|
It’s time you met ALEC: Quasi-secret right-wing organization
revealed as direct source of draconian legislation in Ohio and
other states
Op-Ed by Alan Abrams, La Prensa Senior Correspondent
It is enough to make one miss the good old days, when nefarious
quasi-secret organizations like SMERSH who were trying to
overthrow our democratic way of life were easily vanquished by
Agent 007, James Bond.
But a report released in Columbus Feb. 6, 2012 by a group of
progressive organizations and grass roots activists reveals a
far greater threat to Ohio’s citizens – and it is one you’ve
probably never heard of before.
So meet ALEC, the acronym of the American Legislative Exchange
Council. They are a super-secret group funded by the 22
corporations that comprise the non-profit organization’s
Private Enterprise Board. And it is their mandate to write
legislation to deprive you of your rights.
What makes this even more serious is that this threat is right in
our own back yard.
Where? Look no further than the Ohio Statehouse where the threat is
greater than in any other state in the union.
According to the report, in the months between January and October
2010, 33 pieces of legislation were introduced in the Ohio
General Assembly, with all of them following 64 examples of ALEC
model legislation.
Simply put, the 33 bills the legislators introduced were often
taken word-for-word from the ALEC playbook. A side-by-side
comparison shows their text was verbatim with that emanating
from ALEC.
And nine of those corporate-authored bills have passed into law.
It doesn’t end there.
ALEC has borne the fingerprints of Ohio’s Republican governor
John Kasich for decades. Disgraced Ohio congressman
Donald “Buz” Lukens was a two-term president of ALEC. As an
aide to Lukens, Kasich did all the legislative work for ALEC.
However, Kasich denies he is a member of ALEC despite having been
photographed at their sponsored events.
According to Brian Rothenberg, executive director of
ProgressOhio, ALEC bears the responsibility for unleashing
both SB 5, the vicious attack on collective bargaining,
and HB 194, the Voter ID law, upon the people of Ohio.
Both were shot down by the outrage of concerned citizens via
petitions and the ballot box.
However in other states such as Arizona whose right-wing
legislatures have fallen into ALEC’s grasp, they are the source
responsible for the vicious anti-immigrant laws. It was a
move they tried in Ohio with HB 286.
But in the Buckeye State they appear to have found their niche with
voter ID laws, despite the fact that voter fraud is not a major
issue in the state. The purpose of these laws is clearly to deny
the right to vote to minorities and other targeted groups who
cannot provide government issued photo ID cards.
ALEC’s playbook has also left its footprint in Ohio on bills
dealing with education, health care, and the privatization of
prisons.
A joint venture of People for the American Way, Common Cause, The
Center for Media and Democracy, ProgressOhio and a host of other
partners and allies, the report exposes how ALEC operates under
a loophole in Ohio’s 1994 ethics law that allows it to provide
“scholarships” to reimburse legislators and their families for
all-expense paid jaunts to posh resorts where they are wined and
dined by corporate lobbyists. But the main course is always the
same – the corporate and right-wing wish list of legislation.
Ohio law does not allow corporations to influence
legislation but it is being done through these scholarships.
Indeed, an ALEC-sponsored fundraiser for these scholarships is
being held in Columbus on Feb. 7, the same day as the governor
delivers his State of the State address.
Alas, our legislators are all too happy to oblige – 43 percent of
Ohio’s legislators are members of ALEC. Sadly in Ohio, members
of both parties have availed themselves of these perks.
State Rep. John Adams, who as Majority Whip is the GOP point
man for legislation in the Ohio House, was honored by ALEC in
2010 as their state “legislator” of the year. His aide
was chosen as ALEC’s aide of the year.
ALEC is funded by millions of dollars from corporations eager to
find new ways to influence legislators. At least $9.3 million
has been documented as funneling back to influence Ohio
legislation.
“When legislation is being written word-for-word from start to
finish by corporations, legislators are not meeting their prime
responsibility to the citizens,” said Rothenberg in what may
have been the biggest understatement of the day.
Also speaking was Tim Burga, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO,
who said the report underscores that the state’s “anti-worker,
anti-consumer and anti-education” bills are being created by the
“super wealthy industrial class” and by well-financed
out-of-state corporate groups. He said these groups care nothing
about grass roots but are seeking an electoral voice for special
and corporate interests.
He was followed by Tim Shafer, operations manager of OCSCA
AFSCME Local 11 and a former corrections officer. Shafer pointed
out that on Dec. 31, 2011, Ohio became the first state ever to
sell a state correctional facility to a private group, an act in
which he said Ohio legislators had clearly been influenced by
ALEC.
The tentacles of ALEC are even more far-reaching when it comes to
education and the support for the voucher system, a point made
by Ltaundra Everhart, a Cleveland special education
teacher. She accused the ALEC-influenced legislators of using
the state’s poor children as pawns in their drive to fund
private schools with vouchers. She said the private schools do
not provide services for special education students such as
those she teaches.
“Thirty of the 38 sponsors of the plan to extend vouchers are
members of ALEC,” said Everhart.
Her comments were echoed by David Romick of the Dayton
Education Association who made similar points about charter
schools.
Pat Clifford,
a state organizer for
Ohio Common Cause, focused upon the voter ID laws.
“Thirty-four states introduced voter ID bills in 2011 and seven
of them passed,” he told reporters. “The goal of these laws is
to put restrictions on five million people, almost all of whom
would vote Democratic in 2012.”
Eleven percent of US citizens, 21 million people, do not have
government photo ID, said Clifford, who added that at least
until today, ALEC has operated under a cloak of secrecy. Efforts
to further disenfranchise voters through legislation are
continuing in 2012.
Rev. Joel King, a cousin of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., closed the press conference by
pointing out that “Ohio legislators have a moral obligation to
represent the citizens who elected them.”
Every citizen of Ohio should read this document.
ON the Web: The 51-page report is available for viewing at
www.ProgressOhio.org
|
