Tampa Tribune: Conservative groups (including ALEC) score big this year in state legislatures

[highplainsdem]

http://www2.tbo.com/news/politics/2011/may/31/conservative-groups-score-big-this-year-in-state-l-ar-233183/

Conservative groups score big this year in state legislatures
By CATHERINE WHITTENBURG | The Tampa Tribune
Published: May 31, 2011

-snipping first three paragraphs-

National organizations like the American Legislative Exchange Council, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Bioethics Defense Fund, the National Rifle Association and Americans for Taxpayer Reform have been reaping the rewards from last fall's tidal wave of Republican election wins in state governments around the country that brought new conservative leaders.

-snip-

"I think one of the real unsung leaders of the conservative agenda is ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council," said Daniel Smith, a political science professor at the University of Florida.

"They have been waiting in the wings for Republicans to take over the state legislatures and governorships, and have pre-packaged, off-the-rack public policies with a conservative bent, ready for introduction. You see these cookie-cutter policies popping up across the country."

Founded in 1973 and financed by corporations and other conservative interests, ALEC, which claims not to lobby, supplies state leaders with model legislation on a range of GOP-friendly issues.

-snip-

Much more information about this group can be found in the long compilation topic on the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

[End Of The Road]

1. Everyone here needs to know about ALEC.

So first, K&R.

Wiki claims that ALEC is 501c3, and I wonder if that's a typo. Surely they're 501c6? c3s are not allowed to influence legislation, and that's the entire point of ALEC.

Since first learning here about ALEC only a couple of months ago (and they've been around since 1973??), I've done alot of Googling on them.

Today I found mention that ALEC had helped create template legislation several years ago, on behalf of bankers, designed to force seniors into reverse mortgages to pay for health care. I'm still reeling from that one, and pondering whether RyanCare isn't a morph of that idea.

[highplainsdem]

3. ALEC really is a 501(c)3. See this page on their site:

http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=About

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
EIN #52-0140979.

It seems odd to me that they can be considered a 501(c)3, too, when they exist entirely to influence legislation. But according to a press release from them last October, which a defensive March press release from them linked to -- you can find that via reply 169 in the compilation topic, and this is a link to the individual topic about the press release --

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x777851

"Members can bring draft legislation before task forces to become ALEC policy. The policies are debated and voted on by all members. Public and private members vote separately on policy. It is important to note that laws are not passed, debated or adopted during this process and therefore no lobbying takes place. That process is done at the state legislatures."

Link to that page on the ALEC site:

http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Statement_from_ALEC_on_NPR_Story_dated_10_29_10


Reply 176 in the compilation topic links to this DU topic

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x775905

about a Daily Kos diary that said "ALEC Lied On its 2009 Tax Return" because it answered No to the question "Did the organization engage in lobbying activities?" even though two lobbyists had registered that year with the North Dakota Secretary of State as lobbyists for ALEC (in addition to everything else ALEC does to influence legislation).

[highplainsdem]

4. I just checked Google for information on what you said about ALEC and reverse mortgages, and

found a page referring to that here:

http://ilcaonline.org/content/labor-and-democracy-why-alec-attacking-labor

[End Of The Road]

5. Yep, that's the same one I read --

thanks for finding the link.

[highplainsdem]

6. More info here, but ALEC was only one of many groups backing this idea.

http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/ReverseMortgage/3-11-06Explore.htm

And the other groups included, for instance, AARP and the Alzheimer's Association, so this wasn't all right-wing groups (though banks were clearly interested).

[End Of The Road]

2. .

.