ALEC Is Not A Nice Kid

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is one of the most unpatriotic, non-democratic and fascist organizations that's ever existed. ALEC is a bill mill. Imagine designing a lobbying organization that writes laws for legislators to pass and then hiding that organization inside a tax-free, "educational" one that writes laws for legislators to enact. ALEC is not a nice group and most of its acts should be illegal. But, sadly for citizens, they're not. And 90 of our Georgia legislators are not only card-carrying members of this organization (38% of GA legislators), but leaders and promoters and proud of it. John Albers, Calvin Hill, Don Balfour, Barry Loudermilk, Judson Hill as examples. Why would you pledge allegiance to such an organization over your own constituents? Having the largest percentage of ALEC legislative members in the South has guaranteed our lawmaking will be outsourced to corporate lawyers.

ALEC, like the Grover Norquist organization, is classified as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. "To be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, an organization must be organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes set forth in section 501(c)(3), and none of its earnings may inure to any private shareholder or individual. In addition, it may not be an action organization, i.e., it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates."

Never have so few words in such small an IRS classification confused so many organizations and government alike - no one was ready for the onslaught of tax free organizations cropping up after the Supreme Court's poorly thought out Citizens United decision that makes companies into people and allows unlimited corporate and foreign money into our democracy.  ALEC created a 501(c)(4) group called the Jeffersonian Project, admitting they've illegally served as a lobbying group from their beginning 40 years ago. While ALEC is losing budget as some corporations don't want their brand associated with some of the ALEC bills like Stand Your Ground, they're already subverting money and influence into an even more secretive organization.

As a citizen of Georgia, ask yourself if the current legislative agenda matches your interests. Pursuing and locking up immigrants in privatized prisons, taxpayer funded charter schools, voter suppression, redrawing legislative districts including school board redistricting, drug tests for aid recipients, fighting Medicaid expansion, weakening public schools, more guns in more places, less regulation on polluters, mandated virtual education, stand your ground laws, Citizens United (corporations are people), corporate welfare in the form of enormous tax breaks, fracking without rules, eliminating the EPA, health insurance companies between us and our doctors, supporting health insurance company profit over patient outcomes, zero based budgeting, and large cable companies over small business in rural Georgia. Michael Wall of Comcast is Georgia's corporate ALEC representative. His job, like other ALEC corporate lawyers, is to craft legislation and implement policy in the favor of Comcast. Has any of this saved Georgia taxpayers money or helped advance our economy? False advertising, ALEC- free market, small government and federalism? No, an unbridled market, a privatized and ineffective government and feudalism - this is what you're really advocating while not working for us.

Did you ever notice how similar bills are sprouting up all over the country, synchronized like gas station prices, unannounced and unasked for by voters? If there's nothing sinister going on then why is their "model" legislation scrubbed from the ALEC web site? These used to be public. Why do they meet in secret, special places to "educate" our legislators? They recently held their national meeting in DC but all free press was disinvited while lobby firms like Heritage and the American Enterprise Institute were welcome to set up shop.

Why would your lawmaker want to be an ALEC lobbyist?  Exposure to wealthy donors and corporate campaign dollars now unbridled by Citizens United for starters. Celebrity - if  a lobbyist releases a press notice on their leadership in ALEC, you'd think this was something worthy. Education - all expense-paid trips and conventions where lawmakers can learn the lobbying trade. Legal plagarism - corporate lawyers write "model" legislation that make the lawmaker job a cut and paste operation.  ALEC is like a secret order of skull and bones members that you always wonder about in terms of wealth and influence, except this urban legend of wrongdoing is real. 

Our legislators should be running away from such a corporate takeover, but they like the donations and enjoy the discourse in secret and in the shadows.  ALEC's idea of "free enterprise" and "growth" doesn't necessarily mean that the organization cares whether or not a rising tide lifts all the boats, only floating the right kinds of boats and using our tax dollars to do so. Promoting ALEC is contradictory to our values of participatory democracy. Is Georgia becoming a corporate banana republic?

Remember that when legislators defend ALEC, it's like the advertising on how fracking is safe and brought to you by the Oil and Petroleum Industry (a lobby) - they're trying to sell us something, not deliver the facts. The sole purpose of ALEC is to accelerate the concentration of wealth and power, pretending to be conservative while handing the power, authority and wealth back to the powerful. Look around you, and decide what is true wealth, what has true value and fight for that. A government that does not serve the people can only serve the rich and powerful. I believe we formed a country to free ourselves from this type of tyranny.