WI Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison): The Secret Society Known as ALEC

[highplainsdem]

I found the blogs Pocan wrote for The Progressive about the ALEC conference in New Orleans a month ago via a post by Dave Bradley at Blog for Iowa.

I want to start with Pocan's second blog, because his "secret society" label for ALEC is so accurate.

http://progressive.org/alec_convention_secret.html

He starts by quoting Wikipedia's definition of a secret society, then explains how it fits, from the secrecy and paranoia to the activities that couldn't stand much public scrutiny.

-snip-

After spending the last three days at the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) annual convention, I find this definition extremely on-target. The part I found especially relevant was the description of acting as a covert group that hides their activities and membership but maintains a public presence. That is ALEC.

-snip-

I understand why they have such intense secrecy. They should. They are nothing more than a front for passing on corporate and special interest wish lists to conservative legislators, really a matchmaking service as I have described before. Call it corporate match.com I guess. But it is clear what goes on.

-snip-

At a workshop I attended, one Texas legislator, who moderated the forum, went as far as to say that that we are a big football team. The legislators are the football players and the corporate lobbyists and special interest group presenters are “our” coaches.

-snip-

So there are many good reasons why ALEC should be a secret society. If the public really knew what they were and what they do, a lot of legislators would have some explaining to do. But fortunately for them, most media will never report on this. That allows the “secret” part to keep going, unfortunately for us, at a very successful pace.

Pocan also points out that ALEC's legislator members, its public sector members, are given good advice by their "coaches" -- including, at one education workshop, advice to avoid introducing their corporate-written legislation one bill at a time, which would give opponents more of a chance to defeat it, and to instead introduce a multi-point agenda so opponents would have to fight on multiple fronts. This definitely helps explain the avalanche of really harmful ALEC-derived state legislation we've seen this year.


Two days earlier, Pocan posted his first blog at the The Progressive about the ALEC conference:

ALEC Watch: What I did on my Summer Vacation

http://progressive.org/alec_watch_new_orleans.html

I really thought it would take more than five minutes in New Orleans before I realized the conservative movement had landed.

But it didn’t.

As I was waiting for my bags, I heard a mid-thirties woman talking on the phone. “Yah, I’m down in New Orleans for the American Legislative Exchange Council meeting. We write legislation, and they pass our ideas. It’s the free market.”

I could have taken the next flight home, as that pretty much summed up what I am to experience over the next three days. ALEC (it’s acronym) is an organization that is much like a dating service, only with legislators and special interests. It matches them up, builds a relationships, culminates with the birth of special interest legislation and ends happily ever after. That’s happy for the special corporate interests that is.

-snip-

[Generic Other]

1. So disgusting

Makes me want to spit nails at them!

[iemitsu]

2. it seems that this is evidence of a conspiracy.

and this is how those participating justify their behavior.
“Yah, I’m down in New Orleans for the American Legislative Exchange Council meeting. We write legislation, and they pass our ideas. It’s the free market.”
is this "free market" strategy or subterfuge?

[bobthedrummer]

3. ALEC EXPOSED (A project of The Center for Media and Democracy, Madison WI)

ALEC is secretive-and CULTISH. Here's more about ALEC for those of US that are gearing up for real class war here in battlezone Wisconsin.

ALEC EXPOSED
http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed