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ALEC News

ALEC’s Corporate Board Leads…in Federal Violations The federal government has slapped eight of the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) known corporate board leaders with more than $6.2 billion in federal fines and penalties for misconduct or corporate crimes since 2000. The leading ALEC scofflaws include pharmaceutical giant Pfizer ($4.350 billion), Exxon Mobil ($715 million), Koch Industries ($657 million), AT&T ($421 million), United Parcel Service ($35 million), alcohol multinational Diageo ($17 million), Peabody Energy ($16 million), and Altria (owner of Phillip Morris, the largest U.S. cigarette manufacturer) ($7 million). The extensive violations data is accessible for the first time thanks to "Violation Tracker," an expanded database of federal regulatory actions created by Good Jobs First. Read the rest of this item here. Infighting, Legal Questions Slow ALEC Push for Second Constitutional Convention With Republicans in control of 32 state legislatures, ALEC has been actively pushing the idea of a second Constitutional Convention to rewrite the U.S. Constitution. ALEC has cheered on the idea of a "Con Con" for years, passing multiple resolutions calling for changes to the constitution, hosting workshops and handbooks and even draft resolutions laying out proposed rules of procedure. Everything has been quite cordial and controlled. However, documents obtained by CMD reveal for the first time the backbiting between several competing factions vying for state approval of their convention proposals. Read the rest of this item here. The ALEC Swampland Though ALEC has an uneasy relationship with President Trump, they haven't hesitated in adopting his "drain the swamp" rhetoric when extolling their plans to amend the federal constitution, repeal workers' rights or gut social safety net programs. Trump keeps filling his "swamp" with cronies, political insiders and the corporate lobbyists that also populate the ALEC swamp. One of these lobbyists asked me to communicate information about his company to my (presumably male) boss. When I replied that I am a legislator, he looked me up and down incredulously until I replied "They let women be legislators now." He didn't speak to me again. Read the rest of this item here.