ALEC State Chairs, Your Homework and School House Rock

48 States of  ALEC Underpants?

Ms. Progressive Underpants will be road tripping to the land of beer & goat cheese tomorrow.

(Mmmmm Gooooat Cheeeeese)

Here's the ALEC follow up for your consideration.  

Check all y'all on Monday. 

Parental Warning: Crude Humor to follow

ALEC needs big giant underpants to ensure We the People do not connect the dots.  ALEC underpants have effectively hidden the "why" behind these Nationwide State "movements" and "pressing legislation" which do not address actual constituent needs. (Jobs, Clean Water, Public Safety, Voting Access, etc.)  Thus far, ALEC's underpants have been made out of the same material as one of the Deathly Hallows.  The whole organization seems to be invisible - but no more.  (That's it! Those bastards think they ARE the Invisible Hand!)

By its own admission:   The centerpiece of Task Force projects is ALEC model legislation. ALEC is the only state legislative organization that adopts policies and creates model legislation for its members to use in their states. To date, ALEC has nearly 1,000 pieces of model legislation.

  

ALEC is so helpful!  It also supplies its members with "Issue Analysis" described as Short analyses of topical issues that provide perfect preparation for talking points and media briefings.   

Great, just what We the People need, MORE talking points.

Ergo, ALEC is removing from our elected representatives the heavy burdens of researching, receiving public comment on, and writing legislation.   But Wait! There's More!  It also assists our elected officials in clearly articulating to We the People how these bills enhance the greater good.  These lovely self-serving bills that in a time of massive unemployment, apparently deserve their time and attention.  Is this Democracy in Action?  Survey Says:  NO!  

I know C students run the world, but damn, this is the job you signed up for there, Skippy.  We're not asking for TPS reports for chrissakes.  You want my Civics 101 notes?  I got a couple of old tests and a School House Rock Video you can borrow - you know, the "I'm Just a Bill" one?  Better yet, just go on over to The You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEJL2Uuv-oQ     It's right there for ya. Kay? Super!

Now that you, too, are irked, what to do?  Below is a cut and paste from ALEC.org's website.  It lists  YOUR ALEC state chairs.  Massachusetts, you lucky bastards, you haven't got one at present.  Help out Connecticut or something woudja?  Nebraska? Nebraska? Anyone, anyone? We know ALEC is alive and well in NE - your mission is to find out who it is!  You don't want too?  Too tired?  Come on, Nebraska, "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son"  Buck up and find out who those Germans were that bombed Pearl Harbor. 

For the rest of you - your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to transform We the People into a verb.  A well-informed, persistent, PITA to these folks.  Here's how:

• Look up the person or persons from your state
• Research the bills they are sponsoring, co-sponsoring, speaking about, etc.  
• Make a "short list" of these bills and put a little * by any of them that don't pass the smell test and have nothing to do with anything what We the People in your state have put on the "A-1 Priority List"
• Go to http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Model_Legislation1 
• "Compare and contrast" YOUR reps sponsored legislation to ALEC Model Legislation.
• This will require clicking a few links and doing a little digging. That's We the People in Action 
• For Extra Credit - Follow up Nationally on your Reps in Congress.  See if anything they have on the "to do list" smells like ALEC influence. Bet it does.  

For Extra Extra Credit - confuse the hell out of your legislator by sending them the School House Rock "No More Kings" You Tube Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEJL2Uuv-oQ   Some, though sadly not many, will get the irony.  It's perfect for your intended ALEC serving audience - historically inaccurate, racially insensitive, makes the Tea Party look good, you know - right up their alley.  Too bad we can't dub in "Alec" for "George."

Back to the matter at hand - I tried the homework assignment before offering it to you.  Here in Illinois, Sen. Kirk Dillard's legislation on Prison Reform fell directly in line with ALEC. (Talk about spin - he wants no early release - that's reform only if you are a contemporary of Dickens or want to ensure prison overcrowding must be "addressed")   I don't recall Sen. Dillard running on a platform of prison reform and privatization.  I don't recall this being a "hot topic" for most Illinois voters.   The only prison we're morbidly concerned or curious about is which one Blago is going to, when, and for how long.   I smell a privatization drive and a big no bid no union prison contract for one of these ALEC Corporate Members - that's how this whole thing works... Now are you pissed?  Yeah, me too.  Stay away from the You Tube - no cute puppies - you have work to do.

