Fresh Air: How ALEC Serves As A 'Dating Service' For Politicians And Corporations
Published: December 10, 2013
A batch of internal documents recently leaked to The Guardian has revealed new insights into the goals and finances of the secretive group called ALEC. The American Legislative Exchange Council is a group that brings together state legislators and representatives of corporations. Together, they develop model bills that lawmakers introduce and try to pass in their state legislatures. Through these model bills, ALEC has worked to privatize public education, cut taxes, reduce public employee compensation, oppose Obamacare and resist state regulations to reduce global warming gas emissions.
"ALEC is like an incubator of predominantly conservative legislation," Guardian correspondent Ed Pilkington tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "The vast majority of the model bills are conservative in their inception and those bills then spread right across America."
Pilkington broke the story of these documents last week in his article "ALEC facing funding crisis from donor exodus in wake of Trayvon Martin row." He's the chief correspondent for The Guardian US, which is the American website edition of the British newspaper The Guardian.
Interview Highlights,
http://m.npr.org/programs/all/13/249956329
**Show will air today on NPR
= new reply since forum marked as read
