ALEC

Unreal: Missouri's House Speaker [Tim Jones] said one of the ways the legislature could help Ferguson is by passing right-to-work legisation.

In late 2011, as most reps were home preparing bills for the coming legislative session, Gary Cross was instead attending an ALEC junket in Scottsdale, Arizona. While there, Cross was wined and dined by lobbyists who gave him their bills to bring back to Missouri and present as his own. In just two days, they spent more than $250 on food and drink for Cross, including a $156 dinner at the swanky Mastro’s Ocean Club Steakhouse.

Last year, the Associated Press broke the news that one of Rex Sinquefield's front groups, Pelopidas, was a 'six-figure financial sponsor' of the American Legislative Exchange Council. This year, the partnership between Sinquefield, Travis Brown (leader of Pelopidas and Sinquefield's top lobbyist), and the ALEC corporate bill mill continues: 

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) will host more than 1,000 state legislators at its annual conference this week in Dallas. This week’s meeting follows ALEC’s recent visit to Kansas City, at which self-serving politicians from across the country met with corporate and special interest lobbyists behind closed doors to vote on "model" legislation to change our state laws on behalf of ALEC’s corporate members.