alec1bkup

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">this is backup for bad margin, no links</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8/15</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">alec1bkup</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SEE ALEC2 NOTES FOR MORE RECENT INFO, also tag</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has eight task forces:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the ALEC Civil Justice Task Force,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the ALEC Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the ALEC Communications and Technology Task Force,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the ALEC Education Task Force,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force, liddy HOMELAND?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the ALEC International Relations Task Force, and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the ALEC Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Until it was disbanded in April 2012, ALEC also operated a Public Safety and Elections Task Force, which adopted such "model" bills as the "Stand Your Ground" bill or "Castle Law" doctrine and the voter ID act. Later in 2012, ALEC launched the "Justice Performance Project" (JPP) in place of the Public Safety and Elections Task Force. The bills associated with the JPP in task force materials obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy and posted by ALEC appear to continue ALEC's modus operandi of promoting the financial interests of the corporations and special interest groups that fund it, such as the American Bail Coalition, according to PRWatch.[1])</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">alec at 40 report:&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to date, 49 major American corporations have dumped ALEC, including some of the largest firms in the world.Read the full report here.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">_GW: http://www.alternet.org/print/corporate-accountability-and-workplace/bill-moyers-exposes-stranglehold-corporate-right-wing</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; ===</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (1995 Chair of ALEC Business Policy Board)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Speaker Tom DeLay (R-Texas)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card (for George W. Bush’s Administration)[7]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senator Don Nickles (Oklahoma)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Congressman Joe Wilson (recently called Obama a "liar")</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Representative Dan Burton (Indiana)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Congressman Billy Tauzin (Louisiana)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Representative Katherine Harris (Florida)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senator Jim Inhofe (Oklahoma)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Former Governor Tommy Thompson (Wisconsin), running for U.S. Senate in 2012, identified by ALEC as involved in its formative years[7]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ)[8]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Governor Jan Brewer (Arizona)[9]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Former Governor Bill Owens (Colorado)[7]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Governor Terry Branstad (Iowa), identified by ALEC as involved in its formative years[10]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Former Governor John Engler (Michigan), identified by ALEC as involved in its formative years[7]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Governor Nikki Haley (South Carolina), ALEC alumna[11]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Governor John Kasich (Ohio), identified by ALEC as involved in its formative years[10]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Former Governor Frank Keating (Oklahoma)[7]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Governor Bob McDonnell (Virginia)[12]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Governor Rick Perry (Texas); [13] received the "Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award" from ALEC in 2010[14]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Governor Scott Walker (Wisconsin)[15][16]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Former Governor Tommy Thompson (Wisconsin), identified by ALEC as involved in its formative years[7]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Governor Mary Fallin (Oklahoma) [17]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Former Governor John G. Rowland and Lt. Governor Jodi Rell (Connecticut), listed in "1999 ALEC Leaders in the States" by ALEC as alumni[18]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Arizona (PFAW/CC) (supplemental)&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(CMD/PFAW/CC/Progress Now) NEW 2013&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(CMD/PFAW/CC/Progress Now/AWF)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Florida (Progress Florida/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PFAW/CMD/Florida Watch Action/CC)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Iowa (NEW!) (Progress Iowa/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CMD/PFAW/CC/Progress Now)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Maine (Maine's Majority Education Fund)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michigan (Progress Michigan/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michigan Citizen Action/CMD/CC/PFAW)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Minnesota (Common Cause)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Missouri (Progress Missouri)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nevada (NEW!) (Progress Now Nevada)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Hampshire (Granite State Progress) (supplemental on "Right to Work for Less")</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Jersey (PFAW/CMD/CC/Progress Now)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ohio (CMD/Progress Ohio/PFAW/CC)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pennsylvania (Keystone Progress)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Texas (Progress TX/CMD)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Utah (PFAW/CC/Alliance for a Better Utah/CMD)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Virginia (Progress VA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wisconsin (Center for Media and Democracy)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Under the Animal Enterprise Protection Act of 1992 it became a federal crime to “cause more than $10,000 in damage while engaged in “physical disruption to the functioning of an animal enterprise by intentionally stealing, damaging, or causing the loss of any property…used by the animal enterprise.”[13] In 2006, this was updated and renamed the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act by the 109th congress.[34] The updated act included causing personal harm and the losses incurred on “secondary targets” as well as adding to the penalties for these crimes.[35]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2003, a conservative Texas legislative reform group, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), proposed the "Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act" which defined an "animal rights or ecological terrorist organization" as "two or more persons organized for the purpose of supporting any politically motivated activity intended to obstruct or deter any person from participating in an activity involving animals or an activity involving natural resources."[36] The legislation was not enacted.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC OFFERS LEGISLATION TO FIGHT DOMESTIC TERROR BY ANIMAL AND ECO-EXTREMIST GROUPS</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Let’s Call a Terrorist, a ‘Terrorist,’” Says ALEC&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2003</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">BOB ADAMS (202) 742-8516</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Environmental and animal rights groups who commit acts of terror are now targets themselves of a new model bill offered by the bipartisan American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act (AETA) creates penalties for persons encouraging, financing, assisting or engaged in acts of animal and ecological terrorism.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Most states make no legal distinction between a disgruntled youth vandalizing a public park and an organized eco-terrorist torching a family’s home,” said Sandy Liddy Bourne, advisor to ALEC’s Homeland Security Working Group. “The legislation specifically addresses actions that are designed to intimidate, coerce, invoke fear, or other forms of terror that are committed in the name of environmental or animal rights activism.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Act, itself, is detailed in a new publication, Animal & Ecological Terrorism in America, published by ALEC’s Homeland Security Working Group.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“One difficulty in using basic vandalism, trespassing, and destruction of property laws lies in the states’ inability to enter asset forfeiture proceedings," said Bourne.[dad is go for head shot]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Threats of domestic terrorism in the name of animal and/or environmental rights are largely attributed to two domestic terror organizations: The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). Considered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to be the most dangerous of domestic terror threats, these organizations facilitate ideologically driven vandalism, property damage, theft, and general terrorism against individuals, groups, and governmental agencies that do not fit their vision of so-called environmental equity.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This legislation takes more than ‘a bite out of crime,’ it jails and penalizes animal and eco-terrorists and their sympathetic financial agents for what they are--domestic terrorists,” said Bourne.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to the FBI, animal and ecological terrorists have committed more than 600 criminal acts since 1996. In recent months, ELF and ALF have claimed responsibility for destroying several homes in Washington state, California, and Michigan, releasing 10,000 minks from a farm in Washington state, and attacking three California car dealerships. The groups boast of carrying out similar actions since the mid-1990s, resulting in nearly $50 million in damage.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For more information contact Bob Adams at (202) 466-3800</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://web.archive.org/web/20051225091755/http://www.alec.org/news/press-releases/press-releases-2003/september/alec-offers-legislation-to-fight-domestic-terror-by-animal-rights-and-eco-extremist-groups.html</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">~ Rx w/ afp:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Americans for Prosperity Rally Calls for "Nullifying" Health Care Law (with Help from ALEC)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by Brendan Fischer [1] — July 2, 2012 - 8:29am</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Topics: Democracy [2], Health [3], Politics [4]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Projects: ALEC Exposed [5], Wisconsin Protests [6]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Brendan Fischer and Laura Stiegerwald</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The evening after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Wisconsin chapter of the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity held a "Hands Off My Health Care" rally to plan next steps in their effort to defeat "Obamacare." The plan apparently involves American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) model legislation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Nullification" of Health Care Law Advocated</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Any act or set of actions that you take on a state or a local level which has as its effect rendering a federal act null and void -- that's what we are trying to do," Michael Boldin of the California-based Tenth Amendment Center told the crowd of about 400 people gathered at the Country Springs Hotel in Pewaukee, Wisconsin.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Boldin was advocating for "nullification," a legal theory supported by conservatives that asserts any state has the right to nullify or invalidate a federal law the state deems unconstitutional. According to Boldin, "[Thomas] Jefferson said, 'whensoever the federal government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoratitaive, void and have no force; and nullification is the rightful remedy.'" The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected nullification, most recently in the 1950s when Southern states tried using the strategy to resist racial integration of public schools.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Has Lobbied to Defeat Health Reforms</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Boldin said that constitutional amendments adopted in Ohio and Arizona could provide the basis for a nullification challenge to the federal health care law. He explained that the amendments declare, "no law or rule shall compel, directly or indirectly, any person, employer or health care provider to participate in the health care system."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Ohio and Arizona laws Boldin referenced echo the ALEC "model" Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act. The ties between these laws and ALEC is revealed by in-depth investigations into ALEC's influence in Arizona [7] and Ohio [8].</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Open records requests submitted by the Center for Media and Democracy revealed that ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force Director Christie Herrera emailed Wisconsin legislators in December 2010 [9] encouraging them to introduce ALEC's Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act. Herrerra recommended they use the language introduced in Arizona, which she says "expands and updates ALEC's original Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act." The following April, a version of the bill [10] was introduced in Wisconsin and passed the state senate, but failed to pass the assembly.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Similar bills were introduced in 43 other states [11] in recent years. The laws passed as a constitutional amendment in four states and as statutory provisions in eleven. According to ALEC, [12] the laws set the stage for Tenth Amendment litigation by creating state laws at odds with the federal healthcare reform's individual mandate. Legal scholars expect [13] that this litigation would fail because the federal law would trump state law under the U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause (Article VI).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wisconsin State Senator Leah Vukmir, who is on the ALEC Board of Directors [14] and the Chair of the ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force, was quoted [15] in ALEC's press release about the Supreme Court's decision. She also spoke at the AFP rally.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to ALEC's "Health" Co-Chair: "It Will Destroy our Economy"...http://www.prwatch.org/print/11624</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">vouchers w/ heartland:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC and Heartland Propose Parent Trigger Bill with "Voucher" Option</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Illinois-based Heartland Institute, which has recently come under fire for billboards comparing those who believe in climate change to mass murderers, has embraced the Parent Trigger act and is advocating a more extreme model. In October of 2010, Heartland brought its version of the Parent Trigger Act to ALEC, which adopted it as a "model" bill. In contrast with the California/Parent Revolution model, Heartland's bill allows parents to "trigger" a school's reorganization at any time, regardless of whether it is "failing" or performing in the state's bottom 20 percent. Heartland's bill also calls for a "school voucher" option, in which students at a triggered school are provided with "the option to receive a monetary voucher to cover the cost of attendance at any private or other public school."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Parent Revolution says they oppose "voucher" programs that pay for individual students to attend private schools, at the expense of the rest of the community.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Open records requests show that in 2011, Heartland representative Marc Oestreich contacted ALEC members in the Wisconsin legislature with an email offering "to work with you to introduce a Parent Trigger Act in your state." It does not appear that the Heartland/ALEC model has had much traction, in Wisconsin or elsewhere.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, a similar law, promoted by another right-wing ALEC member, the Goldwater Institute, was proposed in Arizona earlier this year. Jonathan Butcher, the institute's education director, cited both Parent Revolution and ALEC as inspiration for Arizona's "Parent Empowerment" bill. Parent Revolution refused to endorse the bill because of its voucher provision.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Parent Trigger: True Reform or Clever Trick? ...http://www.prwatch.org/node/11612</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Criminal Tax Penalties for ALEC? CMD's Investigation Provides Facts for Powerful New Complaint by Former IRS Official</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by Brendan Fischer — July 9, 2012 - 9:47am</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Topics: Corporations, Democracy, Politics</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Projects: ALEC Exposed, Wisconsin Protests</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly versionSend by emailSend by email</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This month, a former leader of the Internal Revenue Service filed a complaint that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has violated the terms of its nonprofit status by operating primarily for the private benefit of its corporate members, based on documents and research from the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), which manages PRWatch, ALECexposed, and SourceWatch. The complaint, which also alleges that ALEC misrepresented itself in tax filings, raises additional allegations beyond those in earlier IRS complaints filed by Common Cause.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Astounding" Violations of IRS Law</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC "elevates commercial gain for a few over the well-being of society's less fortunate" through "an agenda largely crafted by the organization's corporate members,"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the complaint states (a pdf of the complaint is below). Marcus Owens, the former chief of the Service's nonprofit division, filed the complaint on behalf of Clergy VOICE, a group of Christian ministers in Ohio. "ALEC has deliberately and repeatedly failed to comply with some of the most fundamental federal tax requirements applicable to public charities," the complaint says. &nbsp;Owens is a nationally recognized expert and leader on nonprofit tax law and a member of the noted law firm Caplin & Drysdale.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC is afforded a variety of benefits by virtue of its "charity" status -- not least of which is giving corporations a tax deduction for paying ALEC membership dues -- but in exchange for those benefits, ALEC is supposed to primarily serve public or charitable interests (rather than private interests) and engage in minimal lobbying.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"ALEC is doing an extraordinary amount of lobbying, but reporting to the IRS they are doing NO lobbying," Owens told CMD. "Even when North Dakota forced two of ALEC's attorneys to register as lobbyists, they still reported [on their IRS filings] they did no lobbying. That is astounding."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I have never seen such a systematic and extensive operation . . . to sidestep disclosure and ethics rules in a way that really allows them to have an extraordinary impact," Owens said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Corporate Control over Model Bills Give Private Benefit...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.prwatch.org/node/11627</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">loch ness monster, creationism, jindal</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; jine 2012</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It's not a myth — the Loch Ness Monster has turned up in, of all places, Louisiana. According to the New York Daily News, Louisiana's Eternity Christian Academy is using a textbook that asserts the monster is not only real, but that its existence disproves evolution. What's more, the school is eligible for taxpayer funded vouchers, thanks to a bill signed by Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal that strongly resembles model legislation drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://politicalcorrection.org/blog/201206260002</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">alec pb capture 8:15 AM 4/20/2012</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$375,858 received from Koch foundations 2005-2010 [Total Koch foundation grants 1997-2010: $708,858]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is one-stop shopping for state elected officials interested in perusing the wares of an array of Koch-funded opposition organizations including IER, ACCF, Mercatus and other sources. ALEC has successfully peddled corporate-written legislation to numerous states attacking the Kyoto Protocol, undermining climate science education in schools and numerous other anti-environmental legislation. ALEC has close ties to Koch Industries, which helped bail the organization out of financial troubles with a half-million dollar grant.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC publishes its own materials as well, including a "Climate Change Overview for State Legislators" which downplays the science and risks of global warming and exaggerates the costs of addressing it. The Overview was written by Daniel Simmons, who moved from ALEC to become AEA's Director of State Affairs. Simmons was at the Mercatus Institute before ALEC and is a graduate of the George Mason University School of Law.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/american-legislative-exchange/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Model Bill Behind Push To Require Climate Denial Instruction In Schools</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Steve Horn</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Created 2012-01-26 01:15</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Steve Horn's Profile [1]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Steve Horn [1]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">26 January 12</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>ALEC Model Bill Behind Push To Require Climate Denial Instruction In Schools </b>[2]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tweet [3]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Repost This [4]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Comment on this Story [5]Email this story [6]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On January 16, the Los Angeles Times revealed that anti-science bills have been popping up over the past several years in statehouses across the U.S., mandating the teaching of climate change denial or "skepticism" [8] as a credible "theoretical alternative" to human caused climate change came.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The L.A. Times' Neela Banerjee explained [8],</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>"Texas and Louisiana have introduced education standards that require educators to teach climate change denial as a valid scientific position. South Dakota and Utah passed resolutions denying climate change. Tennessee and Oklahoma also have introduced legislation to give climate change skeptics a place in the classroom."</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What the excellent Times coverage missed is that key language in these anti-science bills all eminated from a single source: the American Legislative Exchange Council [9], or ALEC.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Exposed: No, Not Alec Baldwin&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In summer 2011, "ALEC Exposed [10]," a project of the Center for Media and Democracy [11] (CMD), taught those alarmed about the power that corporations wield in the American political sphere an important lesson: when bills with a similar DNA pop up in various statehouses nationwide, it's no coincidence.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Explaining the nature and origins of the project, CMD wrote [12], "[CMD] unveiled a trove of over 800 'model' bills and resolutions secretly voted on by corporations and politicians through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). These bills reveal the corporate collaboration reshaping our democracy, state by state."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CMD continued [12], "Before our publication of this trove of bills, it has been difficult to trace the numerous controversial and extreme provisions popping up in legislatures across the country directly to ALEC and its corporate underwriters."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CMD explained that ALEC conducts its operations in the most shadowy of manners (emphases mine):</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Through ALEC, behind closed doors, corporations hand state legislators the changes to the law they desire that directly benefit their bottom line. Along with legislators, corporations have membership in ALEC. Corporations sit on all nine ALEC task forces and vote with legislators to approve 'model' bills…Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. Participating legislators, overwhelmingly conservative Republicans, then bring those proposals home and introduce them in statehouses across the land as their own brilliant ideas and important public policy innovations—without disclosing that corporations crafted and voted on the bills."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So, what is the name of the "model bill" this time around?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Trojan Horse: The "Environmental Literacy Improvement Act"</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Trojan Horse [13] in this case is an Orwellian [14] titled model bill, the "Environmental Literacy Improvement Act [15]."[PDF]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill was adopted by ALEC's Natural Resources Task Force, today known as the Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force [16], at ALEC's Spring Task Force Summit on May 5, 2000 — it was then approved by the full ALEC Board of Directors in June of 2000.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill's opening clause reads [15] [PDF], "The purpose of this act is to enhance and improve the environmental literacy of students and citizens in the state by requiring that all environmental education programs and activities conducted by schools, universities, and agencies shall…"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Among other things, the bill stipulates that schools, universities and agencies should,&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Provide a range of perspectives presented in a balanced manner."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Provide instruction in critical thinking so that students will be able to fairly and objectively evaluate scientific and economic controversies."&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Be presented in language appropriate for education rather than for propagandizing."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Encourage students to explore different perspectives and form their own opinions."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Encourage an atmosphere of respect for different opinions and open-mindedness to new ideas."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Not be designed to change student behavior, attitudes or values."&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Not include instruction in political action skills nor encourage political action activities."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How does this language compare with legislation passed or proposed in various states? A review is in order.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Bills: From Model to Reality</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The "Environmental Literacy Improvement Act [15]," or at minimum, the crucial language found within it, has been proposed in seven states, and passed in three states, Louisiana in 2008, Texas in 2009 and South Dakota in 2010.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Louisiana</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2008, the Louisiana state legislature introduced and eventually passed S.B. 733, the Louisiana Science and Education Act [17]. The bill was originally sponsored by four members of the Senate, three of whom are current dues paying members of ALEC [18]: Sen. Ben Wayne Nevers, Sr. (D-12); Sen. Neil Riser (R-32); and Sen. Francis Thompson (D-34).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The three ALEC members received a total of $9,514 from the oil and gas industry in the 2008 and 2010 election cycles in campaign money combined, and the four of them together received $13,814 in campaign cash from the oil and gas industry, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics' FollowTheMoney.org [19].</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Model vs. S.B. 733</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Louisiana bill [20] calls for, "an environment within public elementary and secondary schools that promotes critical thinking skills, logical analysis, and open and objective discussion of scientific theories being studied including…global warming…" The bill also calls for "instructional materials to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review scientific theories in an objective manner."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This bill mirrors the provisions of the ALEC bill [15] which say that teachers should "provide instruction in critical thinking so that students will be able to fairly and objectively evaluate scientific…controversies," and mandates that "balanced and objective environmental education materials and programs will…be used."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">South Dakota</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2010, the South Dakota Legislative Assembly passed House Concurrent Resolution 1009 [21], a non-binding resolution introduced by 33 members of the House of Representatives and 6 members of the Senate, 39 in total, and 12 of whom are current members of ALEC. The bill [21] calls for "balanced teaching of global warming in the public schools of South Dakota."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The 12 members of ALEC [22] who sponsored HCR 1009 [21] received $1,900 from the oil and gas industry in the 2008 and 2010 election cycles combined, according to FollowTheMoney.org [19].</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill mirrors the provision of the ALEC bill [15] that call for the providing of "a range of perspectives presented in a balanced manner."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kentucky</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2010, the Kentucky state legislature proposed H.B. 397, the Kentucky Science Education and Intellectual Freedom Act [23], a bill that eventually failed to pass [24].</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill was co-sponsored by two members of the Kentucky House of Representatives who were not members of ALEC, but one of whom, Tim Moore (R-26), took $3,000 from the oil and gas industry in the 2008 and 2010 campaign cycles combined, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Model vs. HB 397</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Two key provisions of the H.B. 397 [23] "encourage local district teachers and administrators to foster an environment promoting objective discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of scientific theories" and "allow teachers to use, as permitted by the local board of education, materials in addition to state-approved texts and instructional materials for discussion of scientific theories including…global warming…"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This bill mirrors major provisions of the ALEC model bill [15] that say teachers should "provide instruction in critical thinking so that students will be able to fairly and objectively evaluate scientific…controversies," and mandates that "balanced and objective environmental education materials and programs will…be used."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Mexico</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2011, ALEC member [22], Rep. Thomas A. Anderson, introduced H.B. 302 [25]. In the 2008 and 2010 campaign cycles, he raised $2,650, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics' campaign finance database.