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ALEC News

Groups Add to Evidence in "Whistleblower" Tax Fraud Claim Against ALEC Common Cause and the Center for Media and Democracy sent federal authorities new evidence today that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is falsely passing itself off as a tax-exempt charity and effectively using taxpayer dollars to subsidize its lobbying on behalf of private interests. - See more at: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2015/05/12829/groups-add-evidence-whistleblower-tax-fraud-claim-against-alec#sthash.jB5lDfW4.dpuf Common Cause filed a supplement to its three-year-old tax whistleblower complaint against ALEC, and the two groups sent a joint letter to Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen demanding an investigation, collection of fines and back taxes, and the revocation of ALEC’s status as a tax-exempt charity. Read the rest of this item here. Wage Crushers' Prevailing Wage Claims Are Nonsense Now that the Wisconsin GOP and its allies have rammed though an American Legislative Exchange Council "right to work" (RTW) bill, the same cast of characters is back pushing another ALEC model: repeal of the state’s prevailing wage laws. These laws require public construction projects to support local wage standards instead of undercutting them. Who could be against repealing the laws when proponents, such as the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity, tout mind-boggling savings of $300 million a year for school districts and taxpayers? But the claims are nonsense and the savings a "mirage," say experts. Read the rest of this item here. CREDO Rejects ALEC's Cease and Desist Letter on Municipal Broadband 270 The Center for Media and Democracy and CREDO Action are denouncing an effort by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to silence its critics. CREDO Action, the activism arm of San Francisco-based mobile phone company CREDO Mobile, has refused to honor a cease and desist letter that ALEC sent to CREDO. CMD and CREDO have flagged ALEC’s opposition to municipal broadband for consumers. Read the rest of this item here. Reporters Guide to ALEC’s "Rich States, Poor States" Report 270 The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) rolled out its annual "Rich States, Poor States" publication recently. The document, whose lead author is economist Arthur Laffer, is sold to the press as an objective, academic measure of state economic performance, but should instead be viewed as a lobbyist scorecard ranking states on the adoption of extreme ALEC policies that have little or nothing to do with good economic outcomes. ALEC is almost entirely funded by industry, including Koch Industries, which has long served on the ALEC board, Altria (the former Phillip Morris) and Exxon Mobil. Read the rest of this item here. Wisconsin Introduces Word-for-Word ALEC Right to Work Bill Wisconsin Republicans have called a special session to take up a "right to work" measure attacking private sector unions--and the text of the bill, the Center for Media and Democracy has discovered, is taken word-for-word from American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) model legislation. See the side-by-side of the Wisconsin legislation and the ALEC bill here. Read the rest of this item here.