A source has shared a spreadsheet of state legislators listed in the American Legislative Exchange Council's 1995 Sourcebook, an annual organizational publication. Some of the mostly former Minnesota legislators on the list have been newly posted on the ALECExposed list for the state, but Bluestem noticed that a couple of still active leaders have yet to be shared with readers of the site.
Surely these political operatives are as important as "Rep. Jeff Betram," or Jeff Bertram as he is commonly known, the disgraced DFL representative who citizens kicked off the Paynesville City Council in 2012.
The only other DFLer listed in the Sourcebook, former Representative Rick Krueger, left office at the end of 1994 to lead the Minnesota High Tech Association, followed by the MN Transportation Council. He now does public affairs work but is not a registered lobbyist. While an ALEC member in the 1990s, Krueger was a member of the Empowerment Task Force. ALECexposed has yet to add his name to the list of former Minnesota legislators associated with the group.
There are bigger and more active fish on the list than either former DFL legislator. One of the concerns about ALEC is the influence public sector members have when they leave the legislature. Bluestem will be taking a look at some of the names of former Minnesota legislators on this list, starting with congressional candidate Phil Krinkie.
Phil Krinkie and ALEC
Eight term state representative Phil Krinkie, whose legislative career didn't come to an end when Paul Gardner defeated him in 2006, was an ALEC member. According to a list drawn from the 1995 Sourcebook, Krinkie served on ALEC's Business and Labor committee.
Known as "Dr. No' while serving in the legislature, Krinkie is a trustee of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MNSCU) and a heating and air conditioning contractor. Krinkie was also president of the no-new-tax-pledge group, Minnesota Taxpayers League from February 2007 until this summer.
Krinkie left the helm of the Taxpayers League to join former ALEC media showboy Tom Emmer (who attended the 2011 ALEC annual convention in New Orleans as "working press"), Senator Jon Pederson, Anoka County commissioner Rhonda Sivarajah to run for the open seat in Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District, created by the retirement of Congresswoman Bachmann.
Krinkie's engagement with ALEC didn't end in 1995 or with his forced retirement in January 2007. As president of the Taxpayers League, he signed on to a 2007 letter supporting gutting the Bacon-Davis Act Act, along with the president of ALEC and a Who's Who of anti-labor conservative groups.
The letter was sponsored by the Orwellian-named "Alliance for Worker Freedom," described at the bottom of its website as a special project of Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform. The ATR front group gave Bachmann "Guardian of Worker Freedom" award in 2008. Krinkie and Sivarajah have pledged allegiance to Norquist and signed the ATP "No-new-tax" pledge, while Pederson refuses to do so. According to the most recent news about the race on ATP's website, Emmer has not signed the pledge either.
Krinkie and the Executive Director of ALEC also signed a 2007 letter prepared by the Center for Individual Freedom opposing "internet access taxes." Sourcewatch looks at the group here, while Open Secrets shares a glimpse of the group's outside spending in 2012.
The group opposes net neutrality.
Photo: Phil Krinkie, via MNSCU. Krinkie was appointed to the board of trustees in 2010 by Governor Pawlenty, seen addressing ALEC's 2008 Convention in Chicago on Youtubes here and here.
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