yet the brothers still declined his repeated offers to debate the topics covered in the film, like the re-segregation of schools and the defanging of the EPA. “I wanted to engage in a policy debate,” he says. “But they won’t engage.”

For most people, an attack from the fourth-richest (and perhaps most politically conniving) men in America would slow them down. But instead Greenwald, who became interested in the powerful duo when he read Jane Mayer’s 2010 New Yorker profile, decided to double down, and began work on “The Koch Brothers Exposed: 2014 Edition.” The update, which is now available free online, is centered on their influence in (and outpouring of money since) the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. While researching and producing it with his small staff at Brave New Films, Greenwald says he was “surprised by not just the sheer numbers, but the extraordinary lengths they go to legally to hide the amounts they’re giving…”

Who Is Behind the National Right to Work Committee and its Anti-Union Crusade?

As the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2014 session comes to a close, one of the major cases left for a decision is Harris vs. Quinn,which could effect some 7 million public sector workers in the United States.

The case originates in Illinois, where home health care workers have been successfully organized by public sector unions. Now, a small group of these workers, represented by lawyers from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, have sued and their lawyers contend that the agency fees, or the fair share dues that even non-union members of a bargaining unit are required to pay to unions that bargain for higher wages on their behalf, violate the First Amendment. Agency fees are barred in so-called “right to work” states, which have much less unionization and lower wages and benefits…

…The NRTWC also does extensive lobbying on the state level. In 2012, lobbyists registered with the NRTWC were on the ground in Indiana and Michigan when both states passed anti-union “right to work” bills and are big supporters of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and his efforts to crush public sector unions. The NRTWC was an exhibitor at the 2011 annual conference of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the corporate bill mill exposed by CMD in 2011. ALEC’s “Right to Work Act,” which has been in the ALEC library since at least 1980, is one of its most commonly used “model” bills. When Republicans took trifecta control of 26 state houses in November of 2010, it was a top agenda item at the December 2010 ALEC meeting. According to a 2010 email from ALEC to Wisconsin legislators that CMD obtained, ALEC referred to its “Right to Work Act” as a “solution… for your state’s most pressing issues.” Currently 24 states are so-called “right to work” states. In 2013, 15 states introduced legislation based on ALEC’s “Right to Work Act.”

Rep. Fred Clark: Time to take a stand for rural schools

For rural Wisconsin, public schools are the hub of activity during the day, doubling as community centers, a place to exercise after work and polling stations for elections. Rural schools, with their mascots and sports teams, school plays, and graduations, tie together generations and capture the story of an entire town.

Unfortunately, we are poised to lose a growing number of those rural schools unless our Legislature reverses course. In the face of declining enrollment and huge cuts in revenue, rural schools are cutting programs, stretching staff with heavier workloads, closing schools, and surviving on referendums year after year. In the outright war on public schools that the Republican majority in the Wisconsin Legislature has waged since 2011 with its $1.6 billion in public school funding cuts, our rural schools are becoming the first casualties…

…The push to privatize public schools with taxpayer funding comes from a national movement advanced by the now-infamous American Legislative Exchange Council, a cadre of wealthy political donors, and an army of lobbyists that includes three former Republican speakers of the Wisconsin Assembly. As recently as their 2014 convention, Wisconsin Republicans have openly committed to blowing the caps entirely off the voucher school program in the next state budget.

Preemptive laws against municipal minimum wages: ALEC idea

“House Finance Committee Chairman Ray Gallison’s new bill to remove local control of minimum wage laws is akin to a corporate-funded effort across the country to suppress living wage protections. The tactic is known as passing “preemption laws” and it’s been tied back to the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, the right wing bill mill that drafts corporate-friendly legislation for state legislators.

“Business-backed groups that oppose living wages and paid leave have a serious problem on their hands: polls show that they’re popular,” according to (Bill) Moyers and Companyin a report on Oklahoma’s new living wage restrictions. “So-called preemption laws provide them with a solution.”

