Which legislators receive shady ALEC money?
Updated Nov. 3, 2017
We don’t know. Thanks to Citizens United, we no longer have a legal right to have access to that information.
So all we can do is look for the signs. Like this one.
And this one.
And this one.
And this one.
In these Tweets from the ALEC Conference in Colorado this past Summer, we see Governor Matt Bevin breaking Koch bread with Alice Forgy Kerr, Addia Wuchner, Mike Wilson, Kim Moser, Diane St Onge, Adam Koening, Jimmy Higdon, Julia Crigler and their “free-market” friends. So you can pretty much assume they’re on the tak-, er, uh, I mean, the list.
SourceWatch also publishes a list of likely suspects in Kentucky, but unfortunately, that list is a bit outdated. So we have to keep digging. According to Sourcewatch with 2017 notations, Kentucky chairs are Rep. Jim DeCesare (R)[4] and Sen. Tom Buford (R) [3][4].
If you know of others who have publicly admitted their Koch addiction, please send any screenshots or intel our way. We think you should also ask them, point blank, at the next town hall or public forum or on Twitter.
Do you receive any support or funding from ALEC?
We think anything except an unequivocal “no” would be a yes. Let us know what they say. Looks like we got our answer from Kim Moser.
Apparently just asking Rep Kim Moser a question about ALEC & AFP is enough to get you blocked. #NowAreYouStartingToGetIt @GayAdelmann pic.twitter.com/tMDm4kncgX
— KentuckyStrong (@ErinAndando) November 12, 2017
Why is this important?
Because ALEC, which stands for American Legislative Exchange Council, pre-writes Canned laws that favor out-of-state corporations over the voters they represent. They then provide those bills to legislators to get passed, often forgetting to remove the generic language. Which legislators? The same legislators who have likely received some assistance from ALEC in getting elected into those seats in the first place. All while the general public is none the wiser.
We like to assume our legislators are looking out for us and working with the Legislative Research Commission (LRC) staff to write laws that are in the interest of its taxpaying citizens, but that changed this year. Drastically. With a super majority in the house and senate, and an ALEC-loyal governor, even the “good” republicans are feeling pressured into voting for bad bills that are introduced by ALEC operatives.
For example, House Bill 103, which was introduced by Representative Phil Moffett, contained some word for word verbiage from the other ALEC charter bills that have been introduced in other states. So we’re pretty sure he’s also on the list. Kevin Bratcher, who introduced HB151, which was designed to destroy the public school choice system in our largest districts and resegregate our urban schools, is also a prime suspect. If you want to see some more examples of corruption that can result from bad ALEC legislation, check out #NowAreYouStartingToGetIt? on Twitter and Facebook.
So, if you’ve wondered why Governor Bevin and some other legislators like Phil Moffett and Kevin Bratcher, seem obtuse to reasonable alternative ideas, and resist dialogue when valid concerns are raised, perhaps it’s because of the undying loyalty they seem to have pledged to ALEC. You see, ALEC has been out to destroy state employee pensions for a long time.
Until these legislators fear getting voted out by the citizens more than they fear having the Kochs run a primary contender against them in the next election, they will continue to place ALEC needs over ours. So, our House Representatives, especially, need to hear from us, because they are ALL up for reelection in 2018. Bevin’s time won’t be up until 2019, so we have to help them recognize that he’s throwing them all under the bus.
Let’s send the clear message:
If you continue to vote with ALEC, and not your constituents, we will vote you out.