One bill protects a Fortune 500 company from costly
asbestos lawsuits. Another shields food companies from obesity-related
liability claims.
North Carolina lawmakers advocating the measures during a
recent committee meeting touted how many other states had approved or
considered similar measures. It’s good public policy, they argued, and now it’s
North Carolina’s turn.
What didn’t get mentioned is the organization that helped
coordinate the effort and draft the bills: the American Legislative Exchange
Council, a largely private conservative group backed by major corporations that
proposes model legislation for like-minded lawmakers to introduce across the
country.
The story does a good job showing not only
how ALEC can shape a state legislatively, but how many lawmakers just don’t
want the public to know what ALEC is or what it does.
The asbestos measure is one example where a single
company, Philadelphia-based Crown Holdings, pushed a model bill to exempt
itself from liability lawsuits related to a former subsidiary.
The bill’s sponsor in the House, Rep. Jacqueline
Schaffer, a Charlotte Republican, didn’t return numerous messages. Sen. Andrew
Brock, a Mocksville Republican who sponsored the Senate version, said a company
lobbyist brought him the bill, not ALEC.
Many other Republican lawmakers called about
ALEC-affiliated bills did not return calls for comment, and a few denied ALEC
involvement.
An ALEC official who recently visited North Carolina
declined to answer questions.
Does it sound like ALEC’s members are
particularly proud of doing the bidding of corporations at the expense of
residents? Nope. They seem rightly ashamed. But that isn’t stopping them from
introducing the legislation and working to pass it. One state legislator
actually went on the record for the story. Here’s what he had to say about ALEC:
“It’s a lightning rod organization because it has a
decidedly conservative bent – there’s no doubt about it,” said Rep. Craig Horn,
a Weddington Republican and ALEC member.
It’s
not a “lightning rod organization” because it’s conservative. There are
conservative lawmakers who support working families. In every election cycle,
the Teamsters Union supports many Republicans who stand with us on the issues.
No, Rep. Horn, ALEC is a lightning rod organization because they seek to take
power from the people and hand it over to corporate interests.
The role of monied business interests in the organization
and the concept of a one-size-fits-all model for policy is what concerns critics,
particularly advocacy groups that support workers, public education and the
poor.
“ALEC really stands for allowing limitless excess for
corporations,” said MaryBe McMillan, the secretary-treasurer at the state
AFL-CIO labor union. “I think we are definitely seeing more (ALEC influence). I
think it could be because they know there is no governor to stop this type of
legislation.”
