A year ago when I started this journey to document ALEC members – I was always frustrated. My list of people affiliated with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) grew from 300+ a year ago, to 900+ six months later. All this time I knew that their member list was much larger than that. In the ALEC corporate recruiting brochure, ALEC tells corporations that they will have access to over 2,000 ALEC legislative members.
In August ALEC Exposed was launched and people from across the states began entering people with ALEC ties/affilations onto the site. We got to see most of the ALEC legislation for the first time (I believe there are other pieces of legislation that we do not have.)
Going forward finding members may be more challenging. In December ALEC scrubbed their webpage and their webpage is as sterile as possible when it comes to members - and ALEC still maintains they are not secretive. On the other hand - if belonging to ALEC is such a wonderful thing - the people on this list should be thankful that their affiliation/ties to ALEC are known. (Based on my experience researching ALEC people - historically, they have a tendency to hide the fact that they belong to ALEC, rather than to acknowledge they belong to ALEC.)
Now a year later – I am able to give you the most comprehensive list of people affiliated with ALEC, ever published.
The List
Although the list is extensive – it is still incomplete. I also believe that there are individuals in each state that are collecting the names and publishing additional state specific lists somewhere – but I can’t find them or give you that information.
The list comes from multiple sources
State financial reports
State campaign reports
ALEC documents
State bio webpages
Miscellaneous webpages
The list is a composite of my list and the list from ALEC Exposed. There were duplications between the lists - in cases like that I did not note the ALEC Exposed list.
For most of everything that I have pulled it has come from the web or from an ALEC documents. The ALEC Exposed webpage shows the source for the documentation of the people that they have listed. Editorial Note: This diary is my sole authorship. There was no collaboration with or cooperation sought from ALEC Exposed or the Center for Media and Democracy for this diary. Basically, I stole the names off their webpage and combined the names with my list and then published the combined list so it would be available in one place.
How do people get on this list?
That question comes up all the time. The most common are:
They serve on ALEC task forces
They have paid ALEC dues through their campaign finances
They have self identified themselves somewhere , anywhere as an ALEC member.
They have been shown as a signatory on an ALEC letter.
They have been listed by ALEC as a member, in ALEC documents.
They have been “outed” by a credible source, on the web.
They have attended an ALEC meeting.
They previously were employed by ALEC and now work in government.
Current Affiliations
This one is pretty evident – the main purpose for knowing the people who are currently affiliated with the American Legislative Exchange Council is to get them out of government.
We must make sure that all current government employees are not re-elected or not re-appointed.
Some of the names on the list are candidates who ran for office and were not elected. As part of their campaign expenses, they paid for an ALEC membership. We must make sure that these people are not elected.
Vetting candidates
It is important in the upcoming elections over the next few cycles that all candidates are properly vetted in regards to ALEC.
They must be able to state that neither they nor any member of their campaign are currently ALEC members.
They must be able to commit to the fact that neither the candidate nor any member of their staff will join ALEC.
Past Affiliations
This may seem questionable to some – but it is as important as making sure that current members are not re-elected or elected.
Past ALEC members are appointed to US government positions.
Past ALEC members are appointed to state positions.
Past ALEC members become lobbyists who have influence on your legislation.
Past ALEC members become judges who have an influence on
your justice system and decisions.
Past ALEC members become regents of your universities who have
an influence on the decisions made in relation to higher education.
Past ALEC members serve on commissions that affect the running of your state.
Past and current ALEC members are generational in some states
– you need to watch what families believe in the ALEC political philosophy.
My belief
It is my belief that the only way we can destroy ALEC is to take away their membership. The only way we can do that is to not re-elect or elect or appoint ALEC members or people who have ties/affiliations with ALEC to any government office. If ALEC does not have any representation in the government – it will be more difficult, almost impossible for ALEC to introduce their agenda at the state and Federal levels.
If you want corporations out of government – getting ALEC members out of the government is a great place to start.
And Finally, Links to the List
For your review and reading enjoyment
3000+ names of people associated with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
Two lists - cause Google docs couldn't upload one list in a timely manner.
Alaska through Missouri
Mississippi through Wyoming
Don’t Know About ALEC?
Some of you may think this is a stupid question – but you have to remember that when posting on Daily Kos – I am “singing to the choir”.
At OccupyMn I found people who did not know about ALEC and I also found people who had no idea what is happening in Wisconsin – just 30 miles away. It is important for us to NOT assume that others know what we know. It is important that we educate others – those outside of the DKos community.
The following reports are great state specific examples for the rest of us and hopefully they will serve as an impetus for others to do something similar.
Pennsylvania - Keystone Progressives wrote this report
Virginia Progressive wrote this report
Texas Progressives wrote this report
Minnesota - Report by Common Cause
Arizona - Report done by PFAW and Common Cause
For more general information on ALEC –
Please
read this or
read this or
read this
Or two videos you can watch (which I don’t know how to load on DKos.)
This is what ALEC is About - An Interview with Mark Pocan about the ALEC Annual Meeting.
Or watch this news video from North Carolina on how other ALEC "model legislation" is going to screw the citizens of North Carolina - legislation introduced by ALEC legislators.
