[dropcap]L[/dropcap]eaked reports prepared this summer by the American Legislative Exchange Council — a “free market” organization that advocates on behalf of corporations and is known by the acronym ALEC — highlight the priorities of the group and its intimate relationships with and expectations of state lawmakers, including lawmakers in Colorado and specifically state ALEC “chairs,” such as latest-listed Colorado chairs Senator Bill Cadman from Colorado Springs and Representative Libby Szabo from Arvada.
In a section entitled “State Chair Job Description and Agreement,” part of a 53-page board-meeting agenda produced in August and posted online Tuesday by the Guardian, Cadman and Szabo are asked to increase lawmaker membership, appoint legislators to various task forces, manage funds provided by ALEC for events and travel, organize and attend all ALEC events and “training sessions” and develop a “state strategic plan” to advance the interests of ALEC and its corporate member-donors, which include oil, telecom, drug, insurance and tobacco industry giants like Exxon Mobil, AT&T, Pfizer, State Farm and Altria. (Click on the document images to expand.)
ALEC state chairs, according to the document, would also be tasked with filing regular reports to ALEC headquarters.
In addition to these commitments, the board asks the office holders to sign off on a loyalty oath that might shock constituents.
“I am morally responsible for the health and well-being of this organization,” lawmakers are asked to agree. “I will act with care and loyalty and put the interests of the organization first.”
State chairs signing the document also would agree to “inform ALEC of any public records/FOIA requests that include ALEC documents.”
Guardian writers first reporting on the documents, which appear to have been leaked exclusively to the outlet, said the drafters appear unabashed about running over elected officials’ obligation to hold the public interest as their first priority.
“The duty of elected politicians to put the interests of Alec first, with no mention of their obligations to the voters who put them in office, would have set up an apparent conflict of interest,” write reporters Ed Pilkington and Suzanne Goldenberg.
Cadman, the Senate minority leader, and Representative Szabo didn’t respond immediately to messages seeking comment this morning.
An ALEC executive told the Guardian that the draft agreement with state chairs was not adopted at the meeting.
“All legislators are beholden to their constituents’ interests first – if they are not, they will be held accountable at the ballot box,” said Bill Meierling, senior director of public affairs.
The cache of documents also details how ALEC has lost members and donors over the past year as its public profile has grown and its policy positions have become more widely known. The documents make clear that the organization is also concerned it will be increasingly subject to laws intended to tax lobbying organizations and throw light on their financial dealings. Board members planned to create a sister organization, called the “Jeffersonian Project,” that would be designed to fall into a separate tax category than ALEC and that would carry out the kind of activities for the organization that would sound alarms in watchdog tax and ethics offices.
ALEC is one of the most influential political interest groups in the nation. It writes bills for lawmakers to introduce and provides coaching on how to present and pass them. Its membership includes nearly “a quarter of all elected representatives at state level across the nation,” according to the Guardian. That includes many of the top Republican officeholders in Colorado including, for example, Senator Greg Brophy, who is now running for governor.
The organization anticipated pulling in $3.9 million in membership dues this year, although bad press may cut that amount by a third.
ALEC is hosting a three-day meeting in Washington for state legislators beginning today. Scheduled speakers include national figures like anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist and U.S. lawmakers Ted Cruz and Paul Ryan.
ALEC is a seditious organization that should be immediately disbanded for working against the citizens of the US. ANY rep or senator who signs up with these vermin needs to be run out of town on a rail, and I mean IMMEDIATELY. They are nothing but sell outs for the money. PERIOD. There isn’t a law that ALEC has been for that has been good for the country, and in fact, their goals are NOT positive for the people of this country. Look at what they want, it’s like a wish list from the absolute WORST ideas the world has ever had. Everything they want is mean, nasty, deadly, and against the wishes and lives of the American citizen. They need to be exposed and shut down.
Public financing of all elections would put an end to their influence, if done right.
I am disgusted that no one seems to give a damn about this enough to even comment. Your government is being stolen from under your feet by big business, who is screwing you at every opportunity, and NO ONE seems to care at all. For the love of God, is this state THAT bought and sold that no one even comments on HOW MUCH we’re screwed by this?
If you don’t give a damn about this, then you don’t car about the state, your neighborhood, or the country at all. If this is the level of apathy, then we deserve EXACTLY the screwing we get daily, if not hourly.
No complaining if you don’t even care enough to say anything.
I’m really beginning to think that the majority of the people in this state are COMPLETE MORONS. Not ONE of you seems to give a damn about your own lives, anymore. I think I’m done trying to make sense of this place, and I’ve been here since 1962. Funny, it didn’t SEEM to be full of brain dead MORONS while I was growing up. Guess that was my own myopia, because the place is definitely full of idiots now.
[…] Libby Szabo are listed as Colorado chairs. John Tomasic, of our very own Colorado Independent, asked their offices for comment on the secret oath. He didn’t hear back. You have to admire the loyalty in […]
[…] Rep. Libby Szabo are listed as Colorado chairs. John Tomasic, of our very own Colorado Independent, asked their offices for comment on the secret oath. He didn’t hear back. You have to admire the loyalty in […]