About ALEC Exposed: Difference between revisions

From ALEC Exposed
Jump to navigation Jump to search
← Older edit
update
m Changed PRW URLs from HTTP to HTTPS
 
(62 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
''' ''Here is a note about ALEC and ALEC Exposed, from the Center for Media and Democracy's Executive Director:'' ''' 
[[File:Quick summary.png|270px|left|alt=Quick Summary]]
=Welcome to the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org!=


In April, some of the biggest corporations in the U.S. met behind closed doors in Cincinnati about their wish lists for changing state laws.  This exchange was part of a series of corporate meetings nurtured and fueled by the Koch Industries family fortune and corporate funding.
<big>On July 13, 2011, [https://www.prwatch.org/cmd the Center for Media and Democracy] (CMD) unveiled this trove of over 800 "model" bills and resolutions secretly voted on by corporations and politicians through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). These bills reveal the corporate collaboration reshaping our democracy, state by state.


At an extravagant hotel gilded just before the Great Depression, corporate executives from the tobacco giant Reynolds, State Farm Insurance, and other corporations were joined by their “co-chairs”—all Republican state legislators—to approve “model” legislation.  They jointly head “task forces” of what is called the “American Legislative Exchange Council” (ALEC).  
ALEC bills, which largely benefit the organization’s corporate members, have been introduced in legislatures in every state—but without disclosing to the public that corporations previously drafted or voted on them through ALEC.  


There, as the Center for Media and Democracy has learned, these corporate-politician committees secretly voted on bills to rewrite numerous state laws.  And, according to the newly revealed ALEC documents, corporations vote as an “equal” with elected politicians on these bills.    
Before our publication of this trove of bills, it has been difficult to trace the numerous controversial and extreme provisions popping up in legislatures across the country directly to ALEC and its corporate underwriters.


The legal rules targeted by these task forces reach into almost every area of American life:  worker and consumer rights, education, the rights of Americans injured or killed by corporations, taxes, health care, immigration, and the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink.  
The Center obtained copies of the bills after one of the thousands of people with access shared them, and a whistleblower provided a copy to the Center.  


The Center obtained a copy of more than 800 “model” bills approved by companies through ALEC meetings, after one of the thousands of people with access shared them, and a whistleblower provided a copy to the Center.  
We have analyzed and marked up the bills and resolutions to help readers understand what the bills do, beyond the PR in the names of bills.  We share them to help the public identify the legislation in their state and the wide extent of the agenda to rewrite our rights by the corporations that bankroll ALEC.


The bills voted on this spring by ALEC corporate leaders, and other companies and politicians, now head to a luxury hotel in the French Quarter for ALEC’s national retreat in August. In New Orleans, Koch Industries—through its chief lobbyist—and lobbyists of other global companies are slated for a “joint board meeting” with a rookery of Republican legislators to approve the bills.  
These bills and resolutions reach into almost every area of American life:  worker and consumer rights, education, the rights of Americans injured or killed by corporations, taxes, health care, immigration, and the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink. Only by seeing the depth and breadth and language of the bills can one fully understand the power and sweep of corporate influence behind the scenes on bills affecting the rights and future of every American in every single state.


Before the bills are publicly introduced in state legislatures by ALEC politicians or alumni in the governor’s offices, they will be cleansed of any reference to the secret voting or who really wrote them.  
Since the launch of this website in July 2011, CMD has been honored with three investigative journalism awards for our ALEC Exposed project: the "[https://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/09/11023/cmd-and-nation-magazine-win-sidney-award-investigative-journalism Sidney Award]" for Investigative Journalism, along with [https://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/7/73/Nation20110801.pdf ''The Nation'' magazine], in September 2011; the "[https://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/03/11327/cmd-receives-izzy-award-alec-exposed Izzy Award]" for outstanding achievement in independent media, along with ''Democracy Now!'' correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who covered the uprising in Egypt from the ground; and most recently, the "[http://aejmc.net/ccs/CCSSpring2012.pdf Professional Freedom and Responsibility Award]" from Cultural and Critical Studies Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication -- an honor shared with previous award-winners Molly Ivins, I.F. "Izzy" Stone, Noam Chomsky, Studs Terkel, and Bill Moyers.


With CMD’s publication of the bills, the public can pierce through some of the subterfuge about ALEC, and see beyond the PR of the names of the bill to what the bills really do, alongside the names of corporations that lead or have helped lead ALEC's agenda, and other analysis to help decode the bills.    
Please join us in helping to expose ALEC, its corporations and politicians, and how money has corrupted the democratic process.  You can read the bills without signing up to be a contributing editor of this site.  But, we hope readers will team up with reporters to dig through the cache of documents and share the truth with others. ([[Help:Contents|Here's how]].)