“ALEC-sponsored “preemptive laws” are often cited when it comes to paid leave bills (seehere, here and here). A 2013 Economic Policy Institute study by Gordon Lafer (The Legislative Attack on American Wages and Labor Standards) says ALEC suggests that legislators from left-leaning states introduce bills that stop minimum wages from being enacted at the municipal level…”

By Bob Sloan ALEC, ALEC Corporate Members, Campaign Finance, Center for Media and Democracy, Conservative Dogma, conservative think tanks, Consumer exploitation, corporate behavior, Education, Environment, Environment, Ethics in Government, exploitation and manipulation, Federal Forum, Human Rights, Koch brothers, Labor, Legislators with ALEC Ties, lobbying, organized labor, Privatized Education System, Privatized Utilities, Public Educaion, The Cabal No comments Tags: ALEC, ALEC alumni, ALEC’s “Right To Work Act, American Legislative Exchange Council, Americans For Prosperity, Center for Media and Democracy, Charles and David Koch, dirty energy, Education, environment, Google, Koch, Koch Brothers, minimum wage, Model Legislation, privatization, transparency, Voter ID Legislation, voter suppression

Apr 8, 2014

ALEC News, Views and Material for Week of April 8th

News and articles relating to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) for the first week of April 2014. Click on the headline to visit and read the full article or page where the information originates.

New developments in North Carolina and Wisconsin are forcing legislators to be more transparent regarding “model legislation” and identifying where bills originate…

Court: NC Legislators Must Reveal Documents, Purpose Behind Challenged Voting ‘Reform’

A U.S. District judge has ruled that Republican legislators in North Carolina must provide documents revealing their work in passing and implementing a radical election reform bill which, when it was passed last year, was described by opponentsas the “worse-than-anyone-would-have-ever-imagined voter suppression bill.”

Late last week, U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Joi Elizabeth Peake issued anOrder [PDF] in which she rejected a blanket refusal by NC Republican state legislators to provide any documents that relate to the question of whether the sweeping legislation known as the Voter Information Reform Act (“VIVA” aka HB 589) amounted to nothing less than a racially-motivated attempt to deprive African-Americans of their constitutional right to vote…

…The effort is national in character because it has been concocted by Republicans along with the Koch brothers-funded, Paul Weyrich co-foundedAmerican Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization of rightwing legislators and corporations seeking to pass “model legislation” on issues from election reform to so-called “stand your ground” gun laws to other so-called “free-market” initiatives.

The speed with which the NC GOP was able to ram through what the NAACP described as an “armada of amendments” to VIVA would surprise only those who are unfamiliar with the ALEC scheme to privatize the legislative process; secretly drafting, delivering and, in those states where the GOP maintains a legislative majority, passing ALEC-model bills, such as polling place Photo ID restrictions, all without any meaningful public debate.

Similar bills have been introduced in various state legislatures by one or more of some 2,000 ALEC legislative members. It seemed little coincidence that NC’s state Sen. Tom Apodaca (R), who, within hours of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County announced, “Now we can go with the full bill,” just happens to be a legislative member of ALEC.

“Before the bills are publicly introduced in state legislatures by ALEC politicians or alumni in the governorâ€™s offices,” according to Lisa Graves, whose Center for Media and Democracy obtained copies of more than 800 ALEC model bills, “they will be cleansed of any reference to the secret corporate voting or who really wrote them.”

More lawmakers pushing identical bills written by national groups

Arizona lawmakers introduced six bills this session seeking a U.S. constitutional amendment to impose new fiscal restraints on the federal government.

The bills mirror measures introduced in legislatures across the country and are nearly identical to model legislation written by the conservative, corporate-backed American Legislative Exchange Council.

The five Republican lawmakers who introduced the bills in Arizona all attended the group’s conferences over the past year.

Across the nation, state legislatures this year have been considering bills to expand education choices, restrict union influence and guarantee employees sick time off. In state after state, including Arizona, the wording of those bills is nearly identical. And it’s no coincidence.

Rather, it’s an orchestrated use of “model legislation” by national political organizations on both sides of the aisle that have discovered it’s easier to change national policy one state at a time than to get anything through Congress.

ALEC has been the most successful of these groups. Member lawmakers nationwide, including several in Arizona, introduce more than a hundred pieces of model legislation each year…

The Republican ‘Great White Hope:’ Manipulating Election Laws

Across the land, Republican state legislators have shouted “voter fraud, voter fraud” to justify various schemes to restrict voting. Legislative actions, written by the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), are intended to hamper African-American and Latino voting. Legislators have all but said that they can smell the Rio Grande on new voters. But they “cry wolf” and have created a public understanding that in no way reflects reality. In short, voting restrictions are the very fraud.

