alec2bkup
ALEC2bkup
main hard to save; this does not include links or long list of minor members
see text version
ALEC Task Force Politicians
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Task_Force_Politicians
http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
Wisconsin Moving to Advance ALEC Constitutional Convention Scheme
Wisconsin is the latest state to line up behind a national effort to amend the Constitution and cripple the federal government's ability to spend -- likely forcing steep cuts in popular earned benefit programs such as Social Security and blocking Congress from responding to economic downturns or natural disasters -- apparently with the ultimate goal of completely overhauling America's system of governance.
Assembly Joint Resolution 81, which passed out of committee on Wednesday, would call for an Article V Constitutional Convention to force a federal balanced budget amendment. Article V of the U.S. Constitution provides that thirty-four states (two-thirds) can trigger a convention to propose an amendment, which must then be ratified by 38 states (three-fourths). The legislation closely tracks the "Balanced Budget Amendment Resolution"from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and allied advocacy groups promoting an Article V convention.
ALEC's Stealth Convention
"AJR 81 comes right out of the 'Convention of States' workshop and materials presented at ALEC where state legislators were promised bundled campaign contributions and grassroots support if they joined this effort to amend the federal constitution," said Rep. Chris Taylor, a Madison Democrat who attended ALEC's Annual Meeting in Chicago last summer, in a statement. "I am alarmed that this effort is now making its way through the Wisconsin legislature and is tentatively scheduled to be considered by the full Assembly next Tuesday."
ALEC has published a "how-to" manual for an Article V constitutional amendment, and at its last two meetings hosted workshops on amendment strategy from the group "Citizens for Self Governance," led by Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler, and whose board includes WisconsiniteEric O'Keefe (who has spoken publicly about being subpoenaed in Wisconsin's John Doe probe in his role as Director of Wisconsin Club for Growth). Citizens for Self Governance seeks to use the amendment process to severely restrict federal power, for example by redefining the Commerce Clause to prohibit Congress from enacting child labor or anti-discrimination laws. In recent years, the Article V idea has spread in Republican circles thanks to right-wing radio host and author Mark Levin, and has been elevated by the likes of Glenn Beck....http://www.prwatch.org/node/12379
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40th, see alec3
President Level: Reynolds American
Chairman Level: K12, Peabody Energy, "How Money Walks," the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Institute for Legal Reform, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, ExxonMobil, Citizens for Self-Governance, the Cigar Association of America, and the State Policy Network
Vice Chairman Level: Celgene, BNSF, PhRMA, UPS, and the Illinois Policy Institute
Director Level: Cloud Peak Energy, Century Link, Takeda, TransCanada, U.S. Steel, Progressive Solutions, Boehringer Ingelheim, SAP, Uline, Crown, the Liberty Foundation of America, and Monarch
Trustee Level: the American Federation for Children, Wells Fargo, Lilly, the Illinois Credit League, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Prairie State, Exelon Generation, Caterpillar, Ameren Illinois, Opportunity Ohio, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, Americans for Prosperity Foundation, and the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.
2x?
propublica; http://www.propublica.org/article/everything-youve-ever-wanted-to-know-about-voter-id-laws FAQ
update:
Why has there been such a recent surge in voter ID legislation around the country?
This report by NYU's Brennan Center for Justice cites primarily big Republican gains in the 2010 midterms which turned voter ID laws into a "major legislative priority." Aside from Rhode Island, all voter ID legislation has been introduced by Republican-majority legislatures.
News21 also has this report on the close affiliation between the bills’ sponsors and the conservative nonprofit group, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
Republican figures have championed such laws. For instance, Mike Turzai, majority leader of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, recently praised the state's legislative accomplishments at a Republican State Committee meeting last month. "Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done," he said.
A spokesman for Turzai, Steve Miskin, told ProPublica that Turzai was "mischaracterized" by the press. "For the first time in many years, you're going to have a relatively level playing field in the presidential elections" as the result of these new laws," Miskin said. "With all things equal, a Republican presidential nominee in Pennsylvania has a chance."
Correction July 24, 2012: An earlier version of this story said Texas went to federal court to challenge the DOJ’s denial of preclearance. In fact, Texas filed a lawsuit seeking preclearance from the federal district court two months before the DOJ announced its decision. Also, some states require a government-issued photo that does not have to come from the federal government as first detailed.
Just how well-founded are fears of voter fraud?
There have been only a small number of fraud cases resulting in a conviction. A New York Times analysis from 2007 identified 120 cases filed by the Justice Department over five years. These cases, many of which stemmed from mistakenly filled registration forms or misunderstanding over voter eligibility, resulted in 86 convictions.
There are "very few documented cases," said UC-Irvine professor and election law specialist Rick Hasen. "When you do see election fraud, it invariably involves election officials taking steps to change election results or it involves absentee ballots which voter ID laws can't prevent," he said.
One of the most vocal supporters of strict voter ID laws, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, told the Houston Chronicle earlier this month that his office has prosecuted about 50 cases of voter fraud in recent years. "I know for a fact that voter fraud is real, that it must be
ALEC members drafted a voter ID bill in 2009, a year when the 501(c) tax-exempt organization had $5.3 million in undisclosed corporate and nonprofit contributions, according to Internal Revenue Service documents.
At ALEC??s annual conferences, legislators, nonprofits and corporations work together without direct public input to develop bills that promote smaller government.
The group’s Public Safety and Elections Task Force at the 2009 Atlanta meeting approved the “Voter ID Act,” a photo ID bill modeled on Indiana and Georgia laws.
The task force convened in committees at the downtown Hyatt Regency Atlanta that July. Arkansas state Rep. Dan Greenberg, Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce and Indiana state Rep. Bill Ruppel (three Republicans now out of office) led drafting and discussion of the Voter ID Act. ...
...
When did voter ID laws get passed — and which states have the strictest ones?
The first such law was passed as early as 2003, but momentum has picked up in recent years. In 2011 alone, legislators in 34 states introduced bills requiring voters show photo ID — 14 of those states already had existing voter ID laws but lawmakers sought to toughen statutes, mainly to require proof of photo identification.
Groups Charge ALEC with Tax Fraud over Secretive "Scholarship" Fund that Finances Junkets for State Lawmakers
by PRW Staff [1] — August 5, 2013 - 12:34pm
Projects: ALEC Exposed [2]
Share/Save Share this [3]
As Legislators Converge on Chicago, Watchdogs Urge Full Disclosure of Travel Slush Fund Spending and Tough Enforcement of State Gift Laws
For Immediate Release: August 5, 2013
Contact: Harriet Rowan, harriet_rowan@prwatch.org
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is running a secretive, multi-million dollar slush fund that finances lavish trips for state legislators and has misled the Internal Revenue Service about the fund's activity, two government watchdog groups charged today.
Common Cause and the Center for Media and Democracy said the "scholarship fund" scheme also raises serious questions about ALEC's compliance with state gift and disclosure laws, and the ethics of lawmakers who accept ALEC's travel payments.
The watchdogs said that by funneling money through ALEC, that group's corporate sponsors are able to take a federal tax deduction for the cost of wining, dining and housing lawmakers and their families at resorts and events like ALEC's 40th anniversary meeting this week at Chicago's posh Palmer House Hilton (August 7-9). Meanwhile, ALEC conceals the sources of the funds from the public and hides the amount of spending from the IRS by claiming that it only holds the funds in "trust," while writing lawmakers' checks to cover their trips.
Common Cause and CMD laid out details of the fund's operation in an IRS tax whistleblower complaint and letter to the IRS Commissioner.
The groups have built their case based on documents obtained through open records requests, and are taking a number of actions this week to urge a crackdown on the ALEC slush fund's operation, including:
Filing a Common Cause complaint [4] with the IRS Whistleblower Office and submitting a joint letter to the IRS Commissioner [5]charging ALEC with filing fraudulent tax returns that massively underreported and grossly misrepresented its "scholarship scheme," and of operating the fund in violation ALEC's 501(c)(3) tax exempt status.
Releasing an investigative report, Buying Influence [6], prepared by both groups and DBAPress,that documents how ALEC's member companies have funneled at least $4 million for lawmakers since 2006 into the "scholarship" fund. ALEC's corporate funds have been used to fly state lawmakers to resorts for closed-door meetings with corporate leaders and lobbyists, and to finance the purchase of exclusive tickets and receptions at professional baseball games, cigar parties, and skeet shoots.The "slush fund...leaves constituents in the dark about who is really footing the bills for their representatives," the groups charged.
Sending letters to state ethics oversight agencies [7] urging authorities to carefully review the ALEC "scholarship" scheme and determine if it complies with state gift and disclosure laws.
Sending letters to the ALEC elected state chair in each state [8], asking for the names of legislators receiving ALEC corporate funds to travel to this week's Chicago conference, and which corporations are underwriting that travel. CMD and Common Cause also asked the ALEC chairs to provide a full public accounting of legislative "scholarship" recipients and funders for the past five years.
"ALEC pledged this spring to be more transparent. This is a chance for the organization to keep that promise," said Arn Pearson, Common Cause's vice president for policy and litigation. "Our elected officials really should not accept expense-paid trips and lodging from special interests, but if they choose to do so, the voters are entitled to know who is paying, and how much."
"We now know which corporations funded trips to posh resorts for hundreds of lawmakers to vote behind closed doors with lobbyists on proposals to change state laws," said Lisa Graves, executive director of CMD and alecexposed.org. "It's disgraceful for ALEC to use its tax-exempt status to act as a conduit for gifts to facilitate influence peddling that advances the lobbying agenda of special interests to the detriment of ordinary Americans. This is corruption."
The ALEC confabs bring together corporate executives, lobbyists, and state lawmakers for closed-door meetings where they vote side by side on pro-corporate legislation to take back to their states. ALEC's agenda includes the privatization of schools and other public assets, anti-labor laws, weakened protections for clean water and air, and telecom deregulation bills. ALEC's legacy includes a national drive on behalf of "Stand Your Ground" laws like the Florida statute at issue in the Trayvon Martin shooting, and restrictive Voter ID measures that make it harder for students, elderly, minority and disabled voters to cast their ballots.
Most of the money in the scholarship fund comes from telecom, pharmaceutical, tobacco, alcohol, and oil and gas industry giants -- companies and trade associations that benefit financially from the passage of state legislation promoted by ALEC.
The top 10 corporate donors to the ALEC scholarship fund for the years data is available are:
Top 10 corporate donors to the ALEC scholarship fund for the years data is available
The CMD-Common Cause report said ALEC promotes its meetings "in vacation-like terms." One of its invites promised legislators "endless sandy beaches, sunny days, beautiful sunsets and the cool gulf breezes." The event was at a luxury hotel, near a golf course where ALEC funder R.J. Reynolds Tobacco sponsored a clinic and tournament for lawmakers and lobbyists, the report said, one of many such events.
Others -- Marcus Owens, the former head of the IRS' nonprofit tax section, and Bob Sloan of the Voter Legislative Transparency Project -- have also urged the IRS to investigate misrepresentations they allege ALEC has made in its federal tax filings regarding its lobbying and its payments for travel by elected officials.
The top 10 states receiving ALEC "scholarships" for legislators for the years data is available were:
Top 10 states receiving ALEC
Center for Media and Democracy • 520 University Avenue, Suite 260 • Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Phone: 608-260-9713 • Fax: 608-260-9714
Source URL: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/08/12202/groups-charge-alec-tax-fraud-over-secretive-scholarship-fund-finances-junkets-sta
Links:
[1] http://www.prwatch.org/users/35278/prw-staff
[2] http://www.prwatch.org/projects/alec-exposed
[3] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prwatch.org%2Fnews%2F2013%2F08%2F12202%2Fgroups-charge-alec-tax-fraud-over-secretive-scholarship-fund-finances-junkets-sta&linkname=Groups%20Charge%20ALEC%20with%20Tax%20Fraud%20over%20Secretive%20%22Scholarship%22%20Fund%20that%20Finances%20Junkets%20for%20State%20Lawmakers
[4] http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7Bfb3c17e2-cdd1-4df6-92be-bd4429893665%7D/SCANNED%20SUPPLEMENTAL%20SUBMISSION.PDF
[5] http://www.sourcewatch.org/images/d/d9/JOINT_LETTER_TO_IRS_RE_SCHOLARSHIPS.pdf
[6] http://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/2/2f/BUYING_INFLUENCE.pdf
[7] http://www.commoncause.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=4773613&ct=13231483#sthash.F4LlwkCM.dpuf
[8] http://www.commoncause.org/atf/cf/%7Bfb3c17e2-cdd1-4df6-92be-bd4429893665%7D/STATE%20ALEC%20CHAIR%20LETTER%20FINAL.DOC
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What's on ALEC's Agenda for its 40th Anniversary Meeting in Chicago?
by Brendan Fischer — August 7, 2013 - 10:34am
Projects: ALEC Exposed
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CHICAGO -- This week, the corporate and legislator members of the American Legislative Exchange Council are meeting at the swank Palmer House hotel in Chicago to celebrate the organization's 40th anniversary, be educated in corporate sponsored workshops and adopt legislative priorities for the coming year. Here is what is on the agenda for ALEC's 40th -- notably, some of the workshops carry a $40,000 pricetag for corporate sponsors.
Fracking, Virtual Schools, and Privatization
New ways to thwart local democratic control by prohibiting city or county governments from regulating genetically modified plant seeds. Members of the Agriculture Subcommittee -- which is chaired by Jeff Case of CropLife America -- will consider a bill to thwart local democratic control by prohibiting city or local governments from regulating genetically modified plant seeds, which happens to benefit many members of CropLife's trade association and other big ag companies. Contrary to Jeffersonian principles of local democracy, for years ALEC has promoted bills to preempt local efforts to establish everything from paid sick days to municipal broadband.
ALEC's Energy, Environment & Agriculture (EEA) task forcePresentations on how fracking America can lead to increased profits through exporting America's natural gas. American Petroleum Institute representatives Jon Shore and Rebecca Heimlich will give a presentation on "Local Bans on Hydraulic Fracturing: Coming Soon to Your District." Jason French of energy company Cheniere Energy will present to the Energy Subcommittee about "LNG [Liquid Natural Gas] exports: A Story of American Innovation and Economic Opportunity."
Discussions of the wonders of nuclear energy and offshore drilling. Other energy-related agenda items include a presentation on "Nuclear Energy's Continuing Role in Providing Baseload Electricity," and another on "Developing America's Offshore Energy Potential: Good Sense and Good Cents." ALEC will also consider a "Resolution in Opposition to a Carbon Tax."
More climate change denial? Members of the Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force will be part of a breakfast plenary session called "A Thoughtful Approach to Climate Science." The title is less inflammatory than some of its past panels -- at the 2011 ALEC meeting, legislators attended a workshop titled "Warming Up to Climate Change: The Many Benefits of Increased Atmospheric CO2" -- but given ALEC funders like the Koch brothers and members like the Heartland Institute, it seems unlikely that the organization has woken up to the dangers of climate change.
Discussions about blocking GMO labeling laws and ordinances that would allow consumers to know if they are buying genetically engineered food, one of the goals of agribusiness and chemical firms that bankroll ALEC.
Redoubled efforts to undermine renewable energy initiatives and maintain reliance on coal and other fossil fuels. One workshop, which cost $40,000 to sponsor, is titled "The Economic Benefits and Political Challenges to Coal Exports." Also on the docket is another bill to repeal renewable energy standards, the "Market Power Renewables Act," after the failure of the ALEC "Electricity Freedom Act" in 2013. As explained by the Checks and Balances Project:
The "Market-Power Renewables Act" will likely serve as the model for another round of attacks on state Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) in 2014 following ALEC's failure to weaken or eliminate clean energy policies this year. The new bill would significantly weaken state clean energy laws by broadening the eligible electricity sources to include existing, large hydroelectric power plants, biomass, biogas and other sources of electricity.
Updates to some of ALEC's long-standing anti-union policies. The "Employee Secret Ballot Protection Act" will be amended "to call for [union certification by] a majority of members in the bargaining unit, rather than a majority of those voting." This was the same certification policy pushed by Scott Walker in Wisconsin, and creates an almost insurmountable burden: few governors or presidents would ever win election if they had to win a majority of all eligible voters, rather than just a majority of those who vote.
Renewing objections to linking the minimum wage to the consumer price index. ALEC plans to brush-off and renew its "Resolution Opposing Increases in Minimum Wage Linked to CPI." In an apparent recognition that their justifications for opposing minimum wage increases are disintegrating, they will eliminate this line: "In reality, of the approximately 2.7% of U.S. workers that earn the minimum wage, two-thirds (2/3) will earn an increased wage in a year."
Privatization and outsourcing of toll roads. Members of the Transportation Subcommittee will discuss "ALEC Principles on Toll Roads," which backs privatization of toll rolls, and is particularly relevant to ALEC members Cintra, Macquerie, and Transurban (all foreign firms). Cintra and Macquarie have teamed up to cut multi-billion dollar contract deals to take control of highways in places like Indiana, basically granting companies a monopoly to help state government raise quick revenue in the short term, but in the long-term saddling consumers with higher fees and the state with lost revenue.
New efforts to eliminate occupational licensing for any profession, which help ensure that people who want to call themselves doctors, long-haul truckers, accountants, or barbers meet basic standards of training and expertise to guarantee that consumers are safe and get what they pay for.
Expanding virtual "schools," which enriches ALEC's online school corporate funders, such as K12 Inc. The Illinois Policy Institute -- the State Policy Network affiliate in the state -- will present on "digital education." IPI employees had pushed a Virtual Charter School plan in Illinois, apparently in collaboration with ALEC member K12 Inc., the nation's largest provider of online charter schools (which has become notorious for poor educational outcomes and high profit margins). Additionally, at least two "workshops" -- which carry a $40,000 pricetag -- will deal with online education: "Modeling State Funding Formulas, K-12 Online Course Providers" and "Statewide Full-Time Virtual Schools: The Case for Parent Choice vs. Local Control."
More flawed testing for colleges. ALEC has long promoted increased reliance on high-stakes testing for elementary and high school students, which many educators say has altered the classroom dynamic and interfered with teaching. A bill to be considered at the Chicago meeting will impose that same costly testing regime to the college level with "The Collegiate Learning Assessment Bill."
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A Side of Climate Change Denial with Your Coffee? ALEC Dishes up Some Hard to Swallow Spin with the Heartland Institute
by Lisa Graves [1] — August 8, 2013 - 12:05am
Topics: Global Warming [2], Environment [3]
Projects: ALEC Exposed [4]
Heartland global warming Unabomber billboardThis morning in Chicago hundreds of primarily Republican state legislators are getting more indoctrination against doing anything about climate change from the American Legislative Exchange Council [6] (ALEC).
This year, ALEC has chosen its long-time partner, the Heartland Institute, to help host the session. Heartland is so extreme on the issue of climate change that it sought to equate people who believe the climate is changing with the Unabomber, through a billboard campaign that featured a mugshot of Ted Kaczynski with the line: "I still believe in Global Warming. Do you?" Heartland lost numerous funders in response to a citizens campaign about the ad last year.
Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm Is Where?
The ad was so controversial that even State Farm Insurance -- which has stood by ALEC through the controversy over its role in pushing Stand Your Ground gun bills into law [7] -- announced [8] last year that it was "ending its association with the Heartland Institute."
State Farm gave Heartland $230,000 in 2011, according to documents posted [9] by DeSmog Blog. It was not Heartland's biggest donor; an unnamed person or corporation anonymously gives it well over $1 million per year for its operations, which include a heavy dose of climate change denial.
State Farm, however, remains on ALEC's board and funds its operations for an undisclosed amount.
Heartland Institute: Global Warming "Would Be Beneficial," if Real
Heartland Institute James Taylor Climate Change DenierToday's ALEC workshop, which ALEC's price list says cost $40,000 to sponsor, features Heartland, whose president is climate change denier-in-chief Joseph Bast.
Bast is flexible [10], so to speak, in how he argues about climate change, asserting that there is "no global warming trend" but alternatively claiming that if it were to get hotter, global warming "would be beneficial to the natural world and to human civilization." He even asserts that if there were global warming, it would help you live longer.
That claim echoes a previous ALEC conference where lawmakers were urged to consider [11] "Warming Up to Climate Change: the Many Benefits of Increased Atmospheric CO2" by another climate change denier.
Then-state rep (now U.S. Congressman) Mark Pocan attended that session [12] and helped expose that ALEC lawmakers were told at that ALEC session that because the amount of carbon dioxide had increased during the past century and so had the average human lifespan, "therefore" increased CO2 is good for you.
Shocked that such a fallacious claim would be made with a straight face, he asked a fellow lawmaker what he thought about it, and his fellow rep gushed about what a great session it was. With colleagues like that in statehouses across the country, it is no wonder so many state legislatures are not addressing the dire threats posed by the climate changes that are demonstrably underway; North Carolina, for example, barred [13] state universities from even studying sea level rise in that coastal state.
Heartland Climate Change Propaganda Aims for Lawmakers, and Little Children
This year, the Heartland Institute's James Taylor (not the son of the singer of "Fire and Rain") will be pushing its spin. Taylor's claim to fame is being an advisor to Texas Governor Rick Perry, who ran for president last year -- a candidate whose dimness was epitomized by his failure to be able to name all three of the federal government agencies he pledged to eliminate.
Most Scientists Agree Climate Change Is HappeningTaylor is said to be the "primary author" of Rick Perry's energy plan, and also advised Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney on "energy and environment." ALEC calls Taylor a "Sponsor Speaker," presumably because his slot speaking at breakfast time was paid for by one of ALEC's sponsors, like the Heartland Institute.
Heartland operates a number of ventures that are part of the climate denial machine. It has its sights set not only on capturing lawmakers but on indoctrinating school kids. Its wish list includes creating a K-12 "curriculum" that would tell kids [9] that saying the climate is changing is "controversial," even though fewer than 3% of all peer-reviewed scientific articles on climate change reject global warming.
Part of the PR playbook of climate change denial is to create confusion.
That's where TV weather guys come in. There are very few scientists peddling climate denial, some of whom have ties to the fossil fuel industry. Their claims are amplified by a few TV weather personalities whose main job is telling folks if it might rain or snow this week, not predicting the weather ten years from now.
An ALEC Version of the Earth Is Flat: It's Global Cooling and That's Cool
Joe Bastardi and Climate ChangeAt this week's ALEC meeting, ALEC lawmakers will be hearing from the fast-talking Joe Bastardi, who describes himself as a long-range weather forecaster and who will be welcomed to the ballroom stage by Heartland's Joe Bast.
Bastardi, a Penn State grad, used to get a lot of mileage in the climate denial world out of being a meterologist for the widely known Accuweather, which was created at Penn State nearly 50 years ago. He's a former college wrestler and a body builder who has made a name for himself as a pugnacious talking head about climate on Fox and other shows. Bill O'Reilly loves him. Bastardi left Accuweather to join WeatherBELL Analytics, a subscription service, in 2011.
According to a Vanity Fair [14] interview that year, "his bread and butter, he says, are his corporate clients, the names of which he won't divulge, saying only that he's 'heavily involved in energy.'"
Bastardi is much more than a global warming denier.
His notorious claim is that the earth is not going to get warmer in coming decades: it is going "to get colder over the next 20 to 30 years." He usually adds something to his spiel about "solar cycles" being partly to blame or volcanoes, not the massive increase in carbon dioxide caused by burning fossil fuels in the past century.
So, basically the message of the morning is don't worry your pretty little heads ALEC legislators, Joe says it's getting colder, not warmer.
The USDA Says It's Getting Warmer (and that's the Opposite of Colder)
USDA Plant Hardiness MapWhile American skepticism about climate change has been growing along with the pack of politicians echoing denialist claims, the USDA issued an update on growing zones [15] that shows that the United States is getting warmer (an ap available at the link above shows how much the map has changed). Setting aside the politics, the Department of Agriculture must give advice about what can be planted and survive or thrive.
According to the plant hardiness map, most parts of the U.S. are now able to grow trees and plants that formerly could not survive in their region, due to warming temperatures. To put that more concretely, botanical gardens from cold-belt cities like Chicago and Madison are now considering planting trees like southern swamp cypresses that formerly could not survive winters there, due to the changing climate. That is because it is getting warmer. Ask any snowmobile franchisee in that region.
The majority of reputable scientists, in fact, acknowledge that the planet is getting warmer due to CO2 [16], not colder. More than accept this reality, many of them are on record expressing deep concerns about the consequences of the projected warming on human life. Even though some weather patterns are changing -- which may make some areas cooler as others heat up, along with more extreme weather -- the chart of measured temperatures shows a rising pattern that is unmistakable.
But ALEC lawmakers will not be hearing about what the vast majority of scientists think, which is that the planet is warming and will warm to dangerous levels unless steps are taken to limit CO2 output and increase renewable energy.
ALEC Is Bankrolled by Huge Oil, Gas, and Coal Corporations
ALEC, which is bankrolled by some of the biggest companies profiting from expanded consumption of oil, gas, and coal, has numerous bills designed to stop any effort to address climate change.
TransCanada (Keystone XL) Funding ALECThese ALEC lobbying agenda items include trying to stop the EPA from regulating CO2; trying to stop the government from imposing a carbon tax, and trying to stop states from honoring contracts to produce a portion of their energy from renewable energy sources, as the Center for Media and Democracy has helped document [17] as part of its ALECexposed project.
It is no surprise that some of the richest corporations in the world that have underwritten ALEC's operations -- like Koch Industries, Exxon, Chevron, Marathon, BP, Peabody Coal, and TransCanada [18], which has been pushing the Keystone XL Pipeline -- benefit financially from the sowing of confusion about climate change. Some may wonder why other ALEC sponsors are going along with ALEC's role in the denier's playbook. For example, State Farm's executives continue to fund ALEC even though the insurer has to pay out big sums when extreme weather strikes.
Maybe State Farm and the other corporations buy ALEC's spin or overlook it. After all, ALEC labeled this morning's session "A Thoughtful Approach to Climate," even though it leaves out and aims to dismiss what most scientists actually believe based on extensive analysis of the data available.
Or perhaps a breakfast of climate confusion is easier for lawmakers and lobbyists to swallow after a night of being wined and dined on fossil fuel profits and the largesse of ALEC's other corporate benefactors.
Center for Media and Democracy • 520 University Avenue, Suite 260 • Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Phone: 608-260-9713 • Fax: 608-260-9714
Source URL: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/08/12207/side-climate-change-denial-your-coffee-alec-dishes-some-hard-swallow-spin-heartla
Links:
[1] http://www.prwatch.org/users/35268/lisa-graves
[2] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/environment/global-warming
[3] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/environment
[4] http://www.prwatch.org/projects/alec-exposed
[5] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prwatch.org%2Fnews%2F2013%2F08%2F12207%2Fside-climate-change-denial-your-coffee-alec-dishes-some-hard-swallow-spin-heartla&linkname=A%20Side%20of%20Climate%20Change%20Denial%20with%20Your%20Coffee%3F%20ALEC%20Dishes%20up%20Some%20Hard%20to%20Swallow%20Spin%20with%20the%20Heartland%20Institute
[6] http://www.ALECexposed.org
[7] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/07/12180/time-repeal-alecnra-stand-your-ground-laws
[8] http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/09/local/la-me-gs-unabomber-billboard-continues-to-hurt-heartland-institute-20120509
[9] http://www.desmogblog.com/heartland-institute-exposed-internal-documents-unmask-heart-climate-denial-machine
[10] http://www.desmogblog.com/joseph-bast
[11] http://www.prwatch.org/NODE/10914
[12] http://progressive.org/inside_alec.html
[13] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/07/11629/tar-heel-lawmakers-put-global-warming-hold-or-rising-tide-lifts-no-votes
[14] http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2011/02/joe-bastardi-explains-why-the-cold-miser-is-winning-the-climate-change-showdown
[15] http://www.arborday.org/media/mapchanges.cfm
[16] http://www.skepticalscience.com/global-warming-scientific-consensus.htm
[17] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/08/12193/dirty-hands-77-alec-bills-2013-advance-big-oil-big-ag-agenda
[18] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/07/12160/keystone-academy-where-legislators-learn-etiquette-serving-special-interests
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ALEC at 40: Turning Back the Clock on Prosperity and Progress
New Report Identifies 466 ALEC Bills in 2013 That Reflect Corporate Agenda
MADISON -- Today, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) released a new report: "ALEC at 40: Turning Back the Clock on Prosperity and Progress." The report identifies and analyzes 466 American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) bills introduced in 2013.
This week, ALEC celebrates its 40th anniversary in Chicago. At this meeting -- as in all ALEC meetings -- lobbyists from U.S. and foreign corporations will vote as equals alongside state legislators to adopt ALEC "model" bills, which then will be distributed nationwide with little or no disclosure of their ALEC roots.
In 2013, ALEC is going to new lengths to hide its lobbying of legislators from the public eye. It has taken to stamping all its documents as exempt from state public records laws, dodging open records with a "dropbox" website, and other tricks. After Watergate, many states strengthened their laws regarding open meetings and open records, but real sunshine on government is anathema to ALEC.
"When ALEC was born, Richard Nixon was president. Gasoline was 40 cents a gallon and the minimum wage was $1.60 an hour. Forty years later, ALEC legislators seem to be hankering for this bygone era, pursuing an agenda to roll back renewables, expand the use of fossil fuels, and suppress wages and benefits for even the lowest paid American workers,” says CMD Director of Research Nick Surgey.
In this report, the CMD identifies 466 ALEC "model" bills introduced in 2013, but pursuing a retrograde agenda.
Key Findings:
CMD identified 466 ALEC bills from the 2013 session. 84 of these passed and became law. ALEC bills were introduced in every state in the nation and the District of Columbia in 2013. The top ALEC states were West Virginia (25 bills) and Missouri (21 bills).
Despite ALEC’s effort to distance itself from Voter ID and Stand Your Ground by disbanding its controversial Public Safety and Elections Task Force, 62 of these laws were introduced: 10 Stand Your Ground bills and 52 bills to enact or tighten Voter ID restrictions. Five states enacted additional Voter ID restrictions, and two states passed Stand Your Ground.
