Remember

American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC),
the

big corporate lobby group that

helps CCA push for private prisons?
The one that

lobbied 24 states
to pass “anti-immigration” laws that create new misdemeanors and felonies
to send more customers to CCA prisons?
One governor has decided he’s had enough of that.

Zaid Jilani wrote for Republic Report 15 February 2012,

Minnesota Governor Calls Out Corporate Front Group ALEC, Vetoes Its Bills

It has grown so powerful that it now has

nearly one-third
of all state legislators under its umbrella.

ALEC has worked with legislators to pass bills ranging from issues
as diverse as stripping unionized workers of their rights to

making it harder for low-income citizens to vote.
It is usually able to do so because it hands its corporate-written
template bills to state legislators and gets them passed without any
public scrutiny as to the origin of this legislation.

Late last week, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton (D)



decided that
corporate front groups like ALEC should not be able to write his
state’s laws. Dayton decided to veto a series of “tort
reform” bills that would’ve restricted the rights of citizens
to sue to hold big corporations responsible. In a press conference
discussing his vetoes, Dayton condemned ALEC for providing the
templates for the bills. “I’ve found that Minnesotans

do not want
their laws written by the lobbyists of big corporations,” said
Dayton.

Here’s
video:

Do we want a CCA private prison in Lowndes County so CCA can profit
further from ALEC’s HB 87 “anti-immigration” law?
If you don’t think so, here’s

a petition
to the Industrial Authority to reject that prison.

-jsq