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Friday, September 6, 2019

ALEC Legislator Retires a “Charter School Millionaire” from ALEC’s Top-Rated School Choice State | deutsch29

ALEC Legislator Retires a “Charter School Millionaire” from ALEC’s Top-Rated School Choice State | deutsch29

ALEC Legislator Retires a “Charter School Millionaire” from ALEC’s Top-Rated School Choice State

This is a post about how school choice works (and pays off) ALEC-style.
ALEC stands for the American Legislative Exchange Council.
ALEC describes itself as follows:
The American Legislative Exchange Council is America’s largest nonpartisan, voluntary membership organization of state legislators dedicated to the principles of limited government, free markets and federalism. Comprised of nearly one-quarter of the country’s state legislators and stakeholders from across the policy spectrum, ALEC members represent more than 60 million Americans and provide jobs to more than 30 million people in the United States.

However, the Center for Media and Democracy’s “ALEC Exposed” website reveals more about ALEC’s workings than ALEC prefers for people to know:
ALEC is not a lobby; it is not a front group. It is much more powerful than that. Through the secretive meetings of the American Legislative Exchange Council, corporate lobbyists and state legislators vote as equals on ‘model bills’ to change our rights that often benefit the corporations’ bottom line at public expense. ALEC is a pay-to-play operation where corporations buy a seat and a vote on ‘task forces’ to advance their legislative wish lists and can get a tax break for donations, effectively passing these lobbying costs on to taxpayers.
Along with legislators, corporations have membership in ALEC. Corporations sit on ALEC task forces and vote with legislators to approve “model” bills. They have their own corporate governing board which CONTINUE READING: ALEC Legislator Retires a “Charter School Millionaire” from ALEC’s Top-Rated School Choice State | deutsch29