ALEC Exposed

New Investigative Report Highlights Koch Brothers' Reach in Influencing Democracy

Charles and David Koch, each worth about $25 billion, could be the most influential duo in the United States. These brothers have accumulated their fortune through Koch industries -- an oil refining, chemical, paper products and financial services company with revenues of some $100 billion per year. A new documentary by Bob Abeshouse on the Kochs illustrates how these brothers use their billions to manipulate some in the public into voting for their right-wing agenda and to push policies that strip protections for people's health.

Wisconsin GOP Stumbles in Effort to Rig Recalls

State Senator Mary Lazich (WI-28)Republican efforts to inoculate themselves against recall hit a snag Monday when a moderate Republican announced his opposition to a plan that would permit recalls to happen in newly-drawn partisan districts.

Senator Mary Lazich introduced two bills on Friday that opponents say will rig recall elections in favor of Republicans. Democrats plan to start collecting signatures on November 15 to recall Governor Scott Walker, as well as state Senators who voted in favor of collective bargaining limits. Lazich's bills are the latest in a series of moves by Wisconsin Republicans to change the recall election rules in their favor.

Koch-Funded Climate Skeptic Admits Global Warming is Real

Submitted by Anne Landman on

Richard MullerA prominent global warming skeptic funded by the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation has publicly reversed himself and now agrees with the vast majority of mainstream climate scientists who conclude Earth's temperature really is quickly rising. Richard Muller, a physicist and well known climate skeptic, did his own research and calculated that the land is now 1.6 degrees warmer than it was in the 1950s -- figures that match those produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA). Billionaire Charles G. Koch, founder of the Charles G. Koch Foundation, is a well-known funder of global warming skeptics. Together with his billionaire brother, David, the Kochs own the country's largest, privately-held energy company, Koch Industries, which produces significant greenhouse gases and fights efforts to reduce carbon emissions in the U.S. Koch Industries has long worked to undermine environmental protections and protect corporate polluters. Koch Industries is also a long-time member and funder of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a nonprofit group that helps corporate representatives draft and advance "model" bills that benefit their bottom line, and get the bills into the hands of legislators who introduce them in state houses as though they were their own ideas. ALEC also provides corporate-drafted "model" resolutions legislators can introduce that are aimed at thwarting efforts to address climate change.

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Main Source: 
San Francisco Chronicle, October 31, 2011
Topics: 
ALEC Exposed
Energy
Environment
Science

Wisconsin Voter ID Law Challenged by League of Women Voters

Wisconsin's American Legislative Exchange Council-inspired voter ID law, which will make it harder for students and people of color to vote, is being challenged under the state constitution by the League of Women Voters.

The law requires potential voters to show a valid state-issued driver's license or identification card before they can cast a ballot, rendering many state residents ineligible to vote. Wisconsin, like thirteen other states, passed the law earlier this year based on the ALEC "model" voter ID bill.

Flu with that Burger? ALEC Wants Sick People Serving You Food

Paid Sick LeaveLast week, the city of Philadelphia mandated paid sick days for "workers whose employers have contracts with the city or apply for city subsidies." Last month, Seattle also passed a paid sick leave ordinance. Connecticut passed a bill in June that will make it the first state in the nation to mandate paid sick leave for service workers. Food service workers are a special concern of such laws.

Workers in these locations will no longer have to come to work with the flu or other infectious illness, endangering the health of their coworkers and customers and exacerbating their own health.

ALEC Ties Bring Down British Defense Secretary, Threaten Prime Minister David Cameron

British Defense Secretary Liam Fox has stepped down in the midst of an escalating scandal tied to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The ALEC connections have led opposition party leaders and the British press to question whether British Prime Minister David Cameron has been "allowing a secret rightwing agenda to flourish at the heart of the Conservative party."

Gaming American Democracy: A Perfect Storm in Which Republicans Disenfranchise Voters While Giving Corporations Unchecked Powers

One of the most stunning results of the Republicans’ victory sweep in the midterm 2010 elections (which made Ohio Republican Congressman John Boehner Speaker of the House of Representatives, while the Democrats retained control of the Senate) was the GOP’s taking control of 19 state legislatures.

ALEC Politicians Spin Special "Interest" Bill to Protect Corporate Wrongdoers as "Job Creation"

For years, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), has been itching to protect big corporations from high interest rates charged in cases where corporations have killed or injured Americans. Now, Wisconsin politicians serving on key ALEC task forces are pushing a bill embracing this idea as part of ALEC alumnus Scott Walker's latest effort to force the ALEC agenda into law based on claims that doing so will help "job creators."

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