The Trojan Horse

ALEC - The Corporate Arm of the Corporate Government



And look who else showed up:

http://www.alec.org/3/annual-meeting.html

And do check out which legislators are being handsomely rewarded for their services. I wonder if they advertised their affiliation with ALEC when they ran for office?:



(Philadelphia, PA)—The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) congratulates its 2007 Legislator’s of the Year. This award goes to state legislators who are ALEC members in good standing and have distinguished themselves by advancing, introducing and/or enacting policies based on the fundamental Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism and individual liberty.
Honored at ALEC’s 34th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylavnia the Legislators of the year are: Arizona State Senator Robert Burns; Nevada State Senator Dennis Nolan; Mississippi State Senator Charlie Ross; Missouri State Representative Rodney Hubbard; Nevada State Senator Bob Beers; and Connecticut State Representative William Hamzy.
Each of these elected officials have placed themselves at the forefront of pursuing policy solutions based on Jeffersonian principles in sometimes difficult situations,” Said Missouri State Representative and an ALEC National Board Member, Jane Cunningham on presenting the award...>

http://www.alec.org/news


And don't miss this December's meeting and speakers:

http://www.alec.org/alec-meetings.html

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Wanna know what policies you'll be seeing in the headlines? You'll just have to join ALEC.

Here's a membership form. Join today! http://www.alec.org/meSWFiles/pdf/ALECMembershipBrochure.pdf

But first some info about what you can expect to be involved with should you join:
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=6990&print=yes

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The organization is composed of 2,400 conservative state lawmakers, plus representatives of some 300 corporations. It says its membership is 70 percent Republican and 30 percent Democratic. The only larger state lawmakers’ organization is the bipartisan National Conference of State Legislatures, which counts all 7,382 state representatives and senators as members because they are enrolled automatically upon election.

..snip..

The agenda of ALEC is to serve corporation using legislation as a tool," said Andrew Gussert, who helped put together a 2002 joint report by the National Resources Defense Council and Defenders of Wildlife that called ALEC "corporate America’s Trojan Horse in the states.”

"They don't want to be known," Gussert told Stateline.org. "The more that they can stay in the background, the more effective and efficient they are. Their goal is not to have these things be called ALEC bills."

http://www.stateline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=136&languageId=1&contentId=35924

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Corporate America's Trojan Horse:

Excerpt:

ALEC�s corporate leaders became concerned in the mid-1990s about the issue of �buying access,� as Les Goldberg of American Express Company put it at one ALEC meeting in 1997. The minutes of the meeting go on to note that Duane Parde, then ALEC�s executive director, said the organization was �steering clear of that charge� in part by �fundraising for general, rather than specific, support,� and by changing the operating procedures of ALEC�s task forces �to limit exposure in that area.�

Consequently, ALEC�s most recent tax return shows a change in accounting procedures to reflect no revenue from its task forces, down from $300,895 in 1999 and multimillion-dollar amounts in previous years. ALEC is not required by law to disclose how much individual corporations and trade associations have donated. But a review of ALEC�s publications, tax returns and news accounts show that ALEC�s major benefactors have included:

Alcoholic Beverages
Coors Brewing Company
Distilled Spirits Council of the United States
Miller Brewing Company
Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc.
Seagram North America

Automobiles
Avis Rent a Car
DaimlerChrysler Corporation
Ford Motor Company
General Motors Corporation

Banks/Financial Services
American General Financial Group
American Express Company
Bank of America
Community Financial Services Corporation
Credit Card Coalition
Credit Union National Association, Inc.
Fidelity Investments
Harris Trust & Savings Bank
Household International
LaSalle National Bank
J.P. Morgan & Company
Non-Bank Funds Transmitters Group

Criminal Justice
American Bail Corporation
Corrections Corporation of America
National Association of Bail Insurance Companies
Wackenhut Corrections

Energy Producers/Oil
American Petroleum Institute
Amoco Corporation
ARCO
BP America, Inc.
Caltex Petroleum
Chevron Corporation
ExxonMobil Corporation
Mobil Oil Corporation
Phillips Petroleum Company

Energy Producers/Other
American Electric Power Association
American Gas Association
Center for Energy and Economic Development
Commonwealth Edison Company
Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.
Edison Electric Institute
Enron Corporation
Independent Power Producers of New York
Koch Industries, Inc.
Mid-American Energy Company
Natural Gas Supply Association
PG&E Corporation/PG&E National Energy Group
U.S. Generating Company