The disputed Bush-Gore election of 2000 galvanized Republicans, keenly aware how America’s unfolding demographics threatened to make them a permanent minority national party, overwhelmed by emergent, enlarging blocs of ethnic and racial groups. Since then, we have been victimized by carefully-calibrated public relations campaigns alleging that loyal, upstanding, law-abiding Americans are being negated by voter corruption. It is not true.

Make no mistake: This is a Republican, corporate-funded effort to exclude American citizens from the voting process…

…ALEC, heavily funded by the Koch brothers and like-minded allies, has designed the legislation to restrict voting, and circulated their draft bills around the nation, which their members, essentially well-financed Republican state legislators, eagerly adopt as their own. Republicans are blatantly trying to limit the electorate and rig elections. They have actively, enthusiastically launched the fray with an unrestrained prattle of fraud.

Paul Weyrich, a leader of numerous conservative causes and a founder of ALEC,minced no words more than 30 years ago: “I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people. They never have been from the beginning of our country, and they are not now. As a matter of fact our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”

Weyrich and his clients would not rely on voter apathy, indifference or ignorance to ensure low voter turnout. Enter the handle of “voter fraud” to justify legislation to prevent the “unwashed” from voting. Ideologically-driven mandates have little affinity for the truth. Voter ID laws are reminiscent of legislation enacted in the late 19th century by elites increasingly concerned by the emergence of new voters. Read working class immigrants from Eastern or Southern Europe, different in language, religion and class than most Americans. At the same time, southern states enacted Jim Crow laws which denied suffrage to former slaves, who, under the terms of the 14th Amendment nevertheless were citizens of the United States. The nation remained largely white, rural and Protestant for another half century…

Will There Be a Happy Ending to Ohio’s Close Brush with a Rightwing Fantasy?

Three years ago, on March 31, 2011, the Republican-dominated Ohio legislature passed Senate Bill 5 in the face of overwhelming public protests. That evening Gov. John Kasich had a celebratory signing ceremony covered by statewide television. Senate Bill 5, derived mainly from the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), was designed to crush public unions across the state.

Championed by Gov. Kasich, SB 5 was the centerpiece of his legislative agenda, and was defended as necessary to close a $6 billion budget gap. Proponents inaccurately blamed public workers for the deficit when, in fact, it was produced by years of irresponsible income tax cuts imposed on the state combined with the recessions. Since 2005, the income tax had been slashed by 31 percent. The crisis atmosphere was exploited by the Republican Party to try to impose extreme ideological positions on Ohio that in ordinary times Ohioans would not accept…

ALEC Loses Wisconsin Open Records Law Fight

MADISON, Wis. – Republican State Sen. Leah Vukmir of Wauwatosa has settled a lawsuit brought by the Madison-based Center for Media and Democracy regarding emails involving her work with ALEC, the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council.

The messages contained a disclaimer that the content was not subject to Wisconsin’s Open Records law.

Vukmir, who paid a $15,000 settlement in the case, also acknowledged that the ALEC email disclaimer had no force of law.

Brendan Fischer, general counsel for the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), says ALEC’s efforts to avoid Wisconsin’s Open Records law have not been successful.

“We’ve had strong commitment to open and transparent government, and one of the best ways you can maintain a transparent and accountable government is through the Open Records law,” he stresses. “So, we would hope that all legislators, all elected officials from both parties would give the Open Records law the proper amount of respect.”

Vukmir also has agreed to release other emails about ALEC business from her private email account…

Our View: Lawmakers Dance While ALEC Pulls the Strings

An ag-gag in Kentucky, guns on campus in Georgia, protection for businesses that want to deny service to gays in Kansas; sound familiar? You can thank the American Legislative Exchange Council’s one-size-fits-all bills that are gutting local control.

ALEC is the clearinghouse for conservative ideas, a highly secretive non-profit that puts big business and state lawmakers together to draft model legislation in an effort to undermine regulation, cut taxes and advance other often far-right agendas, all while avoiding the very disclosure of its members. It’s the spoke in the wheel of dozens of conservative organizations that’s weakening the very purpose of the states, especially in Republican-dominated regions. Grassroots state governance and local control has been replaced with confidential meetings with big-money backers. America’s red states are becoming little more than chimeric twins, absorbed by their more powerful plutocratic siblings.

