Expose ALEC! Take the pledge today!

Our brothers and sisters in Oklahoma are spreading the word about the nefarious ALEC as the group heads toward Oklahoma City for an annual confab. Teamsters Local 886 is working hard to shine a bright light on ALEC's misdeeds during its stay in Oklahoma City on May 2-3. ALEC "delegates" will be treated to a boisterous march for the middle class (we're getting visuals of Teamsters trucks here) and a rally at a yet-to-be-disclosed location.

If you're new to ALEC, it's the corporate dating service for lobbyists and state lawmakers. Funded by the Benedict Arnold Koch brothers, it's a major tentacle in the vast right-wing conspiracy. ALEC is responsible for many state laws that are helping to make your lives miserable. No Rights At Work legislation is straight out of ALEC. So are most bills that punish workers and empower billionaires.

Here's a short list of giant corporations that benefit from ALEC's meddling in your state Legislature:

• Altria/Philip Morris USA benefits from ALEC’s tax break for moist tobacco that would make fruit flavored tobacco products cheaper and more attractive to youngsters.
• Health insurance companies such as Humana and Golden Rule Insurance (United Healthcare), benefit directly from ALEC model bills, such as the Health Savings Account bill that just passed in Wisconsin.
• Tobacco firms such as Reynolds and pharmaceutical firms such as Bayer benefit directly from ALEC tort reform measures that make it harder for Americans to sue when injured by dangerous products.
• Private prison firm Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) benefits directly from anti-immigrant legislation that requires expanded incarceration and housing of immigrants, along with other bills from ALEC’s crime task force.
• K-12 Inc., a large online education corporation, benefits from ALEC measures to eradicate public education and promote private on-line schools.

ALEC is also responsible for tax proposals so extreme that even Republicans oppose them. Huffington Post reports:

Governors who proposed major radical and unsound tax proposals this year, including Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal, Ohio’s John Kasich, Oklahoma’s Mary Fallin, and Nebraska’s Dave Heineman, are running into significant resistance from some surprising sources: their own states’ business communities and Republican legislative leadership. 

These governors produced proposals straight out of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) fiscal policy playbook. In slightly different ways, all four governors sought to provide huge boons to upper-income taxpayers and profitable corporations, and they (wrongly) touted their proposals as surefire paths to economic growth.

No state is immune from ALEC. So help your brothers and sisters in Oklahoma -- and help yourself by taking the pledge to tell your union brothers and sisters, your family, your friends and your neighbors about ALEC.

There's Plenty of information has recently been brought to light about ALEC at the www.alecexposed.org website.

You can find a list of ALEC politicians in your state here and here.

You can find a list of ALEC stink think tanks (which pretend to be non partisan) in your state here.

You can find a list of ALEC scholars here (you'll also see them on Fox News).

So please take the pledge and sign this petition here.