The Real Enemy of the State

I've come to the conclusion that the biggest "enemy of the state" today is the American Legislative Exchange Council, otherwise known as ALEC. These people are truly BAD NEWS to the people of America, and ultimately the world. They are behind almost every scheme and shady deal going on in 2012. I hope that shedding some light on them will be helpful to my readers.

Since 1975, ALEC has been working overtime to create the corruption we see in state government. They claim that they are the largest “membership association of state legislators,” when the truth is that over 98% of their revenue comes from sources other than legislative dues, mainly from corporations and corporate foundations. Lying is not beyond the scope of what these people believe to be important. And do you wonder who it was that pushed through the idea that "corporations are people"? That idea is now, LAW!

They have members in the legislatures of all 50 states. In fact, in my state there are at least 19 Representatives and 3 Senators who contribute to, or benefit from ALEC's secretive ways.
The Reps. are:

Rep. Katerina Brewer (R-29), Rep. Jason Conger (R-54), Rep. Sal Esquivel (R-6), Rep. Tim Freeman (R-2), Rep. Bruce Hanna, Rep. Wally Hicks (R-3), Rep. John Huffman (R-59), Rep. Mark Johnson (R-Hood River), Rep. Bill Kennemer (R-39), Rep. Shawn Lindsay (R-30), Rep. Michael R. McLane (R-55), Rep. Dennis Richardson (R-Central Point), Rep. Sherrie Sprenger (R-Scio), Rep. Kim Thatcher (R-25), Rep. Jim Thompson (R-Dallas), Rep. Matthew Wand (R-49), Rep. Matt Wingard (R-26),

and Rep.Gene Whisnet (R53). Representative Whisnet has the (dubious) distinction of being ALEC's "Legislator of the Year" in 2011!

The Senators who cozy up to ALEC are:

Sen. Ted Ferrioli (R-John Day), Sen. Larry George (R-Sherwood), and Sen. Fred Girod (R-Stayton). Although I'm a little bit out of touch with the Oregon State Legislature these days, several of the names listed here are all too familiar to me.

Nothing wrong with that, right? AL claims to be a membership club for legislators! But....some of the CORPORATIONS who have ties with AL include Anheuser-Busch, AOL, Amazon.com, Bank of America, American Express, Bayer Corporation, and Best Buy. The list goes on ad-nauseum! Sound like a  “membership association of state legislators” to you? Me either.

Some of AL's activities include promoting the use of Atrazine (a weed killer that has caused serious health problems for the people who have come in contact with it), promoting the break up of the Wisconsin Protests last fall, protecting corporations who produce sewage sludge, which is "the growing and continuous mountain of hazardous waste produced daily by wastewater treatment plants.", and spending MILLIONS on the upcoming elections to keep Republicans in office. A-L-L  D-O-N-E  I-N  S-E-C-R-E-T!!

I could (and will) go on more about ALEC in the future, but I just wanted to show you what The People are up against right now!