Liberal Forum

When state legislators across the nation introduce similar or identical bills designed to boost corporate power and profits, reduce workers rights, limit corporate accountability for pollution, or restrict voting, odds are good that the legislation was not written by a state lawmaker but by corporate lobbyists working through the American Legislative Exchange Council.

ALEC is a one-stop shop for corporations looking to identify friendly state legislators and work with them to get special-interest legislation introduced. It’s a win-win for corporations, their lobbyists, and right-wing legislators. But the big losers are citizens whose rights and interests are sold off to the highest bidder.

Who Founded and Funds ALEC?The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) was founded in 1973 by Henry Hyde, Lou Barnett, and Paul Weyrich, who helped build a nationwide right-wing political infrastructure following the reelection of Richard Nixon.1 

In the same year, Weyrich helped establish the Heritage Foundation, now one of the most prominent right-wing policy institutes in the country. One year later, he founded the Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress, the predecessor of the Free Congress Foundation. In 1979, he co-founded and coined the Moral Majority with Jerry Falwell, and in 1981 he helped establish the ultraconservative Council on National Policy.

ALEC’s major funders include Exxon Mobil, the Scaife family (Allegheny Foundation and the Scaife Family Foundation), the Coors family (Castle Rock Foundation), Charles Koch (Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation and the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation), the Bradley family (The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation) and the Olin family (John M. Olin Foundation).2 These organizations consistently finance right-wing think tanks and political groups.

Members of ALEC’s board represent major corporations such as Altria, AT&T, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Koch Industries, PhRMA, Peabody Energy, and State Farm. Such corporations represent just a fraction of ALEC’s approximately three hundred corporate partners.3 According to the Center For Media and Democracy, over 98% of ALEC’s funding comes from corporations, special interests, and sources other than legislative dues (which run $50 per year for legislators).4
http://www.pfaw.org/rww-in-focus/alec-t ... ures#Voter
 

There are still 70 million of them willing to ingest Lysol for that clown.

​​​​​​​Who's Behind ALEC?

ALEC’s activities reflect its founding, funding, and control by corporate interests. After paying to get a seat at the table, corporations are able to introduce bills at ALEC conferences that are written by corporate law firms, and that are specifically designed to benefit their industries.


Many of these ALEC bills are written by corporate lawyers at defense firms like Shook Hardy & Bacon.The American Bar Association Journal describes Shook Hardy & Bacon as the “darling of corporate America.”5 

Their tenacious defense of the tobacco industry “made Shook Hardy the firm many of the world’s biggest companies turn to at the first hint of trouble with one of their products.”

A New York Times report on Shook Hardy said “tobacco is their middle name,” and the firm’s lawyers have been viewed as “industry propagandists, apologists and co-conspirators.”6 Shook Hardy represents clients from the pharmaceutical, energy, food, banking and tobacco industries, like Pfizer, Bayer, Eli Lilly, Cargill, Bank of America, Philip Morris, Lorillard Tobacco, and British American Tobacco.


ALEC’s monthly periodical Inside ALEC demonstrates the significant role that corporate lawyers like those from Shook Hardy play in the organization, as members of the law firm have contributed essays criticizing environmental protection efforts,7 endorsing corporate immunity from lawsuits,8 and defending abusive insurance company practices.9


The clout of corporations and corporate-backed groups comprising ALEC is unmistakable: Victor E. Schwartz, a Shook Hardy partner and head of its Public Policy Group, chairs ALEC’s Civil Justice Task Force; Tom Moskitis, the American Gas Association’s Director of External Affairs, chaired the Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force; Bob Williams, founder and senior fellow of the corporate-funded Evergreen Freedom Foundation, chairs the Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force; Bartlett Cleland, director of the corporate-financed Institute for Policy Innovation, chairs the Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force; and Emory Wilkerson, associate general counsel for State Farm Insurance, chairs the Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force.10


Simply put, “corporations can implement their agendas very effectively using ALEC,” as stated by Edwin Bender of the National Institute on Money in State Politics.11


http://www.pfaw.org/rww-in-focus/alec-t ... ures#Voter

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction
2. Undercutting Health Care Reform
3. What Does ALEC Lobby For?
4. How Does ALEC Work?
5. Who's Behind ALEC?
6. Who Founded and Funds ALEC?
7. Private School Vouchers
8. Tax Policy
9. Corporate Power and Workers' Rights
10. Conclusion
11. Obstructing Environmental Protection
12. Voter ID and Election Laws
13.  

https://www.rightwingwatch.org/report/a ... res/#Voter
 

Democracy, Voter Rights, and Federal Power

Through ALEC, Global Corporations Are Scheming to Rewrite YOUR Rights and Boost THEIR Revenue

========================================================
Through the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, global corporations and state politicians vote behind closed doors to try to rewrite state laws that govern your rights. These so-called "model bills" reach into almost every area of American life and often directly benefit huge corporations.

In ALEC's own words, corporations have "a VOICE and a VOTE" on specific changes to the law that are then proposed in your state. DO YOU? Numerous resources to help us expose ALEC are provided below. We have also created links to detailed discussions of key issues, which are available on the left.

 ALEC Exposedhttps://www.alecexposed.org › wiki › Democracy,_Vo...
Through ALEC, corporations have both a VOICE and a VOTE on specific state laws affecting your voting rights and elections through these model bills. Do you?

==================================================
ALEC & Voting Rights
https://www.alecexposed.org › wiki › ALEC_&_Votin...
Through the American Legislative Exchange Council, on ALEC task forces, corporate lobbyists and special interests vote as equals with elected ...

==============================================================

ALEC Lied About Its Work on Election Suppression Bills
The American Prospect
https://prospect.org › civil-rights › alec-lied-about-its-...
Sep 3, 2021 — When a broad coalition of more than 300 civil rights and democracy reform groups called for corporations to ditch the American Legislative ...

======================================================

======================================================
ALEC Held Third Voter Suppression Summit with Dark ...
EXPOSEDbyCMD
https://www.exposedbycmd.org › 2022/10/14 › alec-h...
Oct 14, 2022 — The American Legislative Exchange Council held its third known voter suppression summit for state lawmakers on July 25 and 26 preceding its ..
=====================================================

ALEC “Academy” Featured a Who's Who of Voter ...
https://www.exposedbycmd.org › 2021/11/16 › alec-a...
Nov 16, 2021 — While the July 26-28 session was ostensibly led by the dark money group Honest Elections Project, it was organized, hosted, and bankrolled ..  

razoo » 05 Aug 2023, 12:22 am » wrote: ↑

05 Aug 2023, 12:22 am

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction
2. Undercutting Health Care Reform
3. What Does ALEC Lobby For?
4. How Does ALEC Work?
5. Who's Behind ALEC?
6. Who Founded and Funds ALEC?
7. Private School Vouchers
8. Tax Policy
9. Corporate Power and Workers' Rights
10. Conclusion
11. Obstructing Environmental Protection
12. Voter ID and Election Laws
13.  

https://www.rightwingwatch.org/report/a ... res/#Voter

your desire to read fake news will be the death of you and your money

Warcok » 05 Aug 2023, 6:33 pm » wrote: ↑

05 Aug 2023, 6:33 pm

your desire to read fake news will be the death of you and your money

you choose plagiarism and I choose documented investigative research .......

TAKE ACTION: TELL YOUR ELECTED STATE REPRESENTATIVES TO HAVE NO ASSOCIATION WITH THE AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL!