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DEMOCRATS PUSH BACK AGAINST ALEC INFLUENCE
WPR News - Democrats push back against ALEC influence
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Monday April 23, 2012
by Gilman Halsted
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(UNDATED) Democratic state legislators in Wisconsin and other states are looking for ways to counter the influence of the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC.
The American Legislative Exchange Council known as ALEC played a major role in drafting model legislation for both Voter I-D laws and the castle doctrine or stand your ground laws that have been passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures in several states including Wisconsin. Now Democratic legislators are fighting back through organizations like the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and the Young Elected Officials Network . State Sen. Chris Larson of Milwaukee says there's an important difference between ALEC and the groups trying to counter their influence, "The big difference is that when we come up with legislation it's peer to peer where you're talking eyeball to eyeball to another legislator or another local elected official about what works in their community. At no point is there a corporate interest who is weaseling their way into the room to say hey, here's a piece of legislation and by the way we'll fly you out to Colorado to talk about this."
Last month the legislature rejected a bill Larson introduced that would have prevented lawmakers from using state funds to attend ALEC meetings and imposed strict oversight on ALEC funds received by state legislators. This month ALEC's executive director announced the group would no longer sponsor non economic bills aimed at regulating elections or improving public safety. There have been lawsuits launched in several states including Wisconsin to repeal ALEC sponsored Voter ID laws and castle doctrine laws that that prevent homeowners from facing prosecution if they kill or injure an intruder on their prop
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