ALEC Offshoot Takes Aim at Local Government | PR Watch: "Early reports suggests that ACCE will pursue similar policy objectives as ALEC. According to The Guardian, "An early draft of the agenda for [the] meeting revealingly listed ACCE’s very first workshop under the simple title: 'Privatization' – though in the final version the wording had been sanitized into: 'Effective Tools for Promoting Limited Government'." Privatization has been a long term goal for many ALEC member firms, and ALEC model bills have called for the creation of a special state commission to privatize public services. Other ALEC bills call for the privatization of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, public schools, state pensions and more. Another workshop at the inaugural ACCE meeting is titled "Releasing Local Governments From the Grip of Collective Bargaining," which fits into ALEC's long-standing antipathy towards unions."
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The American Legislative Exchange Council is a corporate-funded group that puts state legislators in the same room with corporate lobbyists, who hand our elected officials pre-drafted bills for them to introduce and pass back home. It's anti-union, anti-environment, anti-consumer, pro-gun, etc. Now, with the American City County Exchange, they are lowering their sights and trying to hamstring and plunder local government the way they have done so effectively in a number of states. Privatization for all, which means taxpayers bear the risk and get turned into fee-paying consumers, and private corporations keep the profits. Thanks to Mystery Reader, who first flagged this story. If you don't know who these people are, you can read more here.
1 comment:
I ran into ALEC in Arizona in 2012 when the Arizona Capitol Times, a weekly government news service, reported the strong influence on AZ Republicans. It said, "With many of the 56 Arizona legislators – all Republicans – who are ALEC members” [That’s 56 out of 90 legislators!]."
I wrote, "Last year, ALEC, the American Legislative Executive Council, proposed model legislation that promoted local government by means of restrictive covenants. Yes, that’s right! And supported by none other than The Goldwater Institute.
'A model law authorizing a transition from government-controlled local zoning and planning regulations to private restrictive covenants.'
(See the 2011 report, Model Legislation, Decentralized Land Use Regulation Act)."
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