Get Over it Minnesota - Carlson is ALEC ALUMNI!

My third post on this - maybe the last, maybe not!

As it would be with any post that you put out onto the internet – there are going to be those who have a different opinion about how you see the world.

Today’s post goes back to ALEC ALUMNI and possibly current member Arne Carlson.

Hopefully I can put this to rest after this post – but I doubt it cause, people don’t want to hear anything bad about good ol’ Arne – whereas they will openly and freely trash almost most of the other governors at the drop of a hat.  Carlson is not all that.

Carlson is a Republican who was and possibly could still be active in ALEC and because of that – to me he is the scum of the earth.  Who knows - Carlson may have one of those $5,000 ALEC "Legacy Members" - a LIFETIME membership - that was just exposed on Daily Kos.

A friend of a friend forwarded me this email she received from an acquaintance, after a evening that included a discussion that involved Carlson’s ALEC membership - becauseshecould and  knew I would post something becauseican

The email is really only regarding Arne Carlson (MN-ALEC) and the voter ID issue – and someone trying to defend poor ol' ALEC Alumni Arne. [edited/redacted to protect the innocent and naive]

After the evening was over last night, I found these two references to Arne Carlson denouncing MN's Voter Id Amendment and pointing out that it was from the Koch brothers. Maybe he, like at least one other MN legislator I know, joined ALEC to see what was going on and then left immediately or at least as soon as they found out what ALEC was all about.  Is it possible that ALEC is using his name to give themselves some credibiilty? Just a thought...Anyway, here are the links to the reports of his denunciation and a audio of him actually saying the words.

As reported in the Star Tribune:

Audio of the WCCO radio program of him denouncing voter id:

Arne Carlson denouncing MN's Voter Id Amendment and pointing out that it was from the Koch brothers.

YES and that is all - the only thing - Arne does 

– that is the ONLY important thing that he does in either of those clips - the ONLY important thing.

As I noted in yesterday's post about Carlson - the statement by the reporter that Carlson “blames” ALEC in the startribune article is NOT A QUOTE from Carlson – it is only the reporters interpretation.  There is NO PROOF that Carlson blames ALEC for the Voter ID  in that article or the radio interview.

Carlson denounces Voter ID.

Carlson states that the Koch’s are involved.

Carlson states that ALEC is involved.

HE SHOULD KNOW!!!!
He's ALEC ALUMNI.

Carlson DOES NOT acknowledge his ALEC ties

Carlson  DOES NOT denounce ALEC.

He only denounces Voter ID.

Is he being used by ALEC?

Hell no.

Did he try ALEC and walk away?

HELL NO!

Carlson helped get ALEC off the ground – up and running and then stuck around and made sure it flourished for over two decades.

He was still being listed as an “ALEC LEADER in the States" in 2005.

   If he didn’t want his name on that list

– he sure as hell would have had it removed

– when he was on that same list, four years earlier, in 2001.

MORE than two f#cking decades as an ACTIVE ALEC member or ALEC participant.

             - did he try it out - Hell yes for almost 1/2 of his life.
Carlson was one of the legislators actively participated in ALEC as it grew into the heinous despicable - anti-American, anti democracy monster that it is.
              Carlson was part of the formative years.

Again I post all the ALEC literature that supports Carlson's  connection to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

AND I will NOT be swayed by Arne Carlson – UNTIL I hear him PUBLICLY request that Minnesota legislators quit ALEC. 

If he PUBLICLY tells Minnesota legislators to DUMP ALEC

– then maybe I may start to think that Arne Carlson is not the right wing extremist I believe him to be

– based on his MANY DECADE membership and affiliation with ALEC – including the founding years.

In 2001 and 2005 Carlson was listed in the Alumni section of the ALEC Leaders of States.

In 1995 – He was a confirmed speaker for the ALEC Annual Meeting  (Paul Weyrich was a confirmed speaker that year also.)

In 1997 – He was a keynote speaker at the ALEC Annual Meeting

In 1998 – in the ALEC 25^th Annual Meeting materials he was noted as "those who were involved in ALEC in its first few years" - we're talking 20 - 25 years of involvement at that point!

 

AND 

THIS

FOLKS

is what it is all about!

  …  recent developments in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin show that Republicans are counting on voter ID laws to deliver the presidency to Mitt Romney in 2012.

"Voter ID is going to allow Gov. Romney to win"

This week, the House Majority Leader in the Pennsylvania Congress, Rep. Mike Turzai (R), made headlines when he explained the reasoning behind the state's new law requiring certain forms of ID at the polls. Voter ID, he explained bluntly, "is going to allow Gov. (Mitt) Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania."

And here is another example from William O’Brien of NH who is an staunch defender of ALEC.

But that’s exactly what NewHampshire Speaker William O’Brien (R) told a Tea Party crowd recently. As the new laws are already stifling students’ efforts to participate politically, O’Brien confessed that he wanted to make it more difficult for students to vote because they “vote their feelings” — i.e. vote as liberals:

    A New Hampshire measure that ultimately failed earlier this year stoked Democratic concerns about the law’s true intentions. The law would have ended same-day registration and prohibited most college students from voting from their school addresses.

    New Hampshire House Speaker William O’Brien, a Republican, told a tea party group that allowing people to register and vote on Election Day led to “the kids coming out of the schools and basically doing what I did when I was a kid, which is voting as a liberal. That’s what kids do — they don’t have life experience, and they just vote their feelings.”