LOD: Special Interests’ Idea Factory

Where do the conservatives and right-wingers in the General Assembly get their worst ideas for legislation? Some of the nutty ideas come from their own heads and a fair number from right-wing outfits inside North Carolina, like Art Pope’s Civitas Institute and John Locke Foundation. But many of them come from the American Legislative Exchange Council, especially those designed to harm the environment, slam workers, and protect businesses from accountability. ALEC is a national broker for collaboration between corporate special interests, rightwing think tanks and conservative state legislators – e.g., Koch Industries, Glaxo, AT&T, and Rep. Harold Brubaker, a former ALEC national chair. People for the American Way has a new report analyzing ALEC’s operations, agenda and impact. Says one business member: “The organization is supported by money from the corporate sector, and, by paying to be members, corporations are allowed the opportunity to sit down at the table and discuss the issues that they have an interest in.” An ideas gets turned into model legislation, gains traction in one state and spreads across the nation. The report says ALEC has moved it’s pay-to-play ideology into efforts to turn education and voting into commodities where access is governed by your wealth; basic human rights are non-cent.