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The Big Money Behind State Laws
Topic Started: Mar 9 2014, 01:14 PM (330 Views)
tomdrobin
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It is no coincidence that so many state legislatures have spent the last year taking the same destructive actions: making it harder for minorities and other groups that support Democrats to vote, obstructing health care reform, weakening environmental regulations and breaking the spines of public- and private-sector unions. All of these efforts are being backed — in some cases, orchestrated — by a little-known conservative organization financed by millions of corporate dollars.

The American Legislative Exchange Council was founded in 1973 by the right-wing activist Paul Weyrich; its big funders include Exxon Mobil, the Olin and Scaife families and foundations tied to Koch Industries. Many of the largest corporations are represented on its board.

ALEC has written model legislation on a host of subjects dear to corporate and conservative interests, and supporting lawmakers have introduced these bills in dozens of states. A recent study of the group’s impact in Virginia showed that more than 50 of its bills were introduced there, many practically word for word. The study, by the liberal group ProgressVA, found that ALEC had been involved in writing bills that would:

¶Prohibit penalizing residents for failing to obtain health insurance, undermining the individual mandate in the reform law. The bill, which ALEC says has been introduced in 38 states, was signed into law and became the basis for Virginia’s legal challenge to heath care reform.

¶Require voters to show a form of identification. Versions of this bill passed both chambers this month.

¶Encourage school districts to contract with private virtual-education companies. (One such company was the corporate co-chair of ALEC’s education committee.) The bill was signed into law.

¶Call for a federal constitutional amendment to permit the repeal of any federal law on a two-thirds vote of state legislatures. The bill failed.

¶Legalize use of deadly force in defending one’s home. Bills to this effect, which recently passed both houses, have been backed by the National Rifle Association, a longtime member of ALEC.

ALEC’s influence in the Virginia statehouse is pervasive, the study showed. The House of Delegates speaker, William Howell, has been on the board since 2003 and was national chairman in 2009. He has sponsored or pushed many of the group’s bills, including several benefiting specific companies that support ALEC financially, like one that would reduce a single company’s asbestos liability. At least 115 other state legislators have ties to the group, including paying membership dues, attending meetings and sponsoring bills. The state has spent more than $230,000 sending lawmakers to ALEC conferences since 2001.

Similar efforts have gone on in many other states. The group has been particularly active in weakening environmental regulations and fighting the Environmental Protection Agency. ALEC’s publication, “E.P.A.’s Regulatory Train Wreck,” outlines steps lawmakers can take, including curtailing the power of state regulators.

There is nothing illegal or unethical about ALEC’s work, except that it further demonstrates the pervasive influence of corporate money and right-wing groups on the state legislative process. There is no group with any comparable influence on the left. Lawmakers who eagerly do ALEC’s bidding have much to answer for. Voters have a right to know whether the representatives they elect are actually writing the laws, or whether the job has been outsourced to big corporate interests.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/opinion/the-big-money-behind-state-laws.html?_r=0
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Berton
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doglaugh NYT doglaugh
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colo_crawdad
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Allow me to add that school boards in three Districts in Colorado have recently been taken over by a majority of ultra right wing members, almost all of their campaign monies coming from out of State.
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Pat
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tomdrobin
Mar 9 2014, 01:14 PM
Quote:
 
It is no coincidence that so many state legislatures have spent the last year taking the same destructive actions: making it harder for minorities and other groups that support Democrats to vote, obstructing health care reform, weakening environmental regulations and breaking the spines of public- and private-sector unions. All of these efforts are being backed — in some cases, orchestrated — by a little-known conservative organization financed by millions of corporate dollars.

The American Legislative Exchange Council was founded in 1973 by the right-wing activist Paul Weyrich; its big funders include Exxon Mobil, the Olin and Scaife families and foundations tied to Koch Industries. Many of the largest corporations are represented on its board.

ALEC has written model legislation on a host of subjects dear to corporate and conservative interests, and supporting lawmakers have introduced these bills in dozens of states. A recent study of the group’s impact in Virginia showed that more than 50 of its bills were introduced there, many practically word for word. The study, by the liberal group ProgressVA, found that ALEC had been involved in writing bills that would:

¶Prohibit penalizing residents for failing to obtain health insurance, undermining the individual mandate in the reform law. The bill, which ALEC says has been introduced in 38 states, was signed into law and became the basis for Virginia’s legal challenge to heath care reform.

¶Require voters to show a form of identification. Versions of this bill passed both chambers this month.

¶Encourage school districts to contract with private virtual-education companies. (One such company was the corporate co-chair of ALEC’s education committee.) The bill was signed into law.

¶Call for a federal constitutional amendment to permit the repeal of any federal law on a two-thirds vote of state legislatures. The bill failed.

¶Legalize use of deadly force in defending one’s home. Bills to this effect, which recently passed both houses, have been backed by the National Rifle Association, a longtime member of ALEC.

