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The ALEC Empire is striking back. Check out this:
A PhRMA vice president, Matthew Bennett, rejected the criticism of his organization. “Our work with ALEC, as with all organizations that we work with, is confined to the health and health-industry issues that are of concern to our companies,” he said. In terms of PhRMA’s ongoing support of ALEC, Bennett said that “we regularly and constantly evaluate our relationships with all the organizations we support to be sure they continue to align with our mission.”
The protests against companies, with the accompanying threat of boycott, are exactly why corporate donations should remain anonymous, said Bradley Smith, a Republican who formerly chaired the Federal Election Commission and founded the Center for Competitive Politics. He said that the protests launched against ALEC donors may be an act of free speech but that they chill debate.
“This is aimed at cutting off support for ideas rather than combating the ideas themselves,” Smith said.
That argument was echoed in a statement from the Chamber of Commerce, saying activists’ pressure to disclose was a thinly veiled effort to “harass and intimidate the business community. That’s exactly what’s going on in the ALEC protests.”
And this:
RICHMOND — Virginia House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) on Thursday strongly defended a national conservative organization he used to lead, arguing that it has become a victim of intimidation and extortion.
Howell said the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group that has lost some of its corporate members in the past week, has been subjected to a six-month attack by liberal groups, including the Occupy movement, Moveon.org and billionaire George Soros.
Awwww. Did you call for a waaambulance, Thurston?
They really don’t like having a million-watt klieg light shone on their activities, do they? Because really, that’s all that Color of Change and its fellow ALEC exposers have been doing. The thing is that ALEC’s goals are so unsavory, and so anti-people, that very few people or businesses want to be publicly linked to ALEC now.
Keep it up, everyone. Keep it up. The more mainstream businesses that leave ALEC, the higher the concentration of those businesses known to be run by right-wing activists, such as Koch Industries, and the harder it is for ALEC to pretend that they aren’t a right-wing outfit.
28 Comments
Re
Mark
Able!
I wish there was a way to gather the information from every state legislature and make it public. Americans need to know that their representatives don’t give a flip about them, but the ALEC backed monies filling their pockets. Heh. Didn’t the DOJ turn back flips over John Edwards extra-marital affair and money? Oh well, when ALEC becomes one of those things that people have to rush out to get duct tape and plastic sheeting that might be afraid.
The attempt to deny medical treatment for asbestos related illnesses is a decades old scandal. ALEC and the Koch Brothers also are poisoning us with Formaldehyde. David Koch was an advisor to the Obama Administration and helped conceal that Formaldehyde causes cancer. The KochRoaches profit from production of Formaldehyde.
The KochRoach brothers are billionaires profiting from their poisonous pollution. The carcinogens produced by the Koch kill thousands every year. These polluters and the Chemical and Oil industries have bribed elected officials and have taken control of the FDA and the EPA and the Whole-Of-Government.
These shills play the Cancer card, for money and sympathy. David Koch always reminds us he had prostate cancer. His treatment was a drug, unavailable for most costing $5000 a month.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/health/11cancer.html
Good catches, Frank!
The despicable Howell at work:
http://tinyurl.com/d9fdq2c
Oh yes: The reason I call William J. Howell “Thurston” is, well, because he’s in Thurston Howell the Third’s same social and wealth strata:
His website released a puff piece yesterday touting the jobs growth of the Commonwealth of Virginia. What he doesn’t say is that Virginia is Ground Zero for lobbyists, especially
war profiteersdefense contractors, and most of its jobs are connected, directly or indirectly, to its extreme proximity to the District of Columbia.Nice! And thanks.
Today he was confronted by an intelligent woman. Tomorrow it may well be someone with a baseball bat.
The free market applies to ideas too! Cutting of funding is the same as rejecting an idea.
Shine a light….
Why is pro-industry usually anti-people?
This reminds me of the light shown recently on the Heartland Institute’s effort to discredit climate change. They also are whining because some confidential documents were stolen revealing their donors and plans to teach their anti-climate change tripe in science classrooms.
No one is quite so good at whining & complaining as 1%ers. They are almost as good at it as they are at being welfare queens.
The usual whine by right wingers. They want all the benefits of free speech, but none of the responsibilities. It’s just mean to hold them accountable for anything they do or say, because they’re God’s Chosen Job Creators. Just like with Limbaugh, freedom for them, but not for the rest of us.
I expect the GOP to form new groups to replace ALEC and then those groups to go under before they report their donors they will claim that because they went under they can’t release their donor’s names until after the election.
Still this is great news the GOP agenda is so unpopular that nobody wants to be linked to them.
Voters are angry the economy, jobs, SS Medicare cuts, the war on Women, Trayvon.
