Consumer Law

ALEC Hides Out

By Joe Consumer

Who doesn?t know that corporate ?pay-to-play? politics permeates our political system these days.  Some of this is obvious.  Take the uber-rich U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its ?Institute for Legal Reform,? which issues easy-to-follow instructions for states seeking to wipe out the legal rights of people injured by corporate wrongdoing while smearing certain state business climates and selling out small businesses. (By the way, Chamber chief Tom Donohue is speaking this morning.  Be on the lookout for bogus claims blaming the country?s joblessness on lawsuits by injured people.)

But some of this is not so obvious.  Forbes has an article this week called ?The big political player you've never heard of,? about one of the most secret: the American Legislative Exchange Council, which exists for the purpose of inserting the agenda of corporate America and the political right into state legislative activities and ?is quietly having an enormous influence on how state laws are made.? Says Forbes,

The organization, founded in 1973 and funded mostly by corporations and conservative foundations, exists to bring business-friendly state lawmakers together with lobbyists for corporations, including AT&T (T), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Wal-Mart (WMT), and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). It drafts model bills related to its goals of free markets and limited government. Issues that ALEC has influenced include Arizona's anti-immigration law, tort reform in Mississippi, and the opposition to Net neutrality.

In fact, ALEC?s membership, who work together to draft bills, consists of conservative state legislators, who pay little to join, and corporations who pay hefty membership fees - up to $25,000 or more to participate in ALEC?s issue-focused ?task forces.?  Yet ALEC insists that it:

is a charity, a status it justifies because of its educational mission. The designation allows the group to collect tax-deductible contributions, and it eases lawmaker travel to ALEC events. Says Edwin Bender of the National Institute on Money in State Politics: "Corporations can implement their agendas very effectively using ALEC."

In the 2009 legislative session, by ALEC's reckoning, state lawmakers introduced 826 bills the group conceived -- 115 of which made it into law. That's quite a record, and it's going to get stronger. One overlooked aspect of the Republican resurgence has been its revolution at the state level. The GOP picked up more than 700 seats in state legislatures and now controls 25 of those bodies outright, from 14 before November.

Here?s another one of ALEC?s priorities: wiping out the rights on injured people.  According to a report from the Center for Justice & Democracy, ALEC?s civil justice priorities deal with drug industry liability in the wake of Wyeth v. Levine, asbestos, wrongful death, attorneys fees, fee arrangements with state attorneys general, class actions, procedural rules and many standard ?tort reforms? including non-economic damages and joint and several liability.  Contact us if you?d like to learn more.

(Hey, no offense to the cute pup.)

Full post as published by ThePopTort on January 11, 2011 (boomark / email).