Many of the bills have obvious financial benefits for corporations but little or no direct benefit to the constituents that a particular legislator was elected to represent.  Still, it may be tempting to dismiss ALEC as merely institutionalizing business as usual for lobbyists—except that ALEC’s tax-free donations are predicated on it not spending a substantial amount of time lobbying.
To learn more about ALEC and this project, [https://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/07/10883/about-alec-exposed click here for an open letter from Lisa Graves], the executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, publisher of ALEC Exposed.</big>


ALEC has publicly claimed its “unparalleled” success in terms of the number of model bills introduced and enacted. But, seeing the text of the bills helps reveal the actual language of legal changes ALEC corporations desire, beyond what can be known by the PR in the title of the bills. As ALEC says, it has created a “unique” partnership between corporations and politicians.
{| style="width:100%; vertical-align:top; background-color:#ffffff;"
 
! padding:2px; vertical-align:top;" | <h2 style="margin:3px; background:#CC0000; font-size:140%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #CC0000; text-align:left; color:#ffffff; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Lisa Graves on ALEC & Koch</h2>
But it is a worrisome one, which seems to normalize a kind of corruption of the legislative process, of the democratic process in a nation where government is supposed to be of, by, and for ''the People,'' not the corporations.
|-
 
| style="color:#000000;" |
The full sweep of the bills, their implications for America’s future, the corporate voting, and the extent of the corporate subsidy of ALEC all raise substantial questions that should concern all Americans about the health of our democracy and the direction of our country.
<div style="float:right;"><player title="Lisa Graves Discusses ALEC">Lisa Graves FINAL AUDIO.mp3</player></div>Listen to [[Lisa Graves Discusses ALEC|Lisa Graves]] discuss ALEC.
 
Watch other ALEC Exposed experts [[ALEC Exposed Audio & Video|here]].<br>
--Lisa Graves
Read Lisa Graves' article in ''The Nation'' [http://www.thenation.com/article/161973/koch-connection here].
 
|}
P.S.  ALEC anointed the Koch Brothers as two of the first few recipients of its “Adam Smith Free Enterprise Award.”  Smith argued that self-interest promoted more good in society than those who intend to do good.  “Greed is good!” is how Oliver Stone translated this concept to fiction. 
 
On that score, perhaps, the award was apt.  Except that ALEC does not apparently share Smith’s view that bills and regulations from business must be viewed with the deepest skepticism.  In the Wealth of Nations, he urged that any law proposed by businessmen “ought always to be listened to with great precaution . . . . It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it.” 
 
One need not look far in the ALEC bills to find reasons to be deeply concerned and skeptical.  Take a look for yourself.
<!--        CONTACT INFO        -->
<!--        CONTACT INFO        -->
{| style="width: 100%; margin:4px 0 0 0; border:1px solid #c9d7f0;"
{| style="width: 100%; margin:4px 0 0 0; border:1px solid #c9d7f0;"

Latest revision as of 17:27, 13 October 2017

Quick Summary

Welcome to the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org!

On July 13, 2011, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) unveiled this trove of over 800 "model" bills and resolutions secretly voted on by corporations and politicians through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). These bills reveal the corporate collaboration reshaping our democracy, state by state.

ALEC bills, which largely benefit the organization’s corporate members, have been introduced in legislatures in every state—but without disclosing to the public that corporations previously drafted or voted on them through ALEC.

Before our publication of this trove of bills, it has been difficult to trace the numerous controversial and extreme provisions popping up in legislatures across the country directly to ALEC and its corporate underwriters.

The Center obtained copies of the bills after one of the thousands of people with access shared them, and a whistleblower provided a copy to the Center.

We have analyzed and marked up the bills and resolutions to help readers understand what the bills do, beyond the PR in the names of bills. We share them to help the public identify the legislation in their state and the wide extent of the agenda to rewrite our rights by the corporations that bankroll ALEC.

These bills and resolutions reach into almost every area of American life: worker and consumer rights, education, the rights of Americans injured or killed by corporations, taxes, health care, immigration, and the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink. Only by seeing the depth and breadth and language of the bills can one fully understand the power and sweep of corporate influence behind the scenes on bills affecting the rights and future of every American in every single state.

Since the launch of this website in July 2011, CMD has been honored with three investigative journalism awards for our ALEC Exposed project: the "Sidney Award" for Investigative Journalism, along with The Nation magazine, in September 2011; the "Izzy Award" for outstanding achievement in independent media, along with Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who covered the uprising in Egypt from the ground; and most recently, the "Professional Freedom and Responsibility Award" from Cultural and Critical Studies Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication -- an honor shared with previous award-winners Molly Ivins, I.F. "Izzy" Stone, Noam Chomsky, Studs Terkel, and Bill Moyers.

Please join us in helping to expose ALEC, its corporations and politicians, and how money has corrupted the democratic process. You can read the bills without signing up to be a contributing editor of this site. But, we hope readers will team up with reporters to dig through the cache of documents and share the truth with others. (Here's how.)

To learn more about ALEC and this project, click here for an open letter from Lisa Graves, the executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, publisher of ALEC Exposed.

Lisa Graves on ALEC & Koch

<player title="Lisa Graves Discusses ALEC">Lisa Graves FINAL AUDIO.mp3</player>
Listen to Lisa Graves discuss ALEC.

Watch other ALEC Exposed experts here.
Read Lisa Graves' article in The Nation here.

ALEC Exposed is a project of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). CMD does NOT accept donations from for-profit corporations or government agencies. More information about CMD is available here. You can reach CMD's Executive Director, Arn Pearson, via editor AT ALECexposed.org. Privacy policy: Other than material you post to this wiki in your name, our privacy policy is that we will not disclose private personally identifiable information or data about you, such as your name, email address, or other information, unless required by law. On copyright: ALEC Exposed considers contributions to this wiki to be released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License or in accordance with law. Information on how to provide us with notice regarding copyright is available at this link. Notices regarding copyright or other matters should be sent to our designated agent, Arn Pearson, via email (editor AT ALECexposed.org).
Retrieved from "https://www.alecexposed.org/index.php?title=About_ALEC_Exposed&oldid=10586"