#TRUTHOUT - The Other #ALEC s' K-12 #Education Agenda Exposed

This is the fourth and last article in Sarah Blaskey's and Steven Horn's series, "The Other ALECs Exposed."

For over 30 years, corporate America and its allies on both sides of the political aisle have carried out an assault on US workers, pushing down wages, slashing benefits and busting unions.

But after decades of repeated and near-fatal assaults, the US labor movement has waged a fight back, with teachers in the forefront of the battle. Public schools have become the centerpiece of the struggle. Through an array of recent policy initiatives, influential policy wonks are attempting to restructure education fundamentally. According to Jesse Hagopian, a teacher and union activist in Seattle, part of this restructuring process is happening through model bills being enacted systematically in statehouses nationwide.

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Meanwhile ...whether passed or not it indicates an active agenda that will keep coming around

Walker's War on Education: AB 51 giving away public goods 8/3/2011

Committee: Joint Committee on Finance
  AB-51 was referred to joint committee on Finance in the Assembly on August 2, 2011
      Bill History: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/2011/data/AB51hst.html
      Relating to: creating a Charter School Authorizing Board, providing additional charter school author...

WI 1848 Forward: #TRUTHOUT - The Other #ALEC s' K-12 #Education Agenda Exposed : #47% #edu #99% vs #1% #elites

Exposed: The Other ALEC s' Corporate Playbook - 6/21/12 - Horn & Blaskey, Truthout

A good article that should be a continuing series.  What it shows and tells is not really surprising but in truth it all needs to said again and again and again.  Finding or knowing about these kind of linkages and questionable connections is too difficult for most of us to figure out.  We need public access to the information, if for no other reason, to help the lazy journalists (or should I say unemployed/fired) seeking new careers as expert Googlers for background information.   If you are reading this you can encourage Truth-Out.org  to keep the "flashlight shining".

Our instincts tell us something is up ...when someone or groups seek to make it difficult to find out how they are supported or by whom.  I would like to see much more comprehensive illustration of connections.  I thank the sites/organizations that are already doing this.

From the article (click title for full article) -

How is it that no matter whom we elect as our state representatives - Democrat, Republican, or other - we most often end up with policies that privilege the corporate agenda over the public interest? ...

To the extent there has been any discussion of this playbook at all, it has centered almost exclusively on the role of the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and its model legislation process.

But a closer examination reveals a well-coordinated network of many corporate-sponsored organizations - not ALEC only - that are influential in state politics. "Stealth lobbyists" use this network to advance their clients' agendas in statehouses nationwide.

"Houston we have a problem."  


The introductory paragraph reminds me of the new book by Chris Hayes, "Twilight of the Elites."  He may have the answer postulated 100 years ago and refined(?) by Chris.


WI 1848 Forward: Exposed:The Other #ALEC s Corporate Playbook - 6/21/12 - #Horn & #Blaskey, #Truthout :  #47% #99% #ows

v2 ALEC Ctr4Media&Democracy( CMD ) - CommonCause -5/17/12-Press Conf.

Center for Media and Democracy  - Thursday May 17, 2012 ... almost live Press Conference with Common Cause - Madison WI - Capitol Assembly Parlor call on WI Attorney General  J.B. Van Hollen to investigate ALECs compliance with Wisconsin tax and lobbying laws.  There appears to be ample evidence in a summary report provided by CMD for an investigation.  In addition Common Cause filed a complaint with the IRS on April 21, 2012 questioning ALECs status .  4000 pages were submitted for review to support the complaint.

[The press conference will be embedded, as is, on this page in three parts - over time.  There may or may not be sync issues with audio/video per warning from YouTube.  If issues arise new uploads will be attempted to correct problems.]

...and just the other day this came out  Truth-Out.org - Uncovering the Other ALECs - Wednesday, 16 May 2012 00:00 By Sarah Blaskey and Steve Horn, Truthout | News Analysis 

...and so the story goes ... how Wisconsin is bought and sold

Badger Democracy "Blogging in Black" #GLLF == #ALEC

Another #ALEC : Great Lakes Legal Foundation #GLLF

... back to the press conference ...



Part I - Lisa Graves - Center for Media and Democracy

Part II - Jay Heck - Common Cause

Press questions Part III...

... and in case you need to be reminded  "Divide and Conquer" Walker

WI 1848 Forward: v2 #ALEC Ctr4Media&Democracy( #CMD ) - #CommonCause -5/17/12-Press Conf. : #47% #AARP vs #Koch #Walker

Why Are State Papers Silent About ALEC Ties to VoterID? | CMD | Fact Chk Milw. MJS

Are we paying attention ... how can we we change this lack of coverage ... make it visible!!  Click title!

