ALEC writes laws for big oil and for private prison companies.
In the

first LAKE post about the proposed private prison in Lowndes County,
I pointed out that ALEC helped CCA lobby for that Arizona “anti-immigration”
law that actually is stuffed with new jail, misdemeanor, and felony penalties that
bring more “customers” to CCA private prisons.
Georgia was just the first of
24 states lobbied by ALEC to pass such bogus bills for CCA’s private profit.
Since then other people have dug into ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, and found its tentacles everywhere, promoting profits
for big business at taxpayer expense.

Alison Fitzgerald wrote for Bloomberg 21 July 2011,

Koch, Exxon Mobil Among Corporations Helping Write State Laws:

Koch Industries Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) are among companies
that would benefit from almost identical energy legislation introduced
in state capitals from Oregon to New Mexico to New Hampshire — and
that’s by design.

The energy companies helped write the legislation at a meeting organized
by a group they finance, the American Legislative Exchange Council,
a Washington-based policy institute known as ALEC.

The corporations, both ALEC members, took a seat at the legislative
drafting table beside elected officials and policy analysts by paying
a fee between $3,000 and $10,000, according to documents obtained by
Bloomberg News.

The opportunity for corporations to become co-authors of state laws
legally

through ALEC covers a wide range of issues from energy to
taxes to agriculture. The price for participation is an ALEC membership
fee of as much as $25,000 — and the few extra thousands to join one
of the group’s legislative-writing task forces. Once the “model
legislation” is complete, it’s up to ALEC’s legislator members to
shepherd it into law.

“This is just another hidden way for corporations to buy their way into
the legislative process,” said Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause,
a Washington-based group that advocates for limits on money in politics.

Nost so much just another, as one of the most effective,
because effectively secretive.
ALEC’s activities have not been well known until recently.
As a private company, it doesn’t have to file reports on
its members, funding, or activities.

Bloomberg used tax records, interviews, and ALEC materials provided by an
attendee at an ALEC conference to shed some light on the organization,
which promotes state legislative action that at times is aimed at
undercutting federal government authority.

So what does ALEC do?

To join ALEC, legislators pay $100 for a two-year membership. Corporate
members seeking to hold sway on legislative language can pay as much as
$35,000 or more to get a seat on an issues task force. Beyond energy
and environment, ALEC also has task forces devoted to civil justice,
commerce, education, international relations, public safety, taxes and
telecommunications.

Among this wide array of lobbying activities, the Orwellian
topics of “civil justice” and “public safety” include lobbying
for private prisons, even though privatization of justice is
no justice at all and cutting costs by decreasing prison guards
makes the public less safe.

ALEC isn’t just a lobbying group, it’s a shadow national government:

Legislators and private-sector task force members must vote to endorse
any model legislation — and each group must deliver a majority before
it is officially adopted, Weber said.

How can poorly paid state legislators afford to go to ALEC meetings?

Companies can also donate to “scholarship funds,” which pay for
transportation, hotel and meals for lawmakers attending ALEC meetings.

I wonder how much of that gets reported by legislators.
Transparency isn’t a big feature of ALEC:

Corporations are “paying for an opportunity to connect directly with
legislators,” said Jeremy Kalin, a former Democratic Minnesota state
representative. “It’s an end-run around transparency and disclosure
laws. Corporate interests that would otherwise be required to register
as lobbyists are writing legislation behind closed doors.”

I wonder which Georgia state legislators are ALEC members?

Anyway, we don’t need a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia,
so CCA can profit from ALEC-lobbied bills.
Spend that tax mony on rehabilitation and education instead.

-jsq

PS: Owed to Garry Gentry.