Template:ALEC News

ALEC News

Wisconsin Lawmaker Echoes ALEC's Call for a Constitutional Convention Wisconsin State Senator Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) wants a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and he wants a new constitutional convention to ratify it. A constitutional convention makes for a snappy hashtag, #ConCon. But, as GOP leaders in Idaho recently discovered, it is a dangerous and impractical idea that could result in a "runaway" convention and substantial rewrites to the U.S. Constitution. Under Article V of the U.S. Constitution, if 34 state legislatures "issue a call" for a constitutional convention, Congress must convene one. By some counts, the right-wing only needs six more states. Read the rest of this item here. Pruitt Emails Reveal Communications with ALEC and Koch Groups Scott Pruitt Image: Gage Skidmore CC BY SA 2.0 Emails released to the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) reveal close ties between Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and the fossil fuel interests that fund ALEC, including the Kochs' Americans for Prosperity Group. The emails were obtained after the Center for Media and Democracy filed an open records lawsuit against Pruitt for his two-year-long failure to respond to our open records requests for his email correspondence with major fossil fuel corporations. The court ordered Pruitt to release thousands of emails which are now online and available for public inspection, but CMD is still in court seeking to obtain 1,600 pages withheld and responses to eight additional open records requests. Read the rest of this item here. John Humphries: Schooled by Team Walker, Betsy DeVos and ALEC John Humphries In the upcoming statewide election for Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Evers is facing a challenge from John Humphries, an administrator with the Dodgeville School District and Dr. Lowell Holtz, who has experience as a school teacher, principal and superintendent. Evers is one of the last constitutional office holders in Wisconsin backed by Democrats. He was a critic of Scott Walker's unprecedented $834 million budget cuts to the K-12 system and a skeptic of the GOP push for school vouchers because they drain money from public schools for the benefit of private and religious schools. Holtz touts himself as the "real conservative" in the race and has garnered support from prominent Republicans and right-wing groups, such as Pro-Life Wisconsin Victory Fund. Read the rest of this item here.