117 ALEC Members Voted Out of Office in 2012
Friday, 23 November 2012 11:17By Rebekah Wilce, PRWatch | News Analysis
In primary and general elections in 2012 and recall elections in 2011 and 2012, a total of 117 members and alumni of the American Legislative Exchange Council(ALEC) were voted out of office, according to research and analysis by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), ColorOfChange, and others.
Arizona Down 14 ALEC Members
As reported by CMD, former State Senator Russell Pearce was voted out of office in November 2011 in what was widely seen as a referendum on Senate Bill 1070, the anti-immigration legislation Pearce introduced. Pearce was a long-time ALEC member and was on the public sector executive committee of the task force thatadopted SB 1070 as a "model" bill.
In addition, ALEC state legislators Representatives J. Ted Vogt (R-10) and Amanda Reeve (R-6) lost in the general election. Representatives John Fillmore (R-23), Nancy McLain (R-3), and Rep. David Burnell Smith (R-7), and Sen. Lori Klein (R-6) lost GOP primary elections in 2012. Representatives Cecil P. Ash (R-18), Steve Court (R-18), Jack W. Harper (R-4), Peggy Judd (R-25), Terri Proud (R-26), and James P. Weiers (R-12) and Sen. Sylvia Tenney Allen (R-5) retired or were ineligible for reelection due to term limits.
Wisconsin Down 11 ALEC Members and Alumni
In Wisconsin, six known ALEC members have been voted out of office since 2011, and prominent ALEC alumnus Tommy Thompson did not win his bid for U.S. Senate. Thompson had been a popular Wisconsin governor and United States Secretary of