Mike Pence is the most far-right candidate nominated for a national office in modern times.
He addressed the annual meeting of ALEC, the American Legislative Executive Council, of which he is a member, and declared that he supported ALEC “before it was cool.”
ALEC is an extremist organization that is funded by major corporations and has 2,000 members who are mostly state legislators. It develops model legislation showing how to replace public schools with charters and vouchers, how to get rid of unions, how to get rid of teacher certification, how to get rid of teacher tenure. Its model legislation targets any and all regulations, including gun controls and the environment.
There is a website called ALEC Exposed that shows who belongs to ALEC, who funds it, and what its model legislation is.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
But wait, there’s more: the decimation of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the ACA and any other social programs that benefit the lower economic rungs of society; the elimination of legal abortions, getting squishy with creationism and intelligent design and ignoring climate change. All that plus Trump, Mama Mia, that’s some speecy, spicy meat-a-balls.
Social security is NOT a social program! It’s an annuity workers, not illegal aliens, paid into. POTUS has made it available to illegals (look up definition) who are not entitled to it since they didn’t pay into it.
I don’t understand what Ann S. is saying. As far as I know, you can’t collect SS unless you have an SS account – and your benefit depends on how much you paid into that account. And it is a social program, in the sense that low income workers get a better pay-out than high income workers.
ALEC is a model for the nation if you believe we should be a government of the corporations, for the corporations and by the corporations. If you believe we should be a government of, by and for the people, then no to ALEC. It is very detrimental to people, and to equity for all people.
And since when was ALEC ever “cool”?
Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly that the Spencilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size, and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken’s egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are more wonderous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Spencilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Spencilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Spencilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, The Donald, which is fatal to it.
Please share this post I wrote to explain ALEC to young adults and adults. It includes videos that help make it easy to see the unethical, but somehow legal ways that ALEC gets things done. Some of my students elected to do a project on ALEC last spring and they called the ALEC techniques “Mad Libs, fill-in-the-blank legislation”.
http://whatsthebigideaschwartzy.blogspot.com/2015/07/where-do-all-these-innovative-ideas.html
Do not overlook baby ALEC.
Unlike ALEC’s focus on state policies, ALEC’s new baby, the “American City County Exchange” produces model ordinances for local self-governing jurisdictions such as a county, city, town, village, borough, parish, or district. When an ordinance is passed and included in a larger set of laws, it may be called a “chapter.”
Members of the ACCE are pushing their preferred ordinances into local government, but without seeming to be heavy-handed.
Here is part of the pitch to local elected officials:
“As municipal leaders, you make daily decisions that directly impact your neighborhood roads, schools and property taxes. (Note that schools are mentioned).
How much more effective could you be if you had access to ground-breaking research and the nation’s top industry experts, or if you could share ideas and experiences with your counterparts from around the country so you can learn what works without repeating others’ mistakes?”…
“Members of the American City County Exchange receive academic research and analysis from policy experts who work with issues, processes and problem-solving strategies upon which municipal officials vote. Provided with important policy education, lawmakers become more informed and better equipped to serve the needs of their communities. Join us today.”
ACCE has tiers of membership. Elected officials pay a small fee to join and receive propaganda and perks. In 2014, the fee was only $100 for a two-year membership. Membership gives them reduced rates for conferences, free publications from ALEC, and ready-to-use model ordinances that are consistent with ALEC’s market-based view of all things wonderful.
In contrast, corporations pay $7,000 to $25,000 for ACCE membership. Add $5000 for each task force they want to join. There are eight task forces, one is on education and work force development. These annual fees give members a seat at the local governance table, where they feed their talking points, white papers, and ”expert” opinions, and ready-made ordinances to the wined and dined elected officials.
For examples of ACCE model policies, beginning in 2014, see https://www.alec.org/task-force/american-city-county-exchange/model-policy/
One of the most important is on collective bargaining ramming through a prohibition on collective bargaining without public discussion. Another prevents municipal experts from imposing regulations on contracts for water and sewer lines. Another preempts the right of citizens to bring forth legislation on “containers” (e.g., fees for non-recyclable bags, take-out containers).
Thank you for this, Laura. I had no idea…
Both Fred Klonsky and Truthout reported that AARP supports ALEC. Klonsky posted the photo of an ALEC placard, like the ones you see in hotel lobbies, on a tripod, that tells attendees, who sponsored the event. At “Trustee” level (top row, 1st position on the left) was the AARP logo.
Boo!
Thank you for calling this disturbing news to my attention.(!)
I would like to call attention to Washington State Supreme Court elections and billionaires trying to buy the election:
“Some of the biggest proponents of charter schools in Washington state are pouring money into the race to defeat state Supreme Court Justice Barbara Madsen, who authored last year’s decision declaring the privately run, publicly funded schools unconstitutional.
The political arm of Stand for Children spent $116,000 this month on independent expenditures supporting Greg Zempel, Madsen’s chief opponent, in what constitutes the biggest infusion of outside cash in a Washington judicial race since 2010.
. . .
Most of the group’s funding this year has come from a single source: Connie Ballmer, a wealthy philanthropist and wife of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who donated $500,000. The PAC’s other two main donors are Reed Hastings, the founder and CEO of Netflix; and Vulcan Inc., which is owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/politics-government/election/article92379982.html#storylink=cpy
Seattle Times:
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/charter-school-pac-funds-opponent-of-justice-who-declared-schools-unscontitutional/
I wish you luck in your claim for statehood.
It dishonors the American hero, George Washington, to use his name for the territory, directly north of Oregon, which is a colony of Silicon Valley oligarchs.
Save this country from the deformers making $$$$$$ off of tax payers, students, and teachers.