CMD identified 117 ALEC bills that affect wages and worker rights. 14 of these became law. These bills included so-called “Right to Work” legislation, part of the ALEC agenda since at least 1979, introduced in 15 states this year. Other bills would preempt local living or minimum wage ordinances, facilitate the privatization of public services, scrap defined benefit pension plans, or undermine the ability of unions to organize to protect workers.
CMD identified 139 ALEC bills that affect public education. 31 of these became law. Just seven states did not have an ALEC education bill introduced this year. Among other things, these bills would siphon taxpayer money from the public education system to benefit for-profit private schools, including the “Great Schools Tax Credit Act,” introduced in 10 states.
CMD identified 77 ALEC bills that advance a polluter agenda. 17 of these became law. Numerous ALEC “model” bills were introduced that promote a fossil fuel and fracking agenda and undermine environmental regulations. The “Electricity Freedom Act,” which would repeal state renewable portfolio standards, was introduced in six states this year.
CMD identified 71 ALEC bills narrowing citizen access to the courts. 14 of these became law. These bills cap damages, limit corporate liability, or otherwise make it more difficult for citizens to hold corporations to account when their products or services result in injury or death.
CMD identified nine states that have been inspired by ALEC’s “Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act” to crack down on videographers documenting abuses on factory farms. These so-called “ag-gag” bills erode First Amendment rights, and threaten the ability of journalists and investigators to pursue food safety and animal welfare investigations.
CMD identified 11 states that introduced bills to override or prevent local paid sick leave ordinances, such as the one recently enacted in New York City. At least eight of these bills were sponsored by known ALEC members. Although ALEC has not adopted a preemption bill as an official “model,” ALEC member the National Restaurant Association brought a bill to override local paid sick leave ordinances to an ALEC meeting in 2011, along with a target map and other materials.
ALEC has faced increasing scrutiny since CMD launched its ALEC Exposed project in July 2011, making the entire ALEC library of more than 800 "model" bills publicly available for the first time. Since then, groups including Color of Change, Common Cause, Progress Now, People for the American Way, the Voters Legislative Transparency Project, and others have put ALEC in the spotlight like never before.
To date, 49 major American corporations have dumped ALEC, including some of the largest firms in the world.
Read the full report here.
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ALEC Exposed: Warming Up to Climate Change
by Jill Richardson [1] — July 27, 2011 - 2:01am
Topics: Global Warming [2], Energy [3], Environment [4]
Projects: ALEC Exposed [5]
As the U.S. suffers through catastrophic tornadoes, heat waves, and other climate extremes -- no doubt just a small taste of what the climate crisis will bring in the future -- polluting industries and the politicians that serve them want to convince you that excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is actually a good thing.
Last December, almost like clockwork, Republican legislators in state houses across the nation sounded the alarm about an "out of control" Environmental Protection Agency [7] (EPA). What had the EPA suddenly done to earn such criticism? The EPA had dared to take the first baby steps towards regulating greenhouse gas emissions.
By January 2011, Indiana became the first state to pass a resolution urging Congress to prohibit the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions (by defunding the EPA if necessary), to impose a two year moratorium on any new air quality regulations, and urging the federal government to complete a study identifying all planned regulatory activity by the EPA and its impact on the economy, jobs, and American economic competitiveness.
Between February and May, 13 other states passed similar resolutions (Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming). Six more states had resolutions introduced that never passed (Alaska, Florida Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio and Oklahoma). Because the Center for Media and Democracy has now launched the ALEC Exposed [8] archive, we can now trace the emergence of this rash of legislation [9] to the bill factory know as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
ALEC and Kyoto
ALEC's campaign against any regulation of greenhouse gases began long ago, when the U.S. was in the midst of debating the Kyoto Protocol [10], an international effort to rein in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to control the climate crisis. In the spring of 1998, ALEC ratified a model resolution [11]for states to pass calling on the U.S. to reject the Kyoto Protocol and banning states from regulating greenhouse gases in any way. With ALEC friend George W. Bush entering the White House in 2001, the energy interests that sit on ALEC's Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force -- easily got their way on keeping the U.S. out of Kyoto.
With a Board of Directors [12] that includes lobbyists from ExxonMobil [13], Peabody Energy [14], and Koch Industries [15], ALEC's interests in avoiding any regulation of greenhouse gases is easy to understand. ALEC's Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force [16] is currently chaired by theAmerican Gas Association [17], an organization that promotes natural gas "fracking [18]," and was previously chaired by Peabody Energy. Other ALEC members include BP America [19] and Chevron [20].
ALEC also receives substantial funding from fossil fuel interests. It has received at least $600,000 from Koch Industries [21], between 1997-2009, during which time it fought vigorously against greenhouse gas regulation, which would no doubt help Koch Industries' bottom line as the company profits handsomely from oil and natural gas, so much so that it was named one of the nation's top 10 air polluters in 2010 [22]. ALEC received an additional $1.4 million from ExxonMobil [23] since 1998. Both companies, and many more whose funding is harder to trace, are getting their money's worth as ALEC member and Congressional alumni parrot corporate talking points on the dangers of reducing America's GHG emissions.
ALEC and State Climate Change Initiatives
With Kyoto dead in the United States under the Bush administration, ALEC went after what they called "Son-of-Kyoto" legislation [24]: state efforts to regulate greenhouse gases, like the California law limiting CO2 emissions from vehicles by 2009. Simultaneously, they wrote and promoted model bills advocating natural gas "fracking," offshore drilling for oil and natural gas, and nuclear energy.
In addition to individual state laws regulating carbon, regional initiatives sprang up, such as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in ten Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states and, later, the Western Climate Initiative, which includes U.S. states, Mexican states, and Canadian provinces throughout the western half of the continent. ALEC drew up a resolution [25] for legislatures to pass, urging their governors to pull their states out of these regional initiatives. They had a major success when Arizona Governor and ALEC alumni Jan Brewer pulled her state out of the initiative [26] in early 2010.
ALEC and the EPA's "Regulatory Trainwreck"
ALEC and its dirty energy leaders, members, and funders found itself faced with a new challenge when President Obama was elected in 2008 and actual environmentalists were put in charge of the EPA. In 2009, the EPA made its "Finding [27]," that "the current and projected concentrations of the six key well-mixed greenhouse gases -- carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) — in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations." Under the Clean Air Act [28], the EPA was then required by law to regulate these greenhouse gases.
ALEC launched into hyperdrive. On December 1-3, 2010, ALEC held a policy summit in which it brought its troops in line on the issue of "the EPA's regulatory trainwreck [29]." ALEC sought to frame the EPA's enforcement of the Clean Air Act as "higher prices, fewer jobs, and less energy." The policy summit included a session led by Peter Glaser [30] of Troutman Sanders LLP law firm in which Glaser, an attorney who represents electric utility, mining and other energy industry companies and associations on environmental regulation, specifically in the area of air quality and global climate change, told the crowd that "EPA's regulatory trainwreck" is "a term that's now in common use around town. I think everybody should become familiar with it." (See the video here [31].) Along with the presentations, ALEC published a report [32] called "EPA's Regulatory Trainwreck: Strategies for State Legislators" and provided "Legislation to Consider [33]" on its site,
ALEC'S Federal Echo Chamber
With friends and alumni at the federal level, ALEC has a ready made echo chamber. At the December 2010 summit, Nebraska Senator and former Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns presented a talk called "Opening Agricultural Markets by Restraining the EPA and Expanding Trade." His presentation is not online, but it's not difficult to guess what he might have said. Less than one week later, he appeared on the radio show AgriTalk [36]to comment on the very same subject. "They make the Clinton administration look like shrinking violets on this. I mean, it's just incredible how active this Lisa Jackson and her team has been and it's not positive for agriculture at all, or for the economy."
ALEC alumni and incoming chair of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Oklahoma) echoed Johanns' comments on the same show[37] one week later and used his new power in the House to hold a hearing [38] on "the impact of EPA regulation on agriculture" on March 10, 2011. Meanwhile, in February 2011, Peter Glaser, who led ALEC's Policy Summit session on their anti-EPA GHG regulation campaign, testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Energy and Power subcommittee in a hearing on "The Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011." (The vice chair of the subcommittee, Rep. John Sullivan (R-Oklahoma), is another ALEC alumni.)
To drum up "grassroots" support for their campaign, the corporate-funded Tea Party group FreedomWorks [39] is now working to bring Tea Party activists into the campaign [40], calling on them to support another bill by Rep. John Sullivan, H.R. 2401: Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation Act of 2011 [41], which is designed to delay the enactment of any EPA regulations of GHGs.
With the Democrats in control of the White House and in the majority in the Senate, thus far ALEC has not been successful in shepherding its legislation through at a federal level. But just last month, it issued a press release [42] congratulating itself for pushing back against "EPA's onslaught of regulations."
ALEC Warms Up to Climate Change in New Orleans
ALEC will be meeting in New Orleans August 3-6. On the agenda is a session titled "Warming Up to Climate Change: The Many Benefits of Increased Atmospheric CO2 [43]." The greenhouse gas emissions and catastrophic climate crisis that has already begun could not have a better lobbyist than ALEC members and ALEC alumni in Congress. But now that they have been exposed, their meeting will be met with protests [44].
Center for Media and Democracy • 520 University Avenue, Suite 260 • Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Phone: 608-260-9713 • Fax: 608-260-9714
Source URL: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/07/10914/alec-exposed-warming-climate-change
Links:
[1] http://www.prwatch.org/users/27693/jill-richardson
[2] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/environment/global-warming
[3] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/energy
[4] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/environment
[5] http://www.prwatch.org/projects/alec-exposed
[6] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prwatch.org%2Fnews%2F2011%2F07%2F10914%2Falec-exposed-warming-climate-change&linkname=ALEC%20Exposed%3A%20Warming%20Up%20to%20Climate%20Change
[7] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S._Environmental_Protection_Agency
[8] http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
[9] http://www.sourcewatch.org/images/f/fc/3B2-IN_OPPOSITION_TO_EPA_PLAN_TO_REGULATE_GREENHOUSE_GASES_UNDER_THE_CLEAN_AIR_ACT_Exposed.pdf
[10] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Kyoto_Protocol
[11] http://www.sourcewatch.org/images/e/e8/3C4-State_Responses_to_Kyoto_Climate_Change_Protocol_Exposed.pdf
[12] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ALEC_Boards_and_Task_Forces
[13] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ExxonMobil
[14] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Peabody_Energy
[15] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Industries
[16] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ALEC_Boards_and_Task_Forces#Energy.2C_Environment_and_Agriculture_Task_Force
[17] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Gas_Association
[18] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/fracking
[19] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BP_America
[20] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Chevron
[21] http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/american-legislative-exchange/
[22] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Industries#Business_interests
[23] http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=10
[24] http://web.archive.org/web/20060602025124/http://www.alec.org/news/press-releases/press-releases-2004/january/sons-of-kyoto-legislation-states-react-to-the-myth-of-global-warming.html
[25] http://www.sourcewatch.org/images/4/49/3C0-ALEC_State_Withdrawal_from_Regional_Climate_Initiatives_Exposed.pdf
[26] http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/02/11/20100211climate-brewer0211.html
[27] http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/endangerment.html
[28] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Clean_Air_Act
[29] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/EPA's_regulatory_trainwreck
[30] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Peter_S._Glaser
[31] http://vimeo.com/19702959
[32] http://www.sourcewatch.org/images/e/e0/EPA-TRAIN-WRECK-2011-Final-Full-printres.pdf
[33] http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=EPATrainWreck&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=15335
[34] http://www.regulatorytrainwreck.com
[35] http://www.stopthetrainwreck.com
[36] http://www.agritalk.com/podcast/?p=episode&name=2010-12-08_december_810.mp3
[37] http://www.agritalk.com/podcast/?p=episode&name=2010-12-15_december_1510.mp3
[38] http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/hearingDetails.aspx?NewsID=1331
[39] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/FreedomWorks
[40] http://www.freedomworks.org/publications/end-of-the-line?src=nl
[41] http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-2401
[42] http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=ALEC_State_Legislators_Push_Back_EPA_s_Onslaught_of_Regulations
[43] http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=agenda1
[44] http://protestalec.org/
==
2010-2013 ALEC Bills
Disposal and Taxation of Public Lands Act
Electricity Freedom Act
Intrastate Coal and Use Act
Pipeline Replacement and Infrastructure Modernization and Enhancement Act
The Open and Fair Competition Act for Water and Wastewater Projects
Resolution Urging Quick Congressional Action on the Recommendations of The Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future
Resolution Supporting a Reasonable Compliance Timeline and Economy-wide Impact Study of EPA's Mercury and Air Toxics Rule
Resolution Requesting the Obama Administration Confer and Consult with the States on Management of Public Lands and Energy Resources
Resolution on U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement Accountability
Agriculture
3A0 Agriculture Bio-Security Act Exposed
3A1 ALEC Resolution on Animal Antibiotic Use Exposed
3A2 Biotechnology Resolution Exposed
3A3 Biotechnology State Uniformity Resolution Exposed
3A4 Commending American Forest and Paper Product Industries and the Sustainable Forest Initiative
3A5 In Support of Proper Timber Harvesting Exposed
3A6 Resolution in Support of the Healthy Forest Initiative Exposed
3A7 Resolution on Invasive Noxious Weeds Exposed
3A8 Right to Farm Act Exposed, Right to Farm Act on SourceWatch
3A9 State Pesticide Preemption Act Exposed
3A10 State Based Healthy Forest Plan Exposed
3A11 Vegetative Filter Strips Act Exposed
Sagebrush Rebellion Act
Energy
3E0 Electricity Transmission Principles Exposed
3E1 ALEC Energy Principles Exposed
3E2 Energy Efficiency and Savings Act Exposed
3E3 Offshore Energy Resources Act Exposed
3E4 Power Plant Siting Act Exposed
3E5 Resolution Encouraging Development of Liquefied Natural Gas Exposed
3E6 Resolution on Energy Conservation Exposed
3E7 Resolution on Mandatory Electricity Consumer Disclosure Information Exposed
3E8 Resolution on Renewable Energy Resources in a Competitive Electricity Marketplace Exposed
3E9 Resolution Recognizing the Large and Growing Need for Commercial Nuclear Energy Exposed
3E10 Resolution to Repeal Section 526 Exposed
3E11 Resolution to Retain State Authority over Hydraulic Fracturing Exposed
The Disclosure of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Composition Act Exposed
3E12 Urge Pres and Cong to Act Expeditiously in Procuring a Site or Sites for the Storage of High-Level Radioactive Waste Exposed
3E13 Urging Congress to End the Outer Continental Shelf Moratorium on Oil and Natural Gas Exploration and Production Exposed
Electricity Freedom Act
Concurrent Resolution on Energy Taxation in a Competitive Electricity Marketplace
Electric Industry Restructuring Act
Resolution for Date-Certain in Federal Electric Industry Restructuring Legislation
Resolution of Full Unbundling and Standards of Conduct for Electric Industry Restructuring
Resolution on Alternative Fuels
Resolution on Limited Applicability of Securitization in Electric Industry Restructuring
Utility Construction Review Act
Environment
New ALEC Bills
Disposal and Taxation of Public Lands Act
3B0 ALEC Resolution in Opposition to EPA Regulation of Greenhouse Gases from Mobile Sources Exposed
3B1 Conditioning Regulation of Non-Pollutant Emissions on Science Exposed
3B2 In Opposition to EPA Plan to Regulate Greenhouse Gases Under the Clean Air Act Exposed
3B3 Ozone Attainment State Implementation Plan Act Exposed
3B4 Resolution on Federal Multi-Emission Reduction Legislation Exposed
3B5 Resolution on Reform of New Source Review Regulations Exposed
3B6 Resolution to Support the Current National Ambient Air Quality Standard - NAAQS - for Particulate Matter - PM Exposed
3B7 State Implementation Plan Requirements for Ozone and Particulate Matter Attainment Exposed
3B8 State Protection of Air Quality Related Values Act Exposed
3B9 State Sovereignty for Air Quality and Visibility Act Exposed
3C0 ALEC State Withdrawal from Regional Climate Initiatives Exposed
3C1 Climate Accountability Act Exposed
3C2 Conditioning Regulation of Non-Pollutant Emissions on Science Act Exposed
3C3 Resolution in Opposition of Carbon Dioxide Emission Standards Exposed
3C4 State Responses to Kyoto Climate Change Protocol Exposed
3D0 Environmental Corrupt Organizations -Preventative Legislation and Neutralization (ECO-PLAN) Exposed
3D1 The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act (AETA) Exposed
3F0 Asbestos in Educational Facilities and - or Public Buildings Act Exposed
3F1 Environmental Literacy Improvement Act Exposed
3F2 Pollution Control or Abatement Flexibility Act Exposed
3F3 Resolution Calling for Increased Use of Healthy Oils Exposed
3F4 Resolution on Environmental Justice Exposed
3F5 State Science Advisory Board Act Exposed
3F6 Voluntary Childhood Lead Exposure Control Act Exposed
3G0 Eminent Domain Authority for Federal Lands Act Exposed
3G1 Ombudsman Act Exposed
3G2 Property Investment Protection Act Exposed
3G3 Property Owners Disclosure Act Exposed
3G4 Protecting Property Rights to Facilitate Exposed
3G5 Regulatory Costs Fairness Act Exposed
3G6 Resolution Supporting the Private Ownership of Property Exposed
3G7 The Environmental Buffer Disclosure Act Exposed
3G8 The Environmental Good Samaritan Act Exposed
3G9 The Private Property Protection Act Exposed
3H0 Economic Impact Statement Act Exposed
3H1 Environmental Audit Privilege and Qualified Disclosure Act Exposed
3H2 Environmental Priorities Act Exposed
3H3 Environmental Services Public-Private Partnership Act Exposed
3H4 Granting the Authority of Rural Counties to Transition to Decentralized Land Use Regulation Exposed
3H5 Opportunity to Correct Exposed
3H6 Performance Based Permitting Act Exposed
3H7 Regulatory Costs Fairness Act Exposed
3H8 Resolution in Opposition to S1602 Exposed
3H9 Resolution on Environmental Laboratory Privatization Exposed
3H10 Resolution on Local Jursidiction Consent of National Monument Designation Exposed
3H11 Resolution to Oppose the Conservation and Reinvestment Act - CARA Exposed
3H13 State Data Quality Act Exposed
3H14 State Regulatory Responsibility Act Exposed
3H15 State Sovereignty through Local Coordination Act Exposed
3H16 The Common Sense Scientific and Technical Evidence Act Exposed
3H17 The Reliability in Expert Testimony Standards Act Exposed
3H18 Uniform State Environmental Audit Privilege Act Exposed
3H19 Verifiable Science Act Exposed
3H20 Wildlife Information Disclosure Act Exposed
3I0 Brownfields Redevelopment Act Exposed
3J0 Resolution on Packaging and the Municipal Solid Waste Stream Exposed
3J1 Resolution to Retain State Authority over Coal Ash as Non-Hazardous Waste Exposed
3J2 Waste Tire Abatement Act Exposed
3K0 Groundwater Protection Act Exposed
3K1 State Implementation of Clean Water Act --TMDL-- Requirements Exposed
3K2 The Non-Potable Groundwater Use Act Exposed
6D0 Against US Participation in International Agreement in Copenhagen Exposed
Endangered Species Resolution
Environmental Justice Principles
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Resolution
Interstate Ozone Transport Oversight Act
Interstate Research Commission on Climatic Change Act
Limited Immunity for Persons Responding to Oil Spills Act
Local Jurisdiction Consent for National Monument Designation
Model State Resolution: Environmental Justice
Pollution Prevention Act
Resolution on Ozone and Particulate Matter NAAQS Revisions
Resolution Opposing CAFÉ Standards Increase
Resolution to Freeze CAFÉ Standards
Resolution to Oppose Unfunded Mandates on the States Etc.
Sagebrush Rebellion Act
Used Oil Collection Act
Wetlands Mapping and Protection Act
==
8/1/13 cmd extensive coverage, eg vouchers: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/07/12175/cashing-kids139-alec-bills-2013-promote-private-profit-education-model
Dirty Hands: 77 ALEC Bills in 2013 Advance a Big Oil, Big Ag Agenda
by Brendan Fischer — August 1, 2013 - 8:33am
Topics: Environment
Projects: ALEC Exposed
At least 77 bills to oppose renewable energy standards, support fracking and the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, and otherwise undermine environmental laws were introduced in 34 states in 2013, according to a new analysis from the Center for Media and Democracy, publishers of ALECexposed.org. In addition, nine states have been inspired by ALEC's "Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act" to crack down on videographers documenting abuses on factory farms. ...
ALEC Partners with Heartland Institute for Rollback of Renewables
Even more extraordinary is ALEC's push this year to repeal Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), which require that utility companies provide a certain amount of their total energy from renewable sources like wind.
"ALEC's long time role in denying the science and policy solutions to climate change is shifting into an evolving roadblock on state and federal clean energy incentives, a necessary part of global warming mitigation," says Connor Gibson, a Research Associate at Greenpeace.
In Germany, where the nation has set a goal of getting 35% of its energy from renewables by 2020, public committment to clean energy technologies is transforming markets, driving innovation and generating huge numbers of jobs. Even in the U.S., where there has been less public investment, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says 3.1 million clean energy jobs have been created in recent years.
Perhaps because of RPS' job-creating qualities, ALEC's bill to repeal renewable standards, the "Electricity Freedom Act," was too much even for the most conservative legislatures. It failed to pass in every state where it was introduced -- even in North Carolina, where it had the backing of Grover Norquist, and whose Republican-dominated legislature has been rolling multiple ALEC bills into law in 2013
It may be little surprise that ALEC's attack on renewables was spearheaded by one of its looniest members: the bill was brought to ALEC in May 2012 by the Illinois-based Heartland Institute, a group best known for billboards comparing people who believe in climate change to mass murderers like the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.
ALEC is usually very secretive about its model legislation and its efforts in the states, but ALEC did not disguise the fact that it had made the Electricity Freedom Act a priority for the 2013 session. ALEC's Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Director Todd Wynn published blog posts on the topic and was quoted in the press discussing how ALEC was working with Heartland to promote the repeal bills.
In many of the states that have proposed versions of the Electricity Freedom Act, the right-wing infrastructure has sprung into action, almost according to a script. The Beacon Hill Institute publishes a study (using discredited analysis) claiming that a state's renewable standards lead to higher energy costs, as it did in states like Maine and Ohio and Wisconsin and Arizona. The David Koch-founded and-led Americans for Prosperity organizes an event to "educate" its members about how renewables are "punishing" consumers, as they did in Nebraska, and perhaps invite a guest from the Heartland Institute to make similar claims, as they did in Kansas.
ALEC, the Heartland Institute, and the Beacon Hill Institute all have received money from foundations associated with Charles and David Koch, and each are also part of the State Policy Network, an umbrella group of right-wing organizations that claim adherence to the free market. SPN has received at least $10 million in the past five years from the mysterious Donors Trust, which funnels money from the Kochs and other conservative funders. SPN was also a "Chairman" level sponsor of ALEC's 2011 Annual Conference and ALEC is an Associate Member of SPN.
But even though the ALEC/Heartland anti-renewable energy fight found little success in 2013, the group is not giving up.
New Avenue Sought to Rollback Renewables
“I expect that North Carolina and Kansas will probably pick up this issue again in 2014 and lead the charge across the country once again,” Wynn said.
ALEC now appears to be modifying its strategy to find a more palatable way to attack renewable standards.
At its August 2013 meeting, ALEC will consider a watered-down version of the Electricity Freedom Act with a bill called the "Market Power Renewables Act." That legislation would phase-out a state's Renewable Portfolio Standards and instead create a renewable "market" where consumers can choose to pay for renewable energy, and allow utilities to purchase energy credits from outside the state. This thwarts the purpose of RPS policies, which help create the baseline demand for renewables that will spur the clean energy investment necessary to continue developing the technology and infrastructure that will drive costs down.
But, it would satisfy ALEC's goal of preserving reliance on dirty energy from fossil fuels.
ALEC Bills Undermine Environmental Regulations, First Amendment
ALEC energy, environment, and agriculture bills moving in the first six months of 2013 include:
The "Electricity Freedom Act," introduced in six states, repealing (or in some states weakening) Renewable Portfolio Standards. The standards have been a key component driving renewable energy growth -- which threatens the profits of ALEC's polluter members.
Variations on the "Resolution in Support of the Keystone XL Pipeline" (introduced in ten states) calling on the federal government to approve the controversial project to transport tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada across the United States. It is no coincidence that pipeline operator TransCanada is an ALEC member and funder.
The misleadingly-named "Disclosure of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Composition Act" (introduced in five states) which would actually make it harder to find out what chemicals are being pumped underground through the fracking process. The bill, which was brought to ALEC by Exxon Mobil, carves out a giant loophole for "trade secrets" -- potentially concealing the information the public might want to know.
The "Environmental Literacy Improvement Act" (introduced in five states), seeks to sow doubt in the minds of young people about man's role in the warming planet by requiring that educators "teach the controversy" when it comes to topics like climate change, where the science is beyond dispute.
The "Environmental Services Public-Private Partnership Act" (introduced in two states) would give for-profit companies control of vital public health services like treating wastewater and drinking water -- the last place where you want a company to cut corners to increase profits.
The "Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act" (variations of which were introduced in nine states) have come to be known as "Ag-Gag" bills, as they criminalize investigations into abuses on factory farms and deem videographers "terrorists."
The "Disposal and Taxation of Public Lands Act" (considered in seven states) was modeled after a Utah law from 2012 and is an updated version of the ALEC "Sagebrush Rebellion Act," where Western states assert control over federal lands that are being protected as wilderness preserves, in many cases to allow for resource extraction.
ALEC Corporations Reap the Rewards
The corporations bankrolling ALEC and benefitting from bills advanced by the Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force include:
Keystone XL Pipeline Operator TransCanada, a member of the ALEC Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force and which sponsored ALEC's Spring Task Force Summit at the "Vice Chairman" level. It was one of the sponsors of the ALEC "Oil Sands Academy" where nine ALEC member legislators were given an all-expenses-paid trip to Calgary and flown around the Alberta tarsands while accompanied by oil industry lobbyists.
Shell Oil, one of the largest fossil fuel conglomerates in the world, operates a tarsands extraction facility and sponsored lunch at the ALEC "Oil Sands Academy." Shell has long been an ALEC member and funder, for example sponsoring ALEC's 2011 Annual Meeting at the "Chairman" level (which in the past has cost $50,000) and hosting plenary sessions. Shell is also a member of the ALEC Civil Justice Task Force, presumably to advance legislation that would protect it from liability in case of oil spills or other disasters.
British Petroleum (BP), the United Kingdom's largest corporation and the company responsible for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, has long supported ALEC, including sponsoring ALEC's 2011 meeting in New Orleans -- not far from the site of BP's oil spill -- at the "Presidential" level (which in the past has cost $100,000).
Peabody Energy is the largest producer of coal in the U.S. and boasts that it generates 10% of the country's energy, and also has a lobbyist representative on the ALEC corporate board; it was the 2011 winner of ALEC's "Private Sector Member of the Year" award and has sponsored ALEC meetings and events. In 2007, it spun-off coal mines it owned in West Virginia and Kentucky into an independent company, which then filed for bankruptcy and sought to be released from its pension and retirement operations.
Duke Energy is one of the largest electric utility companies in the United States, and has publicly expressed concern about global warming and support for clean energy, but its continued support for ALEC undermines those rhetorical positions. A coalition of environmental groups have been urging Duke to drop ALEC for the past year, so far to no avail.
Koch Industries, the privately-held multinational corporation owned by billionaire financiers David and Charles Koch, is involved in an array of industries including petroleum refining, fuel pipelines, coal supply and trading, oil and gas exploration, chemicals and polymers, fertilizer production, and commodity speculation. Koch Industries has long funded ALEC, sponsored its meetings, and had a lobbyist representative on the ALEC Private Enterprise Board. Charitable foundations associated with David and Charles have also been ALEC funders, with the Charles G. Koch Foundation giving ALEC a half-million-dollar loan in 1996....ag gag
Polluters Stand With ALEC
Over the past year-and-a-half, at least 49 global corporations [34] have dropped their ALEC membership -- including companies like Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, and Amazon -- but oil and energy companies have stood by ALEC.
"Despite its terrible reputation, ALEC is still valued by polluting companies like ExxonMobil, Duke Energy and Koch Industries, which finance and help craft ALEC's state policies to smother competition from clean energy industries and offer handouts to fossil fuel companies at every turn," says Greenpeace's Gibson.
"ALEC's guise of 'free market environmentalism' is just a code word for its real mission in our states' legislatures: to allow dirty energy companies to pollute as much as they want, to attack incentives for clean energy competitors and to secure government handouts to oil, gas and coal interests," Gibson says. "That's not a free market."
View the full list of 2013 bills from the ALEC Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force bils here [35].