ALEC’s influence in the Virginia statehouse is pervasive, the study showed. The House of Delegates speaker, William Howell, has been on the board since 2003 and was national chairman in 2009. He has sponsored or pushed many of the group’s bills, including several benefiting specific companies that support ALEC financially, like one that would reduce a single company’s asbestos liability. At least 115 other state legislators have ties to the group, including paying membership dues, attending meetings and sponsoring bills. The state has spent more than $230,000 sending lawmakers to ALEC conferences since 2001.

Similar efforts have gone on in many other states. The group has been particularly active in weakening environmental regulations and fighting the Environmental Protection Agency. ALEC’s publication, “E.P.A.’s Regulatory Train Wreck,” outlines steps lawmakers can take, including curtailing the power of state regulators.

There is nothing illegal or unethical about ALEC’s work, except that it further demonstrates the pervasive influence of corporate money and right-wing groups on the state legislative process. There is no group with any comparable influence on the left. Lawmakers who eagerly do ALEC’s bidding have much to answer for. Voters have a right to know whether the representatives they elect are actually writing the laws, or whether the job has been outsourced to big corporate interests.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/opinion/the-big-money-behind-state-laws.html?_r=0
OK, you are right, there is nothing illegal about any of the proposals. If you love freedom and liberty how could you find fault in any of them?
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tomdrobin
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Pat
Mar 10 2014, 12:34 AM
OK, you are right, there is nothing illegal about any of the proposals. If you love freedom and liberty how could you find fault in any of them?
Quote:
 
¶Prohibit penalizing residents for failing to obtain health insurance, undermining the individual mandate in the reform law. The bill, which ALEC says has been introduced in 38 states, was signed into law and became the basis for Virginia’s legal challenge to heath care reform.


The supreme court said requiring the individual mandate is constitutional. The only way any universal plan will work is for all go sign up. Even Romneycare required that. This is just another Koch funded attempt to do an end run around the requirements of the ACA.

Quote:
 
¶Require voters to show a form of identification. Versions of this bill passed both chambers this month.


This has been show to be a solution for a non existent problem. A disguised attempt to disenfranchise poor and minority voters.

Quote:
 
¶Encourage school districts to contract with private virtual-education companies. (One such company was the corporate co-chair of ALEC’s education committee.) The bill was signed into law.


Sounds like a conflict of interest to me. Another way of siphoning public education funds off to for profit companies.

Quote:
 
¶Call for a federal constitutional amendment to permit the repeal of any federal law on a two-thirds vote of state legislatures. The bill failed.


So if passed any state could nullify federal law by a 2/3 vote of their state legislature? Wow, the slaves states would have loved to have had that one on the books.

Quote:
 
¶Legalize use of deadly force in defending one’s home. Bills to this effect, which recently passed both houses, have been backed by the National Rifle Association, a longtime member of ALEC.


Isn't it legal to shoot someone breaking in now? Or does this permit shooting them in the front yard if they look threatening?
Edited by tomdrobin, Mar 10 2014, 11:09 AM.
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Berton
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tomdrobin
Mar 10 2014, 11:08 AM
Pat
Mar 10 2014, 12:34 AM
OK, you are right, there is nothing illegal about any of the proposals. If you love freedom and liberty how could you find fault in any of them?
Quote:
 
¶Prohibit penalizing residents for failing to obtain health insurance, undermining the individual mandate in the reform law. The bill, which ALEC says has been introduced in 38 states, was signed into law and became the basis for Virginia’s legal challenge to heath care reform.


The supreme court said requiring the individual mandate is constitutional. The only way any universal plan will work is for all go sign up. Even Romneycare required that. This is just another Koch funded attempt to do an end run around the requirements of the ACA.

Quote:
 
¶Require voters to show a form of identification. Versions of this bill passed both chambers this month.


This has been show to be a solution for a non existent problem. A disguised attempt to disenfranchise poor and minority voters.

Quote:
 
¶Encourage school districts to contract with private virtual-education companies. (One such company was the corporate co-chair of ALEC’s education committee.) The bill was signed into law.


Sounds like a conflict of interest to me. Another way of siphoning public education funds off to for profit companies.

Quote:
 
¶Call for a federal constitutional amendment to permit the repeal of any federal law on a two-thirds vote of state legislatures. The bill failed.


So if passed any state could nullify federal law by a 2/3 vote of their state legislature? Wow, the slaves states would have loved to have had that one on the books.

Quote:
 
¶Legalize use of deadly force in defending one’s home. Bills to this effect, which recently passed both houses, have been backed by the National Rifle Association, a longtime member of ALEC.


Isn't it legal to shoot someone breaking in now? Or does this permit shooting them in the front yard if they look threatening?
"This is just another Koch funded attempt to do an end run around the requirements of the ACA."

You need to read your own post. doglaugh doglaugh doglaugh

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tomdrobin
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Your foolish is showing.

http://sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_Industries


Not, that your interested, but this link has the complete lowdown on the dirty money your heros spend to corrupt the political system.
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Berton
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Your dummy is showing. The Kochs brothers were not mentioned as the funding source in your OP.

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tomdrobin
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Berton
Mar 10 2014, 08:28 PM
Your dummy is showing. The Kochs brothers were not mentioned as the funding source in your OP.

Really? Maybe you should go back and read it carefully. In case you missed it.

