The Great Orange Smoke Screen The front pages of any major news outlet, online or otherwise, are full of news of Donald Trump and the corrupt, inept-yet-frighteningly-effective cabal of criminals that make up his administration and circle of advisors. Nearly 40 people tied to him, his administration, his inauguration, and his campaign have been indicted and more are sure to […]

The corporatist network is now circling the wagons around Michigan Governor Rick Snyder over his administration’s poisoning of Flint’s drinking water. This time it’s none other than the American Legislative Exchange Council. It’s not the Snyder administration that’s responsible, they say, it’s the retired city workers and their blood-sucking union pensions that are to blame: Govt failure, brought on by […]

This past week, the corporatist front group and bill mill for corporate America, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), held a breakfast gathering for Michigan state legislators. Our friends at Progress Michigan were there and reported that only SIX legislators actually attended. Here is the all-Republican list of attendees: Rep. Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton) Rep. Peter Pettalia (R-Presque Isle) Rep. Triston […]

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a Koch brothers-funded group that churns out pro-business model legislation for state legislators, has been incredibly effective at impacting policy at the state level. A recent study shows just how effective they have been: Building on research I am conducting with Konstantin Kashin, I used text analysis of ALEC’s model legislation, along with all […]

In another blow to the corporate front group American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), another internet powerhouse is leaving the pro-Big Business “bill mill”. From Common Cause: Yahoo issued the following statement to Common Cause Wednesday night: “We’ve decided to discontinue our membership in ALEC. We periodically review our membership in organizations and, at this time, we will no longer participate […]

Technology giants Microsoft, Google, and Facebook have all made recent announcements that they have or are leaving the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the corporatist group that puts out pro-business model legislation to shape state policy and laws to benefit Big Business. Now the online giant Yelp is joining them. Via Common Cause: Internet powerhouse Yelp, which specializes in helping […]

On the heels of Microsoft, and then Google, leaving the American Legislative Exchange Council, a Facebook spokesperson now says that they will leave the corporatist front group in 2015, as well: Google’s departure, “really puts Facebook and Yahoo in an uncomfortable position,” said Jay Riestenberg, a research analyst with Common Cause who follows ALEC. Facebook may be next out the […]

Today on The Diane Rehm Show, Google CEO Eric Schmidt revealed that the internet giant was leaving the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC, a front group for corporate interests, puts out business-friendly model legislation for its legislative members to use to create laws in their own states. There has been massive pressure on Google to leave, especially after Microsoft […]

The Sustainability Group, a group aimed at fostering socially responsible investment, along with Walden Asset Management, which offers portfolio management services to socially responsive investors, have been working with Microsoft to encourage it to end its relationship with the corporatist group American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC.) ALEC is responsible for much of the pro-corporation, anti-union, anti-regulation legislation introduced in state […]

Corporatism is alive and well in state governments across the USA The Guardian newspaper has a blockbuster piece out today that shows how the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), has turned to working through state Attorneys General to stop any efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The Guardian has learned that the American Legislative […]

Of course ALEC has a place in Michigan’s expansion of Medicaid. They probably helped write the bill. After Senate Republicans passed H.B. 4714 on Tuesday to expand Medicaid to cover an additional 470,000 people, I thought it would be smart to have a look at just what’s in this legislation. I discovered that about 24 pages of the 40-page bill […]