According to ALEC Exposed and other sources, representative Pat Garfalo (R-Farmington) and senator Mary Kiffmeyer (R-Big Lake) share duties as American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) state public sector chairs for Minnesota. ALEC is meeting this week in Washington DC for the corporate bill factory's "States and Nation Policy Summit."
Are Garofalo and Kiffmeyer in Washington? Bluestem has left messages at their legislative offices asking if they are attending the meeting.
Recent news reports suggest that the organization considered asking state chair to pledge allegiance to ALEC, which is largely underwritten by its corporate sponsors.
In ALEC facing funding crisis from donor exodus in wake of Trayvon Martin row, Guardian staff writers Ed Pilkington and Suzanne Goldenberg
• a draft agreement prepared for the board meeting proposed that Alec's chairs in each of the 50 states, who are drawn from senior legislators, should be required to put the interests of the organisation first, thus setting up a possible conflict of interest with the voters who elected them . . .
Barbara Shelly has more in ALEC sought a loyalty oath from key state lawmakers at the Kansas City Star.
PR Watch's Brendan Fischer looks at the state chair agreement in New Guardian Docs Show ALEC Misled Press, Public:
One of the more bizarre revelations in the documents is a plan to have the legislators who serve as ALEC State Chairs sign a pledge of "loyalty" and agree to "put the interests of [ALEC] first." This proposal underscored concerns that some ALEC politicians have been putting the interests of ALEC (and its corporate backers) ahead of their constituents, and ahead of their commitment to upholding their state constitution.
Another element of the pledge is an agreement that State Chairs will "inform ALEC of any public records/FOIA requests that include ALEC documents." This fits into a larger pattern of ALEC trying to keep its communications with lawmakers secret. This year, ALEC began stamping the materials it gives to legislators with a “disclaimer” asserting that the documents are not subject to any state’s open records/freedom of information laws, and has been sending communications to legislators via an online dropbox, which it admitted was an effort to try to evade disclosure under open records laws. CMD has fought ALEC legislators' efforts to keep ALEC records secret in Texas and Wisconsin.
The cover page for the State Chair pledge states that ALEC recommends that "The Board should approve the following job descriptions for State Chairs," but ALEC told The Guardian that the pledge was not adopted. Still, it reflects a very troubling mindset to even propose that elected officials who lead ALEC’s legislative agenda in the states owe ALEC a duty to put the organization first and to report to it.
Would Garofalo and Kiffmeyer have signed this agreement had it been adopted? Here's a pdf drawn from the Guardian documents of the agreement:
Draft of the ALEC State Chair Job Description and Agreement
Photo: Mary Kiffmeyer helped fight ALEC's war against voters--and with that school bus down range, we have to wonder if she opened a two-front war, adding ALEC's war on public education to her arsenal.
If you enjoyed reading this post, consider giving a donation via mail (P.O. Box 108, Maynard MN 56260) or paypal:
Comments