State. Sen. Jim Patrick told us this week that ALEC had nothing to do with the controversial ag-gag legislation he pushed through this year. But Patrick is the ALEC’s state chairman, says internal documents acquired by Sourcewatch.org. The Kentucky state Senate’s Agriculture Committee quietly slid an ag-gag of its own into legislation passed by the lower House designed to protect animals from abuse. Four members of that committee are also ALEC members, according to documents leaked to various news outlets. Coincidence? We don’t think so…

New Law Saddles Kentuckians with Big Electricity Bills; Aims to Block Benefits of Fighting Climate Change

NRDC: Carbon Copy Efforts by Shadow Group ALEC Rebuffed in Other Statehouses

WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)–April 3 – A new Kentucky law approved late yesterday will raise Kentuckians’ electricity bills. This bill mirrors efforts that big polluters and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) have unsuccessfully pushed in other states to undermine upcoming federal standards reducing carbon pollution from dirty power plants—the key driver of climate change.

David Doniger, director of the Climate and Clean Air Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, issued this statement:

“This misguided measure will saddle Kentuckians with higher electricity bills while padding the profits of the state’s biggest polluters. It will also make it harder for the state to increase energy efficiency and switch to cleaner, lower cost energy.

“Coal companies and their political backers want to lock Kentucky into the most expensive way of curbing power plants’ dangerous carbon pollution. Their ultimate agenda is to block every effort to cut the pollution driving the worst impacts of climate change.

“Luckily for consumers elsewhere, ALEC and big polluters haven’t been successful: Lawmakers in Virginia and Florida blocked the polluters’ bills. And cooler heads prevailed in Kansas and even in coal-dominated West Virginia, where legislatures instead passed bills that allow state officials to write carbon reduction plans that will meet the nation’s clean air laws…”

Vermont expands solar net metering, gives finger to ALEC

Bad news for the polluter-fundedAmerican Legislative Exchange Council, but wonderful news for the planet.

In 2012 and 2013, ALEC tried to roll back states’ renewable energy standards, and failed. Now it’s trying to roll back solar net-metering programs, which let homeowners sell electricity from their rooftop panels into the grid, and that campaign isn’t going so well either.

Case in point: In Vermont, Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) just signed a bill that will expand the state’s net-metering program, allowing solar panel owners to sell more of their clean electricity into the grid.

The bill will nearly quadruple the size of a cap on the amount of solar power that utilities must be willing to buy from their customers. It also creates pilot projects that could allow for solar projects as large as 5 megawatts to be built under the scheme…

Voice of the People, Apr. 03

Analyzing the state of our state

The March 30 editorial “How Illinois ranks in the U.S. on key indicators; A state of distress” paints a very disheartening picture of our state.

And in many respects, the problems it points out are real.

However, when one looks at where some of the rankings that are assigned come from, one would be well-advised to take them with more than a grain of salt.

Four of the rankings come from the American Legislative Exchange Council, a supposed non-profit that has been exposed by Bill Moyers and by the Center for Media and Democracy as one of the most influential conservative corporate-funded lobbying tools, working to increase corporate profits at public expense.

ALEC was the driving force behind the Stand Your Ground laws and the voter ID restriction laws.

ALEC not only lobbies but actually allows corporations to draft bills that they then hand to legislators to be introduced in state legislatures.

After their backroom dealings were exposed, more than 70 corporations withdrew from ALEC in 2012 and 2013.

I do not think Illinois should care what ALEC thinks of our state.

Coal-reliant states readying for EPA power plant rules

WASHINGTON – Long before the Obama administration promised sweeping rules to limit pollution from power plants, states in the crosshairs of what critics call a “war on coal” have been finding ways to meet the expected new standards.

President Barack Obama last June directed the Environmental Protection Agency to propose national standards to lower carbon emissions from the more than 1,000 U.S. power plants, a centerpiece of his national climate strategy.

On Tuesday those plans moved a step closer to reality when EPA’s proposed rule arrived at the White House for review by the Office of Management and Budget, which is expected to evaluate the proposal by June 1…

…Local lawmakers in Kentucky and several other states, some with close ties to the coal industry, are considering bills or resolutions that would make it harder for states to comply with new EPA rules or would block compliance altogether.

Some of the bills follow legislative templates introduced by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a lobbying group that focuses on limited government. Arizona, Florida, Ohio, Illinois and West Virginia are considering such actions.