News

Why Are State Newspapers Silent When It Comes to ALEC Ties to Voter ID?

by Sara Jerving — March 22, 2012 - 10:35am

Topics: Corporations

Projects: ALEC Exposed

The links between the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and "voter ID" legislation have been well-documented, but newspapers in the states impacted most severely by the voter suppression legislation have been largely silent on this connection. A new analysis by Media Matters finds that "the largest newspapers in the seven states that enacted voter ID laws in 2011 have largely ignored ALEC's influence." ALEC is a group that brings together right-wing state legislators and corporations to vote on cookie-cutter "model" bills behind closed doors. The bills largely benefit corporations and Republican political interests.
As CMD has previously reported, ALEC began to focus on voter ID shortly after 2008, when the highest general election turnout in nearly 60 years swept America's first black president into office with strong support from college students and African-Americans. Soon, "Preventing Election Fraud" was the cover story on the Inside ALEC magazine, and ALEC corporations and politicians approved "model" voter ID legislation in 2009. Around 34 voter ID bills modeled after the ALEC template were introduced in 2011.

WI 1848 Forward: Why Are State Papers Silent About #ALEC Ties to #VoterID? | #CMD | Fact Chk #MJS  EX - #Walker #Einhorn #1%

EX- #Walker #Einhorn #1% WI 1848 Forward:Why Are State Papers Silent About #ALEC Ties to #VoterID? | #CMD | Fact Chk #MJS

Upd#4 6/11 - Citizen Management - Capitol Police Style - Monday evening WORT interview

... and more ...



A further update from the reporter -







One should try to have all the facts before drawing conclusions but someone once said something like ... "what am I going to believe my lying eyes".  The words exchanged or the sequence of events leading up to this "video" may not be totally clear but it does speak for itself.  I understand that one of the individuals detained(?) was interviewed Monday evening (last night) on WORT.  In the interest of full disclosure I have briefly met that person.  I am going to find that WORT interview ... hope the rest of the "press establishment" will try to shine some bright light on these seemingly new Capitol police tactics.

A link and a quote from Emily Mills (Isthmus) has been added below and the WORT interview moved as well!

Emily's Post: An open letter to the #wiunion movement (Isthmus) on Tuesday 06/07/2011

From that source -

So when several dozen protesters made it into the building Monday via a door that has otherwise been locked, it was hard to fault them for it. The police response to the breech, however, was wildly inappropriate. Jesse Russell and others took video of what happened, and Nick Nice wrote about it:

I walked in the King St. doors and just as I entered I saw a wall of about 10 or so officers running towards the entrance. They were all primarily State troopers & Capitol police, I recognized a few of them as people who had been working security the past few times I'd visited the Capitol. I sort of scooted over to the right-hand side and stopped to watch what they were going to do. As I was watching, I saw them grab a girl and violently throw her against the marble wall and arrest her... They were being so rough with her that myself and others started yelling at the cops to leave her alone. While I was trying to get some shots I asked an officer what she was being arrested for and she told me that 'she was trying to run away from them.' I couldn't believe what I was seeing just a few feet away from me. The whole scene was quite chaotic but there weren't that many people observing it. I'd say maybe a dozen to 20 people at most. One guy was so upset by it that he went right up by the officers arresting her demanding to know what was up. At this moment a female officer came up to me and told me that I had to leave the building. I told her that I had a right to be there and she had no right to remove me. She left me alone as a few seconds later a burly bald-headed cop violently grabbed the man by the neck. The officer who was talking to me joined her other officers in violently assaulting this man for no reason whatsoever. They slammed this guy so hard into the hard marble walls that I thought they were going to kill him.

 WORT interview link (starts short bit in)

For those interested earlier photos of the rally!

Walkerville Noon Rally - some middle images - 6/6/11

Walkerville "Sold Out" Monday 6/6 M&I Bank - Fire Engine- Video

WI 1848 Forward: v2 #4 6/11 - Citizen Management - #Capitol Police Style - Monday evening interview #WORT #Madison #47% 

WI 1848 Forward: v2 #4 6/11 - Citizen Management - #Capitol Police Style - Sam #Mayfield interview #WORT #Madison #47%

 

ALEC again - Prisons and Profit - In Wisconsin????

ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) ... is this what Walker wants to do in Wisconsin?  Could be highly profitable for his cronies ... get rid of all those state employees! Click on the title (above) and see the source where someone pointed me ...

Georgia: Buying Immigrants and Selling Peaches!

Prisons for Profit - PBS NOW - Ideological Target - You Think?

Being a corrections officer -

#ALEC again - #Prisons and Profit - In #Wisconsin ???? #WI #GOP #1% #elites vs #47% #Latino #99%

WGBH: In Wis. Union Battle, Focus On Billionaire Twins 2/25/2011

Missed this story ... ancient history by now ... but the Koch brothers continue to haunt us!  Click the Title!

