Reply #24: Here's another good source of information [View All]

The link is to a page from which you can open or download a large pdf, "Target San Diego." It's from 2003 -- but the material is still relevant and just goes to show how long they've had some of these items on their wish list.

http://www.onlinecpi.org/section.php?id=174

ALEC has grown into the single most important national organization linking conservative state legislators with major corporations and trade associations. It also serves as a pipeline for ideas and proposals that directly impact how urban policy is framed across a wide range of issues from pension reform to living wage laws. ALEC’s annual summer conferences draw thousands of state legislators, lobbyists and corporate executives together for focused discussion on how to advance a right wing agenda for states and cities.

ALEC has been described as “nothing less than a tax-exempt façade for the country’s largest corporations and kindred entities. Companies such as Enron, Amoco, Chevron, Shell, Texaco, Coors Brewing, Koch Industries, Nationwide Insurance, Pfizer, National Energy Group, Philip Morris, and R. J. Reynolds pay for essentially all of ALEC’s expenses.” Although ALEC has received some funding from conservative foundations over the years (MediaTransparency.org reports it received over $3 million in grants from 1985-2003), the lion’s share of its support has come from membership fees paid by corporate and trade association figures, in what critics call a “pay to play” system for influencing state legislation. . . .

With a 2003 budget of $5.6 million, ALEC lists a staff of 34 on its website. 27 It claims to represent 2,400 state legislators, or 30% of all state legislators in the U.S. . . . Privatizing public services by turning them over to profit-making private businesses has been a key concern of ALEC. 31 In a joint report with the Manhattan Institute, ALEC identified the following “privatization opportunities”: golf courses, turnpikes, water systems, airports, hospitals, ports, gas and electric utilities, liquor store operations, wastewater treatment plants, waste-to-energy plants, dormitory food services, tax liens, loan portfolios, stadiums, public housing, hotels, surplus lands and buildings (“governments at all levels in the United States own property worth at least $4.5 trillion altogether”).

Also, as pension issues have come to the forefront in state legislatures across the country (and in cities such as San Diego), ALEC’s Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force has stepped in to produce downloadable materials for legislators including talking points, publications, and model legislation for establishing defined-contribution plans. This complements the policy advocacy work of other right wing think tanks, which regularly produce op-eds and research on pension issues in states and municipalities, including San Diego.