Building a progressive alternative to ALEC

[applegrove]

Building a progressive alternative to ALEC

By Katrina vanden Heuvel at the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/katrina-vanden-heuvel-building-a-progressive-alternative-to-alec/2014/07/28/36ee41a6-1697-11e4-9e3b-7f2f110c6265_story.html

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ALEC remains the ubiquitous conservative puppet-master; its fingerprints and that of its most well-known supporters (the Koch brothers, Exxon Mobil, Pfizer, AT&T, etc.) can be found all over right-wing legislation that has made its way through the state and local legislative process. To understand the magnitude of its influence, consider that of the more than 100 bills introduced between 2011 and 2013 to repeal or weaken minimum wage laws, 67 of them related back to ALEC. And in 2009, 115 of ALEC’s 826 model bills were enacted into law.

I’m often asked why progressives haven’t developed an organization of its own to mirror the success of ALEC. The problem is, it’s not just the legislation that ALEC writes that progressives should object to; it’s also the methods they use to get it passed. ALEC operates without transparency, using an army of lobbyists to penetrate state agendas. They strong-arm lawmakers into granting corporate wishes and do the bidding of their biggest funders. What they do runs counter to the values of anyone who considers themselves a big “D” — or small “d” — democrat.


Still, there is the need for some kind of counterweight to ALEC, one built and operated with progressive values in mind. And soon, we might have one.

Recently, the American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange and the Progressive States Network announced a merger to build an organization that will be focused on moving a progressive policy agenda in the states. While the goals of the new undertaking may resemble those of ALEC, their methods are vastly different. They will operate transparently, use no lobbyists, and make their model legislation and resources available to everyone; their database already showcases 1,800 examples of progressive legislation. And they will engage with people, not corporations.


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[cheapdate]

1. Its pretty tough to compete with the money of corporations and big business.

I could try to rally every progressive in my community and we can do everything we can do. A big corporation can make a $50,000 media advertisement buy and write it off as a business expense.

There is an inherent inequality.

[Gothmog]

2. ALEC depended on secrecy and avoiding public scutiny

I doubt that a progressive alternative could or should duplicate these tactics. The steps that ALEC takes to hide its actions and bills is really scary. I am glad that any progressive alternative will be in the open

[HereSince1628]

3. We need our thinking controlled by information outlets of oligarchs?

Clearly we on the left are shooting ourselves in the foot objecting to the phalangist DLC/3rd way.

Or not.

In this case isn't the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach a suicide strategy for democracy?