From John Curry, May 14, 2012
New report details ALEC's "State-Sanctioned
Corruption" in Ohio
Have you heard about ALEC?
What is ALEC?
ALEC is the American Legislative Exchange Council. The organization
describes itself as a “nonpartisan public-private partnership of America’s state
legislators, members of the private sector and the general public.” The
organization claims to work “to advance the fundamental principles of
free-market enterprise, limited government, and federalism at the state level.”
In reality, ALEC is an influential voice for corporate special interests in
state legislatures across the country, including Ohio. What happens is that
state legislators meet with corporate interests, including executives, lawyers,
and lobbyists, to draft “model legislation.” ALEC, with the primary assistance
of cooperative legislators, push for the model bills to become law.
The February report on ALEC noted that model legislation focuses on “a wide
range of issues, including education, voter suppression, immigration, worker’s
rights, consumer rights, health care and prison systems.” In Ohio in the first
ten months of 2011, “33 bills were introduced in the Ohio legislature that are
identical to or contain elements from 64 different ALEC ‘model’ proposals. Nine
of those bills, containing elements from 33 pieces of ALEC legislation, have
been signed into law.”
Why should we care?
Here is the key part: because of various loopholes in campaign and
financial disclosure laws, ALEC provides the ability for corporate interests to
influence legislators without disclosing their role or contributions.
The recent report from the Center for Media and Democracy contains a nice
tick-tock of how easily ALEC model language can be inserted into Ohio law.
ALEC funnels money to legislators primarily through “scholarships” that
fund lawmaker travel to meetings. Recently, meetings were held in Cincinnati,
New Orleans, and Scottsdale. What is the loophole: because legislators pay a
$100 membership fee to ALEC, and the General Assembly pays a $1000 membership
fee, Ohio Legislators are not required to disclose the receipt of scholarship
funds on their financial disclosure forms.
Go read the reports. We want to emphasize two things:
1. The Thin Line Between Legal and Illegal
Yes. Corporate interests, by donating to ALEC’s “scholarship fund,” are
able to pay for travel by Ohio legislators without disclosure.
Here is what is interesting. Last month, an Ohio legislator was charged with felony bribery, along with charges related to
campaign finance disclosure and ethics forms disclosure issues ( the ethics form
violation is the same misdemeanor that Gov. Taft pled guilty to, receiving only
a fine).
The center of the felony allegation is that the Representative received
all-expenses-paid trips to Florida and California, plus cash and campaign
contributions. According to the indictment, the Representative agreed to
introduce legislation and sponsor legislation.
So . . . did the representative do anything really all that different from
the legislators who received ALEC scholarships? On the federal level, there is a
website that tracks trips paid for by people with an interest in legislation: legistorm.com. Since the Abramoff
scandal, when rules were changed to try to cut back on trips paid for by
lobbyists, groups started to skirt this rule by having the trips paid for by
supposedly independent “educational foundations.”
Please don’t misunderstand us: we are not suggesting that the previously
indicted Ohio Legislator didn’t do anything wrong. But if someone would like to
explain the practical implications – as opposed to legal technicalities –
between the two situations, we will listen. What this points to is a fundamental
flaw in the oversight of the role of corporate money, and the ingenuity of
people with money to try to provide benefits – legally – to legislators.
2. Ohio Legislators Are Cheap Dates
Captain Renault famously said, “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling
is going on in here!”
Here is the second thing that struck us. The reporting on ALEC suggests
that an Ohio legislator agreed to introduce some ALEC model legislation around
the same time as a donation of a few thousand dollars was received by ALEC’s
scholarship fund. The amounts shock us. Apparently, significant influence can be
obtained for the costs of a few thousand dollars.
When we think of corruption or bribery, we prefer to think of suitcases full of cash or blocks on money stored in a freezer.
But apparently the truth is much less exciting. It seems the going rate for
special favors or legislation in Ohio is much less – perhaps the costs of a
couple of nights in Florida or New Orleans.
Evangelize!
