ALEC Exposed

Officials in Arizona and Kansas Rig Ballots to Implement ALEC Voter Suppression Scheme

State officials in Arizona and Kansas are developing a new scheme to implement an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)-approved bill requiring proof of citizenship at the polls. 

Dear WWII Vets, Forget About the Monument, They Are Gunning for Your Social Security

Apparently the only thing both Democrats and Republicans can agree on in Washington, DC, is that they can't deal with bad press involving Honor Flight vets.

This led to absurd images of Republicans -- who had shut down the federal government, including all monuments and museums -- rushing to "aid" veterans shut out by monument closures. In the most revolting display, Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) publicly berated a National Park Service Ranger for a situation created entirely by Congress.

Case Study on Alpine Steel: Prison Industry Subsidized by Taxpayers to Compete with Local Businesses Fails Spectacularly

-- by Bob Sloan, Guest Contributor

"The taxpayers have been left holding the bag.... As a result of this I think there is going to be a lot more oversight."

Those were statements made by Nevada Assemblyman James Ohrenschall in an interview on Vegas Inc. September 21. Mr. Ohrenschall is the former chairman of the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee on Industrial Programs. At the time of that interview, the IFC Committee was meeting to investigate facts that prompted his concerns.

CMD Pushes Back Against Attorney General’s Attack on Open Records in ALEC Lawsuit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Brendan Fischer, brendan@prwatch.org

MADISON -- On October 1, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) filed a brief countering claims by Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen and Senator Leah Vukmir that legislators cannot be held accountable for violating the open records law during their entire term in office. The government's position is not supported by a careful analysis of the Wisconsin Constitution and its historical context. It is also a rash reversal of how the Attorney General's office has always construed the limits of legislative privilege.

Texas Attorney General Rebuffs ALEC's Effort to Declare Itself Immune from Open Records Law

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 30, 2013

CONTACT: Brendan Fischer, brendan@prwatch.org

MADISON -- Texas Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott has issued an Open Records Letter Ruling rejecting an effort by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to declare itself immune from the state's public records law, after the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas filed briefs in the matter.

Koch Bros Retainer to PRWatch: “Bring It!”

Some interesting emails were released as part of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's ongoing investigation of a $500,000 taxpayer grant awarded to the Koch-tied United Sportsmen's group. The grant was tailor-made for United Sportsmen and slipped into the budget by State Representative Scott Suder as one of his last acts as a state legislator. (Suder, who also served as ALEC's Wisconsin State Chair, was given a new job at the Public Utilities Commission and a $45,000 pay raise by Governor Scott Walker.)

Wisconsin Media Defends State Open Records Law

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen has taken the unprecedented step of asserting that a state legislator cannot be held accountable for refusing to disclose public records in response to a lawful open records request by the Center for Media and Democracy.

CMD Responds to Senator Vukmir's Claim about Open Records

CONTACT: Brendan Fischer, brendan@prwatch.org

The following is the Center for Media and Democracy's response to Senator Leah Vukmir's statement regarding CMD's public records case and her claim that she has "fully complied" with CMD's public records request. The following can be attributed to CMD General Counsel Brendan Fischer:

Wisconsin Attorney General Seeks to Vitiate Open Records Law to Protect ALEC’s National Treasurer

CONTACT: Alex Oberley, 608-260-9713, Alex@PRwatch.org

Madison -- Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen has taken the unprecedented step of asserting that a state legislator cannot be held accountable for refusing to disclose public records in response to a lawful open records request by the Center for Media and Democracy.

ALECexposed: George Zimmerman's Criminal History Includes Alleged Violence and Temper (Audio and New Documents)

George Zimmerman -- the Florida man who shot teenager Trayvon Martin to death -- has landed in the news again, after a panicked 9-1-1 call Monday from Shellie Zimmerman in which she told a police dispatcher she was "really scared" because her husband had threatened "that he's going to shoot us," accosted her father causing his father-in-law's glasses to fall to the ground and injuring his nose, and grabbed her iPad from her and "then smashed it and cut it with a pocket knife," among other things. (Audio available here.)

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