American Legislative Exchange Council: Difference between revisions
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==Publications== |
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*ALEC publishes a monthly magazine for its members entitled ''Inside ALEC.''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alec.org/periodicals/inside-alec |title=Inside ALEC |work=American Legislative Exchange Council |year=2012 |accessdate=April 21, 2012}}</ref> |
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*In the field of education policy, ALEC authors the ''Report Card on American Education''.<ref>{{cite web |first=Laura |last=Brown |title=American Legislative Exchange Council Study Offers Recipe for Education Reform and Asks Adults to Take the Challenge |url=http://www.hawaiireporter.com/american-legislative-exchange-council-study-offers-recipe-for-education-reform-and-asks-adults-to-take-the-challenge/123 |publisher=[[HawaiiReporter]] |date=September 3, 2010 |accessdate=April 7, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohk_anKJUd8&feature=channel_page |title=Report Card on American Education: A State-by-State Analysis |publisher=YouTube |date=2009-09-24 |accessdate=2011-03-29}}</ref> |
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*On state economic competitiveness, ALEC has published, ''Rich States, Poor States'', now in its fourth edition.<ref name="alec.org">[http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Rich_States_Poor_States&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=10295 Rich States Poor States]. American Legislative Exchange Council.</ref> |
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==Controversies== |
==Controversies== |
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Revision as of 17:15, 15 May 2012
| File:ALEC Logo.gif | |
| Abbreviation | ALEC |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1975 |
| Type | Tax exempt, non-profit organization, 501(c)(3) |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C., United States |
Chairman | Noble Ellington |
| Website | alec.org |
| This article is part of a series on |
| Conservatism in the United States |
|---|
 |
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is an ideologically conservative group consisting of business interests and conservative state legislators for the purpose of drafting research, policy papers and model legislation to assist and influence state legislatures and promote conservative initiatives.[2][3][4]
According to the organization's website, members share a common belief that "government closest to the people" is "fundamentally more effective, more just, and a better guarantor of freedom than the distant, bloated federal government in Washington, D.C."[1][5]
ALEC is perhaps best known for drafting model legislation on issues such as tax treatment of corporations, tightening voter identification rules, and promoting gun rights[6][7], that can be easily adopted by state legislators and introduced as legislation.[8] ALEC also serves as a networking tool among state legislators, allowing them to research the handling and "best practices" of policy in other states.[8]
ALEC currently has more than 2,000 legislative members representing all 50 states, amounting to nearly one-third of all sitting legislators,[8] as well as more than 85 members of Congress and 14 sitting or former governors who are considered "alumni". ALEC also claims approximately 300 corporate, foundation, and other private-sector members. A list of ALEC leaders in the states shows that party affiliation is predominately Republican.[9] The chairmanship of ALEC is a rotating position, with a new legislator appointed to the position each year. The current chair of ALEC is David Frizzell, a member of the Indiana House of Representatives.[10] Day-to-day operations are run from ALEC's Washington, D.C. office by an executive director and a staff of approximately 30.[11]
Recently a dispute has arisen as to whether ALEC is a charitable educational organization as it insists, or what one newspaper article called a "stealth business lobbyist"[7][6] as advocacy groups have maintained.[citation needed]
History
ALEC first came into being in Chicago as the "Conservative Caucus of State Legislators", a project initiated by Mark Rhoads, an assistant to an Illinois state senator.[12][13] Rhoads and a bipartisan group of Midwestern legislators wished to counter the trend toward big government that President Richard Nixon was continuing.[12] After conferring with other conservatives, the word "conservative", considered unpopular at the time, was dropped in favor of the name American Legislative Exchange Council.[13] In 1975, under the auspices of the American Conservative Union, ALEC registered as a federal non-profit agency.[14][15] Conservative activist Paul Weyrich helped the new group find a meeting room.[13] Henry Hyde, who later became a U.S. Congressman, and Lou Barnett, who later became National Political Director of Ronald Reagan's Political Action Committee, also helped to found ALEC.[1][16] Early members included a number of state and local politicians who went on to statewide or national office such as Bob Kasten and Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin; John Engler of Michigan; Terry Branstad of Iowa, and John Kasich of Ohio.[1] Several members of the U.S. Congress were also involved in the organization during its early years, including Sen. John Buckley and Rep. Jack Kemp of New York, Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, and Rep. Phil Crane of Illinois.[1] Duane Parde served as the executive director from December 1996 to January 2006.[12]
