State Lawmakers to Turn Over Emails with ALEC

Five state legislators have reached a court settlement requiring them to turn over any e-mails from a group that works with corporations to write legislation.

The settlement forces the lawmakers to search their personal e-mail accounts for any contacts with the American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC. The state Department of Justice, which represents the lawmakers, will be in charge of performing the search.

Common Cause and the Center for Media and Democracy originally asked for the e-mails through an open records request. They found evidence that one representative, Republican Jeremy Thiesfeldt, told ALEC to stop sending material to his state e-mail account and send it to his personal e-mail instead.

The Center’s Brendan Fischer says this settlement acknowledges that regardless of what kind of account ALEC e-mails are sent to, they are the public’s business, “ALEC’s had a huge influence over Wisconsin politics, over Wisconsin law. So it’s clear that their correspondence with ALEC is related to official business.”

Other legislators covered in the settlement are Republican Representatives Tyler August, Dan Knodl, Tom Larson, and Pat Strachota. The settlement also calls on the legislators to pay roughly $2,500 in court costs.

ALEC is a nationwide organization that partners legislators with corporations to write what’s known as model legislation. Those model bills are then introduced by ALEC legislators in states throughout the country.