ALEC Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Bills 2013
State ALEC Bill State Bill
AL Energy Efficiency and Savings Act [36] HB 191 [37]
AZ Environmental Literacy Improvement Act [38] SB 1213 [39]
AZ Regulatory Costs Fairness Act [40] HB 2319 [41]
AR The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act [42] SB 13 [43], SB 14 [44]
AR Property Investment Protection Act [45] SB 367 [46]
CO Environmental Literacy Improvement Act [38] HB 13-1089 [47]
CO Disposal and Taxation of Public Lands Act [48] SB 13-142 [49]
FL The Disclosure of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Composition Act [50] H 745 [51], SB 1776 [52]
ID Disposal and Taxation of Public Lands Act [48] HCR 21 [53]
ID Resolution Demanding that Congress Convey Title of Federal Public Lands to the States [54] HCR 22 [55]
IL Resolution Urging the President and Congress to Act Expeditiously
in Procuring a Site or Sites for the Storage of High-Level Radioactive Waste [56] SR 142 [57]
IL State Implementation Plan Requirements for Ozone and Particulate Matter Attainment [58] SB 1704 [59]
IL The Common Sense Scientific and Technical Evidence Act [60] HB 2221 [61]
IL The Disclosure of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Composition Act [50] HB 2615 [62]
IN Agriculture Bio-Security Act [63] HB 1562 [64]
IN The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act [42] SB 373 [65], SB 391 [66]
IN Resolution in Support of the Keystone XL Pipeline [67] SCR 38 [68], SR 41 [69]
IN Right to Farm Act [70] SB 571 [71]
KS Electricity Freedom Act [72] HB 2241 [73]
KS Environmental Literacy Improvement Act [74] HB 2306 [75]
KS Resolution in Support of the Keystone XL Pipeline [67] HCR 5014 [76]
KY Resolution in Support of the Keystone XL Pipeline [67] SCR 273 [77], HR 122 [78]
KY Environmental Literacy Improvement Act [79] HB 269 [80]
LA Resolution in Support of the Keystone XL Pipeline [67] SCR 115 [81], SCR 125 [82]
MD Environmental Services Public-Private Partnership Act [83] HB 560 [84], SB 538 [85]
MI Resolution in Support of the Keystone XL Pipeline [67] SCR 6 [86]
MI The Disclosure of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Composition Act [50] HB 4061 [87]
MN Resolution in Support of the Keystone XL Pipeline [67] SF 479 [88], HF 987 [89]
MN Electricity Freedom Act [72] HF 306 [90]
MS Resolution in Support of the Keystone XL Pipeline [67] SC 543 [91], SR 3 [92]
MO Resolution in Support of the Keystone XL Pipeline [67] HCR 19 [93]
MO Energy Efficiency and Savings Act [36] SB 26 [94]
MT Disposal and Taxation of Public Lands Act [48] SJR 15 [95]
NC Electricity Freedom Act [72] HB 298 [96]
NC The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act [42] SB 648 [97]
NE The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act [42] LB 204 [98]
NJ Environmental Services Public-Private Partnership Act [83] A 4082 [99]
NM The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act [42] SB 552 [100]
NM Disposal and Taxation of Public Lands Act [48] HB 292 [101]
NM The Disclosure of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Composition Act [50] HB 136 [102]
NV Disposal and Taxation of Public Lands Act [48] AB 227 [103]
NY Energy Efficiency and Savings Act [36] A 52 [104], S 3854 [105], A 758 [106], S 2635 [107]
NY Regulatory Costs Fairness Act [40] A 3216 [108]
OH Electricity Freedom Act [72] SB 34 [109]
OH Resolution in Support of the Keystone XL Pipeline [67] HCR 9 [110], SCR 7 [111]
OK Environmental Literacy Improvement Act [38] HB 1674 [112]
OR Climate Accountability Act [113] HB 2806 [114]
PA The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act [42] HB 683 [115]
SC Disposal and Taxation of Public Lands Act [48] HR 3552 [116]
SD Resolution in Support of the Keystone XL Pipeline [67] HCR 1006 [117]
TN The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act [42] SB 1248 [118], HB 1191 [119]
TX Energy Efficiency and Savings Act [36] HB 2746 [120]
TX Electricity Freedom Act [72] HB 2026 [121]
TX Performance Based Permitting Act [122] HB 2949 [123]
TX Protecting Property Rights to Facilitate Species Conservation [124] SB 468 [125], HB 3509 [126]
VT The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act [42] S 162 [127]
WV Verifiable Science Act [128] HB 3129 [129]
WV Electricity Freedom Act [72] HB 2609 [130]
WY The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act [42] HB 126 [131]
WY Resolution Supporting the Private Ownership of Property [132] HJ 3 [133]
WY The Disclosure of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Composition Act [50] SF 157 [134]
WY Disposal and Taxation of Public Lands Act [48] HB 228 [135]
==
omg: alecSearch in Model Legislation:
Keyword Tags http://www.alec.org/legislation-tags/clean-air-act/
abuse
Accountability
accounting
admissibility
ADR
Agriculture
air quality
Alternative Energy Standard
alternative fuels
alternative fules
animal
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Article V
Asbestos
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Efficiency
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Electricity
Electronic
electronic records
Eminent domain
emissions
Employment
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Energy
energy efficiency
enivronment
Environment
environmental audits
environmental buffer zone
Environmental Health
environmental literacy
EPA
Expert testimony
farming
Federal Communications Commission
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Federalism
financial services
forest
forestry
forum shopping
fracking
Free Market
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frivolous claims
fuel
fuel standards
fuels
good samaritan
Government Procurement
Governor
greenhouse gas
groundwater
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High-Risk Pools
Higher Education
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hydraulic fracturing
immunity
indemnity
Industry
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Infrastructure
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interest rates
International Trade
Internet
intrastate commerce
Job Creation
joint and several liability
judges
jury
K-12
Keystone XL
labeling
laboratories
landowner
lawsuits
lawyers
lcfs
lead
legal reform
legislative
Lending
Liability
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Long-Term Care
Mandated Benefits
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mercury
Military Family Scholarship
Model Resolutions
Municipal Services
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natural gas
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negligence
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non conveniens
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oil
oils
Online Learning
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Organ Donation
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Overseas Initiatives
Parent Trigger
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Pension reform
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pesticides
phantom damages
Pharming
Phishing
pipeline
pollution
pollution abatement
power plant
power plant siting
power plants
Prescription Drugs
Pretrial Release
Price Transparency
Privacy
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private property
Privatization
Procurement
product liability
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property
property rights
protective orders
Public Health Insurance Reform
Public lands
Public-Private Partnerships
punitive damages
Recidivism
recycling
reform
Regulation
regulations
REINS Act
Renewable energy
Renewable Energy Mandate
Renewable Portfolio Standards
risk
School Choice
School Tax Credit
science
seat belt
silica
Small Business
Software
solid waste
Spending
Spyware
State Compact
state sovereignty
statute of limitations
statute of repose
Stem Cell Research
Student Protection
Tax
Tax Credits
Tax Preparation
Tax reform
Taxes
Taxpayer
Teacher Certification
Teacher Evaluations
Teacher Quality
teachers
Technology
TEL
Telecommunications
Tenth Amendment
terrorism
The Disabled
timber
tires
Transparency
Transportation
Travel
trespasser
UN
Victims' Rights
Video Programming
Waste
water
weeds
Welfare and the Workforce
wetlands
whistleblower
Wireless
Worker Freedom
Workers' Compensation
workers' rights
wrongful death
Zoning
The land-transfer bills, when paired with recent bills regulating oil and gas development, also point to serious internal conflicts over “local control.” State lawmakers tout the importance of giving locals a strong voice in how land is managed, rather than handing down federal dictates. Yet, because they also want to make it easy for industry to operate, they’re often reluctant to cede authority down to the city and county level.
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, a Republican who often talks about “local control” over natural resources, signed a law in March preventing counties and cities from banning or even regulating oil and gas drilling. While local governments retain some say in zoning and planning, the state’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has final authority. Colorado has taken a similar stance; two counties tried to pass their own drilling regulations this spring, only to receive a warning letter from the state’s attorney general and its oil and gas commission stating that “responsible government requires uniform regulation” at the state level. Counties can hire their own well inspectors and exercise some limited influence over surface impacts like dust and noise, but can’t prohibit drilling or set rules for “downhole” activities like hydraulic fracturing. Colorado lawmakers are also now considering a bill to punish local governments that “restrict or delay” oil or gas production, by preventing them from receiving their share of severance taxes.
“Legislators say we need one-size-fits-all regulation for oil and gas development at the state level,” says Bruce Baizel, senior staff attorney at Earthworks. “Then they turn that same argument against the federal government and say, ‘One size doesn’t fit all.’” Baizel predicts lawsuits from local governments: “These states have taken away people’s basic right to say ‘no.’” see wise use
==
http://grist.org/news/campaign-to-roll-back-state-renewable-programs-is-a-flop-so-far/
State laws requiring utilities to sell a certain percentage of clean energy have been attacked across the nation over the past year. But these renewable portfolio standards have been holding their own just fine.
Not only were all of the legislative efforts to roll back such standards defeated, but some states actually strengthened their laws, requiring still more clean energy to flow through the grid. From Bloomberg:
None of the 26 bills to roll back requirements passed before most state legislature sessions ended, according to a July 9 report from Colorado State University’s Center for the New Energy Economy. Eight states voted to strengthen or modify laws that require utilities to purchase electricity produced from renewable sources.
Challenges to so-called renewable portfolio standards in effect in 30 states have increased since the lobby group American Legislative Exchange Council released model legislation in October that state lawmakers are using as a blueprint to try to water down rules supporting wind and solar energy.
“There was a big push to slow down progress after ALEC got involved but the momentum is in renewable energy’s favor,” Adam Browning, executive director of the San Francisco-based Vote Solar Initiative, said … in an interview. “Poll after poll shows that Americans want clean, renewable energy and support these policies.”
Here is summary of some of the higher-profile efforts to roll back renewable standards, from the Center for the New Energy Economy’s report [PDF]:
KS HB 2241 (similar: SB 82): Repeal 20% by 2020 goal; amend to 15% by 2018. Result: Died in committee, session closed.
MO HB 44: Extend eligibility to existing hydro. Result: Stalled in the Senate, session closed.
NC HB 298 (SB 365): Originally proposed a full repeal. Amended to freeze requirement at 6% by 2015. Result: Appears to have stalled. …
OH SB 34: Repeal standard. Result: Appears to have stalled.
TX HB 2026: Repeal standard. Result: Stalled in committee, regular session closed.
WV HB 2609 (similar: HB 2564): HB 2609 repeals the state’s RPS while HB 2564 delays implementation. Result: Died in committee, session closed.
WI SB 47: Freeze graduated requirements at current levels. Result: Appears to be stalled in committee.
Tough luck, ALEC. Americans want cleaner sources of energy, not more climate-changing filth.
John Upton
==
Home > Bill Moyers: Outrageous Bill Known As “The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act” Seeks to Silence Big-Ag Whistleblowers (VIDEO)
Bill Moyers / By Bill Moyers [1]
bd of dir approved Animal and Ecological Terror in America 9/1/03
Bill Moyers: Outrageous Bill Known As “The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act” Seeks to Silence Big-Ag Whistleblowers (VIDEO)
July 13, 2013 |
Muckrakers and activists have been working to expose the brutality of industrialized meat production since Upton Sinclair’s writing of The Jungle in 1906. But an ALEC [2]model bill known as “The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act” would make it a crime to film at animal facilities — such as factory farms or slaughterhouses — with the intent to “defame the facility or its owner.” So-called “ag-gag” laws that appear inspired by the ALEC model have been passed in several states. This report, produced by Okapi Productions, LLC [3] and the Schumann Media Center, Inc. looks at the effect of these laws on both our food supply and our freedom of speech.
scary on health care reform/privatization
The American Bail Coalition (ABC) describes itself on its website as the "premier underwriters of criminal court appearance bonds." ABC has stated, "We have formed a national organization, primarily to perform a two-pronged task to educate local government on the benefits of commercial bail bonding and to advance the interests of the member companies' many retail agents."[1]
The Coalition was formerly known as the National Association of Bail Surety Underwriters (NABSU), then the National Association of Bail Insurance Companies (NABIC), and became the American Bail Coalition in 2001.
Support for the American Legislative Exchange Council
The American Bail Coalition has been a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) since 1993, and the Coalition refers to ALEC as its "life preserver." [2]
A list of ALEC Corporations can be found here.
About ALEC
ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our PRWatch.org site.
William Carmichael, ABC President & CEO is on ALEC's "Private Enterprise Board" in 2011. [3]
Dennis Bartlett, ABC Executive Director, has been an ALEC member since 1998, serves on the Private Sector Executive Committee and is a member of thePublic Safety and Elections Task Force in 2011. [4]
Jerry Watson, Senior Legal Counsel for the American Bail Coalition, was ALEC’s Private Enterprise Board Chairman from 2006-2008, and "actively participated on ALEC’s Task Force on Criminal Justice and has undertaken several projects with the ALEC Foundation, including the publication of Evidence of a Failed System: A Study of the Performance of Pretrial Release Agencies in California." [5] He was awarded ALEC's Leadership Award in 2010 "for his commitment to the private sector in the war on crime and his tireless and generous contributions to ALEC and its members," and previously received other ALEC awards, including the Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award. [5]
ALEC and ABC's Legislative Agenda
From an October, 2010 ABC Newsletter: "Within two years of joining ALEC, a member of the ABC board, Jerry Watson, was invited in 1995 to join the ALEC private enterprise board where he would ultimately become Chairman. Watson served until August 2010 when he stepped down to become Chairman Emeritus of the private enterprise board. Another ABC member, Bill Carmichael, was appointed to the ALEC private enterprise board. During its two decade involvement with ALEC, ABC has written 12 model bills fortifying the commercial bail industry. In addition to the model bills ALEC has issued ABC sponsored State Factors, Legislative Briefs, and studies related to the bail issue. The major reason behind this focus was to offset the threat posed to commercial bail." [2]
According to January, 2010 NPR report, "Some states ban commercial bail bondsmen outright and have the state's court act as the bail bond business. But in others, the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization backed in part by the bail bond lobby, has worked to pass the Citizen's Right To Know Act, a law that requires reformatting and increased reporting of pretrial release information and encourages the use of commercial bail bondsmen." [6]
Citizen's Right To Know Act:
Enacted: Florida (2009), Texas (1995)
Enrolled (in legislature): Iowa (2009), North Carolina (2009), Tennessee (2009)
Failed: Virginia (2009)
States that ban commercial bail bondsmen: Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, Wisconsin [6]
According to a June 2011 news release, the ABC- and ALEC-penned "Citizen's Right to Know Act" has gone national. On June 3, 2011, "the American Bail Coalition. . . called on Congress to pass HR 1885, the Citizens Right to Know Act, introduced by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) and Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK)."[7]
Other ALEC Activities
Jerry Watson, General Counsel for the American Bail Coalition addressed the Annual Meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council in Philadelphia, PA, July 25 - 27, 2007.
Jerry Watson Addresses ALEC Annual Meeting 2007
Lobbying
In 2010, ABC spent $80,000 on lobbying.[8] They worked with the lobbying firm Fidelis Government Relations.
Christine M. Frahm has been a lobbyist in California for ABC since 2005.[9]
In 2010, ABC spent $80,000 on lobbying on the federal level.[10] They worked with the lobbying firm, Fidelis Government Relations.
Members
2011[11]
Professional Bail Agents of Arizona
California Bail Agent Association
Florida Surety Agents Association
Bail Agents Independent League of Florida
Georgia Association of Professional Bail Agents
Indiana Surety Bail Agents Association, Inc.
Michigan Professional Bail Agents
Oklahoma Bondsmen Association
Tennessee Association of Professional Agents
Professional Bail Agents of Texas
Reporting on ABC
NPR did a series on the bail system in January 2010.
"The regulation of bail bond agents varies widely across the country. Many states require bondsmen to be licensed. Generally, bond agents must undergo eight to 16 hours of training, submit to fingerprinting and a background check and be a resident of the state to receive a license. However, some states do not require bondsmen to be licensed. In Wyoming, for example, agents using their own capital are not required to be licensed." [6]
In a section on for-profit bail bondsmen in Lubbock, Texas:
Statistically, most bail jumpers are not caught by bondsmen or their bounty hunters. They're caught by sheriff's deputies, according to Beni Hemmeline from Lubbock's district attorney's office.
"More often than not, the defendants are rearrested on a warrant that's issued after they fail to appear," Hemmeline said.Asked if the bondsmen are fulfilling their end of the deal, Hemmeline says, "Well, it may be that [the bondsmen] can't find them. They can't camp at the door 24 hours a day. They do the best that they can, I think."
If a defendant does run, the bondsman is also supposed to pay the county the full cost of the bond as a sort of punishment for not keeping an eye on the client.
But that doesn't happen, either, Hemmeline says.
Hemmeline says Lubbock usually settles for a far lower amount than the full bond. In fact, according to the county treasurer in Lubbock, bondsmen usually only pay 5 percent of the bond when a client runs.
Consider that math for a minute. The bondsmen charge clients at least 10 percent. But if the client runs, they only have to pay the county 5 percent. Meaning if they make no effort whatsoever, they still profit.
Hemmeline says asking for more might put the bondsmen out of business.
"Bond companies serve an important purpose," she says.
NPR found bondsmen getting similar breaks in other states. In California, bondsmen owe counties $150 million that they should have had to pay when their clients failed to show up for court. In New Jersey, bondsmen owe $250,000 over the past four years. In Erie, Pa., officials stopped collecting money for a time because it was too much of a hassle to get the bonding companies to pay up."[6]
Contact
American Bail Coalition
Telephone: (877) 385-9009
Fax: (703) 385-1809
Address:
3857 Lewiston Place
Fairfax, VA 22030
Articles and resources
Brendan Fischer Wisconsin: Open for Bounty Hunters, PRWatch.org, June 9, 2011
Related SourceWatch articles
American Legislative Exchange Council
Public Safety and Elections Task Force
Dennis Bartlett
William Carmichael
Jerry Watson
External resources
External articles
References
? American Bail Coalition, "Introduction ABC," organizational website, accessed June 2011
? 2.0 2.1 American Bail Coalition, [www.americanbailcoalition.com/documents/ABC_Newsletter.pdf October Newsletter] (pdf), organizational newsletter, October 2010
? American Legislative Exchange Council Private Enterprise Board, ALEC organizational website, accessed July 8, 201
? American Legislative Exchange Council Private Sector Executive Committee, organizational website, accessed June 2, 2011
? 5.0 5.1 PRWeb, Bail Bond Industry Leader, Jerry Watson, Honored by National Legislative Organization, PRWeb.com, Aug. 27, 2010, accessed July 8, 2011
? 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Laura Sullivan, Bail Burden Keeps US Jails Stuffed With Inmates, National Public Radio, January 21, 2010, accessed July 8, 2011
? PRNewsWire, End the Abuse: Federal Tax Payer Funded Bail Program a Mess, News release, June 3, 2011
? Center for Responsive Politics, "Annual Lobbying of ABC, OpenSecrets.org, online database, accessed May, 2011
? Christine Frahm Bio,"Follow the Money" database
? Annual Lobbying of ABC,Open Secrets.org, accessed July 11, 2011
? American Bail Coalition Associations, organizational website for the American Bail Coalition, accessed July 9, 2011
Categories: ALEC ExposedALEC CorporationsALEC Trade Groups
3
3M
A
Abbott Laboratories
ALEC "Private Enterprise" Board of Directors
ALEC Award Winners
ALEC Corporations
ALEC Featured Speakers
ALEC Task Forces
Allergan
Altria Group
American Bail Coalition
Amerigroup
AT&T
B
Bayer
Best Buy
C
CenterPoint 360
Coca-Cola Company
Connections Academy
Corporations that Have Cut Ties to ALEC
CVS Caremark
D
Darden Restaurants
D cont.
Dell
Diageo
E
EBay
Energy Future Holdings
EnergySolutions
Exxon Mobil
G
General Motors Corporation
GlaxoSmithKline
H
Hewlett-Packard Company
I
Intuit, Inc.
J
John Deere
Johnson & Johnson
K
Kelly Mader
Knowledge and Progress Fund
Koch Industries
Kraft
M
Medco
Merck
MillerCoors
Molson Coors
N
National Mortgage Settlement
P
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Peabody Energy
PepsiCo
Pfizer Inc
PG&E
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
R
Reckitt Benckiser Group
Reed Elsevier
Reynolds American
Roland Spies
S
Salt River Project
Sanofi
State Farm
U
United Parcel Service
V
Visa
W
Wal-Mart Stores
Wall Street crimes
Wells Fargo
Category: ALEC Members
lee fang tossed New Orleans
ALEC Assembles "Most Wanted" List, and Oklahomans Say "ALEC Is Not OK"
by Brendan Fischer — May 6, 2013 - 7:44am
Topics: Corporations, Democracy, Politics
Projects: ALEC Exposed
Share/Save Share this
-- by Brendan Fischer and Nick Surgey --
In anticipation of protests at ALEC's recent meeting in Oklahoma City, state legislators were handed a set oftalking points that read "The American Legislative Exchange Council recognizes the first amendment rights of free speech and assembly, and asks that ___ do the same," apparently to prepare legislators for press questions about citizen activism. But ALEC didn't live up to those spoon-fed talking points: ALEC assembled a dossier of disfavored reporters and activists, kicked reporters out of its conference who might write unfavorable stories, and managed to boot a community forum critical of ALEC from its reserved room.
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/05/12096/alec-assembles-most-wanted-list-and-oklahomans-say-alec-not-ok
ALEC Assembles "Most Wanted" List, and Oklahomans Say "ALEC Is Not OK"
by Brendan Fischer [1] — May 6, 2013 - 7:44am
Topics: Corporations [2], Democracy [3], Politics [4]
Projects: ALEC Exposed [5]
Share/Save Share this [6]
-- by Brendan Fischer and Nick Surgey --
In anticipation of protests at ALEC's recent meeting in Oklahoma City, state legislators were handed a set of talking points [7] that read "The American Legislative Exchange Council recognizes the first amendment rights of free speech and assembly, and asks that ___ do the same," apparently to prepare legislators for press questions about citizen activism. But ALEC didn't live up to those spoon-fed talking points: ALEC assembled a dossier of disfavored reporters and activists, kicked reporters out of its conference who might write unfavorable stories, and managed to boot a community forum critical of ALEC from its reserved room.
In what might be the biggest anti-ALEC rally yet, the ALEC legislators and lobbyists arriving at the Renaissance Hotel on May 2 were greeted by awave of protesters [8] that outnumbered the conference attendees.
More than 600 firefighters, teachers, environmentalists, and church leaders carried signs reading "ALEC is Not OK" and chanting "backroom deals are ALEC's game/sweetheart deals for corporate gain," while a giant inflatable pig wearing a banner reading "Hi, my name is ALEC" floated overhead. Two big rigs adorned with Teamsters logos circled the convention center, honking their horns and blowing air brakes. Harold A. Schaitberger, President of the International Association of Fire Fighters, told the crowd that ALEC's "sole purpose is to develop the most anti-worker, anti-employee, anti-union, anti-middle class, pro-business, pro corporation policies, legislation and agenda possible."
Inside, white men in dark suits milled in the lobby of the Renaissance Hotel and the neighboring Cox Convention Center. Laughter floated through the hotel bar as corporate lobbyists (with a "private sector" tag on their name badge) huddled with state legislators (wearing "public sector" tags).
Fresh-faced interns hustled through the crowds, appearing exhilarated to be in the midst of dealmaking and power brokerage. Oklahoma City Police Officers in full uniform -- but reportedly off-duty and paid by ALEC -- stopped anyone not wearing a name badge from entering ALEC's sections of the convention center.
"We Know Who You Are"
On the morning of May 3, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin -- an ALEC "Legislator of the Year" in 2009 -- gave the ALEC meeting's keynote address. The short, relatively generic speech was the only portion of the ALEC event open to the press: the task force meetings where prospective "model bills" are discussed and adopted were entirely closed-door and guarded by police.
Center for Media and Democracy Research Director Nick Surgey obtained press credentials at the ALEC registration desk. As he ascended the escalator towards the room where Governor Fallin was speaking, though, he was spotted by two ALEC staffers, and within minutes approached by a uniformed Oklahoma City police officer.
"I need those credentials," the officer said.
"I registered," Surgey replied.
"No, you didn't," said a female ALEC staffer, who was accompanying the officer.
"I did, downstairs," he said.
"It was... you shouldn't have been able to."
The reason Surgey shouldn't have been allowed to register, according to the ALEC staffer:
"Because we know who you are."
ALEC's Most Wanted
ALEC's Most WantedHow does ALEC know who Surgey is?
CMD later obtained a document [9] titled "OKC anti-ALEC photos" at the ALEC conference.
The page featured the pictures and names of eight people, four of whom work with CMD, including Surgey, CMD's general counsel Brendan Fischer and its Executive Director Lisa Graves, as well as CMD contributor Beau Hodai.
It is not known whether the photo array of people who have reported on or criticized ALEC was distributed to ALEC members or shared with Oklahoma City law enforcement.
Other targets on the document included The Nation's Lee Fang, who has written articles critical of ALEC, and Sabrina Stevens, an education activist who spoke out in an ALEC task force meeting last November. Also featured were Calvin Sloan of People for the American Way and Gabe Elsner of Checks and Balances Project, both of whom are ALEC detractors.
The name of ALEC Events Director Sarah McManamon was in the top corner, indicating the document was printed from her Google account.
Press Cannot Attend ALEC Meetings Because They Are "Going to Write an Article about It"
Although ALEC knew Surgey's name, the courtesy was not reciprocated.
"Can I ask your name?" Surgey asked the ALEC staffer who challenged his press credentials.
"Erm, why?" she replied.
"Is there any reason you wouldn't want to tell me your name?"
"Yeah, because I know who you are," she said.
The staffer -- whose organization had developed talking points claiming to support the First Amendment, which protects a free and vibrant press -- added:
"Because you're going to write an article about it."
Less than ten minutes after registering as press, Surgey had his credentials revoked and was ejected from the ALEC meeting by a police officer. As he was escorted away, the ALEC staffer repeated: "We know exactly who you are."
Even before the Oklahoma meeting ALEC had been taking steps to keep its proceedings secret [10]. It sent advance agendas to legislators via a Box.com link, making the records more difficult to obtain via public records requests, and most legislators told CMD they did not have a single ALEC-related record in their office that could be released under the public records law. In March, ALEC posted some of its model bills online in a shallow effort to appear "transparent," but its actions suggest the organization is far more committed to secrecy.
Does ALEC Really Support Freedom of Assembly?
ALEC's efforts to limit the rights it claims to support did not end there.
Months before the ALEC meeting last week, a coalition of Oklahoma workers and civil rights organizations organized a screening of the Bill Moyers "United States of ALEC" documentary and a community forum to take place on May 3. The film was to be screened during the ALEC meeting but in a separate section of the Cox Convention Center. Speakers included representatives of CMD, AFSCME, Common Cause, a local church, the ACLU, and other groups.
The screening and panel was open to the public. Even ALEC members could attend.
But less than 24 hours before the event -- which constituted a basic expression of free assembly -- ALEC gave the community meeting the boot.
The hotel told organizers that ALEC invoked a clause in its contract allowing it the right to any rooms within the convention center, even those reserved by other groups. The ALEC community panel was moved from a room appropriate for a movie screening and panel discussion, and onto the floor of a stadium typically used for ice hockey (and which was kept at a temperature more appropriate for ice hockey than a movie screening).
"We were shocked," said Debra Wojtek, communications director at the Oklahoma AFL-CIO, who planned the event. "We had a signed contract for that room, and thought that a contract was a contract. But apparently not for ALEC." Because ALEC didn't actually use the room after claiming a right to it, Wojtek said, the AFL-CIO is considering legal action against ALEC for interference with contract.
Oklahomans Say "ALEC Is Not OK"
Despite the change in venue and the room's frigid temperature, the May 3 screening and community panel attracted a sizable and engaged crowd.
Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association teacher's union, told the crowd via Skype that ALEC has a "systematic approach to pushing a corporate agenda in all aspects of public policy."
Ryan Kiesel, Executive Director of the Oklahoma ACLU, highlighted ALEC's support for bills to make it harder for Americans to vote through voter ID restrictions (and its promotion of sham "voter fraud" claims), and is not buying ALEC's claim that it has abandoned its voter suppression projects. "If ALEC were really withdrawing its support for voter ID, they could use their elected official proxies to announce that fraud is not a real problem, and that these laws are unnecessary," he said. "But they have not."
Jane Carter, an economist at AFSCME, identified the problems with the ALEC privatization agenda, particularly the Public-Private Fair Competition Act, a "forced privatization" [11] bill that requires public services be turned over to corporate control if private industry claims they can do the service; this bill was recently introduced in Michigan. Phillip Martin of Progress Texas described how ALEC's healthcare agenda -- particularly its adoption of the Health Care Compact, which asserts state control over health care -- could be used to thwart federal healthcare reform.
Dr. George Young Senior, a Pastor at the Holy Temple Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, highlighted how ALEC is where the struggles of communities of color, workers, environmentalists and others converged -- and how people need to unite against the forty-year-old organization to fight back.
"If we let this go on for another forty years," he said, "next time they won't just move us out of our room, they will kick us out of the whole building!"
Center for Media and Democracy • 520 University Avenue, Suite 260 • Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Phone: 608-260-9713 • Fax: 608-260-9714
Source URL: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/05/12096/alec-assembles-most-wanted-list-and-oklahomans-say-alec-not-ok
Links:
[1] http://www.prwatch.org/users/35275/brendan-fischer
[2] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/corporations
[3] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/democracy
[4] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/politics
[5] http://www.prwatch.org/projects/alec-exposed
[6] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prwatch.org%2Fnews%2F2013%2F05%2F12096%2Falec-assembles-most-wanted-list-and-oklahomans-say-alec-not-ok&linkname=ALEC%20Assembles%20%22Most%20Wanted%22%20List%2C%20and%20Oklahomans%20Say%20%22ALEC%20Is%20Not%20OK%22%20
[7] http://www.prwatch.org/files/Talking_Points_ALEC_OK.pdf
[8] http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/32260597
[9] http://www.prwatch.org/files/ALEC's_Most_Wanted.pdf
[10] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/05/12090/alec-covering-tracks-advance-oklahoma-meeting
[11] http://www.progressmichigan.org/2013/04/rep-macmaster-introduces-alec-model-forced-privatization-bill/
http://www.prwatch.org/print/12160
Keystone Academy: Where Legislators Learn the Etiquette of Serving Special Interests
by Nick Surgey [1] — July 1, 2013 - 9:18am
Topics: Front Groups [2], Energy [3], Environment [4]
Projects: ALEC Exposed [5]
Share/Save Share this [6]
In October 2012, nine U.S. state legislators went on an industry paid trip to explore the Alberta tar sands. Publicly described as an "ALEC Academy," documents obtained by CMD show the legislators were accompanied on a chartered flight by a gaggle of oil-industry lobbyists, were served lunch by Shell Oil, dinner by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, and that the expenses of the trip were paid for by TransCanada and other corporations and groups with a direct financial interest in the Alberta tar sands and the proposed Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline.
2012
Among the nine legislators on the tour was the new ALEC national chairman, Representative John Piscopo from Connecticut, and Senator Jim Smith from Nebraska who has sponsored legislation in his state to speed up the building of the Nebraska segment of KXL. Email records obtained by CMD show that after the trip, legislators were asked by ALEC to send "thank you notes" to the lobbyists for their generosity in Alberta.
Far better than a mere "thank you," Rep. John Adams from Ohio returned from the trip and sponsored a bill given to him by a TransCanada lobbyist calling for the approval of KXL. As previously reported by CMD [7], similar legislation, reflecting both an ALEC "model" bill and language taken from a TransCanada set of talking points, has been introduced in seven states in 2013.
The tar sands of Alberta are estimated to be the third largest reserve of crude oil on the planet. But the process of turning the tar-like bitumen into a refined product that can be used as fuel is extremely energy intensive and highly polluting. The former NASA scientist James Hansen, warned that the extraction and use of Canadian tar sands would mean "game over" for the climate. TransCanada is the operator of the proposed KXL pipeline, which would carry the tar sands to Texas for processing and likely for exports to markets abroad.
In Private Jets and "Petroleum Club" Dinners, U.S Politicians Get the Dirt on Canadian Tar Sands
Officially, ALEC organized the Alberta tour as an "ALEC Academy." In ALEC's description of corporate sponsorship opportunities [8], this type of event is described as being "an intensive, two--day program for legislators that focus on a specific area of policy." It comes with an $80,000 fee to sponsor [8]. Unofficially however, and made clear to legislators on the trip in emails from ALEC obtained by CMD, the expenses were paid for by lobbyists from the oil-industry and by the government of Alberta. In an email sent to Ohio representative John Adams ahead of the trip, ALEC staffer Karla Jones reassured participants that all transportation, accommodation costs and meals would be paid for.
According to a copy of the trip itinerary [9] obtained via a public records request, legislators flew into Alberta on Tuesday October 16, 2012, and were met by TransCanada lobbyists who took them on a tour of their facilities in Calgary.
TransCanada, which is a member of ALEC, sponsored ALEC's Spring Task Force Summit in Oklahoma City in May 2013, alongside other corporations with tar sands interests including BP, Devon Energy and Koch Industries. TransCanada's Vice President Corey Goulet presented to legislators at the conference during a session called "Embracing American Energy Opportunities. [10]"
Dinner on the first night was at the up-market Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in downtown Calgary, paid for by American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM). The dinner included a presentation to the captive audience of lawmakers from AFPM about Low-Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS), a mechanism designed to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels. As CMD has reported recently [11], LCFS is considered a real threat to the tar sands industry, because it might restrict the U.S. market for fuels derived from the tar sands. AFPM, which has funded one of the other groups on the tour -- the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) -- to work to oppose LCFS legislation, would successfully sponsor an ALEC "model" bill on this issue just weeks after the trip, called "Restrictions on Participation in Low-Carbon Fuel Standards Programs [12]."
On Wednesday morning, after breakfast at the hotel, legislators were taken to the airport where a private charted plane was waiting to fly them around a number of different tar sands operations. Accompanying the legislators and ALEC staffer Karla Jones, were lobbyists from AFPM, TransCanada, Devon Energy, CEA, Shell Oil, and the Government of Alberta. The flight was chartered by the Alberta Government, at a cost of $22,000, with the costs split evenly between them and another unknown entity.
During the day, legislators toured facilities owned by Shell -- which also provided lunch -- and Devon Energy, where they viewed the massive "Jackfish" tar sands projects. At these facilities, Devon utilizes Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), an energy intensive process that injects steam into the dirty bitumen to access otherwise inaccessible deposits too deep for mining. This process is expected to open up further areas of Alberta for tar sands extraction, including by Koch Industries subsidiary Koch Exploration Canada [13] which has a pending permit request [14]in Alberta to utilize SAGD.
Dinner on Wednesday night was served at the Petroleum Club, sponsored by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. On the Thursday morning, just before their return flight, legislators did have a brief meeting with a representative from the Pembina Institute, an Alberta environmental group that calls for responsible exploitation of the tar sands. According to the ALEC trip itinerary [9], this was to "provide the opposing point of view."
Although Pembina does represent a different view from those that want completely unrestrained extraction of the tar sands, the group is not representative of those that oppose tar sands extraction. There are plenty of organizations that could have provided alternative viewpoints, particularly First Nation tribal leaders who are campaigning vigorously on this issue, but perhaps unsurprisingly they were not included. Even Pembina's -- somewhat limited -- opposing voice was not wanted during the tour of the oil sands facilities, and they were not invited to the lobbyist-sponsored dinners.
ALEC as Emily Post
A month after the trip, the Director of International and Federal Relations at ALEC, Karla Jones, sent participants an email helpfully reminding them of what each industry lobbyist had paid for on the tour. CMD obtained a copy of that communication via a public records request, which included a spreadsheet containing the names, telephone numbers and mailing addresses of each of the lobbyists on the trip. The ALEC email [15] also prompted legislators to send each of the sponsoring corporations a "thank you note."
The phenomenon of ALEC legislators sending such letters to lobbyists is something CMD has previously reported on [16]. Ohio Rep. Adams, for example, sent at least a dozen letters to corporate lobbyists in 2010, thanking them for writing checks to the ALEC scholarship fund, which paid his and his colleagues way to an ALEC conference.
"Because of your help and others like you, the trip to ALEC was made possible for our legislators," Adams wrote to AT&T lobbyist Bob Blazer.
"Rather than sending thank you notes to their corporate lobbyist sponsors, these legislators should instead consider an apology to their constituents," Stephen Spaulding, Staff Counsel for the good government group Common Cause told CMD. "I doubt lobbyists want thank you notes in return for bankrolling legislators' international vacations -- they would rather a bright, shiny souvenir in the form of corporate-drafted legislation."
Better Than a Thank You Note, Payback in Ohio
After the trip to Alberta, Rep. Adams, the Assistant Majority Floor Leader and Ohio ALEC state chair, led the calls in Ohio for the approval of the KXL pipeline, sponsoring a bill (HCR 9) [17] and talking publicly [18] about the proposed pipeline. "It is of the upmost importance that we strongly urge the U.S. government to take the necessary steps towards operation of the Keystone Pipeline," Adams wrote in March 2013 while promoting his bill. Rep. Rosenberger, the other Ohio legislator on the ALEC trip to Alberta, accordingly co-sponsored the Adams bill.
According to documents CMD obtained from public record requests in Ohio, a draft bill was sent to Adams on January 23, from Steve Dimon of 21 Consulting LLC, who represents TransCanada. The bill was sent as an attachment to the Dimon email.
The email message itself simply read, "Thank you so much! [19]"
Dimon stayed in touch with Adams' office over the proceeding months, providing his staff with further materials [20] about Keystone XL, including a set of talking points stamped with the TransCanada logo.
By February 14, Adams had an updated draft that had been reviewed by the Ohio legislative service commission, the non-partisan body that assists legislators with drafting legislation. Adams staffer Ryan Crawford sent this language to Rob Eshenbaugh [21], a lobbyist with Ohio Petroleum Council, the state affiliate of the American Petroleum Institute. "Please let me know if I can be of further assistance," Crawford wrote to the lobbyist. Eshenbaugh responded with some requested changes [22], which Crawford then incorporated into the bill.
All this occurred prior to Adams sharing the bill with his fellow legislators, which didn't happen until February 20. Adams finally introduced his bill in the Ohio Assembly on March 9 [17], without any public statement about his involvement with the ALEC Academy or that the source of the bill was a tar sands lobbyist.
The route of the proposed KXL pipeline takes it through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. This is a long way from Ohio, but the debate over the KXL project has become a national issue. The ALEC Academy, and subsequent lobbying from the oil-industry, demonstrates that TransCanada sees value in developing a list of states supportive of the project to influence the federal debate over KXL approval.
The precise details of the ALEC tour, including the trip being part-sponsored by TransCanada, are not mentioned in Adams' financial disclosures, which only reports his expenses as being from ALEC and the Alberta Government. Adams is not breaking the law here. This is because of the way ALEC works to fund legislator travel. Its scholarship system allows corporations to "sponsor" legislator's expenses, which are then simply disclosed as being a payment from "ALEC" and not from the sponsoring corporations or groups. CMD documented the ALEC scholarship fund in a 2012 report released jointly with Common Cause: "How the American Legislative Exchange Council Uses Corporate-Funded "Scholarships" to Send Lawmakers on Trips with Corporate Lobbyists [23]."
Graduates of the Keystone Academy appear to be learning a lot about how ALEC works behind the scenes to promote special interest legislation while keeping the public entirely in the dark.
laffer state report: http://billmoyers.com/2013/06/06/rich-states-poor-states-red-states-blue-states/
moyers
Scores of investors working together through Ceres and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility are challenging companies that fund the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), reminding them that such support backs ALEC's anti-environmental agenda. In response, four corporations have confirmed that they have cut or are cutting ties with ALEC:
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a British pharmaceutical company with £26.4 billion in annual revenue;
Brown-Forman, a Louisville, Kentucky alcohol company with $2.8 billion in annual revenue;
Unilever, a food, home, and personal care products corporation based in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom with a combined €51.3 billion in annual revenue;
and ConocoPhillips, a Houston oil company with $58 billion in annual revenue.
In addition, Publix Super Markets announced via social media in response to a customer challenge this week that it "has not been a member of ALEC since 2011."
This brings the tally to at least 49 corporations that have cut ties to ALEC since 2011.
==
http://www.prwatch.org/print/12133
ALEC Tours Tar Sands, Works with Industry Groups to Block Low-Carbon Fuel Standards
by Nick Surgey [1] — June 17, 2013 - 7:20am
Projects: ALEC Exposed [6]
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) recently adopted a "model" bill from an oil-industry lobby group, that would limit the ability of states to negotiate regional "low-carbon fuel standards" (LCFS), a mechanism designed to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels. If agreed by states, LCFS could have a significant impact on the sale of fuels derived from Canadian tar sands in the United States, regardless of any decision the Obama administration makes over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
ALEC's interest in the tar sands is increasingly active. It organized a tour of the Alberta tar sands for its members in October 2012, and as previously reported [8] by CMD, at least seven states introduced resolutions in 2013 calling for the approval of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Texas. The resolutions contained language from an ALEC "model" bill and from a set of talking points by TransCanada, the proposed pipeline operator that was also listed as a sponsor of the most recent ALEC conference that took place in Oklahoma City in May 2013.
American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers Partner with ALEC
The new ALEC "model" bill, called "Restrictions on Participation in Low-Carbon Fuel Standards Programs [9]," was sponsored at an ALEC conference in Washington, DC in November 2012, by Steve Higley, a lobbyist from the U.S.-based industry group American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM). Koch Industries and Exxon Mobil, both of which are represented on the ALEC Private Enterprise Advisory Council, are members of AFPM and have executives sitting on the board of directors.
The ALEC bill is intended to block environmental LCFS agreements. The implementation of LCFS poses a threat to the continued U.S. market for oil derived from the Canadian tar sands. Following the passage of the California LCFS law in 2006 -- so far the only state to have such a standard in operation -- the president of AFPM stated it would "harm our nation's energy security by discouraging the use of Canadian crude oil." [10]
ALEC made similar claims in a 2010 email to members of its Energy, Environment and Agriculture task force, in which it made the case that LCFS would shift consumption away from Canadian crude derived from the Alberta tar sands and towards "non-North American sources." ALEC cited a 2010 study [11]by Barr Engineering Company, called "Low Carbon Fuel Standard 'Crude Shuffle' Greenhouse Gas Impacts Analysis." The study was commissioned by [11] none other than AFPM, albeit under its previous name, the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association. The report asserts that the implementation of LCFS would create a "shuffle" of global crude supplies, as crude from the Canadian tar sands moves to other parts of the world more willing to take such a dirty fuel.
"Tar sands are fueling climate change no matter where it is used because its extraction and processing causes more carbon pollution." Luke Tonachel, senior vehicles analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) told CMD. "The argument that the LCFS will cause tar sands to be shuffled is specious. Tar sands producers are already targeting far away markets. Tar sands producers supporting Keystone XL are trying to get their product to Gulf of Mexico refineries so it can be exported as finished product."
Koch-Backed New Hampshire Bill Becomes ALEC "Model"
The ALEC bill is modeled on a 2012 New Hampshire law, designed to limit the ability of the state governor to enter into regional LCFS agreements with other states.
LCFS would place a limit on the amount of carbon released as a result of using certain fuels, measured over that fuel's entire lifecycle from when it's taken out of the ground to when it's pumped at the gas station. This poses a particular challenge for oil derived from Canadian tar sands, which is dirtier than other sources of oil and requires more processing to turn it into a usable fuel.
On December 30, 2010, governors of eleven Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states -- Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont -- signed a Memorandum of Understanding [12], committing to develop a regional LCFS, designed to lower the levels of damaging greenhouse gas emissions from the use of transportation and heating fuels. The response to the governors' plan in New Hampshire was an industry supported bill -- HB1487 [13] -- backed by a campaign [14] led by the David Koch funded Americans for Prosperity (AFP), aimed at undercutting the ability of the eleven state governors to negotiate LCFS. That bill is precisely the one now being promoted by ALEC.
ALEC Tours the Tar Sands, "Too Much Industry Influence" says Former Legislator
According to documents obtained by CMD, AFPM, the group behind the new ALEC "model" bill also co-sponsored an ALEC-organized three-day trip for state legislators to visit the Alberta tar sands in October 2012, just a month before they brought the "model" bill to the ALEC conference in Washington, DC. The trip was described in the obtained documents as an "ALEC Academy," which according to a pricelist of ALEC events [15] typically carries an $80,000 sponsorship price tag.
During the trip, while dining on expensive steaks at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in downtown Calgary, AFPM lobbyist Steve Higley gave a presentation to the ALEC legislators on the 'threat' of LCFS. Just over a month later, Higley presented on the same issue at the ALEC conference, calling for the introduction of the New Hampshire law as an ALEC "model" bill. He would have been surrounded by lobbyists from many oil companies with interests in the Canadian tar sands.
"I was struck by how much industry having a prominent role within ALEC is just taken for granted," Rick Russman told CMD in a telephone interview. Russman, a former Republican state senator from New Hampshire, attended the ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force meeting in Washington, DC at which the LCFS bill was passed.
"These ALEC events are put on to benefit industry, not to serve the environment or to serve the interests of the country." Russman, who co-founded the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, is a former chair of the National Conference of State Legislators Committee on the Environment. "At NCSL we always tried to have speakers from different sides of a debate, to try to have a balance, but that isn't at all the case at ALEC. It's not geared to be a fair debate," he said.
Consumer Energy Alliance Fights "Discrimination" Against Gasoline and Diesel
One of the other Alberta ALEC Academy sponsors was the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), an oil industry front group that has campaigned against LCFS for several years, and which has close connections to AFPM, ALEC and the Alberta government. A top lobbyist for the group has played a key role in the coordinated fight back against the LCFS initiative.
In a 2011 article for Salon.com [16], Canadian reporter Geoff Dembicki exposed email communications between Michael Whatley and then Alberta government diplomat Gary Mar, in which Whatley pitched the Alberta government on a campaign to oppose LCFS in the U.S. at the state and federal level. In the emails, Whatley warned that the northeast state governors' plan needed "a very serious response on all levels."
In a later email, Whatley told Mar that his plan was to work to oppose LCFS with "affiliated energy coalitions and trade associations, thought leaders, elected officials, unions and key allies."
Soon after, CEA began vigorously campaigning against LCFS. According to the group's 2011 [17] and 2012 IRS filings, it devoted about one quarter of its entire budget in both years to an anti-LCFS campaign, amounting to $882,890 in 2011 [17] and $730,607 in 2012. After the New Hampshire law passed, Whatley took the opportunity to slam LCFS, bemoaning that it would inevitably "discriminate against traditional fuels like gasoline and diesel."
CEA is organized as a non-profit group and its list of funders is unknown, but on its website it does list "affiliates," [18] including a large number of oil companies with interests in the Canadian tar sands such as BP, Exxon Mobil, Shell and Devon Energy. The list also includes industry lobby groups such as the American Petroleum Institute and the AFPM, both of which have proven financial ties to CEA.
In its 2011 IRS filings [19] (the most recent to be publicly available), AFPM noted that it was seeking "contribution pledges from specific member companies to introduce a public relations campaign to educate and inform target audiences about the adverse impacts of low carbon fuel standards." The same year it provided more than a million dollars to CEA in consulting fees.
The Exploitation of the Canadian Tar Sands Means "Game Over" for the Climate
The tar sands of Alberta, containing an estimated 169.3 billion barrels of oil, are estimated to be the third largest reserve of crude oil on the planet, behind only Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. But the tar sands are also the most polluting source of energy on earth, requiring heavy processing to release oil from sticky tarlike bitumen. The extraction and refining process releases more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than conventional oil drilling, and by some estimates is leaving behind a legacy of devastation in the Alberta environment -- destroying forests, poisoning water and polluting the atmosphere with toxic byproducts.
The world's most prominent climate scientist, former NASA scientist James Hansen, recently warned that the continued and expanded use of Canadian tar sands would be "game over" for the climate. Interviewed in The Guardian [20], Hansen said: "Oil from tar sands makes sense only for a small number of people who are making a lot of money from that product. It doesn't make sense for the rest of the people on the planet."
According to Luke Tonachel of NRDC, who maintains that the ultimate market place for the tar sands derived oil is not the U.S. but abroad, the reason industry is so scared of LCFS is that it might be seen as a positive model that would be adopted elsewhere. "The advancement of policies in the U.S. that require the fuel supply to get cleaner in terms of carbon instead of dirtier can be a model for other countries to adopt, which would reduce the demand for tar sands-derived fuels in export markets," Tonachel told CMD by email.
The idea that the United States might present a positive global model on the environment may surprise some, but it will come as no surprise that a significant obstacle to such positive change at the state level has been ALEC and its allies.
DROZ free mkt blog eg http://www.masterresource.org/category/american-legislative-exchange-council-alec/
ALEC to States: Repeal Renewable Energy Mandates (‘Electricity Freedom Act’ model bill adopted)
by twynn
“Households in 29 states are and will continue to see higher electricity rates, lower economic growth and, subsequently, lower standard of livings without outright repeal of these crony capitalist policies.”
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the nation’s largest non-partisan association of state legislators boasting more than 2,000 members from all 50 states, recently adopted a firm stance opposing misguided government intervention into the electricity market which works against affordable, reliable electricity.
ALEC’s model bill for state legislators, entitled the Electricity Freedom Act, repeals a state’s renewable energy mandate stating:.....also ~ media matters
walker on voucjers and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker got a boost last week from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in its annual Rich States, Poor States report. Despite Bureau of Labor Statistics data putting Wisconsin in 44th place for private-sector job creation, ALEC placed the state as 15th in the country in its ranking of economic outlook, giving Walker -- a former ALEC member -- a boost as he lays the groundwork for a re-election campaign and a possible Presidential bid.
The ALEC report ranks the states by "economic outlook," based on factors including the existence of "right to work" anti-union laws, and the rates at which personal and corporate taxes are levied by the state. Wisconsin gains points in the ALEC assessment for having no inheritance tax, the lowest possible minimum wage, and for having a lower than average number of public employees. But ALEC also docks points because, despite Walkers' infamous attack on the right of public-sector workers to organize in Wisconsin, the state has not passed a private-sector "right to work" law.
The report effectively grades states in line with the very policy positions that ALEC promotes through its "model" legislation, including the privatization of public services, the elimination of regulations, and attacks on workers rights.
Even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Knows WI Has a Jobs Problem
Since Walker took office in 2010, job growth in Wisconsin has taken a nosedive. Wisconsin has consistently lagged behind neighboring states and the nation as a whole in terms of new job creation, a trend that was predicted by Federal Reserve economists shortly after reviewing Walker's 2011-2012 austerity budget. Walker's steep and controversial budget cuts abruptly moved Wisconsin from positive territory into negative territory as the graph below illustrates.
hodad: ALEC member Koch-funded organizations include: Americans for Prosperity (which was largely responsible for mobilizing “Tea Party” movement support for GOP candidates in 2009/2010. David Koch has served as the chairman of this organization. Koch Industries Executive Vice President Richard Fink has served as a longtime board member of Americans for Prosperity), the Cato Institute (an offshoot of the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. David Koch is a longtime director of this organization), the Heritage Foundation (which was co-founded by ALEC founder Paul Weyrich), the Reason Foundation (David Koch is a longtime trustee of this organization. Reason has been one of the leading proponents of the privatization of public services. The organization is known to have received financial support from private prison corporations,
47
such as Corrections Corporation of America and Geo Group), and the State Policy Network (which also had close ties to ALEC during 2011 through Doner Fundraising, an event planning and fundraising firm that works with closely with “issue-based” not-for-profits and GOP candidates).
ALEC holds three major conferences each year: the “Spring Task Force Summit,” the ALEC “Annual Meeting,” and the “States and Nation Policy Summit.” These conferences are invariably held at upscale resorts and often feature recreational activities, such as golf tournaments, skeet shoots, baseball game parties and cigar receptions. Lawmaker attendance at these events-- including costs associated with travel and lodging-- is largely, if not entirely, paid through the ALEC “scholarship fund.”
As has been reported on extensively by DBA/CMD, ALEC “scholarship” funds are raised in each state by ALEC member lawmakers (principally the state’s “public sector chair”-- this chairperson is generally a lawmaker in a leadership position in the state legislature) and the state’s ALEC “private sector chair”-- this person is generally a lobbyist employed by an ALEC member corporation. As such, both the state “public sector chair” lawmaker (and often other ALEC member lawmakers), along with the “private sector chair,” openly solicit (tax-deductible) contributions to the “scholarship fund” from lobbyists who represent corporate interests so that ALEC member lawmakers may attend, and...
Other corporate sponsors of the 2011 ALEC SNPS included GlaxoSmithKline, AT&T, ExxonMobil, Time Warner Cable, PhRMA, Peabody Energy, Duke Energy, Bayer Healthcare, AstraZeneca, and Reynolds American.
...
These Cincinnati and New Orleans conferences were the only two ALEC events to be protested prior to the 2011 Scottsdale SNPS. The only instance of any criminal act perpetrated by an “anarchist”-- or by any other individual-- also happened to be the only arrest of any kind associated with either of these two protests-- and, as records show, this arrest (for simple vandalism and resisting arrest) was a far cry from the claims of “violent tactics” reported by Dowhan to her AZDPS superiors at ACTIC on November 17. Nevertheless, records show that these, and related, claims largely laid the foundation for the massive PPD presence (including the 58 off-duty officers employed by ALEC/Kierland and the presence of the “mobile field force”/TRU) set out for Arizona ALEC protestors during the 2011 SNPS.
Missouri: http://www.alternet.org/print/food/look-out-corporations-promote-right-farm
Progressive Populist [1] / By Margot Ford McMillen [2]
comments_image
Look Out: Corporations Promote ‘Right to Farm’
May 9, 2013 |
Every year for the last six or eight, family farmers and small-town residents in Missouri have had to fight off legislations designed to take away our local control and put all the lawmaking privileges in the hands of state lawmakers. Taken to the extreme, this would mean that county, city and township ordinances and laws would be void. No more city zoning, no health ordinances guaranteeing special treatment such as special regulations against noise, air pollution, water pollution and so forth, for county residents that demanded it.
The beneficiaries of these laws would be corporate do-badders who want to export costs like cleanups or health care for employees. Without regulations, they could get taxpayers to pay for pollution and social justice atrocities. It would be business as usual for them, only better!
This year, we have been dealing with bills introduced simultaneously in the Missouri House of Representatives and Senate to ensure “modern farming practices” forever. The resolutions on the House side said, “No state law shall be enacted which abridges the right of farmers and ranchers to employ agricultural technology and modern livestock production and ranching practices, unless enacted by the General Assembly.”
Never mind that “agricultural technology,” “modern livestock production,” “ranching practices” are not defined. And never mind that they would seem to suggest methods of production like Confined Animal Feeding Operations and genetically altered crops. If these resolutions passed, citizens would be asked to vote this dangerous language into our state constitution. Where it would reside forever.
As I write this, just a few days after tax day, it looks like we’ve beaten back this particular monster. It is possible, of course, that all we’ve done is cut off one head to reveal two or three more, but the citizens have been calling lawmakers, pointing out the errors of the bills, and gaining support as the session moves forward.
But here’s the larger question: Where the heck did this idea of changing the constitution come from? We know who it benefits — the industrial agriculture system — and we know who it hurts — ordinary citizens. But who wrote this bill, now called “right to farm,” and who financed the possibility that it would get traction?
Thanks to the magic of Google, I quickly found three states with efforts for constitutional amendments similar to Missouri’s proposals. Another few keystrokes and I found the source of the language. It came from ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. And on the ALEC website, a few more clicks took me to the list of legislative members from Missouri.
In November 2012, North Dakota, a state besieged with fracking (and, yes, ALEC has policies and sample legislation favoring that subject also) passed a “right to farm” amendment into the constitution. Its language is eerily like the proposal in Missouri: The right of farmers and ranchers to engage in modern farming and ranching practices shall be forever guaranteed in this state. No law shall be enacted which abridges the right of farmers and ranchers to employ agricultural technology, modern livestock production and ranching practices.
While you might think this guarantees farmers against the frackers, please note the seriously vague and troubling words “modern,” “technology,” and the confusing phrase “no law shall be enacted …” So, in North Dakota, no county, township, parish, city or any governmental body will be able to pass a law or ordinance to protect themselves from chemicals, GMOs, CAFOs or any other kind of industrial farming scheme.
Not only will farmers be affected. This amendment can have serious repercussions for consumers: North Dakota, one of our chief wheat-raising states, will not be able to refuse to plant untested (and untrusted) GMO wheat under this Constitutional clause.
The same sort of language is being considered in Montana, another primary wheat-raising state, and in Indiana, one of the buckles on the corn belt. The Hoosier experience, summed up by Indiana’s TribStar.com, sounds just like Missouri. They say:
“House Joint Resolution 5 and Senate Joint Resolution 27, identical pieces of legislation making their way through the two chambers, seek to amend the Indiana Constitution to prevent any legislative body from adopting any rules regulating farming ...
“The amendment, apparently, would prevent any rules regulating large industrial agricultural businesses such as confined animal feeding operations. It would also prevent any laws that protect public health and private property rights for Hoosiers who are not farmers. Even zoning laws could be challenged.”
These dangerous laws could spell the end of rural life and the endorsement of fields farmed with robot tractors, sprayed by drones carrying Agent Orange and growing untested GMO crops with serious health consequences.
State by state, beginning in Indiana this fall, voters will confront this amendment and industry will spend the big bucks to get it passed. Find out if it’s active in your state, and who supports it.
Then call your friends and neighbors and work to defeat it.
See more stories tagged with:
Right to farm [3],
Missouri House of Representatives [4],
confined animal feeding operations [5],
constitution [6],
deregulation [7],
alec [8],
american legislative exchange council [9],
gmo [10],
cafo [11],
north dakota [12],
house joint resolution 5 [13],
senate joint resolution 27 [14],
modern farming practices [15]
AlterNet [1] / By Jim Hightower [2]
comments_image
Why It's Literally Sickening to Ban Whistleblowers from Exposing Cruelty at Factory Farms
April 24, 2013 |
In most state legislatures today, "off the wall" has become the political center, and bizarre bills are no longer unusual.
Still, it seems strange that legislators in so many states — including Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio and Vermont — have simultaneously been pushing "ag-gag" bills that are not merely outrageous, but downright un-American. Each is intended to quash free speech by banning journalists, whistleblowers, workers and other citizens from exposing illegal, abusive or unethical treatment of animals that are incarcerated in the factory feeding operations of huge corporations.
Our nation's founders mounted a revolution to establish our free-press and free-speech rights, enshrining them in the First Amendment to ensure the free exchange of ideas — even when the Powers That Be didn't like the message that such freedoms produce. In fact, the Founders knew from hard experience that the protection of those freedoms was especially essential when the Powers That Be have something they're eager to hide from the citizenry.
Yet here comes a mess of so-called "conservatives" attempting to use state government to outlaw messengers who shine a light on corporate wrongdoing — turning those who expose crimes into criminals. Even kookier, these repressive laws declare that truth-tellers who so much as annoy or embarrass the corporate owner of the animal factory are guilty of "an act of terrorism."
Oddly, each of these state proposals is practically identical, even including much of the same wording. That's because, unbeknownst to the public and other legislators, the bills don't originate from the state lawmakers who introduce them. Instead, they come from a Washington-based corporate front group named ALEC — the American Legislative Exchange Council.
This infamous "bill mill" periodically convenes its corporate funders to write model bills that serve their special interests. Then ALEC farms out bills to its trusted cadre of state lawmakers across the country, who introduce them as their own, not mentioning the corporate powers behind them.
The secretive ALEC network produced the model ag-gag bill in 2002 and began shipping it from state to state under the ominous tile, "Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act."
The freedom-busting terrorists in this fight are not those who reveal the abuse, but the soulless factory-farm profiteers in the corporate suites and the cynical lawmakers who serve them.
Actually, factory farms are not farms at all. They are corporate-run concentration camps for pigs, cows, chickens, turkeys and other food animals.
Held in corporate confinement, these creatures of nature are denied any contact with their natural world, instead being crammed by the thousands into concrete-and-metal buildings, where they are locked in torturously tiny cages for the duration of their so-called "life" — which is nasty, brutish and short. All this merely so food giants like Tyson Foods, Smithfield and Borden can grab fatter and quicker profits. Their abusive industrial system is so disgusting that America's consumers would gag at the sight of it.
That's why they're desperate to keep you from knowing what goes on inside. Nonetheless, word has been getting out, as animal rights advocates, consumer groups, reporters, unions and others have exposed some of the realities of animal confinement to the public, including showing wretch-inducing photos and videos. Rather than cleaning up their act, however, the industrial food powers have simply doubled down on disgusting by getting industry-funded state legislators to go after anyone who reveals their ugly secrets.
Their attack on whistleblowers will gag you almost as badly as viewing the gross animal abuse. But, really, who do they think they're fooling? If they have to pass a law that says, "Don't look here," people will naturally wonder what they're hiding — and will demand to see it and change it. Six states have passed ag-gag laws, and six more are presently moving toward passage. To see what your legislature is doing — and to join the fight to stop factory farming everywhere — go to humanesociety.org.
© 2013 Creators.com
See more stories tagged with:
factory farm [3],
ag gag [4]
Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/food/why-its-literally-sickening-ban-whistleblowers-exposing-cruelty-factory-farms
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org
[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/jim-hightower-0
[3] http://www.alternet.org/tags/factory-farm
[4] http://www.alternet.org/tags/ag-gag
[5] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
ALEC Energy Director Misleads the Wall Street Journal
Posted: 04/02/2013 2:24 pm
In Friday's Wall Street Journal story, "States Cooling to Renewable Energy," American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Director Todd Wynn claimed, "I have not received one dime to work directly on renewable-energy mandates." Wynn may not have received a check where the memo read: "For your efforts to attack clean energy policies" but his ALEC paycheck certainly comes (in part) from fossil fuel interests.
ALEC received approximately 98 percent of its budget from sources other than dues from legislators -- sources such as corporations, corporate trade associations and right-wing and corporate foundations, according to IRS 990 tax forms from the organization in 2009.
The members (as of June 2011) of Mr. Wynn's task force include at least 23 fossil fuel companies and utilities, like ExxonMobil, Continental Resources, Peabody Energy and Duke Energy, that have a direct financial interest in slowing the growth of clean energy. Task force members fund almost all of ALEC's operations.
ALEC corporate members each pay between $7,000 and $25,000 or more to be members. The corporate task force members also pay fees to have a vote on what pieces of "sample legislation" should be sent to state legislators. And, last fall, the energy task force members voted to push the "Electricity Freedom Act," which repeals state clean energy standards, through state legislatures across the country.
So it's no surprise these bills are showing up and being pushed by fossil fuel interests and front groups in states across the country. Wynn probably received at least a few dimes to coordinate this effort to attack clean energy policies. If ALEC wants to provide some transparency on its budget, Checks and Balances Project would be happy to take a second look.
Correction: This blog post has been updated since publication to clarify the statement about the sources of ALEC's funding.
==
vouchers/charter:
ALEC Spreads Parent Trigger Nationwide
The first Parent Trigger law was enacted in 2010 in California and, with an assist from Heartland and ALEC, the idea is rapidly spreading.
The California law was based on a proposal from Ben Austin, a policy consultant for a small non-profit education organization called Green Dot Public Schools, which manages charter schools for the city of Los Angeles. Austin subsequently formed Parent Revolution, which promotes these laws across the country. But this is not your local PTA. Parent Revolution is backed by big money, including receiving funding from the conservative Walton Family Foundation (think Wal-Mart), which has spent over a billion to promote school privatization.
The rabid pro-privatization Heartland Institute quickly took up the Parent Trigger idea in 2010. The Heartland version of the bill (PDF) went a step further and gave parents the authority to trigger a school's restructuring regardless of whether it is "failing" or not. Heartland's version of the bill also calls for a "school voucher" option, which allows students to receive a monetary voucher to attend another private or public school. Voucher or "choice" schools have been criticized for diverting funds from public schools to unaccountable private schools, including for-profit religious and virtual schools.
Center for Am Freedom
n May 2012, PRWeek reported that ALEC had hired the notorious global PR firm Edelman. Edelman is the firm of choice for big tobacco, big oil, and big pharma, all key sponsors of ALEC. ALEC also held a special meeting asking right-wing bloggers, such as the Breitbart operation,for help in "a very aggressive campaign to really spread the word about what we actually do," as CMD has reported.
An "aggressive campaign" is clearly underway.
ALEC's note to legislators claims that CMD's "top investigative reporter" has a "lengthy criminal background." It links to a attack-piece published by a newly created entity called The Washington Free Beacon (WFB), the online publication of the self-proclaimed "conservative advocacy group" the Center for American Freedom.
hope:
“ALEC Who?” ALEC Has an Identity Crisis
by Nick Surgey [1] — April 11, 2013 - 9:23am
Topics: Public Relations [2]
Projects: ALEC Exposed [3]
The American Legislative Exchange Council, which for decades has been known by the acronym "ALEC," is asking members to stop calling it ALEC since the name is now associated with a "distant, mysterious, Washington alphabet organization of unknown intentions."
"You may have noticed we are limiting the use of the acronym 'ALEC,'" wrote Bill Meierling, ALEC's recently-hired Senior Director of Public Affairs in a March 13 email sent to ALEC members and obtained through an open records request.
"Over the past year, the word 'ALEC' has been used to conjure up images of a distant, mysterious, Washington alphabet organization of unknown intentions," he continued. "The organization has refocused on the words 'Exchange' and 'Council' to emphasize our goal of a broad exchange of ideas to make government work better and more efficiently."
From ALEC email to members, March 13, 2013.
From the March 13 email to ALEC members from Bill Meierling
This is the kind of expert advice Meierling brings to the operation. Meierling previously worked [5] for Edelman [6], the world's largest PR firm, which rose to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s doing crisis management for R. J. Reynolds [7] and other parts of the tobacco industry to help them "slow or reverse the growing negative trends in public opinion regarding smoking."
ALEC has been facing its own PR crisis since the Center for Media and Democracy launched the ALEC Exposed [8] project in July 2011 and made publicly available over 800 ALEC "model bills." This exposure led to outrage over ALEC's role in promoting "Stand Your Ground" laws, voter suppression, union-busting, and climate change denial, leading 44 major corporations to publicly drop their ALEC membership.
The "corporate bill mill" hired Edelman [9] and has been struggling to repair its image in the past year. In April 2012, it dismantled the "Public Safety and Elections Task Force" responsible for promoting gun laws and voter suppression, and last month, posted a small selection of its model bills online in an effort to further distance itself from its most undesirable legislation.
The ALEC name has become increasingly discredited in many circles, not because it is viewed as a "mysterious, Washington alphabet organization of unknown intentions," but because of its role in facilitating corporate influence over state lawmaking and warping the democratic process. This is not likely to change no matter what kind of makeover the organization gets.
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WTF:
On Earth Day, ALEC Bemoans “Somber” Environmentalists
by Nick Surgey [1] — April 22, 2013 - 6:43pm
Topics: Global Warming [2], Energy [3], Environment [4]
Projects: ALEC Exposed [5]
Share/Save Share this [6]
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which is centrally involved with pushing environmentally destructive legislation on behalf of the fossil fuel industry, today complained [7] that "Earth Day has been a largely somber event" when it should be "a celebration of the wonderful achievements humankind has made in cleaning and greening the planet," wrote Todd Wynn, ALEC Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force Director.
So why so sad all you greens? Don't you appreciate how far we have come with ALEC's help?
Neither do we.
The preponderance of evidence suggests that ALEC has done nothing, zip, nada to "green the planet," and has denied the very existence of climate change while promoting a raft of legislation to promote the continued and expanded use of fossil fuels.
Who can forget ALEC's "Top 10 Myths About Global Warming [8]", which challenged numerous environmental truisms, such as that human activity is causing the earth to warm (Myth 1), that the polar ice caps are melting (Myth 3), that species are at risk of extinction because of climate change (Myth 5) and that "Extreme weather phenomena" is increasing because of global warming (Myth 4). ALEC doesn't feature the "Top 10" on its website anymore, but its policies towards the planet haven't mellowed one inch.
ALEC Pushes Polluters' Policies
ALEC has a very long list [9] of "model" bills that benefit big polluters at the expense of the environment. ALEC is currently promoting the repeal [10] of renewable energy standards in 29 states, through its Electricity Freedom Act [11]. They are opposed [12]to the proposed EPA rule limiting carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants. Its "model" Disclosure of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Composition Act [13], was brought to ALEC by Exxon Mobil [14], and -- contrary to its title -- allows fracking operators to not release details of the chemicals that it pumps into the ground. Another of their "model" bills -- State Withdrawal from Regional Climate Initiatives [15] -- would have states abandon regional efforts to implement carbon reduction schemes. This bill includes language denying climate change is occurring.
Most recently, in January ALEC adopted a new bill -- Restrictions on Participation in Low-Carbon Fuel Standards Programs [16] -- to block adopting of state low-carbon fuel standards, currently operating in just one state -- California -- but very likely to be on the agenda in many more states in the coming years.
Many more examples can be found in our linked factsheet. [17]
Promoting the Interests of the Fossil Fuel Industry
In its own words [12], ALEC has "repeatedly adopted the position that regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act is unnecessary, ineffective and economically destructive." Economically destructive for whom you may ask? The list of ALEC funders [18] is a virtual who's who of the coal, gas and oil industry: Exxon Mobil, Peabody Energy, Koch Industries, BP, Shell, Chevron and many more, plus lobbyists from the major fossil fuel trade associations including American Gas Association and the American Petroleum Institute.
Although profitable, renewables are just not quite as profitable right now as burning fossil fuels. As a recent Bloomberg investigation [19] exposed, Chevron, which publicly touts its green credentials -- "It's time oil companies get behind the development of renewable energy," reads its Facebook page -- has actually been abandoning investments in biofuels because it would make a mere 5-10% profit. It typically makes 17% on its oil and gas investments.
A Billion People Celebrate Earth Day and One Million Object to the KXL
Earth Day was founded by Wisconsin native and former U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970. Despite organizations like ALEC, more and more people are fighting to save the planet from polluting industries. A reported [20] 1 billion people around the globe will participate in events to mark Earth Day this year. In the United States, 350.org announced [21] that they have now submitted a million comments to the State Department from people opposing the Keystone XL pipeline.
Now that is cause for celebration.
Attachment Size
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Center for Media and Democracy • 520 University Avenue, Suite 260 • Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Phone: 608-260-9713 • Fax: 608-260-9714
Source URL: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/04/12072/earth-day-alec-bemoans-%E2%80%9Csomber%E2%80%9D-environmentalists
Links:
[1] http://www.prwatch.org/users/35314/nick-surgey
[2] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/environment/global-warming
[3] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/energy
[4] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/environment
[5] http://www.prwatch.org/projects/alec-exposed
[6] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prwatch.org%2Fnews%2F2013%2F04%2F12072%2Fearth-day-alec-bemoans-%25E2%2580%259Csomber%25E2%2580%259D-environmentalists&linkname=On%20Earth%20Day%2C%20ALEC%20Bemoans%20%E2%80%9CSomber%E2%80%9D%20Environmentalists%20
[7] http://www.americanlegislator.org/earth-day-you-have-got-to-admit-it-is-getting-better-a-little-better-all-the-time/
[8] http://www.prwatch.org/files/ALEC%20Climate%20Myths.pdf
[9] http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/Bills_Affecting_our_Water,_Air,_%26_Land
[10] http://www.americanlegislator.org/alec-to-states-repeal-renewable-energy-mandates/
[11] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/documents/Electricity-Freedom-Act-121123.pdf
[12] http://www.americanlegislator.org/alec-weighs-in-on-the-epas-proposed-carbon-dioxide-standard/
[13] http://www.alec.org/model-legislation/the-disclosure-of-hydraulic-fracturing-fluid-composition-act/
[14] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/us/alec-a-tax-exempt-group-mixes-legislators-and-lobbyists.html?pagewanted=all
[15] http://www.alec.org/model-legislation/state-withdrawal-from-regional-climate-initiatives/
[16] http://www.alec.org/model-legislation/restrictions-on-participation-in-low-carbon-fuel-standards-programs/
[17] http://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/c/c9/ALEC_on_the_Environment_Final_PDF.pdf
[18] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ALEC_Corporations
[19] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-18/chevron-defies-california-on-carbon-emissions.html
[20] http://www.earthday.org/blog/2013/04/22/its-earth-day
[21] http://campusprogress.org/articles/350.org_reaches_goal_of_a_million_comments_against_the_keystone_xl/
[22] http://www.prwatch.org/files/ALEC Climate Myths.pdf
http://www.prwatch.org/print/12072
Task Force Co-Chairs
As of April 2013:
Civil Justice Task Force - Senator Bill Seitz (R-Ohio)[1]
Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force - Representative Dawn Pettengill (R-Iowa)[2]
Communications and Technology Task Force - Representative Blair Thoreson (R-North Dakota)[1]
Education Task Force - Representative Greg Forristall (R-Iowa)[1]
Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force - Representative David Wolkins (R-Indiana)[1]
Health and Human Services Task Force - Senator Judson Hill (R-South Dakota)[3]
International Relations Task Force - Representative Tim Moffitt (R-North Carolina)[1]
Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force - Senator Jim Buck (R-Indiana)[1]
Previous Task Force Co-Chairs
As of 2011 (some of the following continue to be Task Force Chairs, some no longer are, see above for most current information):
Civil Justice Task Force - Senator Bill Seitz (R-Ohio)[4]
Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force - Representative Glenn Vaad (R-Colorado)[5][1]
Education Task Force - Senator David Casas (R-Georgia)[6]
Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force - Representative David Wolkins (R-Indiana)[7]?
Health and Human Services Task Force - Representative Leah Vukmir (R-Wisconsin)[8]?[1]
International Relations Task Force - Representative Harold Brubaker (R-North Carolina)[9]
Public Safety and Elections Task Force - Representative Jerry Madden (R-Texas)[10]
Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force - Senator Jim Buck (R-Indiana)[11]
Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force - Representative Blair Thoreson (R-North Dakota)[12]
Education Task Force
Rep. Tyler August (R-32), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Sondra L. Erickson (R), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-36B), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-20), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Dean Knudson (R-30), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Rep. Howard Marklein (R-51), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Carol McFarlane (R-53B), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Sen. Gen Olson (R - 33), ALEC Education Task Force Member, former State Chair[49]
Nancy Spence (R-CO), Former Public Sector Chair, Education Task Force[50]
Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R-52), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Rep. Evan Wynn (R-43), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Rep. Wes Keller (AK R-14)
Rep. Steve Court (AZ R-18, Majority Leader); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Chester Crandell (AZ R-5); Education Task Force Member
Rep. John Fillmore (AZ R-23); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Doris Goodale (AZ R-3); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Amanda A. Reeve (AZ R-6); Education Task Force Member
Sen. Rich Crandall (AZ R-19); Education Task Force Member
Sen. Eddie Joe Williams (AR R-28); Education Task Force Member
Sen. Jimmy L. Jeffress (AR D-24); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Carole R. Murray (CO R-45); Education Task Force Member
Sen. Nancy Spence (CO R-27), former co-chair, Education Task Force[27][51]
Sen. Keith C. King (CO R-12); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Gail Lavielle (CT R-143); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Michael Molgano (CT R-125); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Timothy LeGeyt (CT R-17); Education Task Force Member
Sen. Anitere Flores (FL R-38); Education Task Force Member
Rep. David S. Casas (GA R-103); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Howard R. Maxwell (GA R-17); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Jan Jones (GA R-46); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Mike Dudgeon (GA R-24); Education Task Force Member
Sen. Fran R. Millar (GA R-79); Education Task Force Member
Sen. Greg Goggans (GA R-7); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Scott C. Bedke (ID R-27A), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Bob P. Nonini (ID R-5), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Roger L. Eddy (IL R-109), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Jerry Lee Mitchell (IL R-90), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Sen. David Luechtefeld (IL R-58), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Cindy J. Noe (IN R-87), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. David Yarde, II (IN R-52), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Sen. Carlin J. Yoder (IN R-12), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Greg Forristall (IA R-98), Education Task Force Member
Rep. Mary Ann Hanusa (IA R-99), Education Task Force Member
Rep. Steve Huebert (KS R-90); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Terry Calloway (KS R-3); Education Task Force Member
Sen. Bob Marshall (KS R-13); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Jill York (KY R-96); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Addia K. Wuchner (KY R-66); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Brad Montell (KY R-58); Education Task Force Member
Sen. Kenneth W. Winters (KY R-1); Education Task Force Member
Sen. David P. Givens (KY R-9); Education Task Force Member
Sen. Vernie D. McGaha (KY R-15); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Frank Hoffmann (LA R-15)[29]; Education Task Force Member
Rep. Joe Harrison; (LA R-51); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Walter Leger, III (LA D-91); Education Task Force Member
Sen. Ben Wayne Nevers, Sr. (LA D-12); Education Task Force Member
Sen. Brian D. Langley (ME R-28); Education Task Force Member
Del. Kathy Afzali (MD R-4A); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Sondra L. Erickson (MN R-16A), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Pat Garofalo (MN R-36B), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Carol McFarlane (MN R-53B), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Sen. Gen Olson (MN R - 33), ALEC Education Task Force Member, former State Chair[52]
Rep. Harvey A. Fillingane (MS R-101); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Noal Akins (MS R-12); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Herbert D. Frierson (MS R-106); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Scott Bounds (MS R-44); Education Task Force Member
Sen. Doug E. Davis (MS R-1); Education Task Force Member
Sen. Fredie Videt Carmichael (MS R-46); Education Task Force Member
Majority Floor Leader Timothy Jones (MO R-89), State Chairman[27][53]; Education Task Force Member
Rep. Scott D. Dieckhaus (MO R-109); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Mike Kelley (MO R-126); Education Task Force Member
Sen. Jane D. Cunningham (MO R-7); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Dan D Skattum (MT R-62); Education Task Force Member
Rep. Mark W. Blasdel (MT R-10); Education Task Force Member
Sen. Pete Pirsch (NE 4); Education Task Force Member
Sen. John M. Wightman (NE 36); Education Task Force Member
Sen. Barbara Cegavske (NV R-8), ALEC State Chairman[54] and Education Task Force Member
Sen. Don G. Gustavson (NV R-2), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Dan McGuire (NH R-8), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Kris Edward Roberts (NH D-3), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Will Smith (NH R-18), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Alonzo Baldonado (NM R-8), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Dennis Roch (NM R-67), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Sen. Mark L. Boitano (NM R-18), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Bryan R. Holloway (NC R-91), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Rep. Linda P. Johnson (NC R-83), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Sen. Donald Ray Vaughan (NC D-27), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Sen. Tom Apodaca (NC R-48), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Speaker David Monson (ND R-10)[27], ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Rep. Lisa M. Meier (ND R-32), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Sen. Rich P. Wardner (ND R-37), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. John A. Carey, Jr. (OH R-87), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Rep. Gerald L. Stebelton (OH R-5), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Kristina D. Roegner (OH R-42), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Marlene Anielski (OH R-17), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Jabar Shumate (D-73), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Rep. Sally R. Kern (OK R-84), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Rep. Ann Coody (OK R-64), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Lee R. Denney (OK R-33), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Sen. John W. Ford (OK R-29)?, State Chairman[55] and Education Task Force Member
Rep. Kathy L. Rapp (PA R-65), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Phillip D. Owens (SC R-5), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Jacqueline Sly (SD R-33), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Tad Perry (SD R-24), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Sen. Todd J. Schlekeway (SD R-11), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. John D. Ragan (TN R-33), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Rep. Kevin D. Brooks (TN R-24), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Rep. Harry R. Brooks, Jr. (TN R-19), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Sen. Dolores R. Gresham (TN R-26), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Sen. Jim Tracy (TN R-16), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Rob Eissler (TX R-15), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Daniel H. Branch (TX R-108), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Geanie W. Morrison (TX R-30), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Rep. Diane Patrick (TX R-94), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Sen. Florence D. Shapiro (TX R-18), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Keith Grover (UT R-61), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Sen. Margaret Dayton (UT R-15), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Sen. Howard A. Stephenson (UT R-11), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Del. Robert Tata (VA R-85), ALEC Education Task Force
Del. Marvin Kirkland Cox (VA R-66), ALEC Education Task Force
Del. Mark L. Cole (VA R-88), ALEC Education Task Force
Del. R. Steven Landes (VA R-25), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Sen. Stephen D. Newman (VA R-23), ALEC Education Task Force
Rep. Kevin W. Van De Wege (WA D-24), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Kevin Parker (WA R-6), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Sen. Randi Becker (WA R-2), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Del. John Overington (WV R-55), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Tyler August (WI R-32), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Dean Knudson (WI R-30), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Rep. Howard Marklein (WI R-51), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt (WI R-52), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Rep. Evan Wynn (WI R-43), ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
Sen. Glenn Grothman (WI R-20), ALEC Education Task Force Member
Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Former Rep. Michael Huebsch (WI R), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member and former State Chairman[56]
Former Sen. Patricia Pariseau (MN R-36), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Karl Van Roy (WI R-90), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member[27]
Rep. Jack Williams (AL R-47)[27]; Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Howard Sanderford (AL R-20); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Sylvia Tenney Allen (AZ R-5, President Pro Tempore), membership exp. 12-31-2010; Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Steve Pierce (AZ R-1, Majority Whip), membership exp. 12-31-2010; Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Bryan King (AK R-91); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Robert Moore (AK D-12); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Michael Lamoureux (AK R-4), State Chairman[57]; Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Denny Altes (AK R-13); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Former CA Sen. Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth[27]; Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Frank McNulty (CO); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Mike Kopp (CO); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. John Piscopo (CT R-76), Second Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors[27][36]; Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Lawrence Miller (CT R-122)[29]; Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Michael McLachlan (CT R-24); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Clay Ford (FL R-3)[29][27]; Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Lee Constantine (FL R-22); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Lynn Smith (GA R-70); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Michael Harden (GA R-28); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Carl Rogers (GA R-26); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Terry England (GA R-108); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Ross Tolleson (GA R-20); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Eric Anderson (ID R-1), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. John Stevenson (ID R-26), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Brandon Phelps (IL D-118), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. David Forrest Winters (IL R-68), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member and Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force Member
Rep. Brian Bosma (IN R-88)[29], ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member and Civil Justice Task Force Member
Rep. Richard McClain (IN R-24), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member & International Relations Task Force Member
Rep. David Wolkins (IN R-18), State Chairman and Co-Chair, Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force[27][58]
Rep. Richard Arnold (IA R-72), Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Betty De Boef (IA R-76),[27] Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
Rep. Dave Deyoe (IA R-10), Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
Rep. Steven Olson (IA R-83), Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Carl Holmes (KS R-125)[30]; Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Former Rep. John Faber (IA R-120)[30]; Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Larry Powell (IA R-117); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Roy Fund (IA); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Ray Merrick (IA R-37), State Chairman, "Legislator of the Year" 2010[59][30]; Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Ralph Ostmeyer (IA R-40)[30]; Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Ruth Palumbo (KY D-76); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Dorsey Ridley (KY D-4); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo (KY D-76); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Ernie Harris (KY R-26); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Tom Jensen (KY R-21); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Joey Pendleton (KY D-3); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force and Health and Human Services Task Force
Rep. John Anders (LA D-21); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. John A. Alario, Jr.(LA R-8); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Doug Smith (ME R-27)[27]; Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Del. Tanya Shewell (MD R-5A); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Richard Colburn (MD R-37); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Jim Ellington (MS R-73), State Chairman[60]; Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Henry Zuber (MS R-113); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Perry Lee (MS R-35)[27]; Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Thomas Gollott (MS R-50); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS R-39); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Tommy Moffatt (MS R-52); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Walt Bivins (MO R-97)[27]; Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Barney Fisher (MO R-125); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. John Griesheimer (MO R-26); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Wendy Warburton (MT R-34)[27]; Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Roy Hollandsworth (MT R-28); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Gordon Hendrick (MT R-14); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Lee Randall (MT R-39); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Merton Dierks (NE 40); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. Chris Langemeier (NE 23); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Sen. LeRoy Louden (NE 49); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
Rep. Stephen Palmer (NH R-6)[27], ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Betsy McKinney (NH R-3), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Beverly T. Rodeschin (NH R-2), ALEC Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force and Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Jimmie Hall (NM R-28)[27][61] and Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
Rep. William Gray (NM R-54), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
Rep. Paul Bandy (NM R-3), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Sen. Vernon Asbill (NM R-34), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Sen. William H. Payne (NM R-20), ALEC International Relations Task Force and Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Former Rep. Curtis Blackwood (NC R-68), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Ric Killian (NC R-105), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Ruth Samuelson (NC R-104), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Wesley Belter (ND R-62)[27], ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Darrell Nottestad (ND R-43), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Don Vigesaa (ND R-23), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Sen. Gerald Uglem (ND R-19), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force and Health and Human Services Task Force Member
Rep. Bruce Goodwin (OH R-74), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Sen. Kris Jordan (OH R-19), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Sen. Tom Niehaus (OH R-14), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Former Rep. Michael Thompson (OK R-2, candidate for U.S. House of Representatives 2010), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
Rep. Mike Sanders (OK R-59), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
Rep. Marian Cooksey (OK R-39), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Phillip Richardson (OK R-56), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Sen. Ron Justice (OK R-23), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
Sen. Brian Bingman (OK R-12), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Tim Freeman (OR R-2), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Scott Hutchinson (PA R-64), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Laurence Ehrhardt (RI R-32), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Sen. Francis Maher (RI R-34), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
Former Sen. Leonidas Raptakis (RI D-33 until 2010; ran unsuccessfully for election in 2010 in the Democratic primary for Secretary of State[62]), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski (RI D-37), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
Sen. Paul Fogarty (RI D-23), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Sen. Walter Felag (RI D-10), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. William E. Sandifer, III (SC R-2)[27], ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force and Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force Member
Rep. Dwight Loftis (SC R-19), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Former Rep. Jeffrey Duncan (SC R; elected U.S. Representative of SC's 3rd Congressional District in 2010), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Betty Olson (SD R-28B), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
Rep. Charles Hoffman (SD R-23), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
Rep. Kim Vanneman (SD R-26B) , ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Former Rep. Kristi Noem (SD R-6; elected to U.S. House of Representatives in 2010), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. David Hawk (TN R-5), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
Rep. Frank Niceley (TN R-17), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Joe McCord (TN R-8), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Sen. Bill Ketron (TN R-13), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force and Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force Member
Rep. Warren Chisum (TX R-88), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Bill Callegari (TX R-132), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Tracy King (TX D-80), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
Rep. Rick Hardcastle (TX R-68), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
Rep. Brandon Creighton (TX R-16), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
Sen. Kel Seliger (TX R-31), ALEC State Chairman[27][63], received $124,000 in campaign contributions from ALEC corporate members from 2004-2011[64][65] and Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Roger Barrus (UT R-18), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Rebecca Lockhart (UT R-64), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Sen. Ralph Okerlund (UT R-24), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Del. Lee Ware (VA R-65), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Sen. Frank Wagner (VA R-7), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Robert Helm (VT R/D-2), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. James McNeil (VT R/D-1), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Joe Schmick (WA R-9), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Sen. Janea Holmquist (WA R-13), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Sen. Brian Hatfield (WA D-19), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Del. Carol Miller (WV R-15), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Thomas Lockhart (WY R-57), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Rep. Matt Teeters (WY R-05), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate and Education Task Force Member
Rep. Pat Childers (WY R-50), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
Sen. Grant Larson (WY R-17),[27] ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
Sen. Eli D. Bebout (WY R-26), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force and International Relations Task Force Member
Let’s keep to the most critical immediate problem that civilization faces: environmental catastrophe. Policies and public attitudes diverge sharply, as is often the case under RECD. The nature of the gap is examined in several articles in the current issue of Daedalus, the journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Researcher Kelly Sims Gallagher finds that “One hundred and nine countries have enacted some form of policy regarding renewable power, and 118 countries have set targets for renewable energy. In contrast, the United States has not adopted any consistent and stable set of policies at the national level to foster the use of renewable energy.”
It is not public opinion that drives American policy off the international spectrum. Quite the opposite. Opinion is much closer to the global norm than the U.S. government’s policies reflect, and much more supportive of actions needed to confront the likely environmental disaster predicted by an overwhelming scientific consensus – and one that’s not too far off; affecting the lives of our grandchildren, very likely.
As Jon A. Krosnick and Bo MacInnis report in Daedalus: “Huge majorities have favored steps by the federal government to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions generated when utilities produce electricity. In 2006, 86 percent of respondents favored requiring utilities, or encouraging them with tax breaks, to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases they emit. Also in that year, 87 percent favored tax breaks for utilities that produce more electricity from water, wind or sunlight [ These majorities were maintained between 2006 and 2010 and shrank somewhat after that.
The fact that the public is influenced by science is deeply troubling to those who dominate the economy and state policy.
One current illustration of their concern is the “Environmental Literacy Improvement Act” proposed to state legislatures by ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-funded lobby that designs legislation to serve the needs of the corporate sector and extreme wealth.
The ALEC Act mandates “balanced teaching” of climate science in K-12 classrooms. “Balanced teaching” is a code phrase that refers to teaching climate-change denial, to “balance” mainstream climate science. It is analogous to the “balanced teaching” advocated by creationists to enable the teaching of “creation science” in public schools. Legislation based on ALEC models has already been introduced in several states.
Of course, all of this is dressed up in rhetoric about teaching critical thinking – a fine idea, no doubt, but it’s easy to think up far better examples than an issue that threatens our survival and has been selected because of its importance in terms of corporate profits.
Media reports commonly present a controversy between two sides on climate change. Noam C
Right-wingers want to teach kids that climate change is a fairy tale
By Susie Cagle
Last month, Arizona, Colorado, and Oklahoma all introduced bills that would make teaching about climate change in public schools less a science and more a political debate. The bills — based on model legislation from the supremely evil American Legislative Exchange Council — would require schools to teach that climate change is “controversial” and not widely accepted scientific fact.
From DeSmogBlog:
In the past five years since 2008, among the hottest years in U.S. history, ALEC has introduced its “Environmental Literacy Improvement Act” in 11 states, or over one-fifth of the statehouses nationwide. The bill has passed in four states [-- Louisiana, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas] …
ALEC’s “model bills” are written by and for corporate lobbyists alongside conservative legislators at its annual meetings. ALEC raises much of its corporate funding from the fossil fuel industry, which in turn utilizes ALEC as a key — though far from the only — vehicle to ram through its legislative agenda in the states.
The bills use almost the exact same language. Oklahoma’s, for example, calls for …
… the teaching of “scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories,” including of global warming, saying it’s a theory steeped in “controversy” — not that the actual scientific record thinks so.
This is necessary, the bill states, “to help students develop critical thinking skills they need in order to become intelligent, productive, and scientifically informed citizens,” going on to explain that it’s important to explore “differences of opinion on scientific issues.”
In a way, these kinds of laws seem like a last-ditch effort by desperate and backward-thinking plutocrats who are terrified of science and of broad public access to information via new technologies. Not that it makes them any less horrifying.
