Kochtopus

The Trayon Martin consequence is just the tip of the iceberg when it come to the insidious activities of ALEC. The American Legislative Exchange Council is a 501(c)(3) organization of around 2000 conservative legislators nationwide. Tax exempt, nonprofit – yet very secretive. They refuse to disclose a membership list or how model bills originate, and their legislative members avoid admitting being influenced by the Council, or even being affiliated. When an ALEC Accountability Act was proposed to force legislators to disclose their ALEC ties, the bill did not even receive a committee hearing. Legislative members suggest ALEC model bills in their states without disclosing authorship. Model bills are produced, and about 200 become law every year. It would be hard to overstate ALEC’s reach into important policy.

ALEC is funded by groups such as the Charles Koch Foundation and other Koch groups, Exxon Mobil, and the Sciafe family. Only 2% of funding comes from the heavily subsidized (smell the corruption?) dues. As will be explained, these dues represent quite exceptional value. So when one begins to understand who is behind this organization, the sudden pangs of caught-in-the-act guilt felt by certain corporations will not be sufficient to quell this hydra-headed beast.

In 2012 The New York Times reports; “Some companies give much more, all of it tax deductible: AT&T, Pfizer and Reynolds American each contributed $130,000 to $398,000, according to a copy of ALEC’s 2010 tax returns, obtained by The Times, that included donors’ names, which are normally withheld from public inspection. The returns show that corporate members pay stipends — it calls them “scholarships” — for lawmakers to travel to annual conferences, including a four-day retreat where ALEC spends as much as $250,000 on child care for members’ families.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/us/alec-a-tax-exempt-group-mixes-legislators-and-lobbyists.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

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