[BITList] ALEC again

[x50type at cox.net]

Sorry about that, Hugh

FYI – 
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a 501(c)(3) American organization composed of conservative legislators, businesses and foundations which produces model legislation for state legislatures and promotes free-market and conservative ideas.[2][3][4] According to the organization's website, members share a common belief that "government closest to the people" is "fundamentally more effective, more just, and a better guarantor of freedom than the distant, bloated federal government in Washington, D.C."[1][5] The organization has been described as a "collaboration between multinational corporations and conservative state legislators."[6]

ALEC provides a forum for corporations and legislators to collaborate on "model bills"—draft legislation which the members would like to become law. The model bills are then introduced by ALEC's legislative members, and approximately 200 per year become law.[7] ALEC has produced model legislation on issues such as reducing corporate regulation and taxation, tightening voter identification rules, minimizing environmental protections, and promoting gun rights.[4][7][8] ALEC also serves as a networking tool among state legislators, allowing them to research the handling and "best practices" of policy in other states.[8]


The is fancy talk for a rich man’s club that basically persuades [bribes/induces] '”conservative legislators” at the state level to pass laws which the club [ALEC] promotes for the their own ends. 
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times.

In a special report on ALEC, Bill Moyers summarized it as "an organization hiding in plain sight, yet one of the most influential and powerful in American politics." "Politicians and lobbyists at the core of this clever enterprise figured out how to pull it off in an organized, camouflaged way -- covering their tracks while they put one over on an unsuspecting public." "They were smart and understood something very important: that they might more easily get what they wanted from state capitals than from Washington, DC. So they started putting their money in places like Raleigh, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; Phoenix, Arizona; and Madison, Wisconsin."[10




I note that it is spreading it’s tentacles farther afield!     Obviously it has great attraction for those of any country who put profit above all – so fuck the common man...........................


Activity outside the United States
In July 2012, The Guardian ran an article reporting that ALEC had launched a worldwide campaign against plain cigarette packaging laws. It is contacting governments which are planning to introduce bans on cigarette branding, including the UK and Australia.[70]

Karla Jones, a taskforce director for ALEC, told participants at a meeting that proposed laws in Canada, the UK and Australia would prohibit branding of tobacco products. She said that the brands were those corporations' "most valuable asset." ALEC wrote to the Australian government stating that US legislators opposed the requirements for plain packaging. ALEC has stated that generic cigarettes increase cigarette consumption, rather than reducing it.[71]



ct





From: HUGH 



Sent: Monday, October 01, 2012 7:58 AM
To: BitList 
Subject: Re: [BITList] ALEC

Colin,

No change. Here is the "error message".

Hugh.

A database query syntax error has occurred. This may indicate a bug in the software. The last attempted database query was: 

(SQL query hidden)

from within function "SqlBagOStuff::get". Database returned error "145: Table './alecexposed_wiki/objectcache' is marked as crashed and should be repaired (mysql.ctyme.com)". 

Retrieved from "http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed"



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