“Although ALEC resolutions will not change state law, ALEC and its industry supporters are hoping these resolutions will discourage governors and impede EPA action,” said Aliya Haq, who tracks such bills as special projects director with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group…

RNC Calls Upon ALEC to Dismantle Campaign Finance Reform

The powerful right-wing organization, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has long claimed that it “respects diversity of thought” and that it is a “non-partisan policy resource for its members,” Democrats and Republicans alike. Indeed, in a television interview with FOX news, an ALEC spokesperson once stated, “we have legislators of all political stripes coming together to talk about the most critical issues facing the states,” and adamantly defended the non-partisan nature of the organization.

It does not take much examination of ALEC policies, funders, or public-sector membership rolls to put these claims into true perspective. ALEC’ s right wing policies are so extreme that over 43 corporations – from Wal-Mart to General Electric – havecut ties with the organization. As documented by the Center For Media and Democracy, more than 99% of ALEC’s public sector leaders are Republican lawmakers. And a quick perusal of ALEC funding reveals that the same funders who back the network are also major sponsors of many Republican initiatives.

Yet what may be the most telling evidence of ALEC’s ties to the GOP emerged just this morning. Today, the Republican National Committee (RNC) released its wide-ranging “autopsy” report in response to the party’s disastrous 2012 elections. The report, entitled “Growth and Opportunity Project,” outlines a variety of policy recommendations including, among other base ideas, abolishing campaign spending regulations and contribution limits. In the report, the RNC specifically calls on ALEC to help develop and implement model legislation to “improve” these campaign finance laws.

The RNC places ALEC alongside the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) and the RNC as an organization that is well-suited to “improve” campaign finance laws and propagate them nationwide:

The RNC has called upon ALEC to do its bidding because it knows that ALEC is 100% in support of its anti-democratic agenda. Beyond pushing for Voter ID laws and adopting restrictive registration requirements – like the registration requirements that ALEC adopted years ago as model policy and that today are being argued over in the Supreme Court – ALEC has a history of opposing campaign finance reform. The organization has consistently opposed public financing of elections and even issued a resolution in favor of the Supreme Court’s disastrous 2010 Citizens United decision…

Tennessee is a political test tube for Koch brothers

By the time this session of the Tennessee General Assembly comes to an end, Tennesseans understandably should feel a little like the animals used in laboratory experiments — at least the ones that survive.

Our state, thanks to the dominance of a single political party, has been selected for a series of not-so-scientific experiments. The objective? Whatever Charles and David Koch want it to be.

The billionaire Kochs do not live in Tennessee and never have. That is not important, as they, through their group Americans For Prosperity (AFP), and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), also not Tennessee-based, are increasingly deciding what laws the General Assembly should impose on the people of our state…

…The force of the Kochs came down last week when the Tennessee Senate voted to stop Nashville’s Amp project. StopAmp.org Inc. publicly thanked AFP for its help. Regardless of what you think of the pricey and controversial bus rapid-transit project, such out-of-state interference is troubling, because it supersedes local knowledge and authority on either side of the issue.

Apparently, there is more to come. AFP’s state director, Andrew Ogles, says that “Tennessee is a great state to pass model legislation that can be leveraged in other states.” Such words give no assurance these organizations care whether the laws that are passed help or hurt Tennesseans. They just need an easy “win” so that they can boost their influence against elected officials elsewhere…

By Bob Sloan ALEC, ALEC Corporate Members, Campaign Finance, Center for Media and Democracy, civil rights, coal, Conservative Dogma, conservative think tanks, Consumer exploitation, corporate behavior, dark money, Environment, Environment, Ethics in Government, exploitation and manipulation, Koch brothers, Legislators with ALEC Ties, lobbying, Missouri, North Carolina, Privatized Utilities, PRWatch, Public Utilities, The Cabal No comments Tags: ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Americans For Prosperity, Center for Media and Democracy, Charles and David Koch, coal, dirty energy, Disenfranchisement, environment, Koch, Koch Brothers, Model Legislation, north carolina, Ohio, privatization, RNC, solar net metering, Tennessee politics, transparency, Vermont, Voter ID Legislation, voter suppression

Mar 6, 2014

Cheap Prison Labor, Unemployment #’s and Related ALEC News

Keystone Pipeline…Voter ID and Suppression laws…Right to Work (for less)…Stand Your Ground…Tort “Reform”…Limiting liability in Asbestos lawsuits…Reducing Energy and EPA Regulations…Trans Pacific Partnership…Repealing Healthcare…Reducing Wages…Abolishing Minimum Wage laws…Eliminating Organized Labor…Defunding Education and Replacing Public Schools with Charters…and Replacing American Workers with American Prison Labor…

All of the foregoing issues can be found in today’s headlines across America. Behind each and every one of these critical issues and hundreds more is the agenda of the conservative controlled and Koch funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). In fact most of the onerous legislation rambling through the statehouses of each state – and in many cases our Congress – are “Bills” that began life as model legislation developed by ALEC.