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Model vs. H.B. 302</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">H.B. 302 says that schools shall "not prohibit any teacher, when a controversial scientific topic is being taught in accordance with adopted standards and curricula, from informing students about relevant scientific information regarding either the scientific strengths or scientific weaknesses pertaining to that topic." One "controversial scientific topic" listed is the "causes of climate change."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This bill mirrors the provisions of the ALEC model bill [15] which call for teaching "a range of perspectives presented in a balanced manner," teaching "different perspectives" to allow for students to "form their own opinions," and creating an "atmosphere of respect for different opinions and open-mindedness to new ideas."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tennessee</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tennessee's House bill, H.B. 368 [26], essentially a replica [15] of the ALEC model bill, overwhelmly passed the House [27] in April 2011, but its Senate-version cousin, S.B. 893 [28], failed to pass. As the Los Angeles Times article makes clear, efforts to push the bill through are far from over.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Key clauses of that bill read,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"[T]eachers shall be permitted to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"[P]ublic elementary and secondary schools…[should]…respond appropriately and respectfully to differences of opinion about controversial issues."&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These excerpts match, almost to a "T," bullet points one, three and four of the ALEC model bill [15]. &nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nine of the 24 co-sponsors of the H.B. 368 [29] are ALEC members, according to CMD's ALEC Members database [30].</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition, these nine ALEC member co-sponsors received $8,695 in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry combined in the 2008 and 2010 campaign cycles, according to FollowTheMoney.org. The other 15 sponsors of the bill, while not members of ALEC, received $10,400 in their campaign cofffers in the 2008 and 2010 campaign cycles combined.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">S.B. 893 [29], on the other hand, was sponsored [29] by Sen. Bo Watson (R-11), a recipient of $1,800 in oil and gas industry money in the 2008 and 2010 election cycles combined.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Translation: between the 25 of them, on top of a model bill handed to them by corporate oil and gas industry lobbyists, they were also furnished with $20,895 in campaign cash by these industries with the expectation to do their legislative bidding.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oklahoma</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Titled, the “Scientific Education and Academic Freedom Act [31],” H.B. 1551 [32] is also essentially a copycat of Tennessee's version of the ALEC model bill [15] — it failed to pass. A Senate version of that bill, S.B. 320 [33], was also proposed in 2009, but failed to pass [31] through committee.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Key clauses of that bill read (emphases mine),</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"[T]eachers shall be permitted to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories pertinent to the course being taught."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"[N]o student in any public school or institution shall be penalized in any way because the student may subscribe to a particular position on scientific theories."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Notice how the first bullet is exactly the same in both the Tennessee and Oklahoma bills — also notice how similar bullet number two is in both language and substance in both states' bills.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Sally Kern (R-84), sponsor of H.B. 1551 [34], is a member of ALEC [35], according to CMD. She received $12,335 from the oil and gas industry in the 2008 and 2010 election cycles, in total, according to FollowTheMoney.org. Sen. Randy Brogdon (R-34), sponsor of S.B. 320 [33], while not a member of ALEC, received $22,967 from the oil and gas industry while running and losing for Governor of Oklahoma in 2010, according to FollowTheMoney.org.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On the whole, sponsors and co-sponsors from the six states in which the ALEC bill was proposed were recipients of $44,409 in campaign money from the oil and gas industry, a miniscule down payment for some of the most lucrative corporations known in the history of mankind.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Texas</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Texas, in this case, is a bit of a wild card. Rather than a bill proposed by a state legislature, in 2009, the Texas School Board passed an amendent calling for the "balanced" teaching of climate change, meaning both science and "skepticism."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Austin Statesman explained [36],</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The State Board of Education…adopted standards on the teaching of global warming that appear to both question its existence and prod students to explore its implications.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Standards are used to guide textbook makers and teachers.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Language…instructed students to 'analyze and evaluate different views on the existence of global warming,'"…</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This provision mirrors and is likely inspired by the ALEC model bill [15] provision on global warming, which suggested science teachers should "Provide a range of perspectives presented in a balanced manner."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>A Bill In the Corporate Polluter's Interest</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The money paper trail for this ALEC model bill runs deep, to put it bluntly.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When the ALEC model bill was adopted in 2000 by ALEC's Natural Resources Task Force, the head of that committee was Sandy Liddy Bourne [37], who after that stint, became Director of Legislation and Policy for ALEC. She is now with the Heartland Institute [38] as vice-president for policy strategy. In Sandy Liddy Bourne's bio on the Heartland website [39], she boasts that "Under her leadership, 20 percent of ALEC model bills were enacted by one state or more, up from 11 percent."&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SourceWatch [40] states that <b>Liddy Bourne "</b>…is the daughter of former Nixon aide and convicted Watergate criminal G. Gordon Liddy, who spent more than 52 months in prison for his part in the Watergate burglary…[and her] speech at the Heartland Institute's 2008 International Conference on Climate Change was titled, 'The Kyoto Legacy; The Progeny of a Carbon Cartel in the States [41]."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Heartland Institute [42] was formerly heavily funded by ExxonMobil and Koch Industries [43], just like ALEC [44] was at the time that Liddy Bourne's committee devised the "Environmental Literacy Improvement Act [15]." These two corporations are infamous for their funding of climate change "skeptic" think tanks and front groups. &nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Today, the corporate polluter members [45] of ALEC's Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force [45] include representatives from American Electric Power [46], the Fraser Institute [47], the Cato Institute [48], the Competitive Enterprise Institute [49], the Institute for Energy Research [50], the Mackinac Center for Public Policy [51], the Heartland Institute [52], and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity [53], to name several.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Getting Them While They're Young: A Cynical Maneuver&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the United States, the politics of big-money backed disinformation campaigns have trumped climate science, and serves as the raison d'être &nbsp;[54]for DeSmogBlog. Polluters with a financial interest in continuing to conduct business without any accountability for their global warming pollution have purposely sowed the seeds of confusion [55] on an issue seen as completely uncontroversial among scientists.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Maneuvering to dupe schoolchildren is about as cynical as it gets. Neuroscience explains that young brains are like sponges [56], ready to soak in knowledge (and disinformation, for that matter), and thus, youth are an ideal target for the "merchants of doubt [57]."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The corporations behind the writing and dissemination of this ALEC model bill, who are among the largest polluters in the world, would benefit handsomly from a legislative mandate to sow the seeds of confusion on climate science among schoolchildren.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alas, at the very least, the identity of the Trojan Horse has been revealed: it's name is ALEC.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sorry Alec Baldwin, this isn't about you, please resume your Words With Friends [58]. This ALEC [59] is far more scandalous.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Full Disclosure: At the time of the ALEC Exposed project's public release in mid-2011, Steve Horn was an employee of Center for Media and Democracy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CMD Special Report: New Documents Confirm Koch Was on ALEC Crime Task Force Led by NRA</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by Lisa Graves — May 14, 2012 - 1:22am</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Topics: Crisis Management, Corporations, Democracy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALECexposedPART ONE: New documents show that Koch Industries had a seat on the controversial “Public Safety and Elections Task Force” of the American Legislative Exchange Council as of at least 2011.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC announced it was dropping that task force in the wake of the controversy over the tragic shooting of Trayvon Martin and so-called “Stand Your Ground” (SYG) laws. However, the co-leader of that task force, Rep. Jerry Madden (R-TX), revealed ALEC's announcement to be a PR maneuver when he reassured The Christian Post that his task force's work would continue through other ALEC task forces.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Koch Industries has vigorously defended ALEC, and has assailed reporting that noted that the company, led by billionaire brothers Charles and David, is a long-time funder and leader of ALEC and that ALEC has long advanced the NRA agenda through "model" gun bills, including Florida's controversial SYG law that was ratified by ALEC in 2005.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It turns out that Koch was a member of that ALEC task force in recent years, and that it was on the task force when the NRA was the private sector co-chair. &nbsp;Moreover, Koch Industries had not one but two employees who were listed as “members” present for ALEC's "Public Safety and Elections" Task Force at the last annual task force summit.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Koch has said it had no involvement in the SYG law passed in Florida and then ratified by the ALEC criminal justice task force in 2005. The company, however, was a leader of ALEC in 2005, just as today, and its funding helps underwrite ALEC's operations and agenda. The various task forces Koch has served on over the past nearly two decades is not known, but now it has come to light that in at least 2010 and 2011 Koch was a member of ALEC's crime task force.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Two Koch Staffers at the Last ALEC Crime Task Force Summit Meeting</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Site of ALEC's 2011 SummitSite of ALEC's 2011 SummitOn April 29, 2011, at Cincinnati’s Hilton Netherland Plaza Hotel, an historic building gilded just before the Great Depression, Jenny Kim and Jessie Rager--employees of Koch's lobbying arm--sat as two of the 16 “Private Sector Members” in attendance at the ALEC crime task force’s day-long meeting. As such, Koch constituted 1/8th of the private sector members considering model legislation and business that day.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kim is the Associate General Counsel for “Political Law” at Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC, (KCPS) which employs over three dozen attorneys in Wichita, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. She’s worked for Koch for almost four years, following stints at two law firms and in the White House Counsel’s Office in President George W. Bush's first term.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">She’s been the point of contact for Koch’s lobby disclosure filings regarding the $2 to $3 million it has spent on other Koch employees directly lobbying Congress each year recently. Koch has lobbied on issues such whether companies should have to disclose their true owners, a permanent tax deferral for certain income from investment in foreign controlled companies, exemptions from the regulations of credit swaps in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms, legislation to bar the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases, and numerous bills affecting the pollution of Americans’ water. Rager is a paralegal for KCPS, but it’s not clear if Rager works for Kim or another lawyer.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Task Force's Recent Focus: Redistricting and Opposing Bans on "Pay to Play"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The first order of business the day Kim and Rager were listed as attending ALEC’s crime task force last year was the approval of minutes describing the task force's agenda in DC after the 2010 mid-term elections.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At that meeting in the nation’s capitol a few months earlier, Mark Braden of the law firm Baker Hostedler kicked off the task force with his presentation on redistricting, that is, how to revise electoral maps after the census, a top priority for the new ALEC majorities in several states. As the Center for Media and Democracy’s (CMD’s) PRWatch has documented, Braden—the former Chief Counsel to the Republican National Committee—also advised ALEC’s Republican members in Wisconsin on remapping legislative districts in the spring of 2011.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Money HandshakeOther ALEC business in the minutes referenced included opposition to “Pay to Play Legislation,” meaning opposing bills that would ban government contractors from donating to political campaigns. The “model” resolution opposing such a ban was spearheaded by right-winger Bradley Smith’s special interest outfit, the “Center for Competitive Politics” (CCP), through its then-president Sean Parnell (who is also an “expert” for the Heartland Institute, which been funded by Koch money). CCP does not reveal which corporations, CEOs, or family foundations fund its operations, which focus on advancing the notions that money is speech and that corporations and CEOs should be able to spend unlimited money influencing elections. CCP even opposed new disclosure rules after Citizens United in the DISCLOSE Act, just as ALEC opposed new disclosure in response to that U.S. Supreme Court decision.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CCP’s 2010 “model” resolution against state legislatures enacting Pay to Play bans passed with unanimous support of the public and private sector members.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the April 2011 meeting with two Koch reps sitting as members, the minutes of that meeting were “unanimously” adopted by “voice vote” of public and private sector members.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Surprise? Task Force Approves Corporate Payday, Rejects Transparency</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In Cincinnati, with the Koch employees on deck, the first piece of model legislation on the agenda was a bill promoted by TASER. That's the leading stun-gun manufacturer whose profits jumped to $3.8 million in the first quarter of this year. &nbsp;Its then-Vice President of Government and Public Affairs, Peter Holran, made the pitch to the Task Force's legislators and "private sector" members. That bill is designed to create an “assessment,” or tax, on taxpayer fines for traffic violations and then split the proceeds between the agency issuing the citation and a fund to buy stun guns and other equipment.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TASER's model bill “passed the private sector unanimously,” according to newly revealed documents, and was also unanimously approved by the legislators voting.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This model bill basically creates a special pool of money, aside from other budgetary constraints plaguing cities and states, for the purchase of the kind of weapons sold by the company advancing the bill, which dubs this arrangement a safety equipment fund.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is where ALEC’s “free market” mantra meets “crony capitalism”--your traffic cops at work, getting a slice of the pie from every ticket for their budgets with some dough for Tasers and other purchases.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Koch's Lobbying ShopThe bill was adopted unanimously. There’s no indication that Koch’s Kim or Rager or other corporate reps expressed any reservations about this potentially great deal for part of the weapons industry. There is no record that there were any abstentions or objections; the approval was “unanimous.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Several other crime bills passed unanimously, but a model bill to require “state legislatures to provide adequate notice before public hearings or votes so that citizens are able to participate in the legislative process in a meaningful way” failed. &nbsp;It did not get the support of ALEC politicians on the task force co-chaired by Wisconsin Rep. Scott Suder, who is now ALEC’s co-chair for the state.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is no indication in the records publicly available that Kim or Rager or others spoke up for the public’s opportunity to comment on proposed changes to state law as the “Legislative Transparency Act” went down in flames at the Cincinnati task force meeting last spring.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is no indication that Koch’s reps voted against any crime or democracy bills last April.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A "Model" Proposal to Bar Police from Destroying Crime Guns?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Why and when did Koch Industries buy a seat and a vote on ALEC’s crime and elections task force? After the spotlight began to intensify on ALEC with the launch of CMD’s ALECexposed last summer, ALEC mostly stopped distributing the list of task force members in attendance at its meetings.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, Koch was still listed on the Public Safety and Elections Task Force roster last summer. Kim and Rager were both listed as members representing Koch in the task force packet distributed for the summer meeting in New Orleans.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the August meeting, the NRA, the immediate past co-chair of that task force, proposed more gun bills. &nbsp;One of those bills distributed to members was a bill to bar law enforcement from destroying crime guns.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to the minutes from the New Orleans meeting, a model bill introduced by the NRA’s Tara Mica received the “unanimous” approval of all the public and private sector members present but did not list the members. &nbsp;There is no public record indicating that Koch objected to that bill, if it was present or in any other way.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And, although the bill to make new legislative transparency provisions legally binding on legislatures had failed in the spring, in the midst of increasing public awareness and concern about ALEC, ALEC's task force approved a statement of principles generally favoring transparency in August. &nbsp;That resolution was not binding, unlike the bill that was blocked.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The resolution passed at a task force meeting that was anything but transparent, with the press and public excluded from observing its votes and discussion, as with other ALEC task force meetings.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Blocking Cities from Barring "Machine Guns" and Cop-Killer Bullets?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Similarly, when the Public Safety and Elections Task Force met at the Kierland Resort in Arizona, the NRA proposed new amendments to an older ALEC “Consistency in Firearms Regulation” model bill. That bill bars lawsuits by cities against gun manufacturers, sellers, and trade groups and also pre-empts local cities from regulating or taxing guns in other ways.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Late last year, the NRA proposed to ALEC new amendments that would expressly forbid cities from banning residents from owning extremely dangerous “machine guns,” “submachine guns,” and other guns. Its amendments would also block cities from restricting the sale of ammunition (with no exception for especially dangerous projectiles such as armor piercing ammo, known as cop-killer bullets), and from barring guns from being altered to make them more deadly.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s not clear why in 2011 the NRA felt so emboldened that it could make explicit what it could not in 1995 when the bill was first listed as an ALEC model or in 1999 when it was reaffirmed by ALEC’s task force and ALEC’s public sector board.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Corporate Board in 1999And who was the chairman of ALEC’s Private Sector Board in 1999 when ALEC re-affirmed the legislative template to block cities from suing gun manufacturers and from regulating firearms? It was Koch Industries. In 1999, Koch’s Michael K. Morgan was the chairman of the board. There is no public record indicating that he ever raised any objections to this part of the NRA’s agenda or other NRA model bills approved by ALEC. &nbsp;ALEC attempts to emphasize that the private sector board does not affirmatively vote on model bills approved by private sector and public sector members on its task forces, but there is no indication that its corporate board is expected to remain silent regarding ALEC's agenda and operations.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And, last year, temporarily casting aside its long rhetorical defense of firearms for hunting and sporting, the NRA apparently wanted to ensure that machine guns were not banned in cities—guns whose rapid repeating rounds have nothing to do with hunting deer or other game and everything to do with maximizing the death toll when fired at human beings.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The NRA’s proposed amendments were approved “unanimously” by the task force’s private and public sector members in Scottsdale, Arizona, on December 2, 2011.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The minutes of that meeting distributed last month do not list which of ALEC's 2011 task force members were in Scottsdale and who unanimously approved this NRA bill and others proposed last winter.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Accordingly, there is no contemporaneously prepared and publicly distributed record of whether Koch representatives voted on the NRA’s machine gun protection amendments or not or whether Koch objected in any way to this part of the agenda for ALEC. Other bills on the agenda in Arizona included a failed effort to change ALEC’s position that favors the undemocratic Electoral College and opposes “national popular vote” (meaning the president who wins the popular vote wins the presidency), and Koch’s view of them, if any, is unknown.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Secrecy Cloaks Koch Role, But It Was on the Task Force the NRA Led</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Unlike for the Cincinnati task force meeting a year ago, for the May 2012 meeting in Charlotte, ALEC members were not sent a list of the names and contact information for their fellow members in preparation for the task force meeting.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That is, there is no verifiable public record of whether or not Koch Industries continued its membership on this task force beyond 2011, although Koch (through Morgan) remains on ALEC’s board, according to the new materials Common Cause obtained in support of its complaint to the IRS that ALEC is a corporate lobbying group masquerading as a charity.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since ALEC operates in the shadows and records are incomplete, it is not clear how many years prior to 2012 Koch previously paid to play on this task force. After all, Koch’s KCPS, represented by Kim, was listed on ALEC’s Public Safety and Elections Task Force roster not only in 2011 but also in 2010.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC and the NRAIllustration by Mark FioreWho was the private sector co-chair of that task force when Koch was listed on its 2010 roster? None other than the NRA. &nbsp;It was represented as the Public Safety and Elections Task Force co-chair through its government relations rep Tara Mica.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yet, Koch Industries has been on the offensive against those connecting the dots between the NRA, ALEC, and Koch. It has pointed to a single bill it opposed in Florida that would have resulted in the arming of its employees on the job against its will. Apparently, in that instance, the corporation didn’t think doing so was a good idea. Many employers probably think it’s not a good idea to have employees carrying guns around the workplace. That particular gun bill, however, was not ratified or adopted as an ALEC model, either.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is no indication Koch Industries or its representatives ever objected to sitting on a Public Safety and Elections Task Force co-chaired by the NRA or its agenda.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In fact, there is no publicly available evidence that Koch, as a long-time ALEC board member and funder, objected to the NRA co-chairing that task force for a number of years.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is no evidence Koch ever objected to any NRA initiative in 2010 and 2011 when it irrefutably was listed as a member of that task force.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And, there is no public record that Koch ever used its seat on that task force to move to repeal or revoke NRA bills previously endorsed as the model bills of that task force, such as the SYG/Castle Doctrine bill, the bill barring city lawsuits against gun manufacturers, or ALEC’s opposition to the federal assault weapons ban, for example.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is simply not known how many years beyond 2010 and 2011, if any, Koch had a seat on ALEC’s crime task force during the nearly two decades Koch has had a seat on ALEC's corporate board, but cost was certainly not an impediment.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After all, the going rate for an ALEC corporate member to buy a seat and a vote on that task force last year was a mere $2500. With Koch’s reported revenue of $100 billion per year, the annual fee for this task force is a little less than the company makes in, literally, the stroke of a single second on the hands of a clock.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lisa Graves is Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy (PRWatch.org and ALECexposed.org). She formerly served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice where she handled gun policy and was the Managing Editor of the National Integrated Firearms Violence Reduction Strategy. She also served as the Chief Counsel for Nominations for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, as Deputy Chief of the Article III Judges Division of the U.S. Courts, and as an adjunct professor of law.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Today, behind closed doors in Charlotte, North Carolina, legislators from 15 states will meet with the oil and gas industry to discuss so-called “model legislation” as part of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)</b>. The result could be laws that handicap renewable energy targets — while creating loopholes for fossil fuels, written directly by the oil and gas industry itself.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC has faced backlash recently for its role in crafting Florida’s Stand Your Ground laws. Now the organization is taking the same secretive approach to kill renewable energy development across the country.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oil and gas corporations have a very strong role in politics through groups like Americans For Prosperity, American Petroleum Institute, and, of course, ALEC. Four of the largest oil and gas corporations and two of the most profitable U.S. corporations overall, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP, sit on ALEC’s task forces. And so today, according to documents posted by Common Cause, representatives from these and other energy groups will discuss potential legislation that would undermine clean energy standards and limit regulations of polluting industries.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The agenda items illustrate ALEC’s objectives. An economist from the oil lobby American Petroleum Institute leads a discussion on oil and gas prices, and a few of the panels include, “<b>The Dirty Truth Behind Reusable Bags” </b>and “Resolution Supporting a Reasonable Compliance Timeline and Economywide Impact Study of EPA’s <b>Mercury</b> and Air Toxics Rule.” Peabody Energy — one of the largest coal companies in the world — will give the presentation on “Regulation Through Litigation Of Greenhouse Gases Is Unsound Public Policy.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC already benefits from special exemption from some state laws: For example, South Carolina, Indiana, and Colorado have specifically exempted ALEC from lobbying status.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The oil industry’s astroturfing does not end with ALEC. Heartland Institute, part of the consortium of ultra-conservative think tanks leading a broad attack on clean energy, will also speak at ALEC’s meeting. Americans For Prosperity, funded by money from the Koch brothers, is also involved in Big Oil’s PR campaign against clean energy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We have already seen oil dominating election ad spending this year, with well over $24 million spent by groups like Americans for Prosperity and American Energy Alliance since January. More than 80 percent of election year attack ads have focused on energy — all of them thoroughly debunked.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">koch circles the wagons, pressures WI legis</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/04/11465/alec-gets-support-koch-funded-americans-prosperity</font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">25 min doc vid</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Shortly after issuing a press release announcing that it was disbanding its "Public Safety and Elections Task Force" after 30 years, the American Legislative Exchange Council<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> (ALEC) held a training for the right-wing blogosphere.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Director of External Relations Caitlyn Korb spoke yesterday at a Heritage Foundation "Bloggers Briefing," begging conservative bloggers for help while prepping "a very aggressive campaign to really spread the word about what we actually do." Korb appears to be a new ALEC employee who recently worked for the Cato Institute. Both ALEC and Cato have received funding from Koch family foundations. The Heritage Foundation is an ALEC member.</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The "Bloggers Briefing," which was started by Heritage's Rob Bluey and "a dozen conservative online entrepreneurs" six years ago, was broadcast online on "Breitbart TV," a project of the late Andrew Breitbart.</span> Breitbart's team of bloggers and apparatchiks most recently gained notoriety for getting U.S. Department of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod fired. Breitbart released a clip of a speech given by Sherrod deliberately edited to create the false impression that she was prejudiced against white farmers. Her actual speech was a personal tale rejecting prejudice. Sherrod was later offered resinstatement by USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, with apologies.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ALEC Disbands Task Force Responsible for Stand Your Ground, Voter ID, Prison Privatization, AZ's SB 1070</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by Brendan Fischer — April 17, 2012 - 3:38pm</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Topics: Corporations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Projects: ALEC Exposed, Wisconsin Protests</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Under growing public pressure and the departure of multiple corporate members, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has announced it is disbanding the Task Force that has been responsible for some of the organization's most controversial pieces of legislation. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker introduced several bills approved by that Task Force when he was a legislator in the 1990s and early 2000s.