Chairman’s Note: The Vermillion Plain Talk followed six other South Dakota newspapers condemning Republican legislators using tax dollars on ALEC dues and travel. A corporate financed conservative organization, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) matches corporations with Republican legislators to draft “model” corporate friendly bills for legislators to push back home. But you can stop them. Join hundreds of other South Dakotans by signing the petition: No Tax Dollars for ALEC dues!
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Republican lawmakers want taxpayers to pay for their membership to ALEC, a hyper-partisan organization.
Come Home America
At McGovern Day 2013 we had the pleasure to unveil the George McGovern tribute video “Come Home America”
McGovern Day 2013
S.D. Democrats honored George McGovern, celebrated Sen. Tim Johnson, welcomed Heidi Heitkamp and got fired up for the 2014 elections.
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Latest News & Blog
Daugaard Mall Trip Elicits Comment on What We’re Up Against →
Chairman’s Note: This week, Governor Dennis Daugaard flew to the Mall of America to try and convince Minnesotans to move next door. Our friend Matt McGovern says it best: “Let this be a lesson to governors of other states: If you don’t invest enough in education year after year, you will find yourself at the Mall of America trying to talk people into moving to your state to fill skilled positions.”
Varilek Appointed Regional Administrator For SBA →
Chairman’s Note: Our dear friend Matt Varilek accepted an appointment this week to be the regional administrator for the Small Business Administration. He’s up to the task. With economic development experience in the private and public sectors, Varilek knows how to support entrepreneurs, small business owners, and local communities. Congratulations on the new job, Matt. We look forward to seeing what great things you’ll do for South Dakota going forward.
Open-records law exemptions Rounds signed into law now keep his own records private →
Chairman’s Note: Last week, national groups called out Governor Mike Rounds for hiding his taxpayer funded communications from public scrutiny. Why is Rounds so dismissive of transparency? Well, every time his closed door deals saw the light of day, Rounds got burned – whether it was approving huge tax breaks for big corporations like TransCanada or flying the state airplane for personal travel. If Rounds thinks he can forget his past, he better think again.
What is ALEC and why does it matter for South Dakota?
What is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and why does it matter for South Dakota? Below is Rep. Peggy Gibson’s (D-Huron) weekly “House Highlights” explaining the issue in detail for all South Dakotans:
“In last week’s column I discussed an Executive Board’s decision to fund individual legislative memberships to ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council), a radical right-wing organization that fosters a secretive process that allows corporate lobbyists and billionaires to write legislation for state legislatures. In review, the E-Board is the 15-member body that governs South Dakota’s Legislative Research Council. This board consists of seven senators and eight representatives-12 majority party and 3 minority party members. The main function of the E-Board is to consider policies between legislative sessions.
At their May meeting, majority party E-Board members authorized spending $10,500 of our taxpayer dollars for membership dues to ALEC-that’s $100 per member for 105 members of the Legislature. In addition, the majority party E-Board members sanctioned the spending of thousands of taxpayer dollars for future travel and expenses to ALEC meetings and conventions. That’s airfare, hotel accommodations and meals that may be reimbursed to each Legislator who attends an ALEC meeting or convention. For example, if the nine South Dakota State Legislators who attended the ALEC Spring Task Force convention in Oklahoma recently are reimbursed at $2,000 each, that’s potentially $18,000 of our taxpayer dollars being spent to adversely influence laws in our South Dakota Legislature.
The Executive Board’s new travel policy (May 1st 2013-June 30th 2014) is as follows: Any legislator, who has been selected as a member of the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL), the Council of State Governments (CSG), the Midwestern Legislative Conference (MLC) or the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) will be reimbursed for travel expenses. And, any member of the executive governing board of the NCSL, CSG, MLC or ALEC will be reimbursed for travel expenses to attend board meetings. As I stated in last week’s column this is the first time in the history of the South Dakota State Legislature that ALEC has been included in any state funding.
Just exactly what is ALEC? The right- wing activist Paul Weyrich founded the American Legislative Exchange Council in 1973. ALEC is not a lobby; it is not a front group. It is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, behind closed doors, corporations hand state legislators the changes to the laws they desire that directly benefit their bottom line. Corporate representatives, along with legislators, have membership in ALEC. Corporate representatives sit on all nine ALEC task forces and vote with legislators to approve “model” bills. They have their own corporate governing board that meets jointly with the legislative board. ALEC claims that corporations do not vote on the board. But, corporations fund almost all of ALEC’s operations. Participating legislators, overwhelmingly conservative right-wing activists, then bring ALEC proposals to their home states and introduce them in statehouses across the nation as their own brilliant ideas and important public policy innovations—without disclosing that in fact corporations crafted and voted on these proposed bills.
Who funds ALEC? More than 98% of ALEC’s revenues come from sources other than legislative dues, such as corporations, corporate trade groups and corporate foundations. According to my research, each corporate member pays an annual fee of between $7,000 and $25,000 per year. And if the corporation participates in any of the nine task forces, additional fees apply, from $2,500 to $10,000 each year. ALEC also receives direct grants from corporations. Its big financiers include Exxon Mobil, the Olin and Scaife families, the Coors family and foundations tied to Koch Industries.
Next week I will elaborate on ALEC legislation and the legal and ethical concerns with ALEC affiliation. Thanks for your continued interest in South Dakota State government.”
(Originally authored by Rep. Peggy Gibson for publication on week of May 15th, 2013)
Want to fight back? Be a petition signer today, and we’ll show Republican legislators this is an election issue: No Tax Dollars for ALEC Dues!