With thousands of state lawmakers alongside more than 350 multi-national corporations holding active membership in ALEC it is no coincidence that each law that benefits business originates and is promoted by ALEC. Big oil (Exxon, Mobil, Shell, BP America, Chevron. ConocoPhillips), energy conglomerates (American Electric Power, Duke Energy, Energy Future Holdings, Peabody Energy), pharmaceutical companies (Bayer, Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, Merck, PhRMA), banking, investments, insurance are all represented upon ALEC’s board and general membership. Each has the opportunity to write, propose and lobby for legislation friendly to their particular field…and if any proposal is successful, they have an equal vote on adoption by the entire ALEC membership and dissemination to every state via ALEC’s elected lawmaker members.

Below are some of today’s headlines related to the foregoing issues and ALEC’s pursuits on behalf of their corporate controllers…

Hundreds Of American Companies Pay Employees As Little As 23 Cents An Hour

At the heart of this issue of prison labor used by private businesses to undercut competitors and eliminate jobs and living wages, we again find the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)…

When you think of prison labor, what comes to mind? You might envision inmates making license plates and highway signs or cleaning up road debris. For decades, this perception would have been roughly accurate. Using prison labor in the private sector was illegal, so inmates worked on public projects.

But this dynamic changed dramatically in 1979 with the passing of the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PIE). PIE made it legal for private sector companies to contract prison labor to produce goods…

…The dynamic is a corporation’s dream – inmates make as little as 23 cents an hour, never show up late for work, and don’t demand benefits or time off. These inmates don’t account for some small percent of manufacturing production, either.

According to a report done by the Centre for Research on Globalization, prison labor produces 100% of American military helmets, ammunition belts, bullet proof vests, ID tags, and uniforms. These products are made for UNICOR, a for-profit company owned by the United States government…

…But here is the real problem with privatized prison labor: it puts a financial incentive on incarceration. When companies can push their profit margins through the roof with prison labor, they suddenly have a huge self-interest in maintaining high incarceration rates. This isn’t speculation, either. Since private sector prison labor was made legal, America’s biggest economic powers have actively lobbied for legislation designed to both imprison more people and lengthen their sentences.

Perhaps no organization shows this to be true more clearly than the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC is an enormous lobbyist organization involved in many issues. They write model legislation used to construct policies in economics, international relations, education, agriculture, and a number of other areas…

Keystone PipeLIES Exposed: The Facts on Petroleum Politicians, Crude Money and Media Spin

“TransCanada set out to build this pipeline five years ago, and they still haven’t. That’s saying something about the efforts of activists throughout the country, in spite of all of the money invested in seeing it happen,” Natural Resources Defense Council analyst Anthony Swift says.

“In the southern portion of the pipeline, we saw ranchers, we saw longtime Texas farmers joining with the climate justice activists from Tar Sands Blockade, working to block the tar sands,” says Kevin Zeese, co-director of It’s Our Economy. “And they did a good job. They slowed it down and made it more difficult and more expensive. And they’re effective; a big French investor pulled out because it was getting too expensive.”

The effort that goes into street-level organizing is as much a matter of necessity as it is anything else. Facing one of the most profitable industries in the world, KXL opponents know they can’t compete in the Washington arena using the traditional weapons of choice: campaign contributions and lobbying budgets.

“Our opposition is quite formidable,” says Jason Kowalski of 350.org “The fossil fuel industry has made more money in the history of money in recent years. If we win, it’s because of our bodies and our spirits and our courage and our numbers. We know we have the moral high ground, and that’s how we are going win this thing.”

Of Course ALEC Is Involved in the Keystone Cash

Not willing to leave anything to chance, the oil industry is taking action to make sure state legislators see things their way. As the Center for Media and Democracy (which publishes PRWatch) reported, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) sent nine state legislators on an industry-paid field trip to the Alberta tar sands in 2012.