Organization
Board of directors
The ALEC board of directors is composed of the following:[10]
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Private enterprise board
The ALEC private enterprise board is composed of the following.[17]
| Person | Company | Title | Sector | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preston Baldwin | Centerpoint360 | Chairman | Tobacco lobbyist | Active |
| Sandra Oliver | Bayer | Vice Chairman | Pharmaceutical | Active |
| John Del Gorno | GlaxoSmithKline | Vice Chairman | Pharmaceutical | Active |
| David Powers | Reynolds American | Treasurer | Tobacco | Active |
| Maggie Sans | Wal-Mart Stores | Secretary | Retail | Active |
| Jerry Watson | Chairman Emeritus | Bail Bonds | Emeritus | |
| Lisa A. Sano Blocker | Energy Future Holdings | Board Member | Energy/Oil | Active |
| Don Bohn | Johnson & Johnson | Board Member | Pharmaceutical | Active |
| Jeffrey Bond | PhRMA | Board Member | Pharmaceutical | Active |
| William Carmichael | American Bail Coalition | Board Member | Bail Bonds | Active |
| Derek Crawford | Kraft Foods, Inc. | Board Member | Food and Beverage | Did not renew[18] |
| Robert Jones | Pfizer Inc. | Board Member | Pharmaceutical | Active |
| Teresa Jennings | Reed Elsevier | Board Member | Publishing | Resigned[19] |
| Kenneth Lane | Diageo | Board Member | Alcoholic Beverages | Active |
| Bill Leahy | AT&T | Board Member | Telecommunications | Active |
| Richard McArdle | United Parcel Service | Board Member | Shipping | Active |
| Kelly Mader | Peabody Energy | Board Member | Energy/Oil | Active |
| Mike Morgon | Koch Companies Public Sector,LLC | Board Member | Lobbyist | Active |
| Daniel Smith | Altria | Board Member | Tobacco | Active |
| Randy Smith | ExxonMobil | Board Member | Energy/Oil | Active |
| Russell Smoldon | Salt River Project | Board Member | Energy/Water | Active |
| Roland Spies | State Farm | Board Member | Insurance | Active |
State chairmen
ALEC chairmen from state legislatures are:[20]
Publications
- ALEC publishes a monthly magazine for its members entitled Inside ALEC.[23]
- In the field of education policy, ALEC authors the Report Card on American Education.[24][25]
- On state economic competitiveness, ALEC has published, Rich States, Poor States, now in its fourth edition.[26]
Controversies
Allegations of lack of Transparency
National Public Radio
National Public Radio, NPR, has aired several programs about ALEC and its influence in the drafting of legislation, most dealing with allegations of lack of transparency.[27] On July 21, 2011, Terry Gross interviewed Louisiana Representative Noble Ellington, then the national chairman of ALEC, about the role of the group's corporate members in drafting legislation and ALEC policy (prior to the leaking of its internal bill library[6]) of not revealing the names of its members or of the legislators who attend its conferences.[28] When ask by Gross if he thought the process was transparent, Ellington responded saying,
"[w]hile we may be discussing it, it may not be transparent, but before it's passed, legislators have to say, 'We approve this model legislation.' Not the corporations. They don't have a vote. Legislators say [what is introduced]. ... And then the legislators can introduce that legislation in [their] state. It goes through a committee, the public has input, they have an opportunity to talk to their legislators about the legislation — so I don't see how you can get more transparent than that."
When asked if the public had a voice in the internal process Ellington responded that the ""I work for the taxpaying public, so don't assume that they're not [at the table] because they are. And we represent the public and we are the ones who decide. So the taxpaying public is represented there at the table because I'm there."[28] NPR also published a formal response from ALEC the same day, July 21, 2011.[29]
Publication of leaked ALEC model bills
On July 13, 2011, the Center for Media and Democracy[30] in cooperation with The Nation posted more than 800 pieces of ALEC's model legislation created over a 30-year period,[31][32] and created a web project, ALEC Exposed[33] to host these model bills. It contains dozens of lists of ALEC politicians,[34] ALEC corporations,[35] and ALEC bills moving in their states.[36] Concurrently, The Nation issued a special edition[37] of its magazine devoted to commentary on the bills published online.
