State Governments

One of my interests (apart from postponing the dissertation as long as humanly possible) is state government. Methinks Kos is interested in it too, as he sponsors the Political State Report (thanks, Kos! It's invaluable to us state junkies!).

You may or may not be aware of a group called the American Legislative Exchange Council. You should be...

I first learned of ALEC from an article in Mother Jones last year. Here's a quote from the article:

Funded primarily by large corporations, industry groups, and conservative foundations -- including R.J. Reynolds, Koch Industries, and the American Petroleum Institute -- the group takes a chain-restaurant approach to public policy, supplying precooked McBills to state lawmakers. Since most legislators are in session only part of the year and often have no staff to do independent research, they're quick to swallow what ALEC serves up. In 2000, according to the council, members introduced more than 3,100 bills based on its models, passing 450 into law.

Among other notables, former President Bush has spoken to the group, and they've honored such notable members of the Right as former Speaker of the Florida House (and now US Representative from Florida)Tom Feeney. (Feeney, you'll recall, played a role in the Florida 2000 shenanigans. He also made sure that Florida created a House district for him as well as one for Katherine Harris.)

My question is this: Why is there not a similar organization on the Left? Furthermore, should there be one?

WF