Flashback: Previous Turner Report coverage of ALEC's effect on Missouri legislation

As I noted in the previous post, the spotlight is finally beginning to be focused on the dealings of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group funded by numerous special interests which provides so-called model legislation to its members, primarily Republican. The Turner Report has written about ALEC over the years, including the posts I am reprinting below:

Legislators' vacation in the sun receives no traction from Missouri media

(From Oct. 15, 2010)
I can't say I was surprised when my posts about Missouri Republican legislators vacationing in sunny San Diego at the taxpayers' expense picked up no traction from the traditional media (or the blogosphere either, for that matter).


At a time when Missourians were losing jobs right and left, about a dozen GOP legislators were attending the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) meeting in San Diego. While lobbyists paid for Speaker of the House Ron Richard, his wife Patty, and other legislators and their spouses to participate in wine tasting and covered the costs of their meals, you and I took care of their lodging and travel costs, all at a time when millions have been cut from our state budget.

ALEC, as I noted in the earlier posts, is a right-wing organization that has pushed, and in most cases written, the bills that come before state lawmakers, including the so-called Health Care Freedom Act, pushed one of ALEC's disciples, Sen. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield.

ALEC's role is spelled out in an article published this week in the Washington Examiner:

But was Proposition C a spontaneous show of grassroots discontent or a carefully orchestrated political ploy? Clouding the picture is the close involvement of a group called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative 501(c)(3) nonprofit that brings together state legislators and representatives of major industries to craft “model legislation,” including an item called the Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act, upon which Proposition C was based. Missouri state Sen. Jane Cunningham, who sponsored the legislation to refer Proposition C to the ballot, serves as an ALEC board member, and state legislatures in Arizona and Oklahoma, which have referred similar bills to the ballot for November, also enjoyed the support of ALEC-affiliated state representatives.

“What ALEC does is they’ll get members to simply announce they’ll introduce the legislation and then claim they have a national grassroots movement of 40 states opposing health care reform,” said Charles Monaco of the Progressive States Network, which works on progressive legislation at the state level. “Industry groups saw early on that the mandate would be the place to hit comprehensive reform because it was one of the least popular aspects of the law to voters, even though it’s one of the provisions that will benefit [industry] the most.”

The Golfer's Guide to the Missouri House of Representatives

(Oct. 10, 2010)
It was the scene of one of the most memorable tournaments in U. S. Open history.


Playing with an injured knee that would require surgery shortly after the tournament, Tiger Woods staged a comeback over the last nine holes, recording a birdie on the 18th hole that forced a playoff.

On the 19th hole, Woods beat the previously unknown Rocco Mediate and captured yet another major championship.

That classic battle took place at Torrey Pines, described on its website as being "situated atop cliffs, towering above the Pacific Ocean in San Diego." It is described as "a golfer's paradise."

On Aug. 4, a Missourian walked that same golfer's paradise, playing the same holes that Tiger Woods had immortalized two years earlier. History won't record what Tim Jones scored, either on that day, or on the following day when Jones, a Republican Missouri state representative from Eureka, played the course, courtesy of the same lobbyists who always show a keen understanding of the pressures that face elected officials and their need for exercise and recreation.

On Aug. 4, Jones, who was attending the annual American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) meeting, played a round of golf and a meal, courtesy of AT&T lobbyist John Sondag to the tune of $224.65. The following day, Jones hit the links once more, with lobbyist Travis Brown paying $115.55 for what was termed as "entertainment" with location listed as "Torrey Pines" on documents filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

While lobbyists took care of Tim Jones' golf and meals during the ALEC convention and have paid for at least seven other golfing ventures for Jones during the first eight months of 2010, the other costs for Jones and several of his GOP colleagues to attend the two-day convention were borne by the taxpayers.

Having taxpayers and lobbyists foot the bill for Jones' fun-and-sun trip is particularly galling when you consider the message sent by Jones and his colleagues after they passed a budget that cost thousands of Missourians their jobs and forced others to live on less money than they had made previously.

In a video, Jones addressed the work done by the Republican majority in the Missouri House on the state budget. "We are in difficult financial times," he said. "Like every American family, we felt government should have to tighten its belt."

Apparently, that belt tightening did not cover unnecessary out-of-state trips.

While Jones was golfing, as I noted in an October 2 post on The Turner Report, other Republican legislators, including Speaker of the House Ron Richard, and their wives, were participating in wine tasting, courtesy of lobbyists, and were having family vacations paid for by hard working Missourians.