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">For at least three decades, the corporations, special interest groups, and legislators on the<b> ALEC Public Safety & Elections Task Force (known as the Criminal Justice Task Force until 2009</b>) have approved model bills that promote for-profit prisons and lengthen prison sentences, criminalize immigrants, expand the "war on drugs," thwart evidence-based pre-trial release programs in favor of for-profit bail-bonding, and many other policies.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In recent weeks, ALEC has been under increasing scrutiny for that Task Force's role in advancing laws that promote voter suppression, and for adopting the so-called Stand Your Ground law, which in Florida had been cited to prevent the prosecution of the man who shot and killed Trayvon Martin.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Corporate Exodus Leads to Disbanding Task Force</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the result of a campaign by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), Color of Change, Common Cause, People for the American Way, CREDO, and others, a stampede of ALEC member corporations have announced they are severing their ties from the organization.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC had been replying to the campaign with a series of increasingly frantic press releases, bemoaning what they called an "intimidation campaign."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Mark Schmitt of the Roosevelt Institute notes in the New Republic, "[f]ar from 'intimidation,' what the boycott threat did was force the companies to make a more careful, deliberate choice about what kind of political speech it actually wanted to support and put its reputation behind." And companies like McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods and others apparently do not want to be associated with policies like those coming out of the Public Safety & Elections Task Force.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC's responses to the campaign also claimed that "ALEC policies promote 'economic vitality.'" But many noted that it was hard to see how policies like Stand Your Ground and voter suppression promoted "economic vitality."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Apparently in response to the corporate exodus, and to the contradictions between ALEC's stated mission and its policies, the organization issued a press release today stating they are "eliminating the ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force that dealt with non-economic issues" and that they would be "redoubling our efforts on the economic front."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CMD's Executive Director Lisa Graves said:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC's announcement is a partial victory for the power of grassroots citizen action, but for Americans concerned about brand-name corporations underwriting ALEC's extreme agenda to make it more difficult for American citizens to vote and to protect armed vigilantes, ALEC's PR maneuver to try to distance itself from its record of extremism is an empty gesture unless it and the corporations that have bankrolled its operations work to repeal ALEC-backed laws that have advanced the NRA's agenda and that will impede citizens from voting in the coming elections.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Criminal Justice / Public Safety & Elections Task Force</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As CMD has reported, the NRA conceived the so-called Stand Your Ground law in Florida, promoted its passage, then brought it to the ALEC in 2005, where the legislators and corporate lobbyists on the Criminal Justice Task Force voted unanimously to adopt it as a "model bill." At the time, Wal-Mart was the Task Force co-chair, and the NRA led the Task Force in subsequent years. Since becoming an ALEC model it has become law in dozens of other states, and the number of homicides classified as "justifiable" has dramatically increased in many states (and jumped 300 percent in Florida). In 2009, members of the same Task Force approved the model "Voter ID Act", versions of which were introduced in a majority of states in 2011.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While these bills have attracted the most attention in recent weeks, the Criminal Justice / Public Safety & Elections Task Force has been advancing a variety of other controversial policies since the late 1980s.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Members of the Task Force have included for-profit prison providers like Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), which has also served as the co-chair. The ALEC Criminal Justice / Public Safety & Elections Task Force has created model bills that lengthen sentences, which have dramatically increased incarceration rates, and bills that privatize prisons, putting more of those inmates under the control of for-profit corporations, as well as many other policies.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Walker's Ties to ALEC Criminal Justice Task Force</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scott Walker was a proud ALEC member when he was in the state legislature, and introduced several ALEC bills approved by the Criminal Justice Task Force. Since becoming governor, he has continued to push these ALEC-supported "criminal justice" efforts.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 1997, then-Representative Walker introduced (and the legislature passed) the ALEC Criminal Justice Task Force - approved <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"Truth in Sentencing" act, which requires inmates to serve their full sentence without options for parole or supervised release</span>. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The law takes away incentives for prisoners to reduce prison time through good behavior and participation in counseling, and eliminates the ability for judges and parole boards to decide that the financial and social costs of keeping a particular person incarcerated no longer furthers public safety goals.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The state estimated that the first 21 months after the law took effect would cost taxpayers an extra $41 million, as 990 inmates would have to be incarcerated for an additional 18,384 months. Wisconsin's prison population increased 14 percent in the seven years after the law took effect, with no correlative public safety benefit or additional decline in crime rates.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> The annual budget for the state prison system jumped from $700 million in 1999 to $1.2 billion in 2009, becoming the third-largest expenditure in the 2009-2011 state budget.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During this period of growing prison populations, then-Representative Scott Walker introduced several bills between 1997 and 1999 that would allow private prisons in Wisconsin, including one to privatize state prison operations (see the ALEC bill here), and another allowing private corrections companies to open prisons in Wisconsin to house inmates from other states (see the ALEC bill here). Walker noted in 1998 that CCA wanted to expand into Wisconsin. While those bills did not pass, some inmates were contracted-out to private prisons in other states, and CCA has registered lobbyists in the state ever since.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Clearly ALEC had proposed model legislation," Walker told American Radio Works in 2002 (although there was no reference to ALEC when the legislature was considering the bill). "And probably more important than just the model legislation, [ALEC] had actually put together reports and such that showed the benefits of Truth-in-Sentencing and showed the successes in other states. And those sorts of statistics were very helpful to us when we pushed it through, when we passed the final legislation," Walker said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those statistics, though, were critiqued by criminologists as unreliable and intended to persuade rather than educate: Walker said that he and fellow ALEC members relied on an ALEC report crediting Virginia's Truth-in-Sentencing law with a five-year drop in crime, but crime dropped in ALL states in the 1990s, regardless of whether a state passed a tough-on-crime law like Truth-in-Sentencing.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(See this graphic from American Radio Works explaining the CCA-ALEC-Wisconsin sentencing law connection).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Wisconsin state legislature apparently recognized the folly of Truth in Sentencing and rolled-back aspects of the law between 2001 and 2009. When Scott Walker became governor, he reversed this progress and pushed for legislation fully restoring the ALEC Truth in Sentencing, despite the costs to taxpayers and despite claiming Wisconsin was "broke." In early July, Governor Walker's office released a statement supporting expanded use of prison labor, another idea promoted in ALEC bills approved by the ALEC Criminal Justice Task Force.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Under growing public pressure and the departure of multiple corporate members, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has announced it is disbanding the Task Force that has been responsible for some of the organization's most controversial pieces of legislation. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker introduced several bills approved by that Task Force when he was a legislator in the 1990s and early 2000s.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For at least three decades, the corporations, special interest groups, and legislators on the ALEC Public Safety & Elections Task Force (known as the Criminal Justice Task Force until 2009) have approved model bills that promote for-profit prisons and lengthen prison sentences, criminalize immigrants, expand the "war on drugs," thwart evidence-based pre-trial release programs in favor of for-profit bail-bonding, and many other policies....</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CMD's Executive Director Lisa Graves said:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC's announcement is a partial victory for the power of grassroots citizen action, but for Americans concerned about brand-name corporations underwriting ALEC's extreme agenda to make it more difficult for American citizens to vote and to protect armed vigilantes, ALEC's PR maneuver to try to distance itself from its record of extremism is an empty gesture unless it and the corporations that have bankrolled its operations work to repeal ALEC-backed laws that have advanced the NRA's agenda and that will impede citizens from voting in the coming elections.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Criminal Justice / Public Safety & Elections Task Force</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As CMD has reported, the NRA conceived the so-called Stand Your Ground law in Florida, promoted its passage, then brought it to the ALEC in 2005, where the legislators and corporate lobbyists on the Criminal Justice Task Force voted unanimously to adopt it as a "model bill." At the time, Wal-Mart was the Task Force co-chair, and the NRA led the Task Force in subsequent years. Since becoming an ALEC model it has become law in dozens of other states, and the number of homicides classified as "justifiable" has dramatically increased in many states (and jumped 300 percent in Florida). In 2009, members of the same Task Force approved the model "Voter ID Act", versions of which were introduced in a majority of states in 2011.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While these bills have attracted the most attention in recent weeks, the Criminal Justice / Public Safety & Elections Task Force has been advancing a variety of other controversial policies since the late 1980s.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Members of the Task Force have included for-profit prison providers like Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), which has also served as the co-chair. The ALEC Criminal Justice / Public Safety & Elections Task Force has created model bills that lengthen sentences, which have dramatically increased incarceration rates, and bills that privatize prisons, putting more of those inmates under the control of for-profit corporations, as well as many other policies.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Walker's Ties to ALEC Criminal Justice Task Force</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scott Walker was a proud ALEC member when he was in the state legislature, and introduced several ALEC bills approved by the Criminal Justice Task Force. Since becoming governor, he has continued to push these ALEC-supported "criminal justice" efforts.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 1997, then-Representative Walker introduced (and the legislature passed) the ALEC Criminal Justice Task Force - approved "Truth in Sentencing" act, which requires inmates to serve their full sentence without options for parole or supervised release. The law takes away incentives for prisoners to reduce prison time through good behavior and participation in counseling, and eliminates the ability for judges and parole boards to decide that the financial and social costs of keeping a particular person incarcerated no longer furthers public safety goals.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The state estimated that the first 21 months after the law took effect would cost taxpayers an extra $41 million, as 990 inmates would have to be incarcerated for an additional 18,384 months. Wisconsin's prison population increased 14 percent in the seven years after the law took effect, with no correlative public safety benefit or additional decline in crime rates. The annual budget for the state prison system jumped from $700 million in 1999 to $1.2 billion in 2009, becoming the third-largest expenditure in the 2009-2011 state budget.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During this period of growing prison populations, then-Representative Scott Walker introduced several bills between 1997 and 1999 that would allow private prisons in Wisconsin, including one to privatize state prison operations (see the ALEC bill here), and another allowing private corrections companies to open prisons in Wisconsin to house inmates from other states (see the ALEC bill here). Walker noted in 1998 that CCA wanted to expand into Wisconsin. While those bills did not pass, some inmates were contracted-out to private prisons in other states, and CCA has registered lobbyists in the state ever since.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Clearly ALEC had proposed model legislation," Walker told American Radio Works in 2002 (although there was no reference to ALEC when the legislature was considering the bill). "And probably more important than just the model legislation, [ALEC] had actually put together reports and such that showed the benefits of Truth-in-Sentencing and showed the successes in other states. And those sorts of statistics were very helpful to us when we pushed it through, when we passed the final legislation," Walker said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those statistics, though, were critiqued by criminologists as unreliable and intended to persuade rather than educate: Walker said that he and fellow ALEC members relied on an ALEC report crediting Virginia's Truth-in-Sentencing law with a five-year drop in crime, but crime dropped in ALL states in the 1990s, regardless of whether a state passed a tough-on-crime law like Truth-in-Sentencing.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(See this graphic from American Radio Works explaining the CCA-ALEC-Wisconsin sentencing law connection).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Wisconsin state legislature apparently recognized the folly of Truth in Sentencing and rolled-back aspects of the law between 2001 and 2009. When Scott Walker became governor, he reversed this progress and pushed for legislation fully restoring the ALEC Truth in Sentencing, despite the costs to taxpayers and despite claiming Wisconsin was "broke." In early July, Governor Walker's office released a statement supporting expanded use of prison labor, another idea promoted in ALEC bills approved by the ALEC Criminal Justice Task Force.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Role in Arizona's SB 1070 Anti-Immigrant Law</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another policy approved by the now-disbanded ALEC Task Force includes Arizona's controversial SB1070 immigration law, which is currently being challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DBA Press / In These Times documented how Arizona Republican Rep. Russell Pearce collaborated with CCA and other members of the ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force in December 2009 to create the ALEC "model" immigration bill that became SB1070.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Before the ALEC meeting, for-profit prison operator CCA had identified immigrant detention as a profit center important for its future growth, stating it anticipated receiving "a significant portion of our revenues" from detaining immigrants. Even a hedge fund with a big stake in CCA was touting immigration detention as proof CCA would be profitable.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An immigrant contesting their deportation can wait up to a year for a hearing, even though many of those detained have not committed a crime and have no criminal record. Immigrant detention can cost taxpayers $122 a day. Because for-profit corporations operate about half of all immigrant detention facilities, these taxpayer dollars flow into the pockets of CCA and other for-profit prison providers.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The for-profit bail bond industry's trade association, the American Bail Coalition (ABC), is an ALEC member and was also on the Task Force that passed the ALEC anti-immigrant laws. An immigrant facing removal in some cases may be released on bond, and will often pay a commercial bail bondsman for their release. Immigration bonds are usually between $5,000 and $10,000, and can be much higher, so a for-profit bail bondsman who accepts 10 percent of that bail as a nonrefundable fee can rake in significant profits for doing very little.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the time ALEC approved the "No Sanctuary Cities for Illegal Immigrants Act", the chairman of the ALEC corporate Private Enterprise Board was ABC general counsel Jerry Watson. Watson was very familiar with the profits that can be made by collecting bail bonds from detained immigrants. His law firm biography lists him as "specializing in the field of ... immigration bonding."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ABC has called ALEC the industry's "life preserver". ABC pays for ALEC membership, and a representative sits on the ALEC "Private Enterprise Board" as well as ALEC's Executive Committee. The trade group boasts that "during its two decade involvement with ALEC, ABC has written 12 model bills fortifying the commercial bail industry" that were passed by the Criminal Justice / Public Safety & Elections Task Force.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While the Criminal Justice / Public Safety & Elections Task Force is now dissolved, ABC will continue to work with the Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development Task Force. The NRA's future relationship with ALEC is not known. It is also not known whether ALEC will disavow or repeal the bills approved by the Criminal Justice / Public Safety & Elections Task Force over the past three decades.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Scrambling for Support</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC has come under increased scrutiny over the past year after the Center for Media and Democracy released its ALEC Exposed Project, which revealed and analyzed more than 800 previously-secret "model" bills voted on by corporate or special interest lobbyists and politicians.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In response to the growing scrutiny in recent weeks, ALEC also claimed that "America needs organizations like ALEC to foster the discussion and debate of policy differences in an open, transparent way." But as CMD and others have documented, ALEC Task Force meetings are closed to the press and public and take place behind closed doors.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As more and more light is shining on the shadowy organization, ALEC is also recruiting allies like the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity to come to its defense. And as more and more corporate members announce they will stop funding the organization, ALEC is also begging for money.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">democ now 4/18</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">fox ads attack color of change: </span>"coordinated and well-funded" intimidation campaign</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">opponent try to eliminate discourse about strong economy</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">press kicked out of public mtgs of alec</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">tort reform</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">dropped stand your ground laws?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">More than two dozen pieces of legislation introduced to the Missouri General Assembly over the past decade were based on “model” legislation drafted by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, according to a report by Progress Missouri.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a corporate bill mill that is exerting extraordinary and secretive influence in the Missouri legislature and in other states,” the report stated. “Through ALEC, corporations hand Missouri legislators wish lists in the form of “model” legislation that often directly benefit their bottom line at the expense of Missouri families.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition, Progress <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Missouri</span> says that 40 lawmakers and politicians in the state have financial ties to ALEC, including Majority Leader Tim Jones, Senate President Pro Tem Rob Mayer and Lt. Governor Peter Kinder.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC drafts model bills for legislators and has been a driving force behind voter ID laws, so-called “stand your ground” laws, business-friendly tort reforms, Arizona’s controversial immigration law, and efforts to privatize public education.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Legislation in Missouri based on ALEC’s drafts include so-called right to work laws, resolutions “reaffirming 10th amendment rights,” an Anti-Affordable Care Act ballot measure, a resolution opposing food and beverage taxes, an “asbestos fairness act,” a resolution supporting the electoral college, and a resolution encouraging Congress to privatize Social Security.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Despite its influence, the nearly forty-year-old organization received little scrutiny until recently, when organizations like Common Cause, People for the American Way, Progress Now, the Center for Media and Democracy, CREDO Action and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee started a campaign to publicly expose companies who supported ALEC.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC has decried the “well-funded, expertly coordinated intimidation campaign” against its corporate members, claiming the organization would only “redouble” their efforts to promote pro-growth, pro-jobs policies.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mars Inc., the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, Intuit, McDonald’s, and Wendy’s have all publicly distanced themselves from the organization.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/16/liberal-group-identifies-30-alec-model-bills-in-missouri/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Centerpoint360</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American Bail Coalition</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AT&T</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bayer Corp</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Coca-Cola Company</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DIAGEO</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Energy Future Holdings</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ExxonMobil Corporation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GlaxoSmithKline</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Koch Industries, Inc.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kraft Food, Inc.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Peabody Energy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PhRMA</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reed Elsevier, Inc.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reynolds American Inc.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Salt River Project</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">State Farm Insurance Co.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">United Parcel Service (UPS)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wal-Mart Stores</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/01/11259/alec-model-bill-behind-push-require-climate-denial-instruction-schools</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>ALEC Model Bill Behind Push To Require Climate Denial Instruction In Schools</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by Steve Horn — January 26, 2012 - 12:09pm</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Topics: Global Warming, Children, Education</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Projects: ALEC Exposed</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On January 16, the Los Angeles Times revealed that anti-science bills have been popping up over the past several years in statehouses across the U.S., mandating the teaching of climate change denial or "skepticism" as a credible "theoretical alternative" to human caused climate change came.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This story was originally broken by DeSmogBlog and originally published there. The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is cross-posting this article as part of our ongoing effort to expose the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The L.A. Times' Neela Banerjee explained:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Texas and Louisiana have introduced education standards that require educators to teach climate change denial as a valid scientific position. South Dakota and Utah passed resolutions denying climate change. Tennessee and Oklahoma also have introduced legislation to give climate change skeptics a place in the classroom.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What the excellent Times coverage missed is that key language in these anti-science bills all emanated from a single source: the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Exposed</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In summer 2011, "ALEC Exposed," a project of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), taught those alarmed about the power that corporations wield in the American political sphere an important lesson: when bills with a similar DNA pop up in various statehouses nationwide, it's no coincidence.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Explaining the nature and origins of the project, CMD wrote, "[CMD] unveiled a trove of over 800 'model' bills and resolutions secretly voted on by corporations and politicians through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). These bills reveal the corporate collaboration reshaping our democracy, state by state."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CMD continued, "Before our publication of this trove of bills, it has been difficult to trace the numerous controversial and extreme provisions popping up in legislatures across the country directly to ALEC and its corporate underwriters."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CMD explained that ALEC conducts its operations in the most shadowy of manners (emphases mine):</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Through ALEC, behind closed doors, corporations hand state legislators the changes to the law they desire that directly benefit their bottom line. Along with legislators, corporations have membership in ALEC. Corporations sit on all nine ALEC task forces and vote with legislators to approve 'model' bills. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. Participating legislators, overwhelmingly conservative Republicans, then bring those proposals home and introduce them in statehouses across the land as their own brilliant ideas and important public policy innovations -- without disclosing that corporations crafted and voted on the bills.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So, what is the name of the "model bill" this time around?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Trojan Horse: The "Environmental Literacy Improvement Act"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">TheTrojan Horse in this case is an Orwellian titled model bill, the "Environmental Literacy Improvement Act."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill was adopted by ALEC's Natural Resources Task Force, today known as the Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force, at ALEC's Spring Task Force Summit on May 5, 2000; it was then approved by the full ALEC Board of Directors in June of 2000.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill's opening clause reads, "The purpose of this act is to enhance and improve the environmental literacy of students and citizens in the state by requiring that all environmental education programs and activities conducted by schools, universities, and agencies shall..."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Among other things, the bill stipulates that schools, universities and agencies should,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Provide a range of perspectives presented in a balanced manner."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Provide instruction in critical thinking so that students will be able to fairly and objectively evaluate scientific and economic controversies."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Be presented in language appropriate for education rather than for propagandizing."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Encourage students to explore different perspectives and form their own opinions."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Encourage an atmosphere of respect for different opinions and open-mindedness to new ideas."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Not be designed to change student behavior, attitudes or values."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Not include instruction in political action skills nor encourage political action activities."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How does this language compare with legislation passed or proposed in various states? A review is in order.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Bills: From Model to Reality</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The "Environmental Literacy Improvement Act," or at minimum, the crucial language found within it, has been proposed in seven states, and passed in three states, Louisiana in 2008, Texas in 2009 and South Dakota in 2010.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Louisiana</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2008, the Louisiana state legislature introduced and eventually passed S.B. 733, the Louisiana Science and Education Act. The bill was originally sponsored by four members of the Senate, three of whom are current [[ALEC Politicians#Senate 16|dues paying members of ALEC]: Sen. Ben Wayne Nevers, Sr. (D-12); Sen. Neil Riser (R-32); and Sen. Francis Thompson (D-34).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The three ALEC members received a total of $9,514 from the oil and gas industry in the 2008 and 2010 election cycles in campaign money combined, and the four of them together received $13,814 in campaign cash from the oil and gas industry, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics' FollowTheMoney.org.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Model vs. S.B. 733</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Louisiana bill calls for, "an environment within public elementary and secondary schools that promotes critical thinking skills, logical analysis, and open and objective discussion of scientific theories being studied including ... global warming ... " The bill also calls for "instructional materials to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review scientific theories in an objective manner."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This bill mirrors the provisions of the ALEC bill which say that teachers should "provide instruction in critical thinking so that students will be able to fairly and objectively evaluate scientific ... controversies," and mandates that "balanced and objective environmental education materials and programs will ... be used."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">South Dakota</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2010, the South Dakota Legislative Assembly passed House Concurrent Resolution 1009, a non-binding resolution introduced by 33 members of the House of Representatives and 6 members of the Senate, 39 in total, and 12 of whom are current members of ALEC. The bill calls for "balanced teaching of global warming in the public schools of South Dakota."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The [[ALEC Politicians#South Dakota Legislators with ALEC Ties|12 members of ALEC] who sponsored HCR 1009 received $1,900 from the oil and gas industry in the 2008 and 2010 election cycles combined, according to FollowTheMoney.org.