Health Care
American Physical Therapy Association
Baxter Healthcare Corporation

Insurance
Alliance of American Insurers
Allstate Insurance Company
American Council of Life Insurance
American Insurance Association
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Corporation
Coalition for Asbestos Justice. (This organization
was formed in October 2000 to �explore new
judicial approaches to asbestos litigation.� Its
members include ACE-USA, Chubb & Son,
CNA service mark companies, Fireman�s
Fund Insurance Company, Hartford
Financial Services Group, Inc., Kemper
Insurance Companies, Liberty Mutual
Insurance Group, and St. Paul Fire and
Marine Insurance Company. Counsel to the
coalition is Victor E. Schwartz of the law
firm of Crowell & Moring in Washington,
D.C., a longtime ALEC ally.)
Fortis Health
GEICO
Golden Rule Insurance Company
Guarantee Trust Life Insurance
MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company
National Association of Independent Insurers
Nationwide Insurance/National Financial
State Farm Insurance Companies
Wausau Insurance Companies
Zurich Insurance

Law/Lobbying
Skelding, Labasky, Corry, Hauser, Metz & Daws
Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker

Manufacturing
American Plastics Council
Archer Daniels Midland Corporation
AutoZone, Inc. (aftermarket automotive parts)
Cargill, Inc.
Caterpillar, Inc.
Chlorine Chemistry Council
Deere & Company
Fruit of the Loom
Grocery Manufacturers of America
Inland Steel Industries, Inc.
International Game Technology
International Paper
Johnson & Johnson
Keystone Automotive Industries
Motorola, Inc.
Procter & Gamble
Sara Lee Corporation

Media
American Lawyer Media, Inc.
R.R. Donnelly & Sons Company
Primedia, Inc.
The Washington Times

Pharmaceuticals
Abbott Laboratories
Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Bayer Corporation
Eli Lilly & Company
GlaxoSmithKline
Glaxo Wellcome, Inc.
Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc.
Merck & Company, Inc.
Pfizer, Inc.
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of
America (PhRMA)
Pharmacia Corporation
Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Inc.
Schering-Plough Corporation
Smith, Kline & French
WYETH, a division of American Home
Products Corporation

Restaurants
McDonald�s Corporation
Wendy�s International, Inc.

Technology
America Online
Americans for Technology Leadership
Intel Corporation
KeySpan
Microsoft Corporation
TechCentralStation.com

Telecommunications
AT&T
Ameritech
BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc.
GTE Corporation
MCI
National Cable and Telecommunications Association
SBC Communications, Inc.
Sprint
UST Public Affairs, Inc.
Verizon Communications, Inc.

Tobacco
Cigar Association of America, Inc.
Lorillard Tobacco Company
Philip Morris Management Corporation
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
Smokeless Tobacco Council

Transportation
Air Transport Association of America
American Trucking Association
The Boeing Company
United Airlines
United Parcel Service

Other
Amway Corporation
Cabot Sedgewick
Cendant Corporation
Corrections Corporation of America
Dresser Industries
Federated Department Stores
International Gold Corporation
Mary Kay Cosmetics
Microsoft Corporation
Newmont Mining Corporation
Quaker Oats
Sears, Roebuck & Company
Service Corporation International
Taxpayers Network, Inc.
Turner Construction
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Organizations/Foundations
Adolph Coors Foundation
Ameritech Foundation
Bell & Howell Foundation
Carthage Foundation
Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation
ELW Foundation
Grocery Manufacturers of America
Heartland Institute of Chicago
The Heritage Foundation
Iowans for Tax Relief
Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation of Milwaukee
National Pork Producers Association
National Rifle Association
Olin Foundation
Roe Foundation
Scaiffe Foundation
Shell Oil Company Foundation
Smith Richardson Foundation
Steel Recycling Institute
Tax Education Support Organization
Texas Educational Foundation
UPS Foundation

http://alecwatch.org/chapterfour.html



Ahhh yes....representative government at work. They just haven't said WHO they represent.

it's good to know that corporate lobbyists are representing "real Americans."

is it just possible she is their Trojan Horse?

Corporations have devised this Trojan Horse and paid our legislators to sell it to the public.



Article: Free meal? Corporations help pay for legislator conference

excerpt:

Democrat Marlin Schneider of Wisconsin Rapids said he dropped out of ALEC a few years ago after attending their conferences and determining the group's agenda was too "right-wing."

"There was nothing in the way of balance," Schneider said, noting it was unlike other legislative conferences he has attended.

What's also troubling to clean-government advocates is that most of the legislators' expenses are covered by scholarships from ALEC. The group paid 19 Wisconsin lawmakers more than $32,000 in 2003 to attend their meetings, according to economic interest statements legislators filed with the state Ethics Board.

Wisconsin legislators will receive expense reimbursements of about $1,000 each for the Seattle conference, Ladwig said, adding that lawmakers will cover any costs above that amount.

Ladwig said 57 Wisconsin legislators belong to ALEC; 15 of them are in Seattle.

The group has strong Wisconsin roots: Former Gov. Tommy G. Thompson was one of its early members, according to ALEC's Web site; and the group was organized by Racine native Paul Weyrich, president of a Washington, D.C., think tank called the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation...>


http://tinyurl.com/33jytv

the organization members want passed.

Evidently, they have minions from corporations who actually write the whole bill, and a state rep just introduces it under his/her name.