ALEC & Alaska…
The American Legislative
Exchange Council,
otherwise known by the acronym ALEC, is a non-profit 501(c) political organization established
in 1973 in Chicago. The legislative members are state and federal legislators.
It is a forum to allow the members to write model laws and discuss legislative
language with other members. ALEC meetings are an opportunity for the corporate
and non-profit leaders to meet and provide feedback to legislators. Member
legislators can then use these model bills as templates for their own bills.
The short video below shows a
recent investigation done by Atlanta NBC Affiliate 11 Alive is very revealing
about how ALEC works.
I had seen the ALEC Acronym
floating around and knew that it was an organization whose actions and
affiliations are circumspect. SO, in
this election year and of particular concern is the recent failures of Alaska’s
Legislature, I decided to look into whom in Juneau is involved with this ‘educational
charity’. I went to their website and
found that ALEC’s Alaska State Chair is District 10 Representative Wes Keller. But over the past few years, quite a few
legislators have been involved with ALEC and with pushing ALEC approved
agendas.
·
Rep. Mia Costello - Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force
·
Rep. Bob Lynn - Public Safety and Elections Task
Force
·
Rep. Cathy E. Munoz - Commerce,
Insurance and Economic Development Task Force
·
Sen. John B. Coghill, Jr. - International Relations Task Force
·
Sen. Fred Dyson - ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force member,
attended 2011 ALEC Annual Meeting
·
Sen. Anna I. Fairclough - Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force
·
Sen. Catherine A. Giessel - Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force
·
Sen. Lesil McGuire - Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force
The last three names on
the AK ALEC list are the most interesting though. As Legislative Members of the Tax and Fiscal
Policy Task Force, they commit to further legislation that adheres to the
direction that ALEC members endorse. Generally
ALEC’s fiscal direction is in favor of larger corporations. ALEC strongly advocates and lobbies for state
fiscal policies that benefit corporate interests over that of individual
citizens and small businesses.
Through ALEC, corporations voted bills to rewrite the tax code that would increase their profits or the riches of their CEOs by: Helping the richest of the rich get richer, through Opposing windfall profits taxes on energy companies, like Exxon Mobil and BP (oil companies have been reporting out of this world profits while American workers struggle to make ends meet). Can anyone say Alaska Senate Bill 21 and the opposition to the public outcry and subsequent Vote to repeal that legislation?
Now Fast Forward… the Alaska Legislature is currently
heading towards voting to pay out money to energy companies that are ALEC
Donors than it takes in from the industry.
Wes Keller Quote… “"I am proposing exploration of model
legislation that has both industry and public priorities on the table. I have
asked the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization
uniquely qualified to explore this goal. ALEC action would include vetting of
the issue in a multi-state context."
Wes
Keller Quote… “Keller
said he likes that the private sector has a vote in crafting the group's model
legislation.“
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| ALEC Donor Members |