On August 5, 2011, one of the journalists writing in The Nation, Mike Elk, appeared on Democracy Now! to discuss efforts by ALEC and the private prison industry to bring about these changes.[38]
Allegations of lobbying
An article in Bloomberg Businessweek compared ALEC's work to that of other corporate and conservative lobbyists, stating, "part of ALEC's mission is to present industry-backed legislation as grass-roots work." According to Bloomberg, being registered as a non-profit rather than a lobby group "offers two benefits" to ALEC: deductability of membership dues corporations pay the organization (which may be as much as $25,000), and the freedom not to disclose the names of legislators who attend its "educational" seminars or the executives who give presentations to those legislators.[6]
Complaint against ALEC tax-exempt status
Common Cause has filed a complaint with the IRS objecting to ALEC's tax status as a non-profit organization because lobbying accounts for more than 60% of its expenditures. ALEC denies lobbying.[6][39]
William Cronon
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's March 2011 Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill, provoked large scale protests by Government Unions. William Cronon, a historian who teaches at the University of Wisconsin began an advocacy blog during the protest, with an entry alleging a link between the State bill and ALEC.[40][41] This resulted in the issuing of a FOIA request by the Wisconsin Republican Party to obtain all e-mail sent from Cronon's university account that could be anti-Republican advocacy, due to concern that State facilities had been used for lobbying; Paul Krugman and the American Historical Association defended Cronon. They decried the action as an apparent attempt at intimidation.[41][42] Bill Lueders, a strong advocate of transparency, and Wisconsin's open records rules countered, “I'm pleased to see the Republicans making use of the open records law because they are as entitled to it as everyone else in the state.”[43]
Public protests
On April 29, 2011, between 125 and 150 people gathered in Cincinnati to protest ALEC. They marched around the Hilton hotel and convention center where ALEC's Spring Task Force Meeting was under way, and spoke against the group at nearby Fountain Square.[44] ALEC's Annual Meeting, held August 3–6, 2011, in New Orleans, also drew protesters from multiple states."[45]
ALEC mission statement language included in bills
In November 2011, Florida State Representative Rachel Burgin (R), introduced legislation to call on the federal government to reduce its corporate tax rate. The text still included the boilerplate "WHEREAS, it is the mission of the American Legislative Exchange Council to advance Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism, and individual liberty,..."[46] The bill was quickly withdrawn, the phrase removed, and was resubmitted as HM717,[47]
Florida 'Stand Your Ground' law
It has been reported that the Florida Stand-your-ground law was based on a model bill written by ALEC.[48] The law has frequently been mentioned as the reason George Zimmerman was not immediately arrested in the shooting of Trayvon Martin.[49]
On April 4, 2012 the online racial advocacy group Color of Change announced a call to boycott The Coca-Cola Company for its support of ALEC and by implication, their involvement in Stand your Ground and voter ID laws.[50] Within hours, Coca-Cola announced it was ending its relationship with ALEC in apparent response to the threatened boycott. Approximately a dozen corporations or foundations dropped support of ALEC [51] [52] [53] [54] [55] [56] [57] over the subsequent two weeks.
On April 17, 2012, ALEC announced that it was disbanding its Public Safety and Elections Task Force, which provided model bills for voter ID requirements and “stand your ground” gun laws.[58] On April 18, the National Center for Public Policy Research announced the creation of a voter ID task force to replace the one discontinued by ALEC.[59][60] The Martin shooting and subsequent boycott was described as a catalyst for ALEC to shift focus from social issues to economic ones.[61][62]
References
- ^ a b c d e "History". American Legislative Exchange Council. 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
- ^ "ALEC: The Voice of Corporate Special Interests in State Legislatures" (PDF). People For the American Way. 2011. Retrieved March 28, 2012.
- ^ Hooker, Brad (September 12, 2011). "Corporations Represented on ALEC's Private Enterprise Board Are Big Spenders in Washington". OpenSecrets.org. Retrieved March 28, 2012.
