ALEC is Back and Ready to Resume its Conservative Agenda
A voter walks past a sign pointing the way to The Coliseum where a polling station is setup on November 4, 2014 in St Petersburg, United States.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesAbout 500 state legislators from across the country will pour themselves cups of coffee and file into conference rooms of the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington on Wednesday to talk about cutting taxes and killing regulations. This is Legislating 101, brought to you by corporate America.
The people's representatives are melding minds with corporate executives and lobbyists during the next three days at a free-market policy summit put on by the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. They'll get Republican pep talks from Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Tennessee Representative Marsha Blackburn. They'll duck into breakout sessions like the one titled “States are 'Separate and Independent Sovereigns.' Now It's Time to Act Like It.” And they'll pass around already-drafted, insert-your-state-name-here legislation, proposals that often benefit the companies that pay ALEC dues of up to $25,000.