Forwarded:
Teletruth News Alert: December 3rd, 2007

LINK TO THE FULL ARTICLE

How much of your state’s legislation is being drafted by industry?

The American Legislative Council, or ALEC, lets corporations cultivate
legislators and win support for industry-written bills while not technically
breaking lobbying rules – and paying no taxes. (First of two articles)

Q. The American Legislative Council, or ALEC, is a corporate-funded group
that gives large donations and other perks to legislators in states across
the country. It writes industry-serving bills that those legislators
introduce and get enacted. How many legislators in your state are or were members of ALEC?

Q. How many ALEC-drafted bills, if any, were introduced by legislators in your state? How many were enacted?

Q. ALEC is a tax exempt 501(c)(3) group. Should it be?

In previous articles I discussed Astroturf groups (fake grassroots
organizations), co-opted groups (activists that bend to serve donors), and
think tanks whose research is aimed at serving the special interests that
fund them.

This cast of characters churns out corporate-friendly data. But the real action takes place when laws are passed based on this one-two sucker punch of skewed data and high-priced, propaganda-style marketing — a process to which the public is not invited. The drafting of proposed legislation is often a done deal before the public knows it has begun, much less has a
chance for input.

LINK TO THE FULL ARTICLE:
http://niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ask_this.view&askthisid=00304