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill mirrors the provision of the ALEC bill that call for the providing of "a range of perspectives presented in a balanced manner."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kentucky</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2010, the Kentucky state legislature proposed H.B. 397, the Kentucky Science Education and Intellectual Freedom Act, a bill that eventually failed to pass.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill was co-sponsored by two members of the Kentucky House of Representatives who were not members of ALEC, but one of whom, Tim Moore (R-26), took $3,000 from the oil and gas industry in the 2008 and 2010 campaign cycles combined, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Model vs. HB 397</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Two key provisions of theH.B. 397 "encourage local district teachers and administrators to foster an environment promoting objective discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of scientific theories" and "allow teachers to use, as permitted by the local board of education, materials in addition to state-approved texts and instructional materials for discussion of scientific theories including ... global warming ..."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This bill mirrors major provisions of the ALEC model bill that say teachers should "provide instruction in critical thinking so that students will be able to fairly and objectively evaluate scientific ... controversies," and mandates that "balanced and objective environmental education materials and programs will ... be used."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">New Mexico</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2011, [[ALEC_Politicians#South Dakota Legislators with ALEC Ties|ALEC member], Rep. Thomas A. Anderson, introduced H.B. 302. In the 2008 and 2010 campaign cycles, he raised $2,650, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics' campaign finance database.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Model vs. H.B. 302</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">H.B. 302 says that schools shall "not prohibit any teacher, when a controversial scientific topic is being taught in accordance with adopted standards and curricula, from informing students about relevant scientific information regarding either the scientific strengths or scientific weaknesses pertaining to that topic." One "controversial scientific topic" listed is the "causes of climate change."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This bill mirrors the provisions of the ALEC model bill which call for teaching "a range of perspectives presented in a balanced manner," teaching "different perspectives" to allow for students to "form their own opinions," and creating an "atmosphere of respect for different opinions and open-mindedness to new ideas."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tennessee</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tennessee's House bill, H.B. 368, essentially a replica of the ALEC model bill, overwhelmly [sic] passed the House in April 2011, but its Senate-version cousin, S.B. 893, failed to pass. As the Los Angeles Times article makes clear, efforts to push the bill through are far from over.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Key clauses of that bill read:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"[T]eachers shall be permitted to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"[P]ublic elementary and secondary schools ... [should] ... respond appropriately and respectfully to differences of opinion about controversial issues."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These excerpts match, almost to a "T," bullet points one, three and four of the ALEC model bill.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nine of the 24 co-sponsors of the H.B. 368 are ALEC members, according to CMD's [[ALEC Politicians#Tennessee Legislators with ALEC Ties|ALEC Members database].</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition, these nine ALEC member co-sponsors received $8,695 in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry combined in the 2008 and 2010 campaign cycles, according to FollowTheMoney.org. The other 15 sponsors of the bill, while not members of ALEC, received $10,400 in their campaign coffers in the 2008 and 2010 campaign cycles combined.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">S.B. 893, on the other hand, was sponsored by Sen. Bo Watson (R-11), a recipient of $1,800 in oil and gas industry money in the 2008 and 2010 election cycles combined.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Translation: between the 25 of them, on top of a model bill handed to them by corporate oil and gas industry lobbyists, they were also furnished with $20,895 in campaign cash by these industries with the expectation to do their legislative bidding.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oklahoma</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Titled, the "Scientific Education and Academic Freedom Act," H.B. 1551 is also essentially a copycat of Tennessee's version of the ALEC model bill -- it failed to pass. A Senate version of that bill, S.B. 320, was also proposed in 2009, but failed to pass through committee.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Key clauses of that bill read (emphases mine):</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"[T]eachers shall be permitted to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories pertinent to the course being taught."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"[N]o student in any public school or institution shall be penalized in any way because the student may subscribe to a particular position on scientific theories."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Notice how the first bullet is exactly the same in both the Tennessee and Oklahoma bills -- also notice how similar bullet number two is in both language and substance in both states' bills.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Sally Kern (R-84), sponsor of H.B. 1551, is a [[ALEC Politicians#Oklahoma Legislators with ALEC Ties|member of ALEC], according to CMD. She received $12,335 from the oil and gas industry in the 2008 and 2010 election cycles, in total, according to FollowTheMoney.org. Sen. Randy Brogdon (R-34), sponsor of S.B. 320, while not a member of ALEC, received $22,967 from the oil and gas industry while running and losing for Governor of Oklahoma in 2010, according to FollowTheMoney.org.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On the whole, sponsors and co-sponsors from the six states in which the ALEC bill was proposed were recipients of $44,409 in campaign money from the oil and gas industry, a miniscule down payment for some of the most lucrative corporations known in the history of mankind.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Texas</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Texas, in this case, is a bit of a wild card. Rather than a bill proposed by a state legislature, in 2009, the Texas School Board passed an amendent [sic] calling for the "balanced" teaching of climate change, meaning both science and "skepticism."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Austin Statesman explained:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The State Board of Education ... adopted standards on the teaching of global warming that appear to both question its existence and prod students to explore its implications.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Standards are used to guide textbook makers and teachers.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Language ... instructed students to 'analyze and evaluate different views on the existence of global warming,'" ...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This provision mirrors and is likely inspired by theALEC model bill provision on global warming, which suggested science teachers should " Provide a range of perspectives presented in a balanced manner."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Bill In the Corporate Polluter's Interest</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The money paper trail for this ALEC model bill runs deep, to put it bluntly.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When the ALEC model bill was adopted in 2000 by ALEC's Natural Resources Task Force, the head of that committee was Sandy Liddy Bourne, who after that stint, became Director of Legislation and Policy for ALEC. She is now with the Heartland Institute as vice-president for policy strategy. In Sandy Liddy Bourne's bio on the Heartland website, she boasts that, "under her leadership, 20 percent of ALEC model bills were enacted by one state or more, up from 11 percent."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SourceWatch states that Liddy Bourne " ... is the daughter of former Nixon aide and convicted Watergate criminal G. Gordon Liddy, who spent more than 52 months in prison for his part in the Watergate burglary ... [and her] speech at the Heartland Institute's 2008 International Conference on Climate Change was titled, 'The Kyoto Legacy; The Progeny of a Carbon Cartel in the States."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Heartland Institute was formerly heavily funded by ExxonMobil and Koch Industries, just like ALEC was at the time that Liddy Bourne's committee devised the "Environmental Literacy Improvement Act." These two corporations are infamous for their funding of climate change "skeptic" think tanks and front groups.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Today, the corporate polluter members of ALEC's Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force include representatives from American Electric Power, the Fraser Institute, the Cato Institute, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Institute for Energy Research, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the Heartland Institute, and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, to name several.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Getting Them While They're Young: A Cynical Maneuver</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the United States, the politics of big-money backed disinformation campaigns have trumped climate science, and serves as the raison d'être for DeSmogBlog. Polluters with a financial interest in continuing to conduct business without any accountability for their global warming pollution have purposely sowed the seeds of confusion on an issue seen as completely uncontroversial among scientists.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Maneuvering to dupe schoolchildren is about as cynical as it gets. Neuroscience explains that young brains are like sponges , ready to soak in knowledge (and disinformation, for that matter), and thus, youth are an ideal target for the "merchants of doubt."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The corporations behind the writing and dissemination of this ALEC model bill, who are among the largest polluters in the world, would benefit handsomely from a legislative mandate to sow the seeds of confusion on climate science among schoolchildren.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alas, at the very least, the identity of the Trojan Horse has been revealed: it's name is ALEC.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This story was originally broken by DeSmogBlog and originally published there.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;MORE in EDUCATION</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Lobbyists, Guns and Money</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Paul Krugman, New York Times</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">March 26, 2012</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Florida’s now-infamous Stand Your Ground law, which lets you shoot someone you consider threatening without facing arrest, let alone prosecution, sounds crazy — and it is. And it’s tempting to dismiss this law as the work of ignorant yahoos. But similar laws have been pushed across the nation, not by ignorant yahoos but by big corporations.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Specifically, language virtually identical to Florida’s law is featured in a template supplied to legislators in other states by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-backed organization that has managed to keep a low profile even as it exerts vast influence (only recently, thanks to yeoman work by the Center for Media and Democracy, has a clear picture of ALEC’s activities emerged). And if there is any silver lining to Trayvon Martin’s killing, it is that it might finally place a spotlight on what ALEC is doing to our society — and our democracy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What is ALEC? Despite claims that it’s nonpartisan, it’s very much a movement-conservative organization, funded by the usual suspects: the Kochs, Exxon Mobil, and so on. Unlike other such groups, however, it doesn’t just influence laws, it literally writes them, supplying fully drafted bills to state legislators. In Virginia, for example, more than 50 ALEC-written bills have been introduced, many almost word for word. And these bills often become law.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Many ALEC-drafted bills pursue standard conservative goals: union-busting, undermining environmental protection, tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy. ALEC seems, however, to have a special interest in privatization — that is, on turning the provision of public services, from schools to prisons, over to for-profit corporations. And some of the most prominent beneficiaries of privatization, such as the online education company K12 Inc. and the prison operator Corrections Corporation of America, are, not surprisingly, very much involved with the organization.</font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What this tells us, in turn, is that ALEC’s claim to stand for limited government and free markets is deeply misleading. To a large extent the organization seeks not limited government but privatized government, in which corporations get their profits from taxpayer dollars, dollars steered their way by friendly politicians. In short, ALEC isn’t so much about promoting free markets as it is about expanding crony capitalism.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And in case you were wondering, no, the kind of privatization ALEC promotes isn’t in the public interest; instead of success stories, what we’re getting is a series of scandals. Private charter schools, for example, appear to deliver a lot of profits but little in the way of educational achievement.</font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But where does the encouragement of vigilante (in)justice fit into this picture? In part it’s the same old story — the long-standing exploitation of public fears, especially those associated with racial tension, to promote a pro-corporate, pro-wealthy agenda. It’s neither an accident nor a surprise that the National Rifle Association and ALEC have been close allies all along.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And ALEC, even more than other movement-conservative organizations, is clearly playing a long game. Its legislative templates aren’t just about generating immediate benefits to the organization’s corporate sponsors; they’re about creating a political climate that will favor even more corporation-friendly legislation in the future.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Did I mention that ALEC has played a key role in promoting bills that make it hard for the poor and ethnic minorities to vote?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yet that’s not all; you have to think about the interests of the penal-industrial complex — prison operators, bail-bond companies and more. (The American Bail Coalition has publicly described ALEC as its “life preserver.”) This complex has a financial stake in anything that sends more people into the courts and the prisons, whether it’s exaggerated fear of racial minorities or Arizona’s draconian immigration law, a law that followed an ALEC template almost verbatim.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Think about that: we seem to be turning into a country where crony capitalism doesn’t just waste taxpayer money but warps criminal justice, in which growing incarceration reflects not the need to protect law-abiding citizens but the profits corporations can reap from a larger prison population.</font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, ALEC isn’t single-handedly responsible for the corporatization of our political life; its influence is as much a symptom as a cause. But shining a light on ALEC and its supporters — a roster that includes many companies, from AT&T and Coca-Cola to UPS, that have so far managed to avoid being publicly associated with the hard-right agenda — is one good way to highlight what’s going on. And that kind of knowledge is what we need to start taking our country back.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Wisconsin bribes:</font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">MADISON -- The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) filed a complaint today with the Government Accountability Board (GAB) based on newly discovered documents revealing that numerous Wisconsin legislators have received corporate-funded gifts through their connections to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Although ALEC describes itself as the largest membership group for legislators, over 98% of its $7 million budget is from corporations and sources other than legislative dues. Documents obtained via Wisconsin open records law and other sources show that <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ALEC corporations are funding lawmakers’ out-of-state travel expenses to posh resorts for ALEC meetings with corporate lobbyists, in addition to gifts of entertainment and exclusive parties.</span></font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wisconsin has some of the nation’s strongest ethics rules and prohibits legislators from accepting anything of value from lobbyists (or corporations that employ lobbyists here). Wisconsin statutes also prohibit elected officials from taking anything of value that could reasonably be expected to influence how they vote on legislation. CMD’s findings include:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The “scholarship fund” that pays for legislators’ travel to resorts is funded entirely by ALEC corporations, many of which employ lobbyists to influence Wisconsin law; Despite public claims the “scholarships” are in a “blind” trust, documents (PDF) obtained through an open records request to Senator Scott Fitzgerald shows which corporations have bankrolled legislators’ travel; The drug companies’ trade group, PhRMA, gave over $350,000 to the ALEC scholarship fund in 2010 via the Madison address of ALEC’s corporate co-chair of Wisconsin, a state-registered lobbyist on behalf of several ALEC companies in Wisconsin, including Koch Industries; and Many Wisconsin state senators and representatives who received money from the “scholarship fund” held in trust by ALEC did not disclose this on their Statements of Economic Interests.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Documents unveiled today by CMD also show that in 2011 numerous Wisconsin legislators received an invitation (PDF) offering free tickets to a Cincinnati Reds game and free food and drinks paid for by the ALEC corporate member Time Warner Cable in conjunction with ALEC’s spring meeting. Two weeks later, a major telecommunications bill that would benefit Time Warner Cable was introduced in the state legislature and many of the legislators invited to the party added themselves as co-sponsors. The next day, many of those same Wisconsin legislators may have partied at the Reds ballpark, courtesy of the corporation that stood to benefit from the bill. CMD is asking the board to evaluate all these activities.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trayvon and voter suppression:</font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Castle Doctrine and its "stand your ground" provisions give license for people to engage in vigilantism without liability. As such, the ALEC bill can put the decision to take a life in the hands of a person whose fears are motivated by prejudice and racial bias. The law establishes a presumption that a person acted in self-defense if a killer claims they had a reasonable fear of bodily harm, but in situations like the killing of Trayvon Martin, where there were few eyewitnesses other than the alleged killer and the person who is killed, the presumption of immunity can be very difficult to rebut. In those circumstances, unfounded fear based on racial prejudice that leads to murder could end up being protected under the law.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If the ALEC "Castle Doctrine Act" opens the door for racial bias to be protected under the criminal justice system, the ALEC model "Voter ID Act" may sanction racial prejudice in the electoral system.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The ALEC "Voter ID Act" would require voters show only certain kinds of photo IDs at the polls, which could potentially disenfranchise millions of people who do not have the required photo ID but who have proof of identity and residency -- primarily people of color, the poor, and the elderly. A study from the Brennan Center found approximately 5 million people nationally do not have the state-issued IDs that the new laws require to vote. In Wisconsin, around 220,000 eligible voters lack ID, including around half of all African-Americans and Latinos and a quarter of all elderly citizens.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The heart of the modern block the vote campaign is a wave of restrictive government-issued photo identification requirements," states a December report from the NAACP. "In a coordinated effort, legislators in thirty-four states introduced bills imposing such requirements. Many of these bills were modeled on legislation," the report notes, approved by corporations and politicians through the "American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)—a conservative advocacy group whose founder explained: 'our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.'"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Meetings Not Representative</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Exposed</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While some ALEC bills disproportionately affect communities of color, it may be little surprise that African-Americans and Latinos are mostly absent at ALEC meetings. The 2011 ALEC meeting in New Orleans was overwhelmingly white based on the observations of those attending. But the lack of representation is striking for an organization purportedly concerned with giving a voice to those affected by government action.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After the Center for Media and Democracy analyzed and made available over 800 previously-secret ALEC "model bills" in July, ALEC's National Chair, Louisiana Rep. Noble Ellington, spoke with NPR's Terry Gross about the organization. Gross asked Ellington, "Why give corporations such a big say in drafting legislation?" Ellington replied, "Well, partly because they're one of the ones who will be affected by it."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While corporations may have had a say in drafting legislation, people representing populations most affected by ALEC model bills -- like communities of color -- were not in the closed-door meetings where politicians vote as equals with lobbyists. But some are raising their voices -- Color of Change has launched a campaign encouraging corporations that rely on business from African-Americans to stop funding the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) through corporate membership dues.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Color of Change ALEC petition is available here. The group's petition demanding justice for Trayvon Martin is available here.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.prwatch.org/node/11366</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC is like a speed-dating service for lonely legislators and corporate executives," says Mark Pocan, a Democratic state assemblyman in Wisconsin, where ALEC played a role in last year's efforts to cripple public-sector unions. "The corporations write the bills and the legislators sign their names to the bills. In the end, we're stuck with bad laws and nobody knows where they came from."&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">t.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Prominent bills drafted by ALEC include Arizona's SB 1070 (the nation's strictest anti-immigration legislation) and proposals introduced in 38 states to undermine Obama's health care law by making it illegal to penalize residents for failing to obtain health insurance. A recent study of ALEC's impact in Virginia found that it was responsible for 50 bills introduced there, including legislation to require people to show identification before voting, encourage schools to contract with private education companies, and legalize the use of deadly force in defending one's home.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democratic lawmakers in Arizona and Wisconsin are fighting back. Their proposed ALEC Accountability Act would require the group to register as a lobbying organization, thereby forcing it to disclose its financiers. Pocan, the Wisconsin assemblyman, went so far as to crash an ALEC convention in New Orleans and post his findings on YouTube.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the works since January, today's protests are just as much about the broader issue of corporate control of politics. "We are rejecting a society that does not allow us to control our future," says a call to action on Shut Down the Corporations, the umbrella website for the protests. Here is a rundown of some of the planned actions:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/02/alec-occupy-wall-street-protest-f29</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/opinion/the-big-money-behind-state-laws.html?r=2&hp</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">nyt editorial:</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is no coincidence that so many state legislatures have spent the last year taking the same destructive actions: making it harder for minorities and other groups that support Democrats to vote, obstructing health care reform, weakening environmental regulations and breaking the spines of public- and private-sector unions. All of these efforts are being backed — in some cases, orchestrated — by a little-known conservative organization financed by millions of corporate dollars.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Readers’ Comments</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The American Legislative Exchange Council was founded in 1973 by the right-wing activist Paul Weyrich; its big funders include Exxon Mobil, the Olin and Scaife families and foundations tied to Koch Industries. Many of the largest corporations are represented on its board.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC has written model legislation on a host of subjects dear to corporate and conservative interests, and supporting lawmakers have introduced these bills in dozens of states. A recent study of the group’s impact in Virginia showed that more than 50 of its bills were introduced there, many practically word for word. The study, by the liberal group ProgressVA, found that ALEC had been involved in writing bills that would:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">¶Prohibit penalizing residents for failing to obtain health insurance, undermining the individual mandate in the reform law. The bill, which ALEC says has been introduced in 38 states, was signed into law and became the basis for Virginia’s legal challenge to heath care reform.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">¶Require voters to show a form of identification. Versions of this bill passed both chambers this month.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">¶<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Encourage school districts to contract with private virtual-education companies. (One such company was the corporate co-chair of ALEC’s education committee.</span>) The bill was signed into law.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">¶Call for a federal constitutional amendment to permit the repeal of any federal law on a two-thirds vote of state legislatures. The bill failed.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">¶Legalize use of deadly force in defending one’s home. Bills to this effect, which recently passed both houses, have been backed by the National Rifle Association, a longtime member of ALEC.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC’s influence in the Virginia statehouse is pervasive, the study showed. The House of Delegates speaker, William Howell, has been on the board since 2003 and was national chairman in 2009. He has sponsored or pushed many of the group’s bills, including several benefiting specific companies that support ALEC financially, like one that would reduce a single company’s asbestos liability. At least 115 other state legislators have ties to the group, including paying membership dues, attending meetings and sponsoring bills. The state has spent more than $230,000 sending lawmakers to ALEC conferences since 2001.</font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Similar efforts have gone on in many other states. The group has been particularly active in weakening environmental regulations and fighting the Environmental Protection Agency. ALEC’s publication, “E.P.A.’s Regulatory Train Wreck,” outlines steps lawmakers can take, including curtailing the power of state regulators.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is nothing illegal or unethical about ALEC’s work, except that it further demonstrates the pervasive influence of corporate money and right-wing groups on the state legislative process. There is no group with any comparable influence on the left. Lawmakers who eagerly do ALEC’s bidding have much to answer for. Voters have a right to know whether the representatives they elect are actually writing the laws, or whether the job has been outsourced to big corporate interests.</font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/27 kpfa interview comcast, biggest virtual school, reporters in NO and AZ roughed up, some by off duty cops in uniform doing pvt sec for Koch mtgs</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">recent AZ mtg:&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ALEC holds three major conferences each year for member lawmakers, lobbyists and member “think tanks.” At the end of such conferences, member lawmakers carry pieces of ALEC “model legislation” to their home assemblies for introduction.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For ALEC’s 2011 SNPS winter meeting in sunny Arizona, corporate sponsors included dozens of corporations and trade associations, such as AT&T, Time Warner Cable<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, Freport-McMoran </span>Copper and Gold, Time Warner Cable, State Farm Insurance, Johnson & Johnson, the American Bail Coalition,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Diageo,</span> UPS, Exxon Mobil, American Petroleum Institute, Wal-Mart and AstraZeneca—not to mention a slew of contributing think tanks with ties to far-right billionaires Charles and David Koch. But that isn’t their only connection. The brothers company Koch Industries is on ALEC private sector board of directors. And their Madison, Wisc.-based company, Koch Companies Public Sector [SIC], is an ALEC member.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Due to this reality and reports detailing how ALEC has disseminated some of the most controversial pieces of legislation in recent years–model legislation to capture undocumented workers; to eliminate minimum-wage requirements; to decimate unions; to privatize public services, from schools to prisons–ALEC has come under increased scrutiny. And lawmakers who attend ALEC events have been met frequently by members of the public voicing their displeasure.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC’s 2011 Scottsdale summit was no exception.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On November 30, the first full-fledged day of the conference, helicopters swarmed above and rows of police in riot gear stood along Kierland’s eastern gate, a living buffer between the street and middle-aged men in funny pants playing rounds on the Kierland course.</font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The resort’s southern gate was much the same as the eastern: metal barricades, clusters of police officers and hotel security screening each visitor with the help of a phonebook-thick stack containing the names of legitimate resort guests and registered conference attendees–nearly 1,000 state lawmakers, the corporate lobby’s upper crust and “think tank” luminaries.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Flanking both entrances, protesters, under the banner of “Occupy ALEC,” had turned out to decry undue corporate influence.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At 11 a.m., inside the resort, SNPS attendees gathered in one of the resort’s dining halls to hear former ALEC member and<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Arizona Governor Jan Brewer deliver her keynote address.</span></font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Acting as emcee, recently-retired Louisiana State Representative and outgoing<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> ALEC National Chairman Noble Ellington </span>addressed the assembled lawmakers and lobbyists.