- ^ Conservative Nonprofit Acts as a Stealth Business Lobbyist April 21, 2012
- ^ "ALEC Exposed" (PDF). Granite State Progress. 2012. Retrieved March 28, 2012.
- ^ a b c d e "Corporate Flight From a Bill Mill", Bloomberg Businessweek, May 7-13, 2012
- ^ a b Conservative Nonprofit Acts as a Stealth Business Lobbyist nytimes.com April 21, 2012
- ^ a b c Kraft, Michael E.; Kamieniecki, Sheldon (2007). Business and environmental policy : corporate interests in the American political system. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. p. 276. ISBN 978-0-262-61218-0.
American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) provide[s] direct assistance to state legislators and firms eager to minimize any state government engagement in environmental protection. ALEC's membership base includes nearly one-third of all sitting state legislators and most of its resources are derived from corporations and trade associations. It offers regular conferences and training sessions but is perhaps best known for drafting model legislation that can easily be adopted by an individual state and introduced into a legislature.
- ^ "ALEC Politicians - SourceWatch". Sourcewatch.org. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
- ^ a b "Board of Directors". American Legislative Exchange Council. 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
- ^ "Meet Our Staff". American Legislative Exchange Council. 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
- ^ a b c "Duane Parde, president". About NTU: Staff. National Taxpayers Union. 2009. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
- ^ a b c Bishop, Bill (2009). The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded American Is Tearing Us Apart. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 203. ISBN 0547525192.
- ^ Schoenwald, Jonathan M. (2002). A Time for Choosing: The Rise of Modern American Conservatism. Oxford University Press. p. 241. ISBN 0195157265.
- ^ Lichtman, Allan J. (2009). White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement. Grove Press. p. 318. ISBN 0802144209.
- ^ Barnett, Louis W. [Gov. Jerry Brown's Destruction of the California Judiciary] (2010)
- ^ "Private Enterprise Board". American Legislative Exchange Council. 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
- ^ http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/04/05/usa-coke-alec-idUKL2E8F54P120120405
- ^ "Reed Elsevier, Wendy's drop conservative group" Reuters
- ^ "State Chairmen". American Legislative Exchange Council. 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
- ^ Jilani, Zaid (April 22, 2012). "Louisiana's Republican State Chairman Of ALEC Resigns From The Organization". Republic Report. Retrieved April 29, 2012.
- ^ Thomaswell (April 18, 2012). "First it was corporations bailing out; now the parade of Louisiana Legislators exiting ALEC membership begins". Louisana Voice. Retrieved April 29, 2012.
- ^ "Inside ALEC". American Legislative Exchange Council. 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
- ^ Brown, Laura (September 3, 2010). "American Legislative Exchange Council Study Offers Recipe for Education Reform and Asks Adults to Take the Challenge". HawaiiReporter. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
- ^ "Report Card on American Education: A State-by-State Analysis". YouTube. 2009-09-24. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
- ^ Rich States Poor States. American Legislative Exchange Council.
- ^ Sullivan, Laura (October 29, 2010). "Shaping State Laws with Little Scrutiny". NPR. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
- ^ a b "Who's Really Writing States' Legislation?". Fresh Air, WHYY. NPR. July 21, 2011. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
- ^ "La. State Rep. Noble Ellington, National Chairman Of ALEC, Responds To Report". NPR. July 21, 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
- ^ Graves, Lisa (July 13, 2011). "About ALEC Exposed".
- ^ Graves, Lisa (2011/7/15). "ALEC Exposed: State Legislative Bills Drafted by Secretive Corporate-Lawmaker Coalition" (Interview). Interviewed by Amy Goodman. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
{{cite interview}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|callsign=(help); Unknown parameter|city=ignored (|location=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|program=ignored (help) - ^ Nichols, John (July 13, 2011). "ALEC Exposed".
- ^ The Center for Media and Democracy. ALEC Exposed. Project website. Accessed September 23, 2011.
- ^ SourceWatch. ALEC Politicians. SourceWatch page. Accessed September 23, 2011.
- ^ SourceWatch. ALEC Corporations. SourceWatch page. Accessed September 23, 2011.
