The Mississippi NAACP has released an excellent new report on ALEC
that is well worth the read – in EVERY state.
As we are well aware of what is happening in Mississippi –
is or will happen in all ALEC states across the US.
I strongly recommend reading the whole report.
Did you know? Corporate Front Group
Writes MS Law
Below are a few snips from the report that apply to all in
the US when it comes to ALEC.
AS I noted above – don’t let the fact that it was written
in Mississippi stop you from reading the whole thing – it is important.
January 7, 2013 – Jackson, MS -‐
Legislators say a corporate front group, the American Legislative Exchange Council,
is bypassing voters and writing law in Mississippi. "I've tried to point out
on the floor of the House this past session that a lot of what was going on in the
House came from ALEC," said Rep. Rufus Straughter, D-‐Belzoni. "For all
I know an ALEC representative was up in the House speaker's office this year giving
him directions. You'd think ALEC was voting us in office rather than the voters,
the way these politicians here follow their orders."
No – unfortunately it is the voters who are putting ALEC
members in office. But it is because
they don’t realize that ALEC exists and it is through reports like this that
people learn and hopefully, will change the way they vote.
And they bring out this fact that is important for others
to know.
The idea of an American-‐based organization
seeking to put Americans out of work seems unbelievable. However, a considerable
number of ALEC's corporate members, like Sony Corp. and Takeda Pharmaceutical, are
corporations from other countries. Of course, even global "American" companies
frequently enrich their CEOs by shipping labor to slave-‐wage societies overseas
and pocketing the savings. Membership in the job-‐killing International Relations
Task Force costs $10,000.
Unfortunately – it is not unbelievable – it is true.
This is what happens when corporations and state
legislators meet behind closed doors in private meetings.
Evidently – not only is ALEC doing “copy and paste legislation”
– they are doing “copy and paste press releases” for their members as shown in
the new report:
The above ALEC press release was basically
canned food: just heat and serve.
Sadly, there's no mistaking the similarities
between the two documents above, no more than there is hope of telling the difference
between ALEC's hand-‐written bill proposals and the actual bills that Republican
legislators all over the South are feeding into their respective committees.
And the NAACP doesn’t mince their words:
Although ALEC is good at tossing aside
blacks, Latinos, and poor people at the polls, the group’s top priority is actually
protecting its corporate financiers. One of the best ways to do that is to make
those corporate financiers immune to lawsuits when they trample rights or hurt people.
For that, ALEC must target states' chief policing agents.
And here’s something that vltp.net and I have been trying
to warn people about - the impact of ALEC at the international level:
Sen. Deborah Dawkins (D-‐Pass Christian)
said she remains furious at Senate legislators bragging about their ALEC trips.
"They're flying folks all over the place. Not just in the United States. I'm
talking all over the world," Dawkins said. "You hear little snippets like
'remember that time we were in Jackson Hole, Wyoming for a week,' and things like
that. This is the poorest state in the union. We have no business having people
spend all this money on trips so people can rub elbows with the affluent. I mean,
they pay for them to go everywhere, and I've no idea if they report it, or ALEC
has to report it, but if anybody needs to be reported to the IRS, it's those guys."
Trust me - very few people are reporting it - that's why it has worked so well to this point.
Every ALEC member makes out financially from their affiliation with ALEC.
Mississippi – ALEC-ers past and present:
Noel Akins
Brian D Aldridge
Mark Baker
Jim C. Barnett
Charles Jim Beckett
Richard B Bennett
Sid Bondurant
Scott Bounds
Terry W Brown
Nicky Reed Browning
Fredie Videt Carmichael
Lester Carpenter
Mike Chaney
Lydia Chassaniol
Gary A Chism
Eugene Clarke
Dorothy Cole
Becky Currie
Doug E Davis
William C Denny
Mike Eakes
Jim Ellington
Harvey A Fillingane
Joey E Fillingane
Ted Foster
Merle Flowers
Timothy A Ford
Mark Formby
Herbert D Freierson
Thomas Gollott
Walter "Pud" Graham
Jeffrey Guice
Mike Gunn
Phillip A Gunn
David Halbrook
William Hewes
Steve Holland
Briggs Hopson
Bobby B Howell
Mike Huddleston
Robert G Huggins
Roger Ishee
Michael Janus
Thomas E King
Dean Kirby
Perry Lee
Brad Lott
Kevin McGee
Walter Michel
Tommy Moffat
Rita R Martinson
W T Mayhall, Jr
Alex Monsour
Alan Nunnelee
Steve Palazzo
Randall Patterson
Stacey Pickering
Lynn Posey
Tommy Robertson
Margaret Ellis Rogers
Charlie Ross
James C "Jim" Simpson
Cindy Hyde-Smith
Rob Smith
Elton Gregory Snowden
Gary Staples
Mary Ann Stevens
Joseph Stogner
Amy Tuck
Jerry R Turner
Jessica Upshaw
Giles Ward
Charles E Waldrup
Michael Watson
Roger Wicker
Liles Williams
Tommy Woods
Lee Yancy
Henry Zuber
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