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Rep. Farley Proposes Some Strong Arizona Sunshine on ALEC "Scholarships"</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Submitted by Beau Hodai on January 12, 2012</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Arizona Rep. Steve Farley Takes on ALECArizona Rep. Steve Farley Takes on ALECThis story is part of a collaboration between In These Times and the Center for Media and Democracy, as part of a special series on ALEC's recent conference in Arizona.</font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With the 2012 legislative season and another episode of the Great American Campaign Circus dawning over the nation, Arizona may find itself the proving grounds for possible reform in the age of "pay-to-play" politics.</font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In January, Arizona Rep. Steve Farley (D-Tucson) will introduce the "ALEC Accountability Act of 2012," which is aimed squarely at the less-than-transparent American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a national organization that advances corporate-authored model legislation at the state level through the use of a hidden distribution network of special interest cash.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC's Million Dollar "Scholarship" Fund to Be Scrutinized</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This network, known as the ALEC "scholarship fund," holds more than $1 million for state lawmakers to attend various functions (commonly referred to as "junkets"). At these functions, lawmakers are literally wined and dined by lobbyists seeking to advance the legislative agendas of their clients.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">BP Reimagined via Greenpeace contest</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">BP Reimagined via Greenpeace contest (see http://bit.ly/at7rZ5 )To Farley and proponents of the bill, the problem is absolutely clear. In a nutshell: ALEC is a lobbyist organization, but its corporate backers operate out of public view. "If voters knew that [their lawmaker] was receiving a huge donation from BP, for example, then they might be less likely to vote for them," Farley says. "They would understand that their best interests were not necessarily being looked after. We should be as transparent as possible. ... We can't pretend that [legislation] was our idea when it came from ALEC and from a multinational corporation that had its own interests in mind."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit that says it does not engage in lobbying activity, refuses to publicly disclose the identities of its donor/member corporations. There is currently no requirement -- in Arizona or in any other state -- for either organizational or lawmaker disclosure of "scholarship fund" donor identities.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some Real Sunlight in Government for the Valley of the Sun</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The ALEC Accountability Act</span> -- which, in full disclosure, is partly inspired and based on In These Times investigations -- seeks to:</font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1. Amend Arizona law to apply existing regulations that governing lobbyists to any organization or person that advocates "model legislation." Because of restrictions on lobbyists' gifts, this would significantly limit ALEC's ability to wine and dine lawmakers.</font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2. Require organizations that distribute "scholarship funds" for lawmaker attendance at conferences to disclose certain information within 90 days of each disbursement, including names of legislators, legislative staff and other state officials who received the funds, and the names of the corporations or individuals paying into the fund.</font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Legislative membership organizations other than ALEC, such as the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the Council of State Governments (CSG), would also have to file the same reports. However, as neither NCSL or CSG advance "model legislation," they would not have to register as lobbying entities.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3. Require all lawmakers who receive "scholarship funds" from any organization to report such funds on their annual statements of financial disclosure -- even if the amount of these funds falls below current reporting requirements</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Smoldon and Rep. Lesko, "Best of Friends!"SRP's Smoldon and Rep. Lesko, ALEC AZ Co-ChairsFarley acknowledges that the bill will likely face substantial opposition in the coming legislative session and says that well-connected lobbyists will likely be reluctant to support any bill that jeopardizes the system of influence established under the ALEC banner in the state. A lobbyist's influence, after all, is his one truly marketable attribute.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Lesko Records Show Almost $100K for ALEC AZ "Scholarship" Fund</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The GOP-dominated Arizona Legislature is something of a testing ground for ALEC model legislation -- Arizona is, as Farley puts it, "model state." (See "ALEC's Arizona Escort Service.") House Speaker Andy Tobin is a longstanding ALEC member, as is House Majority Leader Steve Court. ALEC's Arizona public-sector chair is House Majority Whip Debbie Lesko.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Records obtained by In These Times from the office of Rep. Lesko show that from December 31, 2009 through January 4, 2011, more than 30 ALEC private-sector members contributed a total of $98,040 to ALEC's "scholarship fund."</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During this period, all but $469 was distributed to 43 an ALEC Arizona ALEC member lawmakers (and one legislative assistant) for the purpose of lawmaker travel to plush resorts. (Documentary evidence of the solicitation and distribution of these funds is available via DBA Press, through this secure short link: http://bit.ly/LeskoFOIA.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So Cozy They're Leavin' on a (Private) Jet Plane, too</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">like SRP's Private JetTo cite just one example of the friendly relationships between ALEC-connected lobbyists and state lawmakers: On January 26, 2011, ALEC Private Sector Chair and Salt River Project (SRP, an Arizona utility provider) top lobbyist Russell Smoldon chauffeured ALEC member lawmakers to an ALEC dinner in Santa Fe after the lawmakers had been whisked from Phoenix to New Mexico in an SRP-owned plane.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When was the last time you flew your representative off to dinner in your private jet?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Given the strength of anticipated opposition to the ALEC Accountability Act, Farley hopes members of the public will contact lawmakers to make their support for reform known. "They should send more e-mails than ALEC does," he says. "They should send them to [lawmakers] and tell them directly: We are watching you.... We want to know who's wining and dining you."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.prwatch.org/node/11238</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://alecexposed.org/wiki/Environment,Energy,_and_Agriculture &nbsp;INDEX</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GP 2010 on Koch:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$75,000 received from Koch foundations 2005–2008</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[Total Koch foundation grants 1997–2008: $408,000]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC is one-stop shopping228 for elected officials interested in perusing the wares of an</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">array of Koch-funded opposition organizations including IER, ACCF, Mercatus and other sources. ALEC publishes its own</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">materials as well, including a “Climate Change Overview for State Legislators”229 which downplays the science and risks of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">global warming and exaggerates the costs of addressing it. The Overview was written by Daniel Simmons, who moved from</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC to become AEA’s Director of State Affairs. Simmons was at the Mercatus Institute before ALEC and is a graduate of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the George Mason University School of Law.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">note INCUBATOR</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">big infl in AZ</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.prwatch.org/node/11156</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rejects protecting kids from rat poison</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.prwatch.org/node/11171</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Kids Eating Rat Poison Is an "Acceptable Risk" for ALEC</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Submitted by Brendan Fischer on December 6, 2011 - 8:06am</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) member is defying Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules limiting the sale of rat poisons that pose dangers to children and the ecosystem. ALEC representatives say that kids eating rat poison is an "acceptable risk" that does not justify government intervention in the market.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For decades, tens of thousands of young children have become ill after touching or ingesting rat poison applied "loose," in pellet form. And a variety of wild animals, from bald eagles to bobcats to owls, have been found dead with lethal levels of a super-toxic rodenticide in their systems.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">EPA Rules Limit Some Rodenticides</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After thirteen years of studies, hearings, reports and legal battles, the EPA announced in 2008 rodenticide manufacturers would have three years to adopt limits on the sale of the products.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bait Station (Robert McClure/InvestigateWest)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Under the new rules, rat poison will no longer be sold "loose," in pellet form, for use in one's home or apartment, but can be purchased in "bait stations" (like the one pictured) designed to keep out children and other animals. Additionally, certain products known as "second generation," or "super-toxic" rodenticides, will no longer be sold to residential consumers, as they pose a special risk to wildlife. These products are sold under brand names like Havoc, Talon, Ratimus and d-CON. Both the second generation chemicals and other rodenticides will still be sold "loose" to professional exterminators as well as employees of farms, warehouses, and other commercial installations. But the pellets may not be used in areas where children may find them.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Most of the rodenticide industry complied voluntarily with the new rules, which were scheduled to go into effect in June, 2011, but three companies held out. One of them, d-Con manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser, makes 12 of the 20 products targeted by the EPA. The global corporation sued in 2010 to force the agency to follow procedures for a formal "cancellation" of the products, and recently announced plans to "vigorously oppose" implementation of the measures throughout the cancellation process. Reckitt Benckiser is an ALEC member and has a representative on the ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">prisons &nbsp;http://www.thenation.com/article/162478/hidden-history-alec-and-prison-labor</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">alec and koch</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.thenation.com/article/161973/koch-connection</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.prwatch.org/node/11104</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Gaming American Democracy: A Perfect Storm in Which Republicans Disenfranchise Voters While Giving Corporations Unchecked Powers</b></font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">One of the most stunning results of the Republicans’ victory sweep in the midterm 2010 elections (which made Ohio Republican Congressman John Boehner Speaker of the House of Representatives, while the Democrats retained control of the Senate) was the GOP’s taking control of 19 state legislatures. Not since 1928 had Republicans held such power over state government, and since then, they have not been reluctant about using their power.</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GOP state legislators, and governors, have fervently pushed for the adoption of their conservative social and political agenda, which encompasses everything from severely limiting women’s rights, to privatizing government functions while breaking public service unions, to removing health-and-safety and other regulations of businesses, to repealing (or refusing to raise) fundamental taxes that are needed to operate state government. In many states, Republicans have jammed through their radical laws with only the thinnest of majorities.</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As I mentioned in my opening column of this series, it was when Wisconsin’s teachers, firefighters, and policemen protested the dictatorial-style ploys of Governor Scott Walker that broader public attention became focused on these efforts. It was also quickly noticed that other GOP-controlled states were making similar moves, with many conservative legislators and governors adopting nearly identical legislation. This, of course, was not a coincidence.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The orchestrated moves in GOP-controlled states were the work of a number of conservative organizations that had long been devoted to imposing a conservative pro-business agenda on the nation through state laws. Leading the effort was the American Legislative Exchange Council. The 2010 elections, unfortunately, had proved to be a perfect storm for this organization and its conservative partners. </span>&nbsp;more ....</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While we are not surprised to see Koch Industries, the National Rifle Association, Phillip Morris, RJ Reynolds and Big PhRMA at the table, we were surprised to see Coca-Cola on the "Private Enterprise Board" a.k.a. the corporate governing board of ALEC. We were surprised to see Coke linking itself to an extreme right-wing agenda that works to disenfranchise voters, bash immigrants, privatize Medicare and Social Security and dismantle public education for the benefit of private for-profit schools.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">-----</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Wisconsin GOP Uses Parliamentary Trick to Protect Secret Corporate Spending</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Submitted by Brendan Fischer on September 14, 2011 - 1:52pm</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wisconsin Republicans, without going on-the-record with a vote, have used a legislative trick to block an election board rule that would have shed light on the corporate interests laundering election spending through front groups. The move echoes the American Legislative Exchange Council agenda and will likely ensure a flood of secret ads and robo-calls for Wisconsin's 2012 elections.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Attack on Election Transparency Rule</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In late June, the Republican-controlled Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules (JCRAR) passed a party-line "objection" to state election board rules that would have expanded the scope of political campaign advertisements that require the group running an ad, like Americans for Prosperity or Club for Growth, to disclose the identities of the corporations, CEOs, or foundations funding it. JCRAR then voted on party lines to introduce Assembly Bill 196 to not only overturn the election board's ability to make these types of rules, but to remove its authority to regulate ANY corporate "independent expenditure" election spending.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Four of the six Republicans on the JCRAR (Leah Vukmir, Daniel LeMahieu, Joe Leibham, and Glenn Grothman) are affiliated with the American Legislative Exchange Council, and their opposition to election transparency tracks an ALEC resolution. (tip from Badger Democracy)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.prwatch.org/node/11026</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/2361-six-extreme-rightwing-attacks-by-alec-in-state-governments">http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/2361-six-extreme-rightwing-attacks-by-alec-in-state-governments</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Undoing Efforts to Address Climate Change</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After federal climate change legislation failed in 2010, over 30 states joined regional climate agreements in the Midwest, Northeast, and West to coordinate efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, develop clean energy sources, and bring predictability to state rules and regulations. By most measures, this state-led, decentralized, cooperative effort proves the vitality of federalism, a concept ALEC allegedly supports. However, these regional initiatives might also affect the profits of ALEC funders like Koch Industries and Exxon Mobil, and ALEC drafted the "State Withdrawal from Regional Climate Initiatives" (pdf) to thwart these state-led efforts. The ALEC resolution includes talking points urging state governors to withdraw from regional climate initiatives, and has shown up in states like Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington, in some cases with the ALEC language duplicated verbatim.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Big CMD cache&nbsp;</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">High-Profile</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ALEC Award-Winners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Ronald Reagan</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President George Herbert Walker Bush</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Governor John Kasich, identified by ALEC as involved in its formative years</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Governor Rick Perry</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Governor Tommy Thompson</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GovernorJohn Engler</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Governor Mary Fallin[1]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Secretary William J. Bennett</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senator Jack Kemp</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CongressmanTom Feeney</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Congressman Mark Foley</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(In addition to these politicians, ALEC has given awards to such corporate CEOs as Richard DeVos and Jay VanAndel of Amway (both in 1993) and Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch of Koch Industries (both in 1994).)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Featured Speakers</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President George W. Bush[2]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Vice President Dick Cheney (1994, then Former Defense Secretary)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Vice President Dan Quayle</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Attorney General John Ashcroft[3]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Congressman Newt Gingrich</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senator Trent Lott</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chief Domestic Policy Advisor Gary Bauer (Family Research Council)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Governor George Allen</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senator Jon Kyl</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Governor George Pataki</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senator Bob Dole</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Economist Milton Friedman has also been a featured speaker. At ALEC's 33rd Annual Meeting in 2006, he spoke about issues including the economy, school choice, education reform, tax reform.[4])</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Alumni</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (1995 Chair of ALEC Business Policy Board)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Speaker Tom DeLay (R-Texas)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card (for George W. Bushâ??s Administration)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senator Don Nickles (Oklahoma)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Congressman Joe Wilson (recently called Obama a "liar")</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Representative Dan Burton (Indiana)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Congressman Billy Tauzin (Louisiana)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Representative Katherine Harris (Florida)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senator Jim Inhofe (Oklahoma)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Alumni in Congress</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Corporate Board</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As of 2011:[1]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CenterPoint 360, W. Preston Baldwin - Chairman</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Altria Group, Daniel Smith</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">American Bail Coalition, William Carmichael, Jerry Watson</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">AT&T, William Leahy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Bayer Corp., Sandy Oliver</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Coca-Cola Company, Gene Rackley</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Diageo, Kenneth Lane</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Energy Future Holdings, Sano Blocker</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ExxonMobil Corporation, Randall Smith</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">GlaxoSmithKline, John Del Giorno</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Intuit, Inc., Bernie McKay</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Johnson & Johnson, Don Bohn</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Koch Companies Public Sector, Mike Morgan</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Kraft Food, Inc., Derek Crawford</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Peabody Energy, Kelly Mader</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Pfizer Inc., Michael Hubert</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">PhRMA, Jeff Bond</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Reed Elsevier</b>, Inc., Teresa Jennings</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reynolds American, David Powers</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Salt River Project, Russell Smoldon</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">State Farm Insurance Co., Roland Spies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">United Parcel Service (UPS)[2], Richard McArdle</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wal-Mart Stores, Maggie Sans</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For-Profit Corporations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see Cronin fight in WI</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://scholarcitizen.williamcronon.net/2011/03/15/alec/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://alecwatch.org/11223344.pdf</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hightower:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"With nearly 2,000 members" explains a brochure of this secretive organization, "ALEC is the nation's largest nonpartisan, individual membership association of state legislators." Maybe your very own local lawmaker is one of them--but you won't get that information from ALEC, which hides its list of legislators from public view.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nonpartisan? Its website lists 22 legislators from around the country who serve as board members and officers of this tax-exempt legislative service organization. All are Republican. In fact, only token numbers of Democrats are allowed in the club, and all inductees are individually vetted to make sure they will adhere to ALEC's corporate dogma.</font><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large;">&nbsp;</span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Which brings us to the organization's pose as an association of legislators. The "exchange" in ALEC's name is not between lawmakers, but between lawmakers and such behind-the-scenes powers as Altria, AT&T, Bayer, Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil, GlaxoSmithKline, Intuit, Johnson & Johnson, Koch Industries, Kraft Foods, Peabody Energy, Pfizer, Reynolds American, State Farm Insurance, UPS, and Walmart. These giants form ALEC's "private enterprise board," and they are among the self-interested corporations that put up its money and shape its agenda.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">State reps pay only a token $50 a year to be members of ALEC, while at least 82 percent of the $6 million yearly budget comes from corporations (ALEC demurely refuses to name its donors, much less report how much each gives, nor will it disclose how it spends the money).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What do corporations get for their tax-deductible donations? A greased skid for sliding their wish list into the laws of multiple states. ALEC is something of a speed dating service<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">. It holds three national conferences a year, plus convening issue-specific policy sessions in 20 to 30 state capitols annually.</span> These are cozy sessions that conveniently gather groups of legislators to meet in private with corporate executives. The two groups schmooze together and develop bills to help extend corporate power over workers, consumers, environmentalists, and others--then the lawmakers go back home to pass the corporations' bills.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC is the ultimate back room for corporate-legislative collusion. Its promotional brochure describes it as a dynamic partnership "that will define the American political landscape of the 21st century."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That's no empty threat. ALEC's tête-à -têtes result in about 1,000 bills being introduced across America every legislative session, and an ALEC official proudly adds, "We usually pass about 200 bills a year." And what pieces of work they are! For example:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even before Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker took office this January, ALEC agents were handing him model bills for clubbing teachers and other public employees. Pushing ALEC's attack from inside the legislature were Wisconsin state Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, the rancorous, union-busting majority leader who was ALEC's state chairman last year, and state Rep. Robin Vos, the house budget slasher who heads ALEC's state organization this year. Likewise, governors in Indiana, Maine, Michigan, and Ohio have backed anti-union legislation this year that closely resembles ALEC's 'model' bills.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2009, ALEC drew up the Voter ID Act to ban university students from using their college-issued ID's as proof of residency for voting. Seven states have adopted this model law, which is intended to bar eligible students from the voting booth. These kids must be disenfranchised, New Hampshire's house speaker bluntly said in February, because they're "voting liberal, voting their feelings, with no life experience." This model bill has been introduced in 18 other states this year in a rather obvious ploy to hold down the student vote in the 2012 presidential election.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Arizona's infamous anti-Latino immigration law was crafted at an ALEC conference. The state senate leader who sponsored the bill was in the meeting, as was an eager executive from Corrections Corporation of America, the private prison operation that stands to get a nice business boost from Arizona's law.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Numerous state bills have been filed to kill, dilute, or withdraw from Obama's universal healthcare reform. Many bear remarkably similar wording, perhaps because they were drawn from a special report churned out by the 'nonpartisan' ALEC, entitled "The State Legislators Guide to Repealing ObamaCare."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of ALEC's specialties is developing state laws to stop citizens from interfering with corporate whim. For example, when various communities began outlawing the use of genetically altered seeds in their area, ALEC rushed out a model bill to remove local control of seeds--11 states have passed it. Also with such climate-change deniers as Koch and Exxon funding ALEC and sitting on its board, you can guess why this corporate policy front has produced more than 800 draft measures against regulating global warming emissions--and, at least six states are considering bills nearly identical to ALEC's draft resolution for "state withdrawal from regional climate initiatives."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cronon:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Partners in Wisconsin and Other States: SPN, MacIver Institute, WPRI</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An important partner of ALECâ??s, by the way, is the State Policy Network (SPN), which helps coordinate the activities of a wide variety of conservative think tanks operating at the state level throughout the country. See its home page at</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.spn.org/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Many of the publications of these think tanks are accessible and downloadable from links on the SPN website, which are well worth taking the time to peruse and read. A good starting place is:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.spn.org/members/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Two important SPN members in Wisconsin are the MacIver Institute for Public Policy:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://maciverinstitute.com/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI):</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.wpri.org</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If you want to be a well-informed Wisconsin citizen and donâ??t know about their work, youâ??ll probably want to start visiting these sites more regularly. Youâ??ll gain a much better understanding of the underlying ideas that inform recent Republican legislation by doing so.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Understanding What These Groups Do</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As I said earlier, it's not easy to find exact details about the model legislation that ALEC has sought to introduce all over the country in Republican-dominated statehouses. But youâ??ll get suggestive glimpses of it from the occasional reporting that has been done about ALEC over the past decade. Almost all of this emanates from the left wing of the political spectrum, so needs to be read with that bias always in mind.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Interestingly, one of the most critical accounts of ALECâ??s activities was issued by Defenders of Wildlife and the Natural Resources Defense Council in a 2002 report entitled Corporate Americaâ??s Trojan Horse in the States. Although NRDC and Defenders may seem like odd organizations to issue such a report, some of ALECâ??s most concentrated efforts have been directed at rolling back environmental protections, so their authorship of the report isnâ??t so surprising. The report and its associated press release are here:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://alecwatch.org/11223344.pdf</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.nrdc.org/media/pressreleases/020228.asp</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Thereâ??s also an old, very stale website associated with this effort at</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://alecwatch.org/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A more recent analysis of ALECâ??s activities was put together by the Progressive States Network in February 2006 under the title Governing the Nation from the Statehouses, available here:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.progressivestates.org/content/57/governing-the-nation-from-the-statehouses</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Thereâ??s an In These Times story summarizing the report at</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2509/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">More recent stories can be found at</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mogulescu/alec-states-unions_b_832428.htmlview=print</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6084/corporate_con_game (about the Arizona immigration law)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and thereâ??s very interesting coverage of ALECâ??s efforts to disenfranchise student voters at</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://campusprogress.org/articles/conservative_corporate_advocacy_group_alec_behind_voter_disenfranchise/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.progressivestates.org/node/26400</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For just one example of how below-the-radar the activities of ALEC typically are, look for where the name of the organization appears in this recent story from the New York Times about current efforts in state legislatures to roll back the bargaining rights of public employee unions:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/business/04labor.html</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hint: ALEC is way below the fold!</font></div><div>
