Jul 31, 2012
Two TN. Dem Lawmakers Resign ALEC Membership
From Knox News article found here…
“Reps. Joe Armstrong, D-Knoxville, and David Shepard, D-Dickson, have a different view of ALEC. Both said they joined ALEC at the urging of Rep. Curry Todd, R-Collierville, the ALEC state chairman, and other Republican legislators in Tennessee who they respect — including McDaniel. But the more they learned about ALEC, they said, the more they disliked it.
“Shepard said he joined and paid his first year’s dues in 2010 — $100 — but never actually attended a meeting, then sent repeated notice of his resignation this year. Armstrong said he was initially impressed with the group’s professed bipartisanship and became a member of the ALEC task force on health care.
“But Armstrong said ALEC changed from generally supporting a national solution to providing health care, after passage of the federal Affordable Health Care Act. It began backing state-level efforts such as a model Health Care Freedom Act, which says states can ignore the federal law, and the Health Care Compact, which calls for states to take over all federal health programs, including Medicare. Armstrong said he stopped paying dues in 2010 and, after discovering he was still listed as a member, signing a resignation notice earlier this year.”