From the source 2/25 -

The Koch brothers give millions to such groups, including the Americans for Prosperity, which has a Stand With Walker website and TV ad.

"The eyes of the entire nation are on you today," Tim Phillips, the group's president, told a recent pro-Walker rally.

The Koch brothers provided the seed money for Americans For Prosperity a decade ago — and more than $1 million overall.

"Five years ago, my brother Charles and I provided the funds to start the Americans for Prosperity," David Koch said at an AFP rally in 2009. "And it's beyond my wildest dreams how AFP has grown into this enormous organization."

American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and Kyoto treaty - FrontLine note 2007

From the report - The Manipulation of Science (posted 2007)

In the spring of 1998, The New York Times uncovered an eight-page "action plan" (PDF file) detailing plans by parties within the American energy industry to derail the Kyoto Protocol. At the time, then-President Bill Clinton and his deputies were pushing to get the United States, the top generator of heat-trapping atmospheric pollution, to ratify the landmark treaty. Citing concern about the economic costs of meeting Kyoto's required greenhouse gas reductions, representatives from Exxon, Chevron, a key oil industry trade group called the American Petroleum Institute, major electricity generator Southern Company and several conservative think tanks developed the memo.

...ExxonMobil was one of the last holdouts and as recently as 2005 gave large grants to various organizations mentioned in the memo. According to the UCS Report, $241,500 went to the American Legislative Exchange Council (AELC), which works to fight state and local initiatives to combat global warming. Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) got $270,000.

WI 1848 Forward: American Legislative Exchange Council #ALEC & Kyoto treaty - #FrontLine note 2007 #ClimateChange

UP TOO Early: Ignorance is Bliss, but What is it Costing YOU?

A developing source ... the things we can find out together ... then we have to hope words make a difference!

From the source (click title) -

People, we need to be aware of this organization - I don't care what your political leanings are; you need to know this. It HAS IMPACTED YOU - your finances, your life. IT WILL IMPACT YOU.

I have provided the source of this information below - THEIR OWN WEB SITE from 1999, which is still available courtesy of the Wayback Machine, a web archive service.

Home for IceFishingLady (whose season is just getting started!) -Up Too Early

SeeYouInCincy at ALEC - Protest and TeachIns

The Enquirer is one of the local Cincinnati press (aka Cincinnati.com)?  It stayed home?  Not even a mention of event(s)?

Protest Greets Legislative Ghostwriters in Cincinnati; Enquirer Absent April 30, 2011 - sentientcincinnati

From the source -

An anonymous group, they gathered to plan their next legislative roll-out for America.  They were greeted outside the Hilton by bucket drums, megaphones, and a hundred angry voices.  Three blocks away, The Cincinnati Enquirer stayed home.

... But as the group’s annual Spring Task Force Summit convened yesterday, so did journalists and activists from across the Midwest.  And during a two-hour protest and 19 public “teach-ins” across downtown Cincinnati, speakers described a group bent on bloating corporate profits, at the expense of taxpayers and jobs.

Indianapolis-based Daily Kos journalist Bob Sloan told an audience at the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center about a growing ALEC-supported movement to provide cheap inmate labor to corporations, by criminalizing immigration, relaxing child-labor laws, and abolishing “prevailing wages” rules for working inmates.

 ...
Although ALEC has non-profit status, it appears to behave more like a political action committee, with its member list and model legislation texts both kept under wraps.  But with the election of Governor John Kasich, who was a founding member of ALEC, the promotion of Boehner to Speaker of the House, and 25% off baseball tickets offered by Reds, Ohio may feel like receptive territory this year.

Also active from Ohio are Senator Bill Seitz, Chair of the Civil Justice Task Force, and Rep. John P. Adams (R-78th), ALEC’s Ohio state Chairman.  Ohio University economics professor Richard Vedder sits on ALEC’s Board of Scholars, and Reps. Andrew O. Brenner (R-2nd) and Danny Bubp (R-88th) were tweeting from the summit.

...The two sides will have another opportunity to face off this August, when the board holds its annual meeting in New Orleans.

Start organizing and planning!  They do!


http://www.benzinga.com/press-releases/11/04/e1045412/state-legislators-gather-and-discuss-state-policy-solutions

Help Discover RT Wing LINKS: ALEC - US Chamber of Commerce - Mackinac Center

Have got some time to do some reading ... and some file space of course?!  The Daily Kos needs your help!

UPDATED: Anonymous Hits Chamber!

