On December 3, the Guardian released an article that included the packet for the August 2013 ALEC Board Meeting. This packet has been reported widely - if you have not read the article or the document I recommend that you do, it's very enlightening.
Page 29 of the August 2013 ALEC Board meeting is a breakdown by state that shows ALEC membership. Two notables in the ALEC Board report are South Dakota and Iowa which show 100% of their legislators belonged to ALEC at the time of the August 2013 ALEC Board report.
Not so much!
Today the Iowa House Dems released a press release named:
Iowa Lawmakers to ALEC: We are not Members
In that press release they state:
“Last year, all 47 Democratic members of the Iowa House informed the Chief Clerk of the Iowa House that no dues or fees were to be paid to ALEC on our behalf and none of us have applied to ALEC for individual membership,” said Leader Smith. “In light of recent ALEC documents made public, we are deeply troubled that ALEC is currently listing us as members without our permission.”
In addition they released a copy of the letter to ALEC headquarters that noted:
The recently disclosed agenda of the August 6, 2013 board meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) lists all Iowa state legislators as members. This is deeply troubling to me as a leader in the Iowa House of Representatives, especially since this information has been repeated many times in on-line blogs and news stories.
and
If you misrepresented the status of Iowa legislators and we are not all considered ALEC members, I ask you to set the record straight by issuing a public clarification and by providing me with a list of those Iowa legislators who are actual dues-paying members of ALEC.
Read the
whole press release and letter yourself
It will put a smile on your face.
Dealing with deceptive, secretive, ultraconservative, pro-corporate American Legislative Exchange Council most times seems like an uphill battle. - The wins are few and far between - so I thought you should know when there is a good day.