The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has been the target of increasing public scrutiny and opprobrium – and while the recent defections of several major companies from ALEC suggest public outcry has the power to rein in even the most deep-pocketed players, it would be a mistake to target scrutiny solely at ALEC and its members.
Why? Because other stealth lobbyists have penetrated bipartisan trade associations for state government officials – groups subsidized by taxpayers. In particular, corporate lobbies advance their agendas through the Council of State Governments – whose multimillion-dollar budget is mostly taxpayer funded – and the National Conference of State Legislatures. Through these innocuously named organizations, lobbyists exploit a well-tethered network of nonprofits representing state-level officials to advance the agendas of their corporate clientele.
Truthout contributors Steve Horn and Sarah Blaskey set out to uncover the details of how ALEC’s less notorious counterparts influence lawmaking in your state. What they found suggests the coverage of ALEC – critical though it is – is only one part of the story.
Part 1: Uncovering the Other ALECs
Part 2: Exposed: The Other ALECs’ Corporate Playbook
Part 3: How Big Business Has Triumphed in State Legislatures on Civil Liberties, Higher Education and Energy
Part 4: The Other ALECs’ K-12 Education Agenda Exposed
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
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