The Colorado Springs Public Policy Interest Group learned much during our first foray to the State Capitol!  The purpose of this article is to alert AAUW members about an interesting  political landscape  that is challenging us:

AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL (ALEC)

With the current  impasse in Congress, we have discovered the highly orchestrated effort  of an organization called ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) , that is now targeting state legislatures in order to accomplish their agenda.  We need to learn more about them.

Here is a quote from ALEC website’s (www.ALEC.org )   describing what they do:

“ALEC is proud of its work and its limited role. It provides a venue for earnest discussion on important economic issues. ALEC does not lobby in any state. Its model bills and resolutions are public policy resources for state legislators. To the extent any ALEC model bill is successful, it is because it provides legislators and their constituents with the kind of free market, limited government solutions they want.”

However, according to www.ALECexposed.org, , “ALEC is a corporate bill mill.  It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line.  Corporations fund almost all of ALEC’s operations.  They pay f or a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model bills.”

You may want to also check out an article at www.justice.org entitled, Ghostwriting the Law for Corporate America, that states:

“The Koch Brothers, big tobacco, insurance companies, and the drug industry: all behind the shadowy corporate front group known as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). On the
surface, ALEC is mostly comprised of thousands of state legislators, each paying a nominal fee to attend ALEC retreats and receive model legislation. In reality, corporations pay ALEC a king’s ransom to access legislators to distribute radical legislation that puts corporate interests over American workers and consumers.

So, while the membership appears to be public sector, corporate money dominates ALEC. In fact, public sector membership dues account for only around one percent of ALEC’s annual revenues. ALEC claims to be nonpartisan, but its pro-corporate, anti-consumer mission is clear.”

For an example of ALEC’s model bill on Education, check out  their  Education Savings Account Act that allows parents to use the funds that would have been allocated to their child at their resident school district for an education program of the parents’ choosing.

COLORADO LEGISLATORS ARE INVOLVED WITH ALEC

Many Colorado legislators are active in ALEC, including Senator Bill Cadman of El Paso County, who is listed on their website as a national board member and co-chair of ALEX Colorado.  No complete list of members seems to be available, but there are 11 active Colorado legislators listed at www.sourcewatch.org.  The list may not be current enough to include any of the newly elected  2013 legislators that are participating.