This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, July 28, 2011 - The American Legislative Exchange Councilis a nonprofit group set up in the early 1970s, as its website explains, "for conservative state lawmakers who shared a common belief in limited government, free markets, federalism and individual liberty."
As a result, ALEC officials say, it shouldn't be surprising that the group and its members are having an influence on legislation in states around the country -- including Missouri.
"I credit our legislative members' success," said Raegan Weber, ALEC's senior director for public affairs.
That influence also is attracting more scrutiny from progressives and liberals, including a new progressive advocacy group, Progress Missouri. Progress Missouri released a study this week that ties some of the Missouri General Assembly's more controversial bills in recent sessions -- including measures to outlaw closed-union shops and eliminate teacher tenure -- to model bills crafted by the ALEC staff.
"Sen. Luann Ridgeway's right-to-work-for-less law (SB1), championed by Senate President Pro Tem Rob Mayer, is a carbon copy of ALEC's model," said Progress Missouri in a report issued today.
The group noted that ALEC also makes a point on its website of citing its influencein the crafting of Proposition C, which passed overwhelmingly in Missouri last August. The measure, advanced by state Sen. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield, seeks to exempt Missouri from some of the federal health-care changes.
"Missouri's laws should be written by Missourians -- not in secret by Exxon Mobil, Koch Industries and other corporations, in board rooms thousands of miles away," said Sean Soendker Nicholson, executive director of Progress Missouri. The corporations cited are among those who also are members or donors to ALEC.
He added, "Representatives and senators who have used our public funds to schmooze with corporate lobbyists and pocketed gifts on ALEC junkets (should) come clean on who has really written the legislation they've put forward as their own."
Nicholson said his next project will be to focus on the "scholarships" that ALEC gives to legislators, including some in Missouri, to attend its conferences. ALEC members will gather next week in New Orleans.
ALEC's influence in state legislation, including in Missouri, is not news. Nicholson cites previous coverage by southwest Missouri blogger Randy Turner, a teacher who writes The Turner Report.
What is new is that more conservatives who were elected last fall to state offices and legislatures around the country are now advocating many of the same ALEC-crafted proposals, which has resulted in more becoming state laws. Several prominent ALEC alums now are governors of key battleground states, such as Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican.
Although nonpartisan politically, ALEC philosophically is conservative, Weber said. "Our main focus is on fiscal responsibility and growing the economy."
Nicholson said the renewed focus on ALEC now is prompted largely by the documentation of the bills linking the legislation directly to ALEC.
The progressive focus on ALEC includes an indepth article earlier this month in The Nationmagazine, and a new website -- ALEC Exposed-- set up by the Center for Media and Democracy, a nonprofit, progressive investigative group. The site features dozens of bills attributed to ALEC and under consideration, or already passed, by state legislatures around the country.
Declares the Center for Media and Democracy on its web site: "Through ALEC, global corporations are scheming to rewrite your rights and boost their revenue."
Weber at ALEC said that model legislationwas among many services that ALEC offers its members. The recommended bills often come from legislative members themselves, she added.
"Legislators are the driving force in ALEC,'' Weber said, citing examples where a legislator has drafted a bill for his or her state, and then offered it to ALEC to promote to other members.
Weber emphasized that ALEC gets involved in issues and does not endorse candidates or campaigns.
She also cited ALEC's issue-oriented initiatives highlighted on its website. Because of its conservative focus, Weber said it's not surprising that ALEC is now the focus of progressive critics. "We are the 'flavor of choice,' " Weber quipped.
UPDATE: Attendance lists for the ALEC conference's "Missouri Night" in New Orleans show that at least 15 Missouri legislators, all Republicans, are slated to attend. Also on the list are close to 30 lobbyists for Missouri companies, utilities and conservative political groups.