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">nrdc and --- report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This report examines the history, finances,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and activities of the American Legislative</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Exchange Council, a 501(c)(3) organization with</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">headquarters in Washington, D.C., that bills</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">itself as â??the nationâ??s largest bipartisan, individual</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">membership association of state legislators.â?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As this report shows, however, ALEC is little</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">more than a tax-exempt screen for major U.S.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">corporations and trade associations that use it to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">influence legislative activities at the state level.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC allows these corporations to do what they</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">couldnâ??t attempt directly or openly without risking</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">public criticism. They funnel cash through</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC to curry favor with state lawmakers</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">through junkets and other largesse in the hopes</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of enacting special-interest legislation â?? all the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">while keeping safely outside the public eye.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The organizationâ??s national meetings appear</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">to be mostly window dressing for policy decisions</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">that have already been made, either within</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">the organizationâ??s offices in Washington, D.C.,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">or in closed consultations with the corporations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">and other like- minded interests that finance virtually</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">all its activities</span>. Indeed, the state legislators</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">who attend ALEC meetings are joined by the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">platoons of lobbyists, corporate executives, and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">representatives of assorted trade and professional</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">associations who pay to have the lawmakers as</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">their captive audience.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The tie that binds is money, and ALECâ??s</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">major underwriters have included the now-disgraced</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Enron Corporation, as well as the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American Nuclear Energy Council, the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American Petroleum Institute, Amoco, Chevron,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Coors Brewing Company, Shell, Texaco,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chlorine Chemistry Council, Union Pacific</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Railroad, Pharmaceutical Research &</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Manufacturers of America, Waste Management,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Philip Morris Management Corporation, R.J.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reynolds Tobacco and many other of the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">nationâ??s major corporations and trade associations.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Founded in 1973 by conservative activist</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Paul Weyrich, ALEC occupies prime office space</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in downtown Washington, operates on an annual</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">budget of roughly $6 million, and employs a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">full-time staff of around thirty. In its early years,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">reflecting Weyrichâ??s vision, ALEC focused</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">C H A P T E R O N E</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Overview</font></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large;">A L E C R E P O R T</span><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Founded in 1973 by conservative activist</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Paul Weyrich, ALEC occupies prime office space</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in downtown Washington, operates on an annual</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">budget of roughly $6 million, and employs a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">full-time staff of around thirty. In its early years,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">reflecting Weyrichâ??s vision, ALEC focused</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">almost exclusively on the hot-button social issues</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">on the right-wingâ??s political agenda â?? anti-abortion,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">anti-feminist, anti-voting rights for the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">District of Columbia. In the late 1980s, however,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC abandoned most of these issues in</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">favor of those that had the benefit of attracting</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">substantial corporate donations.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC pursues its mission chiefly by generating</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and promoting hundreds of â??modelâ? bills,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">resolutions, and policy statements every year.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The state lawmakers said to be â??membersâ? of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC seem to have little or no real control over</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the inner workings of the organization. ALECâ??s</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">â??private-sector membersâ? â?? three hundred corporate</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">sponsors each paying tens of thousands of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">dollars a year â?? appear to run the show, from</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">financing the organization and selecting the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">issues it pushes, to exercising veto power over its</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">policy positions.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These corporate...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">â??Pay-To-Playâ? Payoffs</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environmental Protection. Virtually all the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">â??modelâ? bills bear positive-sounding names but,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">over the past decade, ALEC-sponsored legislation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">has tried to weaken many of our nationâ??s environmental</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">protections.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALECâ??s inventory of â??modelâ? legislation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">includes such measures as â??The Environmental</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Good Samaritan Act,â? the â??Environmental</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Literacy Improvement Act,â? the â??Groundwater</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Protection Act,â? and â??The Private Property</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Protection Act.â? All these measures have emanated</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">from ALECâ??s Task Force on Energy,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environment, Natural Resources, and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Agriculture, which clearly knows, as the saying</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">goes, on which side its bread is buttered. â??The</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">best chance we have to improve the environment,â?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the task forceâ??s staff director said on</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Earth Day 1998, â??is to break the stranglehold of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">9</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A L E C R E P O R T</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">10</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the command-and-control policies promoted by</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the EPA and the extremist environmental</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">lobby.â?3</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALECâ??s â??modelâ? bills and packets of background</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">information on key issues frequently</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">shape the discussion of proposed state remedies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to environmental problems. Moreover, many of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the bills appear to protect major polluters and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">other business interests from environmental regulation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The ALEC task force that deals with environmental</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">issues pushes more than two dozen</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">pieces of â??modelâ? legislation â?? everything from</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">resolutions on biotechnology and environmental</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">justice to â??fill-in-the-stateâ? bills like the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">â??Common Sense Scientific and Technical</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Evidence Actâ? and the â??Waste Tire Abatement</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Act.â? Typically, the task forceâ??s private-sector</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">members write the legislation thatâ??s up for discussion.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The legislative and corporate members,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">sitting elbow-to-elbow around a table, vote separately</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">on each measure; a majority on both sides</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">is needed to approve â??modelâ? legislation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Consequently, the state legislators cannot move</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">anything out of a task force without the consent</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and formal concurrence of most of their privatesector</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">counterparts. (ALECâ??s board of directors</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">can veto a task forceâ??s decision but rarely does.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALECâ??s â??Economic Impact Statement Actâ? is</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">a telling example of its approach to environment-</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">related legislation. Little wonder that most</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of the big corporations behind ALEC would love</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to see this one on the books: It would require</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">state agencies to produce detailed â??economic</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">impact statementsâ? for all existing and proposed</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">environmental regulations. ALEC says the draft</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">legislation has been designed â??to provide environmental</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">protection while permitting the creation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of wealth through requiring an economic</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">analysis of new environmental regulations.â?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In truth, the proposed legislation seems little</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">more than a perversion of the 1969 National</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environmental Policy Act, which mandates environmental</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">impact statements for significant federal</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">government actions. Environmental activists</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">have long used the landmark federal law to promote</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the public interest by halting or delaying</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">potentially destructive projects; now, through</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALECâ??s â??modelâ? legislation, corporate special</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">interests aim to turn the tables at the state level.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although ALECâ??s self-described mission is to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">limit government, hereâ??s a case where it conveniently</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">puts aside its principles: Agencies or</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">other arms of state governments, after all, would</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">have to generate all those economic impact statements</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">required under its â??modelâ? legislation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The New Mexico Fish and Game Department</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">has estimated, for example, that it would need</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">twenty additional employees, at a cost of $1.5</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">million a year, to get the job done.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">â??The Environmental Good Samaritan Actâ? is</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">another piece of apple-pie legislation, at least</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">judging from its title. Borrowed from</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pennsylvaniaâ??s â??Growing Greenerâ? legislative</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">package, which was adopted at the end of 1999,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">it aims to give developers immunity from prosecution</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">under environmental laws while they are</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">cleaning up land they polluted.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Then thereâ??s ALECâ??s â??Environmental Audit</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Privilege and Qualified Disclosure Act,â? which</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">opponents in some states have branded the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">â??Polluter Protection Act.â? This proposed law</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3. Washington Times, April 23, 1998, â??Earth Day activists fume over corporate â??greenwashingâ??</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">puts the publicâ??s right to know about environmental,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">workplace, and industrial hazards far</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">behind protecting the secrecy of polluters and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">other corporate wrongdoers. State penalties are</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">waived for polluters that conduct â??self-auditsâ?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and report their own violations of environmental</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">laws, and audit reports are sealed as privileged</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">information. ALECâ??s â??modelâ? legislation was</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">reportedly drafted by lawyers for<b> Coors Brewing</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Company. In the early 1990s, the company battled</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the Colorado Public Health and</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environment Department over smog-forming</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">its brewery in Golden, Colorado. Although</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Coors and the state eventually settled on</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$237,000 in penalties, with Coors agreeing to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">reduce the breweryâ??s VOC emissions by 200,000</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">tons a year, the company apparently decided to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">strike back, through ALECâ??s â??modelâ? bill. As a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">high-ranking EPA enforcement official put it:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">â??This is coming from big companies that have</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">been targets of enforcement action.â?4</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And consider this final case in point: ALECâ??s</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">â??Private Property Protection Act,â? a bill that, if</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">successful, ultimately could lead to the effective</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">dismantling of such broadly popular environmental-</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">protection laws as the 1972 Clean Water</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Act, the 1973 Endangered Species Act, and the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1990 Clean Air Act. This piece of â??modelâ? legislation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">grew out of an ALEC resolution that</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">expressed the organizationâ??s opposition to â??any</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">governmental attempt at whatever level and by</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">whatever means to confiscate, reduce the value</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of, or restrict the uses of private property unless</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to abate a public nuisance affecting the public</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">health and safety.â?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When most people think of the Fifth</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amendment, they think of the clause that confers</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">on individuals the right not to incriminate</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">themselves. But the Fifth Amendment also holds</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">that â??No person shall be . . . deprived of life, liberty,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">or property without due process of law, nor</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">shall private property be taken for public use</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">without just compensation.â? Accordingly, for</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">example, when government condemns land for a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">highway or commercial airport, it must pay the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">owner fair market value for his or her lost property.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">upheld a carefully limited interpretation of this</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">amendment, designed to protect the broad public</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">interest.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Over the past decade, however, real-estate</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">developers and others pushed a radical reinterpretation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of the Fifth Amendment as part of a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wide- ranging drive to eviscerate the land-use</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">aspects of a generation of environmental- protection</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">laws. They argue that any government</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">actionâ??a new zoning law or wetlands regulation,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">for example, or the adoption of a wildlife</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">habitat preservation planâ??may constitute a<b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"&nbsp;</b></font><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">taking" </b>for which a property owner must be</span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">compensated.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In California, State Senator Raymond</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Haynes</span> has sponsored a veritable slew of ALEC written</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">â??Private Property Billsâ? over the years.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Haynes, who recently completed a term as</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALECâ??s national chairman, has been amply</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rewarded for his dedication to the organization.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Heâ??s been on the receiving end of numerous</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ALEC-paid trips, including a ten-day trip to</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Australia in 1998 that included three days on the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">shores of the Great Barrier Reef, </span>where, Haynes</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">11</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4. Governing magazine, June 1997, â??Can polluters police themselves?â?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">later admitted, little work was conducted. The</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">purpose of the trip, Haynes said, was to set up</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an Australian version of ALEC.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While on the trip, Haynes found himself staying</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in a luxury hotel that was so expensive he</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">called ALECâ??s headquarters in Washington, D.C.,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to make sure that it was picking up the tab, which</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">came to $1,600 for six nights. â??It was not a place</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I would have picked, but they picked it,â? Haynes</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">later told a reporter for The <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Orange County</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">R e g i s t e r . â??So I didnâ??t squawk all that much.â?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Far from squawking, in fact, many of</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALECâ??s â??legislator membersâ? appear to be ready,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">willing, and able to carry water, whenever needed,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">for the organizationâ??s corporate underwriters. &nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Electricity Restructuring.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;In the mid-1990s,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">many states restructured their electric power</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">industries with broad support from the public interest</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">community. But the efforts of Enron</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Corporation to champion its vision of restructuring</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">is a telling example of the influence of major</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">corporations over ALEC.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In pushing for deregulation, ALEC was</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">advancing the cause of Enron and another of its</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">largest corporate benefactors, Koch Industries,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Inc.</span> In June 1996, ALECâ??s board of directors</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">approved â??modelâ? legislation calling for <b>deregulation</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of the $220 billion industry, and in</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">November 1996 an ALEC task force, meeting in</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Salt Lake City, approved the â??modelâ? legislation,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">which recommended that<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> states open their electric-</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">utility markets to competition by the year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">2000.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The corporate members of the task force that</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">took up the issue, however, were sharply divided.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The side that won â?? a coalition of private energy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">companies, including Enron and Koch</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Industries, and large industrial users of electricity</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">â?? had purchased most of the â??private-sectorâ?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">seats on the task force. The side that lost â?? representatives</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">of investor-owned utilities and their</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">trade association, the Edison Electric Institute â??</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">walked out of the session and later renounced</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">their ALEC memberships.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">â??Itâ??s a situation where you buy a seat at the</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">table and then you have the opportunity to vote</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">and drive policy,â? EEIâ??s Tim Kichline later told</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">a reporter. â??We donâ??t have enough votes. If they</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">are going to do something we like, they donâ??t</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">need our votes, and if they are going to do something</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">we do not like, we canâ??t stop them.â?5</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The following August, Kenneth Lay, Enronâ??s</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">chairman and chief executive officer, was a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">keynoter at ALECâ??s annual convention in New</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Orleans. In a speech titled â??Restructuring</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Competition . . . Not Accommodation!â? â?? a</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">pitched battle cry for deregulation of the nationâ??s</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">energy industry â?? Lay urged the state legislators</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to reject the â??calculated machinations of cozy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">monopolistsâ? and to open retail electricity markets</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">â??with both haste and completeness.â?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">State legislators who attended could connect</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the dots, concluding that Layâ??s appearance had</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">something to do with the $20,000 that Enron</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">had chipped in to finance the meeting. â??I didnâ??t</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">think it was a coincidence,â? James Ports, a lawmaker</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">from Maryland, told a reporter.6</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">T o b a c c o . As noted earlier, the tobacco industry</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">has been one of ALECâ??s chief underwriters.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For many years the nationâ??s major tobacco companies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">gave ALEC more than $200,000 a year7,</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">sponsored golf and tennis events at ALEC meet-</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5. Austin American-Statesman, Nov. 2, 1997, â??Lawmakersâ?? corporate classmates: A lesson in accessâ?...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Legislative_Exchange_Council</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Funding</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2002 ALEC's budget was, according to its annual report, $5,025,388. According to Media Transparency ALEC has received 53 grants over the period 1985-2002 totally $2.836 million from a handful of conservative foundations. [13]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The foundations listed include:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Allegheny Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Castle Rock Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JM Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John M. Olin Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Defenders of Wildife and NRDC reported that companies "like Enron, Amoco, Chevron, Shell, Texaco, Coors Brewing, Koch Industries, Nationwide Insurance, Pfizer, National Energy Group, Philip Morris, and R. J. Reynolds pay for essentially all of ALEC's expenses". Corporate membership fees are reported to range between $5,000 and $50,000 with additional fees of $1,500 to $5,000 a year to participate in ALEC's various task forces.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2002 , Exxon donated $193,200 to ALEC. [14] The following year this had jumped to $290,000, including $140,000 specifically earmarked for "global climate change" and a further $50,000 for "energy and climate change". [15]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Legislative_Exchange_Council</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC has approximately three hundred private sector members including corporations, state and national think tanks, and trade associations. Some corporations and trade groups that have supported ALEC include: American Nuclear Energy Council, American Petroleum Institute, Coors Brewing Company, Texaco, Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, VISA, Exxon Mobil, the National Rifle Association, Amway, and others. Groups critical of ALEC claim that the organization is controlled by the entities that fund it, subsequently promoting donors' agendas and goals, along with attempting to advance legislation which favors their interests.[13] NPR reported that the Corrections Corporation of America was present at meetings when legislators were introduced to model immigration laws such as that recently passed in Arizona [14].