you betcha their money is influencing maine politics:
hmmm maine ties ! you betchya!
ALEC claims it has little to do with the conflagration in Wisconsin, but investigative reporters, university researchers and liberal critics see the group’s fingerprints on much of the recent legislation there. In addition, Rep. Robin Vos, who co-chairs Wisconsin’s Joint Finance Committee, is the Wisconsin state chair of ALEC, and the leaders of Wisconsin’s assembly... and senate, two brothers named Jeff and Scott Fitzgerald, are also members. Scott Walker is a former ALEC member, as is his Secretary of Administration, Michael Huebsch.

“Walker’s policies are 100 percent in line with ALEC,” said Scot Ross of the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now. “His middle name should be ALEC.”

Critics point to recent Wisconsin measures like the elimination of a capital gains tax, the enactment of a voter-ID rule and the expansion of charter-school programs that are all aligned with ALEC’s positions. Conservative leaders also boast about ALEC’s national influence.

“ALEC is one of the most influential, unknown bodies in America,” said Shawn Steel, the former chair of the California Republican Party. “Now that Republicans are dominating most states, ALEC has become a fabulous idea factory.”

ALEC was established in 1973 largely by Paul Weyrich, the conservative macher behind the Heritage Foundation and the phrase “moral majority.” He was, of all places, from Wisconsin.