A is for ALEC

Image from Common Cause's ALEC page.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a powerful and secretive group funded by corporations and wealthy individuals that is working feverishly to shape laws and policies in many arenas, including education:

"Founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich and other conservative activists frustrated by recent electoral setbacks, ALEC is a critical arm of the right-wing network of policy shops that, with infusions of corporate cash, has evolved to shape American politics. Inspired by Milton Friedman’s call for conservatives to 'develop alternatives to existing policies [and] keep them alive and available,' ALEC’s model legislation reflects long-term goals: downsizing government, removing regulations on corporations and making it harder to hold the economically and politically powerful to account. Corporate donors retain veto power over the language, which is developed by the secretive task forces. The task forces cover issues from education to health policy. ALEC’s priorities for the 2011 session included bills to privatize education, break unions, deregulate major industries, pass voter ID laws and more. In states across the country they succeeded, with stacks of new laws signed by GOP governors like Ohio’s John Kasich and Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, both ALEC alums."  (from "ALEC Exposed" by John Nichols, The Nation, July 12, 2011.)
 
Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan clearly explains an ALEC model bill being proposed in Wisconsin & how it's part of ALEC's plan to eliminate pubic education.


 "The Center for Media and Democracy has obtained copies of more than 800 model bills approved by corporations through ALEC meetings, after one of the thousands of people with access shared them, and a whistleblower provided a copy to the Center. We have analyzed and marked-up those bills and made them available at  ALEC Exposed."    (from "About ALEC Exposed" by Lisa Graves, The Center for Media and Democracy's PR Watch, July 13, 2011.)

• A Smart ALEC Threatens Public Education
• ALECWatch: "Letting the Sun Shine on Corporate America's Secret Political Arm
• Who Funds ALEC?

Daily Kos: ALEC Releases FULL Donor and Membership List

• ALEC: The Behind the Scenes Player in the States' Fight Against the Middle Class
• ALEC Exposed: The Koch Connection
• ALEC Exposed: Starving Public Schools
• Step-by-Step Guide to Understanding ALEC's Influence on Your State Laws
• Six Degrees of ALEC: Connecting the Dots in the Corporate "Reform" Agenda for Education
• ALEC's official website
• ALEC's 2012 Report Card on the nation's schools, with detailed outlines of plans to privatize and computerize education
• ALEC: On a Mission to Dismantle Public Education

Chart found in a post by Mike E at kasamaproject.org.