ALEC, which receives funding from TransCanada, the Koch brothers (whose Canadian subsidiary has tar sands investments), and other fossil fuel corporations, set up the event to put legislators in the same room as the industry lobbyists who paid for the lavish private-jet travel and fine dining. ALEC also prompted each of the nine legislators to send their corporate sponsors a thank you note, with a reminder of what the lobbyists had paid for the tour.

CMD also uncovered emails between TransCanada’s lobbyist and Ohio state Rep. John Adams in which the lobbyist provided Adams with a model bill in support of KXL, with Adams swiftly introduced in the legislature. The bill was co-sponsored by another participant in ALEC’s Alberta field trip.

Ash Spill Shows How Watchdog Was Defanged

RALEIGH, N.C. — Last June, state employees in charge of stopping water pollution were given updated marching orders on behalf of North Carolina’s new Republican governor and conservative lawmakers.

“The General Assembly doesn’t like you,” an official in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources told supervisors called to a drab meeting room here. “They cut your budget, but you didn’t get the message. And they cut your budget again, and you still didn’t get the message.”

From now on, regulators were told, they must focus on customer service, meaning issuing environmental permits for businesses as quickly as possible. Big changes are coming, the official said, according to three people in the meeting, two of whom took notes. “If you don’t like change, you’ll be gone.”

But when the nation’s largest utility, Duke Energy, spilled 39,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River in early February, those big changes were suddenly playing out in a different light. Federal prosecutors have begun a criminal investigation into the spill and the relations between Duke and regulators at the environmental agency.

How ALEC helped Duke Energy block stricter coal ash rules

Duke Energy is not only the nation’s largest electric utility but one of its political powerhouses. Besides the millions of dollars the North Carolina-based company spends on federal and statecampaign contributions and lobbying, another tool it has used to get its way in the public policy arena is the American Legislative Exchange Council…

…Contacted about its ALEC membership status this week, Duke Energy spokesperson Chad Eaton said “we do not release each and every group Duke Energy is a member of or involved with since those memberships and sponsorships are evaluated on an annual basis and often frequently change.” He also noted that the company is “active in many groups that have a variety of viewpoints but that does not mean that we support all of the various positions those organizations take.”

Nevertheless, it’s an established fact that Duke Energy was a member of ALEC during the height of the group’s efforts to block strict federal regulation of coal ash and held a seat on ALEC’s Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force. In addition, Duke Energy’s position on coal ash is in line with ALEC’s, as the company itself has lobbied to block strict coal ash rules and submitted numerous comments to federal regulators opposing strict oversight…

…ALEC was one of the drivers of the political backlash that slowed EPA from taking action in the wake of the Kingston disaster. Among the actions ALEC took as part of its efforts to block strict federal oversight of coal ash:

* Passed a “Resolution to Retain State Authority Over Coal Ash as Non-Hazardous Waste.” ALEC’s board of directors approved this resolution, which “concludes that states are best positioned to serve as the principal regulatory authority for [coal ash] as non-hazardous waste.” (2010)

* Published “EPA’s Regulatory Train Wreck: Strategies for State Legislators.” This reporttook broad aim at the EPA for various efforts to curb energy-related pollution, including the proposal to treat coal ash as hazardous waste. It urges state lawmakers to “get the state on record as calling on Congress to stop this regulatory train wreck.” On coal ash specifically, it promoted the “Resolution to Retain State Authority Over Coal Ash as Non-Hazardous Waste” passed by its board the previous year. (February 2011)…

American City County Exchange (ACCE) – A new ALEC Program

The American City County Exchange works with local elected offcials to promote effciency and minimize waste by implementing limited government, free market solutions. The American City County Exchange is an affliate of the American Legislative Exchange Council.

WI ALEC Leader in Hot Water over Allegations of Sexual Harassment

Assembly Majority Leader Bill Kramer, a stalwart of the American Legislative Exchange Council, has been accused of sexually harassing two women while in Washington, D.C. last week for a Wisconsin GOP fundraiser. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the 49-year-old Republican lawmaker physically and verbally harassed a 33-year-old female lobbyist at the fundraising event and another woman on the plane back to Wisconsin.

Statements from the GOP leadership signal that the incidents were serious: “The alleged behavior is reprehensible and won’t be tolerated,” said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. Conservative pundit, Charlie Sykes reported: “According to news reports and my own sources, Kramer’s conduct last week went beyond tasteless jokes, and included physical contact that could be construed as sexual assault.” One source told Sykes it was “the least surprising headline ever.”

