be aware big money is running in up coming election

[luckyleftyme2]

be aware big money is running in Maine elections. they are passing out money to candidates who will do their bidding.
ALEC Exposed Submitted by AFSCME Council 5 on March 6, 2012 - 1:00pm.



Investigative reporters are shining a spotlight on the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a membership organization of Republican state legislators bankrolled by the Koch brothers and powerful corporations. Their conservative philosophy is that government should be demonized, starved or privatized. To impose their view, ALEC produces model legislation that, according to articles in the The Nation and Bloomberg, is heavily influenced by industry groups. ALEC boasts that 1,000 bills based on its model legislation are introduced in state legislatures each year. In Minnesota, we’re familiar with those toxic bills that take away the collective bargaining rights of public employees, cripple unions, privatize public services and loosen regulations and lower taxes on corporations. Minnesota co-chairs of ALEC are Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer (R-Big Lake) and Rep. Matt Dean (R-Stillwater).

Tea Party fanatics in Minnesota are preaching the gospel according to ALEC: —“We’re broke”; “Public sector workers are to blame”; “If we tax the rich we’ll face economic extinction” – and ALEC has given them the legislative tools to enact their vision.

More than 50 bills attacking worker rights were introduced in the Minnesota Legislature this year – and we know ALEC influenced that toxic legislation.

Right-wing state legislators quietly met with corporate lobbyists behind closed doors during an ALEC training at Bandanna Square in St. Paul on March 4, 2011. Co-hosting the event were former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer and House Majority Leader Matt Dean. We also spotted Sen. Warren Limmer (R–Maple Grove) and Gen Olson (R–Minnetrista).

These secret meetings – underwritten by the insurance industry, big oil, pharmaceutical giants and a private prison corporation – are part of an on-going effort to subvert the public interest. This hidden collusion between well-financed lobbyists and elected legislators undermines the basic American values of public debate and full-disclosure that Americans rightly expect when our laws are made.

all they want is your future,to increase their profit margin by cutting their taxes,your job benefits and your retirement plan(if they haven't got it yet)!

[luckyleftyme2]

1. read between the lines

hmmm maine ties ! you betchya!
ALEC claims it has little to do with the conflagration in Wisconsin, but investigative reporters, university researchers and liberal critics see the group’s fingerprints on much of the recent legislation there. In addition, Rep. Robin Vos, who co-chairs Wisconsin’s Joint Finance Committee, is the Wisconsin state chair of ALEC, and the leaders of Wisconsin’s assembly... and senate, two brothers named Jeff and Scott Fitzgerald, are also members. Scott Walker is a former ALEC member, as is his Secretary of Administration, Michael Huebsch.

“Walker’s policies are 100 percent in line with ALEC,” said Scot Ross of the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now. “His middle name should be ALEC.”

Critics point to recent Wisconsin measures like the elimination of a capital gains tax, the enactment of a voter-ID rule and the expansion of charter-school programs that are all aligned with ALEC’s positions. Conservative leaders also boast about ALEC’s national influence.

“ALEC is one of the most influential, unknown bodies in America,” said Shawn Steel, the former chair of the California Republican Party. “Now that Republicans are dominating most states, ALEC has become a fabulous idea factory.”

ALEC was established in 1973 largely by Paul Weyrich, the conservative macher behind the Heritage Foundation and the phrase “moral majority.” He was, of all places, from Wisconsin.

you betchya they are entrenched in Maine!