American Legislative Exchange Council

Hijacking the ship of state:

ALEC’s role in North Carolina makes it a target for critics, particularly the think tank’s cozy relationship with business interests, who play a prominent, but mostly behind-the-scenes, role in crafting legislation alongside the roughly 50 North Carolina lawmakers listed as members.

Sweet Baby Jesus. 50 members? That's a fricking caucus, and a powerful one at that. And when said caucus is engaged in (what should be classified as) criminally dangerous behavior, it might be time to ask the (US) DOJ to step in:

When being told how to do your job is more important than actually doing your job:

House Speaker Thom Tillis, Rep. Tim Moffitt, R-Buncombe, and Rep. Jason Saine, R-Lincoln, left early Thursday to attend the ALEC Spring Task Force meeting in Oklahoma City, scheduled for Thursday and Friday. "Unique to ALEC Task Forces is the public-private partnership," the website says. "Legislators welcome their private sector counterparts to the table as equals, working in unison to solve the challenges facing our nation."

Translated: "Corporations have learned that sending lobbyists to individual states costs a hell of a lot of money, and you can get into some deep shit if some of the states have clamped down on influence buying and other unethical practices. This way, the elected officials go see the lobbyists, and then go back home with corporation-friendly policies to enact without upsetting the sheep..., I mean, without bothering their constituents with all this technical stuff."

And North Carolina is a likely battleground:

The Heartland Institute, a libertarian think tank skeptical of climate change science, has joined with the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council to write model legislation aimed at reversing state renewable energy mandates across the country. The Electricity Freedom Act, adopted by the council’s board of directors in October, would repeal state standards requiring utilities to get a portion of their electricity from renewable power

Here's a copy of the model (cookie-cutter) Legislation, which is riddled with misleading information and outright lies, such as:

Cross-posted from the Institute for Southern Studies.

Number of model bills and resolutions crafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council -- a nonprofit that promotes state policies advancing conservative causes -- that were released last month by the watchdog Center for Media and Democracy: over 800

Year in which ALEC was founded by a small group of conservative state lawmakers and free-market advocates: 1973

Number of state legislators that currently belong to the group: about 2,000

Number of corporations that are members: about 300

The massive amounts of money America’s rich spend to keep from paying taxes seems as irrational as it is obsessively ideological. There’s something creepily cultish about it. This week’s massive leak of corporate-written model legislation from the Koch brothers-financed American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has further exposed the depth and breadth of the corporate capture of what was once billed as government of, by, and for the people.

It's what every American should be asking themselves this week. The Tea Party too.

Do you stand with the modern-day British East India Corporations and their masters (the Kochs, the Olins, the Bradleys and other royals that want to unmake the American Century and rig American democracy like they rigged the financial markets)? Or do you stand with the people in your community? Who do you serve?