Another major paper in Florida calls for attention and transparency for ALEC members and activities in their State....
Stealth ALEC courts Tallahassee Republican lawmakers
Sun Sentinel (South Florida)
August 19, 2011
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-08-19/news/fl-os-editorial-alec-20110819_1_legislators-state-lawmakers-duesTHE ISSUE: A special interest group that wields stealthy clout in Tallahassee.
How, then, do Florida's Republican legislators manage to craft such specific bills that would, for instance, make it tougher for labor unions to collect dues? Or would limit the amount of money the state of Florida can collect, based on population growth and inflation?
Go ask ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, a big business-backed nonprofit that drafts model legislation, which is then offered to legislators in Florida and other states.
Talk about influence. Future House Speakers Will Weatherford and Chris Dorworth registered for the conference. ALEC's fingerprints were all over Dorworth's bill prohibiting state employers from withholding union dues and requiring members to approve using dues for political campaigns.
Meanwhile, heightened state spending caps, whose fate voters will determine in a 2012 ballot, resemble ALEC recommendations. As does the coming privatization of state prisons that would house 20 percent of Florida's inmates.
But most everyone knows about the teachers' unions and their ties to Democrats. Who, on the other hand, knows about ALEC and its secret smorgasbord of off-the-shelf legislation that's systematically molded by business interests and passed off by legislators as their own?
If Florida's Republican legislators feel the need to rely on ALEC, it's time they were more up-front with constituents about their shadowy partner.
Bottom line: ALEC, lawmakers need to be more transparent about their ties.
The use of prison labor and no doubt immigrant labor for profit in FL is pretty disgusting, BUT only a small fraction of the ALEC activity in FL which has dozens of ALEC models already in place for years.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(121 posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
