6-10-2012 National:
From Daily Kos:
This is my fourth year at Netroots Nation, and I have seen a steady improvement in the overall content of the panels. But this year there is a major difference. In the past, you could go to panels on your particular interests and perhaps a couple to expand your political voice or interests. You would learn a lot and meet people with similar interests and find a community to work with.
This year is different. This year Elijah actually showed up, and his name is ALEC.
This year our various interests are connected. This year, whether you are interested in gun politics, education, the environment, whatever, all of us are learning that we are fighting the same infrastructure. ALEC Exposed is working.
I do not know what effect this will have on our activism. We may continue working in our own little spaces. But some of us, I hope, will begin to work to build our own infrastructure to counter theirs effectively.
The net has the potential to become the means to build that infrastructure. All that we need is to think structurally. All? Well, that's not going to be easy, but I'm glad to be here to witness a beginning.
Thanks to ALEC Exposed, and to the bloggers who have been writing about it for the past year. Knowledge is indeed the first step to change. ..Source..
June 10, 2012
The Invisible Guest at NN12
May 31, 2012
Wal-Mart withdraws from conservative group ALEC
5-31-2012 National:
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has withdrawn its membership in a conservative political group that has come under fire as part of the Trayvon Martin case, saying it has strayed from its core mission to advance free-market principles.
The group, the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, is made up of a group of lawmakers and private sector officials and has become a lightning rod for political debate in recent months. Wal-Mart has been a member since 1993.
Liberal activists complain that ALEC, which has been around for nearly 40 years, improperly influences legislation around the country by allowing corporate leaders to develop model legislation alongside state lawmakers. They also point to some of the laws that ALEC has helped spread around the country, such as ID rules for voters and the so-called "Stand Your Ground" self-defense law that's at the center of the Florida case in which teenager Martin was killed.
For its part, ALEC has said that it is being unfairly targeted as part of a broader campaign against its conservative agenda. It also says efforts to tie it into the Martin case are unfair. In April it said it would it was eliminating its public safety task force that had dealt with the "Stand Your Ground" law and said it was refocusing those resources on economic matters.
Late Wednesday, Maggie Sans, Wal-Mart's vice president of public affairs and government relations, sent a letter to ALEC leaders saying it has previously expressed concern about ALEC's decision to weigh in on issues that "stray from its core mission 'to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets.' "
"We feel that the divide between these activities and our purpose as a business has become too wide," said Sans, who has served as ALEC's Secretary of the Private Enterprise board. "To that end, we are suspending our membership in ALEC."
Wal-Mart's decision follows several other companies' withdrawal from the group, including Amazon.com, Coca-Cola Co., Kraft Foods Inc., McDonald's Corp., PepsiCo Inc. and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
ALEC said in a statement it is "disappointed" in Wal-Mart's decision but understands "the unique pressures they are under."
"However, as we announced in April, ALEC is solely focused on limited government, free-market solutions in the states that create jobs and improve the economy," the statement read.
The decision came in the run-up to Wal-Mart's annual shareholder meeting at its Bentonville, Ark., headquarters on Friday.
Wal-Mart's shares rose $1.11 to $66.55 in midday trading. ..Source.. by Politico
May 8, 2012
ALEC exempted from lobbyist status in three separate states
5-8-2012 National:
This spring has brought constant controversy for the American Legislative Exchange Council, the conservative group of legislators and corporations that pushes free-market model legislation in the states -- but it may not be over yet.
The tumult began with pressure from progressive groups Common Cause and Color of Change that caused 14 ALEC members, including Coca-Cola, McDonalds and Procter & Gamble, to drop out of the group. Thirty-four legislators have also quit.
Then ALEC announced in April it would shelve the task force that approved controversial voter identification laws and "stand your ground" gun laws that spread quickly in the states. And on April 20 Common Cause submitted a whistleblower complaint to the IRS, claiming ALEC is "a corporate lobbying group masquerading as a charity" that promises its donors a tax deduction.
It could take several years for the IRS to decide whether ALEC is indeed a lobbyist required to register with that label and disclose how much it spends on influencing legislation. But in three states -- South Carolina, Indiana and Colorado -- it turns out that ALEC has quietly, and by name, been specifically exempted from lobbyist status.
The laws in those states allow ALEC to spend millions annually hosting corporate lobbyists and legislators at three yearly conferences, send "issue alerts" to legislators recommending votes on pending legislation, and draft press releases for legislators to use when pushing ALEC model bills -- all without registering as a lobbyist or reporting these expenditures.
Legislators can receive scholarships from ALEC's corporate donors to attend conference events, or they can legally go on the taxpayer dime.
These exemptions are just now coming to light. In South Carolina, for instance, Rep. Boyd Brown (D-Fairfield) recently discovered a 2003 state law that exempts ALEC from registering or disclosing its lobbying expenditures. One of the South Carolina House bill's sponsors was ALEC member James Harrison (R-Richland).
As reported in the Columbia Free Times, Brown introduced a bill in late April that would remove ALEC's designation as the only organization in the state's legal code that is exempted by name from lobbying rules.
"I can't get in a car with a lobbyist and drive up the street," said Brown in an interview. "But ALEC can give me a scholarship to fly across the country."
The state's lobbying law prohibits lobbyists from paying a legislator more than $400 a year for lodging, transportation, entertainment or food. At its task force meetings, ALEC covers two nights in a hotel and reimburses travel expenses up to $350. It also draws on corporate money to fund scholarships for legislators' conference registration expenses, which range from $150 to $500.
In Colorado, the late state Rep. Thomas Ratterree successfully introduced a bill back in 1991 to amend ethics laws to exempt ALEC from lobbyist status. As a result, for ALEC legislators, "the expenses of such members for travel, board, and lodging related to such attendance [at ALEC events] may be paid from appropriations," the state law reads.
The law also stipulates that if taxpayers are to foot the bill, then delegations to ALEC events "shall reflect equally the percentage of members from each party of the General Assembly." All 18 of the state's members, however, are Republican. Only a tiny fraction of ALEC's 2,000 legislative members are not in the GOP, though the organization insists it is bipartisan. ..For the rest of this story: by Paul Abowd, iWatch News