While they were at the ALEC conference, they were able to listen to speakers telling them how to stop the federal government from encroaching on the states and taking more money from state budgets. One of those speakers was Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who has filed a lawsuit against the federal health care program, an action he took because of the concern he had about extra costs being forced on the states and freedoms being taken away from his constituents.

This overwhelming concern for Missouri taxpayers does not appear to extend to attending a conference put on by the very organization that has been writing word for word many of the bills that have become legislative priorities across the nation.

A cached page from the ALEC website indicated that the cost of attending the session for legislators was $710, while the cost for spouses and children was $150 apiece.

ALEC convention guests were able to get the discounted rate of $219 a night for single rooms, $239 for double rooms, and $259 for triple and above at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, which boasts in its advertising of its "spectacular waterfront location" and "lavish amenities."

What a hypocritical message these legislators are sending to Missourians. The rules that apply to all of us, the economic situation that has forced many to live from paycheck to paycheck, if they are even receiving paychecks, do not apply to those few who are representing the public trust.

It is the kind of mixed message that deserves considerable thought. Perhaps Rep. Jones and his colleagues can talk it over during a round of golf.

Taxpayers, lobbyists foot the bill for Speaker Richard, legislators to sample wine, vacation in the sun

(Oct. 2, 2010)
" With his days as the self-proclaimed "most powerful man in the state of Missouri" now firmly esconced in the past, it is sad the depths to which Speaker of the House Ron Richard, R-Joplin, has fallen.


Far from having legislators at his beck and call, Richard now has others pay wine-tasting fees for him and his wife Patty.

At a time when hundreds of millions of dollars have been cut from the state budget, jobs hvae been lost, programs cut, and Missourians wonder if better times are ever going to arrive, Richard and several of his Republican colleagues in the House and Senate, spent at least three days in sunny San Diego, California, in August, attending the annual American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) meeting.

Documents posted Thursday on the Missouri Ethics Commission website indicate Richard, as well as fellow representatives Darrell Pollock, R-Lebanon, John Diehl, R-Town and Country; Doug Funderburk, R-St. Peter's; Chuck Gatschenberger, R-Lake St. Louis; Sue Allen, R-St. Louis; Ellen Brandom, R-Sikeston; Cole McNary, R-Chesterfield; Jason Smith, R-Salem; Ed Emery, R-Lamar; and Timothy Jones, R-Eureka.

Senators attending included Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield; John Griesheimer, R-Washington; and Luann Ridgeway, R-Smithville.

While the Missouri contingent was at the ALEC Conference it had the opportunity to listen to Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, who during one of the panels related his role in a lawsuit against the federal health care program.

What is amazing is how little money lobbyists spent on the Missourians despite the lavish surroundings. Ethics Commission records indicate Charles Simino, representing the Missouri Cable Telecommunications Association, paid for $9.62 lunches, $2.70 beverages, $8.77 dinners, and $11.33 wine tasting fees for Richard, Pollock, Funderburk, Griesheimer and their spouses, plus McNary and Ms. Ridgeway, as well as meals for the abovementioned, Kinder, and Gatschenberger.

Mary Scruggs, lobbyist for Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives bought $46 meals for Richard, Mrs. Richard, and Rep. Jason Smith. She also reported spending $173.17 Aug. 5 and $600 Aug. 6 for the "entire General Assembly" at San Diego, though only a small number of Republican legislators were at the conference.

Former Rep. Carl Bearden, representing United for Missouri, bought $51.08 meals Aug. 6 for Ms. Allen, Ms. Brandom, Mrs. Cunningham, Gatschenberger, Emery, Funderburk, Pollock, Griesheimer, Richard, Smith and the spouses of Richard, Pollock, Gatschenberger, and Funderburk.

Another former legislator, Michael Gibbons bought meals and paid for travel for the legislators, their spouses, and even some of their children, according to the Ethics Commission records.

AT&T lobbyists Travis Brown and John Sondag took good care of Timothy Jones, with Brown paying for $115 worth of "entertainment" and Sondag footing the bill for a round of golf for Jones to the tune of $203, on Aug. 4, the day before the conference started.

Brown also paid $115.55 for entertainment for Diehl, and representing Pelopidas, bought a $71 meal for Ms. Ridgeway.

What is missing from the lobbyists' reports are any listings for lodging, or travel, indicating that Missouri taxpayers, like those in several other states bore the cost for the legislators' vacation in the sun.

A cached page from the ALEC website indicated that the cost of attending the session for legislators was $710, while the cost for spouses and children was $150 apiece.

ALEC convention guests were able to get the discounted rate of $219 a night for single rooms, $239 for double rooms, and $259 for triple and above at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, which boasts in its advertising of its "spectacular waterfront location" and "lavish amenities."

For those who are unaware of ALEC, it is a right-wing organization financed by major corporate and special interest groups, including Phillip Morris, Amway, the National Rifle Association, R. J. Reynolds, American Petroleum Institute, Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufactuers of Americas, and Coors.

ALEC not only has pushed pro-business legislation, but has written many of the laws passed in all 50 states, including the anti-federal health care initiative passed by Missouri voters in August. ALEC has been a leading proponent of removing all government restrictuions from businesses, privatizing government, and has been a leader in the pro-voucher movement in education.

Attack on public education has begun

(Jan. 1, 2006)

Anyone who thinks that public education hasn't been targeted in Missouri is living in a fool's paradise.


The signs are all there. One of them is the 65 percent plan that Governor Matt Blunt supports and plans to submit to Missouri voters. The plan has come under attack, naturally, by school superintendents, and it has been easy for Governor Blunt's supporters to claim the school officials are simply protecting their high pay, but there is a lot more to it than that.

Supporters of the proposal say that it will put more money into the classrooms by having 65 percent of school budgets directly geared to the classroom and that, of course, would include the classroom teachers.

But even they would not be safe from the Machiavellian tendencies of GOP leaders like Rep. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield,chairman of the House Education Committee. Ms. Cunningham is a top official in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and at one of that organization's meetings in August in Grapevine, Texas, she criticized benefit packages for teachers, including pensions. At the meeting, she led a discussion over the 65 percent proposal and how it might be impacted by teacher benefits, according to the Hernando, Fla., Classroom Teachers Association website.

"Chair Jane Cunningham seized on this, suggesting that legislators could 'define it (65 percent solution) a little tighter' to exclude pensions or other benefits from spending on classrooms - in other words: driving down spending for teachers and staff."

That representation of the way Rep. Cunningham feels about public schoolteachers comes from what appears to be what some of our GOP legislators would refer to as a liberal website.

However, an even more illuminating picture of Rep. Cunningham's true views about public education comes from an Oct. 1, 2003, article in the conservative School Reform News.

Under the headline, "Trying to Make a Difference in the Show-Me State," the article tells the story of how Ms. Cunningham came to favor vouchers following her experiences as a school board member. When she tried to do something about parents taking their children out of public school and placing them in private school, she said, she ran into a lack of interest. "We have fewer children to educate and we still get their taxes," she says her fellow board members told her. She said that with her background in economics she could see the harm this education "monopoly" was causing.

The point was further driven home, she said, after she took one of her sons out of public school (the article does not say why) and put him in a Catholic school. Her son, who had been receiving A's and B's in math in public school, did poorly in the private school.

"The staff at the Catholic school thought he must have a learning disability, because they could not imagine his local school had done such a poor job," Rep. Cunningham said.

The article goes on to say that "after intensive personal attention by his teacher, her son rose to the 90th percentile in math."

Rep. Cunningham makes no bones about her efforts to move Missouri toward a voucher system. The School Reform News article says, "In 2003, Cunningham sponsored two school choice bills, both designed 'to get folks comfortable with the concept.' One bill addressed the issue of access to programs in public schools denied to non-public schoolchildren whose families were residing in and paying taxes to the public schools. The other, HB 345, would have given school choice to at-risk children in low-income families and in families where a parent is a prison inmate. Although neither bill passed, she was happy to be able to bring some Black Caucus members on board with HB 345." The magazine article was written by Laura J. Swartley, communications director for the Milton and Rose Friedman Foundation, Indianapolis, Ind. The Friedman Foundation began the school voucher movement in 1955.

Rep. Cunningham is serving as chairman of the ALEC Education Task Force. Her co-chairman is Robert Enlow of the same Milton & Rose Friedman Foundation. The Friedman Foundation recently hired a lobbyist to represent its interests in Missouri...Andrew Blunt, the governor's brother.

And let us not forget that Rep. Cunningham created quite a stir last year in a multi-page letter she wrote asking to be reappointed chairman of the House Education Committee. One of her selling points was the amount of money she had brought into the state from All Children Matter, another pro-voucher group.

An Aug. 7, 2005, Associated Press article explored the connection between Governor Blunt and All Children Matter. The pro-voucher group spent $196,252 on radio advertising blasting Blunt's opponent, State Auditor Claire McCaskill during the final days of the 2004 gubernatorial campaign.

The AP article noted that Blunt served as keynote dinner speaker for "an invitation-only conference of about 150 leaders and activists for All Children Matter, hosted in Siverthorne, Colo. The group was picking up the tab for his trip, said Blunt spokeswoman Jessica Robinson."

The attack on public education has begun and some of those bills have already been pre-filed in the Missouri House and Senate.