Brendan Fischer's News Articles

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CMD Documents ALEC’s Contradictory Claims to Wisconsin Ethics Board

by Brendan Fischer — April 12, 2012 - 6:10am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Corporations, Democracy, Politics, Wisconsin Protests

    • On April 11, the Center for Media and Democracy filed a letter with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board documenting how the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, provided the ethics board erroneous information about corporate-funded gifts to ALEC legislative members. This letter supplements the complaint CMD filed last month.

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    McDonald's is Fifth Corporation to Drop ALEC Membership in a Week

    by Brendan Fischer — April 10, 2012 - 2:37pm
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Corporations, Democracy, Politics, Wisconsin Protests

    • Hours after the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and other progressive groups publicly called on McDonald's to drop its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the fast food giant announced it has left the organization. McDonald's is the fifth major corporation in a week to withdraw from ALEC, and groups are now calling for legislators to follow suit.

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    Not Just the NRA: Former ALEC Leader, the Head of Gun Owners of America, Sides With Shooter of Trayvon Martin

    by Brendan Fischer — April 9, 2012 - 6:28am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Corporations, Democracy, Politics

    • The executive director of Gun Owners of America Larry Pratt has hit the airwaves with a rare defense of George Zimmerman, the 28-year-old man who shot and killed unarmed African-American high school student Trayvon Martin. Prosecutors and law enforcement in Florida have cited Florida's "stand your ground" (aka "shoot first") law, which was conceived by the National Rifle Association and ratified by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Pratt is a former ALEC board member and notorious for racially-charged rhetoric.

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    Santorum: Voters Without ID Want to Perpetrate Fraud

    by Brendan Fischer — April 3, 2012 - 6:44am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Election 2012, Corporations, Democracy, Politics, Wisconsin Protests

    • Presidential candidate Rick Santorum believes that the only reason a person does not have a government-issued photo ID is because they "want to continue to perpetrate fraud," according to statements he made in Wisconsin last month. Approximately 5 million "perpetrators" nationally do not have photo ID, with around 220,000 in Wisconsin.

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    Federal Court Strikes Down Key Provisions of Walker's Act 10 as Unconstitutional

    by Brendan Fischer — March 30, 2012 - 7:29pm
  • Topics: Election 2012, Democracy, Labor, Politics, Wisconsin Protests

    • A federal judge has struck down key provisions of Act 10 -- Governor Scott Walker's controversial legislation limiting collective bargaining -- on grounds that the arbitrary, possibly politically-motivated distinction between "public safety" and other public employees violated equal protection and First Amendment rights.

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    Feds Scrutinizing Mark Block; CMD Requested an Investigation

    by Brendan Fischer — March 30, 2012 - 1:13pm
  • Topics: Election 2012, Corporations, Democracy, Politics, Wisconsin Protests

    • Federal authorities are investigating two Wisconsin nonprofits associated with Wisconsin political veteran Mark Block, former campaign manager for presidential candidate Herman Cain and former director of the state chapter of the Koch-founded-and-funded Americans for Prosperity. The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) filed a letter with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requesting such an investigation last November.

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    The Corporations Bankrolling ALEC, which Has Promoted the "Stand Your Ground" Gun Law as a "Model" Bill

    by Brendan Fischer — March 27, 2012 - 1:54pm
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed

    • The gun lobby has come under the spotlight for its role in the so-called "Stand Your Ground" or "Shoot First" law that may protect the man who shot and killed seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida -- but many other special interests, including household names like Kraft Foods and Wal-Mart, also helped facilitate the spread of these and other laws by funding the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

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    ALEC Ratified the NRA-Conceived Law That May Protect Trayvon Martin's Killer

    by Brendan Fischer — March 21, 2012 - 3:00pm
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Election 2012, Corporations, Democracy, Politics, Race / Ethnic Issues

    • A Florida law that may protect the man who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February is the template for an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) "model bill" that has been pushed in other states. The bill was brought to ALEC by the National Rifle Association (NRA), and fits into a pattern of ALEC bills that disproportionately impact communities of color.

    Florida's "stand your ground," or "castle doctrine," law could prevent the prosecution of George Zimmerman, the 28-year-old "neighborhood watch" vigilante who shot the unarmed Martin as the teen returned from a trip to 7-11 with an iced tea and a pack of Skittles. The law, also pushed by its supporters under the name the "Castle Doctrine," changes state criminal justice and civil law codes by giving legal immunity to a person who uses "deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony." It also bars the deceased's family from bringing a civil suit.

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    Second Judge Strikes Down WI's ALEC-Inspired Voter ID Law

    by Brendan Fischer — March 13, 2012 - 7:09am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Election 2012, Democracy, Politics, Wisconsin Protests

    • A state judge has declared Wisconsin's American Legislative Exchange Council-inspired voter ID law unconstitutional, making him the second judge in one week to block the law's unnecessary burdens on the right to vote.

    "The people's fundamental right of suffrage preceded and gave birth to our Constitution," wrote Dane County District Judge Richard Niess, "not the other way around."

    The judge rebuffed assertions by Governor Scott Walker and legislative Republicans that they possessed the authority to impose new burdens on voting. "[D]efendants' argument that the fundamental right to vote must yield to legislative fiat turns our constitutional scheme of democratic government squarely on its head," he wrote.

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    Why Did PhRMA Spend $356K on ALEC in Wisconsin?

    by Brendan Fischer — March 12, 2012 - 7:33am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Election 2012, Corporations, Democracy, Politics, Wisconsin Protests

    • The pharmaceutical drug lobby PhRMA gave $356,075 to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) "scholarship fund" in 2010, but listed the recipient's address at a lobbying firm steps away from the Wisconsin State Capitol, rather than ALEC's Washington, D.C. offices, according to filings with the Internal Revenue Service. The PhRMA contribution is leading to calls for greater transparency about how the ALEC scholarship fund operates.

    In its 2010 IRS filings, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, better known as PhRMA, listed a $356,075 contribution to the "ALEC Scholarship Fund." That fund pays for flights and hotels for state legislators to attend ALEC conferences in places like New Orleans or Florida.

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