Progress Missouri, the Center for Media and Democracy, Common Cause and Missouri Jobs With Justice Voter Action today released new research highlighting the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) ongoing influence in the Kansas and Missouri State Capitols. The report shows that ALEC has lavished hundreds of thousands of dollars on Kansas and Missouri politicians and those trips have resulted in dozens of bills being introduced on behalf of ALEC’s corporate members.
This new research arrives just days before ALEC brings together corporations and politicians from around the country in Kansas City to approve new bills that will be introduced in state capitols nationwide next year. Highlights include:
Through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), corporations hand Missouri legislators wish lists in the form of "model" legislation that often directly benefit their bottom line at the expense of Missouri families. Behind closed doors, ALEC legislators vote as equals with corporate lobbyists to adopt ALEC model bills crafted by corporations, for corporations. The same corporations that benefit from ALEC model legislation funnel thousands of dollars of gifts and campaign contributions to ALEC legislators, which pushes the envelope on ethics and lobbying law. Elected officials who are members of ALEC then bring their model legislation back to Missouri, where they pass-off the bills as their own ideas and important public policy innovations without disclosing that corporations crafted and pre-voted on the bills at closed-door meetings with legislators who are part of ALEC.
ALEC's Influence in MO and KS Report by ProgressMissouri