We knocked out Lou Dobbs, Glen Beck and are taking down Rush no business wants to be linked to GOP ideas right now. Gotta go take a bow people we earned it:)
Occupy, MoveOn and Soros? And Lions and Tigers and Bears?
‘Scuse me. I gotta go hide under my bed.
I hope some day we in the US would follow European efforts where they are considering making laws that medicines claims should deliver what they promise. Without more side effects than benefits. Otherwise, liability for Pharma.
I always struggle, “Why physician use trial and error approach???” “ Try this one, “it is better and more powerful than the last one” and if that did not work, “ Try this one”. Another point on “new improved syndrome” where Pharma change the color of the existing drug (when the patent is to expire) or make little modifications to get another patent and fat profits without any benefit of treatment.
“He said that the protests launched against ALEC donors may be an act of free speech but that they chill debate.”
BTW, what debate? ALEC cooks up its “ideas” in secret, then springs them on an electorate fully formed by its corporate bill mill. Compliant conservative state regimes then pass the bills whether they campaigned on them or not.
I’m sure Frank Luntz’ shop is burning the midnight oil right now. Free speech chills debate! There’s a framing problem worthy of his prodigious talents.
Orwell had nothing on these guys.
“attack by liberal groups, including the Occupy movement, Moveon.org and billionaire George Soros.”
yes whenever you hear or see that line, you are hearing the right wing Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!
I plan on asking my new Congresscritter who by the way ousted a 20 year veteran Republican with Eric Cantor’s contribution of $25,000 at the last minute to beat Don Manzullo.
Anyway the question will be “Are you now or have you ever been a member of ALEC. Are you now or have you ever accepted a written law produced by ALEC to introduce to the House of Representatives?”
Lines straight out of the ’50′s witch hunt for Communists only now it will be used to expose that Congresscritter’s relation to ALEC.
I forgot to add that Don Manzullo was also a Republican caught up in the Illinois re-districting plan.
It’s time to call out these right-wing nuts for what they really are….
Hey Phoenix
I was invited to speak at an Occupy Minnesota rally at the Capitol. Onne of the other scheduled speakers was St Thomas professor Jack Nelson-Pallmyer. When Jack heard that I was speaking, he refuse to attend. The day of the rally. When I spoke (the speech is available on you tube) I spoke of the BI-PARTISAN corporate corruption. The folks from Move To Amend and Moveon.org complained and they also went call the wahhhhhambulance. The Occupy people told them “What is the problem, he is speaking the truth.”
Minnesota Democratic Party shill organizations are being exposed left, right and center.
Watch out for the wahhhhhambulance people.
Grin
Oh yes and
It is our experience in Minnesota that the Minnesota Democratic Party will sink to any level, practice and dirty underhanded deed to attempt to silence critical voices of dissent. Along side their buddies in the Minnesota Republican Party. All the while mouthing progressive platitudes.
All they have done is expose themselves.
Thank you Minnesota Democrats, thank you president Oily-Bomber, thank you Senator Amy Klobuchar. Thanks to you folks and your minions you have done a beautiful job of exposing yourselves.
Working for the 1%.
Look out, here comes the wahhhhambulance.
Grin.
Namaste.
Oh no
This story is most definitely recommended
So that the facts of how Democratic Party operatives are willing to engage in small minded petty manipulations. Even if they tarnish the image of firedoglake.
These people will sink to any and all levels. Just like their buddies in the Minnesota Republican Party.
The Kabuki Theatre of pretend opposition is being exposed.
and just what are they then?
Fascists. Or end-stage oncological-model capitalists.
You can find listings of the legislators over at SourceWatch – not an exhaustive list, but fairly comprehensive.
The sunlight of exposure of the bi-partisan corruption, as well as the exposure of just how low some Democratic Party operatives will sink is a beautiful thing.
The Minnesota Democratic Party are frightened, scared. As they should be. People are waking up in Minnesota. That is why Democratic Party operatives will sink to any and all mean, sneaky and underhanded means to attempt to silence critical voices of dissent. Even if it tarnishes and damages the reputation of one of the very few credible blog media sources in the country.
They will fail. While exposing their own narcissistic and self serving tendencies. That is how Minnesota Democrats and Republicans roll.
Formaldehyde has a long history of being thrown into ubiquitous products for general use. For instance, few people, even ardent anti-pesticide activists, know that Monsanto lied through its teeth when applying for the original EPA licensing of its product, RoundUp. Had the EPA been told that formaldehyde was part of the mix, Monsanto would not have been allowed to sell RoundUp over the counter. And in California, the product probably would have been off limits for Everyone and Anyone’s use. (It was in court documents, regarding a secret settlement, that Monsanto revealed its use of formaldehyde in RoundUp.)
I have no idea of what Connection the Koch Bros hold in regard to Monsanto, but they do seem connected to every single Evil Corproation ot there, so I’d lvoe more information..