ALEC “Is a Corporate Lobby Masquerading as a Charity” ALEC describes itself as the largest voluntary group of state legislators in the country, but it is really a corporate-financed lobby that facilitates getting special interest legislation into the hands of lawmakers from every state in the country. In the words of Bill Moyers, ALEC is “the most influential corporate-funded political force most of America has never heard of” as noted in the “United States of ALEC.” At the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), we launched ALECexposed.org in July 2013 after a whistleblower provided me with nearly 1,000 “model” bills secretly voted on by corporate lobbyists through ALEC. We analyzed ALEC’s operations in detail and broke the initial story with The Nation magazine. Among other things, CMD examined more than a decade of federal tax filings by ALEC, and we discovered that while ALEC likes to tell the press it is an association of lawmakers, more 98% of its revenue is from corporations and sources other an legislative dues. Lawmakers pay nominal “dues” of $50 a year -- largely window-dressing -- while corporations pay thousands of dollars a year to be part of ALEC and gain special access to legislators at resorts, up to three times a year. ALEC claims it is just like the National Conference of State Legislators, but we found striking differences: NCSL does not hide corporate-funded trips for lawmakers; in NCSL, the parties alternate leadership, and corporations are not equals to lawmakers in NCSL and do not vote as equals as legislators. ALEC is the epitome of a pay-to-play operation that gives special interests special access, but the way it conducts its operations is very unusual and troubling. That is why ALEC is subject to no fewer than three separate tax fraud complaints to the IRS, with supporting evidence provided by four groups: Common Cause, Clergy Voice, the Voters Legislative Transparency Project, and my organization, CMD. for more info see: truth-out.org/opinion/item/19749 Please LIKE and SHARE this post. Break Wall Streets control of our Government. We need a Robin Hood Tax on Wall Street … and a movement that forces legislators to care about our communities… It’s time for the people to take control of the US priorities. Demand: 1) Your congress member support HR 1579 to tax Wall Street to create good jobs, quality education, and affordable housing, 2) Your city council endorse the campaign to make Wall Street pay your community back for the harm to Main Street 3) President Obama backs the Robin Hood Tax on Wall Street It begins in your town, with you … Economic Justice for every American. $350 Billion annually that can be spent on Human needs - not Billionaire or Corporation needs. It is the game changer for a better funded, fairer, more democratic, humane, balanced, and moral American Tax System. Economic Justice for every American: The Robin Hood Tax on Wall Street: Please like the Robin Hood Tax on Wall Street Facebook page at: goo.gl/LqRwkf Endorse and Volunteer for the Robin Hood Tax on Wall street at: goo.gl/fPUZjc Get more info at the main Campaign web site: goo.gl/wro0HE Join the RHT Twitter campaign at: @RobinHoodTax
Posted on: Thu, 16 Jan 2014 14:10:00 +0000
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