Quote:
 
Koch Industries is a long-time member and funder of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and a long-time member of the ALEC corporate Private Enterprise board.


http://sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_Industries

But, only a small part of the Koch-ta-puss.

Quote:
 
The company was started in 1927 by Fred Koch, an early member of the John Birch Society.[3] The company is led by Charles Koch and David Koch, arguably two of the leading and most influential financiers of anti-regulation and right-wing ideology in the United States.


2011 Bloomberg Markets Exposé

On September 22, 2011, business media outlet Bloomberg released an extensive report detailing the results of an investigation it had conducted into allegations by several former Koch employees turned whistle-blower. One whistle-blower detailed her termination after her compliance check had discovered a number of bribery payments made in order to secure contracts in six countries, including Nigeria, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Reporters also discovered that Koch companies had traded with Iran through foreign-held subsidiaries, possibly violating US law. Other sources within the article detailed a culture of poor ethics and allegations of outright theft.
Bribery of Foreign Officials
In 2008, an internal investigation found numerous instances of bribery to foreign officials to secure contracts by Koch Industries subsidiary Koch-Glitsch. One incident which came under investigation was the payment of an unusually high premium to a sales agent who admitted in a French court that the payment had been passed on to someone representing a partially state-owned Egyptian company in order to secure a contract there.
The company attempted to blame the sales agent and terminated him with a six page letter detailing the company's illicit payments to interests in Algeria, Egypt, India, Morocco, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia and placing blame for them on the sales agent. However, the court found that "the sales agent] was not giving authorizations" for the payments, instead indicating that Charles Ender, a major Koch executive and president of Koch-Glitsch for Europe and Asian operations at the time, was responsible.
Firing of Compliance Officer
Meanwhile, the compliance offer initially assigned to the investigation was removed from the inquiry almost immediately and fired a short time later. After a seven week hospitalization in 2009, saying that she failed to share documents within the company and didn't have the skills she'd claimed on her resume, she was terminated.
The compliance officer argued that she her termination was retaliation for uncovering the illegal payments.
Trading with Iran
Bloomberg also found that Koch companies had traded and worked extensively with Iran over a ten year period. Notable Koch-Iranian collaborations include the construction of the world's largest methanol plant for the National Iranian Petrochemical Company at the city of Bandar Assaluyeh. The plant is being used to tap into Iran's extensive natural gas resources.
A purchase order for refining equipment at the plant was sent the day after President George W. Bush outlined the concept of an "axis of evil" in his 2003 State of the Union address, where he articulated his view that Iran was a direct threat to the United States and specifically advocated for economic sanctions that Koch companies may have been violating. “Every single chance they had to do business with Iran, or anyone else, they did,” said one whistle blower of Koch Chemicals' dealings with Iran.
Falsifying Benzene Emissions
In April 2001, the Koch Petroluem Group (now Flint Hills Resources) "pleaded guilty to a felony charge of lying to the government about its benzene emissions". A report to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission disclosed only 1/149th of the actual benzene pollution. The company was fined $10 million and ordered to fund an additional $10 million in costs for environmental cleanup in South Texas.
The extremely profitable plant earned almost $200 million for the company in 1995, the year of the violation; the benzene emissions would have cost $7 million to control. After an environmental technician reported the false report that led to the fines, Koch Petroleum Group moved the whistle blower to an empty office with no tasks and no e-mail access. She quit a short time later.[9]
Stealing Oil on Indian Reservations
In May 1989, the Senate held hearings on what the Senate special committee on investigations called "a widespread scheme to steal oil on Indian land." According to data the committee compiled, Koch took 1.95 million barrels of oil it didn’t pay for from 1986 to 1988.
The Senate referred the case to the Justice Department, but no indictment followed. In December 1999 in a civil trial, the jury found that "Koch Industries had made 24,587 false claims in buying oil, underpaying the U.S. government for royalties on Native American land from 1985 to 1989." Koch settled the case in 2001 for $25 million.
Koch's current PR line on the scandal? Melissa Cohlmia, Koch’s director of corporate communications, said in an email to Bloomberg reporters, "We believe that our practices were consistent with industry practice."
Deadly Butane Explosion
In 1996, two Texas teenagers, aged 16 and 17, were killed after their car stalled in a cloud of butane vapor that disabled the vehicles internal mechanisms. The butane vapor was leaking from a corroded steel pipeline owned by Koch Industries. As the driver attempted to re-start the vehicle, the leaked butane cloud caused a massive explosion that killed both teenagers, burning them alive. A jury later awarded nearly $300 million to family members in a wrongful death lawsuit.
In the Bloomberg expose, a Koch spokesperson argued that this was only an isolated incident.

The 'Koch Method'
In detailing past regulatory action against Koch businesses, the article interviewed whistle-blowers who had testified about their role in actions that drew enforcement. Court testimony details one man who testified under oath that he was taught to steal and cheat in business dealings, using techniques he was taught by superiors, who referred to them as the "Koch Method.

These so called libertarians would have the whole country be their "company town".
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Berton
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Noting illegal about it except in your simplethink mind.
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