- ^ The Center for Media and Democracy. ALEC Exposed Community Portal. Project website. Accessed September 23, 2011.
- ^ The Nation Magazine. ALEC Exposed. Magazine website. Accessed September 23, 2011.
- ^ Elk, Mike (August 5, 2011). "New Exposé Tracks ALEC-Private Prison Industry Effort to Replace Unionized Workers with Prison Labor" (Interview). Interviewed by Amy Goodman. Retrieved April 29, 2012.
{{cite interview}}: Unknown parameter|program=ignored (help) - ^ Advocacy group Common Cause files IRS complaint against conservative legislative group ALEC[dead link]
- ^ Who's Really Behind Recent Republican Legislation in Wisconsin and Elsewhere? (Hint: It Didn't Start Here), William Cronon
- ^ a b Krugman, Paul (March 27, 2011). "American Thought Police". The New York Times.
- ^ "AHA Today: AHA Deplores Effort to Intimidate William Cronon". American Historical Association. March 27, 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
- ^ Sulzberger, A.G. (March 26, 2011). "Wisconsin Professor's E-Mails Are Target of G.O.P. Records Request". New York Times.
- ^ ALEC's Open Secrets Cincinnati City Beat, 4 May 2011.
- ^ Protesters Put More Pressure On ALEC In New Orleans The Rochester Citizen, 6 August 2011.
- ^ Seitz-Wald, Alex (February 2, 2012). "Oops: Florida Republican Forgets To Remove ALEC Mission Statement From Boilerplate Anti-Tax Bill". ThinkProgress. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
- ^ "HM717: House Memorial" (PDF). Florida House of Representatives. 2012. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
- ^ Amy Goodman; Mike Elk (2012/4/18). "ALEC Drops Push for Voter ID, Stand Your Ground Laws After Public Outcry Sparks Corporate Exodus". Democracy Now!. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Ryan J. Reilly, "ALEC, NRA Pushed 'Stand Your Ground' Legislation At Center Of Trayvon Martin Killing" TPMMuckraker
- ^ Bedard, Paul (April 4, 2012). "Coke caves in face of Democratic boycott threat". The Washington Examiner. Retrieved April 9, 2012.
- ^ McVeigh, Karen (April 6, 2012). "Coca-Cola and PepsiCo sever ties with group behind stand-your-ground laws". The Guardian. Retrieved April 9, 2012.
- ^ Kroll, Andy. "The Gates Foundation Is Done Funding ALEC". Mother Jones. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
- ^ Kroll, Andy (April 10, 2012). "McDonald's Says It Has Dumped ALEC". Mother Jones (magazine).
- ^ "Reed Elsevier, Wendy's drop conservative group" Reuters
- ^ Peter Overby, Companies Flee Group Behind 'Stand Your Ground' National Public Radio April 13, 2012
- ^ Jeremy Duda, "American Traffic Solutions leaving ALEC, joining APS" April 13, 2012 AZ Capitol Times
- ^ Julian Pecquet, "Blue Cross Blue Shield quits conservative legislative organization ALEC"
- ^ Sorensen, Adam (April 17, 2012). "ALEC Scraps Gun Law, Voter-ID Task Force". Time.
- ^ "New Voter Identification Task Force Announced". National Center for Public Policy Research. April 18, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
- ^ Ryan J. Reilly, "Conservative Group With Abramoff Scandal Ties Picks Up Voter ID Issue Where ALEC Left Off" Talking Points Memo
- ^ Lichtblau, Eric (April 17, 2012). "Martin Death Spurs Group to Readjust Policy Focus". The New York Times. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
- ^ Froomkin, Dan (April 17, 2012). "ALEC Retreats Under Pressure, Ends Push For 'Stand Your Ground,' Voter ID Laws". Huffington Post. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
External links
- ALEC official Website
- 2009 I.R.S. Form 990 tax exempt filing.
- ALEC Exposed project website
- Karen Olsson, Mother Jones, Ghostwriting the Law, September/October 2002
- Progressive States Network, "Governing the Nation from the Statehouses", February 2006
- July 2011 interview with journalist John Nichols on ALEC
- Conservative Nonprofit Acts as a Stealth Business Lobbyist April 21, 2012