Kramer’s office staff released a statement indicating that the boss was checking into rehab, but a little counseling may not be enough. This is not the first time that this type of allegation has been made about Kramer. Republican State Representative Chris Kapenga warned his caucus that Kramer was a loose cannon after he engaged in similar conduct at an ALEC meeting in Chicago last August…

America’s corporate revolt against clean energy

The US’s fossil fuel industry is scared at the growth of solar power, and its ever-declining market cost. So it’s fighting back, reports Trip Van Noppen, doing its best to quash solar growth by imposing new costs and restrictions.

From California to Colorado to North Carolina and other states, many generators of centralized fossil fuel energy are trying to prevent individual Americans from producing clean, renewable solar energy on their own roof tops.

They would deny us the opportunity to participate in the greater goal of shifting away from polluting, climate-altering fossil fuels.

There is a simple reason for the utilities’ action: They fear losing their monopoly hold on revenue from power production.

Rooftop solar is a game changer that lets consumers generate their own power, reducing the need for a centralized power system and cutting to the heart of the utilities’ comfortable position of a guaranteed return.

For more than 100 years, power companies have profited from a centralized energy model that distributes power from a fossil-fuel burning power plant out to users through a grid of power lines…

…Legislation is proposed in 25 states to limit, tax or fine rooftop solar and net metering, the billing arrangement that allows rooftop solar customers to get credit for providing energy to the grid.

Further, in their portfolio planning, utilities are deliberately undervaluing the benefits and overvaluing the costs of rooftop solar.

Much of this is an orchestrated campaign by corporate lobby group American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to promote legislation that encourages continued fossil fuel use and discourages competition from renewable energy sources. The Guardian reported that ALEC sponsored at least 77 anti-clean energy bills in 34 states in 2012.

Symbolic Book-Burning Is Alive And Well In South Carolina

If South Carolina is not the most backward state in the nation, it’s tied for first with some of its red state brethren, like say, Arkansas. The latest insult to the intelligence of any civil human being is the punitive symbolic book burning of a publication titled “Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio.” The local newspaper describes it as a publication comprised of a collection of essays and poems from Southern gay residents.

The book was chosen by a panel of educators on the Upstate campus of the University of South Carolina. It is required reading for all incoming university freshmen. Wait for it! Wait for it! KERBOOM!!! The homophobic right-wing went predictably nuts. And in their corner, eager to please even the most radical of his constituents, stood state Representative Garry (yes, 2 r’s) Smith. Riding to the rescue of Neanderthal parents, whose kids were trapped in a literary web of Queerville.

Smith, just turning 57, is an active and enthusiastic member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and serves on its Communications and Technology Task Force. In his homophobic wisdom he decided to emulate symbolically, the actual historical book-burnings that have been all the rage since antiquity right up to the present day.

Via a line item in the upcoming budget, Smith is proposing to cut $17,142 in funding to the University, the exact cost of the books…

By Bob Sloan ALEC, ALEC Corporate Members, Center for Media and Democracy, civil rights, coal, conservative think tanks, Consumer exploitation, corporate behavior, Education, Environment, Environment, Ethics in Government, exploitation and manipulation, Federal Forum, Labor, Legislators with ALEC Ties, lobbying, North Carolina, organized labor, PIECP, Prison Industry, prison labor, Privatized Prison System, Privatized Utilities, PRWatch, Public Utilities, slave labor, The Cabal No comments Tags: ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Center for Media and Democracy, Disenfranchisement, Education, environment, Greenpeace, inmate labor, Model Legislation, north carolina, prison labor, privatization, stand your ground, transparency, Voter ID Legislation, voter suppression

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Model Legislation

The Kochs’ 30+ Year Extreme, Self-Serving Agenda (many important Koch documents provided here)

News and articles relating to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) for the first week of April 2014. Click on the headline to visit and read the full article or page where the information originates.

NRDC: Carbon Copy Efforts by Shadow Group ALEC Rebuffed in Other Statehouses

Of Course ALEC Is Involved in the Keystone Cash

American City County Exchange (ACCE) – A new ALEC Program

The US’s fossil fuel industry is scared at the growth of solar power, and its ever-declining market cost. So it’s fighting back, reports Trip Van Noppen, doing its best to quash solar growth by imposing new costs and restrictions.

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