</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://tucsoncitizen.com/cell-out-arizona/2010/10/29/arizonas-sb1070-is-all-about-business-not-legality/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130833741</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NPR spent the past several months analyzing hundreds of pages of campaign finance reports, lobbying documents and corporate records. What they show is a quiet, behind-the-scenes effort to help draft and pass Arizona Senate Bill 1070 by an industry that stands to benefit from it: the private prison industry.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The law could send hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to prison in a way never done before. And it could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to private prison companies responsible for housing them.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce, </span>pictured here at Tea Party rally on Oct. 22, was instrumental in drafting the state's immigration law. He also sits on a American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) task force, a group that helped shape the law.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Joshua Lott/Getty Images</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce, pictured here at Tea Party rally on Oct. 22, was instrumental in drafting the state's immigration law. He also sits on a American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) task force, a group that helped shape the law.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce says the bill was his idea. He says it's not about prisons. It's about what's best for the country.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Enough is enough," Pearce said in his office, sitting under a banner reading "Let Freedom Reign." "People need to focus on the cost of not enforcing our laws and securing our border. It is the Trojan horse destroying our country and a republic cannot survive as a lawless nation."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But instead of taking his idea to the Arizona statehouse floor, Pearce first took it to a hotel conference room.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It was last December at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C. Inside, there was a meeting of a secretive group called the American Legislative Exchange Council. Insiders call it ALEC.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It's a membership organization of state legislators and powerful corporations and associations, such as the tobacco company Reynolds American Inc., ExxonMobil and the National Rifle Association. Another member is the billion-dollar Corrections Corporation of America â?? the largest private prison company in the country.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As soon as Pearce's bill hit the Arizona statehouse floor in January, there were signs of ALEC's influence. Thirty-six co-sponsors jumped on, a number almost unheard of in the capitol. &nbsp;According to records obtained by NPR, two-thirds of them either went to that December meeting or are ALEC members.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That same week, the <b>Corrections Corporation of America</b> hired a powerful new lobbyist to work the capitol.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The prison company declined requests for an interview. In a statement, a spokesman said the Corrections Corporation of America, "unequivocally has not at any time lobbied â?? nor have we had any outside consultants lobby â?? on immigration law."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the state Capitol, campaign donations started to appear.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Thirty of the 36 co-sponsors received donations over the next six months, from prison lobbyists or prison companies â?? Corrections Corporation of America, Management and Training Corporation and The Geo Group.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By April, the bill was on Gov. Jan Brewer's desk.</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Brewer has her own connections to private prison companies</span>. State lobbying records show two of her top advisers â?? her spokesman Paul Senseman and her campaign manager Chuck Coughlin â?? are former lobbyists for private prison companies. Brewer signed the bill â?? with the name of the legislation Pearce, the Corrections Corporation of America and the others in the Hyatt conference room came up with â?? in four days.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brewer and her spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In May, The Geo Group had a conference call with investors. When asked about the bill, company executives made light of it, asking, "Did they have some legislation on immigration?"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After company officials laughed, the company's president, Wayne Calabrese, cut in.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"This is Wayne," he said. "I can only believe the opportunities at the federal level are going to continue apace as a result of what's happening. Those people coming across the border and getting caught are going to have to be detained and that for me, at least I think, there's going to be enhanced opportunities for what we do."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FUNDERS</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Chairman"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Air Transport Association of America</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American Plastics Council</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amoco Corporation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Archer Daniels Midland</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bayer Corporation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chlorine Chemistry Council</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">E&M Charities</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Glaxco Wellcome Inc.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GTE Corporation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Illinois Energy Association</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Illinois Retail Merchants Association</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Joseph E. Seagram & Sons Inc.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Logix Solutions, Inc.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Motorola, Inc.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">National Association of Bail Insurance Companies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pfizer Inc.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Philip Morris Corporation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">R.J. Reynolds Tobacoo Company</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">State Farm Insurance Companies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">United Airlines</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Washington Times</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">complete list http://www.alecwatch.org/alecgivers.html</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8/11</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Union-Busting</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In early 2011, a wave of anti-union provisions provoked unprecedented protests, after Wisconsin Governor and ALEC alumni Scott Walker introduced a radical set of anti-worker provisions to cripple public employee unions. After a month of massive protests, William Cronon, a history professor from the University of Wisconsin penned an op-ed in the New York Times questioning whether ALEC was behind Governor Walker's union-busting effort. Two days later, the state Republican Party filed an Open Records request against him widely perceived to be retaliation against questioning the role of ALEC. Wisconsin's new Republican governor and Republican-controlled legislature were not alone in pushing anti-union legislation in 2011 -- Ohio, Michigan, New Hampshire, Florida and 19 other states introduced laws limiting the collective bargaining rights of employees -- and the simultaneous effort seemed more than coincidence. Indeed, ALEC has long had its sights set on busting unions, which strengthen the bargaining power of employees in negotiations with public and corporate employers, and which serve as a political counterweight to corporate influence in elections and policymaking.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Each state pushed its own ALEC-inspired anti-union legislation, but there were many commonalities. Some of the most common ALEC bills reflected in these efforts were the "Public Employer Payroll Deduction Act" prohibiting automatic payroll deductions for union dues, the "Public Employee Freedom Act" allowing employees to be free riders and opt-out of paying union dues, and various iterations of ALEC's "Right to Work" and "Paycheck Protection" legislation. ALEC ideological guru Milton Friedman, who spoke at several ALEC meetings since 1978, famously said "Only a crisis -- actual or perceived -- produces real changes. When the crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around." Anti-union legislation is just such an idea that has been "lying around" awaiting the budget crisis, which was caused by unregulated Wall Street gambling and which is being irrationally blamed on union pay and pensions.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.prwatch.org/node/10919</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">-----</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cross-posted from ThinkProgress Green.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The fight against global warming pollution requires the investment of everyone, including the world's multinational corporate giants. Many companies have taken official stances on climate pollution, pledging to reduce their greenhouse footprint in order to reduce the threat of a destabilized climate.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, a number of these same companies are sponsoring toxic, far-right <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">denial of climate science. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) pushes an extremist denier agenda throughout the United States, funded in secret by corporations. ThinkProgress has acquired a list of the sponsors of ALEC's 2011 annual meeting, held last week in New Orleans.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC denies that global warming is causing glaciers to retreat or sea level to rise. Not only does ALEC deny the threat of climate change, they even argue [PDF] that "substantial global warming is likely to be of benefit to the United States."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">At the annual meeting, ALEC hosted a session touting the "benefits of carbon dioxide."</span> ALEC also supports the repeal of Section 526 [PDF], which prohibits federal purchases of high-carbon fuels.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The radical anti-science agenda of ALEC stands in direct contravention to the official public policies of its funders, which include top health-care companies like Bayer, Merck, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson, and top energy companies like Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Entergy:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Allergan [PDF]: "Specifically as part of its commitment to the UN Global Compact, Allergan has committed to its climate program and the CEO water mandate."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Altria: </span>"Altria is committed to reducing the environmental impact of its businesses. Reducing carbon emissions is one way to do so. Our companies rely on agricultural products and we are keenly aware of the balance of nature and how climate change could alter that balance."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">AT&T: </span>"Climate change is a fact, and the scientific evidence so far <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">seems to</span> implicate greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, as the cause of climate change."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Bayer</span> [PDF]: "The anthropogenic component of the greenhouse effect (which is adding to the natural effect) is what is changing our current climate. The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased by one third since pre-industrial times as a result of human activity. The anthropogenic contribution to climate change has led to a temperature increase of 0.8 degrees C [1.4 degrees F] over the last 130 years."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Chesapeake Energy [PDF]: "The fact is we can, and should, reduce our greenhouse-gas emissions because the risks associated with failing to do so are simply too great." coal? frack?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Chevron:</span> "Chevron shares the concerns of governments and the public about climate change and recognizes that the use of fossil fuels to meet the world's energy needs is a contributor to an increase in greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the Earth's atmosphere."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ConocoPhillips: "ConocoPhillips recognizes that human activity, including the burning of fossil fuels, is contributing to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">can</span> lead to adverse changes in global climate."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CSX: "CSXT understands that what's good for the environment is good for its customers, its employees and its bottom line. That's why the company is developing long-term, comprehensive climate change strategies and is leading the way to cleaner air through increased fuel efficiency and reduced greenhouse-gas emissions."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dow: "Providing humanity with a sustainable energy supply while addressing climate change is the most urgent environmental issue our society faces."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Entergy: "We are virtually certain that climate change is occurring, and occurring because of man's activities. We're virtually certain the probability distribution curve is all bad."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ExxonMobil: "Rising greenhouse-gas emissions pose significant risks to society and ecosystems."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">HP: "HP recognizes that climate change is one of the most serious environmental and economic challenges facing the world today and that mitigating its effects must be one of the top priorities of governments, companies, NGOs, and individuals."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Johnson & Johnson: "As a health care company, Johnson & Johnson understands that climate change can negatively affect human health. We have taken sustained, long-term action to address our greenhouse-gas emissions and we are encouraging our supply chain to do the same."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Merck [PDF]: "Merck supports the adoption of a global framework to address GHG challenges under which all major emitting countries are committed to emission reduction goals."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pfizer: "Climate change is happening, and experts believe it endangers human health."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sanofi: "Sanofi-aventis continuously seeks ways to limit the environmental impact of its business activities, protect public health, and combat climate change."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Shell: "The world must take action to halve CO2 emissions by 2050 in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Spectra Energy: "We have committed to our stakeholders to be responsible environmental stewards while striving to help meet North America's increasing demand for natural gas. For us, that means working to reduce our own carbon footprint and taking a lead role in helping our customers manage energy responsibly."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Takeda: "As a pharmaceuticals manufacturer operating on a global scale, Takeda strives to reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Union Pacific [PDF]: "Climate change, including the impact of global warming, could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">UPS [PDF]: "As a global transportation company, UPS acknowledges that greenhouse-gas emissions impact the climate and pose a serious challenge to the environment -- and ultimately the global economy."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Walmart: "Walmart is looking at ways to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions. Climate change may not cause hurricanes, but warmer ocean water can make them more powerful. Climate change may not cause rainfall, but it can increase the frequency and severity of heavy flooding. Climate change may not cause droughts, but it can make droughts longer."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even more of ALEC's sponsors are members of the Carbon Disclosure Project, including Spectra Energy, Kraft, BNSF, CN, and QEP Resources.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ALEC's climate denial is, however, publicly shared by major funder Koch Industries.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.grist.org/climate-skeptics/2011-08-08-companies-claim-concern-for-climate-but-sponsor-alec</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; Corporate America's Trojan Horse in the States, The Untold Story Behind the American Legislative Exchange Council [40],&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Defenders of Wildlife and Natural Resources Defense Council, ALECWatch, Winter, February, 2002</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The American Legislative Exchange Council was originally the brainchild of conservative activist and culture warrior Paul Weyrich, a onetime journalist who later coined the term “Moral Majority” for evangelist Jerry Falwell. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Weyrich’s original vision was to bring together state legislators who were energized by such social issues as the Equal Rights Amendment and abortion rights and concerned about what they saw as an overbearing, over-regulating, and over-taxing government.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; As Weyrich saw it, liberals had spent decades building up their own infrastructure of foundations, think tanks, and academicians; conservatives had not. And so he simply borrowed their techniques... &nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Corporate America's Trojan Horse in the States, The Untold Story Behind the American Legislative Exchange Council [40], Defenders of Wildlife and Natural Resources Defense Council, ALECWatch, Winter, February, 2002</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The American Legislative Exchange Council was originally the brainchild of conservative activist and culture warrior Paul Weyrich, a onetime journalist who later coined the term “Moral Majority” for evangelist Jerry Falwell. Weyrich’s original vision was to bring together state legislators who were energized by such social issues as the Equal Rights Amendment and abortion rights and concerned about what they saw as an overbearing, over-regulating, and over-taxing government.&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Weyrich saw it, liberals had spent decades building up their own infrastructure of foundations, think tanks, and academicians; conservatives had not. And so he simply borrowed their techniques.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wiki</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a politically conservative[citation needed] 501(c) (3) non-profit Policy Organization, consisting of both state legislators and members of the private sector. ALEC's mission statement describes the organization's purpose as the advancement of free-market principles, limited government, federalism, and individual liberty. Among other activities, the group provides a venue for private individuals and corporations to assist politicians in developing what it considers model laws serving the economic and political aims of its members. ALEC also serves as a networking tool among state legislators, allowing them to research the handling and best practices of policy in other states.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC currently has more than 2,000 legislative members representing all 50 states, as well as more than 85 members of Congress and 14 sitting or former Governors who are considered alumni. ALEC also claims approximately 300 corporate, foundation, and other private-sector members. A list of ALEC leaders in the states includes 73 Republican lawmakers and 7 Democrats.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The chairmanship of ALEC is a rotating position, with a new legislator appointed to the position each year. The current chair of ALEC is Noble Ellington of the Louisiana House of Representatives.[1] Day-to-day operations are run from ALEC's Washington, D.C. office by an Executive Director and a staff of around 30.[2]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contents</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;[hide]&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1 History</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2 ALEC policy-making process</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3 Publications</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4 Controversies</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4.1 William Cronon</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4.2 April 2011 Protests</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4.3 Whistleblower and ALEC Exposed</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5 References</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6 External links</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[edit] History</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Part of a series on</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conservatism</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">in the United States</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schools[show]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Principles[show]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">History[show]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">People[show]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Parties[show]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Variants[show]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">See also[show]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DodgerBlue flag waving.svg Conservatism Portl</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC was founded in September 1973, when a small group of conservative state legislators and policy advocates met in Chicago with the stated purpose of founding "A nonpartisan membership association for conservative state lawmakers who shared a common belief in limited government, free markets, federalism, and individual liberty."[3]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At that meeting, state legislators, including then Illinois State Representative Henry Hyde, activist Paul <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Weyrich</span>, and Lou Barnett, a veteran of then Gov. Ronald Reagan's 1968 presidential campaign, together with a handful of others, launched the American Legislative Exchange Council. Among those who were involved with ALEC in its formative years were: Bob Kasten and <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Tommy Thompson</span> of Wisconsin; John Engler of Michigan; Terry Branstad of Iowa, and <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">John Kasich</span> of Ohio, all of whom moved on to become Republican governors or Members of Congress. Congressional members who were active during this same period included Republican Senators James Buckley of New York and <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Jesse Helms of North Carolina, as well as Republican Congressmen Phil Crane of Illinois and Jack Kemp of New York</span>.[3]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[edit] ALEC policy-making process</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC sponsors three key meetings a year. The largest is the Annual Meeting, where more than 2,000 state legislators, private sector members, government representatives, and public policy experts come together to shape the organization's policies.[4]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC model bills are introduced and voted on separately at each of the three national meetings. The public sector board must approve a bill for it to become an offered piece model legislation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There are currently eight task forces:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Civil Justice</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Commerce, Insurance & Economic Development</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Education</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Energy, Environment & Agriculture</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Health & Human Services</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">International Relations</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Public Safety & Elections</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tax & Fiscal Policy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Telecommunications & Information Technology</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC's public sector Board of Directors has thirty days to review, and approve or reject, each bill before it becomes official ALEC policy. Each year approximately 800 bills based in whole or in part on ALEC model legislation are introduced in the states. Annually, about 20% of these introduced bills become law.[5]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since 1999, ALEC members have sought to reform the civil justice system.[6][7]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[edit] Publications</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC publishes a <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">monthly magazine </span>for its members titled Inside ALEC.[8]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the field of education policy, ALEC authors the Report Card on American Education now in its 15th edition.[9][10]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On state economic competitiveness, ALEC has published Rich States, Poor States now in its fourth edition.[3][3]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[edit] Controversies</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This article may be unbalanced towards certain viewpoints. Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the talk page. (September 2011)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After the NPR report was published, ALEC released a statement responding to some of the accusations in the NPR story.[11]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[edit] <b>William Cronon</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In March 2011, in the midst of protests surrounding Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's collective bargaining restrictions, William Cronon, a historian who teaches at the University of Wisconsin devoted the first post on his newly-established "Scholar as Citizen" blog to the largely behind-the-scenes role of the little-covered ALEC in working for the passage of ideologically conservative legislation at the state level, pointing out that neither the model legislation which ALEC produces, nor the list of elected officials who are members of ALEC are publicly available.[12][13] This resulted in the issuing of a FOIA request by the Wisconsin Republican Party to obtain all email from Cronon's university account relating to Republican topics; Paul Krugman and the American Historical Association defended Cronon's right to conduct public political research, and decried the apparent attempt at intimidation.[13][14]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[edit] April 2011 Protests</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On April 29, 2011, hundreds gathered in Cincinnati to protest ALEC for the first time outside the group's Spring Task Force Meeting, and to vocalize demands for legislation serving the public interest. Teach-ins, a rally, street theatre, and a march led to a second protest in New Orleans at ALEC's Annual Meeting, held on August 3–6, 2011.[15]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[edit] Whistleblower and ALEC Exposed</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Jul 13, 2011, the Center for Media and Democracy[16] and the Nation published a file leak which made available more than 800 pieces of ALEC's model legislation, brought to them by an organizer of the Cincinnati ALEC protest. The files were leaked to the organizer, Aliya Rahman, via a two-point connection to a source inside ALEC.[17]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For ALEC Exposed, the Center for Media and Democracy made a new website[18] to house over 800 ALEC "model" bills which were previously unavailable to the public. It developed dozens of tools to enable citizens to track ALEC politicians,[19] ALEC corporations[20] and ALEC bills moving in their states.[21]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Simultaneously, The Nation devoted a special edition[22] of its magazine to breaking the story on ALEC Exposed, featuring expert analysis by John Nichols,[23] Joel Rogers, Laura Dresser,[24] Wendell Potter,[25] Lisa Graves,[26] Julie Underwood,[27] Mike Elk, and Bob Sloan.[28]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On July 14, 2011, the LA Times announced that government watchdog Common Cause would issue a challenge to ALEC's nonprofit status, on the grounds that ALEC "spends most of its resources lobbying, in violation of the rules governing nonprofit organizations."[29]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On July 21, 2011, Terry Gross interviewed Louisiana Representative Noble Ellington, the current national chairman of ALEC, about the group's corporate members' role in drafting legislation. Gross, commenting on the fact that there is no way for non-members to know if pieces of legislation introduced in statehouses are based on ALEC models, asked if Ellington thought the process was transparent. Ellington responded saying, "[w]hile we may be discussing it, it may not be transparent, but before it's passed, legislators have to say, 'We approve this model legislation.' Not the corporations. They don't have a vote. Legislators say [what is introduced]. ... And then the legislators can introduce that legislation in [their] state. It goes through a committee, the public has input, they have an opportunity to talk to their legislators about the legislation — so I don't see how you can get more transparent than that." When asked if the public had a voice in the process Ellington responded that the "taxpaying public is represented there at the table because I'm there."[30]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[edit] References</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Board of Directors. American Legislative Exchange Council.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Meet our Staff. American Legislative Exchange Council.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ a b c d History. American Legislative Exchange Council.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Annual Meeting. American Legislative Exchange Council.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ 2009 Legislative Scorecard. American Legislative Exchange Council.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ [1] American Legislative Exchange Council.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ "Judge's $54M missing pants case gets tossed - Jun. 25, 2007". Money.cnn.com. 2007-06-25. Retrieved 2011-03-29.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ "Inside ALEC". American Legislative Exchange Council. 2005-04-19. Retrieved 2011-08-07.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ [2][dead link]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ "Report Card on American Education: A State-by-State Analysis". YouTube. 2009-09-24. Retrieved 2011-03-29.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ "Statement from ALEC on NPR Story". October 29, 2010.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Who's Really Behind Recent Republican Legislation in Wisconsin and Elsewhere? (Hint: It Didn't Start Here), William Cronon</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ a b Krugman, Paul (March 27, 2011). "American Thought Police". The New York Times.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ "AHA Today: AHA Deplores Effort to Intimidate William Cronon". American Historical Association. March 27, 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-07.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Sloan, Bob (May 1, 2011). "Democracy Stands Up to ALEC and the theft of America by Kochroaches in Cincy!".</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Graves, Lisa (July 13, 2011). "About ALEC Exposed".</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Nichols, John (July 13, 2011). "ALEC Exposed".</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ The Center for Media and Democracy. ALEC Exposed. Project website. Accessed September 23, 2011.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ SourceWatch. ALEC Politicians. SourceWatch page. Accessed September 23, 2011.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ SourceWatch. ALEC Corporations. SourceWatch page. Accessed September 23, 2011.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ The Center for Media and Democracy. ALEC Exposed Community Portal. Project website. Accessed September 23, 2011.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ The Nation Magazine. ALEC Exposed. Magazine website. Accessed September 23, 2011.