After you do your homework - and this is key - Knowledge is good. Action is better. Results are best.  Reach out to your ALEC chair via phone, email, tweet, FB, rally, snail mail - whatever.  ASK them to explain why they are doing what they are doing and why they believe it is in YOUR best interest.  Demand answers.  If you want an A+ on your We the People assignment,  research which ALEC members donated to your rep and cross reference these "interests" with your rep's actions. 

If you're crunched for time, email your ALEC state chair and ask said rep to explain why they are a state chair for ALEC, which pieces of their sponsored legislation were "model" and which ones were their own homework.  If nothing else, you have put your elected official on notice that ALEC has a few peek holes in its underpants.  This is the beginning of transparency and accountability.  Good Luck! Report Back!

ALEC STATE CHAIRS
Alabama Rep. Mary Sue McClurkin	Alaska Rep. Wes Keller
Arizona Rep. Debbie Lesko	Arkansas Rep. Linda Collins-Smith Sen. Michael Lamoureux
California Sen. Joel C. Anderson	Colorado Sen. Bill L. Cadman Rep. B.J. Nikkel
Connecticut Rep. DebraLee Hovey Sen. Kevin D. Witkos	Delaware Rep. Daniel B. Short
Florida Rep. Jimmy T. Patronis, Jr.	Georgia Rep. Calvin Hill, Jr. Sen. Chip Rogers
Hawaii Rep. Gene Ward	Idaho Sen. Patti Anne Lodge
Illinois Sen. Kirk W. Dillard Rep. Renée Kosel	Indiana Sen. Jim Buck Rep. David A. Wolkins
Iowa Rep. Linda J. Miller	Kansas Sen. Ray Merrick
Kentucky Sen. Tom Buford Rep. Mike Harmon	Louisiana Rep. George G. Cromer
Maine Sen. Richard W. Rosen	Maryland Del. Michael Hough Sen. Christopher Shank
Massachusetts Vacant	Michigan Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker
Minnesota Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer	Mississippi Rep. Jim Ellington
Missouri Rep. Timothy W. Jones Rep. Jason T. Smith Rep. Jim C. Ellington	Montana Rep. Gary MacLaren Rep. Scott M. Reichner
Nebraska	Nevada Sen. Barbara Cegavske
New Hampshire Rep. Gary L. Daniels Rep. Jordan G. Ulery	New Jersey Sen. Steve Oroho Hon. Jay Webber
New Mexico Rep. Paul C. Bandy Sen. Kent L. Cravens	New York Sen. Owen Johnson
North Carolina Rep. Fred F. Steen	North Dakota Rep. Alan H. Carlson Rep. Blair B. Thoreson
Ohio Rep. John P. Adams	Oklahoma Rep. Gary W. Banz Sen. John W. Ford
Oregon Rep. C. Gene Whisnant	Pennsylvania Rep. John R. Evans
Rhode Island Sen. Francis T. Maher, Jr. Sen. Leo Blais	South Carolina Rep. Liston Barfield Sen. Raymond E. Cleary III
South Dakota Sen. Deb Peters Rep. Valentine B. Rausch	Tennessee Rep. Curry Todd
Texas Rep. Charlie Howard Rep. Jim Jackson Sen. Kel Seliger	Utah Sen. Curtis S. Bramble Sen. Wayne L. Niederhauser
Vermont Sen. Kevin J. Mullin	Virginia Del. John A. Cosgrove, Jr. Sen. Stephen H. Martin
Washington Rep. Jan Angel Sen. Don Benton	West Virginia Del. Eric L. Householder
Wisconsin Rep. Robin J. Vos	Wyoming Rep. Peter S. Illoway