Teaching climate change not as “science” but as a debatable concept would make our public education system a polarized knowledge-free vacuum — kind of like Congress. And that is truly scary.
http://grist.org/news/right-wingers-want-to-teach-kids-that-climate-change-is-a-fairy-tale/
new red:
2002 stalled so went to ALEC 125 weyrich coined term moral maj for falwell; morph from hot button moral issues to corp shill cf expose by NRDC and Def of Wildlife http://www.alecwatch.org/report.html 2002? STATE lawmakers not well paid, some part time no staff, so percs look good 125 "scholarships" 98% $ corp of fdn (sisters?)
corps have veto; cj comm co chair CCA; 1996 law to dereg utilities chair by koch 126 says got 450 laws 1999-2000 127pharma and agribiz big players p7G. glaxo, aventis, pfizer, wyeth, merck, pork, wendy, mcD
Thomhartmann.com / By Thom Hartmann [1], Sam Sacks [2]
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Dear Whole Foods CEO, This Is What a Fascist Looks Like
January 19, 2013 |
Whole Foods CEO, John Mackey, doesn’t know what a fascist is.
Speaking with NPR this week, multimillionaire Mackey tried to express [3] how much he hates Obamacare. Back in 2009, he hated Obamacare so much that he called it “socialism.” But now, in 2013, Mackey thinks Obamacare is “fascism.”
“Technically speaking, [Obamacare] is more like fascism,” he said. “Socialism is where the government owns the means of production. In fascism, the government doesn’t own the means of production, but they do control it, and that’s what’s happening with our healthcare programs and these reforms.”
Mackey has since walked back [4] this description saying he “regrets using that word now” because there’s “so much baggage attached to it.”
But, whether Mackey meant to or not, it’s about time someone injected the word fascism back into our political debate. Especially now that corporations wield more power today than they have in America since the Robber Baron Era.
First, let’s take on Mackey’s definitions of socialism and fascism, which he likely procured from the Google machine after typing in, “What are the differences between socialism and fascism?”
Yes, socialism encourages more democratic control of the economy. Or, if Mackey insists, more government ownership of the economy – in particular, ownership of the commons and natural resources.
Fascism, on the other hand, is something completely different. Reporter Sy Mukherjee, who blogged about this story over at ThinkProgress.org notes [3], “Although fascist nations do often control their ‘means of production,’ Mackey seems to have forgotten that they usually utilize warfare, forced mass mobilization of the public, and politically-motivated violence against their own peoples to achieve their ends.”
The 1983 American Heritage Dictionary defined fascism as: "A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism." Fascism originated in Italy, and Mussolini claims to have invented the word itself. It was actually his ghostwriter, Giovanni Gentile, who invented it and defined it in the Encyclopedia Italiana in this way: "Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power."
In other words, fascismhttp://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Strong_America is corporate government – a Libertarian’s wet dream. It’s a government in which the Atlas’s of industry are given free rein to control the economy, just how they’re regulated, how much they pay in taxes, how much they pay their workers. It should be noted here that, ironically, John Mackey describes himself as a Libertarian.
In 1938, Mussolini finally got his chance to bring fascism to fruition. He dissolved Parliament and replaced it with the "Camera dei Fasci e delle Corporazioni" - the Chamber of the Fascist Corporations. Members of the Chamber were not selected to represent particular regional constituencies, but instead to represent various aspects of Italian industry and trade. They were the corporate leaders of Italy.
Imagine if the House of Representatives was dissolved and replaced by a Council of America’s most powerful CEOs – the Kochs, the Waltons, the Blankfeins, the Dimons, the Mackeys, you get the picture.
Actually, that’s not too difficult to imagine, huh? But, that’d be similar to what Mussolini defined as fascism.
As we know, fascism was eventually defeated in World War 2. But just before the end of the war, with the fascists on the ropes, the Vice President of the United States at the time, Henry Wallace, penned an op-ed [5] for the New York Times warning Americans about the creeping dangers of fascism – or corporate government.
He defined a fascist as, “those who, paying lip service to democracy and the common welfare, in their insatiable greed for money and the power which money gives, do not hesitate surreptitiously to evade the laws designed to safeguard the public from monopolistic extortion.”
Under that definition we can throw those CEOs who’ve decided to evade Obamacare’s mandate to provide health insurance to their employees, like New York City Applebee’s franchise owner Zane Terkel, Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter, and executives at Darden Restaurants.
Or, perhaps, Wallace is referring to the banksters at Goldman Sachs who knowingly evaded laws and sold investors “shitty deals” or scammed entire cities into bankruptcy or illegally foreclosed on thousands of Americans through fraudulently robo-signing all in the name of short term profits and all in the name of preserving their monopolistic, too-big-to-fail status.
Either way, evading laws meant to protect the public in order to pad your own pockets has become the name of the game in Corporate America today.
Wallace goes on to write, “The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism.”
Can anyone say Fox News, or the rest of the Conservative media complex? Or, those on the Right who divide working people and turn them against each other: makers versus takes, public sector workers versus private sector workers, and white people versus brown people.
“They use every opportunity to impugn democracy,” wrote Wallace. Does that sound familiar after months of Republican efforts to disenfranchise large swaths of the electorate with voter suppression ID laws, as well as restrictions on early voting and voter registration in largely Democratic areas?
Or what about what Republicans in Pennsylvania are doing right now [6] to rig the next Presidential election by changing how Electoral votes are counted in the state?
Wallace continues, “They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection.”
We often hear of free enterprise from the likes of Wall Street, Big Oil, and the defense industry. Yet these are the same corporations that also lobby to keep generous taxpayer subsidies, bailouts, and no-bid contracts in place that allow them to reign supreme over the markets and crush their smaller, more independent competition.
And the common man suffers as a result. Wages as a percentage of GDP are lower than they’ve ever been. Unionization rates are lower than they’ve ever been in more than a half-century. And yet, corporate profits as a percent of GDP are higher than they’ve ever been in American history.
At the time Wallace was writing this op-ed, he was confident that the fascists had been adequately held in check in America by the Roosevelt Administration. As he wrote, “Happily, it can be said that as yet fascism has not captured a predominant place in the outlook of any American section, class or religion.”
But, he went on to warn that in the future, “[Fascism] may be encountered in Wall Street, Main Street or Tobacco Road. Some even suspect that they can detect incipient traces of it along the Potomac.”
Sure enough, the bastions of fascism can be found on Wall Street. Main Street, which used to be lined with local independent businesses, is now lined with predatory, transnational giants. And along the Potomac, we find politicians who are more than happy to do the bidding of their corporate overlords.
Today in America, we are dangerously close to seeing Wallace’s fascistic, dystopic America come into fruition. We see the traces of it everywhere.
Unfortunately, too many Americans just didn’t have a word to define what’s happening. But, thanks to John Mackey, and thanks to the foresight of Vice President Henry Wallace, we do have the right word now: Fasciism
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fascism [9],
obama [10],
john mackey [11]
Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/dear-whole-foods-ceo-what-fascist-looks
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/thom-hartmann
[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/sam-sacks
[3] http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/01/16/1456571/whole-foods-obamacare-fascism/
[4] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/17/whole-foods-fascism_n_2496603.html
[5] http://newdeal.feri.org/wallace/haw23.htm
[6] http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/01/16/1451351/pennsylvania-house-republicans-introduce-bill-to-rig-the-2016-presidential-election/
[7] http://www.alternet.org/tags/whole-foods-ceo
[8] http://www.alternet.org/tags/fascist
[9] http://www.alternet.org/tags/fascism
[10] http://www.alternet.org/tags/obama-0
[11] http://www.alternet.org/tags/john-mackey
[12] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on The Nation (http://www.thenation.com)
The Hidden History of ALEC and Prison Labor
Mike Elk and Bob Sloan | August 1, 2011
This article is part of a Nation series exposing the American Legislative Exchange Council, in collaboration with the Center For Media and Democracy.John Nichols introduces [1] the series.
The breaded chicken patty your child bites into at school may have been made by a worker earning twenty cents an hour, not in a faraway country, but by a member of an invisible American workforce: prisoners. At the Union Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison in Florida, inmates from a nearby lower-security prison manufacture tons of processed beef, chicken and pork for Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises [2] (PRIDE), a privately held non-profit corporation that operates the state’s forty-one work programs. In addition to processed food, PRIDE’s website reveals an array of products for sale through contracts with private companies, from eyeglasses to office furniture, to be shipped from a distribution center in Florida to businesses across the US. PRIDE boasts that its work programs are “designed to provide vocational training, to improve prison security, to reduce the cost of state government, and to promote the rehabilitation of the state inmates.”
Although a wide variety of goods have long been produced by state and federal prisoners for the US government—license plates are the classic example, with more recent contracts including everything from guided missile parts to the solar panels powering government buildings—prison labor for the private sector was legally barred for years, to avoid unfair competition with private companies. But this has changed thanks to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), its Prison Industries Act, and a little-known federal program known as PIE (the Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program [3]). While much has been written about prison labor in the past several years, these forces, which have driven its expansion, remain largely unknown.
Somewhat more familiar is ALEC’s instrumental role in the explosion of the US prison population in the past few decades. ALEC helped pioneer some of the toughest sentencing laws on the books today, like mandatory minimums for non-violent drug offenders, “three strikes” laws, and “truth in sentencing” laws. In 1995 alone, ALEC’s Truth in Sentencing Act [4] was signed into law in twenty-five states. (Then State Rep. Scott Walker was an ALEC member when he sponsored Wisconsin's truth-in-sentencing laws and, according to PR Watch, used its statistics to make the case for the law.) More recently, ALEC has proposed innovative “solutions” to the overcrowding it helped create, such as privatizing the parole process through “the proven success of the private bail bond industry,” as it recommended in 2007. (The American Bail Coalition is an executive member of ALEC’s Public Safety and Elections Task Force.) ALEC has also worked to pass state laws to create private for-profit prisons, a boon to two of its major corporate sponsors: Corrections Corporation of America and Geo Group (formerly Wackenhut Corrections), the largest private prison firms in the country. An In These Times investigation [5] last summer revealed that ALEC arranged secret meetings between Arizona’s state legislators and CCA to draft what became SB 1070, Arizona’s notorious immigration law, to keep CCA prisons flush with immigrant detainees. ALEC has proven expertly capable of devising endless ways to help private corporations benefit from the country’s massive prison population.
That mass incarceration would create a huge captive workforce was anticipated long before the US prison population reached its peak—and at a time when the concept of “rehabilitation” was still considered part of the mission of prisons. First created by Congress in 1979, the PIE program was designed “to encourage states and units of local government to establish employment opportunities for prisoners that approximate private sector work opportunities,” according to PRIDE’s website. The benefits to big corporations were clear—a “readily available workforce” for the private sector and “a cost-effective way to occupy a portion of the ever-growing offender/inmate population” for prison officials—yet from its founding until the mid-1990s, few states participated in the program.
This started to change in 1993, when Texas State Representative and ALEC member Ray Allen crafted the Texas Prison Industries Act, which aimed to expand the PIE program. After it passed in Texas, Allen advocated that it be duplicated across the country. In 1995, ALEC’s Prison Industries Act was born.
This Prison Industries Act as printed in ALEC’s 1995 state legislation sourcebook, “provides for the employment of inmate labor in state correctional institutions and in the private manufacturing of certain products under specific conditions.” These conditions, defined by the PIE program, are supposed to include requirements that “inmates must be paid at the prevailing wage rate” and that the “any room and board deductions…are reasonable and are used to defray the costs of inmate incarceration.” (Some states charge prisoners for room and board, ostensibly to offset the cost of prisons for taxpayers. In Florida, for example, prisoners are paid minimum wage for PIE-certified labor, but 40 percent is taken out of their accounts for this purpose.)
The Prison Industries Act sought to change this, inventing the “private sector prison industry expansion account,” to absorb such deductions, and stipulating that the money should be used to, among other things: “construct work facilities, recruit corporations to participate as private sector industries programs, and pay costs of the authority and department in implementing [these programs].” Thus, money that was taken from inmate wages to offset the costs of incarceration would increasingly go to expanding prison industries. In 2000, Florida passed a law that mirrored the Prison Industries Act and created the Prison Industries Trust Fund, its own version of the private sector prison industry expansion account, deliberately designed to help expand prison labor for private industries.
The Prison Industries Act was also written to exploit a critical PIE loophole that seemed to suggest that its rules did not apply to prisoner-made goods that were not shipped across state lines. It allowed a third-party company to set up a local address in a state that makes prison goods, buy goods from a prison factory, sell those products locally or surreptitiously ship them across state borders. It helped that by 1995 oversight of the PIE program had been effectively squashed, transferred from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance [6] to the National Correctional Industries Association [7] (NCIA), a private trade organization that happened to be represented by Allen’s lobbying firm, Service House, Inc. In 2003, Allen became the Texas House Chairman of the Corrections Committee and began peddling the Prison Industries Act and other legislation beneficial to CCA and Geo Group, like the Private Correctional Facilities Act [8]. Soon thereafter he became Chairman of ALEC’s Criminal Justice (now Public Safety and Elections) Task Force. He resigned from the state legislature in 2006 while under investigation for his unethical lobbying practices. He was hired soon after as a lobbyist for Geo Group.
Today’s chair of ALEC’s Public Safety and Elections Task force is state Representative Jerry Madden of Texas, where the Prison Industries Act originated eighteen years ago. According to a 2010 report from NCIA, as of last summer there were "thirty jurisdictions with active [PIE] operations." These included such states as Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and twelve more. Four more states are now looking to get involved as well; Kentucky, Michigan and Pennsylvania have introduced legislation and New Hampshire is in the process of applying for PIE certification. Today these state’s legislation are based upon an updated version of the Prison Industries Act [9], which ALEC amended in 2004.
Prison labor has already started to undercut the business of corporations that don’t use it. In Florida, PRIDE has become one of the largest printing corporations in the state, its cheap labor having a significant impact upon smaller local printers. This scenario is playing out in states across the country. In addition to Florida's forty-one prison industries, California alone has sixty. Another 100 or so are scattered throughout other states. What's more, several states are looking to replace public sector workers with prison labor. In Wisconsin Governor Walker’s recent assault on collective bargaining opened the door to the use of prisoners in public sector jobs in Racine, where inmates are now doing landscaping, painting, and other maintenance work. According to the Capitol Times, “inmates are not paid for their work, but receive time off their sentences.” The same is occurring in Virginia, Ohio, New Jersey, Florida and Georgia, all states with GOP Assembly majorities and Republican governors. Much of ALEC’s proposed labor legislation, implemented state by state is allowing replacement of public workers with prisoners.
“It’s bad enough that our companies have to compete with exploited and forced labor in China,” says Scott Paul Executive Director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, a coalition of business and unions. “They shouldn’t have to compete against prison labor here at home. The goal should be for other nations to aspire to the quality of life that Americans enjoy, not to discard our efforts through a downward competitive spiral.”
Alex Friedmann, associate editor of Prison Legal News, says prison labor is part of a “confluence of similar interests” among politicians and corporations, long referred to as the “prison industrial complex.” As decades of model legislation reveals, ALEC has been at the center of this confluence. “This has been ongoing for decades, with prison privatization contributing to the escalation of incarceration rates in the US,” Friedmann says. Just as mass incarceration has burdened American taxpayers in major prison states, so is the use of inmate labor contributing to lost jobs, unemployment and decreased wages among workers—while corporate profits soar.
Source URL: http://www.thenation.com/article/162478/hidden-history-alec-and-prison-labor
Links:
[1] http://www.thenation.com/article/161978/alec-exposed
[2] http://www.pride-enterprises.org/
[3] http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/piecp.html
[4] http://alecexposed.org/w/images/1/19/7D11-Truth_in_Sentencing_Act_Exposed.pdf
[5] http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6084/corporate_con_game/
[6] http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/
[7] http://www.nationalcia.org/
[8] http://www.heartland.org/custom/semod_policybot/pdf/6263.pdf
[9] http://alecexposed.org/w/images/4/4d/7N4-Prison_Industries_Act_Exposed.pdf
Backgrounder: the History of the NRA/ALEC Gun Agenda
by Lisa Graves [1] — December 15, 2012 - 12:32pm
Topics: Right Wing [2], Corporations [3], Democracy [4], Ethics [5], Marketing [6]
Projects: ALEC Exposed [7]
http://www.prwatch.org/node/11908
"We’ve endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years," President Obama said in response to horrifying shooting massacre of 20 little children and six of their educators in Connecticut.
"Whether it is an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago, these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods and these children are our children. And we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics," he noted.
"Meaningful action" has been thwarted, largely because of the power and wealth of the National Rifle Association (NRA). One of the key avenues it has used to exert its influence is the American Legislative Exchange Council [9] (ALEC). For decades, the NRA has helped bankroll ALEC operations and even co-chaired ALEC's "Public Safety and Elections Task Force," where it secretly voted on bills alongside elected representatives. At ALEC's annual meeting this summer, the NRA had the biggest booth at the convention in Salt Lake City and also underwrote a shooting event along with one of the largest sellers of assault weapons in the world.
Numerous bills to bar or impede laws that would help protect Americans from gun violence were drafted by the NRA and adopted by ALEC corporations and legislators as "models" for the rest of the country. And, dozens of these special interest bills have become law in states across the country. As a result of the NRA's efforts, a city in Connecticut recently repealed the only ban in the state on carrying a concealed firearm. Allowing "concealed carry" has been a long-standing part of the NRA-ALEC agenda, passing in Wisconsin a year ago at the urging of Governor Scott Walker, who was given an award by the NRA [10] for making this item law along with a version of the controversial ALEC-NRA "Stand Your Ground"/"Castle Doctrine" bill. A concealed carry law also was just passed last week in Michigan, [11] along with the so-called "Right to Work" union-busting bill on ALEC's corporate wish list.
Here is a review of the NRA-by-way-of-ALEC gun agenda:
The retail sale of machine guns has been barred by federal law since the gangster era but, as uncovered [12] by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), one year ago at ALEC's "policy summit" in Arizona, the NRA obtained unanimous support from the corporate and lawmaker members of ALEC's Task Force for "amending" ALEC's "Consistency in Firearms Regulation Act" to expressly bar cities from banning "machine guns." Other provisions of that bill prevent cities from banning armor-piercing bullets and from banning efforts to alter guns to make them more deadly if the state does not do so. It also bars cities from suing gun manufacturers for gun deaths based on the theory of liability used by governments to sue tobacco manufacturers for smoking deaths.
In 2008, as noted [13] by CMD, in the aftermath of the tragic massacre of students and professors by a heavily armed Virginia Tech student, ALEC adopted a model bill to remove state prohibitions of guns on college campuses and to allow students to bring guns to class.
Also in 2008, as CMD has documented, [14] ALEC also weighed in on litigation challenging a handgun ban in the city of Chicago. ALEC filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in that case, McDonald v. Chicago, on the same side as the NRA.
In 2005, at an ALEC task force meeting co-chaired by Wal-Mart, [14] corporate lobbyists and politicians voted to approve the NRA's request that a law it spearheaded in Florida with ALEC members become a "model" for other states. That ALEC bill was misleadingly named the "Castle Doctrine," but is also known as the "Stand Your Ground" or "Shoot First" or "Kill at Will" law. That Florida law, was initially invoked by law enforcement to prevent the arrest and prosecution earlier this year of high-school student Trayvon Martin's killer. The law creates legal immunity for shooters claiming self-defense, going well beyond the reach of the traditional rights of self defense to create what some call a "license to kill."
CMD [14] connected those dots [15] and documented [16] that the NRA's lobbyist Marion Hammer pushed this bill through the Florida legislature in early 2005. She then brought the law to the closed door ALEC task force meeting in Texas that summer to become a priority for ALEC legislators. According to the NRA at that time, her pitch was warmly received and "unanimously" adopted by the private and public sector members at that meeting. The list of special interest reps attending that meeting is not publicly available, but it is known that the nation's largest retailer of ammunition and long guns, Wal-Mart, was the corporate leader of that task force; earlier this year, Wal-Mart announced it was resigning from ALEC.
Also around that time, ALEC pushed a variety of legislation to require reciprocity between states for "concealed carry" laws, laws that result in more people carrying concealed firearms in public places, as CMD has noted [17].
In 2000, as CMD has reported, [18] when Koch Industries was the chair of ALEC's corporate board, ALEC's crime task force adopted the "Defense of Free Market and Public Safety Resolution" as a national template for states across the country. That resolution was an effort to thwart law enforcement from using contracts -- to buy firearms for police officers -- to favor gun manufacturers that adhered to a code of conduct. As part of a lawsuit settlement, gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson (S&W) had agreed to penalize S&W retailers who sold guns that tended to end up used in crimes, barred S&W retailers from using the gun show loophole to avoid conducting criminal background checks on prospective buyers, and forbade dealers from releasing more than one handgun to a purchaser per day. It also required retailers to sell all of its handguns with mechanical trigger locks to help protect kids from accidentally killing themselves or others. ALEC's resolution sought to bar states from rewarding S&W with contracts for police weapons or creating an incentive for other gun manufacturers to adopt similar voluntary codes of conduct.
In 1995, ALEC promoted as model legislation a bill that would create state-based criminal background checks for firearms purchases different from the federal Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which established the National Instant Check criminal background check system at the FBI. As analyzed [13] by CMD, ALEC's bill expressly exempts firearms sales at gun shows from its background checks (creating a "gun show loophole"). It also exempts holders of "concealed carry" permits from a background check, even though the Brady Law attempts to protect the public through background checks regardless of whether a person had previously obtained a permit to carry a gun, such as from people who subsequently become fugitives or persons adjudicated to be mentally unstable.
As CMD has shown, [13] ALEC also strongly opposed the 1994 "Assault Weapons Ban," which sought to expand the long-standing federal bar on fully automatic machine guns by preventing the purchase of rapid-firing "semi-automatic" assault-style weapons. Certain military-style firearms -- such as the .223 Bushmaster rifle reportedly found at the scene of the Connecticut school massacre and similar to the one used in the sniper shootings that terrorized D.C. in 2003 -- include versions for sale in the U.S. that were modified by manufacturers for the civilian market along with versions that allow three-shot bursts of fire with each pull of the trigger for law enforcement rather than their faster-firing military-style kin like an M4 or AK-47, in light of the federal assault weapons ban. The ban was allowed to expire during the George W. Bush administration, which had very close ties to the NRA.
The NRA's gun agenda helps protect and expand the market for the firearms sold by the weapons companies that bankroll its multi-million dollar lobbying and influence operations. Although ALEC's crime task force no longer officially exists, ALEC is doing nothing to undo the damage done through its many years of advancing the wish list of the gun industry through laws like "Stand Your Ground"/"Shoot First," pushing for guns on college campuses, and even opposing government purchasers from rewarding codes of conduct by gun makers and sellers.
Three months after ALEC issued a PR statement that it was eliminating its Public Safety and Elections Task Force, the NRA announced that it would still be hosting its regular annual shooting event at ALEC's summer convention, held in July of this year. For the past several years, on the Saturday of ALEC's annual meeting, the NRA has regularly hosted an outing for ALEC legislators and lobbyists to go shooting together -- with complimentary guns and ammo. July's event was co-sponsored by Browning Arms Company, whose foreign parent company is one of the world's largest sellers of machine guns, asnoted [19] by CMD.
"Calling for 'meaningful action' is not enough," said [20] New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, founder and co-chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. "We need immediate action. We have heard all the rhetoric before. What we have not seen is leadership -- not from the White House and not from Congress. That must end today. This is a national tragedy and it demands a national response."
Facts are still coming in about how the 20-year-old shooter -- who under Connecticut law is too young to possess the pistols he was found with -- came to use the assault weapon fired repeatedly and rapidly in the assault on the school children, or why his mother (who was apparently also shot to death by him) reportedly brought or allowed such an arsenal of weapons into the home she shared with her son, who has been called "mentally ill. [21]" But, some observers are pointing out the terrible coincidence of a knife attack [22] that injured 22 students in China within a day of these 20 American school children being murdered in a matter of minutes by a gunman in Connecticut, which shows yet again that the ready availability of guns in the U.S. can be the difference between life and death. And easing access to deadly firearms has been a major part of the NRA/ALEC agenda, underwritten by ALEC corporations and advanced by ALEC politicians, for years and years.
The library of NRA/ALEC gun bills can be accessed here. [23]
CMD's Brendan Fischer contributed to this report.
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 national 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 a Deputy Chief at the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and as an adjunct professor of law.
Center for Media and Democracy • 520 University Avenue, Suite 260 • Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Phone: 608-260-9713 • Fax: 608-260-9714
Source URL: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/12/11908/nraalec-reactionary-gun-agenda
Links:
[1] http://www.prwatch.org/users/35268/lisa-graves
[2] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/politics/right-wing
[3] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/corporations
[4] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/democracy
[5] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/ethics
[6] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/marketing
[7] http://www.prwatch.org/projects/alec-exposed
[8] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prwatch.org%2Fnews%2F2012%2F12%2F11908%2Fnraalec-reactionary-gun-agenda&linkname=Backgrounder%3A%20the%20History%20of%20the%20NRA%2FALEC%20Gun%20Agenda
[9] http://www.ALECexposed.org
[10] ?http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/04/11450/nra-gives-walker-award-signing-alec-inspired-stand-your-groundshoot-first-law
[11] http://www.vltp.net/uncategorized/michigan-lawmakers-vote-for-guns-in-schools
[12] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/05/11508/cmd-special-report-new-documents-confirm-koch-was-alec-crime-task-force-led-nra
[13] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/05/11512/cmd-special-report-alecs-gun-agenda-flourished-koch-industries-board-other-koch-f
[14] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/03/11393/resources-investigating-alecnra-gun-bills
[15] http://www.prwatch.org/node/11366
[16] http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Castle_Doctrine
[17] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/04/11433/bloomberg-denounces-nraalec-shoot-first-laws
[18] "http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/05/11512/cmd-special-report-alecs-gun-agenda-flourished-koch-industries-board-other-koch-f
[19] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/07/11650/trap-shoot-must-go-guess-wholl-be-shootin-alec-members-salt-lake-nra-and-machine-
[20] http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/media-center/pr013-12.shtml
[21] http://www.chipberlet.net/articles/male-superhero-complex.html
[22] http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57559179/china-school-knife-attack-leaves-23-injured/
[23] http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/Bills_related_to_Guns,_Prisons,_Crime,_and_Immigration
Will Wisconsin Follow Minnesota's Lead and Ban ALEC "Scholarships?"
Minnesota's ethics board has long banned the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) "scholarship" scheme that allows corporations to fund legislator travel, providing further evidence that the practice should be banned in Wisconsin and other states. Recently obtained documents also show that corporations pay upwards of $80,000 to sponsor issue-focused ALEC "academies," which legislators attend on the corporate dime.
Read more
Courts Stand in Way of Voter Suppression, WI ALEC Chair Seeks to Require ID at Polls
You can say one thing about the Koch brothers: They don't let the facts get in their way.
Of course I'm talking about Charles G. and David H. Koch (above), the billionaire owners of Koch Industries, the oil, coal and natural gas conglomerate that's been dubbed the "kingpin of climate science denial."
Last summer, Richard Muller, a Berkeley physicist long skeptical of climate science, went off script and announced that his three-year, Koch-funded investigation verified that global warming is indeed real, is primarily caused by human activity, and is even worse than the climate science community thought.
Did Muller's conclusions prod the Kochs to reconsider their hardline position against wind, solar and other renewable energy--our best bet, besides energy efficiency, to combat global warming? Hardly. The Kochs' minions merely stepped up their ongoing disinformation campaign to scuttle renewable energy on economic grounds.
Take the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and Heartland Institute, two Koch-funded organizations with a history of attacking efforts to address climate change. ALEC, a stealthy lobby group whose corporate, nonprofit and state legislator members ghostwrite and then attempt to implement "model" legislation, played a key role in killing the Midwest Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord, a six-state regional cap-and-trade agreement. Meanwhile, Heartland--an ALEC member that hosts annual conferences deriding climate science--is probably best known for posting a not-so-subtle billboard in Chicago last May comparing people who accept the reality of global warming with "Unabomber" domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski.
More recently the two groups made news when the Washington Post reported ALEC's board of directors adopted a Heartland-crafted model bill that would repeal state standards requiring utilities to ramp up their use of renewable energy. The model legislation, the "Electricity Freedom Act," claims these requirements--currently on the books in 29 states and the District of Columbia--will dramatically drive up electricity rates.
That claim, however, is bunk. In fact, renewable electricity standards have not significantly increased rates. In some cases, rates have even dropped a bit. But more on that later.
Garbage in, garbage out. To make its case, ALEC--whose members include major coal, oil and electric utility industry companies--cites analyses by Suffolk University's Beacon Hill Institute commissioned by the Koch-funded American Tradition Institute and "free-market" state think tanks associated with the Koch-funded State Policy Network. The analyses examine current or proposed standards in more than a dozen states, including Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota and New Jersey. The studies were partly funded by, you guessed it, the Koch brothers.
The fact that the Kochs funded the studies doesn't automatically mean they're biased. In this case, however, Beacon Hill research economist Michael Head essentially conceded to Washington Post reporter Juliet Eilperin that he and his colleagues fudged their findings.
That's right.
Beacon Hill, Eilperin reported, "assumed that the Energy Information Administration's projected renewable energy price estimates are too low, and that cost-containment measures embedded in state policies will fail." Head told her that he and his co-authors doubted the cost caps, which place a ceiling on how high monthly consumer electricity rates can go to meet renewable standards, would take effect. "We just left it out so we could provide the actual analysis of the policy itself," he explained.
How convenient.
A closer look at a sample Beacon Hill analysis of a state renewable electricity standard shows that this sleight of hand is just one of a number of ways Head and his colleagues play fast and loose with the facts.
Jeff Deyette, a senior energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), dissected a September analysis Head et al. did of a proposed increase in Michigan's renewable electricity standard from 10 percent by 2015 to 25 percent by 2025, which was on the November ballot. Besides excluding the cost cap--a key component of the policy--Deyette found that the Beacon Hill analysts:
• ignored the fact that the state already has a standard in place, enabling them to inflate the costs of implementing the stronger standard;
• made questionable assumptions about renewable energy technologies--often citing out-of-date, controversial or unsubstantiated material to support their assertions--instead of using real-world cost and performance data from local projects; and
• failed to factor in the new standard's benefits, including economic development, job growth, cleaner air and reduced carbon pollution.
Beacon Hill--an official sponsor of this year's Heartland climate science-bashing conference--conducted this particular study for the Michigan-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy. The center, the largest state-based free-market think tank in the country, is a Koch grantee and a member of the Koch-funded State Policy Network. Not surprisingly, the center consistently denies the reality of global warming.