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ The Nation Magazine. ALEC Exposed: Rigging Elections. Magazine website. Accessed September 23, 2011.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ The Nation Magazine. ALEC Exposed: Business Domination Inc.. Magazine website. Accessed September 23, 2011.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ The Nation Magazine. ALEC Exposed: Sabotaging Healthcare. Magazine website. Accessed September 23, 2011.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ The Nation Magazine. ALEC Exposed: The Koch Connection. Magazine website. Accessed September 23, 2011.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ The Nation Magazine.ALEC Exposed: Starving Public Schools. Magazine website. Accessed September 23, 2011.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ The Nation Magazine. ALEC Exposed: The Hidden History of ALEC and Prison Labor. Magazine website. Accessed September 23, 2011.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ Hamburger, Tom; Banerjee, Neela (July 14, 2011). "State legislative bills raise conservative group's profile". Los Angeles Times.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">^ "La. State Rep. Noble Ellington, National Chairman Of ALEC, Responds To Report". NPR. July 21, 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-07.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[edit] External links</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Portal icon<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Conservatism portal</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC official Website</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Karen Olsson, Mother Jones, Ghostwriting the Law, September/October 2002</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Progressive States Network, "Governing the Nation from the Statehouses", February 2006</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">July 2011 interview with journalist John Nichols on ALEC</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Exposed project website</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">exxonsecrets</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1129 20th St. NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20036</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Phone: 202-466-3800</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fax: 202-466-3801</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ALEC provides state legisators with model legislation, including a continuing program trying to discredit state level legislation aimed at providing incentives to cut global warming pollution. Funded by conservative foundations and corporate grants, ALEC is a pivotal player between state and federal right-wing think tanks.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC was founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich, and is affiliated with the ALEC Foundation. ALEC maintains 15 task forces, including one targeting environmental issues.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC has developed over 150 pieces of model legislation. Past and present membership includes 3,000 state legislators, 12 sitting governors, and 80 members of Congress. They also have at least 300 corporate members that pay annual membership fees. ALEC boasts that its Annual Meeting is "the largest gathering of conservatives held each year."<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Its 2003 Annual Meeting was attended by representatives of the CATO Institute, the US Sportsman's Alliance, Evergreen Freedom Foundation, Competitive Enterprise Institute, American Enterprise Institute, and the Heritage Foundation. Speakers included Vice President Dick Cheney, Tom Ridge, and David Horowitz.</span></font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>ALEC is firmly opposed to the Kyoto protocol.</b> Its 2002 Annual Report summarized, "though it is still unclear whether global warming is occurring or, even if it is occurring, whether it would have a major impact on our climate, environmental activists are pushing the states and our economy towards an energy starvation diet" (p.21). Domestically it says it has to "guard against proposed back-door Kyoto Protocol" regulations that would significantly increase energy costs but yield negligible environmental benefits (p.4).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ALEC is a former member of the Cooler Heads Coalition and a current member of the State Policy Network.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">KEY QUOTES</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">21 January, 2004</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Carbon dioxide, the inescapable by-product of burning fossil fuels, is beneficial to plant and human life alike. The effort to regulate it as a greenhouse gas is an attempt to tax energy."</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: sons-of-kyoto legislation, ALEC press release, 1/21/04</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">KEY DEEDS</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">13 May, 1996</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Supported legislation in Oklahoma that would grant "priviledged immunity" to companies that report problems to environmental agencies. Audits relating to these problems would then be kept from the public.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: "Environmental Audit Immunity Delayed," Daily Oklahoman, 5/14/96</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">21 January, 2004</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Launched attack on "Son of Kyoto" legislation across the country. Press release subtitiled "States React to the Myth of Global Warming" Project includes maps of states with Greenhouse Gas Legislation, Renewable Portfolio Standards and Carbon Sequestration incentives.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: sons-of-kyoto legislation, ALEC press release, 1/21/04</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC recieved $408,000 in Koch Brothers funding from 1997-2008</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ALEC Koch funding</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DEEDS</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC has representatives from Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, Coca-Cola, Johnson and Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, and many other international corporations on its Board.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ALEC, Corporate Board</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC has fought regional climate legislation in multiple states</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ALEC website, obstruction of climate legislation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FUNDING</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC - American Legislative Exchange Council has received $1,474,200 from ExxonMobil since 1998.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1992</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$unknown Exxon Corporation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ALEC literature, 1992</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1992</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$unknown Mobil Corporation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ALEC literature, 1992</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1998</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$15,000 ExxonMobil Corporate Giving</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">conference for freshman legislators</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: Exxon Education Foundation Dimensions 1998 report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2000</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$70,000 ExxonMobil Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">general support</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil Foundation 2000 IRS 990</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2001</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$10,000 ExxonMobil Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2001 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2001</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$70,000 ExxonMobil Corporate Giving</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2001 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2002</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$163,200 ExxonMobil Corporate Giving</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">50K conference, 80K general support, 5K membership, 25K project support, 3,200 'other'</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2002 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2002</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$30,000 ExxonMobil Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">general operating support</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2002 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2003</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$78,000 ExxonMobil Corporate Giving</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Annual Conference</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2003 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2003</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$50,000 ExxonMobil Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Energy and Climate Change</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2003 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2003</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$100,000 ExxonMobil Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">General Operating Support</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2003 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2003</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$140,000 ExxonMobil Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Global Climate Change</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2003 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2004</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$55,000 ExxonMobil Corporate Giving</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Annual Conference</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2004 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2004</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$62,000 ExxonMobil Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Energy and Climate Change</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2004 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2004</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$75,000 ExxonMobil Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Climate Change</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2004 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2004</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$30,000 ExxonMobil Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">General Operating Support</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2004 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2005</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$151,500 ExxonMobil Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DISCREPANCY: 2005 Giving Report: $151,000 for: Energy Sustainability Project (80,000), General Operating Support (71,500). iRS 990 2005: Energy Sustainability Project (Climate Change)($80,000); Climate Change Environmental Outreach ($21,500)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2005 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2005</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$90,000 ExxonMobil Corporate Giving</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Annual Conference</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2005 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2006</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$15,000 ExxonMobil Corporate Giving</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Annual meeting host committee sponsorship</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2006 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2006</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$31,000 ExxonMobil Corporate Giving</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Annual meetings sponsorship</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2006 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2006</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$10,000 ExxonMobil Corporate Giving</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">general support</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2006 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2006</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$30,000 ExxonMobil Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">none given</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2006 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2007</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$31000 ExxonMobil Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2007 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2008</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$56,000 ExxonMobil Foundation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2008 Worlwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2009</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$47,500 ExxonMobil Corporate Giving</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2009 Worldwide Contributions and Community Investments</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2010</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$64,000 ExxonMobil Corporate Giving</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ExxonMobil 2010 Worldwide Giving Report&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PEOPLE</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lily Pascucci</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Legislative Assistant to the Health and Human Services, and the Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Forces</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ALEC Website 5-06</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Andrew Schauder</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Director of Federal Affairs</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ALEC Website 5-06</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nick Nichols</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Featured Speaker</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: CDFE website 2007</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stephen Moore</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Source: ALEC website, obstruction of climate legislation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SOURCES</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ExxonMobil 2001 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Public Information and Policy Research</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=view&d=4388</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ExxonMobil 2002 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Public Information and Policy Research</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=view&d=4386</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ExxonMobil Foundation 2000 IRS 990</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ExxonMobil Foundation 2000 IRS 990</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=view&d=4390</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Exxon Education Foundation Dimensions 1998 report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Exxon Dimensions report 1998- Public Information and Policy Research</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=view&d=4385</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC literature, 1992</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC literature, 1992</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">sons-of-kyoto legislation, ALEC press release, 1/21/04</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Subhead: States React to the Myth of Global Warming</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Environmental Audit Immunity Delayed," Daily Oklahoman, 5/14/96</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Article by Mick Hinton</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ExxonMobil 2003 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Public Information and Policy Research</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=view&d=4389</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ExxonMobil 2004 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2004 Worldwide Contributions and Community Investments Public Information and Policy Research</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=view&d=4380</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Website 5-06</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.alec.org/about</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ExxonMobil 2005 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Public Information and Policy Research</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=view&d=4387</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CDFE website 2007</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.cdfe.org/staff.htm</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ExxonMobil 2006 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Public Information and Policy Research downloaded from Exxon website</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=view&d=4381</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ExxonMobil 2007 Worldwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://research.greenpeaceusa.org/?a=download&d=4586</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ExxonMobil 2008 Worlwide Giving Report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ExxonMobil 2009 Worldwide Contributions and Community Investments</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Exxon Mobil Corporation 2009 Worldwide Contributions and Community Investments</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/files/gcr_contributions_pub-policy09.pdf</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC Koch funding</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/american-legislative-exchange/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC, Corporate Board</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Private_Enterprise_Board&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=15553</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ALEC website, obstruction of climate legislation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Regional_Climate_Initiative&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=13319</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ExxonMobil 2010 Worldwide Giving Report&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">http://exxonmobil.com/Corporate/Files/gcr_contributions_pubpolicy-2010.pdf</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>ALEC Alumni in Congress include[</b>1][2]:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Sandy Adams (R-FL)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Steve Austria (R-OH)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Rick Berg (R-ND)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Diane Black (R-TN)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Re<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">p. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. David Camp (R-MI)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. John Campbell (R-CA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. John Culberson (R-TX)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Mario Diaz Balart (R-FL)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Michael G. Fitzpatrick (R-PA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. John Randy Forbes (R-VA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. James Gerlach (R-PA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-OH)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA)</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Richard Norman "Doc" Hastings (R-WA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. James "Jim" Jordan (R-OH)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Rep. Steve King (R-IA)</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Robert Latta (R-OH)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-TX)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rep. Thomas McClintock (R-CA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. John Mica (R-FL)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-MS)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Joseph Pitts (R-PA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Thomas Price (R-GA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. David Rivera (R-FL)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Mike D. Rogers (R-AL)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Mike J. Rogers (R-MI)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Edward Royce (R-CA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ)</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Michael Simpson (R-ID)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Steve Southerland (R-FL)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-OH)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Scott Tipton (R-CO)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Rep. Don Young (R-AK)</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Former ALEC Alumni in Congress include Former Assistant Minority Leader Don Nickles,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Former Deputy Majority Whip and subject of the 2006 page scandal, Mark Foley.[3]</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">References</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; ? American Legislative Exchange Council, "Senate," organization website, accessed April 18th, 2012</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">? American Legislative Exchange Council, "House of Representatives," organization website, accessed April 18th, 2012</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">? American Legislative Exchange Council, 2001 Annual Report, organizational report, 2002</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This article is a stub. You can help by expanding it.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is a list of groups or individuals associated in some capacity with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">award winners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2011 Award-Winners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Gov. Bobby Jindal </b>(R-LA), Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Former Rep. Dolores Mertz (D-IA), William J. Raggio Excellence in Leadership and Outstanding Service Award (for having been a member of ALEC for a minimum of 10 years, having served in a leadership position within ALEC, and having made a "demonstrable contribution to the success of ALEC through advancing Jeffersonian principles, recruitment, fundraising, or other comparable activity")</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Joel Anderson (R-CA), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Nancy Barto (R-AZ), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Richard Carlson (R-KS), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Jim Ellington (R-MS), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Jerry Madden (R-TX), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Speaker Thom Thillis </b>(R-NC), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. C. Gene Whisnant (R-OR), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. David Wolkins (R-IN), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Kelly Mader (Peabody Energy)</b>, Private Sector Member of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kristin Parde (PhRMA), Private Sector Member of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Steve Seale (SAP America), Private Sector Member of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Don Stetcher (Novartis), Private Sector Member of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roland Spies (State Farm Insurance), Private Sector Member of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Randy Tompson (Reynolds American), Private Sector Member of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bill Vernon (National Federation of Independent Business), Private Sector Member of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bob Williams (Freedom Foundation), Private Sector Member of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Calvin Hill (R-GA), State Chair of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. [[Chip Rogers00 (R-GA), State Chair of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Michael Wall (Comcast), State Chair of the Year (Georgia)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">John Schlatter, (Takeda Pharmaceutical), State Chair of the Year (Alaska)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kara Joseph (Legislative Staff to Rep. John P. Adams (R-Ohio)), Volunteer of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Brenda Ellington (Legislative Aide to Rep. Noble Ellington (R-LA))</span>, Volunteer of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Beth Wilson (Legislative Staff to Rep. Noble Ellington (R-LA)), Volunteer of the Year[1]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2010 Award-Winners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Asm. Michael Villines (R-CA), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Linda Upmeyer (R-IA), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Ray Merrick (R-KS), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Del. Gail Bates (R-MD), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Sander Rue (R-NM), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. John Adams (R-OH), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Glenn Coffee (R-OK), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Bill Cadman (R-CO), State Chair of the Year Award – First Recipient</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Governor Rick Perry (R-TX), Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Steve Faris (D-AR), William J. Raggio Excellence Award[2]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2009 Award-Winners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Rep. Blair Thoreson (R-ND), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Leah Vukmir (R-WI), State Legislator of the Year[3]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Del. Chris Shank (R-MD), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Ted Hoskins (D-MO), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Wayne Niederhauser (R-UT), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Del. Adelaide Eckardt (R-MD), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Jim Clark (R-ID), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Jim Buck (R-IN), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Harold Brubaker (R-NC), William J. Raggio Excellence Award</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-GA), ALEC Leadership Award for Limited Government</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Daniel Hannan (British Member of the European Parliament), International Legislator of the Year[citation needed]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2008 Award-Winners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Sen. Carol Weston (R-ME), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Curt Bramble (R-UT), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Steve Komadina (R-NM), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Renée Kosel (R-IL), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Curry Todd (R-TN), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Alex Mooney (R-MD), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. David Casas (R-GA), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Bill Seitz (R-OH), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Wayne Christian (R-TX), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Tom Craddick (R-TX), William J. Raggio Excellence Award</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dr. Syed Kamall (a Member of the European Parliament representing London), International Legislator of the Year[citation needed]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2007 Award-Winners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Sen. Dennis Nolan (R-NV), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Rodney Hubbard (D-MO), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. William Hamzy (R-CT), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Sen. Robert Burns (R-AZ), State Legislator of the Year</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Charlie Ross (R-MS), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Bob Beers (R-NV), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Bill Raggio (R-NV), William J. Raggio Excellence Award (first recipient)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;Billy Tauzin (PhRMA, formerly R-LA), Adam Smith Free Enterprise Award</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chris Heaton-Harris (Member of the European Parliament), International Legislator of the Year[citation needed]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2006 Award-Winners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Rep. Ed Emery (R-MO), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Troy Fraser (R-TX), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Julia Howard (R-NC), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Phil King (R-TX), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Hal Wick (R-SD), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roger Helmer (Member of the European Parliament for the East Midlands region), International Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Lady Margaret Thatcher, ALEC’s Pioneer Award </b>- Thatcher also sent ALEC members a letter in which she wrote, “You have achieved an enormous amount already but our task never ends. So steel yourselves for the struggles ahead and draw strength once more from that undaunted spirit of freedom which underpins your great nation.”[citation needed]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2005 Award-Winners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Rep. Phil Montgomery (R-WI), State Legislator of the Year[4]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. John Piscopo (R-CT), State Legislator of the Year[citation needed]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2004 Award-Winners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Rep. John Harkins (R-CT), State Legislator of the Year[citation needed]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2002 Award-Winners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Sen. Zell Miller,</span> Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award[5]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Stephen Buehrer (R-OH), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Speaker of the House Tom Feeney (R-FL), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Debby Sanderson (R-FL), State Legislator of the Year[6]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2001 Award Winners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Former Idaho Governor Dirk <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Kempthorne </span>(R), later Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award[7]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Jamie Van Fossen (R-IA), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Del. James F. Ports, Jr. (R-MD), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Mark Hillman (R-CO), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Del. Bill Howell (R-VA), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Del. Martha Klima (R-MD), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. John Perzel (R-PA), State Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Jerry Thorne (R-ID), State Legislator of the Year[8]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1999 Award-Winners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Former Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL, now Congressman), Legislator of the Year[9]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1998 Award-Winners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Sen. Sandy Greiner (R-IA), National Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. John Thrasher (R-FL), Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sheila Sorensen (R-ID), National Legislator of the Year[citation needed]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1996 Award-Winners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Sen. Mat Dunaskis (R-MI), Legislator of the Year[citation needed]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1991 Award-Winners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Tommy Thompson (R-WI), Thomas Jefferson Award[10]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1990 Award Winners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Rep. Annette P. Williams (D-WI), Outstanding State Legislator Award[11]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1981 Award-Winners</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Rep. Harold D. “Hal” Stratton, Jr. (R-NM), Legislator of the Year[citation needed]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Unknown Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Rep Lynn R. Wachtmann (R-OH), Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rep. Mary Fallin (R-OK), Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. John Andrews (R-CO), National Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. Mark Hillman (R-CO), National Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sen. David Williams (R-KY), Legislator of the Year</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Julia Howard (R-NC), Legislator of the Year (2006 or 2007)[citation needed]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></div></div>