State legislators ‘under the influence’ of ALEC, report says

“Legislating Under the Influence,” an investigative report from Minnesota Common Cause, demonstrates how state legislators obediently try to turn ALEC’s corporate wish lists into law. The report spells out how pervasive ALEC’s influence is on bills in St. Paul that protect the rich, attack workers, promote privatization, harm consumers, and weaken citizens’ rights.

The corporate control of ALEC is immense. The organization gets 98 percent of its income from more than 300 corporations and a who’s who of right-wing foundations, the Common Cause report says. Corporations have their own governing board, and pay as much as $25,000 more to sit on task forces that write – and have veto power over – ALEC’s “model” legislation.

Using side-by-side comparisons, Common Cause shows how Minnesota legislators routinely cut and paste ideas and language from ALEC once the legislation receives the corporate stamp of approval.

Buying influence on legislation, elections
But ALEC’s connections at the state Capitol and the corporate influence go beyond drafting legislation. Forty-six of ALEC’s corporate members spent $40.3 million lobbying in the state between 2005 and 2010, the report says. Twenty-seven current Minnesota legislators belong to ALEC, including House Speaker Kurt Zellers and House Majority Leader Matt Dean.

In 2010 legislative elections – in which Republicans gained a majority for the first time ever in both the House and Senate – ALEC’s corporate governing members gave more than $150,000 in direct campaign contributions. In addition, ALEC corporate members filtered nearly $500,000 more to business groups like the Chamber of Commerce and MN Forward, which targeted 21 specific House and Senate races.

All the Minnesota legislators whom Common Cause identifies as members of ALEC are Republicans. Nineteen of these 27 members sit on ALEC legislative task forces, which work with corporate representatives to draft ALEC’s agenda and blueprint legislation.

ALEC’s fingerprints are all over the House Republican caucus’ “Reform 2.0” agenda. This agenda, rolled out by Zellers and Dean on Jan. 19, hopes to eliminate business property taxes, cut and consolidate state government agencies, attack the pay and benefits of public employees, and take control of public schools away from elected school boards, among other goals.

Pushing constitutional amendments
ALEC is also behind three proposals that Minnesota legislators are trying to turn into constitutional amendments on the November 2012 ballot. These amendments:

• Attack unions by adding “right to work (for less)” provisions to the constitution
• Handcuff state government resources by requiring a “super majority” of at least 60 percent to raise taxes
• Suppress voter turnout by requiring state-issued photo IDs in order for citizens to vote

The Common Cause report calls the misleading right to work amendment “perhaps the most clear example of corporate special interest legislation. [It] dramatically undercuts Minnesota workers and their pocket books while protecting corporate bottom lines at the expense of workers.”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Ohio Gov. John Kasich both are ALEC alumni, and followed ALEC’s agenda last year in pursuing the sweeping elimination of public-sector collective-bargaining rights in their states.

Attacking workers and rights
As Council 5’s Stepping Up magazine detailed last fall, Minnesota Republicans are pursuing dozens of other ALEC proposals that:

• Protect tax breaks for corporations and their rich executives
• Attack the ability of public employees, other workers, and retirees to earn a living
• Weaken unions
• Erode public services and public education by mandating privatization or reductions in the size and scope of state agencies

A handful of ALEC-inspired proposals actually became law in the special session that ended the state government shutdown.

Common Cause’s report spells out how ALEC’s legislative agenda goes even further by targeting environmental safeguards, limiting food safety and other consumer protections, reducing corporate regulations, disenfranchising voters, and punishing immigrants.

Face to face with legislators
“ALEC paints itself as a think tank, but it is really a front group for corporate lobbyists,” the Common Cause report says. Each year, hundreds of these lobbyists gather with as many as 2,000 state legislators from around the country at lavish, closed-doors “conferences” to discuss the corporate agenda.

Common Cause’s national organization claims these conferences and other ALEC activities violate federal election law. Common Cause is suing to revoke ALEC’s tax-exempt status.

Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer is the Minnesota legislative chair for ALEC; Comcast chair John Gibbs is the corporate state chair, the report says. Former Minnesota legislators who belonged to ALEC include Laura Brod, who is now a regent for the University of Minnesota, and Tom Emmer, the Republican candidate for governor in 2010.

Michael Kuchta writes for the AFSCME Council 5 website, where this article originally appeared.

For more information
Minnesota legislators who belong to ALEC
Corporate sponsors of ALEC
ALEC\’s shopping list at the Minnesota Legislature
AFSCME Council 5 analysis: "Recipe for Disaster"