From source -

As we speak I'm sitting on a mile high pile of data released about the US Chamber of Commerce. Thousands and thousands of docs released a few hours ago. Wanna help read through the docs and see what crazy things the Chamber is up to? There's thousands of these docs. It's a 1.2 GIGABYTE download. My computer is choking on it. Looks like a lot of docs scraped from their sites.

...It contains documents from an organization that particularly makes my teeth curl, the Michigan based Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Those are the dudes who brought us the Overton Window. They're kind of nuts.

ALEC (Amer Legis. Exchange Council) and Medicaid

Great blog that includes historical data that illustrates the difference between strategic approaches to politics vs the here-and-now of tactics.

DailyKos - Sun Apr 17, 2011 - ALEC and Medicaid by MNDem999

What won't ALEC be working April 29th in Cincinnati OH?

Find more in this blog about Cincinnati Protest Rally

... and back home in Wisconsin and the Nation -

FitzwalkerStan to Annex Ryangoria - Healthcare Medicaid Medicare

See blog sidebar on Walker's War on Safety Net



WI 1848 Forward: #ALEC (Amer Legis. Exchange Council) and #Medicaid : #47% #99% #dems vs #Walker Dynasty #Koch Empire #1% #GOP

ALEC Spring Meeting (4/29) Cincinnati Ohio - Rally Against

ALEC meeting in Cincinnati April 29th - anybody got a camera?

Well at least we know nothing bad will happen in Wisconsin about that time (we can hope)?

William Cronon Homepage

From the Source -seems to be a really focused website?

Protest ALEC – APRIL 29th, 2011 

On March 15th, University of Wisconsin Professor Bill Cronon posted a study guide on his blog on the history and actions of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).  ...

On April 29th, ALEC will hold their spring task force meeting in downtown Cincinnati. This is when and where they will cook up the next offensive on the American public. At noon, we will hold a mass protest action in a public space (Fountain Square) one block from ALEC’s meeting place. We are also organizing housing for visitors traveling to Cincinnati, and we are securing spaces for organizations to hold their own teach-ins and actions.

WI - Reprise from 3/17/11 - #NPR an Ideological Target! Why? - #ALEC #NRA - #Cronon

On March 17th when this note (my blog) was originally posted Professor Cronon (UW - Madison) had just posted his note (3/15) about how we should all be "educating" ourselves about how our democracy works.  I had visited his blog on 3/16 and was reminded of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) but not much more.  ALEC had not yet in and of it self become a "hot topic" even with Professor Cronon's blog.  This seems to have changed with the FOIA request by the Wisconsin Republican Party of Professor Cronon's UW-Madison emails.

Going back to 3/17:  Sometime later, again in following the news, the issue of public funding for NPR / PBS and "gotcha videos" became a hot topic.   I recalled that there had been some "news" about ALEC from NPR or PBS or both -  it seemed to me it was "video" but in my searching I stopped searching when I found the NPR (quite politely labeled) audio story below.

When I posted (3/17) the suggestion of why NPR might be an "ideological" target I knew that ALEC was the subject of the audio.  To me it was just an example how Republican's / conservatives have seemed to be able to organize and identify long-term objectives and strategies to work toward them.  I left another, personal example, on Professor Cronon's blog about David Keene and the American Conservative Union and how this classmate of mine (at the UW) knew he most wanted to be a "Republican" at the age of 18 or 19 - this is roughly 48 years ago.   

12/21/2012 - Just noticed that David Keene was/is President of the NRA

First, perhaps the rest of us think too short term or tactically and when we organize to support "collective bargaining" or some other cause we need to be more like a conservative.  

Second, we  need "journalists" to be vigilant and thoughtful and perhaps a little more strident about asking tough questions and not just "neutral" reporting of sound bites and platitudes.

Here is a good example of deeper thinking and reporting -

Vital Signs: State GOP health bills mirror model ALEC legislation by Shawn Doherty - CapTimes

from the article ... 

Republicans (WI) have proposed a pair of bills  that would allow insurance policies in Wisconsin to ingore state mandates requiring coverage for a broad variety of medical treatments and conditions, including autism, cochlear implants and mental health problems. One of these bills would allow out-of-state health insurers to offer plans in Wisconsin that do not conform to the state's mandates.

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From 3/17 Blog:

NPR an Ideological Target! Why?

Click the title for NY Times link (3/14).       Because their audience is growing!

3/17/2011 ...and another kind of reason
Shaping State Laws With Little Scrutiny by Laura Sullivan

... as I recall some state legislators were "given" scholarships to attend ... it would be interesting to trace legislation back to Wisconsin and our Legislative Reference Bureau where it would be redrafted for introduction ... any students need a project?

WI 1848 Forward:Reprise 3/17/11 - #NPR an Ideological Target! Why? - #ALEC #NRA - #Cronon : David #Keene Pres #NRA