Basics about ALEC
You may have
never heard of ALEC before and that is not uncommon. Many people have just
recently had their interest sparked because of recent coverage in the news of
protests occurring in Chicago, IL in response to ALEC’s 40th Annual
meeting that was held at the Palmer House Hotel from August 7th
through the 9th.
ALEC stands for American Legislative Exchange Counsel; it
was founded in the 1970’s and was a way to get corporate industry ideas to
lawmakers. As it grew in momentum by the 90’s the corporate industry was
actually writing laws (model bills). The
way they planned to accomplish getting there bills in place and in changing
laws on a larger scale was by doing it from the state level, getting legislatures
to propose “model bills” and getting them passed in each of their own states.
This method has worked very well.
A few pieces of legislation that have been a result of ALEC include, “stand your ground”, Voter ID restriction, bills for fracking and the Keystone Pipeline. (1)
Close to 98% of
ALEC’s funding comes from corporations.
The funding works like this:
Corporate Members pay annually between 7,000 and 25,000yr
If a corporation participates in any of the 9 task forces
(which they do), additional fees apply. Ranging from 2,500 to 10,000 depending
on the task force.
Corporations can sponsor events or specific projects; they
also give away “scholarships” so that legislatures can come to events.
ALEC also receives grants from corporations:
1.4 million from ExxonMobile 1998-2009
Grants received by:
Charles G. Koch Foundation
Claude R. Lambe Foundation (Koch-managed)
Allegheny Foundation (Scaife family; oil and banking)
Castle Rock Foundation (Coors family)
Less than 2% of
ALEC’s funding comes from “Membership Dues”
Membership dues are
$50 per year paid by state legislators. (2)
Alec is non-profit. Non-profits are generally groups formed
without the intention of making a profit. Being non profit this also means they
are tax exempt.
Alec claims to be non-partisan. The Merriam-Webster
dictionary’s definition of “nonpartisan” is: “Not partisan. Free from party
affiliation, bias, or designation.” As of right now there is one democrat out
of 104 legislators in leadership positions. (3)
The reason there is so much animosity and rejection of ALEC
is because corporations, who are not people, are taking the power that they
have and funding legislature and shaping our economy to fit into a system that
will benefit them more and they are taking actions that directly affect the
people in this country. There are companies like Koch Industries (the Koch
family is one of the wealthiest families in the world), PhaRMA (they represent
pharmaceutical research and biopharmaceutical companies) and the tobacco
industries, among the few who have their hands in shaping new legislation in
their favor. The people suffer, not the corporations.
Great Resources:
Complete list of Corporations that belong to ALEC
List of state legislatures all over the United States who
are members of ALEC
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