The American Legislation Exchange Council (ALEC) Exposed

I suggest you visit the following website set up by the Center for Media and Democracy if you are at all concerned about the influence of moneyed and corporate interests in our state and federal legislatures. If you aren't quite concerned about the corporate threat, I implore you to visit the following website.

http://alecexposed.org/

The American Legislation Exchange Council, or ALEC, is an organization funded by and made up of some the biggest and most powerful corporations in the world, such as Koch Industries and Exxon, and numerous legislators. One of its primary purposes is to create "model bills" composed by its board and approved by its nine task forces, which are subsequently brought forth by involved legislators to their respective state legislatures as new public policy proposals. Public policy proposals which, of course, already have tacit approval by the corporate world, since it is the entity which literally wrote them, though there is no disclosure of such involvement.

Some of ALEC's accomplishments which benefit corporations at the expense of citizens (taken from the Center for Media and Democracy's website):

# Altria/Philip Morris USA benefits from ALEC’s newest tobacco legislation -- an extremely narrow tax break for moist tobacco that would make fruit flavored tobacco products cheaper and more attractive to youngsters.

# Health insurance companies such as Humana and Golden Rule Insurance (United Healthcare), benefit directly from ALEC model bills, such as the Health Savings Account bill that just passed in Wisconsin.

# Tobacco firms such as Reynolds and pharmaceutical firms such as Bayer benefit directly from ALEC tort reform measures that make it harder for Americans to sue when injured by dangerous products.

# Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) benefits directly from the anti-immigrant legislation introduced in Arizona and other states that requires expanded incarceration and housing of immigrants, along with other bills from ALEC’s crime task force.

# Connections Academy, a large online education corporation and co-chair of the Education Task Force, benefits from ALEC measures to privatize public education and promote private on-line school


Become aware. ALEC represents interests that reach far in the corporate world, from the health insurance industry to the prison industrial complex, and is in organically adversarial position to the working people of America. They are a symbol of the exploitative trend that the American right wing has been perpetuating since at least as early as the 1970's. Perhaps Reagan would be proud. Certainly Governor Rick Scott is. The sad irony is that organizations such as ALEC and their puppet-public-officials have a tight grip on substantial support of many working people who are unintentionally voting against their own interests and well-being. But with a reliance on an all-corporate media to inform us, what can you expect?