This is not the first time Beacon Hill energy analyses have been questioned. Last year, Michael Conathan, director of ocean policy at the Center for American Progress, a progressive, Washington, D.C.-based think tank, reviewed a Beacon Hill analysis of the potential for offshore wind along the New Jersey coast. According to Conathan, the study--which was heavily promoted by Americans for Prosperity, a political advocacy group founded by and largely funded by the Kochs--"misses the mark on both sides of the ledger by dramatically overstating the costs and underestimating the economic benefits of offshore wind."
The facts on the ground tell a different story. Despite the Koch juggernaut's scare tactics, some evidence is already in, and so far the impact of renewable electricity standards on rates has been, for the most part, negligible. In late October, Steve Clemmer, UCS's director of energy research, surveyed rates in three Midwestern states. This is what he found:
• Wind and other renewable technologies have reduced wholesale electricity prices in Illinois by displacing coal and other energy sources that have higher operating costs, saving ratepayers an estimated $177 million in 2011 alone, according to the Illinois Power Agency.
• Minnesota's standard of 30 percent by 2020 for the state's largest utility, Xcel Energy, and 25 percent by 2025 for all other utilities has had little or no impact on rates for eight of 14 companies that submitted a report to the state Public Utilities Commission. Xcel Energy customer rates actually dropped 0.7 percent from 2008 through 2009, and the company calculates that rates will increase a mere 1.4 percent over the next 15 years. Five other utilities reported modest wholesale rate increases ranging from 1 percent to 6.6 percent in 2010, and one utility reported a 16 percent increase.
• From 2008 through 2010, Wisconsin's 10 percent by 2015 standard nudged rates up only 1 percent. By 2010, renewables were supplying 7.4 percent of the state's electricity, nearly double their contribution in 2006.
A national 25 percent by 2025 renewable electricity standard also would be quite affordable. In 2009, UCS calculated that such a standard would lower annual consumer electricity rates by 4.3 percent, saving ratepayers across the country $64.3 billion on their electricity and natural gas bills by 2025. Meanwhile, a 2010 study by the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) estimated a 25 percent standard would cost less than 2 percent more a month for a typical U.S. household--an average of $2.37 to be precise. Even that would be a small price to pay to help avoid the worst consequences of global warming, and a poll published last May found that Americans would be willing to pay more than five times that amount for clean energy.
Besides the fact that we can afford to transition away from fossil fuels, keep in mind that we can't afford not to. As I pointed out last month in a Huffington Post blog, global warming, hands down, is the biggest long-term threat to the economy we face.
The good news is renewables have been a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy economy. Over the last five years--with the help of state renewable electricity standards, stimulus spending and production tax credits--U.S. wind capacity has more than tripled and solar capacity has more than quadrupled, boosting employment and attracting private investment. Even with a deep recession and slow recovery, U.S.-based wind turbine, blade, tower and gearbox manufacturing has jumped 25 to 60 percent since 2005.
Likewise, the potential for non-hydro renewables is tremendous. They currently generate only about 5 percent of U.S. electricity, but by 2030 they could produce more than 40 percent, according to a 2009 UCS study. That would more than replace the share currently generated by coal, which is still responsible for roughly 75 percent of U.S. utility sector carbon emissions. Looking even further down the road, NREL concluded earlier this year that today's commercially available renewable technologies could adequately generate 80 percent of U.S. electricity by 2050.
But you won't hear any of that from the Koch propaganda machine.
Elliott Negin is the director of news and commentary at the Union of Concerned Scientists. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elliott-negin/koch-brothers-fund-bogus-_b_2253472.html?ir=
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WI ALEC shift to gmail to duck http://www.prwatch.org/node/11771
cmd wins
"ALEC has created a scheme to funnel money from corporations to pay for legislators' trips, amounting to a million dollar-plus slush fund that leaves constituents in the dark about who is really footing the bills for their representatives," the report said.
The top ten corporate donors to the ALEC scholarship fund were:
Top Corporate Donors to ALEC's Travel Slush Fund
The data reflects corporate donations for the years 2006 through 2008 and 2010, though the 2010 public data reflect money in Arizona, Ohio, and Wisconsin; the data from 2006 to 2008 reflect money in all 50 states.)
The report, "Buying Influence," said many legislators don't tell their constituents they received these gifts. And by paying for the junkets through ALEC, a tax-exempt group registered under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code, the companies can claim the expense as a tax deduction, effectively shifting the cost to taxpayers, the report said.
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CMD Special Report: ALEC's (Corporate) Love Affair with Fracking
Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. Just one look at the cover of the brochure for this year's annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) reveals where some of the corporate bill mill's loyalties lie: with the "natural" gas industry. The full-page ad on the brochure's inside cover -- paid for by the American Gas Association, a trade group for gas utilities companies -- identifies just one of the corporate underwriters that litter the pages of the conference booklet shared with all of the elected representatives and unelected corporate lobbyists who attended the convention at the luxurious Grand America resort. (To see a pdf of the ad, which appeared in a key spot on the inside cover check downloads below.)
The conference brochure listed some 15 corporations that stand to benefit from the expansion of fracking, including Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Koch Industries.
Through ALEC, corporate lobbyists have an equal vote with state legislators on ALEC "model" bills, that are pushed in states across the nation. Often the bills were drafted by the corporate lobbyists before being approved by ALEC "task forces." ALEC's legislative agenda includes efforts to bar taxes on windfall profits of energy companies and numerous bills that would make it harder to regulate carbon or address global climate changes, as well as bills that would make it harder to hold these and other companies accountable when Americans are killed or injured as a result of a corporation's product or practices in regulated industries....
During the process of fracking, large quantities of water, along with sand and chemicals, are pumped into shale to crack the rock and allow oil and gas in the seams between layers of the shale to be released. Recent technologies have made accessing these deposits cheaper, leading to a rapid-fire expansion of fracking across the country. A key part of the controversy with fracking is that the chemicals are not disclosed by all of the companies involved in fracking, which have labeled them "trade secrets," making it harder for people to know what chemicals and carcinogens are in the fracking fluid and waste water. During the George W. Bush Administration, Congress created an exception to the safety rules of the Clean Water Act to help companies keep the fracking chemicals secret, companies like Halliburton -- which had been led by Dick Cheney, Bush's Vice President. It's called the "Halliburton loophole," but it benefits many other companies.
In December 2011, as reported by The New York Times earlier this year, disclosure language for a bill on fracking was approved by ALEC at its "States and Nation Policy Summit" in Scottsdale, Arizona. As Common Cause discovered, that model bill was proposed by Randy Smith of ExxonMobil, and the vote to approve the loophole was unanimous among the legislators and there was only one dissenting vote among the corporate members (although the dissenter is not known). A detailed list of the corporations and politicians that have recently been members of that ALEC task force is available here.
Document obtained by Common Cause notes Exxon's sponsorship.
Document obtained by Common Cause notes Exxon's sponsorship.
What the "Disclosure of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Composition Act" has done is pave the way to further the spotty disclosure that the industry has grown accustomed to, where companies can still guard the names and quantities of toxic chemicals as "trade secrets." Exxon Mobil, the largest producer of shale gas in the country, gave a pittance -- an estimated $12,500 donation out of revenue of nearly half a trillion dollars in 2011 -- to help sponsor that ALEC meeting. According to the publicly traded company's 2011 report on donations, ALEC received a total of $86,500 for the entire year from Exxon, which is the largest company in the world in terms of revenue.
In March, ALEC's Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force staff Director Todd Wynn touted that states including Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Illinois and Indiana had taken up the "model" disclosure bill. In the same blog post Wynn bragged that, "ALEC has been at the forefront of the effort to retain state sovereignty over hydraulic fracturing, and our recently adopted model bill, the Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Disclosure Composition Act, aims to preempt the promulgation of duplicative, burdensome federal regulations from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)." (Documents from Common Cause showing ALEC tracking that bill are available upon request.)
Wynn is not just a cheerleader for ALEC's oil and gas company agenda, he's also expressed some unusual views on climate change. According to ExxonSecrets.org, Wynn has previously said:
I think that global warming could be a net benefit for the planet in fact.
Before joining ALEC, Wynn worked for one of its sister organizations, the "Cascade Policy Institute," one of the so-called "think tanks" that are part of the "State Policy Network," which has received Koch money and given donations to ALEC. Wynn says he studied climate impacts while getting a degree in economics. His views on climate change are most definitely not shared by most of the leading scientists in the world. Bill McKibben, for example, recently reiterated that devastating consequences of the current rate of climate change in an interview with the Center for Media and Democracy's PRWatch, which included his views on fracking and climate change.
Utah Meeting Gathers Frack-Friendly Crowd
Utah Governor Gary Herbert spoke at the Utah ALEC meeting
The romance between ALEC and fracking continued at this year's ALEC meeting in Utah -- an appropriate location for the frack-friendly ALEC crew. In May, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar approved a major shale gas project by Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp. in Utah's Uinta Basin -- expected to develop more than 3,600 new wells over the next decade.
In another industry-friendly move, Utah's Governor Gary Herbert, who spoke the ALEC conference's opening luncheon, signed a bill into law in March demanding that Congress hand over 30 million acres of federal land to the state by 2015 or the state will sue. According to the Associated Press, Lawmakers in Utah and Arizona have said the legislation is endorsed by ALEC. As documented by the Center for Media and Democracy's ALEC Exposed Project, ALEC drafted the "Sagebrush Rebellion Act," which was "designed to establish a mechanism for the transfer of ownership of unappropriated lands from the federal government to the states." According to the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the governor's initiative would open up millions of acres of the "Wilderness Study Areas and proposed wilderness areas to oil and gas development" but in the process would cost Utah taxpayers enormously.
At the meeting, the CEO of the Institute for Energy Research (IER) Dr. Robert Bradley was one of the featured speakers. Bradley, formerly a director of policy analysis at Enron, also spoke at the 2011 ALEC conference in New Orleans. He is also an "adjunct scholar" at the right-wing think tank the Cato Institute and specializes in "global warming alarmism." IER is a non-profit group focused on global energy markets that pushes for deregulation, advances climate change denial, and attempts to discredit renewable energy sources. The group's 2010 IRS 990 form said that its focus was narrowed in on "impediments to domestic energy production, including government restrictions on access, burdensome regulations, and the favoritism of energy sources that are unsustainable in the marketplace."
....
ALEC's History of Promoting Fracking
ALEC's courtship with fracking goes back much further than last December. Prior to the approval of the chemical disclosure bill, there have been at least two ALEC resolutions passed to push for the expansion of fracking. The first was passed in December 2004, which was six months before the federal "Energy Policy Act of 2005" was passed, which included the "Halliburton Loophole" which exempted corporations from having to disclose the chemical make-up of fracking fluid in accordance with the Clean Water Act of 1972. Titled the "Resolution Encouraging Development of Liquefied Natural Gas," the resolution stated, "ALEC encourages coordination among state agencies that oversee permitting for regasification, and between local, state and Federal government agencies, in order to facilitate and streamline regasification terminal permitting." ("Regasification" relates to the way that gas which is converted to a liquid of a smaller volume than in its gas form is turned back into gas.)
The other resolution, titled the "Resolution to Retain State Authority over Hydraulic Fracturing," states that the "American Legislative Exchange Council supports continued jurisdiction of the States to conserve and properly regulate oil and gas production in their unique geological and geographical circumstances." This resolution pushes for regulation at the state-level rather than the federal level -- under the assumption that the majority of states may impose weaker environmental standards than would be implemented under the U.S. Environmental Protections Agency (EPA) or Congress.
Corporate Pressure Heavy in Lead-Up to Approval of "Disclosure" Bill
In the lead-up to the approval of the chemical disclosure bill's approval, the oil and gas industry had a strong presence at ALEC annual meeting in August 2011 in New Orleans. The Louisiana Host Committee for this conference had at least 13 corporate lobbyists, two of them representing two of the most profitable fossil fuel corporations in the world: Neil Buckingham of Shell and Jeff Copesky of Exxon Mobil. Buckingham is Shell's Louisiana lobbyist, while Copesky is Exxon Mobil's Southern Region lobbyist. Both of the massive global corporations they lobby for have joined in on the fracking agenda and earned a combined $49+billion dollars in 2010. Nearly one-eighth of the highlighted sponsors of the 2011 ALEC conference were players with a stake in domestic shale gas expansion. These included BP, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, ConocoPhillips, Chesapeake Energy, EnCana Corporation, CN (Canadian National Railroad), among others. If the 2011 sponsorship name levels were the same as for 2010, this amounted to over a quarter of a million dollars in contributions to underwrite the convention expenses.
At this conference, one of the workshops "Why Wait? Start Energy Independence Today" featured industry talking points such as shale gas is "clean, abundant, cheap, and it's ours." The ALEC 2011 Annual Meeting brochure, previewing the workshop, read "... [W]e as elected officials, policy makers and industry representatives must come together to create a 21st century energy policy that reduces our dependence on foreign oil and promotes the use of our most abundant, clean burning and American produced fuel, Natural Gas."
US Natural Gas Is Increasingly Exported
US Natural Gas Is Increasingly Exported
Since 2010, the Center for Media and Democracy has been documenting that even though the fracking industry is engaged in PR campaigns pushing fracking for our "national security," the rate of export of natural gas by for-profit corporations to other countries has increased dramatically, as shown in the chart at the side. In addition, an August 2011 report titled "Pipe Dreams: What the Gas Industry Doesn't Want You to Know about Fracking and U.S. Energy Independence," written by Food and Water Watch, shows that contrary to the industry's talking points, a significant amount of shale gas drilled in the U.S. is exported to foreign countries such as Japan, Australia, India, and China.
A second ALEC workshop "Unconventional Revolution: How Technological Advancements Have Transformed Energy Production in the United States," included, among other panelists, Robert Bryce from the Koch-funded Manhattan Institute. The workshop "highlight[ed] the tremendous opportunities cleaner-burning natural gas offers for job creation and economic development...."
In April 2011, researchers at Cornell University published research indicating that, despite long-standing assumptions and PR about "cleaner-burning" gas, the burning process for shale gas may be dirtier than that of coal in some respects. Also, in June 2011, The New York Times' Ian Urbina wrote a piece which called into question the profitability of shale gas.
Louisiana's Governor Bobby Jindal has helped push for fracking in the state, and has been awarded by ALEC.
Two weeks before ALEC's summer 2011 meeting, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal announced that the state would be providing tax benefits to Cheniere Energy which was spending some $6 billion to build a shale gas liquefaction facility at Cheniere's Sabine Pass terminal in Cameron Parish, located in southwest Louisiana, right on the Gulf Coast shoreline. (Liquefaction is a process through which methane gas is changed so it can be transported more easily by truck or train and also used to run vehicles.) One of those tax benefits provides 100 percent property tax abatement for up to ten years on the company's investment in its plant.
During the annual meeting, Jindal was awarded ALEC's 2011 Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award. (Jindal is not only pushing the ALEC corporate gas agenda but has also been instrumental in attempting to implement ALEC's public education privatization agenda in New Orleans in the aftermath of the Katrina disaster.)
Crippling Local Zoning Laws and Pushing for a Weak EPA
Beyond the effort to thwart real disclosure of fracking fluid, other "model" ALEC bills have been crafted to push forward the expansion of fracking. An ALEC bill titled "An Act Granting the Authority of Rural Counties to Transition to Decentralized Land Use Regulation," was passed by ALEC's Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force at its Annual Meeting in August 2010 in San Diego. This model legislation would repeal all land use planning and zoning for "rural" counties by both county and state governments, taking away the local democratic process for communities to set local zoning rules. Legislation similar to this bill has been pushed in states including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Idaho, Colorado, and Texas. On July 26, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court struck down Pennsylvania's version of this law stating that it "...violates substantive due process because it does not protect the interests of neighboring property owners from harm, alters the character of neighborhoods and makes irrational classifications."
ALEC has also taken up the promotion of fracking in its April 2012 document called "The Economy Derailed: State-By-State Impacts of the EPA Regulatory Train Wreck." In it, ALEC attempts to discredit Josh Fox's Academy award-nominated film "Gasland," which documents effects of fracking on communities across the country and the report claims that citizens do not need to worry about air or water contamination. It calls EPA efforts towards heightening federal regulations "duplicative and unnecessary" and that "the states themselves are best poised to ensure environmental protection from hydraulic fracturing processes."
No Signs of a Break-Up
The relationship between ALEC and the oil and gas industry has proven to be mutually beneficial, advancing the corporate agenda on fracking at the expense of protections for ordinary Americans. Although 40 corporations, four non-profits, and 70 legislators have left ALEC, there is no indication that the big oil and gas companies that have helped bankroll ALEC are planning to leave any time soon.
http://www.prwatch.org/node/11698
moyers: http://www.alternet.org/print/corporate-accountability-and-workplace/bill-moyers-exposes-stranglehold-corporate-right-wing
BILL MOYERS: Lisa Graves, a former Justice Department lawyer, runs the Center for Media Democracy. That’s a nonprofit investigative reporting group in Madison, Wisconsin. In 2011, by way of an ALECinsider, Graves got her hands on a virtual library of internal ALECdocuments. She was amazed by its contents: a treasure trove of actualALEC model bills.
LISA GRAVES: These are the bills that were provided by the whistleblower. That’s just the index.
BILL MOYERS: There were more than 850 of them, 850 boilerplate laws that ALEC legislators could introduce as their own in any state in the union.
LISA GRAVES: Bills to change the law to make it harder for Americans to vote, those were ALEC bills. Bills to dramatically change the rights of Americans who are killed or injured by corporations, those wereALEC bills. Bills to make it harder for unions to do their work wereALEC bills. Bills to basically block climate change agreements, those were ALEC bills. When I looked at them, I was really shocked. I didn’t know how incredibly extensive and deep and far-reaching this effort to rework our laws was.
BILL MOYERS: She and her team begin to plow to ALEC’s documents, as well as public sources, to compile a list of the organizations and people who were or have been ALEC members. They found hundreds of corporations, from Coca-Cola and Koch Industries to ExxonMobil, Pfizer and Wal-Mart; dozens of right-wing think tanks and foundations; two dozen corporate law firms and lobbying firms; and some thousand state legislators, a few of them Democrats, the majority of them Republican....
STATE REP. MARK POCAN: When you look around, especially on the Republican side of the aisle, a lot of members of ALEC. Front row,ALEC. When you start going down to, you know, the chair of finance and some of the other members, are all ALEC members—in fact, ALECco-chair for the state—row by row, you can point out people who have been members of ALEC over the years.
There’s two main categories they have. One is how to reduce the size of government. And the other half of it is this model legislation that’s in the corporate good—in other words, this profit-driven legislation: how can you open up a new market, how can you privatize something that can open up a market for a company? And between those two divisions, you’re kind of getting to the same end goal, which is really kind of ultimate privatization of everything.
BILL MOYERS: Mark Pocan is something of an expert on ALEC. In fact, to learn as much as he could, he became a member.
STATE REP. MARK POCAN: What I had realized is if you join ALECfor a mere $100 as a legislator, you have the full access, like any corporate member.
BILL MOYERS: He also took himself to an ALEC conference for a firsthand look.
STATE REP. MARK POCAN: Hi. I’m State Representative Mark Pocan, and welcome to my video blog. I’m outside the Marriott on Canal Street in New Orleans at the ALEC convention, the American Legislative Exchange Council.
That was where you watched the interaction of a room full of lobbyists. You know, free drinks, free cigars, wining, dining. Many people just came from a dinner that was sponsored by some special interest, coming to a party that’s sponsored by a special interest, so they can continue to talk about special interests.
LISA GRAVES: This is from the New Orleans convention. This includes a number of seminars that they held for legislators, including one called "Warming Up to Climate Change: The Many Benefits of Increased Atmospheric CO2."
BILL MOYERS: That 2011 ALEC conference, lo and behold, was sponsored by BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron and Shell, among others. Another of its events featured guns.
LISA GRAVES: This is the NRA-sponsored shooting event, for legislators and for lobbyists. Free.
BILL MOYERS: There was even one offering free cigars.
LISA GRAVES: Sponsored by Reynolds American, which is one of the biggest tobacco companies in the world, and the Cigar Association of America.
BILL MOYERS: It sounds like lobbying. It looks like lobbying. It smells like lobbying. But ALEC says it’s not lobbying. In fact, ALEC operates not as a lobby group but as a nonprofit, a charity. In its filing with theIRS, ALEC says its mission is education, which means it pays no taxes and its corporate members get a tax write-off. Its legislators get a lot, too.
STATE REP. MARK POCAN: In Wisconsin, I can’t take anything of value from a lobbyist. I can’t take a cup of coffee from a lobbyist. AtALEC, it’s just the opposite. You know, you get there, and you’re being wined and dined by corporate interests. I can go down there and be wined and dined for days in order to hear about their special legislation. I mean, the head of Shell Oil flew in on his private jet to come to this conference. The head of one of the largest utility companies in the country was there on a panel, a utility company in 13 states. And here he is presenting to legislators. I mean, they clearly brought in some of the biggest corporate names in special interestdom and had them meeting with legislators, because a lot of business transpires at these events. [contrast to issa ex-acorn occupy jihad or rove gps bs]...
BILL MOYERS: The most important business happens in what ALECcalls "task forces." There are currently eight of them, with a corporate take on every important issue in American life, from health and safety to the environment, to taxation. In ALEC task forces, elected state officials and corporate representatives close the doors to press and public and together approve the bills that will be sent out to America. But Americans have no idea they come from ALEC, unless someone like a Mark Pocan exposes it.
STATE REP. MARK POCAN: When I went down to New Orleans to theALEC convention last August, I remember going to a workshop and hearing a little bit about a bill they did in Florida and some other states, and there was a proposal to provide special needs scholarships. And lo and behold, all of a sudden I come back to Wisconsin, and what gets introduced? Get ready; I know you’re going to have a shocked look on your face. A bill to do just that.
BILL MOYERS: Twenty-six ALEC members in the Wisconsin legislature sponsored that special needs bill, but the real sponsor wasALEC. Pocan knew, because the bill bore a striking resemblance to ALEC’s model. Have a look.
But Pocan isn’t only concerned that ALEC sneaks bills into the state legislature. The intent behind the bills troubles him, too.
STATE REP. MARK POCAN: Some of their legislation sounds so innocuous, but when you start to read about why they’re doing it, you know there’s a far different reason why something’s coming forward, and that’s important. If the average person knew that a bill like this came from some group like ALEC, you’ll look at the bill very differently, and you might look at that legislator a little differently about why they introduced it.
This is not about education. This is not about helping kids with special needs. This is about privatization. This is about corporate profits. And this is about dismantling public education.
BILL MOYERS: The bill passed in the Wisconsin House but failed to make it through the Senate. However, in its education report card,ALEC boasts that similar bills have passed in Oklahoma, Louisiana, North Carolina and Ohio. ALEC’s education agenda includes online schooling, as well. Take a careful look, and you’ll find the profit motive there, too.
LISA GRAVES: What you see is corporations that have a direct benefit, whose bottom line directly benefits from these bills, voting on these bills in the ALEC task force. And so, corporations like Connections Academy, corporations like K12, they have a direct financial interest in advancing this agenda.
BILL MOYERS: Those corporations, Connections Academy and K12, which specialize in online education, can profit handsomely from laws that direct taxpayer money toward businesses like theirs. In 2011, both sat on ALEC’s Education Task Force. But the two companies didn’t just approve the model bill, they helped craft it. The proof is in one of ALEC’s own documents. And there’s more to the story.
STATE SEN. DOLORES GRESHAM: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 1030 has to do with the establishment of virtual public schools.
BILL MOYERS: Last year, an online schooling bill based on the ALECmodel turned up in another state where ALEC has a powerful influence: Tennessee. It was introduced in both the state Senate and House byALEC members. The bill passed, making private corporations eligible for public money for online education. Then, within weeks, the K12 corporation got what amounted to a no-bid contract to provide online education to any Tennessee student from kindergarten through the eighth grade.
So, let’s review. The ALEC member corporations helped craft the bill.ALEC legislators introduced it and vote on it. And now there’s a state law on the books that enables one of those corporations to get state money. Game, set, match. But remember, this story isn’t about one company and the education industry and one law in Tennessee; it’s about hundreds of corporations in most every industry influencing lawmakers in state after state, using ALEC as a front.
Here’s another example. The American Bail Coalition, which represents the bail bond industry, pulls no punches about writing ALEC’s model bills itself. In a newsletter a few years back, the coalition boasted that it had written 12 ALEC model bills fortifying the commercial bail industry. Here’s Jerry Watson, senior legal counsel for the coalition, speaking at an ALEC meeting in 2007. He has a law to offer....
JERRY WATSON: But if we can help you save crime victims in your legislative district and generate positive revenue for your state and help solve your prison overcrowding problem, you don’t mind me making a dollar.
BILL MOYERS: ALEC members are seldom as upfront as the American Bail Coalition. In fact, ordinarily, ALEC’s hand is very hard to see at all. But if you know where to look, you’ll often find ALEC hiding in plain sight.
LISA GRAVES: ALEC has, in addition to its regular vacation resort trips, it also has special, what it calls "boot camps" on particular substantive issues.
BILL MOYERS: In March 2011, ALEC held one of those boot camps for legislators at the North Carolina Capitol in Raleigh. The subject was so-called tort reform, how to keep the average Joe from successfully suing a corporation for damages. The day after the boot camp, two state representatives presented the draft version of a House bill chock-full of ALEC priorities. It would, among other things, limit corporate product liability in North Carolina. One of the representatives, Johnathan Rhyne, was quoted in the Raleigh News [&] Observer saying of ALEC, "I really don’t know much about them." That’s odd, because Rhyne had been listed as a featured speaker at the ALEC tort reform boot camp. The paper also reported that Rhyne said the bill wasn’t copied from ALEC model legislation. That, too, is odd, given how the sections covering product liability could have passed as twins.
The bill was controversial. It passed, but only after the product liability sections were taken out of it. But the tort reformers didn’t give up. They were back a year later, this time with a draft bill aimed specifically to limit the liability of drug manufacturers. When the public was allowed to comment before a legislative panel, people who had lost loved ones came to testify against the bill. A son who had lost a father.
SURVIVING SON: You know, my dad’s gone. All I can do is sit here and be a voice for him. He can’t speak anymore.
BILL MOYERS: A grandfather mourning his granddaughter.
SURVIVING GRANDFATHER: If this bill passes, an innocent victim in North Carolina like Brittany could not hold a manufacturer accountable. Everyone needs to be accountable for their actions.
BILL MOYERS: Unmentioned to those in the room, ALEC was present, too, in the form of a lobbyist with drug manufacturing giant GlaxoSmithKline. His name is John Del Giorno.
JOHN DEL GIORNO: Several of the opposing testifiers today brought up very compelling, sad, empathetic stories.
BILL MOYERS: Not only is Glaxo an ALEC corporate member, Del Giorno himself is also a vice chairman of ALEC’s national private enterprise board. The North Carolina bill has been tabled for now.
So now you’ve seen how it works for corporations. How about for the politicians?
ANDERSON COOPER: Last night was, as the president finally acknowledged today, a shellacking. Republicans gained control of the House, picking up 60 seats so far.
BILL MOYERS: When all of the returns were counted on election night 2010, ALEC was a big winner. Eight of the Republican governors elected or re-elected that night had ties to the group.
GOV.-ELECT JOHN KASICH: Guess what? I’m going to be governor of Ohio!
GOV.-ELECT NIKKI HALEY: There’s going to be a lot of news and a lot of observers that say that we made history.
GOV. JAN BREWER: A clean sweep for Republicans!
BILL MOYERS: And a star was born that election night: Wisconsin’s new governor, a son of ALEC named Scott Walker.
GOV.-ELECT SCOTT WALKER: Wisconsin is open for business!
JOHN NICHOLS: I’ve known Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, for the better part of 20 years. And Scott is a classic career politician. And I don’t say that in a negative way.
BILL MOYERS: Journalist and Wisconsinite John Nichols has tracked Scott Walker’s career since the ’90s, when Walker was a state legislator and then-ALEC member.
JOHN NICHOLS: And in 2010, he ran, not presenting himself as anALEC alumni or as a ally of big corporations or big business people outside the state; he ran a very down-home campaign.
SCOTT WALKER: This is my lunch. I pack a brown bag each day so I can save some money to spend on, you know, the more important things in life, like sending my kids to college.
BILL MOYERS: Nichols says that despite the folksy image, in the years leading up to Walker’s 2010 campaign, he had become a master political fundraiser.
JOHN NICHOLS: And he began to really forge incredibly close ties with a lot of corporate interests that he had first been introduced to in ALEC, individuals and groups like the Koch brothers.
BILL MOYERS: David and Charles Koch, the billionaire businessmen behind the vast industrial empire, are also political activists with an agenda. Their companies and foundations have been ALEC members and funders for years.
JOHN NICHOLS: The Koch brothers were among the two or three largest contributors to Scott Walker’s campaign for governor of Wisconsin. And the Koch brothers get that if you really want to influence the politics of this country, you don’t just give money to presidential campaigns, you don’t just give money to congressional campaign committees. The smart ones, the smart players, put their money in the states.
SCOTT WALKER: Hi. I’m Scott Walker.
JOHN NICHOLS: It’s state government that funds education, social services. And it taxes.
SCOTT WALKER: If you want lower taxes and less government, I’m Scott Walker, and I know how to get the job done.
JOHN NICHOLS: And so, the smart donors can change the whole country without ever going to Washington, without ever having to go through a congressional hearing, without ever having to lobby on Capitol Hill, without ever having to talk to the president.
JUSTICE SHIRLEY ABRAHAMSON: Please raise your right hand and repeat after me.
BILL MOYERS: The new governor moved quickly with a raft of ALEC-inspired bills. They included one similar to Florida’s "stand your ground." Another made it easier to carry concealed weapons. There was a resolution opposing the mandated purchase of health insurance. And, of course, there was one limiting corporate liability. The Wisconsin legislature passed a so-called tort reform measure that included parts of eight different ALEC models. ALEC was elated, praising Walker and the legislature in a press release for their, quote, "immediate attention to reforming the state’s legal system." But Scott Walker was also shooting for another big ALEC prize.
GOV. SCOTT WALKER: Now, some have questioned why we have to reform collective bargaining.
BILL MOYERS: Taking away workers’ collective bargaining rights, that had long been an ALEC goal. A candid video caught Scott Walker talking about it with one of his financial backers, the billionaire businesswoman Diane Hendricks.
GOV. SCOTT WALKER: Well, we’re going to start in a couple weeks with our budget adjustment bill. The first step is, we’re going to deal with collective bargaining for all public employee unions.
DIANE HENDRICKS: Right.
GOV. SCOTT WALKER: Because you just divide and conquer.
BILL MOYERS: Despite an extraordinary public outcry and after a brief but intense political struggle, Walker’s anti-collective-bargaining measures became state law.
JOHN NICHOLS: It was ALEC’s ideas, ALEC’s values, that permeated the bill and undid almost 50 years—more than 50 years of collective bargaining law in Wisconsin.
BILL MOYERS: But again, remember, this isn’t just about one state. It’s about every state. Take Arizona. It’s practically an ALECsubsidiary. One report this year found that 49 of the state’s 90 legislators are members. And two-thirds of the Republican leadership are on ALEC task forces. And, of course, the governor, Jan Brewer, was an ALEC member, too. So, not surprising, Arizona is among the states passing ALEC-inspired laws to privatize education at taxpayer expense. And no surprise again, Arizona is also getting ALEC-like laws to limit corporate liability.
REPORTER: Police will also be able to ask anyone to prove their legal status.
BILL MOYERS: And Arizona, you’ll recall, made news in 2010 with a law allowing police to stop someone for looking Hispanic and detaining them if they weren’t carrying proper papers. So, it probably won’t shock you to learn that Arizona’s immigration law also inspired an ALECmodel, a version of which was passed in five other states.
STATE REP. STEVE FARLEY: All of us here are very familiar withALEC and the influence that ALEC has with many of the members here.
BILL MOYERS: ALEC’s nomination of Arizona proved too much for State Representative Steve Farley.
STATE REP. STEVE FARLEY: I just want to emphasize, it’s fine for corporations to be involved in the process. Corporations have the right to present their arguments. But they don’t have the right to do it secretly. They don’t have the right to lobby people and not register as lobbyists. They don’t have the right to take people away on trips, convince them of it, and send them back here, and then nobody has seen what’s really gone on and how that legislator has gotten that idea and where is it coming from.
BILL MOYERS: Farley has introduced a bill to force legislators to disclose their ALEC ties, just as the law already requires them to do with any lobbyist.
STATE REP. STEVE FARLEY: All I’m asking in the ALECAccountability Act is to make sure that all of those expenses are reported as if they are lobbying expenses, and all those gifts that legislators received are reported as if they are receiving the gifts from lobbyists, so the public can find out and make up their own minds about who is influencing what.
BILL MOYERS: Steve Farley’s bill has gone nowhere. ALEC, on the other hand, is still everywhere, still hiding in plain sight. Watch for it coming soon to a statehouse near you.
AMY GOODMAN: The United States of ALEC, a special report by Bill Moyers. It will air this weekend on Moyers & Company. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. Back in a minute.
See more stories tagged with:
alec [5],
bill moyers [6],
corporate power [7]
Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/corporate-accountability-and-workplace/bill-moyers-exposes-stranglehold-corporate-right-wing
Links:
[1] http://billmoyers.com/
[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/bill-moyers-0
[3] http://billmoyers.com
[4] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55ment4GPxk&feature=youtu.be
[5] http://www.alternet.org/tags/alec
[6] http://www.alternet.org/tags/bill-moyers
[7] http://www.alternet.org/tags/corporate-power
[8] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
i forgot how far back it goes: While the Business Roundtable pursued a highly public approach
to corporate advocacy at the federal level, another group pursued an
“under the radar” approach at the state level. Founded by conservative
leader Paul Weyrich in 1973, the American Legislative Exchange
Council originally focused on right-wing causes such as abortion and
school prayer, but as numerous corporations began contributing to the
council in the 1980s, the emphasis shifted to business-oriented issues.
Eventually, the number of corporations involved in funding the council
grew to over 300. The ALEC presented itself as a nonpartisan provider
of services such as research and bill drafting to chronically understaffed
state legislators. Its forte was the drafting of model bills with beguiling
titles such as “The Environmental Good Samaritan Act” or the “Private
170 ..
Property Protection Act.” The approach proved to be highly successful,
especially in complex areas such as electricity deregulation, where state
legislators leaned on the technical expertise of the ALEC. On such issues,
the combination of the ALEC’s seemingly neutral model bills and
the active lobbying of ALEC members such as Enron CEO Kenneth Lay
proved highly effective. During the 1999-2000 legislative cycle, legislators
belonging to the ALEC introduced more than 3100 bills based on
the organization’s model bills. Of these, 450 were enacted. gangs of america
pols defect: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Legislators_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC
ALEC Goes After the Center for Media and Democracy
by Lisa Graves [1] — August 29, 2012 - 7:26am
Topics: Activism [2], Corporations [3], Democracy [4]
Projects: ALEC Exposed [5]
Share/Save Share this [6]
The American Legislative Exchange Council [7] (ALEC) sent a message to hundreds of legislators across the country attacking the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), the creator of ALECexposed.org [7]. Among other things ALEC claimed, "CMD is an attack-dog, not a watch-dog."
The error-filled missive, which was intended to buck up the ALEC faithful as more and more corporations flee the organization, has us here at CMD pondering the old adage, "First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they want to attack you and then you win."
ALEC Attempts to Spin Legislators about Corporate Exodus
ALEC's August 13 message claimed that CMD "continue[s] to spread half-truths and lies" about ALEC in order to "weaken [ALEC's] resolve" and "create the false impression that companies are departing from ALEC."
As CMD has reported [8], 38 corporations, four non-profit organizations, and 70 state legislators [9] have distanced themselves from ALEC by either dropping their funding or their membership or both. These major corporations include General Motors, Walgreens, Best Buy, Hewlett-Packard, MillerCoors, John Deere, Dell, Johnson & Johnson, Wal-Mart, Amazon.com, Procter & Gamble, Mars, Wendy's, McDonald's, Kraft Foods, PepsiCo, and Coca-Cola.
We reported on six new departures, including Sprint and GE, just days ago [10]. In every instance, CMD relied on a formal communication from the firm, a statement, letter, email, or conversation with staff.
Yet ALEC is attempting to make hay over whether some of the corporations that have said they are no longer funding ALEC are funders through paying membership dues and pay-to-play fees or whether they were funders of ALEC through sponsoring its meetings. Such distinctions among funders that have stopped funding ALEC are, to quote Shakespeare, "much ado about nothing."
Amgen: ALEC claims in its note to legislators that "Amgen is not severing ties with ALEC . . . . Amgen has informed us that it is letting its membership with us expire after this year." CMD reported on August 8th [8] that Amgen had "dropped" is membership with ALEC. CMD's article attached the letter [11] Amgen's assistant secretary and associate general counsel, Andrea A. Robinson, sent to Timothy Smith of Walden Asset Management which said, "After careful consideration, we have determined not to renew our membership in ALEC when our current membership expires this year." So Amgen is on the record dropping its membership after sustained pressure by community groups and shareholders [12].
As for ALEC's attempt to spin Amgen's public statement in August, the company's letter of departure speaks for itself.
Louis Dreyfus: ALEC claims, "Louis Dreyfus never had a membership in ALEC to drop. . . . ALEC has partnered with Louis Dreyfus in past programs and has counted Louis Dreyfus as a sponsor of past annual meetings." After a conversation with a spokesperson at the company, CMD originally mentioned [13], in a July 30th article about the 46 firms that had disappeared from ALEC's annual meeting brochure, that it looked as though Louis Dreyfus was no longer a member of ALEC. Later, in announcing the departure of the firm from ALEC's circle of sponsors, we clarified [8], "Louis Dreyfus confirmed to CMD that it had decided not to fund ALEC this year." CMD's website lists Louis Dreyfus [14] as a "Vice Chairman" level sponsor of the 2011 ALEC Annual Conference (in 2010, this level of sponsorship equated to $25,000).
The bottom-line is that Louis Dreyfus chose not to fund ALEC's annual meeting this year after sponsoring "past annual meetings."
And, despite ALEC's spin, neither Amgen nor Louis Dreyfus ever contacted CMD to request a correction about their decisions not to fund ALEC. However, some corporations have contacted CMD: firms anxious to distance themselves from ALEC [15] and asking CMD to remove documented references to their past funding of ALEC, requests which were declined.
ALEC Uses Edelman PR and Media Attack Dogs to Try to Discredit ALEC Critics
In May 2012, PRWeek reported [16] that ALEC had hired the notorious global PR firm Edelman [17]. Edelman is the firm of choice for big tobacco, big oil, and big pharma, all key sponsors of ALEC. ALEC also held a special meeting [18] asking right-wing bloggers, such as the Breitbart operation,for help in "a very aggressive campaign to really spread the word about what we actually do," as CMD has reported.
An "aggressive campaign" is clearly underway.
ALEC's note to legislators claims that CMD's "top investigative reporter" has a "lengthy criminal background." It links to a attack-piece published by a newly created entity called The Washington Free Beacon [19] (WFB), the online publication of the self-proclaimed "conservative advocacy group" the Center for American Freedom [20].
In that piece, recent college grad CJ Ciaramella focuses on Beau Hodai, a freelance reporter who has written for the Center for Media and Democracy, In These Times, Prison Legal News, Extra! (a publication of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), and the investigative news publication he founded, DBA Press.
Beau has been researching and reporting on ALEC since late 2009. His reporting has detailed the relationship between ALEC and private prison contractors in the dissemination of bills based on Arizona's SB 1070, and has identified ALEC as one of the key forces behind attempts to destroy public employee unions and privatize public services.
Notably, the WFB attack job does not find any material errors in any of Beau's extensively documented reports on ALEC, but focuses on misdemeanor court records. It dwells on the fact that his legal first name is Mohamad. Beau has been nicknamed "Beau" since birth. (It is worth noting that "CJ" is not Ciaramella's legal first name but the nickname he uses instead of "Carl.")
Beau recently stirred the pot with a special report [21] detailing corruption in the Ohio General Assembly based on public records that raise questions as to whether the state's elected officials in ALEC are complying with Ohio's ethics laws regarding gifts.
Interestingly enough, Beau learned that exactly one week following the publication of the Ohio ALEC corruption story, a private investigation firm requested court records concerning a past arrest. Allegations from those same court records emerged as the centerpiece of the WFB attack article.
The Washington Free Beacon's "Aerial Hunting Operation"
WFB's Matthew Continetti (who previously was an opinion editor at the right-wing Weekly Standard, where he remains a contributing editor) outlined [22] the WFB's strategy as part of its recent launch:
"What would happen if the media wolf pack suddenly had to worry about an aerial hunting operation? You are about to find out. The Washington Free Beacon is here to enter the arena of combat journalism. [...] At the Beacon, we follow only one commandment: Do unto them."
And this is the team ALEC is using to attempt to discredit CMD as an "attack-dog"?
This is not the first such piece to come out of WFB. In the past few months, Ciaramella has written three pieces personally attacking reporters and activists working to expose ALEC. In addition to the piece on Beau, he published a similar attack on Color of Change staffer Gabriel Rey-Goodlatte, as well as The Nation reporter Lee Fang. Fang has also written for Think Progress (blog of the Center for American Progress) and Republic Report, and who has reported critically on ALEC over the past year. Color of Change has been instrumental in the call for ALEC corporate members to sever ties with the organization.
The latest piece also takes a shot at George Soros by attempting to link Beau to the philanthropist through PRWatch. But CMD openly discloses on its website that the past grant it received from the Open Society Institute was focused on homeland security, not ALEC. Notably, neither the WFB nor CAF disclose to the public which corporations, organizations, or individuals bankroll their operations or smear campaigns.
The People Behind the "Center for American Freedom"
WFB is a creature of the Center for American Freedom (CAF), which was incorporated in Washington, D.C., on August 18, 2011, as a not-for-profit corporation. According to [23] District of Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) records, CAF has two active trade names: "Free Bacon" [sic] and "Washington Free Beacon," both of which were formally effected in March 2012.
DCRA records list the names of two founding CAF "governors," Michael Goldfarb [24] and Aaron Harison.
Harison, currently CAF's president, previously served [25] as director of communications for the Republican National Committee (RNC). Harison is joined at CAF by former RNC acting director of communications [26], and current CAF research director, Tim Killeen.
Harison is also the former executive director [27] of Keep America Safe [28], an operation co-founded in 2009 by Dick Cheney's daughter, Liz Cheney. William Kristol [29], the founder and editor of the neoconservative Weekly Standard, is a founding board member [30] of Keep America Safe. Kristol is currently listed as a board member [31] of CAF, and is the former executive director of the Project for the New American Century [32] (PNAC), a neocon "think tank" that had strong ties to the American Enterprise Institute [33].
Michael Goldfarb, CAF's chairman, has reportedly worked [34] as an advisor to Keep America Safe and the militaristic Emergency Committee for Israel [35]. (Kristol is also a board member for the Emergency Committee for Israel). Goldfarb is also listed as a contributing editor [36] to Weekly Standard.
In addition, Goldfarb is a partner [37] in the lobby/PR firm, Orion Strategies LLC [38]. Not surprisingly, given Goldfarb and Kristol's warmongering predilections, Orion has lobbied on issues of arms sales and foreign relations for very special interests like defense contractors and foreign governments.
While these ties may explain some of the content on the WFB, what does any of this have to do with its efforts to defend ALEC by attacking its critics?
According to Politico, right-wing financiers Charles and David Koch also employ the services of Orion Strategies [39] and, as CMD has documented [40], Koch Industries and/or the Koch family fortune have helped fund ALEC and numerous ALEC private sector members that help operationalize the brothers' ideological and financial agenda. There is no indication that the Kochs asked WFB to jump to the defense of ALEC. However, the right wing has been howling that the press and progressive groups have been too persuasive in exposing ALEC and in making the case about how ALEC helps make the corporate wish list into law through its members and operations.
CMD Wins Awards for ALEC Exposed and Investigative Breakthroughs
In the letter to its members, ALEC also attempted to impugn CMD as a "highly partisan, fringe organization." The charge brings to mind pots and kettles. When CMD surveyed ALEC's political leadership in July 2011, it documented that 103 of the 104 legislators serving on ALEC's Board of Directors or holding the post of co-chair on its task forces or of a state were Republicans. It's difficult to imagine a more lopsided partisan make-up of a body of elected officials than that, other than in groups that are expressly described by their party label, such as the Republican Governors Association.
CMD is a non-partisan watchdog group that has taken heat for being highly critical of President Obama's financial policies and the Democrat's campaign financing practices. We have filed briefs challenging the Obama administration, including its detention powers under the recent National Defense Authorization Act, and have been critical of Democrats and Republicans who push the agenda of their corporate benefactors in dozens of areas.
CMD has been honored to receive several journalism awards for its work to expose ALEC: the "Sidney Award [41]" for Investigative Journalism, along with The Nation magazine, in September 2011; the "Izzy Award [42]" for outstanding achievement in independent media, along with Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who covered the uprising in Egypt from the ground; and most recently, the "Professional Freedom and Responsibility award [43]" from the Cultural and Critical Studies Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication -- an honor that has previously been awarded to Bill Moyers, Molly Ivins, I.F. "Izzy" Stone, Noam Chomsky, Studs Terkel, and Bob McChesney. Earlier this year, CMD also recieved one of the Milwaukee Press Club's 2011 "Excellence in Journalism [44]" awards for its investigative work.
ALEC Ups the Ante But the Odds Are on More Defections and Inquiries
While ALEC is fighting CMD with misleading missives to its members and media smears, it is still shedding corporate board members, funders, and sponsors [10]. And it is still getting hammered in the press for its extreme agenda and its corrupting influence, for the fact that corporate lobbyists vote as equals with elected officials on templates to change the law, and its repeated claims it does not lobby despite proof to the contrary. ALEC has also received continued scrutiny for its corporate-funded scholarships. CMD has learned at least one state has had trouble maintaining corporate donors to cover the usual trips for legislators to attend ALEC events.
As calls for investigation of ALEC's lobbying activities and financing practices mount (with three complaints now filed before the IRS and other ethics investigations at the state level), it will take more than Edelman PR and "combat journalism" to rescue ALEC from the trouble it is in.
Center for Media and Democracy • 520 University Avenue, Suite 260 • Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Phone: 608-260-9713 • Fax: 608-260-9714
Source URL: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/08/11717/alec-goes-after-center-media-and-democracy
Links:
[1] http://www.prwatch.org/users/35268/lisa-graves
[2] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/activism
[3] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/corporations
[4] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/democracy
[5] http://www.prwatch.org/projects/alec-exposed
[6] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prwatch.org%2Fnews%2F2012%2F08%2F11717%2Falec-goes-after-center-media-and-democracy&linkname=ALEC%20Goes%20After%20the%20Center%20for%20Media%20and%20Democracy
[7] http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
[8] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/08/11682/amgen-drops-alec-number-32-ebay-comes-under-fire
[9] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Legislators_Who_Have_Cut_Ties_to_ALEC
[10] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/08/11724/six-more-corporations-dump-alec-38-companies-have-now-cut-ties-corporate-bill-mil
[11] http://alecexposed.org/w/images/f/f2/Amgen_Response_to_ALEC_-_Heartland_Letter_8-6-12.pdf
[12] http://alecexposed.org/w/images/f/fe/ALEC_Outreach_Letter_-_Amgen_Inc_.pdf
[13] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/07/11679/lot-white-space-firms-drop-alecs-meeting-brochure
[14] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ALEC_Corporations#L
[15] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/04/11462/former-alec-supporters-now-find-connection-toxic
[16] http://www.prweekus.com/pages/under-fire-advocacy-group-alec-works-with-edelman/article/240419/
[17] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Edelman
[18] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/04/11458/alec-sends-out-sos-breibart-bloggers
[19] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=The_Washington_Free_Beacon
[20] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_American_Freedom
[21] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/05/11498/quid-pro-status-quo-alec-state-sanctioned-corruption-ohio
[22] http://freebeacon.com/combat-journalism
[23] http://dbapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DCRA-CAF.pdf
[24] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Michael_Goldfarb
[25] http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/harison_aaron
[26] http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71099_Page3.html
[27] http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28212.html#ixzz0Tqj4UEV7
[28] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Keep_America_Safe
[29] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=William_Kristol
[30] http://www.keepamericasafe.com/?page_id=215
[31] http://americanfreedom.com/staff/
[32] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Project_for_the_New_American_Century
[33] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Enterprise_Institute
[34] http://www.weeklystandard.com/author/michael-goldfarb
[35] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Emergency_Committee_for_Israel
[36] http://www.weeklystandard.com/tws/aboutus/default.asp#Masthead
[37] http://orionstrat.com/
[38] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Orion_Strategies_LLC
[39] http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71099.html
[40] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/07/10904/alec-exposed-koch-connection
[41] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/09/11023/cmd-and-nation-magazine-win-sidney-award-investigative-journalism
[42] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/03/11327/cmd-receives-izzy-award-alec-exposed
[43] http://aejmc.net/ccs/CCSSpring2012.pdf
[44] http://www.milwaukeepressclub.org/honors/contest/2011-contest-awardees#pro
==
Center for Media and Democracy
Published on Center for Media and Democracy (http://www.prwatch.org)
Home > A Lot of White Space: Firms Drop Off ALEC's Meeting Brochure
A Lot of White Space: Firms Drop Off ALEC's Meeting Brochure
by Lisa Graves [1] — July 30, 2012 - 7:00am
Topics: Corporations [2]
Projects: ALEC Exposed [3]
Salt Lake City -- A close look at the annual meeting brochure of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) shows that anti-corporate campaigners are having an impact on the secretive "bill mill" that brings politicians and corporate lobbyists together behind closed doors to craft, amend, and vote on "model" legislation.
Last year's annual convention featured three corporations underwriting the convention at the highest donation level of "President": BP (British Petroleum [5]), Reynolds American [6] (global tobacco), and Takeda [7] (Japanese drugs). This year's President-level donors named only two: Reynolds and SPN, the "State Policy Network [8]," which includes numerous corporate front groups that CMD has called "stink tanks" for peddling corporate claims as policy. A number of SPN special interest groups are funded by the Koch family, other Big Oil companies, Big Tobacco, or Big Insurance.
The next level of funding, dubbed "Chairman," features eleven private sector members, down from nineteen last year. The repeat donors listed are: Big Oil/Coal (Chevron and Peabody), Big Tobacco (Altria), and Big Drugs (PhRMA and Bayer). New to this level of donation: German global software company, SAP; global drug companies, Alkermes and GlaxoSmithKline; and two SPN special interest groups: the Heartland Institute and the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Also new, a virtual education company based in Utah called Imagine Learning.
Missing from this donor level from last year are: Mega Retail: Wal-Mart [9] and the Walton Family Foundation; Some Big Oil/Coal (ExxonMobil [10], Shell, American Electric Power, and AmericasPower.org): Some Big Drug (Allergan); Big Insurance (UnitedHealthCare and State Farm [11]): and Big Telecomm (AT&T), as well as the Lumina Foundation and Big Credit (VISA and EZCorp, a huge payday loan company). At least two of these companies have announced that they left ALEC earlier this year: Wal-Mart and the Lumina Foundation.
Even though ExxonMobil [10], State Farm [11], and AT&T [12] remained on ALEC's governing corporate board, they apparently gave less money to underwrite this year's convention. They were only "Vice Chairmen" when it came to funding this convention, along with UPS, which apparently delivered at the same level this year as last. American Electric Power donated at this reduced level of funding. The other three donors at this level are another SPN special interest group, the Sutherland Institute, and the Utah companies Zions Bank and Micron.
Last year, 16 corporations were listed as Vice Chairmen; this year it's eight. Not listed but by no means gone are Koch Industries [13] and the Franklin Center. Not listed at this level and among the corporations that have dumped ALEC: Johnson & Johnson [14] and Intuit [15]. Missing from this level of funding, compared with last year, and not apparently underwriting ALEC's convention: Pfizer, [16] FedEx [17], Sanofi, Louis Dreyfus Commodities, and Together RX Access. Not unexpectedly, three Louisiana companies that helped sponsor ALEC's New Orleans convention last year are also not listed. A round of calls revealed that Louis Dreyfus is no longer a member, but FedEx is standing strong. Pfizer refused to respond to requests for clarification of their ALEC status.
The next two levels of ALEC convention underwriting are similarly diminished, with 23 corporations at the lowest levels of sponsorship this year compared with 45 last year. Companies no longer listed that have publicly left ALEC include: Amazon, BlueCross BlueShield, Kraft, HP, and Walgreens.
But other companies have stuck with ALEC and helped underwrite the Salt Lake convention, such as anti-public school operations funded by the Amway family fortune through right-winger Betsy DeVos: the American Federation for Children; the Crown corporation, which is pushing legislation to escape responsibility for people injured or dying from asbestos; the American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy; Takeda Pharmaceuticals; and CenturyLink (formerly Qwest, a telecommunications company). Apparently new to ALEC convention sponsorship is something called the Workers Compensation Fund and a few other new groups.
The NRA was also no longer listed as a member-level sponsor, but that did not stop it from having the biggest and most prominent booth in the ALEC convention hall or sponsoring a gun fest for ALEC legislators and lobbyists this week in conjunction with Browning, a subsidiary of one of the biggest sellers of machine guns in the world.
At session after session in Salt Lake, legislative leaders of ALEC like Wisconsin Senator Leah Vukmir -- who has now joined Scott Suder and Robin Vos as ALEC state co-chairs alongside energy lobbyist Amy Boyer -- went out of their way to give thanks to ALEC's corporate sponsors. Those sponsors continued to underwrite what ALEC likes to call the "largest individual membership association for state legislators" -- always omitting the fact that over 98% of its revenue typically comes from corporations and sources other than legislative dues.
As of ALEC's 2010 tax filings, it counted about $7 million in revenue. Its income this year and last year is unknown. But last year's conference was filled with favorable press coverage and bankrolled by at least 82 private sector corporations as convention underwriters.
This year, only 36 corporations were willing to have their logos listed as paying for ALEC's schmooze and booze affair. Not all 46 of those missing corporations have left ALEC, but dozens have fled the sunshine that CMD and other investigative journalists, advocates, and concerned citizens across the country have focused on ALEC and the power it has given to corporations to try to rewrite hundreds of laws across the United States.
Attachment Size
ALEC 2012 Sponsors program.pdf [18] 343.03 KB
Center for Media and Democracy • 520 University Avenue, Suite 260 • Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Phone: 608-260-9713 • Fax: 608-260-9714
Source URL: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/07/11679/lot-white-space-firms-drop-alecs-meeting-brochure
Links:
[1] http://www.prwatch.org/users/35268/lisa-graves
[2] http://www.prwatch.org/topics/corporations
[3] http://www.prwatch.org/projects/alec-exposed
[4] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prwatch.org%2Fnews%2F2012%2F07%2F11679%2Flot-white-space-firms-drop-alecs-meeting-brochure&linkname=A%20Lot%20of%20White%20Space%3A%20Firms%20Drop%20Off%20ALEC%27s%20Meeting%20Brochure
[5] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=British_Petroleum
[6] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Reynolds_American
[7] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Takeda
[8] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=State_Policy_Network
[9] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wal-Mart
[10] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ExxonMobil
[11] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=State_Farm
[12] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=AT%26T
[13] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Industries
[14] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Johnson_%26_Johnson
[15] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Intuit
[16] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pfizer,
[17] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=FedEx
[18] http://www.prwatch.org/files/ALEC-2012_Sponsors_program.pdf
found on ati:
ALEC Releases Economy Derailed: State-by-State Impacts of the EPA Regulatory Train Wreck, by ATI Fellow Todd Wynn
Washington, DC- April 23, 2012¬- For the past 42 years, Earth Day has been used to draw attention to environmental issues. In honor of Earth Day 2012, ALEC has released Economy Derailed: State-by-State Impacts of the EPA Regulatory Train Wreck celebrating the true story of America’s clean air and water successes by highlighting improvements in environmental quality over the past three decades. However, Economy Derailed also exposes the risks posed by the EPA’s recent regulatory onslaught. This excessive regulatory campaign has little to do with public health yet will have an immense impact on American quality of life.
Economy Derailed reveals that numerous EPA regulations are causing the shutdown of power plants across the nation, destroying jobs, raising energy costs, and decreasing reliability of electricity. Ranked according to potential job loss, the top ten states most impacted by the EPA are Illinois, West Virginia, Ohio, Alabama, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina – all of which could shed over 20,000 jobs. Illinois will be the worst hit with jobs at risk totaling 38,382.
“Never before has the EPA undertaken such an immense regulatory assault on the production of affordable and reliable energy,” notes Economy Derailed author and ALEC’s Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force Director Todd Wynn. “The EPA is depriving Americans of desperately needed jobs and making it more difficult for families to make ends meet. Ironically, by increasing the cost of energy, the EPA’s actions will have dangerous unintended consequences for the health of all Americans.”
Major findings in the report include:
• Environmental quality in the United States continues to improve, despite the doomsday rhetoric coming from the EPA and environmental groups. Mercury, carbon monoxide, ozone, lead, nitrogen oxide, particulates, fine particulates, and sulfur dioxide have all decreased in both ambient concentrations in the atmosphere and in total emissions.
Poor ALEC just keeps stumbling. But ALEC isn't poor nor is it a person. ALEC-- the American Legislative Exchange Council--is a secretive corporate front that has produced hundreds of regressive and repressive bills that are being pushed through Republican-controlled state legislatures. Its bills and tactics are so venomous that 35 of ALEC's brand- name corporate funders--from Amazon to Walmart--have withdrawn their names and money this year.
But with the billionaire Koch brothers and others behind it, ALEC is sticking with its far-right agenda. Condemning it is one thing, but what's really needed is a non-corporate, independent, above-board, overtly progressive alternative to ALEC's special-inter-est backroom conniving-- a clean source of model leg-islation readily available for the consideration of local and state public officials and the public at large.
Well, great news, folks. ALICE will soon arrive! The American Legislative and Issues Campaign Exchange (or ALICE) is not just a clever play on ALEC's name, but a counter to its agenda and methods. Originated by Joel Rogers--one of progressive America's most creative thinkers and doers--ALICE will offer a one-stop, web-based public library of about 1,000 model laws on a wide range of policy issues, complete with in-depth background materials. It's a nationwide, cooperative effort that already has enlisted several hundred professors, policy experts, students, lawyers, and others who're volunteering their brains, energy, and time to assemble this library, open to all lawmakers, mayors, grassroots groups, media, and... well, everyone.
If you'd like to help ALICE in some way, go to http://www.alicelaw.org
Task Force Co-Chairs
As of November 2012:
Civil Justice Task Force - Senator Bill Seitz (R-Ohio)[1]
Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force - Representative Glenn Vaad (R-Colorado)[1]
Communications and Technology Task Force - Representative Blair Thoreson (R-North Dakota)[1]
Education Task Force - Representative Greg Forristall (R-Iowa)[1]
Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force - Representative David Wolkins (R-Indiana)[1]
Health and Human Services Task Force - Representative Leah Vukmir (R-Wisconsin)[1]
International Relations Task Force - Representative Tim Moffitt (R-North Carolina)[1]
Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force - Senator Jim Buck (R-Indiana)[1]
Previous Task Force Co-Chairs
As of 2011 (some of the following continue to be Task Force Chairs, some no longer are, see above for most current information):
Civil Justice Task Force - Senator Bill Seitz (R-Ohio)[2]
Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force - Representative Glenn Vaad (R-Colorado)[3]
Education Task Force - Senator David Casas (R-Georgia)[4]
Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force - Representative David Wolkins (R-Indiana)[5]?
Health and Human Services Task Force - Representative Leah Vukmir (R-Wisconsin)[6]?
International Relations Task Force - Representative Harold Brubaker (R-North Carolina)[7]
Public Safety and Elections Task Force - Representative Jerry Madden (R-Texas)[8]
Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force - Senator Jim Buck (R-Indiana)[9]
Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force - Representative Blair Thoreson (R-North Dakota)[10]