How the Austerity Class Rules Washington
By Ari Berman, a contributing writer for and an Investigative Journalism Fellow at The Nation magazine, where this article was originally published on October 19, 2011.
Politics
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
Last 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."
Rep. Cantor - Bought and Paid for by Wall Street Investors
by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) blog
The Center for Media and Democracy is re-posting this article from the CREW blog as part of our efforts to expose the influence of corporate money in politics. Eric Cantor is also an alumnus of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which the Center has been investigating through ALECexposed, and he has introduced federal legislation that parallels the ALEC agenda. CMD is also helping to raise awareness of alternatives to the Cantor/ALEC agenda to starve government and slash government services, namely how a tiny tax on Wall Street could help. Cantor's efforts to smear Occupy Wall Street protesters and his receipts from Wall Street firms are documented below.
ALEC and Coca-Cola: A "Classic" Collaboration
What is Coca-Cola doing behind closed doors with Koch Industries and other multinational corporations in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)?
Local Food Ordinances from Maine to California
Los Angeles County, California, is considering a resolution "recognizing the rights of individuals to grow and consume their own food and to enter into private contracts with other individuals to board animals for food."
This resolution did not arise in a vacuum. Santa Cruz County, California, recently passed a similar resolution. Nevada County, California, citizens are pushing a similar resolution. And in El Dorado County, California, Farmer Pattie Chelseth has proposed a "Local Food and Self Governance Ordinance."
"We are the 99%," but the 1% Buy Elections, Reports Show
As the "Occupy" protests spread across the country with the slogan "we are the ninety-nine percent," two reports released this week demonstrate how the top one percent are playing an increasingly outsized role in American elections.
The New Yorker reports on a conservative multimillionaire's successful efforts to buy North Carolina's elections, and a report from campaign finance reform groups describe how an elite group of donors have laundered unlimited contributions to presidential campaigns. Much of this influence was made possible by the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, and anger over corporate influence in politics is helping fuel the populist uprisings in Manhattan, D.C., and around the country.
Business Leaders Call for Election Spending Transparency
Executives from major American corporations are calling for greater transparency in election spending, alleging the shadowy, secretly-funded groups that spent hundreds of millions on the 2010 elections are distorting the democratic process. Groups like Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS, they say, will spend an increasing amount in future elections and political scandal will follow. Meanwhile, Wisconsin leaders promote even greater election secrecy.
Koch Lobbyist is ALEC State Co-Chair for Wisconsin; Scholarships Raise Ethics Concerns
A lobbyist for Koch Industries and energy interests serves with a lobbyist for Pfizer pharmaceuticals as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) corporate co-chairs in Wisconsin, according to documents obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy at this year's ALEC Annual Meeting. For some, their fundraising for "scholarships" to benefit ALEC legislative members raises issues of legislative ethics.
Pages
