Rightwing taskforce secretly approves anti-environment resolutions
In Washington last week, Alec, a group that links lobbyists with state lawmakers, approved measures to boost Donald Trump’s pro-fossil fuel agenda
Inside a little-known bulwark of conservative state policy, in a hotel conference room in Washington DC, state lawmakers and corporate lobbyists last week voted for a slate of anti-environment measures.
They approved resolutions supporting stripping tax benefits from electric vehicles and endorsing Donald Trump’s pro-fossil fuel energy agenda. And they voted down a proposal to limit monopoly control of the power industry, which backers said would give consumers more choice and help grow renewable electricity faster and more cheaply.
The group, a taskforce of the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), did so behind closed doors. They barred press from the rooms where they called roll. When voice votes were close and a tally was required, the business representatives weighing in on what kinds of policies state legislatures should pursue voted in secret. They cast ballots on paper, in a change that four sources said organizers announced was meant to keep the process confidential from reporters.
An Alec spokeswoman, Anna Tarnawski, said taskforce meetings and votes are closed to the press because “legislators are testing ideas and debating, and often are taking contrary positions for the purpose of debate and informing the conversation. They don’t want to be held to a policy declaration in the meeting because it might not necessarily be what they believe or where they’re going.”
The deliberations of a private group such as Alec, where elected officials meet out of public view with big business, highlight the divides the Republican party is struggling with as it courts both rightwing social conservatives and free-market Republicans.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/04/alec-taskforce-vote-approve-anti-environment-measures
FUCK YOU ALEC.......................maybe it's time you were brought into a federal hearing.....................on how you politically game the system under the RICO ACT................and have Charles and David Koch and others that fund this POS organization to be brought in under oath.........................no wonder zippy the traitor wanted and did take away the tax incentive for electric cars at GM..............................
November 3, 2020 cannot get here fast enough................